♫ Make me act real funny, make me spend my money ♫

♫Oh, baby, thats what I like!♫

If I ever felt foolish or had any doubts about booking a room in town, they are gone gone gone! 1. It was good hi-jinx! I laughed (and swam) 'til it hurt! 2. We were treated so well; great customer service! 3. Niiiiiiiiice facilities. Great pool, good restaurant (do not get the key lime pie, though!), clean room. It was money well spent & I had a really lovely, if exhausting, two days with terrific people. I was so impressed with the hotel, I felt compelled to write and send the H(oliday) I(nn) P(residential) a thank-you-for-looking-the-other-way-while-I-invite-too-many-friends-over-to-swim note.

I am hoping that if W Boyd wins his World Cup fantasy pool [GO GERMANY!], he will use the earnings to get us more pool time!

We pretty much owned it:

Cool schmool:

LEIGH! ☺

B Bell & ATM:

KMHD, W Boyd, B Bell & a big-ass bucket of cheeze ballz livin' it up in the hotel room!

Yeehaw! Yahoo!

The arrival of R Bell:

Heather & Jett! ☺

By the way, it floats.

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We went over to the Victory St. space on Independence Day eve to shoot off fireworks and hang out, but I was sooooo exhausted from two days of swimming, I could hardly belt out any karaoke or carry a conversation. I did sit in my lawn chair and listen to all of the activity going around me. These people I run with? They are fun and funny. I mean, I can just there and big (and little) things happen all around me. Occasionally, Zach would stick a roman candle in my hand for me to shoot off. But, I mostly watched the Kilgore Bros. and Everett and Will and Mary and Nate ignite fireworks and blow things up.

It was a great weekend in that ATM & I didn't have to plan anything, we just showed up. I can get used to that!

Here are the only usable photos I've got. Tanks v.Chickens:

4th of July Holiday (Inn)

We get two days of rest from the World Cup & I find myself coming out of some kind of spell, one I like being under, thank you very much. I've done some work work & a little critical thinking. It's like the opposite of "game on!". "Resume living with the living!" Speaking of which, I will hang out with real life women this evening! Leigh, Keiko & Heather make it exciting to go eat at Fantastic China.

So, the 4th of July holiday snuck up on us and we find ourselves planless. Well, we were up until right before lunch. Having no holiday plans is unacceptable, so I booked a room at the Holiday Inn downtown, just so we could at least get some swimmin' & sunnin' in. Seriously. Who does this? Hotel room party!

Made from blueberries picked that very morning!

Re: the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico

There really is nothing to talk about, frankly. And writing this won't be cathartic, but I wanted to contribute to the national/international "dialog".

Ever since the terrible news about the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico broke, you know, the one that is the fault of those of us who wish to protect the environment, I've kept my head buried deep in the tar-flecked sand. To describe how much my heart aches over this would be an "exercise in futility", if I may borrow some words from President Lincoln, vampire hunter.

The hurt and the rage is real. It's difficult for me to even address this matter because before all of this happened, I didn't think our home planet was in a good way to begin with. This just drives some of us who wish to enjoy, conserve, protect, reduce, recycle & reuse over the edge. I feel depressed and broken. Who wins?

To whom do I direct my anger? BP? Businessmen, leaders & citizens who champion deregulation? My fellow Americans for not even attempting to drive less or work towards fuel-efficiency? Are we so desensitized that we can't even rustle up a care? How can we help? And not just the environment, but an American way of life -- will there be any true relief? Who am I kidding? Asking anyone to sacrifice anything is, well, good luck with that.

I am trying not to be cynical, but I'm not given any good material to work with here. I can have an opinion on an assortment of issues, but environmentalism is not negotiable. Why can't we have nice things?

Art show!

John Kushmaul is having an opening this Friday, 2 July 2010 starting @ 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. @ AC/AC. Yours truly was asked by the artist to serve curry bowls and iced Vietnamese coffees for $5/1, respectively. Please please please let me get what I want this time...and come enjoy the Kushmaul/Draheim brands.

Thanks be to boss

The president and the captain

Blogging from bed

So. I went to my general praticioner and he prescribed not one, but two cortisone shots to the butt, some prescribed anti-itch cream, and I am self medicating with Benadryl. I am awake with two World Cup matches droning vuvazela-style in the background. It is hard to focus on any one thing, including internet surfing, but I am just as happy as a clam for not feeling like a total itch. If I didnt't feel like I was dreaming and didn't have this low-grade fever, I'd feel like a perfect 11. I really want to go swimming!

Since that is completely out of the question, I will tell you how I dreamed of making a huge online order from Laduree. I even felt guilty in my dream about the money spent! I woke up wishing it was real and true, though. If ATM and I, if money was not an option, oh, how we would have the most beautiful cake and pastries at our wedding party. Have you ever had a macaron? Maybe I will order a little box for me and my lovely friends.

We've had indoor weekends because June decided to become August as far as heat goes. Triple digits. The only reason to be outside is to water the plants and pluck blueberries and I am so off that right now. We are trying to keep weekends simple (cheap), but fun. I mean, we DO need to save money for vacation in NYC! Thankfully we've got the World Cup to occupy our time. And Wimbledon. And soon the Tour de France.

Watching the first US match v. England:

The ring that ATM gave me:

LP, sweet pea!

Two day itch

I've gone & World Cup Widowed my blog. While I've been enjoying these wildly unpredictable games, I've been neglecting FEAR ANTS. My other excuse is that it is very hot outside. I can feel the heat pressing down on our home rendering me pantsless and lazy. All I care to do is lie down and watch television and maybe think about the things I need to do. At the very least, I've started a list somewhere.

