Short Week

Counting down the hours.... Just 4 more to tolerate in the office, then off for the remainder of the week! Leila and I have a playdate with Em, Henry and Lucy tomorrow and then we'll be here:
Wednesday through Saturday. Looks lovely, no? Actually, for a beach motel, it is! I randomly stumbled upon it for a pre-Leila (she was, in fact, in utero) visit to Kill Devil Hills exactly three years ago. It apparently has not gone downhill any since because Trip Advisor reviewers currently rank it as #1. The rooms are fairly large and newly refurnished and it's just a short climb over a dune to the beach. Should be nice to actually have several days at the beach with Leila b/c thus far, she's only experienced day trips here and the Puerto Rico beaches, which aren't all that nice for sand-play, when she was tiny. It will be our lengthiest drive with her since NY last fall and our 8 hour drive to Williamsburg (yep - 8 hours...) last August, so we'll see how that goes. I've already made clear that there will be a midday stop in the 'burg Wednesday for some Cheese Shop sustenance and some running around DOG Street!

You know who rocks...?

... M.I.A. That's who. Since I am forced to be here, I am sitting here blasting Kala on my computer right now in the most professional of fashions. As I said earlier, I'm home alone and just trying to take care of some mindless busy work so it doesn't all land on my darling intern's lap when she returns for one more week Monday. I did get one job application out for a position I would really love. At least I think I'd really love it in no small part because I consider the person I would work for a save the world rock star on a par with Bono. Though, I'm guessing it's the kind of job that is going to pay about $30k. Anyway...Don't want to jinx it! Happy hot and steamy weekend to all!

Home Alone

Oh joy. The 4th Friday in August in DC and here I sit. Alone in the office. All day long. Until 5:00. Know what I'll be doing?? Applying for jobs. And secondarily, reading the celebrity gossip blogs, plugging in to lastfm to listen to some music, maybe catching up on R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet", and finally, reading my book when I can't take the mindless screen time anymore!

Big Girl!

Awww... Brushing her teeth all by her little self. Of course, Mommie still gets to "take a turn" when she's done!
And not such a big girl to let that paci out of her death grip. "Bah" is still very much a part of her sleep cycle. We never could figure out the name "Bah" aside from the rationale that her bottles were BahBahs, so the pacis were an abbreviated Bah. The dependency will be gone by her third birthday, or by the time she first goes to the dentist, whichever comes first. Oh yes, it will. It's funny because we always have the talks about how she's not a baby anymore and that we should box all the Bahs up and send them to babies who need them. In Africa. Don't know why I chose Africa, but now every time she hears something about Africa in conversation or on the news she says "Africa is where the babies are...the babies who need the bahs..." She certainly gets the concept that she's not a baby, and that bahs are for babies, and that Mommie and Daddy are willing to get her a special big girl gift if she gives them up, but they've been such a comfort to her since day one (literally, before we left the hospital) that I hate to yank them before she's ready. I'm a pushover, yes!

Next challenge... toilet training! I'll be the one on the beach next week reading the toilet training survival guide. If I finish the current novel I'm engrossed in...

Grody to the max....

I try to refrain from posting workplace rants here, because one never knows who stumbles upon these things, but my boss has worn the same suit for the past 3 days now. 3 days!!! With the same shell for the past two consecutive days. Yeah, she's stayed over 2 nights at the apartment of a friend who shattered her elbow, but she could have 1) packed a change of clothes, 2) had her 17 year old son run downtown with his nanny (yep, 17 years old w/ a nanny, another topic all together...) to bring her a change of clothes, or 3) run out to Ann Taylor to buy a new blouse at least... In the words of Ming Ming from Wonder Pets "this is seeweeious..." Seriously gross. Anyone have a direct line to Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear??

