Oh, New Orleans

Although I miss New Orleans already, Johnny made roast beef po-boys for dinner last night. It's like a little bit of Nola followed us home.
Here's the slideshow from our wonderful trip to New Orleans. We had a ball.



Here is the link, too.

Siftables

Watching this video made me feel simultaneously young and old. We really are just at the beginning of our potential for technology and everyday tools.

What do you think about Siftables?

Just after she made her wish

Mary B. turned 26 last night, so we celebrated with carrot cake and New Orleans-inspired cocktails. Johnny made the cake, which called for dehydrating carrot dust to sprinkle on top. And, come to think of it, he also made the cocktails, which consisted of pear slices in clementine vodka and champagne.
Happy birthday, Mary B!

Get out the snowboots

The weather guys are predicting two to four inches of snow tonight and a little more tomorrow. That's no big deal, compared to the snow they get in, say, Utah. But in Brooklyn, where the white dogs' tummies only hover a few inches from the sidewalk, that's Big Snow.

Here are some pics from the last "snowstorm."

The soundtrack in my head

All morning, I was singing "Hey hey hey, goodbye."

Then the Emperor's theme from Star Wars played briefly, right around 11:30 or so.

Suddenly, at noon, I noticed that "The Lord of the Dance" was playing in Obama's inauguration. The skies cleared, and I've been humming a happier song since then.

An anniversary of note

I can't remember not knowing Sue. She started dating my uncle sometime after I was born, but for me, she's just always been in the family. At Christmas or Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house, you could always tell when she was at the party because she was constantly letting loose with one of her signature belly laughs or saying, "CHUCK!" with the utmost exasperation in her voice. Being a stubborn Butler with a mischievous streak a mile wide, my Uncle Chuck usually deserved her admonishment.

After two decades of flirting, Chuck and Sue finally decided to get married on New Year's Eve. The got hitched at a friend's house in Key West, and today is their two-week anniversary. Having Sue officially join the family makes me prouder of our little clan, and I couldn't be happier for the two of them.

Cheers to both of them!

It's barely even January

I'm going to put my Christmas decorations away soon, I swear. Before January ends... no, before Mary B. gets here! Any minute now...

Watch for flying tomes

Wow. Tethered was fun! I reached the last sentence of the book and literally threw it across the room. I wasn't sure what had happened, and the lack of resolution irked me because I cared about the characters. (It might have been problematic to try to watch 24 and The Golden Globes while I finished the last 10 pages.

But around 4 a.m., I woke up thinking about the story, and the pieces fell into place. I sighed with relief. Now that's a good story.