psycho cat

Angel went on one of her "late for an appointment and nothing to wear" rampages and thought it was a brilliant idea to SINK. HER. TEETH. INTO. MY. NEW. HARRY POTTER. BOOK. I am currently not speaking to her....I don't think she is feeling NEARLY enough remorse.

Who? Me? (damn cat)

Camp Jeep '04 continued (see below)

Korean War Veterans Memorial
This is part two of my '04 vacation...beginning with these guys...this was my favorite war memorial just because these statues look so incredibly real it gives you goosebumps...

...it really looks like they might start moving at any second...

A close up of one of the soldiers...really amazing work

This is my Dad...you can see in the polished granite the reflection of the soldiers like ghosts...

The Lincoln Memorial
It always feels strange to me when I visit a place that I've seen in movies...sitting at the top of the steps is like deja vu times ten.

Lincoln Himself
This is way bigger than it looks....

The Capital Building
under construction along with just about every other tourist attraction that summer...we weren't able to get in on our second day...you have to be there at 7am and get in line for tickets...which means that we would have to leave the hotel at 5:30am which was so not happening, we were on vacation after all...

Arlington National Cemetery
where you can find JFK and Robert Kennedy, the tomb of the unknown soldier, and the changing of the guard...

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
this pretty much speaks for itself...

When my Dad found out he could be buried here, he was really excited...he was ready to start making plans that very second...Mom looked at him, shook her head, and said, "If you think I'm carting your dead ass halfway across the country instead of planting you at home, you're crazy!" I may have exaggerated a (tiny) bit for effect, but you get the idea....

many more pics to come......

Camp Jeep '04

Ok, this is where I start to reminisce about all the vacations taken before.... I am still finding things in boxes and I found ONE of the photo discs that I was looking for....so welcome to 2004, which is the only one available. This is one of the Camp Jeep vacations, which also includes Washington D.C. , Mount Vernon, and Monticello since it was in Virginia that year. Along for the ride (actually I was along for the ride, which means this vacation was free!) or the cast of characters included Me, Mom, Dad and my brother Jared.

Washington Monument

This is our first day, right out of the metro station onto the Mall (which frankly confused the crap out of me, saying and using this term)....there was construction everyfreakingwhere, so we didn't actually get to go in to the monument...but it was neat to look at....

World War II Monument
These are some pics of the WWII monument that I took, it was really too big to get in one shot and there were so many details to look at...I thought the whole thing was beautiful and...uplifting.





These are some of the more "artistic" pics from the same place...I loved all the kids playing in the fountains, I would have loved to take more pics like that, but this was back when I was afraid of taking pictures of people that I'm not related to...I've gotten over that, but I still try to do it without the subject of the photo being aware. (I think you get better pictures that way...kids, even adults often have this fake smile that they only bring out when people are looking...I hate that smile.) By the way, all of these photos and more that wouldn't fit, can be found on flickr....you can click on the shortcut on the right side of this page...should take you right to my photos.


More pics later.....

Warning: These are not pics I have taken myself.....

..but I'm lazy right now, it's frakking HOT!!!!

The St. Louis Skyline
"borrowed" from the internet...you get the full view of the Arch...the riverboats chugging along on the Mississippi...and it's an old picture, so you get the old Busch Stadium which is now more open and covered in red brick...it's supposed to hold tons more people but it feels much smaller...at least the seats do....

Ahhhh St. Louis....Home of the Blues......

...the Cardinals baseball team...

...and the Rams.....

The only sports team that I even remotely follow is the Cardinals..I love going to the games. I once tried to explain the attraction of an American baseball game to a French penpal of mine, he just didn't understand how we could get so excited about what is such a slow moving game. Granted, I don't think I did a very good job because it's not really the game itself that does it for me, it's everything that I associate with it. The memories of games with my family in the nosebleeds...the year I went with my dad to see my high school team play in Busch stadium...how we spent the afternoon downtown and took one of the tourist helicopter rides that my mom would have vetoed in a heartbeat....the smell of hotdogs and beer in the stadium itself...the taste of lemonade...the first bite of a stadium hotdog...the crunch of peanut shells under your feet and fighting for the last one...using binoculars to pick out the hottest players with my mom....and just the general buzz of excitement that you can almost feel from the crowd...it's an awesome thing.

Here's more pictures from last Tuesday.....

......this guy and two of his friends were giving out Free Hugs...and shouldn't all hugs be free? :) No, it wasn't weird, just sweet and funny....people of all ages were hugging each other and giggling....I wish I could have gotten a pic of all of them but he was the only one I could get a clear shot of.....

