How Can You Not Fall in Love ...

With that face ...

With that snore ...

With that wrinkly little body ... ?

I need to get over there with my dSLR to capture the puppy madness properly. :) [ more pics! ]

Captivating Cloud Cover

I was unable to view the lunar eclipse due to hard rain and a class I was attending. This was the night before last, where the view of the moon surrounded by gnarly clouds inspired me to grab a tripod and snag a few shots. Untouched except for slight cropping.

Wonderful Tonight

... More like, "Wonderful Weekend". That's just the song I'm humming in my head at the moment while writing this here post.

Man, what a weekend! Played cards, ate at two restaurants I'd never been to before, got a deep tissue massage (by a man with strong hands and an exotic accent to boot, heh heh heh), watched Booty Call for the first time (LOVED IT), and shot fun pics at the "Seven Wonders" in the Houston theater district.

My legs are sore from running back and forth to set the timer on the camera and jumping as high as I could for multiple mid-air photo attempts. :)

[ more photos ]

Anti-Valentine's Dinner

The Anti-Valentine's gathering was a hit for the most part.

You know, I think I've only had ONE Valentine's Day date ever. As in, an actual outing ON February 14th. Here's how it went down:

It was a fine day back in the stone ages, er, I mean, college. A handsome younger lad that had started hanging out with our group of friends, I'll call him "J", had asked me out for Valentine's Day dinner. At 8:00am (!!!) he showed up at my dorm room door, with a stack of envelopes, and a single rose. Each envelope was labelled "9:00am", "10:00am", "11:00am", and so forth, for the whole day up until midnight. I was instructed to open them on the hour, each hour. Not wanting to ruin any surprises for myself, I did exactly as told. Romantic idea, no?

Well, 'twas not to be. The notes contained in the envelopes started off cute, slightly sweet, as would be fitting for our level of acquaintance. But then they started to become extremely random in nature: the one that still sticks in my head to this day is the note that read:

"Don't pick your nose too much,
it will cause nosebleeds."

This is a re-enactment of the accompanying illustration. I exaggerate not.

Dinner was lovely, with normal conversation. Only upon finishing did I realize that ALL OF OUR MUTUAL GUY FRIENDS, the losers (yeah PH, AL, JW, I'm talkin' to you guys), had been sitting there, a few tables over, spying on us the entire evening. Uh, I guess it was a good thing I hadn't felt the strong urge to jump J's bones in public? Any semblance of a date ended there as the whole gang headed to Einstein's and played video games. Which WAS pretty fun.

Anyway, fast forward to last night:

Thanks go out to Jon for picking a place with NO vegetarian choices except for bread, coleslaw, and french fries. :) Light flirting with the waiter had him asking me to come back Sunday where he would toast the bread in a special way, just for me ...

More light flirting again at Starbucks; I asked for the opposite of the fat free "skinny latte", and the cashier came up with the fattiest combination possible, labelling it as "Special Drank". Hee hee!

A happy group of Anti-Valentine-ians, camping outside Starbucks singing various Christmas carols and cartoon theme songs together. We definitely could have been mistaken for a bunch of drunks. :)

Sat Stats

• Locations I was at: 4
• Distance Driven: 102 mi / 164 km / ~2.5 hrs
• Shoes destroyed: 1
• Pairs of shoes that happened to be in car so I could continue to get my dance on: 1
• Pictures taken: 254
• Drinks imbibed: 0
• Warm light 2650K-temp CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs) purchased: 4

Seriously - finding warm light CFLs (apparently anything below 2700K is considered "warm") has rocked my world. Environmentally friendly, economical, AND feels like warm incandescent lighting. AND ON SALE TOO ($3 ea, rather than $6+ elsewhere). [Insert exhale of contentedness] ... my living room finally feels warm at night. Suh-weeeet.

(I don't get why warm CFLs are anything BELOW 2700K to be considered warm ... shouldn't it be, the higher the temp, the warmer the feel?)

I need to stop scheduling so much in one day. I'm gettin' too old for this. ;)

Here's a pic of us girls surrounding Jon to make him feel special. I think the special treatment is putting him on the verge of passing out there. I promise it isn't because I passed gas. :)

Happy Chinese New Year! :)

Lovely red lanterns hanging all around the temple last night for New Year's Eve festivities:

Reverend Rongtong, a grandfatherly figure to me, at the entrance to the Main Hall:

Tonight will consist of pigging out on hotpot with the parents. Whoohoo!

Wishing peace, health, and happiness to all for the Year of the Rat. Prosperity will come naturally when all these are satisfied. :)