Now, what kind of fuckery is THIS?

Tricky bitches... Look at this bogus response to my letter of love!!!

Dear Ms Oppings,

Thank you for your recent correspondence with positive comments about your local Safeway store.

We have noted your kind words regarding the preparation and the quality of the Safeway Enriched Hot Dog Buns that you purchased last summer. We are confident that we will be able to continue to deliver the high standards you have come to expect as a valued customer. We request that you provide us with the location of the store, so that we can forward your comments to our Store Manager and the associates. We enjoy knowing our efforts to make shopping pleasant and convenient are appreciated by our customers.

If you would like to discuss this further, please reply to this email or call our toll free number at 1-877-723-3929 and reference contact I.D. 13002658. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.

Thank you again for your compliment. We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you for shopping at Safeway.


Sincerely,

Alicia Sanders
Customer Service Center

Mr. Sanders,
You are a disingenuous woman and you are to be regarded with suspicion! Sir, you obviously did NOT read my e-mail! Do you just have it scanned by a computer to pick up "positive" words and "negative" words?!?!? How about this: Lame! Revolting! I puked a little in my mouth! For Shame on Safeway Buns! Heinous! Mank-jank-skank-rank-gank! Revolting! Putrid! You're killin us all! Ma'am, those buns..... that's just not right.
Please, try AGAIN, Miss Saunders:

(again, with the original letter.)

FISHIN' on the RUSSIAN RIVER

We're back!

(Handsome guy enjoying view from boardwalk)

...from an amazing and all too short 4 day fishing/camping trip on the Russian River. The Russian is located on the Kenai Penninsula about 110 miles from Anchorage. From the river's origin, Upper Russian Lake in the Kenai Mountains, this Clearwater stream runs 13 miles long, flowing down to Lower Russian lake and draining into the glacially silted Kenai River. There is a stunning contrast of milky blue/green and clear grey/brown where the two rivers meet. The confluence, located right off the Sterling Highway, is considered an angling hot spot. Or, to some, Combat Fishing Hell.
Although it’s not as remote as Alaska's more glorified, and logistically/monetarily more difficult to reach waters, the Russian is one of the most popular red salmon fisheries in AK. The river is most heavily fished on it’s lower 3 miles. Each summer there are two runs of sockeye/red salmon and one of silver salmon. As with the dip netting, one can find the masses rushin’ to the Russian when the runs are peaking. The river can be jam packed with combat fisherpeople at all hours of the day. Suicide runs(driving in from Anchorage after work to fish well into the night, catch a few Z’s and be back to work in the morning)are quite common. With combat fishing, fisherpeople, with about 5-8 feet between them, line the banks of the river for miles.

Fishing lines with bright flies whiz above their heads, plunk into the river for a 10 second ride downstream until SNAP! Flies leap out of the water to loop gracefully back around fisher heads for another go. Some lines will suddenly tighten-rod bowed in an arch. There are shouts of “Fish ON!” to announce that the fight is on. Sockeyes are said to be the hardest fighting and most acrobatic of the salmon. After the ensuing struggle, some folks are lucky enough to land the fish and still other’s fishing lines go suddenly slack-just a wisp blowing in the breeze-the fish broke away and most likely took the flies or whole leaders with them! When the fish are heading up river in droves it’s such an active exciting time. It feels great to walk out of the river with your limit for the day-which is 3 per family member. But on slow days most people can be seen just standing in the river, rod at the ready with a searching, disillusioned look on their faces. We had both kinds of fishing experiences on our trip.

We took off Saturday afternoon for the Russian River taking a couple stops to eat lunch and visit the Moose Pass Solstice Festival, a little gathering of artisans, musicians, and music on Trail lake up on a mountain pass.

It was a beautiful day to browse around and eat ice cream by the lake before heading to camp.

By dinner time we had settled by a crackling fire in the Russian River Campground with our next door neighbors, their kids, the grandparents and three dogs. It’s a beautiful place to camp, situated in a spruce forest with views of the mountains.

