new links added

i added some new links to the side navigation...

check 'em out if you like --->

interesting way to make a website

my friend tracy sent me this link.

i love seeing the ways people with a little creativity (and more importantly- time) choose to create a website.

if i had a bunch of time, what sort of site would i create?

figaro at juene lune

my dear friend linda and i went to see a preview of figaro at juene lune last night at it was simply fantastic.

they are so talented and their voices are so amazing...

if you are able, you should really think of going to see this masterpiece. tickets are $30 and worth every single penny. the show opens tonight and has many dates available through june 23.

ed feline from the pulse wrote:
"It is almost embarrassing to gush so unashamedly about the beauty of the music, the brilliant conception of the piece, the masterful performances of the actors and singers, and the sure hand of the director that takes us from joy and ecstasy to a final conflagration that consumes all hope."

seriously folks, this show is a true treat!

happy birthday jules!!

today is my good dear friend julie's birthday. i love her.

frozen four- michigan state wins the championship!

aaron and i went to the frozen four hockey tournament in st louis this weekend. scott richard was not able to go =( , but we had a great time, just the two of us. here are some of the things we did (and here are all the pics we took):

- went to the first two games on thursday- super fun

- went to bissinger's (they have the best hand made chocolates, hooray!), picked out a whole slew of different kinds of chocolates and are sharing them ever so slowly to make them last.




















- froze to death- st louis had a cold spell. we didn't bring our winter coats, but we should have. weather.com said 40's and 50's. damn weather.com. with wind chill it was barely 25.



- walked past the arch about a zillion times. there was a line outside (in the cold) for about an hour for those that wanted to get in. aaron and i have been up in the arch together about 11 years ago (hard to believe it was that long ago, or how different we are from those young kids), so we skipped it this weekend. we did go sit by it for awhile, though.

- ate lunch at morgan's brewery twice, which was absolutely fantastic

- froze some more

- ate dinner at zia's (thanks for the recommendation gabe!)



- watched 'blades of glory' at the moolah temple theater. this theater near the st louis university campus reminded us a lot of the uptown theater in mnpls since it's a very old building, only shows one film, and is packed every weekend. moolah was cool for one other reason, though. it wasn't originally a theater, so it's just a huge room with a screen added in. the floor in front of the screen is filled with leather love seats for couples like us to get comfy in. oh, and you can drink beer or wine in there. it was sublime.

- drove around town to see the different types of homes / architecture / mansions / slums



















- visited the courthouse where dred scott had sued for his freedom. aaron sat in the judges chair and pounded on the 3000 year old furniture.



















- ate dinner at the drunken fish (sushi, yum)

- froze some more

- took the metro to the games (LOVE the train)

- talked to my brother during the games, which eased the sadness of his not being there.



- watched some seriously fine hockey (violent mansport, as lori likes to call it). michigan state won and that made me very happy. boston college, by the way, is a very fine team. they are super talented and their fans are super awesome!!! they stand out in my mind as a very fine group of people, and they have always been so. would have rather beat UND for the title because their fans are outrageous and deserve to lose in the last 19 seconds of a game.

here is the comment i already wrote in flickr, repurposed here for your convenience:

michigan state tied the game with six minutes left in the game, then scored a goal with 19 seconds left to ensure victory. after bc pulled their goalie to try for a tie, state got the puck and skated back for one more goal to win 3 to 1. it was a damn fine game.
























- we had an awesome weekend. THANKS ST. LOUIS!!! (you may not be as wonderful as minneapolis, but you have some good things goin' on)

hello solidad!

vicente's daughter solidad was born one week ago, on sunday, march 25th. aaron and i had the pleasure of meeting her yesterday. of course, she is so beautiful!

here are some pictures.

here is some video:



congratulations vicente and caroline!

condoms beat aids

this ad almost proves it to me...











but i need to see an arm wrestling match to be sure.

boomshine- stop with your teasing

whatever you do, don't play this game.




















just don't.

my babies (email from my sis)

stephers wrote this email to me recently, which sent me into high high spirits as I excitedly anticipate the arrival of my niece and nephew!!! i have to share it with you:

All time on here is Michigan time!!
1. They usually both usually get up around 8 am and go to bed around 9 (give or take a half hour), Cole naps around 1ish. Some days Cole will sleep in pretty late, don't worry about it. Cole gets maybe 2 oz. of water in his bottle at night and nap time (break it if you can) and Alicia likes story time before bed.

