Under the Arch

I had a bad feeling in the middle of the afternoon, but shook it off as pms induced paranoia. When I returned home, however, there were no meows at the door that demanded attention, and no curious creature came when I called. Hello, panic.

My cat is an escape artist. She regularly demands the freedom of my balcony for the stalking of birdies and lording her magnificence over the neighbors. Though I usually keep the screen door to the balcony securely latched, I must have , in my hurry to get out the door that day, forgotten to check it, and my curious and quite fearless kitty pushed it open so that she could sun herself.

As clever as she thinks she is, returning to the safety of the apartment is not something she has mastered. (There is nothing funnier than a quiet “mew” and a lone feline leg streeeetching through the crack left by a partially open door that won’t quite open wide enough for said cat’s head.) So, I can imagine the hours stretched on as I refused to return to open the stubborn door that came between her and her food bowl, and the mounting frustration as no one came to her rescue. What I’m NOT sure of, is how she managed to get down from a second story balcony with nothing more to show for it than a scratch on her nose.

After a fruitless search of the immediate neighborhood, and questioning of two neighbors too drunk to remember the conversation later, my housemate spotted her crouched in some brush in the backyard, which I had to crawl into and drag her back out. An hour later, we were still ignoring each other, both steamed at the worry we had caused each other.

Damn cat.

Since you heard from me last, I’ve moved in to the new apartment, bought a new computer…now if I could just find my lightroom software. ;)

This is what I’ve been doing mostly, experimenting with my camera…this lovely lady popped up in my backyard. I love extreme close-ups. ;)

This is Will, my best friend/housemate. He would KILL me if he knew I posted this, so it of course gives me great pleasure to know that he doesn’t read my blog.

This little guy flirted shamelessly with me for most of a baseball game I went to with my friend, Johnna.

I don’t know what this is, a plant of some sort that caught my eye at the zoo.

The fence around Missouri Botanical Gardens… which reminds me.

List of all the places around St. Louis that I HAVE to visit this summer

1. Botanical Gardens
2. City Museum
3. Meramec Caverns
4. some sort of floating, canoeing campground
5. Sculpture park that I can’t remember the name of
6. Six Flags
7. Art Museum
8. History Museum

This is Dan. He is currently in Afghanistan. He's deployed with the Army to...do

something, I'm sure. (He told me about it but there were acronyms involved and I can never remember that shit.) He's also a giant pain in the ass. By giant, I mean he's really tall. And by pain in the ass I mean...he's a pain in the ass. A lovable ass, but still....

You may be wondering right now what Dan has to do with Naked Mondays. That is a very good question and here's the answer. I don't talk about relationships, but I had a wild hair last week and decided to start. The Naked part comes in when you consider HOW we became best friends.

Dan and I dated for a bit. Well, ok, we started out with a friends with benefits arrangement and when he pushed for more, I went along with it rather than run the other direction, which is my normal M.O. He was home from basic training and spent most of his weekends holed up with me in my apartment where he marveled at my ability to wander around naked without a care. (Heh. I'm like Redneck Mommy in that.) I was surprised. I mean he lived with a girl for a few months. I'm not alone there, right? Help me out ladies! When we weren't making fun of each other, we went to the zoo and drove to his hometown of Chicago for the weekend. (He only complained a little when I conned him into spending an afternoon at IKEA.)

But. Anyway, it didn't take long before I realized I had made a mistake and we were better off as friends. Lucky for me, he agreed and after a little time for adjustment and getting drunk together at his brother's wedding, we've been best friends ever since. I can tell this guy ANYTHING, and pretty much have. He's seen me at my absolute worst, held my hand while I ugly cried, and even took care of me when I was sick. I helped him build up his confidence after it had been smothered by a girl, held his hand as he struggled with big decisions and told him point blank when he was being an ass. He's my best friend. The ass.

He would want me to tell you that he's quite the lady's man, but he's married to the love of his life and it tickles me to see him so happy. He would also want you to know that he's proud of the work he is doing, but he's really looking forward to being home again. He'll be home next month sometime for mid-tour leave and I can't wait to see him safe, at least for a little while.

So there I am, Naked. Well, at least my relationships are laid out for the internets to see. ;)

KBO: This is where I'm staying while in San Francisco, the San Francisco Downtown Hostel, which oops, has lockers, so that alleviates one of my concerns. It's about a block away from the Westin, which is where the conference is being held. It looks pretty nice from the pictures on the website, but I'm prepared for much worse. As long as there is something semi-soft to sleep on and a shower, I'm good.

In the pre-conference info they sent us was precise instructions on how to get from the airport to the hotel, including photos of the signs to follow, so I'm good there, that was one of the things I was concerned about.

MP: You can follow my Twitters on your cell phone, but if you don't have a text message plan, I wouldn't recommend it. ;)

I'll arrive in SF after five on thursday and be back in STL at 3pm on Monday. Anything else you want to know, just ask.

My friend asked me to take pictures of her cousin's children at the BBQ and since I am the camera junky, I happily agreed. By the end of the afternoon, everyone was looking at me funny...it could have been the growth coming out of my face. ;)
These are some of my favorites that I brightened up a bit with photoshop, I finally getting the hang of sharpening the eyes. ;)

This is Taylor, the baby, and her baby. She is quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

This is Christi, another cousin, and Michael, one of the children I was trying to pin down. He wasn't exactly helpful. Cute, but not helpful. ;)

Taylor again. Remember what I said about the cutest thing ever?

Taylor and Michael, splashing

She's a ham, that one.

Her sister Chloe, having a swim

The oldest sibling, Riley
I had to specifically ask for a smile with teeth.
He was a good sport, though.

Chloe again

Nonnie and her patriotic hair.
She starts high school in the fall and can't wait.

This is Nina.
A sweet dog owned by the most obnoxious person I know.
I'm not exaggerating. At all.

Susie and Eric

Michael again
Most of the pics I was able to get of him were with a long range lens. He wasn't looking in my direction so I asked for someone to call his name. Doesn't look too happy, does he? ;)

He still has no idea I'm taking his photo.

Clothespins
They look like little army men on a zip line, don't they?

The other Chloe
Not sure how two cousins managed to both name their daughters Chloe

Nonnie makes a great older cousin,
jokingly feeding Michael his mac and cheese

farm stand I spotted while sitting in the car

It's the unofficial start of summer and time, once again, to get Naked. Summer is my favorite season. Clothes are so much easier, just throw on a sundress and some flip flops and go. Easy peasy. We start baring bits as the weather gets warmer. A little leg, sun-kissed arms, and my favorite part, shoulders. I can honestly say I love my shoulders. I like to smell the skin on my shoulders when they're coated in sunscreen. I like the freckles that pop up as the summer passes. They're pretty and I'll spend most of the summer showing them off. I don't have any summer color, yet, and if you look closely, you can see the blue veins tracing under my skin, but here they are.

Shoulders
and my collarbone, that sticks up higher on one side than the other

close-up with the sundress I wore today

So, there I am, Naked, at least a small part of me. What is your favorite body part? What do you love showing off in summer?