It’s right off the Russian and you can just throw on your waders and head down the trail to the river. All the kids had a great time going for walks and bike rides. I cringed when I found out that Grandma had set up a Wii in their RV, though!!! But that’s for another post! Lo and I had a fun time exploring from the get go! The woods seemed like such a magical place filled with dwarf trees, moss, low growing cranberry, much lupine and other mountain flowers. We decided it was a perfect place and time-being the solstice-to make a fairy house for the fairies! What a whimsical little dwelling we created! Can you make it out in this picture?! It blended in beautifully and is sure to be a lovely surprise for anyone lucky enough to stumble upon it! In turn for building such a warm and welcoming home, the fairies left little gifts inside for Lo to discover each morning. A sleepy baby made from felted wool , and wood bead with an acorn cap. A citrine gemstone and a shell. There was a fairy in the house the day after that, much to my own surprise! (It was made by our neighbors daughter from fishing tackle stuff-so sweet!) And on the last day, a handful of jewels(blue glass beads)!

One morning we collected and laid out various flowers, leaves, rocks, and twigs on construction paper to make some sun prints. By the time we returned from fishing in the evening the color of the paper had faded around the objects from the sun, leaving soft images behind!

Another fun campsite activity was making texture stones from some of the nature items found around the site. Just lay the items on a flat surface and press a warm ball of sculpy on top. Peel item off and you have a nice print-or “a memory of camping here” as Lo put it. We added a little color to them when we got home to bring out the more delicate prints. We definitely learned a lot about Alaskan flora on this trip!

Our first day of fishing just rocked! It had rained in the morning but was cloudy with a refreshing breeze by the time we got to the river. The conditions were perfect for allowing easy viewing of the fish heading up river. And they came in droves! No sooner had you cast your fly and a fish was on! Most fish were lost that day- which is frustrating and exciting all at the same time -but we all managed to catch our limit.

I had never seen such action on an Alaskan river!

I was like a junky!

Even when a *grizzly bear meandered by on the boardwalk that spans the first couple miles of the river, I kept on casting! Dea was in the river next to me and Huz grabbed Lo and waded out into the river as the griz passed by, so it was all safe and good! I wanted fish! I actually managed to pull out my video camera between casts while keeping one eye on the bear and the other on the fam. However, in the chaos I didn’t hit the record button and got nothing! We had another visitor a couple hours later. *The biggest black bear I have seen yet came down the embankment on the other side of the river to look for fish carcasses to munch on. There are several fish cleaning stations set up right in the water where you can clean and filet out your fish. Head, guts and tails, etc. just float down the river. It’s the safest and most eco-friendly way to handle your fish in bear country. And the bears enjoy scavenging for carcasses or catching the occasional live one. It’s not uncommon to have people and bears fishing in tandem -people on one side of the river and bears on the other! We all watched in awe as this bear snagged his carcass and lumbered back up the embankment.
As we headed back down the boardwalk with our fish that evening, we we’re warned along the way that another grizzly was “sitting up in a tree right next to the board walk!” Sure enough, there he was! Lounging up on a branch without a care in the world! I managed to get some video as we passed under him-much to Huz’s chagrin.

Just amazing. I felt no vicious vibe from him and wasn’t really worried as we hurried on by. He looked content to sit there and lazily watch. Must have had a full belly!

I know you're all jealous of me in my fetching and oh-so-slimming fishin' waders. Get over it.

Fishing the next day was dead. *See explanation of combat fishing above. We ferried Lo across the river to a nice rock bar where some people were fishing and we spent most of the time exploring and playing. We searched for minnows and practiced casting on Lo’s little fishing rod. We took a walk and gathered some flowers to identify in our native plant book and gathered other flora and a “Y” shaped branch to make the Alaskan version of an aboriginal weaving. This was one of the crafts I researched for Winter Craft day at Dea’s school. The kids had been broken up into 4 groups, each studying a different country. This one was hard for the little ones but they did ok with a little help. Lo and I scrounged up some old fishing line from the rocks and wound it back and forth tightly between each prong of thebranch. We then weaved in long grasses both fresh and dead, a couple interesting sticks, long and short stemmed flowers, spruce branches, lichen and moss. On our last day of camping we left it sticking up from a hole in the picnic table for the next family to enjoy. I set up a circle of big rocks along the rock bar to help contain Lo’s little wooden boats. She had a great time splashing and playing in it. We did have one casualty though. A boat “managed” to break through for a voyage down the river. Huz and some of our friends who were downriver a bit actually saw it float on by! “Hey! There’s one of Lo’s boats!” They were unable to retrieve it. I think Lo was just dying to see it float the river!
Our friend the ginormous black bear came for another visit, this time on our side of the river and heading toward the cleaning station where Huz and another guy were dealing with their fish.

