The days are just packed

and now for something completely different.

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:25:29 GMT

So it's 4:20 (no, seriously) and we're now just waiting for the 7 o clock hour when we can go to the airport. With all the crazy Nigerians blowing shit up on planes, we thought it might be a good idea to allow more time at the airport today. Damn Nigerians.

We loaded approximately 800 pens into 2 boxes that we'll give away at the Kantchari school sometime the 2nd week we are there and I'm sure we'll have leftovers to give to other kids along the way.

6 of the 8 suitcases/duffle bags/boxes we have are full of stuff we're giving to people when we arrive. So by day 4, we'll have about 80% less STUFF than when we arrived, which is great because these bags are heavy.

I'm excited to go, a little nervous but mostly for the bathroom thing which I discussed in an earlier post. And scorpions. Little fuckers, if they come anywhere near me they will have to endure my girlish screams as I run away.

Excited mostly to bring back photos of the plces we go and the things we see. I bought a new zoom lens for the trip and have armed myself with ziplock bags to protect my gear from the dust that's everywhere. I know it'll be hard but I'll be diligent and get my camera and lenses detailed like a fine automobile when I get home.

Happy New year everyone

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:11:28 GMT

Christmas came and went and it was a pretty good time all around. On the 23rd I picked Matt up after a stressful day at work, trying to tie up loose ends while my co-workers freaked out because I'm not going to be there for 3 weeks.

The weather Wednesday night was- in a word - icy. Makes for fun photos though...too bad I didn't have much of a steady hand because I was shivering.

I like this thwack picture of my brother throwing snow at the building. Though I wish is wasn't so fuzzy.

Thursday we had christmas at my grandparents' house with my gramma who, once again, rebounded from a terrible illness and looks great. That woman is made of steel, I swear. Here she is with her first great-grandchild.

And she's got 2 more on the way:

I could try to explain the tradition behind this picture but let me just state that it's catholic and leave it at that. It's a nice tradition, though I think outsiders come in to our family and think we're nuts. We might be.

I love that my grammpa never stops talking, even when having his picture taken.

Christmas Day it was back to The Region for party at our other gramma's house.

Dinner was huge and Dave fell asleep....I like this little series:
ZZZZZZZ

snort

huh?

We do what we call "slum" pictures although I'm not sure where that term came from. It involves everyone cramming in front of a camera with a timer for a photo. Though in this age, it's cameraS (plural) and we get real fancy with tripods made of living room furniture so the whole thing takes much longer.

Finally, my favorite picture of the whole holiday...my gramma's antique silver set, all clean and ready to be put away.

Possible cake wreck ahead

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:20:52 GMT

Saturday we're headed to Mishawaka for a large birthday party for my mother in law and since the woman cooks her butt off every single time anyone comes over, I insisted she NOT make her own birthday cake.

Also, she loves the term "happy feet".

WAY before the little penguin movie came out. She gets excited by the littlest things (it's cute, really) and dances around and says "I've got happy feet!". So that penguin movie was MADE for her. So she often puts little penguin stickers on cards...and I just associate her with penguins now.

That sounded weird.

So anyway, I browsed cakes today and came across this gem from the queen of making things difficult: Martha Stewart.

As if it doesn't look hard enough to make - IT'S FILLED WITH ICE CREAM

Yeah no, I'm not making an ice cream cake. I am, however making an igloo cake complete with marzipan penguins. And no I've never worked with marzipan in my life. In fact, it was really difficult to find.

So, tomorrow after work I will attempt to make as many little penguins as I can with the 11 ounce can I got. Hopefully they will look something like these:

However, they will for sure not look anything like these, because they are amazing and I don't even understand how she/he made them.

So I could very well be posting a cake wreck of my own here sometime soon. Stay tuned.

saturday

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:24:59 GMT

Taking expired sinus headache medicine all day won't make your headache better - just so you know.