And I was thinking about those Wonder Pets again in the shower this morning (yep, I'm weird, and as Cesar pointed out this morning, my showers are entirely too long so as to allow these random thoughts.) If kids' TV really needs singing animal heroes, why not have Mighty Mouse dust off his cape? Underdog's already been resurrected in a live action film after all!

And on a serious note, I highly recommend tuning in to Christiane Amanpour's "God's Warriors" series this week. I only made it up to 10:30 for God's Jewish Warriors last night, but I absolutely adore her reporting, and it's pretty fascinating stuff to see two hours dedicated to each religion.

Music Notes

Yep, I'm on a Dylan kick. It's the time of year, and the weather...heck, I'm always on a Dylan kick. Anyway... there's a preview of the new Mark Ronson remix on http://www.dylan07.com/ if anyone's curious. I like. But that may just be because I've also been on a Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse (please save yourself Chickie!) kick and I'm digging that big horn sound these days. Nice that the box set is out just in time for Carter's birthday. That's what I would have wanted for my 30th. For real!

Yikes!

OK, I fully appreciate the tragic nature of this story, and yet.... Fair warning to all considering camel adoption!

Pet Camel Kills Australian Woman
Australian Woman Killed by Pet Camel Given to Her As 60th Birthday Present
The Associated Press
BRISBANE, Australia

An Australian woman was killed by a pet camel given to her as a 60th birthday present, police said Sunday.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was killed Saturday at her family sheep and cattle ranch near Mitchell, 350 miles west of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, state police Detective Senior Constable Craig Gregory said.

The 10-month-old male weighing about 330 pounds had knocked her to the ground then lay on top of her in what police suspect was mating behavior, Gregory said.

Camel expert Chris Hill agreed with Gregory.

Hill, who has offered camel rides to tourists for 20 years, said young camels are not aggressive but can be dangerous if treated as pets without discipline.

The woman was given the hand-reared camel in March as a birthday present from her husband and daughter.

The fate of the camel is not known.

An autopsy of the woman will determine the precise cause of death within days.

Weekend Miscellany

Here is one example of just how ghetto-fabulous our house is these days (also a prime example of "dad, I really don't want to be photographed today.") Note how the lampshade casually rests on the slant of our chair and not so much over the light bulb as it should. Cesar replaced it last night, but for weeks now, Leila has been calling out to me "mom, your light fell AGAIN."

And here is the precursor to my new favorite game - scrape the Play Dough droppings from the living room carpet. We need a house. With a designated play room. Pronto.
In other home front news, the owners came by with our property manager Friday morning for a walk-through based in no small part on my repeat "will you please get someone to drag this ginormous dinosaur of a stove (the microwave is attached at the top - it's a model that hasn't seen a Sears or Home Depot floor display since 1984.) out from the wall so that pest control can come back and once and for all determine where it is that our mice have found their safe haven, and while you're at it, why don't you just go ahead and replace the stove with something sleeker and of this century" calls. They, of course, found all kinds of things that should be attended to because I generally don't complain until our mouse body count climbs toward 10 (we seem to have paused at 8, but I was still finding fresh droppings at the end of last week.) The appliance guy's coming out tomorrow, so if anyone knows how to sabotage a stove so that I can truthfully claim it doesn't work, please let me know.


We had a generally nice weekend otherwise. Brigham and Janice were in town so we caught up a bit over drinks at Marsha's Friday, then Leila and I went by to visit their adorable baby Kai at their hotel yesterday. Saturday was Grandma Vick's big 8-0 and since the rest of the family's all dispersed at the moment, Cesar, Leila and I just went by to visit the dog and join them for dinner at Belle Haven. Cesar and I got ourselves sucked into the second season of Rome Saturday night and that's about all of any interest that went down.

My 6th Sense!