2. We try to get them a bath every other night, they both love baths. They are very messy in the tub though, water goes everywhere and I mean everywhere. Alicia will take showers, Cole despises them. They are both starting to need conditioner, Cole is getting knots in the back of his head now.

3. Usually have lunch around noon and dinner about 5:30 or 6.

4. They both like yogurt, bagels with cream cheese, most pasta's, all meats, all potatoes, all kinds of cheerios and rice krispies (they prefer no sugar). They will both drink milk and juice, they both like bacon, sausage, pizza, french toast, pancakes, chocolate donuts are a treat for them. They love corn on the cob, and all green veggies (even brussel sprouts). Cole isn't too good with sandwiches, Alicia will eat almost 2 of them. Alicia will not eat eggs, although she does like them cooked over easy so she can "dip" her bacon in the yolk (but still won't eat the egg, lol). They both like Tilapia, I am amazed at that. They both pretty much like everything, these are just some starters.

5. Alicia is usually a pig and will eat a lot, but she does like to say she is full and ask for snacks 20 minutes later. Cole goes in spurts with eating, sometimes he does really good for 3 days and then won't eat much for a week. Just remember they say that their tummies are only as big as their fists, someone gets mad if they don't eat.

6. 11/2 tsp for Alicia and 1 tsp for Cole with Motrin or Tylenol. Don't forget if you take their temp under the arm to add 1 full degree.

7. They both love art, told Alicia that Aunt Susan does too so get ready for projects!!

8. Alicia started grinding her teeth, I have to get her to the dentist, I will take care of it.

9. [a little too personal to share this one]

10. Alicia loves all cartoons and Cole loves any Sponge bob, Little Bear and all Nick Jr.

11. Neither of them has any allergies to anything that we know of yet, just in case you wondered :)

I think this is all the good info for the kids. You will get an insurance card with a letter from John so you can get them medical attention while with you. Good luck and any questions just call me!!

Love you,

Stephanie

simply unbearable

the tenth dimension? ouch

if you have a few minutes and an unrelenting desire to stretch your brain in a new direction, check out this site- imagining the tenth dimension.




















after watching this, i find myself thinking about time a little differently. pretty interesting stuff.

borrowing children

aaron and i have asked my sister and her husband, john, if we could borrow their children for a few months this spring/summer and they have (who knows why) agreed. =)

cole will be joining us on april 22nd and alicia will follow a couple of weeks later. they'll stay with us until june 16th.

we can't wait to have two little tornadoes running through the house.

of course, if you've been to our house, you know it's not big. aaron and i are going to set ourselves up a little bed area in the basement and relinquish our bedroom to them...

i know that our lives will change a lot to accommodate their visit, but i'm really looking forward to testing ourselves out as parents. i think it will be very fun for us, and i'm hoping they enjoy the stay as well. i'm already thinking of all the fun kid things to do around the twin cities. if you have any suggestions, feel free to share.

also, if you'd ever be willing to babysit... er, borrow them for yourself... let us know that too. =)

nora, nora, how you serenade me...

nora, do you practice all day...



...to be this good?

so interpretative, performed with such feeling!! your improv is the ultimate!

