Whoa pictures!

And so begins a giant blog update. These next 8 billion posts are just a sampling. If you want to snoop through more, drop me a line.

The entire Xmas crew.



I still don't know what my sister is doing in the picture.



Aw, he's actually framed perfectly with his stocking!



Pretty typical post-meal shot. Wine and talking at the table, long after the food is gone. My dad looks like he's on a roll here.



My folks.

Family, Part 2

Outside the Homestead

I just have to say that I've taken this particular photo from our deck so many times over the years. It always feels right to take this shot. I should dig up all the old ones and see how it's changed over the years.

Inside the Homestead

The house I lived in since the fourth grade. I still love it.



My mom knit those stockings when we were little. I wonder if anyone does that anymore.



Great shot by E.



My parents' wedding photo.

The many faces of my sister.

My favorite subject in the world, mostly because she makes great faces, both knowingly and unknowingly.

Our first day back East

We took an red-eye into Boston, about 30 minutes before the snow started falling. My sister picked us up and we gallavanted a bit in Boston before heading to my parents' house. Our first stop was this place specifically for the Mapparium:





The last time I was in this particular part of Boston, it was summer and I was trying to find my way to Fenway Park on foot without a map. Ah, the memories. It looks quite different during snowfall.





After all the traipsing and driving in the snow, we had beer. Good times.

Walking the Freedom Trail

Our last day in town, we went back to Boston (where we were flying out of that night) and walked most of the Freedom Trail. Good times.

I am shallow. I like this picture because of the red brick line signaling the Freedom Trail, but mostly because I look pretty good from behind! Woohoo!



There's just something about the old cemetaries right there in the middle of the city.



Ah, Quincy Market. So crowded and anxiety-ridden, yet still so pretty.



The Holocaust Memorial

Providence!

So, one the days we spent back East, E and I decided to drive the hour down to Providence and wander around checking it out. Partly because we like new cities and partly because we have a tentative long-term plan about maybe moving back East and we wanted to check out some options. Anyway, it was a fun, easy day. Providence isn't very large, so it was easy to bump around.

I personally liked the old industrial New England feel, plus we ran into a neat little arty section downtown with TONS of neat stores, where we were amongst the Providence arty doing their last minute Christmas shopping. Frankly, the stuff we ran across was fabulous and I'd wished I'd had a little MORE shopping to do. Who ever says that?

So, some pictures!







Euf's pics of Big Nazo Lab. This place had these amazing puppets in the windows. Apparently they're a big arty puppet-type collaborative, and if that didn't make me smile and think of my pal Tina, I don't know what would. :)

A little more Providence

This one's not mine, but E's and holy crap, I love it. It was his first shot of the morning and it kills me. This was right downtown, across from Johnson and Wales, I believe.



Cellar Stories Books was ironically located on the second store, but it was the best used bookstore I'd been to in a long time. It rivaled Green Apple in San Francisco, frankly, and I didn't think any bookstore could do that. (And yes, Eufrey and I are geeks who go to new cities and purposely research used bookstores to visit ahead of time.)

For the record, the look on my face is, "I wonder if that parking lot across the street has a garbage can I can throw this empty Dunkin Donuts coffee cup into."



These are all mine. Figures that old books finally get me to get my camera out and shoot something. For the record, I bought an old hardcover of Wuthering Heights here. I needed some memento of the store, and nothing better than a classic I've yet to read.

How I Spent My Birthday, Part 4

More pics of the ballpark.





Weirdest thing was the giant floating pepsi bottle during pre-game.



Is it me, or is this Kerry Wood? LOL. Poor bastard.

How I Spent My Birthday, Part 3

The first two games of the NLDS - Arizona vs. Chicago. Good times were had.



The kid's sign actually says, "Don't listen to my dad...He's a Cubs fan!" LOL. A very mixed crowd there at Chase Field, especially because of the ex-Chicagoans we kept running into who'd retired to Phoenix and felt awfully conflicted.

How I Spent My Birthday, Part 2

This was the view from the pool at our hotel, which we got a cheap rate for from hotels.com. It was a good half hour from downtown Phoenix, which kind of sucked, but we really liked the idea of being somewhere relaxing. And it totally was. Our room even had a jacuzzi tub, which was a great way to unwind after seeing playoff baseball.

How I Spent my Birthday, Part 1

Considering my birthday was three months ago, these pictures are a little bit overdue. We spent my 29th birthday in Phoenix, as an excuse to see some DBacks/Cubs playoff games. We drove down from Vegas, past the Hoover Dam and through Arizona. Our first stop was the Arizona Biltmore, full of Frank Lloyd Wrightiness and apparently, lawn chess.

Eh, the pictures don't do the lobby justice.







1. Yes, I'm wearing a skirt. I figured Frank's lovely hotel deserved a mild dressing up.
2. I swear, I'm making the same face in my fourth grade Lassie League picture.