I video chatted with Dave today. He's in Rio having a fabulous weekend in a great location. Jealous = me.

We both seem to be suffering from colds/allergies or something at the same time, even though we're on separate continents.

Tomorrow I'm shooting my cousin's informal wedding reception which should be really easy and boring. The real fun will be photographing my other cousin's baby after wards. New territory - I'm very excited. Also, both of my pregnant cousins have asked me to do pregnancy photos of them which will be really cool to add to my portfolio.

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:51:52 GMT

Apologies in advance for the hyperlinks but I'm not going to post this woman's photographs on my blog .

I was just staring at the cover of Time - Jill Greenberg's photograph of Glen Beck and I have such mixed emotions about that woman's work...it kills me. For one, ok she's got this style that is distinct. Even if you only casually observe photography, you probably know her series of crying kids 1) because it was "controversial".and 2) because the photographs have a very unique ...uhh...shine, let's call it. You can see a piece of her work (ok I can) and identify her as the artist a mile away. Man, that's what it's all about. Having a style so unique you own it 100%.

It's off putting to me to see human skin so un-natural and it almost grosses me out . But at the very moment I'm disgusted by it, I love it because she's making me feel something for her work. Even if it's negative, so what? She's making me feel something that makes me want to keep looking and that's the point of art.

As far as the controversial aspect of some of her other work, I'm not sure of her intent so I can't decide if I'm proud of her or just think she's a moron. If she does shit like this with the full intent of just being an rebel and making her "statement" then I'm bored by it and I'd say she missed the mark. All that editing is so hacky and...I'll say it - BAD. People on fark do a better job using photoshop. I think slapping all that shit together cheapens her already powerful work and it's totally unnecessary. I know she just posted it on her blog but WHY would she DO THAT to her work? In any setting?

If she wants to gain recognition with shock value, the crying kids pictures were the way to do it. It's clever and subtle shock value - which sounds totally impossible but she did it. So what if we all think it was mean? It was an idea, she set it up and pulled it off. The negative issue of taking candy from a baby is so benign it gets lost in the weight that photo technique carries. She won.

But then with this Glen Beck thing. She had to do this.
I get it. Glen Beck's a cry baby. And you're known for your cry baby work. And YAWN oh I'm sorry I dozed off. Don't get me wrong, Glen Beck IS a cry baby. But did she have to drive it into our skulls with a rail road spike? It's not clever. She could have drawn the parallel any number of different ways that weren't just a blatant adult sized re-do.

I'm so glad someone at Time had a brain and didn't put it on the cover.

Ooompa OOmpa

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:35:44 GMT

Oh yeah and speaking of Indy, we were just there this weekend for Oktoberfest. Dave's brother-in-law and several of his friends brew beer.

I made those labels. I enjoy drawing funky fonts. The title of this one made me laugh: Fette Fraktur. Sounds like something you'd yell - FETTE FRAKTUR!!!

This year there were 4 different kids. Plus lots of german food that I ate far far far too much of. (and lots of "balls" jokes)

Anyway, one of them had an adorable dog that enjoyed playing frisbee with me and frankly, I'd love to steal him. It was a well behaved dog to boot.

Dave bought some new sunglasses that I am jealous of.

Our graciously costumed hosts:

Costumes have way of making anything you do funnier:

yeah ok enough of that. Here's an embarrassing one of me. Dave was attempting to drag me up the stairs to bed. I didn't need dragging by the way. All he was able to do was knock me down and drag me down a few steps. But he tried.

I didn't sign up for this hard stuff.

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:08:56 GMT

OK so here goes Colleen spilling her guts. Dave and I have both wanted to leave Chicago for a while now. There are many reasons: taxes, high cost of living, parking (or lack thereof), the awful fucking weather and the overall high price of housing. We're just done. Change of scenery please!