Everyone yelled and whistled loudly at the bear and he eventually ran back up the hill. Trying to hold Lo out in the river made it impossible to get a picture. Bummer. He was really magnificent!
You may think we’re nuts to be out there but there are so many people around and if you make a stink the bears will take off. They really just want that salmon and don’t have much interest in us. As long as you’re cautious and respectful you can enjoy a fishin’ symbiosis with the bears. Even though it was not a productive day fish-wise, we thanked the river and salmon for what they did provide. We thanked the bears as well for allowing us to view them and learn from them.
Huz and the guys woke up at 5AM the next morning for one last try at fishing. Dea and I woke later to start packing up our things to go home. Dea actually stayed on with her BFF who will be camping until tomorrow. All in all, we pulled out of there with 15 glorious salmon, one rainbow trout, new knowledge, and some amazing visuals forever emblazoned in our minds. As much as we adore our home, we were all definitely NOT ready to leave the tranquility and freshness of being in a different environment. We’ll need to get back out camping very soon! Next up…DIPNETTING!!!!!!!!

* Video of griz and black bear coming as soon as I figure out what the heck I'm doing...
**Combat fishin photo taken by TobinPhoto

FRIDAY'S Word/photos:AENEOUS

(Update on the Love Letter...)

The first thing that pops into my head is that Aeneous was a Greek god. Sadly, I remember this because when Huz and I were reading D'aulaires' Book of Greek Myths to Dea, we would snicker like Beavis and Butthead whenever we said Aeneous. "Heh, heh,heh, you said ANUS!" Let's check the Dic, shall we?....

...Not even close!

Aeneous-adj. Brassy or golden green in color.

THURSDAY Word/photos:DAEDAL... and recipe

Do I have the spelling wrong or does dae/daed mean "God"?

So, Daedal=God-like.
Let's go see!

Nope!
Daedal-artistically skillful or cunning; ingenious

Not that I think that highly of them, but the above pieces are mine.

THURSDAY'S RECIPE- Lavender Linen Spray. YUM!!!!

Using natural lavender scent, this delicately scented linen spray will make you naturally feel a little tired. Or...just use it as an air freshener.

1 cup distilled water

8 - 10 drops essential oil of lavender(or any other oil you may like. Combos are great, too!)

spray bottle, with a fine mist setting

decorative label

Pour the cup of distilled water into the spray bottle. Add the drops of essential oil and shake very well. Cap the bottle, and allow to sit for a few hours before using. Shake the bottle before each use to evenly distribute the scented oil throughout the water. Use the label to describe what sort of product is contained in the bottle. And be sure to use the fine mist setting on your bottle, so the spray will be nicely distributed.

To use: About ten to twenty minutes before going to bed, spray your pillows and linens with the spray. Let the scent mellow slightly by allowing the ten to twenty minutes to pass before lying down. When you do lie down, the pillows will smell wonderful! But an even greater benefit is that lavender is a natural relaxant, so this wonderful spray may actually help you fall asleep easier, and sleep better.

It's also wonderful to spray it on wet sheets that are hanging out to dry. The gentle scent with waft around the yard...zzzzzzzzz....

Gotta love fresh breeze-dried sheets!

WEDNESDAY Word/photos:VIBRISSAE

OOOOOOO! I know this one from my anatomy class! Nose hairs!!! Or "whiskers" which when stimulated produce "information" that the body registers and can then act upon. Like when a buggy goes up your nose and you sneeze. Am I right?

Vibrissae-1. (Anat.) One of the specialized or tactile hairs which grow about the nostrils, or on other parts of the face, in many animals, as the so-called whiskers of the cat, and the hairs of the nostrils of man.

Yay! I got smarts!

