I am thankful for:

1. Lovely boyfriend
2. Small but hilarious family
3. Allergist appointment tomorrow, soon I can endlessly hug all of the animals
4. Hell or High Watermelon beer (in a can!)
5. The iPad we desperately needed at work finally arriving! They are actually really nice, flipboard is reason enough to buy one.
6. The ocean not being full of jellyfish anymore
7. Blankets
8. Little Big Planet (so fun!)
9. Friends that still like me, you don’t actually rank below blankets and beer.
10. internet! open source projects, html5, future!

image from the selby

Poketo did a collection of accessories for Target! I’ve lurked their site for a couple years now, admiring their many pretty art wallets. I picked up a checkbook style wallet with a bear on it. Today I visited to their website to find a much bigger selection of products. Tiny collectable design chairs (Ginny!), ipod speakers, stationary, prints, etc.

Love old family photos, this time they are Anna-Claire’s. She posted a big set on flickr of lovely images that her mom brought back from England. Check them out

Also, yoga and fitness people – don’t miss the new Lululemon showroom A-C is working on in Richmond. Opening Labor Day weekend, free yoga and crossfit classes for all!

Anna-Claire turned 30 and had a party at her adorable new house. There was a “Gods Must be Crazy” costume theme, hence some of the strange party-wear. Ginny, as always the amazing gift giver, gave us both metal prints, mine was of Chuck! I love sharing my birthday with Anna-Claire every year. It’s like having a well spoken, older and more respectable twin.

For my birthday in Virginia Beach – Mike, Mike & Emily took me out for sushi at Kanpai. We got to eat at the floor table!

Mike’s friends Parker and Leah got married at this crazy Japanese garden I never new existed in Virginia Beach. It was a small family wedding and I was honored that I got to be there. At the reception a standard poodle climbed the fence to hold my hand.

Earlier this month we went down to Wilmington, NC to get Mike’s gigantic tattoo started. I really like the illustration and I think Mike will be really happy with it, he’s already delighted with the line work.

The IT Crowd: favorite discovered show this summer. Found it on Netflix streaming, didn’t even like it at first but it’s soo funny and charming. You may recognize Moss (afro) as Saboo from Mighty Boosh. “You know nothing of the crunch.” Noel Fielding also makes appearances as Richmond, the Cradle of Filth loving goth.

My one and only issue with this show is that there are only 6 half hour episodes per season. What? How do they get away with that? England is weird.

Last month Mike and I went to DC for a few days, mainly to see Iron Maiden but also to do DC things and sleep in a giant hotel bed. Despite living so close, I’ve never spent much time in DC outside of seeing bands, so it was mostly all new to me. We went to the Spy Museum, the Sculpture Garden, the Natural History Museum, and Ben’s Chili Bowl. The Spy museum was really neat, and much bigger than you’d expect – well worth the admission. The natural history museum highlight: giant octopus in preservative, very cool – lowlight: the hope diamond, small/stupid, who cares! We also went to Ikea on a weekday, so weird, so empty. It’s a shame we need nothing forever since merging apartments (I did get this recently though).

Iron Maiden was fantastic, that’s coming from someone who doesn’t even listen to them (Mike <3 them). I’ve never seen such a big spectacle type show like that, they had limitless energy for such ancient guys, and there was tailgating. I may have been the only person not wearing an Iron Maiden shirt.

Did you know Iron Maiden has it’s own jet that their singer, Bruce Dickinson – a pilot (and fencer!), flies them around in?

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

www.everynone.com

One month later and our garden is a failure. I blame Virginia because our indoor plants are flourishing.

This is worth it’s own post, trust me. I’ve been looking, listening, revisiting these things for a couple weeks now. Good for a break at work, your own little party box.

July 4th has always been a good time for me, rowdy weddings, bbq (the sides), bean salad, fireworks, gin and tonics, swimming… but this year I was totally beat from the move, work, life. The fun must go on apparently – we managed to celebrate Marie and Tommy’s 1st anniversary, go to a drag show, start a garden (we live upstairs? we’ll see), go to another BBQ, watch 3 movies about midgets (Troll, Troll 2, and Willow), AND find this rare dead puffer fish on the beaches of Virginia Beach. We also found this lovely dog, he played fetch in the water for hours.

Carried away with the filters, my apologies. My apartment complex has a nice big pool, so some friends came up / down for a pool day. Mike made mojitos and grilled for us.

Jersey could be a candidate for Dreamcats.

Tonight I broke down and bought CameraBag. Although I have Photoshop, I’m embarassed to say I’d much rather use instant filters. Photography is hard!, ask Ginny and the rolls of black 120 film I keep giving her.