Keeping Up With The Cohens

Hogwarts at Starbucks

And here are the pictures... From left to right, above, Hermione, Professor Snape, Ginny Weasley in full Quidditch gear, Mrs. Weasley (yours truly) and Luna. We had a ball and got lots of comments about our costumes. I don't have a photo of the girl who was Bellatrix Lestrange, but I hope to have one soon. Meanwhile, here are some more photos. Captions are under the pics.

Here's the wonderful Hagrid with me and Hermione. And yes, he really is THAT tall!

This is a great example of two extremes: Hagrid is that tall and Hermione is that petite!

Here is Professor Snape, looking as dour as ever. (My friend, Jimmy, was the impetus behind this dress up. He is very much in character and loves the books and movies. His interest in all things Potter is infectious!)

And last but not least, here's me with my "daughter," Ginny. We had such a blast and I'm so glad we did this. I haven't dressed up in years in a real costume, so it was way fun!

An Afternoon With the Girls

Monday was a GLORIOUS day here in East Tennessee. Bright and sunshiny and in the low 80s. My friends Misti (left) and Trista (middle) and I had the afternoon off, so we went to lunch at a terrific Mexican place in Trista's neighborhood. And a bonus was being able to go in Misti's Jeep... with the top off! What a way to travel!

Misti and Trista are fairly new friends whom I already feel like I have known forever. We always have a great time together, laughing and chatting. I think I am getting to that point you get to in a new place when it finally begins to feel like home. And having friends like Misti and Trista contribute greatly to that feeling for me.

Misti and Trista, I'm so happy we met and are friends!

Book Meme

My friend Tim just did a meme that I thought was cool. Here are the directions:

• Grab the nearest book.

• Open it to page 56.
• 
Find the fifth sentence.

• Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.


Here's my sentence:

"For the first time, I regretted not accepting Kith's offer of a riding horse."

It's from "The Hob's Bargain," by Patricia Briggs. It's my favorite genre for reading, fantasy/fiction. I love the sheer escapism of reading about worlds where vampires and wherewolves exist. Patricia Briggs has a series of books with a heroine named Mercy Thompson, and I love them. "The Hob's Bargain" is a one-off for Patricia Briggs, but it was still fun. I'm also into Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books, and I want to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris (I love the HBO series True Blood!).

What are you reading lately?

What's a Trillion Dollars? I Mean, Really?!

One of the guys I work with, Rob, has written a book that just got written up by CNN. Click here for the story. The website that we did (at Tombras) to support his book is really cool. If you want to go on that trillion-dollar shopping spree, click here.

Rob poses the question: What ELSE could we have done with the trillion dollars spent on the Iraq war? It's an intriguing question, and infuriating.

Pumpkins!

Check out this great photo from my friend Kelly, of her two daughters, Allison and Sydney, at the pumpkin patch. They look like they're having a blast, and I can imagine the crisp Fall day they are enjoying in the West Los Angeles area.

How about you? Are you going pumpkin hunting? Are you carving pumpkins for Halloween?

Fun with Marc & Becca

Bradley and I have a couple of WONDERFUL friends we met through my work. Becca and Marc are "good people," as they say, and we love them. They made the trek up to La Follette last night to have dinner and visit. We had a blast. We played Rock Band until we couldn't play any more and it was past the point of good sense for them to leave and get home at a reasonable hour (it's an hour drive for them). But it was SOOOO fun! Becca totally rocked on the drums (which are HARD) and Marc was working it on the bass. Bradley kicked it on guitar, and me, with my Debbie Reynolds voice, tried to growl along to Bon Jovi and Boston. Good times!

And who knew Becca was so interested in trucks?!?

She BEGGED Bradley to show her the truck, and talk truck with her. He was happy to oblige. Here are Marc and Becca, our new trucker couple!

And here's Marc, enjoying the heck out of this.

Marc and Becca, thank you AGAIN for coming over, and don't forget... that house next door is still for sale!

Vote!

Check this out! That's my friend, Bud, enjoying the Klondike bar in the first part of the commercial. Please vote for it and leave a comment. Our friend Brian directed it (I think, or produced it), and it would be great if they won. Please vote for them and leave a comment!

Happy Birthday, Becca!

My friend Becca is having a milestone birthday today. I was fortunate to have been able to help celebrate at the surprise party that Becca's husband Marc and her sister, mother and father were able to pull on her. Here are the photos.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BECCA!

Here's the Birthday Queen with her mom Barbara and sister Laura.

Becca's husband Marc held forth on the grill.

Laura's husband John got a leetle too close to Marc's spatula...

Marc channeling the karate kid.

Here I am with Becca and a few of the ladies from Tombras: Valerie on the left and Kym in the middle. We are wearing "party passes" that Laura made for everyone. They were such a hoot, and had pictures of Becca from throughout her life. What a great idea! 

Here's a bit of trivia for you... Becca and I worked at Tombras and became friends. We then found out that Becca's mom & dad live across the street from Patrick's aunt and uncle, Paula and John, and their family has known Patrick for years! What a small world!

Help Needed

Many of you know, or know of, my good friend, Melise, in Los Angeles. She found out she is about to be laid off, and she's in the market for a new job. She needs to find one soon, as she's a single mom of two adorable boys, and she has a mortgage, groceries, clothes, etc. that she has to pay for.

Here's what she says about herself and what she's looking for:

"I have really good InDesign skills, can do quite a bit in Photoshop, and am really good at all of the standard "office-y" kind of categories out there...word processing, databases, spreadsheets, etc. The areas that I need work on are Flash and Illustrator. But, I am really good at picking up computer programs."

Right now Melise is doing marketing for an architecture firm, but I know she's very versatile and could be great in a design or ad agency, too. She'd also be a kick-ass office manager, I think.

So if you can help out with a lead, or even a word of encouragement, or a positive thought, that would help Melise out a ton. She's had a very tough year, and this is just the last in a string of blows. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I know she'd appreciate it!

Sunday Afternoon at Ed & Mary's

As I mentioned in previous posts, we met our neighbor Ed at the closing, and his wife Mari called and invited us to a barbecue yesterday. We headed over about 3:15, after unloading one more bunch of boxes and miscellaneous crap at the house.

We have some great new friends.

We talked and laughed with Ed & Mari for 4 hours, about life in La Follette, where we came from, home repairs... you name it. And, they barbecued brats and burgers for us, and we sat out on their deck. With THIS view:


I kid you not. Can you imagine waking up to this every morning?

We opted not to go out on their boat, since Bradley had to leave at 8PM to get down past Atlanta for a delivery this morning. Instead, we spent a delightful time chit-chatting and getting to know our new neighbors. We LOVE them, and can't wait to have them over to the house for a barbecue. They are both retired police officers from Detroit, and they've been in La Follette for about 7 years. They were full of good information about our new town, including the exciting news that there's a SKATE PARK! Patrick was very excited when he heard this. Very good news, and proof that we're not moving to the end of the universe.

This morning, Memorial Day morning, I'm having my coffee and bagel, writing this, and preparing myself for one last load of miscellaneous. I'm going to spend the day doing a few chores at the house, including scrubbing down the fronts of the kitchen cabinets. I might even see if Hall's Salvage is open and try to replace the drawer pulls in the kitchen.

Bradley is due home tonight, and this week, we are in the home stretch with the move. Bradley has to deal with Patrick's old school, Patrick's new school, and the movers. I still have to call a few utility companies to get them to cancel our service at the apartment. Then, I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and off on Friday to get started unpacking. We're hoping Bradley can stay home this coming weekend, too.

We want to have Ed & Mary over for a cookout. Maybe a few others too, depending on our level of exhaustion!