MY LOVE LETTER TO SAFEWAY and Words/Photos:AESTIVAL and ORT

Dear Friends at Safeway Inc.,

I just wanted to take some time out of my day to send a letter of commendation to you and your masterful bakers for a truly amazing product! Let me tell you about our Father’s Day surprise…
On Sunday, my husband and I and our two daughters were in our garage gathering up camping equipment and making a list of food needed for our fishing trip next weekend. We were rummaging through boxes to find our gear when my oldest daughter pulled forth from the bowels of the garage a bag of Safeway Enriched Hot Dog Buns.
“Someone already bought the buns!” she stated.
“Did you buy those?” I asked my husband.
“I didn’t buy ‘em.” He replied
“We’ll, where did they come from?”
We stood, wondering. The silence was broken when my daughter exclaimed, “These are from last summer!!! I remember when we bought them!”
Dumbfounded, I grabbed the bag and pulled out a bun. What should have been rock hard, fuzzed with green and stinking was still soft and fresh!!! Those buns were as well preserved as Sophia Loren! You should have seen the amazement on everyone’s faces! To think! After one year of sitting at the bottom of a box in our damp garage, those buns were still moist and unsullied! My husband, a former baker and pastry chef, was humbled. His own artisan bread was hard and funky after only a couple days. One just has to wonder about what those magical and mysterious “other wholesome ingredients” must be…

What an unexpected discovery! One less thing to buy at the store, and now, dinner was decided! After cheering and high fives all around we had a big family hug and raced upstairs to find some hotdogs. The bakers you employ are to be praised. May they continue to work their magic in bakeries across America, and beyond! ! “Ingredients for life”, indeed!
Thank you, Safeway Bakers, for making our Father’s Day extra special.

Yours Truly,

Diedre Oppings

WORDS AND PHOTOS! For MONDAY:

Don't ask me where I pulled this out from, but: "esti"=latin-ish for "to be"?

Aestival- to be...something......I have no idea. That's all.

So, now, according to the Dictionary.com:

Aestival-adj. Of, relating to, or appearing in summer. Okaaaaaaaaaayyyy...

Swings, butterflys, bumblers and babies-even though we're still wearing fleece and waiting for the sun.

Solstice is this Saturday! This is what we were doing last year on the Solstice:

Cooling off, making flower wreaths and a SUN mobile from dried oranges.

Could there be any chance we'll see this kind of sun and warmth this weekend on our fishing trip?!?!? Hard to believe!

And WORDS AND PHOTOS for TODAY:

ORT. I have no idea what the this means. A round, one-eyed, growth found on one's arse? Off to the dictionary with me:

Ort- n. A small scrap or leaving of food after a meal is completed. Often used in the plural.

Interesting....

Love letter to Safeway Inc.

Dear Friends at Safeway Inc.,

I just wanted to take some time out of my day to send a letter of commendation to you and your masterful bakers for a truly amazing product! Let me tell you about our Father’s Day surprise…
On Sunday, my husband and I and our two daughters were in our garage gathering up camping equipment and making a list of food needed for our fishing trip next weekend. We were rummaging through boxes to find our gear when my oldest daughter pulled forth from the bowels of the garage a bag of Safeway Enriched Hot Dog Buns.
“Someone already bought the buns!” she stated.
“Did you buy those?” I asked my husband.
“I didn’t buy ‘em.” He replied
“We’ll, where did they come from?”
We stood, wondering. The silence was broken when my daughter exclaimed, “These are from last summer!!! I remember when we bought them!”
Dumbfounded, I grabbed the bag and pulled out a bun. What should have been rock hard, fuzzed with green and stinking was still soft and fresh!!! Those buns were as well preserved as Sophia Loren! You should have seen the amazement on everyone’s faces! To think! After one year of sitting at the bottom of a box in our damp garage, those buns were still moist and unsullied! My husband, a former baker and pastry chef, was humbled. His own artisan bread was hard and funky after only a couple days. One just has to wonder about what those magical and mysterious “other wholesome ingredients” must be…

What an unexpected discovery! One less thing to buy at the store, and now, dinner was decided! After cheering and high fives all around we had a big family hug and raced upstairs to find some hotdogs. The bakers you employ are to be praised. May they continue to work their magic in bakeries across America, and beyond! ! “Ingredients for life”, indeed!
Thank you, Safeway Bakers, for making our Father’s Day extra special.

