My folks treated us to Fritti pizza this evening. Dad has an obsession (new?) with anchovies so we had the Napoli. Mom and I have an obsession with cheese so we had the Quattro Fromaggi, and Tone Dog and I have an obsession with hot peppers, Italian bacon, and onions, so we also had the Pancetta e Cipolla.

Now Tone Dog is out meeting Ruthless people. I got to meet more ATL bloggers yesterday - so I’m loving the internet. Most of the time I don’t feel like posting because I feel like I can never say what I really want to say - whether it be due to work issues, saftey issues, family issues - I just end up talking about bull plop and skirting the important things. But then Tone Dog convinces me to go out and I end up meeting wonderful people that I have lots in common with and it’s inspirational and the posting is kind of a side bar.

To all Mingaling’s friends - you cheered more than one lady up yesterday. Thanks!

We had hamburgers twice yesterday to celebrate America. Nothing was open - Tone Dog and I drove everywhere we could think to go and ended up all the way in Midtown at a crowded Vortex. Yum yum cajun burger and sweet potato fries. The cats celebrated by spreading out on their backs and letting the ceiling fan blow around their armpit hairs.

Pictures of knitted socks for my special little patient soon . . .

We celebrated Memorial Day weekend by going to a wedding, and also by eating lots of hamburgers. I wanted to celebrate more of it by the pool . . . I will just do that this weekend.

The hairs are cut again.

Work is steady but not trial-crazy (knock-knock).

It’s summer and I want to have the summer off. I want to lounge by the pool and read 8,000 books.

And now - Pictures!

Paul and Tony on the porch of the Buzzard Roost.

Scooter!!!

Butterfly - taken by Paul.

Cooking at the Roost. By headlamp. Obviously.

Knitted / Felted tulips for Mom for Mother’s Day.

Friday night we had a so-so date at Rock Bottom. We really wanted to have our date at 5 Seasons but the wait was an hour long - and we ran into ex-friends of friends which was awkward so we left and ended up at Rock Bottom. We didn’t get there until 8:00 at which point I was a) still disappointed and b) beyond hunger. I gorged myself to fill the hunger and disappointment and we both left there so full that we didn’t do anything but mope when we got home - and then when we were able to lie on our stomachs without throwing up - we slept.

Saturday was a glorious day weather-wise. I gymed it and then did housework with the windows and doors open - the spring smells and the fabric softener smells floating back in the house were lovely. My parents came over for a quick glass of wine before we headed to Muss & Turner’s for an evening out. Mark’s section was too full for us, unfortunately, and they were out of chocolate truffles but we still had a wonderful dinner. Afterwards my parents came over for some Spite & Malice. When they left Tony and I broke out the Boggle.

Yesterday was the Duke’s birthday celebration. We got an urgent phone call from Mrs. Jazzbone around 2:45 telling us that the Duke was pacing and he couldn’t put on his party clothes until after he and Tone Dog loaded the oak into the truck and boy was he ready to party so we better get there ASAP.

I know you are all fascinated by my weekend. Maybe Wheaties J. Jackson Johnson Jackson’s obsession with Tony’s sock will amuse you (have you noticed that the longer you own a pet, the longer their name becomes?):

I also have been reading: I read about 5% of Trading Up because I hated it. I am not wealthy enough or into fashion enough to reading about bitchy sluts and their summer in the Hamptons. I loved Coal Run. I have a weakness for Jodi Picoult and loved Second Glance. I am 70% through Cloud Atlas and want to savor the rest.

1. Meet Dunkin

2. Visit Kelso - the most pampered dog on the planet - who is sure to visit a cloner before long and then taxidermist after death.

3. Check on the old house.

4. See what other miracles Clint and Dawn Don’t-Fuck-Aroundski wrought on their house after our departure.

5. Splash around in Nottingham’s driveway pool - with girly drinks and gold bikinis galore.

6. Patate i Proscuitto pizza with a walnut pear salad at Tone Dog’s old joint - Pizzicato.

7. McMenamins - preferably outside at the Kennedy School so we can walk back to Hey’s house.

8. New Seasons - for my old staple: grilled chicken sandwich with melted swiss and avocado.

8. M Bar - for a sexy glass of wine.

9. 21st Avenue Grill - for my absolute favorite salad on earth: currants, blue cheese, champagne vinaigrette and grilled chicken

10. Walk with Alyssa in Forest Park

11. Yakisoba Bento or wrap from Rice Junkies

12. Happy Hour (or any hour) at City Grill

14. Visit Linder at Salty’s

15. Must have an afternoon and separate suitcase for Powell’s

16. Spanish Coffee

17. Late night at VQ

18. Bridgeport Ale House

19. Have coffee with Laini - where she will remind me to write and to not ignore my dreams.

I know that this list portrays me as an overweight alcoholic but I am willing to live with that.

The blooming Star Magnolia outside of our kitchen window has come to symbolize Spring to me - which means that it has really come to symbolize the end of my Dark Days - the end of hibernation, melancholy, and lethargy.

My approach to the longer and warmer days has already been more active and hopeful. Tone Dog and I threw open the windows this weekend (much to the cats’ delight) and let the house fill with the smell of spring. We sleep better and spend more time outside. We burst forth from the Tall Brown cocoon and began to organize and scrub. I find it extremely satisfying.

