Just kidding. But, wow, that is one orange shirt.

Anyway, the day was perfect for the maiden voyage of the as-yet-unnamed Subaru. The sun was actually out for once, and since Wright State University’s women’s basketball games are, apparently, poorly attended, we had access to an almost empty parking lot.

This is the Nutter Center. That’s right, Nutter. That name has always made me laugh.

Kory shows great promise, and I’m certain he will be an excellent driver. I hope he will have a better sense of direction than his mother. Fingers crossed.

We also visited Tara and her lovely daughter Addison last weekend. Addison is growing SO fast, and she’s utterly adorable. She was fascinated with Kory’s hair, and really, who wouldn’t be? I love her face. And she loves her lamb.

Tara is expecting another daughter in June, to be named Molly. I am expecting Molly to be just as cute as her big sister.

Fair warning – don’t click around on those photos unless you want to see a little more of me than I normally care to show. Just trust me on this one.

Anyway, I love the new piece. The last few times I’ve gotten tattoos I’ve said each one would be my last, so I’m not going to say that this time. Many people don’t “get” tattoos, or shudder at the thought of putting something on their body permanently for fear they will regret it later in life. Others worry that when they’re older the art will wrinkle and fade. My take on it is this: I don’t regret any of my tattoos because they are bookmarks for my life … places where I have stopped to mark something forever, and each mark has it’s own story. As to the wrinkled and faded part, I figure all of me will be wrinkled and faded at some point, and I’ll enjoy telling my grandkids about each of my bodily bookmarks.

A note to all three of my readers: I can’t BELIEVE none of you pointed out I spelled “among” wrong in this post. I’m an ENGLISH MAJOR for crying out loud, and that embarrassing mistake was up for months! Kory pointed it out, rather gleefully, last night. My defense is that I have always had a mental block on that word and I consistently put a “u” in where none is needed. Also, Wordpress doesn’t spell check post titles. And among doesn’t look like a real word. Among among among. See?

Ariana’s hair was incredible:

Ariana didn’t really drink very much:

Bells and Cooks get along quite well:

Monkeys are, in fact, allowed to attend weddings:

Old friends are often the best friends:

Little girls love to be upside down:

Newly engaged couples are often adorable:

Small children dancing are ALWAYS adorable:

And, we all witnessed the marriage of a couple who will last forever. Congratulations, Ariana and Ryan!

Chip and Kory ran the Sugar Maple 5k … Chip went on to run the mini, so this is kind of anticlimactic, but it was still an accomplishment.

Right after this shot, Kory turned to me and said “Oh dear God, this hurts.” He hadn’t run in a while.

I took the smart route and walked. That hurt too.

Later that day, Chip enlisted the help of my friend Anna to give him a new ‘do, and let me tell you, she enjoyed it.

If you can’t tell, my friend Anna is kind of a badass. She’s a three time cancer survivor and she’s committed to helping cancer patients, so Chip’s tail went to make hair for someone else.

The beard went too, and here’s the new Chip!

I’m only guessing that enough people have seen him now that I’m allowed to post these. If not … sorry Chip!

As an English major, I am utterly annoyed when someone quotes or mentions some great piece of literature and I have to respond “I haven’t read it.” Similarly, when great contemporary works are mentioned I feel as though I’m falling down on the job if I don’t keep up. I realize I can’t read every influential piece of literature in existence, but I feel that attention should be paid to those works which have formed the basis of the literary world. The contemporary works that continue the tradition of great literature are even more impressive, for they manage to recreate age-old plots in ways unique enough to astonish us all over again.

The idea is to read 100 books in 5 years that are all “important” pieces of literature – to “fill in the gaps” in one’s literary background. Obviously this is a subjective matter, and I have yet to compile my entire list, but I’m soliciting suggestions. Meanwhile, I’m picking up books like Pride and Prejudice whenever I can so I actually have the books to read when the times comes. I figure this way I have something to read at all times, and the things I read can contribute to this list rather than to the deterioration of my IQ. As some of you may know, I have a tendency to read junk when school isn’t in session.

Aside from all that nonsense, the quarter is plugging along and SOS is gaining members thanks to the t-shirts, so thanks to all who donated! I’m writing so much for school this quarter, blogging is difficult to fit in, but I will try to be a little more diligent with updates.

In the mean time, you can check out this link if you’d like to see some truly adorable photos of Vicki and Joslyn crossing the finish line for the Derby Festival Marathon. Huge congratulations and admiration are due to Vicki for running the marathon, and the same to Chip and his l’il bro Joe for tackling the mini!