But as much as I know it's not a decision we have to make yet, I know it'll be something we'll start deciding by Feb 2010. The impending decision weighs heavy on my mind. REALLY heavy. We're considering Austin, Nashville and yeah ok Indy. It's on the list.

Austin and Nashville have warmer weather. One clearly more warm than the other. They all have reasonable housing costs, low crime, are large/interesting enough cities to keep us happy AND have ample parking. Only Indy doesn't have the warm weather. It's not AS bad as Chicago but it still gets cold. So why am I still allowing Indy to be in the mix? Because I have this fear of living so far from family once I have kids.

That surprises even me. I have always been pretty self sufficient and I'm pretty sure I'd be ok with just the 2 of us raising our kids but I can recognize it would be more difficult with NO family nearby. It would be nice to be a short drive (3 hours) from my family. Plus, in Indy, we'd be minutes from his sister, several of his friends and other people we know very well through his sister. In those other 2 cities? We know one couple in each city, essentially. That's it.

So it's a big fat deal and it bothers me. We're visiting Austin in October, Nashville in November and we go to Indy all the damn time. So it's not that we aren't doing our research. Maybe after November I'll feel better once I've seen all 3 as well as I can. Who knows.

The weather is the HUGE deciding factor. I have this DAMN reynaud's thing that makes the cold unbearable - i.e. my fingers and toes go completely numb and useless. Plus the older I get the worse my asthma gets and the cold makes me wheeze like a fat guy on a treadmill.

I know in this city I'm outside a lot for commuting and that wouldn't be the case in a city like Indy or Nashville. I will not be living in a city with this kind of public transit ever again and that's ok - I'll be car dependent. But still, I hate the cold. HATE!!!!!

However, is it really smart or fair to choose a city based solely on weather? Isn't that pretty selfish of me/us? I'd deny my kids the opportunity to have a close relationship with our families because I want to be warm? Isn't that selfish? I knew my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...etc really well growing up and I wouldn't change that for the world. I know plenty of people grow up with family across the country or world and turn out fine but just knowing what it gave me, I really would feel terrible depriving my kids of what I had in that regard.

PS - I think I'm an adult now.

3 weeks of neglect

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:14:00 GMT

I stink at posting lately, don't I?

OK I'll try to be better. Promise.

I flew to Miami for a bachelorette party with a bunch of girls that I don't know (well, DIDN'T know) that all live in Austin. OK I knew one girl - the one who is getting married. While it was a fun time, South Beach Miami is the frumunda cheese of America's Wang (Florida). It's really dirty, everyone's rude and I'm pretty sure someone passed out bedazzlers to the entire population with a lifetime supply of gems. The "shopping" was a mix of expensive name brand stores, slutty clothing covered in sequins and those shady electronic stores where everything is clearly fake or stolen. Every single guy wears their shirt in that "one too many buttons undone" fashion that makes them look greasy. Even at 2 pm. The entire town doesn't believe in lines or manner. People cut in front of you, step on you, ram into you on sidewalks...after 3 days of it, I started to think it was some sick joke on all of us.

However, it was not altogether awful. We had fun at the beach and at the outrageously expensive and tacky nightclub we did go to. But by Monday, I was SO ready to leave.

The next weekend I was the maid of honor in Abbie's wedding. THAT was fun. She had a really nice wedding at a church that doesn't hate gay people and it didn't take an hour so I can't complain at all. For all you nerds out there, they had a lego cake - and the groom made the topper.

My husband fell in love with Abbie's dad and I think he wants to be him when he grows up now. Which isn't so bad. At the end of the night, we noticed one guest passed out on a couch right outside of the hall and Dave wanted this shot, so I obliged:

yeah it's blurry. I was drunk. Shoot me.

Oh yeah, I dyed my hair red. It's fading now but I rather liked it. See:

Also, that was just an excuse to post a picture of Dave and I that I like.

School was pretty awful this past semester, which is partly to blame for this LJ neglect. I presented my final project Thursday and eh - it went ok. I did better at the pre-final. Good news: I start my LAST effing semester in little over 2 weeks.