As I'm walking to the metro this morning muttering along to "if it keep on a rainin' the levee's gonna break..." on my iPod it struck my mind that it's about time for an annual Dylan show. I just came back from taking my soon to abandon me intern to an indulgent lunch and checked my yahoo account to see the message "Bob Dylan Pre-sale!" Now how's that for prescience! Friday, September 28th at Merriweather. And the perfect season of year to be outdoors at Merriweather. And Elvis Costello is opening for him. Two legends in one evening. Though it was fun to see Jack White and the Raconteurs open for him last fall, Elvis Costello somehow makes more sense. And the best part about it is that I now no longer have to worry about a birthday present for Floyd. We're coming at you again Bob!

???

Jean, or anyone else who might read this who knows me from some other segment of my life, does this actor remind you of anyone we would know personally? He is Tobias Menzies who plays Brutus on Rome, but Massi and I are going bonkers because we feel like we know him personally from somewhere when we watch the show and we both reached that conclusion independently! I feel like he has to closely resemble someone we knew in college, but I'm at a loss!

Kids TV can be curious...

So I find myself watching "Wonder Pets" with the girl on Nick Jr. this morning while C & C Music Factory's "Things that make you go hmmmm..." streams through the soundtrack in my head.


Her Fussiness this morning wailed "turn that news show OFF" at me (that news show being the Today Show, which can hardly be called news when I hear Meredith Viera say "but first, the nasty custody battle between Britney & K. Fed...") so I flipped to Curious George and I got "NO, I don't want JORGE!" so I flipped to Higglytown Heroes and got "no HEEEEGGLYTOWN!!!!" so I finally landed on the aforementioned Wonder Pets.


This is a new one to me. The wonder pets are apparently a classroom hamster, duckling and turtle who learn in every segment that they can help another animal in need by teamwork!! There's an original feel good concept for you. And they sing their way through their adventures. It's really quite compelling. The segment I caught this morning involved helping a puppy who had to go pee but couldn't get outside because he was alone in the house. After several rounds of "pee pee, tinkle, wee wee...everyone has to go sometime..." the wonder pets discover that the puppy has a doggy door and he just doesn't know how to use it yet. By the time they get puppy's confidence up and teach him how to use the door, our three heroes have decided that all this pee pee talk has made them have to pee as well so the four squat happily in different parts of the yard. Once they've taken care to wash their hands and expressed their relief, Hamster whatshisname says "this calls for celery" and whips a stalk out to share with his friends and Ming Ming the duckling accepts her share and says "mmmmm....celewee's great after a nice pee pee." And it's at this point that I scratch my head and go huh?? Anyway...the girl was mesmerized enough to allow me to get her dressed and ready for school, so it served its purpose I guess!

Good Casting

So this is old news, like months ago old news, but I'm just now catching up to it...just learned that Eric Bana will play Henry in The Time Traveler's Wife opposite Rachel McAdams. I've always thought Bana was a powerful presence back to Black Hawk Down (yes, he was another - at the time - little known star I saw hitting golf balls at the Rabat Hilton back in the day), but watching Munich last year proved that no one can do tortured better than he! TTTW is one of my absolute all time favorite books and I don't think this casting call will prove to be a letdown! And speaking of time travel, I'm becoming pretty intrigued by the frequent trailers for the new fall show "Journeyman." It may just be because I'm spending every spare minute I can on back episodes of Rome and Kevin McKidd is another actor who seems well suited to playing a tortured time traveler. Though my true Rome crush - odd as it is - is on the actor who plays Brutus and he's not classically cute/handsome in the least and not at all how I'd picture Brutus, but there you have it.

So after all my Beckham frivolity at the end of last week, we had a pretty somber weekend. My mother called early Friday morning from the airport to let me know that my grandfather had passed away in the night and that she and my dad were on the way down to Naples, FL. As extremely sad as I am that I won't see Papa again, or hear him call me "Lis-er" in his Southeast Virginian accent over the phone, he truly led a full and miraculous life and he departed in the peace that we all hope for. I hurt for my grandmother of course, who is now without her partner for the first time after 63 years of marriage, and is in failing health herself, but when I sat down Friday night to list some of the many things that will always capture Papa's spirit for me, I began to feel a bit better about my personal loss. I was also lucky to have my cousins and brother to lean on as I shot Email back and forth to them Friday completely worthless at work (5 beers with Carter over the United/Galaxy game the night before hadn't helped on the worthless at work front!) I know that they, as well as I, feel blessed to have had Papa as such an important player in our lives well into our early adulthood. I'm very sorry I never got the chance to introduce him to Leila, but I know her pictures smiled down on him daily.

