Evidence of a Bodacious Weekend.

Man make fire. Fire good.

Friday evening we had a lovely little bonfire for my little sis' Cara to celebrate the furthering of her career. She's going away to Tulsa for a whole month to grooming school!! Above you'll see me in a bellydancing scarf. I tend to get it out at bonfires when someone (in this case, Mark) starts the hand drums.

Me and my dawwgies.

Luna and her multicolored eyes...and a squirrel statue.

My mom and Inga.

Fun with pink wig: this shot, Cara.

Inga.

Fruity Mike.

Saturday at 6pm began Mark's birthday festivities. Here he is drinking a Thai Iced Tea at JB Elephant.

The demolished Thai custard dessert Mark got for free. SOOOO good.

After Thai food came Freddy's ice cream. This is my peanut butter concrete.

One of Mark's Bday presents, given by the lovely Sarah Scheidemantel.

Phase 4 of Mark's Bday Extravaganza was '80s night at Plamor Lounge. Here's me and Jill before departure.

Dancing to Thriller (I think) at Plamor!

Michael's look was based on '80s punk. Chaos Rules...or meanders directionlessly...

Just call me Lady GaGa of the '80s.

Me and Jonathan are fierce!

Pretty Kenny in rawkin' mohawk.

Look out! It's '80s-Flamin'-shirt-Mark!

Jill got 2nd (shoulda been first) place in the costume contest in her graffiti dress.

Last call.

This could be an album cover.

Ben Miller Band played at JPL Sunday afternoon. It was fabulous.

Jill hosted a BBQ last night at our house. It was well attended by humans AND dogs, full of meat (cow courtesy of Josh and Genevieve) and amazing homemade black bean hummus (by Michael) and veggie burgers (by Jill), and included a bonfire made possible by my manly fire-makin' boyfriend (see picture at top of blog). The evening ended with Michael and I drinking ginger-peppermint tea by the fire and an episode of Angel (not pictured).

*Also Not Pictured (events of the weekend): Saturday afternoon-Tea Party at Post Memorial Art Library (inside JPL). Kinda lame (the speaker; not other hosts, setting, guests, or tea itself). Sunday afternoon before Ben Miller-Michael and I had lunch at my grandparent's house. Sunday afternoon after Ben Miller-Michael and I went swimming with Nate and Bethany. They made fun of my pasty legs as I lounged by the pool watching Michael swim gayly about with a goofy grin on his face.

Another Best Weekend Ever. I love my life.

Courtesy of the City of Joplin.

I've worked for my fair city for almost 5 years now. One of the benefits of working at the Joplin Public Library is that I am constantly spoiled. I get paid well, I get vacations and personal time, they work with my school schedule without complaint, and there are events ALL the time organized by library goddesses such as Breana Sullivan that bring bountiful foodstuffs to the breakroom and into my mouth. One of the recent events is Summer Reading Program. Along with all the programs for kids, teens, and adults, there are also prizes, and fortunately, staff at the JPL are eligible for some of these prizes. Last week I won a gift card to Moe's. The following is Michael and I's consumption of soft tacos ("The Other Lewinsky" with tofu if you're curious) courtesy of the City of Joplin. I love my job!!

Another Awesome Weekend

Ok, so this wasn't technically the weekend; this was Thursday. You know how Jason (classy mustached-bartender at Blackthorn) can make a drink based on any word or phrase you tell him? Well, Mark had been waiting and contemplating for weeks for the perfect idea and Thursday, it came to him: Unicorn Tears. Ironically, Mark could also have asked for "My Shirt Today" and gotten similar results. The pictures don't do the layered drink justice, but here they are, if you ever wondered what Unicorn Tears look like. If you also wonder what they TASTE like, ask Jason and he'll make you one too!

Sunday, after a delicious lunch at my grandparent's house (my Gma's famous pea salad, veggie weiners, AND Grandma Brownies!!) we all went outside and played basketball and I bounced on the pogo stick, which I hadn't done for at LEAST 5 years. This shot shows what I describe as "feeling the JOY of the bounce". You didn't think I was coordinated enough to bounce on a pogo stick, did you? That's ok, I'm not offended. It took HOURS (maybe even DAYS) of practice back in the day to master even the paltry 10 bounces or so I can do at a time now...My Papa made EVERY shot he attempted except one, and I made ONLY one of the dozen or so I attempted. At least he looks amused at my attempts...

This is me telling Michael (who's never been on a pogo stick) to just "feel the JOY".

After lunch and pogo-stickin' Michael and I took a tour of my Gma's new Cat House (a storage shed in their backyard they insulated AND installed air-conditioning in for four cats my Gma takes care of at Massa--the cats haven't moved in yet); it's very classy (not pictured). Then Michael and I went with Cara, Gavin, and Adam swimming at Ewert (also not pictured because I don't trust myself with electronics near water). They have an impressive water slide there now; if you haven't been since you were a kid, I HIGHLY recommend it. After swimming, Michael and I watched another depressing episode of Angel (not pictured) and I took a nap. Above, you'll see Michael with one of the many snacks we took with us to the Drive-In. My ideal movie snacks were all represented...we had chocolate, Hot Tamales, popcorn, and Pepsi.

This is the screen we stared at for approximately 4.5 hours.

Everything at the Drive-In is so '50s, even the bathrooms.

Snack bar.

My hatchback made a surprisingly comfy seating area. Next time, I'm bringing one of those little egg-crate-foamy-bedding things.

The Drive-In was fabulous, by the way. $6 per person for a double feature. Michael says he doesn't want to go to a regular movie ever again. Last night it was cool and slightly breezy too, so it was perfect weather.

In between movies, they had 10 or 15 minutes-worth of old school intermission Drive-In commercials. They were SO cool. Animations of weiners, soda, candy, and "freshly-brewed delicious coffee". Next time, we're getting a bunch of people involved, because the Drive-In theatre rules.


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Now playing: Farida Khanum - Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo
via FoxyTunes

My weekend in KC, MO in reverse chronological order.

Me and Michael on the way back from KC.

This is a bad shot, but it's Michael inside an abstract, womb-like sculpture in the gardens of the Nelson museum in KC.

Nelson gardens.

There was a lot of Pabst art in KC. They love their Pabst and so does Michael. The piece with the guy and the squid was titled "I am the Pabst." I love city murals. We need some in Joplin!!

Wildflowers in someone's yard in Westport.

The boys were all excited that KC has Pabst in bottles!

On the 4th, we ended up on a bridge over the highway (not sure if it was 71 or what) looking at fireworks all over the horizon 360 degrees around us. It was cool.

A cool poster in Tracy's (Jill's friend we stayed with in Westport) son's Caius's room.

At the Asian market.

At the open air market where they had EVERYTHING (fruits, veggies, spices, nuts, oh my).

Yeay for graffiti!!

Bernadette and me.

Caius' art the morning of the 4th.

Wisely and Bernadette (although Caius wants to name her Susan).

Nick (Tracy's bf) and Michael playing chess on Tracy's porch night of the 3rd.

Nick's puggies Maddox and Norman.

Michael doing his Virgin Mary pose in arch of Z in-and-out Grocery.

The most charming bookstore I've ever seen: Prospero's Books. JUST across the street from Tracy's.