This past weekend I actually got to do NOTHING for a while day and it was awesome. Sunday we went to a baptism for the very first great grandchild in our family.

Out of 13 cousins ranging in age from 35 to 18, the 24 year old had the first one. It's weird that she's a mom now. Oh and 2 more of those cousins are pregnant. I am NOT for the record. Nor do I plan to be. Just look at how Dave clearly gives babies a headache:

Seriously though - my womb remains vacant. I think seeing those girls all pregnant makes me realize how little time left I have to be NOT a mother. To drink if I want. To stay up till 3am if I want. To be a selfish prick if I want. This is coming to an end very soon, I can feel it approaching. I thank my cousins for illustrating this point to me so clearly. I need a beer.

Also, we booked our flights to AFRICA!!! Several grand later we have a flight to Ghana December 27th, and we won't come back till Jan 18th. I got a bunch of shots already but I need a few more before we go. Plus malaria drugs for like 7 weeks. The yellow fever shot is the worst. I've got nothing but warnings about making sure to NOT be pregnant when I get it or up to 2 months after I get it. I assumed it was because I'd have a flipper baby or something but no, turns out you just get a umm...dead baby. Which I'd prefer not to have. So I'll be unpregnant till after February. So there...now you all know what my doomsday clock is set to. tick tick tick people.

As far as Africa goes, I'm not so much worried about the scorpions, giardia, other intestinal parasites or stomach problems....it's the toilets I fear. The ones that are essentially a hole in the ground that you squat over. Not because it's different. It's because I can't imagine how I will NOT fall over onto the dirtiest floor I'll ever encounter in my life. For the record, the ones pictured on that site are MUCH more modern than the ones I'll be using. Picture dirt and a hole where dirt is missing. Surrounded by 3.5 walls. And possibly scorpions.

A word of caution

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:52:58 GMT

If anyone I know gets to this point, consider this an official warning from me: I will shake the shit out of you.

stolen from theamazingjosh

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:18:40 GMT

Let's start off with your name?
Mrs. Awesometastic

Do you go to tanning beds?
no

Do you drop your phone a lot?
no

When you meet someone you like, do you fall in love fast?
no

Have you held hands with anybody in the past week?
oh no, what have I stumbled into?

Could you go out in public looking like you do now?
I'm pretty sure I am out in public

Do you miss anyone from your past?
no

Do you hate anyone?
no, but I sure do dislike some people with a burning passion.

Anyone jealous of you or anything you have?
how am I supposed to know that?

Current mood?
distracted

Your phone rings what do you say?
At work: This is Colleen, any other phone: hello?

Are you shy?
no

Do you have older sisters?
no

Would you date your number one?
Number one as in my pee? is that even possible?

What is your favorite color?
it changes. right now, it's yellow

When's your birthday?
in the fall

If you were going to be on a tv show which one would it be on?
the one show where people win a million dollars for doing nothing

Are you imagining anyone naked right now?
well now that you mention it...

Ever had a near death experience?
well, near serious injury, yes.

How many piercings do you have?
2

Do you like rain?
no but grass seems to

What was the last thing that made you laugh?
dave

What does your newest text say?
something from my boss about being late

When did you last cry?
ummm...I don't know

Would you like to put last night on repeat, and live it forever?
god no

Do you still talk to the person who hurt you the most?
actually yes and he's damn lucky

How has your week been?
irritating

Do you have any plans for tomorrow?
putting labels on water bottles

What were you doing at 10:00 am?
it's 10am right now

What do you hear right now?
co-workers speaking spanglish

Do you turn the lights on as soon as you wake up?
no

Can you see any shoes from where you are sitting?
yes

Has anyone ever told you they love you?
god I feel bad for the person who answers no to this one

Would you ever live with anyone on your top friends?
This is so confusing I'm not sure I want to finish this survey.