And speaking of Leila...Before I learned about Papa, I had intended to take advantage of my 1:00 departure Friday to go see either Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Stardust, or Becoming Jane, but with events, I wanted nothing more than to pick Leila up early from day care and spend time with her. And its a good thing that I did, because shortly after I got her home she stood and threw up buckets worth all over me as I sat on the living room floor and played with whatever she'd been instructing me to play with...ahhh...motherhood! (And I find that it is always the mother who is the target for the projectile vomit!) She ran a fever all night into the morning and still wasn't quite herself Saturday, so we wasted a beautiful day lazing around watching Nemo (and it's a good thing I like Nemo, b/c it's been shown 3 times in our house this weekend.) She was a bit spunkier following her afternoon nap, so we did get out for a walk to Old Town and sat around the square blowing bubbles by the fountain.

And lest I not forget...I brought Leila to our bed Friday night because she was roasting in fever and I like to have her close when she's ill. At about 3a.m. she was asking for 'medicina' and more milk and I'd left her Advil downstairs in the kitchen. Care to guess what greeted me as I peeped cautiously around the kitchen door....mouse corpse numero ocho (that would be 8, but ocho's the most fun number to say in Spanish.) Cesar was awakened to deal with it before I stepped any further into the kitchen of course. My neighbor (that would be my neighbor who graduated from UVA a year after Carter and who owns that house that was listed for $589,000 -depressing) stopped to tell me last night that he had gone ahead and preemptively called our pest control and Scott found no signs of mice in their unit, so they're just somehow contained to our little Amityville. Sigh...Carter does say that is within our legal rights to withhold payment of our rent until our home is vermin free, so it's time to get back to the property manager/owner again to insist on removal and hopeful replacement of the antique/gargantuan stove that is serving to hide the critters!

More Becks in the 'hood

And now I read that he was in the Pentagon City Mall yesterday shopping at Abercrombie and picking up coffee at the food court Starbucks!! That is my 'hood y'all. Of course Cesar raised the "what would you do if you saw him" question as I blathered on about his hotness earlier today, and I'd probably do the same thing I did when I saw Kenneth Branaugh in the Georgetown Park mall years ago - walk right past him w/o realizing who I'd walked right past until it was too late to do anything but a fleeting double-take. I have to be pretty darn drunk to actually approach a celeb, as Billy Baldwin witnessed at a Chicago Democratic Convention big donors after-party back in '96: "I jush looove what you do for the democratic party...for the crative colisschion...can I have yer autografff..." Anyway...If I learn that Becks wandered into the Potomac Yard Target to pick up a Mossimo cap or something, I will really fall off my chair!

My Becks-dar clearly requires adjusting!

So if Becks had been dining at the downtown Morton's location last night, I could have forgiven myself, because I flee the city at 5:00. But, but, but... Crystal City!! That is like 1.5 miles or less from our home. And there are all kinds of good restaurants tucked back in there now, but I always forget about them and never go there because it just seemed such a ghost town after working hours for so many years. Wow. Becks in Crystal City in beautiful Alexandria/Arlington, VA. Now if I'd learned he'd been in Old Town, I'd really be kicking myself, because we have no excuse not to engage in a Becks quest there. Well, I'll be in my jersey watching him on the sidelines over beer at Rustico tonight.