(my favorite is the look on her face- yeah, you wish you could play like this)

are you a coffee fool?

the accusation on this site is simple-

you've probably been drinking stale coffee and you're missing out.

the solution is also just as simple-

you need to drink the stuff that has been roasted in the last few days to taste truly great, sweet, amazing coffee.

although i'm not a full fledged coffee drinker (caramel decaf mocha's don't count as coffee), i can understand the attraction to good coffee, so i thought i should share this site with all you good coffee drinking folks.

castle smasher- time waster

it's been awhile since i posted a link to a time waster game, so i figure i can throw one out there without too much guilt...


here's castle smasher.

you catapult the castle until it's gone, and you try to fill up with more balls if you can.

of course, it's strangely addicting.

have fun!!

i love these kitties

this kitty is very interested.



i love interested kitties. they are very fun to watch.

another interested kitty...



so so much fun!

young burt reynolds

this ad is barely stomach-able, but so worth sharing with you all...

check it out in all it's glory here.

guess who...

someone i know and love sent me this update recently, amusing me to no end... I won't reveal her identity, since she was kind enough to let me post these embarrassing details, but if someone guesses, i'll give them a dollar.

and I quote:

Did I tell you about all the fun I've been having lately? I was taking a new prescription med for about 3 weeks when my body decided to let me know it was allergic. Wuhoo!! I started getting hives on Wednesday night and I was like, "Hmm, better take some benedryl." and went to bed.

Thursday morning....I had itched myself bald (okay, not quite) and I had hives so thick on my neck I could hardly turn my head...not to mention hives everywhere.

So I called the Doctor's office and saw the PA at 10:30. She sent the nurse in with a shot and went to consult the Doc. The nurse gave me the shot and left the room. Suddenly, I'm sitting on the nice, high table feeling like I'm going to pass out. I moved to the doc's stool and was sitting there with my head between my knees when the PA came back in. She was like, "How are we feeling." I said, "Would you like to tell me about the side effects from the shot you gave me?"

Seems passing out is a possible side effect.

I ended up laying on the table with a cool wash cloth and not passing out but geez. I could hear them in the hallway talking about the poor woman with the hives that they almost made unconscious.

Then I was on Prednisone and Loratadine for a week. The pred made me want to eat everything....everything... even when I was full. I swear I gained 10 pounds.

Then they taper you off that and the minute I went to the lowest dose, it started making me naseated all day....decided I'd had enough of that yesterday.

I go back Friday to make sure I'm not dead.

Plus, I have Polaroid skin right now, whenever I get warm the hives would pop out at first (which I swear the pred made me about 3 degrees warmer...my palms are sweating right now). But now it's just if I scratch my face or whatever, it turns bright red. I've been threatening to write messages on my forehead.

Yeah, I've been a happy, happy girl. Hopefully, that's behind me now though....no more better living through chemistry even if the doctor says so!

to the person i know and love: feel better soon!!

pb+j rediscovered

when i was a kid growing up, my older brother scott would make my sister and me lunch, and he would always make our pb+j sandwiches without much pb and probably too much j. i hated those sandwiches. they stuck to my mouth and really had no redeeming qualities. ick.

well, anyway, i blame my longstanding dislike of pb+j sandwiches on scott- and i think he knows that he deserves that.

i have ever since avoided pb+j's; they just don't appeal to me.

well that's all different now.

recently, i had lunch with my friend tracy at her home, and i told her that i'd love to eat whatever she wanted to make. =)

she made soup and pb+j sandwiches.

she did ask if that would be okay, but since i had just stated that i would love to eat whatever she made, i thought it better to push myself than to be picky to my super sweet generous friend. besides, it's always good to push oneself to re-evaluate food preferences (and actually, all types of preferences).

well, she made me a gloriously yummy pb+j and i have been craving them ever since.

i've made myself two since then (one of which was devoured just moments ago), and i couldn't possibly imagine living my life without eating at least one a week until forever and a day.

i've missed a lot of lovely pb+j moments because of you, scott richard. i can't forgive you for this, so don't ask. =)

aaron is an uncle, again

andrew charles was born on sunday and is already home with his mom, dad, and big brother carson.



















congratulations bridget and james!!