Have you ever told someone of the opposite sex you loved them?
seriously considering quitting right now....

Does the future scare you?
no

How was last night?
frustrating

Who was the last person you cried in front of?
I don't remember

Is anything wrong right now?
I'm out of coffee

Are you short?
average

When's the last time you said you were fine, but really weren't?
I don't know, who knows that?

Do you think you have made anyone happy recently?
I think a whole room full of people were pretty happy for me recently.

Do you blow dry your hair?
yes

Do you drink coffee?
like a fiend

Day been rough?
not really

Has the opposite sex ever sang to you?
oh yes and my ears are still recovering

Do you currently have a hickey?
no

Are you starting to realize anything?
I started realizing I shouldn't have done this survey like 15 questions back.

Do you like Mexican food?
yeah

Is there anyone you want to come see you?
yeah but they all just did.

Has anybody ever told you that you have pretty eyes?
Yes

Ever given your all to someone who walked away?
Yes.

Is there someone you can't stop thinking about?
no

Who last made you laugh?
dave - didn't I already answer this?

What's the longest you've ever talked on the phone?
hours, probably when I was a teenager. Why do teens have to talk so much?

Would you rather sleep at a friend's or have them over?
either way.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:39:31 GMT

Not sure if ever posted about this but the place we got married had this HUGE effing painting up at the front. And there is something not very nice going on in it. Before I say anything

OK first off, they are NOT dancing. No one dances with a woman by holding both her wrists and wrenching her arms around. Where are they taking this poor woman? And why did everyone have to stare at it at our wedding? Well because it was there. I have no other information on it. But I do have an re-enactment:

Also, other funny photos from our wedding. I am not going to bore you with normal ones, just the fun ones:

If only someone had misspelled something on our cake. That would have made it perfect

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:28:37 GMT

So this funny.

Note: Rand Paul is Ron Paul's son. No relation to the guy who made guitars and died recently.

One thing I keep forgetting to talk about in my fish-out-of-water tales is how nice Desire is. I have seen glimmers of his country's very old world traditional roles for women and men and part of what that means is chivalry is not dead there. If I have a bag or a suitcase with me, he insists on carrying it for me. He opens doors, say "you first"...etc.

I think more then just Desire being a nice person, the entire country has a culture of being kind. I have noticed this in every man I've met from Brukina. (Well, ok I have not met any Burkinabe women so...) But the men are all very giving, welcoming. I forget the exact conversation but Dave said something about getting a shirt and Desire literally motioned that he'd give him the shirt off his back. No cliche there - like actually was going to take off his shirt and give him it. Dave laughed, it's not at all what he meant so of course he didn't take it. But that's just how he is - always willing to give.

Totally different topic, my class this semester has such a heavy workload, it is overwhelming. Just ONE of the projects is something that would normally have taken me an entire semester to do in the past but now I have to do it in addition to about 22 other projects. Also there's a HUGE kiss ass in that class that basically has her head up the teacher's butt for 3 hours twice a week. It's so pathetic and transparent. I wear headphones most of the time in class to avoid having to listen to her.

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:03:43 GMT

Dear Indiana,

Please hurry the F up and mail my marriage certificate to me so I can go to Miami for Labor Day.

Signed,
the idiot who booked a flight under her married name a little too soon.

In other news, we booked a flight to Nashville yesterday (for $69 each way thank you southwest airlines). We're going there in November to check out the area and neighborhoods for our eventual escape from Chicago. It's weird to think about moving away from here. I don't even know where to begin as far as going about learning about a new city in one weekend. We've gotta make an effort to get around to lots of places, for sure. So it's Austin in October and Nashville in November and then we have to make a decision. Sorry, all other US cities failed to make the cut.

Fish out of Water - the series

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:21:30 GMT

Tonight I got a lot of gems from Desire. His english is getting better and Dave is becoming a pro at translating. Though he does sometimes switch us up - he spoke to me in french a few times tonight and then stared at me like - well? Why aren't you responding?

