Thursday, July 28, 2005

this article breaks my heart in so many different ways and makes me realize how blessed i am to live where i am, no matter what.

Friday, July 15, 2005

pretty please?


pretty please?
Originally uploaded by divinemissk.

well, i've got a lot of time on my hands right now, considering that my temp agency sucks monkey balls and i've only worked one day this week. so i finally sat down and figured out how to add pictures and stuff to this site. now i'm experimenting with flickr, just like all the cool kids! so, indulge me if you will and take a walk around my 'hood with champ. this project is jen's idea (www.jensylvania.com). hopefully she'll have some more walks posted soon!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

what's in your fridge?

today's entry is thanks to my friend the portuguesa nova.
she's running a series of these and here is my contribution.


we live in nyc and our kitchen is very, very small and our fridge is tiny. i had to sit on the oven/countertop in order to take this shot. we're hopefully going to refinance soon and buy ourselve a brand spanking new kitchen! pay no attention to our disgustingly dirty no matter how much i scrub tile floors (which actually don't look half bad in this shot).

what's in it?
top shelf:
a bag of old coffee grounds that should be thrown out; a few coronas from a party over a year ago; ginger ale; trader joe's peanut butter; earth balance spread (no gmos!); butter; nectarines; aloe vera juice; ketchup; milk; juice; filtered h20 in the red pitcher

2nd shelf:
thawed tj's southewestern turkey burgers; buns (ha buns!); tj's soy milk; club soda, tonic, seltzer from a party over ayear ago; tj's green olive tapenade; a bit of nobu soy dressing in a little jar

bottom shelf:
pinot grigio; leftovers; onion in foil; tj's pickles; watermelon

crispers:
baby carrots and an old beet in one and beer from a party over a year ago in another.

the door:
2 buck chuck savignon blanc; lemonaise; tj's garlic olives; various salad dressings; various hot sauces; nobu marinades; just cranberry juice; flax seed oil; bakin soda; 2 jars of capers that probably should be thrown out; various mustards; various jams/fruit butters; 2 different brands of acidophilus; indian condiments; ketchup packets (just in case we run out of the bottled stuff); candex; chili/basil paste.

with all of this stuff, why do we end up ordering in about 4 nights a week?!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

an experiment in photoblogging

over memeorial day weekend, we took a family vacation to orlando. we spent one very hot and sticky day at sea world.
hot + sticky + fishy smell = fun for the whole family!

here is one of the many 'shamus.' i think this one was called "i'm gonna get all y'all in the front rows soaking wet-mu"

this is a sea horse! a sea horse! can you believe it? doesn't it look like a salad?

here is another picture of another crazy sea horse. totally tubular dude!

awwww look at the purty seal?! don'tcha just wanna eat him up? i mean- ummm- uh- snuggle up with him? yeah, that's totally what i mean.


WE WALKED UNDER THE SHARKS!!!! oooohhh teethy!

kpr bought us all icees ( i had a smoothie). his tongue has been altered to protect his identity.

on a totally unrelated note, here is champ this past winter in his 50-year-old-gay-man-fleece and his doggy booties. alas, champ could not come to orlando with us because he would most certainly pick a fight with a shamu or a big mouse. instead he stayed at home with his best friend rufus, the schnoodle who lives in canada now.

this is what fun looks like bee-yatches!

the end.

Friday, July 08, 2005

london

i had my first taste of independence in the city of london. that sounds strange to say as an american and a native philadelphian, given that our country started with its tugging off the reigns of britain's rule. but that's where i first felt like an adult and knew i could make it on my own.

my senior year of college, i planned my first vacation by myself. i was to fly to london and meet up with a friend who was studying there and stay in her flat for a week while i saw the sights. upon arrival in heathrow, i was perturbed that she wasn't there to meet me, and was greatly alarmed when i rang her up and her flatmate said, "oh, so and so has gone off to greece for a holiday, she left you a note, it says 'kate, i'm sorry. so and so.'"


with friends like these....

so i was stuck in heathrow, had no idea where i was going to sleep that night and how i was going to get there. enter the lovely and helpful people who worked in the tourist office who pointed me in the right direction- taught me how to take the tube to the city and how to get to the apartment of another friend, kat (who wasn't expecting me at all and i had no number to call her just a street address). i eventually arrived at my destination with the help of a few londoners and a very friendly cab driver.

i ended up staying with kat that week and had an amazing time while she was in class during the day. this was the first time i had ever traveled on my own and i reveled in the freedom of being able to decide which museum i was going to next and how long i wanted to spend in notting hill and if i really needed to purchase that harrod's bear. i took plenty of pictures and i was just so impressed with the architecture, the indian food, the kindereggs, the tea, the pubs, the THEATRE!! i was enamored by all things british. i loved every second of my trip and this adventure spurred my enthusiasm for travel. i realized i could get by on my own, survive outside of what is comfortable and chalk up a bunch of amazing experiences at the same time.

