day three: lady liberty & two boots

on friday we went to see the statue of liberty. jes had to run and errand so she met us out there. before we got on the train, alyson, nicole, ro and i stopped and got some delish bagel sandwiches. they got some crazy huge roast beef sammies and jes and i got cheese sammies. i got mine with a little green olive cream cheese schmear. it was so good.

so the ferry ride to the island was nice (a little bit cold, but nice). its kind of crazy how huge the statue of liberty is when you get up close to it. there were these fucknut teenage boys trying to climb the wall to the base of the statue. the ranger headed their way and they stopped. here are some pics from the island:







if you are wondering what the fish shadow is: that's nemo- ro's favorite stuffed animal

after liberty island, we walked past the site of the world trade center and then headed back to park slope to meet the supper club ladies at two boots for dinner. now two boots is this joint in north slope. it specializes in italian (one boot) and louisiana/cajun (second boot) food. it is also the mecca for all people with kids. there are kids running EVERYWHERE at this restaurant. its chaos, pure chaos. true story. also they let the kids stand on these stairs and watch the cooks make pizza dough and they give the kids these little balls of dough to play with. so ro made like twleve million friends and got three balls of dough. so that was the good part, now here is the CRAZY part.

me, jes, aly, nik, monique, and ali were all sitting at the table. we turn to see glennda and kim coming into the restaurant and in the process, ali knocks a glass off the table and it crashes to the ground and breaks. AT THE SAME TIME this little kid falls out the booth she was sitting in and knocks the FUCK out of her head. i mean concussion city. you could hear the THUD. it was totally jenny. we tried not to laugh, but it was just so weird and coincidental. then, toward the end of dinner, this little kid behind ali felt out of the booth. it was like some strange gravitational pull. anywho, here is a pic of the group:



oh and here is the sweetest thing ever. for dizzert, ro got this brownie sundae with sprinkles and everything. she was eating it, and we were all happy and content and then she said "all these things are lovely." i could have nibbled her face off. here is a picture of her with the sundae:



after dinner we went home, put ro to bed and then watched "team america world police". they loved it.

day two: central park, the zoo, and alyson's new boyfriend

so day two with my chicago family was busy busy busy. we decided it was the day to hit the central park zoo. there are three main zoos in new york: central park, prospect park, and the bronx zoo. now the bronx zoo sounds like a doozy, but it is very far away- like maybe two hours on the train and none of us was up for that. prospect park zoo sounded nice but is mostly like frogs and small animals. so we settled on the nice middle ground: central park zoo. we wanted to show alyson, nicole and rowan the park anyways, its near a few shops that alyson wanted to stop by AND it has the gay penguin daddies (from teh book "and tango makes three"). i mean really, what more can you ask for?

so the plan was to pack lunches (so economical) and then eat lunch and hit the zoo. what really happened is that rowan fell fast asleep on the train ride to the zoo:



so instead of going right to the zoo, we shopped around a bit while she slept and then we ate our lunches, just the four of us. jes and i had fake turkey sandwiches with hummus and tomato. aly and nik made ham sammies on this bread that they FELL IN LOVE WITH. it was called something like "super wheat extreme" bread or something like that. all they talked about the whole time they were here was how deliciously soft this bread is. i tasted it, its pretty good. here they are admiring their delish sammies:



after we all finished our lunches which included brownies for dizzert (so good), AND after twelve million kindergarteners LEFT the zoo, we headed in. apparently there is a big zoo and then the children's zoo. $8 for each adult got us into both. at the big zoo we saw seals, monkeys, snakes, penguins, and all kinds of crazy rainforest animals. i liked the bright orange birds and the weird mooserats (they reminded me of our cats larry & emily). rowan began waking up around the seals but it took her until the penguins to wake up fully. in the children's zoo we saw red pandas (not really, but there was an area for them), polar bears, and some farm animals. here are some pics of all the animals we saw:









yes that is right folks, along with the lions, tigers and bears, we saw mr. colin farrell, with his son and his group of folks. it went down like this- true story: i am sitting on some ledge while nicole and ro are looking at the gay penguins. alyson RUSHES up to me and i am all "what the f?" she whispers in my ear "colin farrell is in here. seriously. go see. i give you permission to leave the penguin house." so i grab my trusty sidekick jes and we head out. i was CERTAIN that alyson was wrong. let's just say she is a bit lacking in the pop culture knowledge area (not as bad as nicole, but that is another story). anywho i was sure it was some brooklyn guy or some high school guy who WISHES he was colin farrell. buy sure as shit, i get up to the guy and there he is, none other than colin farrell. and what is totally nuts is we kept seeing him all over the zoo. you know why? b/c i think he is secretly in love with alyson. instead of US following HIM, i think HE was following ALYSON. you know he is irish and all, so he must have a thing for the readheads. when we got home later that night we showed aly and nik his sex tape. aly and i think his dick is big. jes thinks its small. who knows.

after our exciting celeb citing, we continued on through the park chatting and not stepping on cracks until we got to the carousel. rowan LOVED it. she went on a horse all by herself and smiled the whole time (especially when we yelled "great job dora!). i felt (and jes agreed) that is was going faster than normal, but ro seemed unphased by the speed. here is a cutey mc cutey pic of her:



as the sun went down, we headed toward benny's burritos for dinner. as per usual, it was DELISH. alyson got some meat platter thing that she shared with ro, and nik shared her chicken something with ro as well. jes and i rocked the soft tacos again. and this time we got a small margarita instead of a grande. this was the right choice. we got home, they bathed the girl and we were all in the bed by midnight. being a parent is exhausting yall.

p.s. sometimes i hate blogger b/c it won't let me upload the photos.

day one: prospect park & joe's pizza

so i am going to try and do this one day at a time. when i have a lot to blog about, i often get overwhelmed. especially if i have to post pictures b/c for some reason it takes REAL long to post the pics. ok, so they got here on wednesday and we pretty much grocery shopped at key foods, then went to the park, then got some joes pizza and then hung out and went to bed. i think we were all a bit exhausted.

at the park we acted out our dora script. here is a pic of tiko (jes) and benny (alyson) thinking about their "motivation" for their parts:



and here is me and "dora" scared that "swiper" (i.e. nicole) is going to come and swipe us (i guess):



it was real fun to play chase for a while, but eventually i got tired out. we went over to the sandbox and tried to figure out if these two women were lesbo mommies or if one was the mom and the other lady was a friend. we all agreed they were just friends. as the sun went down, we headed home to relax a minute and then got some pizza at joe's. everyone LOVED the pizza and joe (whose real name is sam i think, but of course because i am an ass, i have been calling him joe all this time-idiot) hooked us up with some red sauce for our garlic knots (alyson thought we were getting garlic nuts). he also joked about our table in the corner and called it our beach front seat.

while eating, rowan suggested we all become the characters in the book about molly, the little girl with two mommies. alyson and nicole were the moms, and ro played molly. jes was the teacher, and i was the dog. we all agreed to play our parts heartily, but i didn't think she meant right then at the dinner table. when i continued to talk, rowan turned to me and said "i don't remember the dog talking in the book." we all laughed our asses off. shut down by an almost four year old. as jes would say "BURN!"

so that was day one. day two will be next. there is a very exciting celeb citing in day two.

a quick side note: tomorrow is my friend beckygirl's 30th birthday. how exciting is that? holla becky!

illustration of donna writing her diss

check it out:

http://www.brockbusby.com/images/crazy.gif

the bright pink baby that doesn't talk comes to town with her two moms

i begin my post with this picture that rowan took, some time ago, at the shedd aquarium. she is quite the amateur photographer, especially when it comes to her babydoll in a kid sized pull up. i think its freaky but also hilarious. i have so much to report and quite a few pictures, so i think it is going to take me a few installments to get it all down on paper (so to speak).

first of all, ro has the most amazing imagination of any kid i have ever seen. she is destined to be an actor, screen writer, and/or director. throughout her time here she was one or many of the following:

1. the bright pink baby that does not speak (based on a real infant she saw at the library just nights before she came to brooklyn)

2. dora the explorer

3. june from the einsteins

4. uniqua from the backyardians (i may be mixing up shows here, so hopefully nicole will chime in and let me know if i am on point)

5. molly from the book about this little girl named molly who has two mommies

and not only does she have several personas, in each instance, we all adjust to be her supporting crew. por ejemplo, when she is dora, i was boots, the monkey side kick and jes was tiko the squirrel who has lost his keys, and alyson was benny the bull who fixes things and nicole was swiper, the fox who pilfers things apparently.

blogger won't let me upload any more photos right now, so i am going to leave this post as is and try and post more once blogger is on point again.

what the L?