The Cubs are back in town and the once quiet stadium next to his favorite place - MdDonald's - is now a hotbed of activity. Dave explained the game of baseball as we watched it on TV last night and I taught him "GO CUBS". Tonight we walked to a bar on Clark street and as we walked past the field, he noticed the score of 4 to 1 on the big marquee and said OH NO. He has only been here 2 weeks and already he's a Cubs fan. Tonight was a dose of what being a Cubs fan is really like - we sat at the german bar and watched them go from 4 to 1 to 12 to 1. Poor Desire was so upset they were losing. He claimed that it was his fault because he borrowed Dave's Cubs shirt and wore it today. Since it was his first time wearing a Cubs shirt, that must be why they're losing. See? He's a true Cubs fan: he's already come up with ridiculous superstitions to explain the Cubs poor performance.

At the bar, I showed him a picture of my cat. I told him about how I had to give Frank away and how I miss him. He said "You have Dave, a husband to satisfy you. Why do you need a cat?" That made me laugh.

He said he's noticed women here all have cats. I tried to explain that it's because they're easy to tale care of, they're allowed in most apartments and they're cute. He looked at me and shook his head. Cats do not serve man. So he doesn't know why we have them as pets. So I said "Do you have a pet?" Turns out he has a dog. I asked what its name was, he thought for a while then said "I don't remember." I learned that people don't have dogs for fun there, they own them for protection. The guard your house, all you have to do is feed it. So it's not like some family member you care about. In fact, he said his dog isn't neutered, he hadn't owned a male dog before so he didn't know if you don't neuter it, it'll run away and screw other dogs all day. That's not real helpful because then the damn dog's not watching your house. So he said he plans to get rid of it and get a new dog soon. I said "What will happen to your current dog?"

Apparently they eat dog there. Essentially, he'll be bringing over a casserole to a neighbor in the form of a dog that likes to hump girl dogs too much. Great.

I'm not eating any meat over there unless I'm damn sure it's not dog.

Also, we talked about ghosts. It's funny how everything we can't explain as humans is explained as either A) ghosts or B) God. He claims a lot of places are haunted in Burkina and he assured us we couldn't stay in those places when we come visit. We both said "No! We want to stay in the haunted places!" He was horrified. I asked - How? How is it haunted? How do you know? He said "Have you ever seen a house that no one lives in that just bursts into flames one day?" Yes, it's called an electrical short, arson or maybe it's the YEAR ROUND 100+ DEGREE HEAT YOU HAVE THERE!!!" No, it's ghosts.

Also, his dad was on a moped, a ghost pushed him off and he blacked out for 2 hours in a remote area of Burkina. So, it wasn't that he hit a rock or a large hole and flew off his moped and hit his head and blacked out from severe head trauma, it was a ghost. He claims that whole area is haunted.

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:01:56 GMT

You know, I am so glad I didn't pay much for my wedding dress. But even at $200, I still feel like it's a shame that thing is just going to be on a hanger for the rest of my life. Seriously, think about it - do you own ANYTHING that you'd only wear once and then KEEP forever? Logic begs that I do something with it. I've looked into it and there a few options:

Sell it - however, the bottom edge is so black, the person who would buy it would need to be shorter then me so they could chop off the nastiness. There's no way it's coming clean. On a realistic note, my dress was $200. Someone could easily just buy one brand new - it's not like I have some $3,000 gown that someone would save a ton of money on by buying it used.

Clean it and box it, keep it forever - ok I'm not doing this one. There is no way my child will wear my wedding dress. Its' a real nice thought and lots of women think it'll happen but do you know anyone who wore their mom's dress? Besides, preserving a gown costs about as much as I paid for the damn thing. I'm not interested in dumping more money into this dress I will never wear again.

