Saturday, October 30, 2010

Oh No We Didn't!

Except - oh yes we did! Dress up in full costume for the first time in about 15 years. (although we should probably only get partial credit since we found almost very bit of this stuff strewn about our living room since Sam has a major Star Wars fetish.)



But - dress up we did. Because we were going to a Halloween Party at a very cool new business in the River Arts District. It was purported to be a costume party, where "everyone" will be dressed up, and generally I never fall for that one. But this time we decided to suspend our disbelief and go ahead and dress up. And then we showed up and didn't see a single other person in costume. It was totally like this week's episode of Modern Family where Mitchell shows up for work in a Spider Man costume and discovers he's the only one. (Not that I'd ever watch such mindless entertainment of course.)


So anyway, we braved it out, and immediately latched onto the only other couple in costume (who actually turned out to be totally cool - mountain bikers!), and then we got some company with some other costumes.

So we had a great time, but our night wasn't over. Oh no. It was Leslie's birthday dinner, and we thought about going home to change, but it seemed like so much trouble. And for what, really? Just to keep every single person you see on the street for whipping around to stare at you?? Turns out we don't mind that so much, since we trooped straight into Limones in full costume.


Yep, Limones, one of the nicest restaurants downtown. Thank God it also happens to be owned by a lovely couple whose son is in Sam's class. So at least they didn't throw us out immediately (although it's entirely possible Amy wanted to.) Instead we had the singular sensation of every single person in the restaurant swinging around to stare at us when we walked in.

And to be honest - of course they did! Darth Vader, Princess Leia and a 50s Housewife just entered the building. But then the sensation died down a bit, and we enjoyed a couple of their gigantic Margaritas, and a good time was had by all.

Although I was approached by a couple of women wanting my secrets for creating Leia's buns. (Step 1 - grow an enormous amount of very thick hair. . . )

Friday, October 29, 2010

This Time I Mean It!

This is kind of embarrassing. Here I am again, jumpstarting this blog by doing a photo retrospective of the past 3 months. But I'm back for real this time, and here's why: I can't possibly let Leslie out-blog me. Sure, she has a cool business and a great topic (the rehab of an old house in Montford), but that doesn't mean I can't beat her with sheer volume. And thus out-blog her. And I win! [You may be thinking at this point - this is a contest?? And ok, sure, the answer is no. In fact Leslie's about the least competitive person I know - and I have verified proof, having taken a racquetball class with her in 1992. But you've got to take your motivation where you can find it.]

So, I'm back. And this time I mean it!

Without further ado, the last 3 months:


We headed back to the beach - for a triathlon. My first ocean swim. But first we gamboled about as one does at the beach.

Accompanying us to the beach - Leslie! And providing our accommodations - her brother Douglas! (as an aside, I love this picture, because it looks like the ones we used to take when Douglas would come to college and take us out to dinner. So it looks just like those pictures if this is what we looked like in 1991.)
An actual triathlon picture! I haven't managed to do too many of them this year, but this one was fun. My first ocean swim - to say I was a little intimidated when I watched the first wave get swept past the turn buoy by the current would be an understatement. In fact, I started so far up the beach that at least half of my wave was ahead of me when I made the turn - but I by God did not get swept past the buoy! And then I biked surprisingly strongly for me (probably because it's dead flat down there?), and had a much better run than I expected (again, the flat no doubt helped), and ended up 2nd woman overall. To say I was surprised would be an understatement.
A week later, Clark ran the Citizen Times Half Marathon, and Sam as usual helped him celebrate his finish.

Some fishing took place - Shii caught his first fish, with help from my mom. It's a real sign of how much she loves her grandchildren that she's turned into a rather capable fisherwoman.

And some baseball of course. Couldn't let a retrospective go by without at least one baseball pic.

New holiday ornaments! They're hollow - and thus not likely to break your tree branch in half.

We tried out LEAF for the first time. Turns out, it's fabulous. I know everyone says that, but I wasn't sure that 3 straight days of vending was really going to be a blast. But yep, it was.

Aided largely by how much fun Sam had. Here he is trying out the aerial arts.

Also much zip-lining was enjoyed.

And in the midst of all this I've been riding my bike. A lot. Because I've entered this race called the Swank 65, and I'm slightly intimidated by it. (ok, fine, I'm scared sh!tless.) So Kelly and I have been heading to Pisgah and riding. And having fun. (as an aside, what is up with my bike helmet?? It always looks really high and kind of sideways. So I resemble a slightly tipsy miner. May have to do something to remedy that.)

Our reward for all of the Pisgah riding: views like this. We climbed up to the top of Farlow (which is a long, long way in a small, small gear), and every now and then the trees would open up and you could really see where you were. Which was totally worth seeing.

Will report back with more. For real, this time.