since then i've traveled to many different countries and in november, i'll have made it to my fifth continent, but i'll always remember my time in london as what started it all for me.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

sadness

my wonderful, beautiful, inspiring friend mo has decided to pack up her blog and move on down the road. while i am sad not to read her everyday, i understand why she has made this decision and support her on it. she's so darn creative- i have no worries about her future artistic outlets.

here are some of my favorites of hers:

the barking spider, the house of blues, and a heart filled to the rim with good brim love

my hero and eye-liner

spooning

and

kart-wheels

love ya miss mo!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

i use the word cock a lot in this post

last night as i was finally drifting off to sleep, i felt a little rush of air creep up my back and make a right turn over my shoulder blade. our ceiling fan was on and i assumed this was just small gust of circulating air cooling me as i fell asleep. i thought this until my mind started racing and said, "gee that rush of air felt just like a little bug crawling up my spine." and "hey! since when does wind make a right turn when traveling across your back?!"


that's when i saw a black lump scurrying towards my pillow.


give me credit folks, i did not scream out loud. kpr was tired a trying to fall asleep and i didn't want to give him a heart attack, so i did not scream aloud. but in my head i screamed the scream of blood-curdling horror, a scream that echoes in your mind for days after it is first heard, a scream that almost paralyzed me with fright.


instead of screaming aloud i let out a rather loud "EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" and jumped out of bed- throwing the sheets towards the middle of the mattress. kpr jumped out of bed with a half audible "what?" and we looked around for the remote to the fan to turn the overhead light on.


"there was a bug crawling up my back!!" i still was managing not to scream. i was huddled in the corner, shaking a bit and looking around the bed nervously.


'no, you just imagined it." kpr said as he stood on the bed shaking out our sheet and quilt, lifting up each pillow and giving them a shake as well.


part of me wanted to believe that i just imagined it, so we could just go back to bed, but the other part of me knew what i had seen and felt and i knew there was no way i was getting back into that bed until we found the creep crawly thing.

"c'mon, you just imagined it, let's go back to bed i'm exhausted." kpr said, giving the sheet a final shake. a white pipe cleaner popped out of the sheet and bounced on the mattress. 'see, that's all you felt- a pipe cleaner."

"no, what i felt was crawling up my back and it was bla--" just then, something scampered up our wall next to the door.

it was THE LARGEST COCKROACH I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!! now, you might think i am exaggerating because it was late, i was tired, i was scared, but no, seriously this was the largest roach i've ever encountered in my twenty-something years on this earth. it was about the size of my hand with all of my fingers outstretched, the size of a medium sized hamster, if you will. usually when you see them this big, they've crawled out of their fat pad they've been basking away in their whole life, are quite lethargic and on their way to death's door.

not this sucker.

he was quite chipper despite the late hour, paused for a moment, and then continued up our wall at a brisk pace.

the screaming in my head resumed. i started violently shuddering from fear in the corner, and i crouched down looking for something to hand to kpr to fight off this terrible demon. i found my beloved pair of purple slippers and threw one at him saying, "need a shoe or something?"

kpr grabbed a postcard and scraped the largest cockroach i have ever seen in my life onto the floor. i started to scream through my teeth and did a little dance in a circle, trying to keep both feet from touching the floor at the same time. the largest cockroach i have ever seen in my life scurried out of our bedroom and towards the bathroom, i said something like, "don't you fucking let that thing get away or we will have to move because i'll never fall asleep in this house again!!" and kpr brought the beloved purple slipper down with a resounding

"SQUISH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!"

and the largest cockroach i have ever seen in my life was no more. well, that's not true, he was now a gross, puss-y, blob on the bottom of the beloved purple slipper. kpr grabbed some tp and flushed the largest cockroach i have ever seen in my life down the commode, never to be heard from again.

all while this was happening, little champ was luxuriating in his comfy bed, covered by his soft towel that i had placed lovingly over his head only moments before. when the largest cockroach i have ever seen in my life made his way into the hallway, champ bungled his way out of his crate, his towel trailing behind him, still stuck to his torso, his head cocked to one side, eyes imploring, "hey guys, what's going on?" some help he is.

as kpr walked back into the bedroom, he was grinning madly and said "saw that guy in the bathroom this morning, but he got away." my breath was just returning to normal and i said through clenched teeth, "well next time, make sure he doesn't get away, so he doesn't end up in our bed at night."

i don't know how i fell asleep, but i did eventually, and surprisingly, i didn't dream of cockroaches crawling out of the toilet to seek their revenge.