Donate it - I have heard this exists. But damn if I can find out where to do it, what they do with it, and also make sure the proceeds don't go to the catholic church. I found a breast cancer site that seems to accept them and wrote to them but never heard back. Hopefully they do contact me, I think this option is winning. ideally, I'd like it if I knew someone who was getting married and didn't have the money for a dress...hell I'd even pay to help her get it altered for her. That would make me the happiest. Fat chance though.

Trash the dress - this option seems fun but ... and I will admit I'm sad I didnt' get to have wedding photos taken in the city where I live BUT I got to be a photographer's subject one day and it was fun but that's about all I think I'm allowed in one lifetime since I'm not 5 foot 10 and waif thin. Plus, you gotta pay someone for that (see preserving comment above). I'm not looking to drop more cash into this thing.

Halloween costume - this seems funny till i think about wearing that thing again. It was comfortable as far a giant dresses go, but let's face it - it was heavy and hot. Plus, you just look like a weirdo that wanted to wear her wedding gown again. Little girls can dress up as brides for Halloween because at that point it's cute. When a married chick does it, it's just weird.

Nothing - and it'll hang in a closet and get yellow and one day I'll have a garage sale and put it out there, no one will buy it and I'll donate to goodwill and wish I'd done something better with it.

Smells like fries in here

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:53:23 GMT

This is really starting to get ridiculous.

Also, yesterday I discovered he likes Elton John. What's next, NASCAR?!?

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

wedding awwwws

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:19:56 GMT

My photographer is still working on the photos but she posted a few on facebook. Out of all of the ones she posted this one really got to me. This is my gramma that's been struggling with health issues all year. It meant so much that she was not only at the wedding but able to walk and was feeling ok. Oddly enough, as emotional as a wedding day is, I did not cry once the whole day but she is the person who almost made me cry. She'd look at me and start to tear up and I'd get REALLY close to losing it. She's tough lady so to see tears in her eyes means a lot. This was just a sweet moment that happened after we'd posed for a photo, I didn't even know she was taking pictures at this moment, it's amazing what a fraction of a second can show.

There's a dozen or so more photos on the photographer's facebook page if you want to view them:

Stephani Lynn Photography

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:11:29 GMT

Before I get back to the world of the fish out of water African

I visited my Frankie this weekend for the first time since he became a suburbanite. He seemed to sort of recognize me, but who knows what cats think.

He was the feisty jerkass I remember and he seems to make his new people very happy. So much so that they had him made as part of their wedding cake topper.

Also, this weekend we opened our wedding gifts and THIS has to be the...ummm...I don't even have a qualifier. It's certainly not the best. Possibly the funniest. So the guy who gave this to us married a woman years ago that insisted he could not keep his toaster out on the counter. So every morning he had to pull it out from under the cabinets and plug it in, and put it back after he made toast. His friends thought this was hilarious so for his wedding, they bought him the largest, widest 4 slice toaster the could find. This became a running joke and the toaster got passed from person to person as each of them got married. I was really hoping for this toaster to be quite honest. So we unwrapped a box that seemed to be constructed out of 2 boxes, both toaster boxes. This is what was inside:

That's right, those 2 2-slice toasters are GLUED together. They don't even sit level, they rock back and forth. And the gift giver took the time to carefully wrap the 2 cords together with electrical tape. I hope he gets re-married. I'm going to add a 3 toaster onto one of the sides and re-gift to my heart's content.

