june 30

@ 4p | 2 cents...

We had a wonderful time in Savannah and took lots of great photos (some of which will be posted soon!) Todd left on Saturday and although we enjoyed his visit, I am happy to have the place just to ourselves again.

We have no plans for the 4th of July since we are going to NY in less than two weeks. Tonight, we are meeting some friends for drinks to say farewell to a co-worker of mine who is heading for greener pastures. I plan on watching a lot of tennis, catching up on some illustration work, and relaxing for the rest of the short week.

june 25

@ 11a | 2 cents...

This or That Tuesday

1. Surf sites at random, or have a set list of regular reads? I have a very organized list of favorite blogs, comics and news sites that I visit.
2. Do you visit mostly blogs, or news or other sites? Variety.
3. Do you go online every day, or just a couple of days a week? I go online every weekday, but not often on the weekend.
4. Do you allow comments on your blog, or not? No comments, but you can email me anytime.
5. Do you shop online at all, or at regular stores? Both. It completely depends on price.
6. Have you ever done online bill-paying/banking, or not? Eric takes care of all that, but he does most of that stuff online.
7. Which news site do you prefer... MSNBC.com or CNN.com? Or do you prefer some other one? MSNBC, although I get emailed breaking news updates from CNN.
8. Live chat rooms, or message boards? Neither.
9. Instant messaging or e-mail? Both.
10. Yes or no: have you ever met, or at least talked on the phone with, another blogger? If not, would you want to? Why or why not? I've tried, but scheduling hasn't quite worked out in the past. I wouldn't mind meeting up with some of the people I talk with online.

Even though I was completely exhausted after that pastel class, something happened that made me realize I would do it again. First off, we played Pictionary for the last half hour on Friday and the kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave. Then, as everyone was walking out, two of the girls came back to give me a hug. I will never doubt the healing power of a hug again. :)

We got Eric's car window fixed on Monday and it looks a tad strange because it's the only window not tinted, but we'll live with it.

Last night we went to a local pub for some wonderful jazz music with a few friends. This place is right down the street from us and the music was so good, we are definitely making a few encore visits.

Tonight, I will be scrapbooking at a friend's house. I have been meaning to start a "southern cities" scrapbook of our vacations to New Orleans, Asheville, Charleston and Savannah. I'd like to return to Chattanooga (I dropped my old camera and hurt my car the last time we were there in 2000) and visit Birmingham to complete our southern photo tour. Hear that, honey? :)

Todd asked if we could go to Savannah while he's here for the week and we said, "Sure, why not?" ...more photos for the scrapbook!

june 20

@ 1p | 2 cents...

We had a great time last night enjoying wine and dinner with some friends. Unfortunately, early this morning, we were woken up by the police because some idiot broke into Eric's car. Of course, they found nothing, because we don't leave the faceplate under the seat or in the glovebox... but that doesn't change the fact that now we have to fork over $150 to get the window fixed. I cannot WAIT to get the hell out of this town sometimes. To make matters worse, we went home for lunch and found Goldie (our pet goldfish) lying on the deck. Is this day over yet?

Regarding the pastel class, I made it through an awful first day and came back with a revamped plan and additude on Tuesday. Some of the kids are great, some don't want to be there and would prefer to just sit around and some yell and throw things. I can't say at this point whether I would do this again... but at least no day thus far was as bad as that first day.

june 16

@ 10a | 2 cents...

My pastel class starts today and after a few hours of planning and searching for pictures yesterday, I feel prepared. I know I'll relax more after the first class is over. The hardest part is never having done this before, I have NO idea what to expect from the kids.

Eric and I have decided on a new theme for the front page, so hopefully I'll be able to work on it this week before (our friend) Todd gets here, otherwise it will have to wait until July, I'm afraid. Meanwhile, we have plenty of other things to keep me occupied...

june 6

@ 4p | 2 cents...

Eric and I have been wanting to return to Seattle for a few years now. We were both there in 1997 (him in the summer, me in the fall) before we starting dating. A few weeks ago, I started keeping track of flight prices from Atlanta and we decided that if it drops below $300 per ticket, we should consider planning a trip. Upon checking my NY flight info today, I noticed the ticket price had dropped almost in half... so, we are now booked on a flight to Seattle to visit friends, etc. this August for a mere $350. I still can't believe it!

june 2

@ 11p | 2 cents...

We saw two movies this weekend... The Matrix: Reloaded on Saturday and Swimming last night. I thought the first half of the Matrix was boring with way too many useless dialogues between characters. I was relieved by the end of the movie that the action picked up and I only hope that the third installment is better edited.

Swimming is a slow-paced, tender story of a girl coming of age in Myrtle Beach, SC. I cannot say enough good things about Lauren Ambrose! We don't have any cable movie channels, so I've never seen Six Feet Under, but boy, can she act in this movie. It's not your typical Hollywood fare, but after The Matrix I was ready for a plot-driven movie.

I had a very lucid dream last night that I was on a plane to Brussels (of all places). My dream carried me through the Atlanta airport, the plane trip and arriving in Brussels. Then, I experienced my first two days in Belgium before waking this morning. I remember various travelers on the plane wishing they had a planned a stopover in New York City. After a little research, I discovered you can, in fact, fly both direct from here to Brussels on Delta for about $900 or you can elect to make a stop over in NYC. Weird.

Last week I added some photos to our botanical garden pages. February 2003 and April 2003 are now available for viewing.