From The Reliable Source:

David Beckham, covering more ground off the field than he's likely to see in tonight's game at RFK. The Los Angeles Galaxy superstar, still nursing an injured ankle, joined his teammates Tuesday night at Morton's steakhouse in Crystal City -- the players are regulars at the upscale chain's Burbank restaurant. Beckham (minus glam spouse Posh, apparently still on the West Coast) had a porterhouse steak; sat in the middle of the dining room. Yesterday morning, a "friendly" Becks, two friends, a bodyguard and driver popped into Georgetown's Bean Counter (telling staff, "I hear you have really great coffee") for a mocha frap and a chocolate muffin, posed for pictures and joked around.

More of a Lefty Than I Thought!?

Here's a fun little tool to find out which of the '08 Presidential contenders share your views on the issues. My submissions resulted in Kucinich at the top as most closely sharing my views, followed in order by Gravel, Obama, Clinton, Edwards, Dodd, Richardson....Kucinich and Gravel?! Who knew I was so far out there? I was not surprised to see that I was closer to Obama than Hillary though...Check it out:

http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php

7 and Counting

The mounting death toll of mice in our house has truly reached ridiculous proportions. 7 in under two weeks. 7!!! And I can't even yet count the 7th down because that one has retreated somewhere in the house with a glue trap still attached to its body - or it devoured the entire glue trap and managed to walk away free. This one really grosses me out. When I went down this morning to prepare Leila's breakfast and my lunch I noted that a trap was missing, so I called Cesar to see if he'd found/disposed of another snared mouse this morning and he said no, he'd looked around to try and find where the mouse dragged itself and the trap this morning and he couldn't see anything without dragging all the appliances out and waking us at 5:00a.m. I made him stay on the phone with me the whole time I was in the kitchen because I was so freaked my the image of a mouse on the loose with a glue trap still attached. I just called my property manager on vacation to insist they get the 1980's era stove out of the kitchen so pest control could really get back there to see where this tribe of mice is holed up. When he was out last week he said he couldn't pull the stove out since it was all one unit with the microwave on top and that short of doing that to find their access point all he could do was continue to put out new poison and traps under the stove. I don't think my property manager picked up on the hint that it would be nice to pull the 1980's stove out and dispose of it to replace it with something new and sleek b/c she was pondering whether the appliance company could pull it out so pest control could get back there and do their thing then leave it unbolted in case it had to be pulled out for future mouse outbreaks. Heaven forbid we are still living in dear Amityville for future outbreaks!! My skin is just crawling this morning....

Happy Birthday to Me!

This is a pretty hideous picture of me, but regardless, I am sporting my birthday gift with pride. What more could a 33 year old ask for than an official Beckham jersey?! And though I have no problems watching him sidelined in a hot suit, as he was during last night's Toronto match, it would be nice to see those magic legs in action one of these days. Are you ready to take on DC Thursday night Becks? We'd be happy to babysit Cruz so he and Leila can start on their predetermined (by moi) love affair ; )

I'm about to take myself out for a late morning pedicure as a birthday treat since the boss isn't here, then Leila and I will hit Buzz for cupcakes tonight while Cesar's at class. I'm happy to keep it low-key as it's Monday and I've gotten pretty good at dragging celebrations out through the preceding weekend. Cesar and Leila and I did our own dinner out Saturday, we did dinner with the whole Williams family last night and I did the minimal amount of housework to get by (i.e.: groceries and laundry), so I'm living in filth, but did take a bit of a break.

I got out at 1:00 Friday (after we reminded the Principals that Fridays in DC in August = D.E.A.D.), so Cesar and I were able to sneak off to a movie. We caught an early show of The Bourne Ultimatum and it was pretty darn awesome. I've been somewhat more open to the whole action film genre since I've known Cesar, but I think I'd have found the Bourne flicks to be fun and smart even without his influence. Oh how I would have loved to see Matt Damon flying past in the Tangier Medina! Yes, I had my Orlando Bloom moment in the Rabat Medina, but I didn't even know who he was at the time, just knew that a pretty boy with a pretty accent was asking me to model a necklace for him in our favorite silver merchant's... those were the days...