Saturday we walked with Desire around the neighborhood and followed our ears to a nearby street party, with a band playing 80s music quite loudly. He and I have developed this way of speaking to each other in broken frenglish, where I pepper my english sentences with the little french I know and he struggles to find the right english words to complete his thoughts. Using this technique, I was able to explain this thing we were about to attend as a "fete de route" which is (loosely) "party of the street". He got that. He liked the live music. We talked about people who are morbidly obese - I guess that's not really something they have over there. There are fat people but not many, and not near obese. There were a few girls doing face painting who had funny colored hair which he called "se bizarre!" We watched a shamwow demonstration live. He giggled as the guy repeatedly wrung out all the water and it splashed all over the place. I had a sangria, let him try it and he called it the "buassiore de fam" or "girly drink" which is about right. We took him for mexican food and I got a pina colada, another girl drink. When Dave's (oh wait they are mine now too!) parents came over on Sunday, mom asked him what his favorite thing about America was and he said McDonald's. Yeah, it makes me die inside a little too. Lots of people come to our neighborhood to have their picture taken in front fo the Wrigley Field sign. He wanted his picture front of another, nearby sign:

Jenga

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:29:37 GMT

You don't have to speak English to play Jenga. Or to LOVE Jenga!!!

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West Africans

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:28:28 GMT

Ok so we are living with a west African until the end of the month. He has a very tenuous grasp on the English language, so our conversations are interesting. I cant imagine being in a country for a month where i dont know what people are saying. So far, he has fallen madly in love with the food at mcdonalds. He thinks it's the best food we have here. He is amazed women here don't want to be fat. He says he would like to gain some weight while he's here because he's too skinny. He likes our beer but he's amazed by our selection; he's shocked that we can have a few different beers in one sitting. He enjoyed our wedding quite a bit and couldn't get over the steak. At first, I have to admit I was aprehensive about bringing him with us everywhere. But I've started to view him as our foreign exchange student. The amazement on his face is so funny. I like watching him experience new things. The shower: he turns it off and on and off and on. I asked Dave why and he explained he isn't used to having water on in a stream the whole time. He's used to having a bucket of water and a cup. I think maybe by now he is leaving it on the whole time now.

He is the nicest person you will ever meet. If he sees me carrying something heavy, he will take it from me to carry it. I told him I liked his shirt and he told me he will give it to me. I'm going to buy him a cubs shirt soon. And maybe a Chicago shirt. Were bringing him to a BBQ in Indiana soon too. That should be interesting.

The "how to use the toilet" conversations are better left unsaid.

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Ta-hoe

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:17:01 GMT

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Iz a bride

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:54:46 GMT

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The plunge

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:05:25 GMT

Nerves? Oh yeah I got em. Below a picture of where we're getting married. There's a really disturbing sixteenth century tapestry behind us of what looks like a rape scene. But like- from the bible. I'll have to post it later. It's really odd. You can't really see it much in the pic below.

My cousin nick rode the chair lift. Reminds me of gremlins.

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Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:14:31 GMT

So get this! Today I found out that our ceremony venue, the International Friendship Gardens, is flooded. Totally under water. Completely un-usable. Did I mention our wedding is Saturday?

All in all, after having a good HOLY S&*$ !! moment, everything seems to be working out ok. The people at the gardens have been really nice. They called a local church who has a reception hall on their grounds and has chairs we can use, all of the money we paid the gardens is going to the church (even though I feel really bad for the gardens that are undoubtedly destroyed! and hate the idea of giving jesus monye but they are bailing us out so ok fine take my money, jesus) and the day is pretty much saved.

So instead of getting married here:

We'll most likely be getting married here (sans tables obviously).

As much as I love those gardens (they were SO BEAUTIFUL) and as sad as I am that they are now under water, I am so happy this all seems to be working out.

Still....WTF man. NOTHING else is allowed to go wrong universe - you hear me??!!?

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:29:26 GMT

One of the guests of our wedding is from Burkina Faso and we didn't even know if he could come or not until yesterday, we he finally got his travel Visa. So he'll be staying with us for a few days. In fact, tomorrow we have a showing at 6pm so both he and I will have to leave the condo for a little while while Dave shows it to the prospective buyers.

You know why this is funny? He doesn't speak any English. And I don't speak French. He's never even been out of West Africa before.

So this should be interesting. I imagine lots of hang gestures and confusion. I should film it, because it's bound to be funny for both of us.