so much to say

i am just bursting with information today, but i'll try to save some of it for later posts. susanne sent me a story this morning, "eight places every woman should go..." turns out i've already been to one (volcanoes in hawaii, pictured) and i'm headed to another (benin, can you believe it?) so i might as well add the other 6 to my list. though i think i'll replace the belly dancing trip with the camino de santiago in spain. shoot. you can belly dance in federal hill. also, have you noticed the birds chirping lately? and the geese flying north? knowing that spring is around the bend puts me in the best mood.

4th annual w&c

this past friday marked the fourth (and perhaps final?) annual wine & cheese celebration. pictured are your lovely hostesses for the evening: anne marie, me and paige. gosh, i'm going to miss these ladies. and i hear the cheese in africa is not so tasty, but maybe i'll luck out living in a former french colony.

peeps came from far and wide to attend what has become baltimore's finest tradition. robin drove up from dc with her beau matthew... fellow johnies everett, peter (ever loyal blog reader) and camille (all pictured) drove up from annapolis. adam came from catonsville and megan walked from light street. plus 30-40 of our closest friends.

it was especially fun to have our various groups of friends mix. farhan commented that within my groups of friends, people already feel like they know one another even before meeting, either from my blog or just because i always talk to my friends about other friends as if they've already met. what can i say... my friends are my best asset.

another one bites the dust

several weeks ago i was due for a haircut. as i sat in my chair at the salon, hair wet, my stylist looked at me in the mirror and said, "last time i cut your hair, wasn't your boyfriend coming in from vermont for your birthday? how'd that go?" i laughed (because i can laugh about it now) and said, "oh, he came back... and broke up with me." then my own words started to sink in to my brain and a panic swept over me as inches of hair fell to the floor. i thought to myself, 'bob has been out of town for a month. he's coming back this weekend. i'm getting my hair cut. crap. what if this means we'll break up?' i called my ex on the way home, told him what the stylist had said and my resulting panic... he laughed and said, "you are a riot." i gave a nervous laugh and said, "i know..."

and now i'm single. i did get a good haircut, though.

i heart city life

i was at metro last night and this girl walked in, probably about my age, with an older lady. they actually fell into the bar. susanne went up to them to take their orders, but she couldn't even understand what they were saying because they were so drunk. she got the owner and told him she wouldn't serve them and that he needed to handle the situation, but he took their order and served them instead. the girl then spilled her drink on the table and started lapping it up. gross. she then tried to order another drink, but susanne said they couldn't serve her any more because she'd had enough to drink. the girl started yelling, "then i'm going to steal this glass. i was already going to, but now i'm really going to." then she fell. again. then started crying about the war in iraq. then a jack johnson song came on and she started dancing all over the bar... clicking her heals on the floor. i couldn't tell if she was going for spanish sevillanas or river dance. but she fell a few more times. then we found out that the older lady, who is legally blind, had no clue who the girl was. she was drunk too, but one of the regulars, tom, knew her and took her back to her place (which was right across the street). meanwhile the drunk girl was running around in the street and falling down and several people from metro were trying to help her find her home, but we resorted to calling the cops because she was just such a mess. so then there were like 6 of us holding her down because she kept running away, then kicking and hitting and biting. she also kept screaming "fire!" susanne risked her teeth by taking off the girl's shoes. the girl then told me she had intended to rob the old lady. what? this was the second time she mentioned stealing stuff. i think we called the cops 3 times before anyone showed up. gotta love the city. they said we caught them on a "shift change." good thing no one was shot on the "shift change." the girl kicked one of the cops. they then walked her home, which was like 5 doors down. ridiculous! all on a sunday night.

snow angels

nothing cheers me up like carolyn's molly wearing a down vest and making snow angels. dogs are so simple and happy. (and yes, i'm putting off the inevitable break-up post.)

plagiarizing

i was about to write up a post, when i got my church's weekly newsletter in my email. it's worth a read:

There is much study of Lincoln today and a dissecting of his personality and health but whatever the findings and conclusion Lincoln ’s place in history is secure. Great leaders like all people have flaws. Luther was quite possibly bi-polar and he certainly was, as most people in the 16th century were, anti-Semitic. St. Augustine was a womanizer. St. Peter had a temper. Winston Churchill if not an alcoholic was certainly alcohol dependent. All of which simply illustrates a truth: that all people have problems and issues and are sinners in need of grace. Great people are not exceptions and neither are we but we can still admire their greatness and celebrate their accomplishments.

What is amazing is how God raises up the most unlikely people such as the gangly country lawyer, Lincoln, to lead a great cause and to set people free. Some leaders rise to great historical events and others through lack of insight, courage or will fall beneath the burden and are judged failures.

i'll write my own thoughts tomorrow... i think i need another day or two to process them anyway. happy b-day lincoln.

boss brownie points

okay, so nobody loves their boss, even if they like him fine, but mine got 3 brownie points yesterday.

1) he let me testify before the house ways & means committee on hb 47, exempting local gov'ts from 50% of the diesel motor fuel tax when purchasing biodiesel. when the chairman called my name, fred leaned over and said "go get 'em, tiger." and i did. it was awesome.

2) he took me to a really yummy french restaurant for lunch. i had the mahi mahi.

3) he checked the air pressure on my tires after i mentioned they looked a little low. low indeed! they were at 15!! i was like, "is that bad? i'll fix it sometime this next week" (knowing i'd have to find a guy friend to show me how). fred said, "you got your keys? get in the car." and we drove to a service station where i got my first lesson on how to air my tires. i was soooo grateful this morning as i drove past someone with a blown-out tire. that could have been me!

life's like frog

the frog is a simple yoga position to get into, but a difficult one to hold (especially when you modify it the way we did in class friday. ouch!)

my life right now is like practicing yoga. you get into these positions and they're uncomfortable and they stretch you to the limit, and you feel like you can't hold it any more, but you practice patience knowing you really can hold it even if you don't feel like you can, and knowing that you'll feel stronger, more open and more fluid because of it, even if you are sore the next day or two. so you concentrate on your breathing, clearing your head, centering your focus, and you find this unusual peace supporting you from the inside out. your core strengthened, you're ready for the next challenge. i think this is similar to what reinhold niebuhr meant in the serenity prayer when he described hardships as the pathway to peace.

"super bowl" party

good ole mollie blessed the east coast with her presence this weekend. i haven't seen molls since my trip to denver in september, and it's been about as long since i've seen rachel (fellow magnolia cupcake). farhan, of course, i see all too often. but not too, too often. the four of us got together at metro last night, oh... and the game was on in the background somewhere. somebody won. and there was prince. but mostly, there were good friends.

yoga

i'm going to *hot* yoga tonight, which i've grown to love this past month. the room is lit by candles and glowing space heaters that keep the room at a cozy 90 degrees. awesome. and though last week was only my 3rd class at this particular studio, i was able to pull off the move pictured here... though i doubt my face looked that calm.