Yours Truly,

Diedre Oppings

And an ANNIVERSARY MEME

1. Where/How did you meet? Missoula, Montana. We were neighbors and shared a woodchip “area” for a yard! I felt immediately connected to him- Like he already was an old and dear friend. He was married, very unhappily, to “MeMe McMememe”- a marriage in chiaroscuro. A veritable chameleon, extraordinarily self-absorbed, disliked by most, fickle, phony, snobbish and embarrassingly loud, after we all struck up a friendship she eventually earned herself a place as an unfortunate part of the friendship package.
But Huz soon became my best friend and “soul brother” and as time went on we each secretly harbored a deep love for each other. We never spoke of our true feelings as Huz is a remarkably loyal person who believed in trying to make his commitment work, and I would never settle for or interfere with a married man. So buddies we were.

2. How long have you known each other? 14 years

3. How long after you met did you start dating? After we all moved to separate states Huz’s marriage fell apart as MeMe began her decent into addiction, mental illness, flight to New Mexico and involvement in a lifestyle outside the cultural norm. Different strokes, I guess, but BDSM took precedence over her own biological child. (I adopted Dea in January, 2006).
Only after divorce was decided upon, did Huz and I finally give air to our true feelings.
We went on our first date 5 years after we first met.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged? 1 year. EVERYONE should spend at least a year getting to know someone before making a commitment like that!

5. How long was your engagement? 8 months

6. How long have you been married? 6 years!

7. What is your anniversary? June 15th

8. How many people came to your wedding reception? About 70. 40 too many!

9. What kind of cake did you serve? A cake made up of tiers of smaller cakes and decorated with rolled fondant and wildflowers. The poor flowers wilted in the heat before everyone could see how pretty it was! All cakes were chocolate-some with orange filling and some with raspberry filling.

10. Where was your wedding? Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Our ceremony was outside on the Express Deck about 2,300 feet above sea level with panoramic views of Turnagain Arm, the Chugach Mountain Range, and seven "hanging" glaciers. The reception was down below at the Sitzmark Pub.

11. What did you serve for your meal? Fresh King salmon, prawns, and tuxedo strawberries among various other goodies made by Huz's former boss.

12. How many people were in your wedding party? Four. My best friend was my Maid of Honor and my daughter, DEA, was bridesmaid/ring bearer. Huz’s 2 best friends were best man and groomsmen.

13. Are you still friends with them all? Absolutely!

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony? We both did.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day? Reciting our vows to each other and to DEA. We also surprised DEA with a ring of her own.

16. Any funny moments? Our Officiate, C.C., forgot to bring our cords outside to the handfasting part of the ceremony! She had to run over and get them. She felt bad but we thought it was funny. It was all good.

17. Any big disasters? Two! The first: The stylist that I had booked and done a preliminary style with decided to forget our appointment the morning of the wedding. It was SUNDAY! There was NO other place open and I had this "colored" conditioner in my hair that I assumed would be washed out by the stylist. Huz's sweet stylist, Pam, that he had been going to for years, opened her shop up to save the day. No time to wash the hair though, so I was much redder than usual!

The second: We had booked the Sitzmark pub during the winter while visiting it with my best friend. We did not realize at the time that they do not have air condition in the place. And of course we had a gorgeous cloudless 80 degree day in Alaska for the wedding!!! The place was ROASTING!

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Cabo San Lucas. Big time hedonism!

19. How long were you gone? 10 days

20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change? ELOPE!? Cut the guest list in half, have a more intimate venue with better opportunity for dancin’!!!

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on? Left

22. What size is your bed? Queen and perfect.

23. Greatest strength as a couple? Communication, respect and the ease of our Commitment.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple? Occasionally having a hard time understanding each other's complexities.

25. Who literally pays the bills? Huz. Thank god.

26. What is your song? How gay. Central Reservation-Beth Orton, would be the closest thing.

27. What was the first song you danced to? PPPFFTTTTT! Twas a non-traditional wedding. I hate all that fan fare!

28. Describe your wedding dress: I’ve never been into the big gratuitous wedding thing-ours was very non-traditional. I was originally going to buy a slip dress and just wear a flower wreath around my head, and bare feet. Huz had bought a ticket for my best friend to fly out and go dress shopping with me and Dea. We had a great time going from store to store, goofin’ off and trying on outrageous dresses and veils (yuk!). But then we came upon one shop that had such a whimsical dress. When I tried it on it looked amazing and it was just, unexpectedly, “me”. Soft bell sleeves, empire-ish waist, like it was out of Lord of the Rings. I caved. And cut the stupid long train off of it!.