I have been incredibly remiss about posting on the blog lately and I am not sure why.
My job work has really picked up and that has been keeping me off the streets and I have been working *a little* on the dissertation, but really its not like I am at the computer from sun-up to sun-down doing all this. I guess I just haven't had all that much to write about? Or I just haven't felt like writing. Who knows?

So let me set the scene for my entry right now: it is just after 6am, the sun should be coming up shortly. Larry is eating some dry food (we are trying a mix of the old IAMS stuff and this new Wysong Uretic food that is good for him and Emily and their not so good kidneys. I am glad the kids like it b/c it is much better for their bodies than that IAMS stuff. They are also enjoying the new healthier Wellness wet food we are trying out,except the chicken and lobster. they hated that). Emily is fast asleep in the bottom tray of our paper recycling bins (she is technically laying in the "papers to be shredded" tray). Horace is hunting or sleeping. Probably in the bathroom on his favorite mat. Jes is sound asleep in the back bedroom. We slept back there b/c Alyson, Nicole and Rolita are coming today and I made up the bed for them and we didn't want to sleep in their new fresh bed. Our house is as clean as it has been since we moved in and I am giddy with anticipation. We leave here around 11am to drive out to Islip to pick them up. Who knew there is an airport in Islip? Not me.

So the highlights from the last week or so really were the weather and hanging out with the ladies watching the L word. I am unable to comment on the episode b/c not all my readers have finished watching it, but what I *can* say is what the L about max's facial hair. is he TRYING to look like my dad in 1973 or what? no me gusta. and the nuttier-than-a-fruitcake jenny is back in the hizzouse. we missed you. last friday jes and i walked around prospect park with monique and ali and then got us a nice little beverage up at the connecticut muffin. then jes and i walked around the park and then park slope on saturday. later that day we played catch in the park. how lesbianic of us. both days were so divine. almost balmy. just tshirt and hoody weather. so nice. i think the cold weather is back. oh bother. i just hope it refrains from raining as much as possible while the ladies are here.

on monday night jes and i went to this new restaurant with our friend beth baltimore. its this place in the city called "benny's burritos"- beth used to work there. yall the food is DELISH and affordable. jes and i both got the soft shell tacos with beans and it was soo good and soo filling. we also each got a "grande" margarita at the bar during happy hour before beth got there (they are only $6 and the size of a pint glass). lets just say these margaritas were STRONG. after two sips i had to assess if my finishing the drink would result in vomiting. it did not. i held it together but definitely had my tipsy on. beth, b/c she is a margarita drinking champ, wanted to continue our debauchery in the city. i was about to fall asleep, as was jes, so we headed home instead.

yesterday morning i met with my friend kir in the city and we walked around central park and talked. she was in town for meetings for her book that is getting published. the press flies her and all the other authors to new york every six months and puts her up in this hotel on the upper west side. how nice is that? it was great to see her and catch up while in the park. normally i see her in atlanta and we go and get indian food and chat for hours. oh and on sunday i hung out a bit with higgins in the city. it was a grey and rainy day, but we just met up, had a little scooby snack at this restaurant called RICE (i got this delish hot sweet ginger tea and higgs got these veggie meatballs with black rice that was really good) and then we did a little shopping. i got this great new book called The Heart of Whiteness by Robert Jensen. Its about critical white studies and I love it. Its only 96 pages and I am almost done with it. Very accessible- great if you want to do anti-racist work in the classroom.

so the next five days are all about nicole, alyson and rolita. nicole told me last night on the phone that when they put rolita to bed she asked "are we going to new york tomorrow?" and when they answered "yes" she said "I AM SO EXCITED" i mean really, doesn't that just melt your heart? it does mine.

so two quick things before i go:

1. thursday is my friend sarah's (who lives in atlanta) birthday. holla!