....this is just a view of the Arch grounds...Kids in the Park....there were kids running in and out of the trees...chasing each other and just having a grand old time...I don't know how they can even move about that fast without collapsing from the heat.....

...this is a shot of the Capitol Building at Sunset.....the pic was actually kind of crappy cuz it was taken while walking and it just didn't turn out to be very interesting once I downloaded it to a computer...Photoshop to the rescue...I honestly don't know what filters and such I used.....I tried a bunch of different things before I came up with this......

I went down to Fair St. Louis (the annual 4th of July celebration on the St. Louis riverfront) on last Tuesday to see the Goo Goo Dolls perform and wander around taking pictures. The concert was sort of a disappointment just because there were so many people, I had to sit in the grass and watch from a screen. I could see fine but someone should have thought about the ability to hear music on the other side of a hill. I could hear the music, but couldn't really tell what they were saying. Some speakers at the base of the Arch would have been nice. Oh well, it was free, can't complain too much. What I can complain about was the total lack of food around the stage. It reminded me of the wait for nachos at RockFest. (But that's another story altogether) It's bad enough to pay 5 dollars for a corn dog, I shouldn't have to wait an hour to get it, that's all I'm saying.

Under the Arch
Why did I call it that? Because that's where I am...lying on my back under the Arch (Gateway to the West, to you non-widwesterners out there). I could claim to be all clever and a master photographer, but they sell postcards like this in the gift shop. (So, if you don't like lying in the grass to get a cool photo, you can just buy one! Yay!

Windows on the City
This one is a view of the windows at the very top. You can ride a crazy ass elevator/tram to the top and be amazed at the cityscape (way, way) below.

Watching the People
This one was one of my favorites from that day...there's just something about a man in uniform. :) I snuck out of the cattle line and took this picture while muttering to myself "Please don't see me. Please don't see me." Some people are weird about having their picture taken by strangers....I have no idea why. :)

Blondes Have More Fun
These two little girls were twirling around in front of me in matching blonde wigs. They were the only kids wearing wigs that I could see, so I assume they brought them. I have no idea why they wanted to be blonde that day, but they were having such a great time dancing around, I had to get a picture.



Update: I was later informed that these are Hannah Montana wigs and are apparently very popular if you are a girl under the age of ten. More pics from this day later.....

My Bucket List

Some are silly, some are serious, but all are wishes...for myself.
(I'll be updating this one periodically.)

1. backpack around Europe
2. knit a sweater
3. sing the National Anthem at a major league baseball game
4. ride a horse on a beach in Hawaii
5. scuba diving in the ocean
6. wander around New York city
7. own a used bookstore
8. sell my art
9. live in a place with a closet big enough to hold all my clothes and shoes at once
10. take a cooking class
11. take a ballroom dance class
12. visit the Grand Canyon again
13. go on vacation and do nothing but lie on a beach and eat amazing food
14. learn to surf
15. Go to BlogHer!
16. Take my own Jeep to Camp Jeep

What would be on your bucket list?

My Favorite Things Posts

All the "My Favorite Things" posts!

6/7/08 My Favorite Things

6/15/08 More Favorite Things

Naked Monday Posts

These links will take you to my Naked Monday posts for any of you just joining us and curious. Every Monday, I expose myself in some small way for all the internets to see.

I'll keep this post up for a couple of days, then it will only be available in the side bar for easy navigating. Hello new people and welcome to my world!
Naked Mondays # 18 The 2008 Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos

Naked Mondays # 17 Introducing Myself for BlogHer '08

Naked Mondays # 16 Love and Marriage

Naked Mondays # 15 Skirting the Issue

Naked Mondays # 14 Baring Your Shoulders for Summer

Naked Mondays # 13 My Love Affair with the Belt

Naked Mondays # 12 Getting Inked

Naked Mondays # 11 My Hair Over the Years

Naked Mondays #10 My OCD Tendencies

Naked Mondays #9 You Have HOW Many Pairs of Shoes?!

Naked Mondays #8 Fun With Eyebrows

Naked Mondays #7 My Issues with Food

Naked Mondays #6 Belly Buttons and the Scars That Adorn Them

Naked Mondays #5 My Eyes, Up Close and Personal

Naked Mondays #4 My Knees and all the Pretty Colors

Naked Mondays #3 Weight Loss and the Ever-Shrinking Boobs

Naked Mondays #2 My Flat Feet and the Site of My Next Tattoo

Naked Mondays #1 My Tiny, Raccoon-Like Hands