I don’t have photos of girls’ night, but I had a wonderful time hanging out with Laura, Melanie, and Julia. I didn’t even mind the fact that they made me watch U of L play – it was a good game, and I’m glad the Cards pulled it off.

The shower was for Kory’s cousin Matara, who doesn’t much care to have her photo taken, but I told her she’d thank me later. Little does she know I’m a photo addict and can’t help taking pictures, no matter who the subject is. (Yes, I just ended a sentence with a preposition. I’m almost done with the quarter, so deal.)

Anyway, the best photo I have of Matara refuses to upload properly, so I’m using the second best.

And here are all of the lovely ladies who attended:

Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s Chip’s house (where he kindly allowed us to host the shower) but I really like that photo. Everyone looks great.

My absolute favorite photo of Riley also refuses to upload properly, so you’ll have to settle for this:

If you didn’t already know what cute looks like, that’s it. For further proof, see the following:

I would also like to point out that Riley has gone from this:

To this:

Goofy dog.

Jos was not in a photo mood, so this is the best I have of her:

I think my Mom looks so pretty in this shot, I had to include it.

Katie, my other lovely niece, seems to get more beautiful each time I see her.  She has so much of Amy in her, and I love watching her interact with everyone.  When Katie talks, she sounds like she’s delivering lines from a play.  Every word is intentional and specific, and her voice sounds like a tiny little bell.

Also, my son is a bit of a dork.

I’m sure he doesn’t get it from me.

During my stay in Louisville, I lost my keys.  I hated the feeling of not being able to get in my Jeep and go wherever I liked, so I only spent a short hour turning my parents’ house upside down before I called a locksmith to come create a new key for the Jeep.  Apparently, there are “transponders” in Jeep keys, something of which I was unaware, so it’s kind of expensive to replace the keys that will actually start the ignition (as opposed to those that will only unlock the doors).  After I had a locksmith replace the key, I went about my day feeling a little better, although I was still upset about having to replace all of the little doodads that we stick on our key chains … Kroger card, gym membership card (yeah, I don’t use it, but I like that I CAN use it), library card, etc.

The next morning, my mother found my keys.  They were in a little picnic basket in her kitchen, where she had dropped them in an effort to clean off the kitchen table.  It was, literally, the last place anyone would have looked for my keys.  But there they were, and I was relieved to have them in my hands again.

Mom feels terrible about this, of course.  However, to make her feel better about her forgetfulness, I offer the following:

Today, Chip and I stopped at the animal clinic where I board Tatie to pick him up.  Poor cat … he hates being there and he makes me suffer every time I have to leave him, but we were all gone for several days and there wasn’t any other way to be certain he’d be cared for.  While I waited, I handed my Jeep registration to Chip and asked him to please put the sticker on my license plate while I got Tatie settled in his carrier for the ride home.  Just as I was ready to leave, Chip walked back in with an unbelievably comical expression on his face.  I asked if he’d put the sticker on the wrong plate (in Ohio you have to have plates on the front AND back of your vehicle).  He replied that he had not only put the sticker on the wrong plate, he had put it on the wrong CAR.  In case you were wondering, those stickers do NOT come off.

So, somewhere in Ohio there is a person driving a Jeep Cherokee (I drive a Liberty, a fact that will not be lost on Chip from here on out) with a sticker that lists their car as registered until January of 2011.  My registration, however, expires in a couple of weeks.  We’ve ordered replacement tags in the mean time, but you can’t deny that this is substantially more ridiculous that my mother misplacing my keys.

So, Mom?  Don’t sweat it.  You could have done something MUCH more absurd.

Happy Halloween!

Only trouble is, the wood wasn’t labeled so we have no idea what it is.  If anyone recognizes it, let us know.  Even the fine folks at Woodcraft were stumped.

I made the cedar pen on the right … people probably think it’s filled with drugs, because I’ll pull it out and sniff it from time to time.  I love cedar.

Chip rounded out the set with an acrylic pen (left), which Kory really likes.  It’s pretty, but from what I could tell by watching Chip I don’t think I’d like working with acrylic very much.  I love the smell of the wood while it’s turning … acrylic just smells like plastic.  Burning plastic, if you let it get too hot.  Plus, tool marks show more readily on acrylic and are more difficult to buff out.  It’s nice and shiny when it’s finished, though.

Kory wants to learn to make pens too, so cross your fingers that no one loses an eye!

Edit: Chip did some digging and discovered that the mystery wood is Red Palm. No wonder I like it so much.