And the funny Vicky Williams comment from dinner last night was that she always thought my brother looked like Matt Damon, but that Carter was much purdier. Ha! In reality, they do have similar features, but I give the purdy points to Damon.


And for those keeping track - two more dead mice in the house this weekend. These caught by the old skool guillotine traps the pest control man set out with the poison last week. They were well into rigamortis by the time Cesar dragged them out and I only knew to look for the first from the growing stink. It's truly sick at this point. If you hear of a plague outbreak in Alexandria, VA, it started in our home - Amityville...

Shark Week Eye Candy - YUMMERS!!

Proof positive that Shark Week is not just for science/nature geeks. Meet my new boyfriends.

Ryan Johnson, South African Shark Scientist:

And Animal Behaviorist Dave Salmoni:
Them scientists are hot y'all!!! I didn't have time to search for better pics - like one of Dave shirtless from the shark callers of Papua New Guinea episode last night (even Cesar had no qualms saying "man! he's cut!") - because I'm taking off to catch a movie this afternoon, but those give you a little flavor. Mmmmmm....

Se Habla Chill??

I had high hopes. I did want to love this stuff and enjoy drinking in its refreshingness on these lovely 96 degree days we're experiencing, but eh, it's no Corona Light with a fresh wedge of lime. It just bears no more resemblance to beer than a lime-ade does and it's a little too reminiscent of that good ol' Zima. I'll be shifting back to the best summer beer on the market - Abita's Strawberry Harvest Lager - as soon as I finish the 6 pack of Chill in my fridge, and if I want lime and salt with my booze, I think I'll stick with a margarita. I'd be curious to know if any real Latin American Chelada connoisseurs think this is passable. The Micheladas I had in Monterrey Mexico were closer to a Bloody Mary and somewhat of an acquired taste perhaps. They involved tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, hot sauce with a nice cold pour of Tecate or any Mexican beer of preference. Just drink for thought....

Shark GEEK

I can never get enough Shark Week! Was anybody else as fascinated as I was during the "Perfect Predator" hour last night when they were testing out sharks' sensitivity to the electricity all living things emit (their "6th sense") with a baby hammerhead?

Cesar came down to find me all agog, glass of wine in hand, with a Parents magazine dropped at my feet and asked if I was addicted to this programming. Um, no (meekly said)...though knowing it was on this week did soften the blow of having no more Harry Potter to read! He can't be too critical though, he joins me on the couch at the first shot of a surfer he catches. Even Leila's in on the action. After her bath last night she said "I want to watch the shark movie Momma." But as soon as she saw a bull shark in Cuban waters it was "no, I don't like that movie. Turn it off." She's already wise to how fuh-reaky bull sharks are with the whole ability to exist in fresh water thing.

I love it when my friends make the A Section of the Washington Post!

Nope, not Condoleeza, though there have been several occasions when my hair appointments have overlapped with her nail appointments at the Watergate Salon, but my boy Mike Evanoff!

Mikey was one of my best buds in Morocco. I spent many an evening and weekend afternoon partying with this guy at the American Club, the Marine House and the Hash and Cesar and I have loved playing the "Find Evanoff" game as we watch news programs ever since he became head of Condoleeza's protective services. I fully expect to see more of him on TV as a security expert talking head in the future, but for now, Brussels sounds great. We may be dropping in for a visit one day Mikey.

Rice's Protector Plans a Move to NATO
By Robin Wright
Mike Evanoff is the Bodyguard. His formal title is special agent in charge of protective operations at the State Department. But the former Washington area high school football star is better known among those who travel with the secretary of state as Condoleezza Rice's shadow.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073102001.html?referrer=emailarticle

No mouse this morning!

I suppose the ants in the dishwasher last night sufficed for our home critter factor for the past 24 hours.