2. i heard this hilarious story from a friend of mine the other day. she has a niece who is two? four? years old and who is fascinated with her mom's pubic hair. so she asked her mom "mom, why do you have hair on your booty?" and her mom replied "well, because i'm a grown lady and grown ladies have hair on their booty." so the next time the little girl saw her gramma (the mother of my friend and the little girls mom) she said "grammy, when i grow up i am going to have hair on my booty- and its going to be PINK!" true story yall. i fucking love kids.

sadly, another loss

gordon parks, the famous photographer and filmmaker died yesterday in manhattan.
he was an artistic genius and he will be missed. he was 93 when he died.

i would also like to mention that he was born in kansas, then moved to minneapolis and then to chicago.
midwest HOLLA!

so sad

its so sad yall
dana reeve, wife of christopher reeve, died yesterday of lung cancer
she was 44
her poor kids, they have been through so much

please light a candle for her family

only five more states to go!

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

my friend nifa showed me this.

if you want to do one, go here:

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates

cuz baby its cold outside

i seriously can't handle how cold it is outside once the sun goes down.
it should be against the law or something. i mean i know this has been a mild winter in general and i should shut it, but seriously it is days like today here in the north that make me REALLY miss the dirty south. but aside from freezing my ass off, what else have i been up to? let me recount to you.

1. jes got the summer internship she wanted at the innocence project. yes, that is right, re-read that last line. my sexy brilliant law student sweetie NOT ONLY got the public interest summer fellowship that pays her cold hard cash to work somewheres public interest-y this summer, she ALSO got this wicked awesome summer internship at the innocence project. for more info on the joint, go to:

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

she got another offer from this prison reform organization that was her second choice and she went to the innocence project folks to see if they would counter offer (the lady she interviewed with at innocence project told her to contact them if she got any other offers first). so she did and they counter-offered. score for jes. i can't put into words how proud i am of her. its just like she sets these goals and she achieves every single one. truly an inspiration to me.

the lady she interviewed with is out of town for a week, so we won't get the details of the position until next week. i will be sure to pass it on to yall. as much as i love my sugar in ties and trousers, i am also happy to hear that she can wear jeans and tshirts (her uniform) and that she will surrounded by lots of queers and progressive folks at this job. good times.

2. while jes has been busy getting a job and doing her school work, i have had quite a bit of work work (that is, my job at emory) so that has been keeping me off the streets. the next three months will be busy with this job and things are slowly falling into place with all the programs i am coordinating so that feels really good. while i am not doing any actual writing for my dissertation, i have been doing data analysis as a first step to organize my next chapter, so i think that is a good thing. it would be better if i was doing data analysis AND writing, but i guess anything is better than watching ellen, starting over, dr. phil, oprah, paula deen and rachel ray all in one day while listening to larry meow incessantly. zoe my new therapist is helping me to be patient with my own process in this dissertation writing thing and on good days i can be. on bad days i convince myself i am a loser. no me gusta the bad days.

3. i partook in this project on monday night with my friend ali. its this street count where volunteers go out and talk to every person on the street in an assigned area to assess whether or not they are homeless. it was me, ali, and a bunch of her co-workers who were all very nice. we walked around bay ridge from midnight until two in the morning asking folks if they had a place to sleep that night. we talked to no one who identified as homeless and no one we identified as homeless but we did chat with a number of people who talked about being homeless in the past or struggling with housing in nyc b/c of high rent prices. it was pretty cold and even started snowing, but both ali and i dressed appropriately and stayed toasty the entire time.

it was supposed to take until 4am, so since we finished early, ali and i went to daisy's diner for some grilled cheese and fries-both were delish. on the way there (ali was driving) we saw this man (and when i say "saw" i mean "almost hit b/c he was in the middle of the road on a green light") with no shirt on sort of riding a bike and pushing a grocery cart full of maybe lead pipes. it was totally terrifying and strangely angelic at the same time. at the time i was just glad we did not hit him (it really wasn't as dramatic as it sounds) but either way, it was a bit eerie.

4. the past few days jes's friend pony (who lives in paris) has been in town so we have been running around town with him a bunch. today we went to the gym and did a little elliptical while jes was in class and then the three of us went into the city to shop and freeze our balls off. all in all it was a good time-except the freezing part.

ok so it is just about midnight and i am exhausted so i am going to hit the hay.
i didn't have internet or phone for the past few days so i was unable to say happy bday to my friend tanner in oakland. it was his bday on february 28th.