One of my other favorite things about spring is the appearance of my second favorite indulgences: The Cadbury Mini Egg. They call it “solid milk chocolate with a crisp outer shell.” More like solid milk heaven with a crisp heaven shell.

We spent Saturday night at Tony’s folks house - stuffing ourselves with peppercorn steak, asparagus, and mashed potatoes (oh, and wine and margaritas, and lemon cake). Sunday morning we brunched with my folks and, since we live in a ridiculous state and couldn’t get our drink on before 12:30, we had a Bloody Mary (or two) on their deck afterward.

This weekend I skimmed Virginia Woolf: an Inner Life - a book that I think I would like to read alongside Virginia Woolf’s novels. The force gets lost reading it straight through.

I started The Saint of Lost Things - but haven’t gotten far enough to comment.

P.S. Heather S. - WATCH OUT! I have started a list of things we must do during our visit this summer. So far 99% of them involve eating and cocktails. Can you handle it?

Then on the plane I began reading
Three Junes. This book is definitely an easy one to follow and the writing isn’t especially artful or glorious - but the story sucked me in. I think about what is going to happen next while sitting in traffic or waiting in line. I will finish it tonight before bed. So is that #5 and #6 down.

It feels excellent to read again.

It was also excellent to chill with the Seester. We put our walking shoes on and our drinking mouths and I needed that trip more than I knew.

Now that I am officially installed on the couch - the Wednesday Everybody Loves Raymond marathon’s on - followed by my blessed Sex in the City - I have very little motivation to do much of anything other than sit here and drool.

I’m on to book 3 of the year: Snow.

OK - Now it is February 20, 2006 and I have no idea when I wrote the above words. None. I will preface the following by saying that, yes, I know, it could be worse. But I gotta say the last couple of weeks have been difficult. And exciting. And extremely difficult. That is the beauty of trial.

We worked until 3:00 am and were back in the office (pumped full of coffee and andreneline) at 6:00 am. We were bleary-eyed and ecstatic and drained. Eighty- to Ninety-five hour weeks will take their toll. I didn’t even see Tone Dog awake for 2 weeks!

And then . . . I got sick. We spent Wednesday cleaning up and organizing - decompressing. Thursday I had a lovely 3-hour long doctor’s appointment during the course of which I spontaneously came down with a 102-degree fever, hacking cough, and horrible aches that lasted the entire weekend. Two others from trial got sick as well. I think our bodies each said, “Fuck you Hot Shot.”

BUT it has allowed me to drape across my husband’s shoulder and watch the Olympics. We have had a fire in the fireplace for the past three days. The cats are thrilled - until I cough - then they hide under the couch.

The point is: I’ve not tried to be anti-social or neglecting.

Book update: have somehow finished Snow - most likely by skimming it and/or dropping my book mark and picking it up somewhere more toward the end since I couldn’t keep track of anything anyway.

Am now in Book 4: The Woman at the Washington Zoo. Her insight? It’s phenomenal.

Updated book goal for the year = 1.85 books completed.

In other news - I am boycotting amateur plays. I’m sorry. I would so like to support the passion of these young actors. But I can’t. It’s simply too embarrassing. The theaters are always too small to support the “Fourth Wall” necessary for me to suspend disbelief. I end up spending the entire play thinking 1) This is what these actors were rehearsing when they told their mates / friends that they couldn’t hang out because they had to rehearse; 2) What do their apartments look like?; 3) What do their parents think?

Magpie and I saw Samuel Beckett shorts at Push Push. Aside from the amateur part - Samuel Beckett is just downright odd and depressing. The first mini-play was about a mime trying to reach a bottle of water. It is constantly out of his reach - as if God is joking with him - then he dies (- deserted by God)? (Beckett has serious God issues - in case you haven’t seen or read Waiting for Godot.) The 2nd and 3rd mini-plays were the most interesting - it was 2 versions of the same play - one version in English and the other in German. Of course the German one came first - and then an intermission - so for a full 10 minutes you think, “What the FUCK?” But I suppose that is the point. The 4th mini-play was a mouth. Literally. The stage was painted black and a little sqaure was cut out of the black back wall. The actor’s face was painted black and her mouth was bright red - her teeth very white. So all you saw on the stage was this mouth talking. And it wasn’t making that much sense - but I have lost my depth and patience and so half-listened and could not stop staring at the mouth.

We left early.

Luckily we had a fabulous dinner at Figo - and a lovely glass of wine and talked at Magpie’s afterweards so it rounded out the rough edges of the play - as did a birthday brunch for Mags on Sunday.

I love Tone Dog. When he is home, however, there are always feet tapping, fingers drumming, beer brewing, music playing, football helmets crashing - it’s incessant noise - that prods one to activity and response. Plus, the cats like him better - so they sit on his lap and sleep with him rather than with me.

Fun things I am looking forward to this weekend: I am going to see some short Samuel Beckett plays with Magpie at Push Push Theater in Decatur. I am going to brunch with Magpie and Theresa. I am going to a bridal shower / food / wine tasting for my mom’s friend (subbing as my Dad). I am going to be a cat-hogging sleeper-inner.

The count down begins: 5 more hours of work . . .