Right now, at this very moment, I am being tortured by these swollen bites/hives all over the sensitive parts of my body. I am miserable. I am in hell. On Saturday, I went to mum's to pick blueberries. It was already 90 degrees at 8:30 a.m., but I put on bug spray, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt to go pick berries. I left her house happily unscathed. Or so I believed. Yesterday, I broke out in these very large hives that itch so badly. There are no words for this kind of itch. The culprit? Chiggers. I have never been so beat down by bugs before! And apparently, all I can do is rub calamine lotion on them, take a Benadryl when I'm able (not at work), and wait it out. I keep calling my doctor's office and hanging up on them because I'm afraid that they will 1. Tell me that there is nothing to be done and 2. Tell me to grow up. Horrible critters. Related to spiders and scorpions. They can be used in warfare.

UPDATE: After developing a little fever, I decided to call my doctor and set up an appointment. Although there's not much to be done, he just wants to make sure I'm not having a bad allergic reaction and I might get a cortisone shot and/or some prescription strength cream. Frankly, I'd love to just sit in a huge vat of mentholated oatmeal.

I feel like shouting.

Heat beating

I know, I know, I very recently lamented about not being able to write freely about whatever, but I've been so busy that I haven't had a moment to reflect. Truly. So, par the course, I'll say it with photos.

A few weekends ago, mum treated KMHD, ATM & myself to some island camping on Lake Ouachita. We met her, Larry, and our step-brother Paul somewhere in Garland County, at a campground reserved for military families. Anyway, because we were racing the sun, as soon as we got there we piled all our gear into the boat and Larry dropped us off on an island a few miles away. We got set up long before the sun set, so we were able to mill around & half-ass explore our little patch of land.

You cannot photograph big sky. I mean, you can try.

A long time measured here.

In retrospect, it's a little alarming that we were stranded & couldn't get off the island if we wanted, but, too, I also know that there isn't anything to really worry about out there. Even though we were having a good time, not being able to swim due to really rough waters deducted from the ultimate bitchin' time. It had gotten really hot and no one wanted to get into the water, so by the time our ride came around to pick us up, we were ready to go. After camping, we drove into Hot Springs to eat at Taco Mama's, owned by the same folks at Cafe 1217. This place was really...can I use the word 'progressive'? They had house-made everything, Mexican Cokes, and the building itself was awesome, decorated with a lot of reused lumber, just to name a few things. There are pockets of awesomeness in Hot Springs, you just have to do some exploring. It is really adding to my excitement of being a business owner and part-time resident there. I can't wait! It's really inspiring me to kick it into high gear and get this done sooner than later.

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We spent Memorial Day weekend not going to Riverfest, attending David & Kelly's wedding, and then there was a quick jaunt to Memphis.

It was most excellent to see that many friends, showered & dressed to the nines, assembled in one place. I can't tell you how many sideways hugs I gave. I mean, what we should do next time is everyone line up Soul Train-style so we can either hug, high five, low five, or dance down the line and get it done in one go. Organization! Maybe I'll make that arrangement at our get up?

Cheers to the very happy couple!

O.K., I see Suzi, Scott, Sonya, Jeremy & ATM:

Brandon, Mariella, KMHD:

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We didn't have a plan for Memphis other than to just be there and not in LR/NLR. We ate, walked around & looked at stuff, had drinks. I regret to report that we had THE worst food experiences while there. I had scoped out a new restaurant online that I felt we had to try. They got 50/50 good and bad reviews, so I just wrote off the bad ones as finicky diners. By all appearances, Au Fond Farm Table should have been one of my favorite restaurants ever, but it was pretty damn bad. Service was o.k., but the food was grodimus maximus. Look for yourself:

First, I didn't get the egg scramble that I ordered. It had celery in it! In my opinion, a scramble shouldn't have celery, even as garnish. Second, the accompanying potatoes were burned and oily and I can't believe they served them to us! And I can't believe we didn't send them back! [Were we complete zombies or what, ATM?] ATM remarked that their biscuits tasted like they were left out for a few days rendering them dry and choky. They were only edible if you drowned them in the weird gravy. It was horrible! What the hell, Au Fond? I really really hate that the only nice thing I can say is that their place looked like a place that served really great foodstuff.

BUST

What's a visit to Memphis w/o stopping by the House of Mews?

And Goner Records:

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Last week, an attorney gave me $50 in gift certificates to Red Lobster for doing him a solid. Well. It had been decades since I'd been to 'the Lobster', so I was strangely excited by this little adventure. I suppose it's because we don't usually go to the major big chains for dinner. I once heard that RL is the highest grossing restaurant in North Little Rock, so I was curious about the vibe, the other patrons, and the food itself. Right. So, we go and the hostess seats us right where we can keep an eye on the car! (A hilarious inside joke!)

Here's what you came to see:

The food was o.k./average. It wasn't difficult to be completely repulsed, though. The shrimp, the lobster, the steak -- they looked perfect. Like plastic. Like molded mass-produced plastic perfection. And it makes you wonder about how disgusting the restaurant industry and their food suppliers are. What the hell did they do to that food to make it look so abnormal?! We spent well over $50, so we also realized that maybe most people don't even realize that they can pay that kind of money at a really nice restaurant with quality food? You know, food that doesn't have what I suspect to be lasered on grill marks. I'm certain it'll be another couple of decades before I go back. Live without.
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Keiko, Leigh's ghost, and Heather. I love them.










Sigh.


Hot air balloons:


I'M READY!