a carnival with the kiddies

last thursday, my sister invited me and the babies to her work family carnival. she took our nephew last year but as it was just the two of them and he didn't want to go on any rides, it was a bit boring. this year, chunky is old enough to go so we both took them.
we waited in line for... gosh, it could've been an hour or so, for this water ride inside this kiddie pool. and at the last minute, jaden didn't want to go. thank goodness chunky still did. but it only lasted a minute, she started looking very lost and then cried until she was taken out. i have it on video, it's actually quite hilarious.
the train ride was better. the line was shorter and it went faster. plus, lisa & i could ride in a train car with them. the train went in circles around the parking lot.
there was this huge pokemon where kids were playing inside. chunky kept saying poke! poke! and there didn't seem to be much of a line so we went over to check it out. it was okay. just a bunch of babies inside chasing balloons that were being blown by a fan. chunky seemed to really enjoy it. she wanted to stay even though our turn was over.

we took a food break after all this waiting and playing. they had hot dogs, soda, popcorn, beef taquitos, cheese & bean quesadillos, hummus, spinach dip with flat bread, meat balls in tomato sauce (random), egg rolls, and ice cream. we oinked out. it was fun.
jaden saw someone with a stuffed tiger so he decided he wanted one. we went to where they had them. it was this bowling game. it seemed kinda hard so i didn't want to play. i was sure i would've lost it for him. so, we had jaden play. the guy in charge was really nice. every pin that jaden hit, he gave him. he even gave jaden 3 extra balls to bowl. the last one was soooo close. it ricocheted off the side and hit the very last pin. and he got his white tiger.

afterwards, we took them up this high slide. actually lisa took them, i was in charge of taking pictures. but the battery in my camera died so i couldn't get one. i tried taking it with my camera phone but it crashed my phone. i had to restart the phone. then, the kids got their arms painted with flowers (for chunky) and butterflies (for jaden). i took a picture of it with my camera phone but it didn't come out.

everyone had great fun. can't wait for the one next year! thanks lisa!

like two peas in a pod

after the grad party, betty and i headed up to the city to meet up with her friend huy. we got there a little late but it was still hopping in the castro. i haven't gone on a saturday night in ages. it's been so long that i don't even remember the last time i went. we met up with huy and his friends at the bar. there was an event earlier in celebration of hunter's (huy's best friend) return from north carolina. he moved for school and is back. he's really cute and has this sweet southern accent.
between huy & hunter, they seemed to know everyone and anyone. we were stopped so frequently when we left the bar on the way over to another club/bar destination. what would normally take 5 minutes, took 10-15 minutes! i guess it didn't help that it was packed everywhere. there were gorgeous and friendly men everywhere we went! at the second club, we met keith and azul who we chatted up for a bit. the great thing about gay men is that they are totally honest (well, to straight women anyway), fun, hilarious and so complimentary!
despite having to work the next morning, i didn't look or notice the time. well, i couldn't because i left my phone in the car but, i never asked what time it was. afterwards, we went to have pizza. it really hit the spot. we ran into more of hunter & huy's friends there too. surprise, surprise. they saw us eating inside and came in to say hi. even though we'd only just met hunter, it felt like we'd known and hung out with him & huy for ages. it's no wonder they are best friends. they are both lovely. their friendship reminds me a little of mine with betty. it's so refreshing to meet new people like us, hahah.

spike's graduation party!

on saturday, spike had her long-awaited-not-quite-done graduation party. her parents dr. tom & kathy drove across the country to be with her on her special day.

there was a lot of good food, drinks, and 4 different cakes... mmm. i think the carrot cake was my fav. it was a lot of fun. nice to catch up with some people i hadn't seen in a while. both betty and i were happy to be a part of it. congrats muffin!

we ♥ you!!

finally, everyone is looking at the right camera. yay!

adventures in curling chunky's hair

fun fun fun

out celebrating with betty

when betty and i are together, we have too much fun. it started off at the village to celebrate the end of the school year teaching for her. we went to the village for drinks and dinner before heading out dancing. the strangest thing happened to us there, we sort of picked up on this guy, together. his name was sebastian and is from montreal. we asked him to come dancing with us. and he did. we never ever do that. play tag team in picking up men. he was such a cutie. he was so charming and friendly. maybe we couldn't help ourselves.

at popscene, he was even more fun. he danced with us all night, bought us drinks, and humored us with our paper-airplane-making games. will was there too but at first, he ignored us. not sure if he was trying to get us to go to him as he is always coming to us. he even walked right by us and didn't say a word. whatever will. eventually, he saw us and ended up in the vicinity of where we were. i guess his friends met up with him there so he was dancing with them. and after his friends had gone home, he finally came over and danced with us. i was a little intoxicated so i was jumping all over the place and jumping into will all over the place. i think he loves it. he loves the attention anyway.

it was so much fun. we might see sebastian again tonight. i'll have to bring my camera.

good news for coffee-addicted alcoholics...

i heard about this on npr this morning:

A study shows coffee may help offset liver damage caused by alcohol abuse. Alcoholics who drank more coffee were far less likely to develop cirrhosis. But researchers warn that coffee does not erase all risks of heavy drinking.

i guess i don't need to cut down on my coffee intake!

my new shoes

they are dark brown mary jane wedges with a 3 1/2 inch heel.
aren't they the cutest?

another 5am saturday

last week, it was the mediterranean dinner party with lou, ro, betty, johanna and gillie. the dinner started at 8p but i was up until 5a. needless to say, i slept in last sunday until gosh, i think it might have been 4p. i went to the village and had a nice chat with anthony until 1a that night.

this past saturday, it was me and betty with joe and his friend jesse. we were at the village drinking and being merry. but got kicked out by the new manager dan (anthony had gone home) and so we met up with joe and jesse at some dive bar. it was fun. after last call, we hung out in betty's car talking and listening to music. it was quite an adventure actually. not sure what time it was when we started heading over to joe's but i started fading at 5a and that's when we called it a night.

i woke up at 2p on sunday and met up with betty for a late lunch sometime before 4p. i stopped by the village to say hello to anthony. apparently, he'd been running around shopping for me for my "surprise" on tuesday. he said i was hard to shop for. um, ok. i'm dying to find out what the heck it is. betty knows but promised she wouldn't tell. she's good about secrets that way. damn her. (hahah, just kidding betty!) gosh, tuesday is already tomorrow! can't wait...

update

so, what happened last week that made my week so horrible?? well, for starters, one of my students attempted to commit suicide. i'm not sure if i want to say anything else but that she's okay and is going to take a leave of absence. i've been here for nearly five years and in all those years, i've never experienced this sort of thing. it was just too close to home. how does someone in their early 20's, who has her whole life ahead of her, think life could be so bad that it's worth ending? i just don't get it.

otherwise, things have been okay. i may be spending too much time at the village with my friend anthony. anyway, that's it for now...

an angel... sometimes

yesterday, after coming home from work (with a short nap on the train) and seeing my 5 y/o nephew, he says the sweetest thing to me...

you look pretty today.

it totally throws me off because i'm so used to his usual you look funny (accompanied by some giggles) comments about my appearance. since he was being so sweet, i decided i'd spend some quality time with him. so, we go downstairs to my apartment and as i'm cooking up some dinner, he says...

you look like an angel. and later says it again.

children are brutally honest that they really mean what they say. so i have no idea where all these compliments came from. maybe i was having a good hair day, i'm not sure but i know i wasn't used to him saying all these nice things. he's usually driving me up the wall. but he wasn't and it was really wonderful (considering the week i've been having, ugh, i'll post about it later).

he's a great kid and i love him to pieces.