Grape Did It

New bed!

Ok so it's not a new bed but Bud sanded, refinished and painted our bed to look antique black. I love it! As you can see, we still need some wall decorations, but my dresser looks good next to it too!

Trying to get my tan on

Charming

Charming has become one of my favorite words. It's just it ellicits such a good feeling - warm, old-fashioned and happy, I imagine sipping mimosas and calling the small boy holding his mother's hand charming.

My Sunday was charming. Bud and I took the dogs for a hike in the warm woods after a rainfall. I don't think the woods ever smell better than after a rain, in the sunshine. Copper splashed through the creek and acted like he could! not! get! enough! After our hike, I had a looong phone consultation with a woman who's friend had lost his pug - a charming little black dog. And then after that, Bud and I went exploring in 5 Points. A part of Birmingham with shops, restaurants and eclectic stores. We stopped into a well known cafe and I had a glass of 3 Blind Moose Pinot Grigio, while Bud had a beer and we shared a basket of chips and homemade salsa. It was, charming. Our waiter seemed new or nervous or both, and repeated my order to me as "3 Blind Mice Pinot" and even though I can see why he was confused, I found it so funny. And the people watching - oh the people watching. I've always thought that counting people watching as an activity was kind of lame but that was before my glass of wine and 5 Points. Bud and I spent no less than 5 minutes debating whether or not a guy was homeless or just a hippie. I said hippie, he said homeless. It was hard to tell though - the church across the street had several homeless men, maybe waiting for the shelter to open? - and so determining between the two was tough. I laughed when I saw a little dog lift it's leg and pee on a tree. I pointed it out to Bud and said, "well he's not shy" or something to that effect. To which Bud replied that the dog was not peeing on a tree but the cross in the church yard. That was funny, but not charming.

Below is a picture of us in front of "The Vulcan" - god of fire and metals - statue, our last stop. You can't see it, but the statue isn't wearing any pants and so when we pulled up I giggled and told Bud I could see the Vulcan's booty. I think I bring a lot to this relationship.

Looking forward to aging

I went to Panera this morning to do some work, in an environment where I don't feel the need to jump up every 4 minutes and wipe down the counter or admonish one of the dogs or notice each bit of fuzz on the carpet that should be picked up or vacuumed. I picked one of the only available tables and when the women in front of me moved, I shoved all my stuff over to that table - one of the ones with a plug for a laptop next to it. I know it shouldn't but it annoys me when computer-less people use the only tables next to outlets. Ah well, pre-laptop I probably would have too. After moving tables, older to middle-aged people settled themselves into the table behind me and preceded to talk about this:

"You know, really, your metabolism doesn't just slow down at middle-age, it keeps going,"

"Well, when I hit 55 it really cranked down, changed even more than in my forties,"

"I know, when you plug in your age on the treadmill, it immediately downshifts calories if you're above a certain age. Now when I run for a half hour, I've worked off way fewer calories than before,"

"Ha! Yeah, now when I go to the gym, I barely metabolize a peach!"

Several minutes later:

"Hey, do you all want a danish or something?"

New things! No self-esteem!

I know "they" say if you shop a lot you might not have a lot of self-esteem. You know. Buying things to replace not feeling good about yourself or some other muck like that. But I LOVE getting new things and I think I have a pretty healthy self image of...uh...myself. When I'm not writing down each and everything that I eat. EVERYDAY. Or sticking my finger down my throat. Or staring in the mirror, pulling at my eyes, dreaming of surgery. Ok so none of those are true for you more literal minded folks but anyway here are a couple of new things I have NOW! In my possession! The first are two tin tiles for our apartment and the second is my Valentine's gift - a lovely travel thermos from the best boyfriend a girl could have.

All in a day's work

You'll notice the one on the far left has an inside-out head, the middle one is missing a leg and the one on the right has been completely gutted. I am jealous of other people's dogs who simply carry stuffed animals around in their mouths. Not my dogs, no, MUST KILL MUST KILL.

Happy belated Valentine's Day

I LOVE holiday colored M&M's. I'm a sucker for marketing and not afraid to admit it. Currently, we have the Easter/spring colored M&M's on our kitchen table and here are the Valentine Day mini chocolates I couldn't post while in Texas. Why do they taste so much better when they look festive? I don't know.

Firewater

Having a bottle of old whiskey in the house is probably not a good idea for me. For us. Last night Bud asked did I want a shot of whiskey which is kind of like asking the dogs if they want a stuffed little lamby to shred, ear to ear. I mean, maybe they play coy and say no since otherwise they look too into violence but yes! yes we do, in fact, want one or maybe three. I told him maybe we should sip it since it is nice whiskey but he looked at me briefly like I was crazy and said, "I can't sip whiskey," Good point. Neither can I. He gave me my shot and I threw it back in front of the fireplace and then breathed through my mouth for a couple of minutes. I like to fancy myself something of a cowgirl but it won't cut it to drink whiskey that way. Then Bud - and I wish so badly I had a picture of this - assumed his whiskey drinking position which means: he walked over to the hallway entrance facing me, one foot in front, one behind, arms raised kind of like karate kid and shot the shot. His mom says he wouldn't make much of an alcoholic and you'd agree with her if you saw his whiskey face. Someone might as well be twisting a screwdriver into his thigh.

Copper loves him some baby

Logic

"The way they design these packages, they're meant for bingeing,"

"What?"

"Oreo packages. You can't close them, they encourage you to binge,"