29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding? I have no idea-see picture!

I need to find out so that I can re-create them in silk someday… But the bouquets where gorgeous! So random and earthy and wild. My wreath had tiny buds attached to the silk ribbons cascading behind my head and back.

30. Are your wedding bands engraved? Nah. Why engrave what IS ,every day?

31.How old were you when you were married? 32

32. Keys to a successful marriage? Compatibility, cohesion, a balance between separateness and togetherness, giving each other room for personal growth, being best friends , self-love, equality, humor and play, picking the other up when they fall, communication, genuine intimacy, always remain each other’s boyfriend/girlfriend, girlfriend/girlfriend, boyfriend/boyfriend-whichever fits!-, the element of surprise, fix the problem not the other person, you only get out of it what you put into it.

*In marriage, the road is never paved smooth, but our journey is serendipitous and joyful!*

MEMEDAY! Words and images

I'm joining in PURPLE SQUIRREL'S Word/photo meme. This unique meme is going to be fun! Wanna come along? Here's the skinny:

She came up with the idea of doing a week of photos depicting the following list of words. If you are like me and haven't seen these words since the SATs then head on over to Dictionary.com.
You can do one, or more if you like, for each day. I think I'm going to add a twist to mine. I'm going to try to figure out the definition on my own. Then I'll look up the word and post both my definition and real one once I have the pics. We'll see how close I get!

This first ones gonna be hard for me. We are nowhere near it!

Monday: Aestival
Tuesday: Ort
Wednesday: Vibrissae
Thursday: Daedal
Friday: Aeneous
Saturday: Volacious
Sunday: Maven

Happy Pappy's Day!

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.

~Author Unknown

The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood must turn back from the plane of his experience, take with him the fruits of his journey and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road. ~Angelo Patri

Having a magical child

Really makes me wonder why I waited for so long to

Bring another life to this place

Then I finally realised I was watching myself grow up

Can you not see it in his face,

Your face

~Graham Nash,Magical Child

To all the wonderful Daddies, aka: fierce protectors, human trampolines-banks-rocks, life teachers, warm armed safty nets, soft shouldered confidants, commedians, magicians, students, etc.,etc., etc.

All About My Daddy
By Lo
My Daddy is 5 years old.
He weighs 40 pounds and is as tall as a big little tree
His hair is tan and his eyes are green.
When my Daddy likes to relax, he reads the paper.
He likes to wear dresses. (?!?!?!?-not true!!!)
He loves to cook waffles and burgers.
Daddy’s favorite color is purple.
My daddy likes to eat waffles.
His favorite household chore is to clean pots and pans.
His favorite song is "Tommorow is a long time".~Bob Dylan
Daddy always tells me: “a story about a jelly bean in a dark dark box”
It makes him happy when me and Dea are playing Monopoly!
I really love it when my Daddy plays with me and heartbeats me!

He is the best Daddy in the whole world!!!
I LOVE YOU, DADDY!!!

All About My Daddy
By Dea
My Daddy is 45 years old.
He weighs 165 pounds and is almost 6 ft. tall (maybe 5’9)
His hair is Blonde and his eyes are blue.
When my Daddy likes to relax, he loves to sit on the couch and snooze or read the paper and drink his coffee.
He likes to wear Jeans and T-shirts.
He loves to cook skirt steak and Hamburgers.
Daddy’s favorite color is purple.
My daddy likes to eat skirt steak.
His favorite household chore is to build and improve our house.
His favorite song is Magical Child.
Daddy always tells me: “Never, ever, ever turn your brain off!”
It makes him happy when we are playing, laughing, and being silly!
I really love it when my Dad takes me fishing!

He is the best Daddy in the whole world!!!
I LOVE YOU, DADDY!!!

Lo's quote of the day:

Do you want to play,"Klingons" or "Princesses"?

WARNING!!! Hedonism next 6 miles! Hot and steamy

To celebrate our 6th wedding aniversary(actually on Monday), Huz and I geared up for a heavy night of sensual delights.

-Cue shameless and gratuitous plug-

You guessed it! We headed on down to
Nino's


We started things off with a glass of my new favorite red, Rodney Strong Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2005- a full bodied and richly textured cabernet with intense aromas and flavors of black currant, sandalwood, white pepper and cocoa, with a smooth, lingering finish. But that first caress across the tounge can only be described as "Celebratory". I could distinctly taste each of the above flavors all at the same time-just popping as it hits your pallet. Like going straight to the orgasm and easing into the afterglow . Next we were treated to a a shared appetizer -A combination of chicken, Italian sausage, shrimp, red peppers and perfectly cooked broccoli in some kind of tasty sauce, I don't even know what that was. On to the main courses: Shrimp fettuccini alfredo for me and Baked ziti and meatballs for Huz. Our troughs were placed before us and we enthusiastically consumed about 1/16th of our plates. The rest will be shipped overseas to feed a 3rd world country for a week. Gluttony and sloth, two human traits I deride, describe our dinners. You just want to ease into your trough, like you would a hot bath, and roll around in there. You have to pinch yourself, hard, to keep from devouring the whole thing despite your painfully expanding innards. My dish was yummy as hell, as usual, but Huz’s was crazy good(his main dish always turns out better than mine). Not your run of the mill ziti.
For desert we decided to cross the street for some chocolate hedonism at Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge.

You heard me-a chocolate l o u n g e….I hate to sound like your dime-a-dozen chick, but… chocolate. It was almost as bad as the night my friend Deb and I had a chocolate fondue. We ate a whole Sara Lee cheesecake-each pieced dipped in the fondue. We spent the rest of the night speed walking through Missoula, Montana with huge smiles on our faces that made our facial muscles hurt the next morning. Remember, Deb?!?!?
As we strolled (we tried very hard not to run. We did it!) the vibrant display of color inside a new art gallery, Gallery Red, caught our eye. We prolonged our chocolate anticipation and took a look inside. It was the Gallery's grand opening. Huz and I are big fans of First Friday in Anchorage. It’s a great cost efficient(read:cheap)date night! Inspiring new art to be discovered, long refreshing walks throughout downtown, and free food and wine! So this was like a surprise mini First Friday. Gallery Red had some intense stuff, namely this polar bear acrylic by Natalie Parenteau that we both fell in love with(the pic doesn’t do it justice).


I’m not into “Alaskana” at all but I thought this piece was unique, indicative of Native Alaskan art but with an inclination toward the fanciful and hippy-esque. Reminiscent of a 60’s concert poster found on Haight Ashbury. To me, it’s like a gentle reminder of the possible impending doom of this beautiful creature and the impermanence of life on this earth. I think we’ll be considering this one for the new addition.
After our impromptu Second Friday we were back on track to the chocolate awaiting the next door over. We were happy to find that Modern Dwellers is also an art gallery! More great stuff to admire along with the truffles and extensive selection of chocolate. Since it was actually a balmy evening, warm breeze before rain, we sat outside with our unique truffle selections: a Margarita Zing for Huz and a Purple Infusion for me. We split the Silky Dark drinking chocolate.

The Silky Dark is basically liquid sex in a wee mug. I cannot go on.

After this chocolate fix-I’m never eating it again until tomorrow-and the ensuing euphoric chocolate induced coma, Huz carried me home and across the threshold.
Lucky him. :)

LOOK AT MEEZ!

I made a "Meez", and I made a dress.

All of us are babes when in Meezland. This looks nothin' like me! Accept for the clothes, hair color and biceps. Oh, and the mole-I mean, "beauty mark". That was the "curliest" hair they had. I guess curly isn't hip. Too bad for them. What's with the big alien-caucasian head? Her little feeties are gonna freeze.

And the dress I made Lo, yesturday! I have no idea what I'm doing! Maybe waiting for it to start falling off her body any minute... I am very new to sewing and I'm not sure how now, but I pieced it together from old shirts. I'm digging this recyled dress! Lo was very upset when I said "no" to her sleeping in it. She wore it again today and here it is -in the process and finished-plus new stains and kitty cat fur:
Dea was going to throw away her old Rolling Stones shirt but I dumpster dove for it and I think I'll incorporate it into another cute dress. I'll have to ask my friend -who is the Master of sewing-to take a look at it and show me how to sew correctly. I'm the Half-ass of sewing.

Just Added: This morning's visitors