The Keathly's 9th Wedding Anniversary! Woot!!!

Wednesday was our 9th Anniversary.

Still crazy (in love) after all these years.

We celebrated by having dinner with Jesse and Sarah at Sawatdee.

Noah loves the cream cheese wantons.

Jesse and Sarah were color coordinated.

Sarah took the boy home, which left Jesse, Stan and myself with 3 tickets to Go Team and CSS at First Avenue. We stopped first for a beer.

I hate it when Jesse winks at me. His wink is filled with the evil of clowns.

He then did an impersonation of me without a bra on.

Jesse and Stan both had stout mustaches. Murphy's makes a better one that Guinness.

Then it was off to the show!

Jesse bought me a CSS shirt for an anniversary gift. Thanks Jesse!

Zach was there to witness Jesse drinking a HUGE bottle of Maibok.

Jesse and the K's.

Stan and Jesse

It was a good night, topped off with the obligatory White Castle stop on the way home at 1:30 in the morning. I count this as the kickoff of all the celebrations for Jesse that will be happening in the next couple weeks. We will send you off in style, my friend.

And now, I leave you with this:

Family Breakfast Sunday

Jesse is going to be leaving us soon. The way I figure it, we have two family breakfast Sundays left before he takes off for his new home and job in sunny California.

So we made this last one count. First was breakfast at Mill City in good ol' Nordeast. Eating on the deck there is so pretty and quintessentially summer for us, although this time we didn't bring the dog. It was a little more peaceful that way.

Then, it was off to the park for Noah's first attempt at riding a two wheeler without training wheels. After Jesse tuned up the bike, Sarah took off the training wheels and we were off.

How many adults does it take to teach a kid to ride a bike? Answer: Four.

We went up a few streets to a park with plenty of flat area to practice on.
It was HOT and HUMID. We filled that water bottle three times.
After the bike ride, we all got ice cream and Sarah and I hit Crafty Planet and the local thrift store Rewind.
I bought some new sunglasses.
Then we went to visit Grandma Reade and hang out in her amazing garden.

It was nice and mellow, except when Stan decided to help with the stump removal.
See, there was this stump that Noah obviously didn't like.
So it was decided it must be removed.This was about as far as we got.
Jesse is coming back later in the week with dynamite to finish it off.
Mr. Miagi loves his new home and now will even eat from your hand.
I loves me the toad stools.
Jesse grew a catalpa mustache for the occasion.
Sarah was cold, despite the horrendous heat.
Actually, she was under the gun to finish a blanket.
Through perseverance and hard work, she did just that, and it is beautiful.
Noah looks like a miniature of his brother. Or maybe it's just the glasses.

I am writing it here for the first, but not last time: I will miss the Jesse.

Tired

This last week has sucked.

I made a, well, let's call it an "error in judgment" that has so far cost us $4,900.

I feel broken.

Maybe I could be rebuilt, but I doubt it.

I guess I'll just soldier on.

Without my best friend of 14 years. Who is moving hundreds of miles away in three weeks.

Yeah. Life is . . . great? Ri-ight.

First Buffy, Then Angel - Now Comes Dr. Horrible

Update: This was free when I made this post. Now that popularity has reared it's ugly head, you have to pay $2 an "act" to watch it. Darn.

The time: 11:57 PM

The scene: Lisa walking the dog.

Halfway around the block, a huge black dog ran out at us, seemingly friendly-like, but I grabbed Dodi and picked her up, just in case.  She was making the equivalent noise of a junior high school girl who has just been asked out on a date by Mr. Joe Cool because she wanted to play.  The owners thought she was being killed by their dog.  Cue two college guys running out in full on panic mode.  Once they realized it was Dodi and me, and I realized the black hulking shadow was really good old gray spotted Chu-Cho, all was fine.

So I proceeded on my walk, all fine and dandy with the world.  Then, I turned onto my street.  I saw the neighbor from the party house two doors down from me standing in his yard.  The one whose wife calls him Stan even though his name is really Dan.  Hmm, what the heck is he doing?  Rolling up the garden hose?  Spreading fertalizer?  No.  No, he's not.  He's shirtless, knees bent in a semi-crouching stance, practicing his nunchuck skills.  

Seriously.  Nunchucks.  

Wow.

McCain is an asshole. Part 2

When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return.

If McCain had to pay taxes on the full amount of the pension, it would have increased his tax bill by about $18,000 based on the percentage of his income he paid to the federal government.

I realize that his 5 years as a prisoner of war were hell and his rehabilitation was extremely painful. However, after that, he regained full flight status and commanded a Navy squadron.

In his autobiography, he states that his disabilities are: not being able to raise his hands over his head and that his knee hurts in cold weather. That garners him $58K a year in supposedly tax free money?

He was able to fly and command a Navy squadron, yet is still disabled? He is in "perfect health" and able to run our country, yet is still receiving disability checks? Something stinks here, and yes, it is McCain, the quintessential Republican asshole.

This will be MINE.

There are so many to choose from! How is a girl to decide? I know, I'll just get them all!!!

McCain is an asshole.

During this past week:

• McCain called the most important entitlement program in the U.S. a disgrace.
• McCain's top economic adviser called the American people whiners.
• McCain released an economic plan that no one thought was serious.
• McCain flip flopped on Iraq.
• McCain joked about the deaths of Iranian citizens (Let's kill them with cigarettes!)
• McCain denied making comments that he clearly made -- TWICE. 

Read all about it here.

Sharks with laser beams!

I think Noah needs this. . . for me.

4th of July Road Warning

Good thing Noah's taking karate.

Castle Rock Getaway

Last weekend, I went to Castle Rock House in Lutsen, MN for a two day intensive course on Hands On Healing taught by Cheryl Berg.

I haven't been up to the North Shore since Stan and I had our honeymoon at the creepy Cotton Mansion in Duluth. The web site makes the place look, oh so pretty, but in reality it is the setting for every B horror film ever made.

The house we stayed in was far from creepy. It was big, beautiful, and I would love to go back there with a group for a weekend stay.

The back of Castle Rock house with some of our group packing up to go home.

The windows in the upstairs living room were amazing.

Hands on Healing Class in progress.

Balconies for hanging out on either side and the walk out patio were awesome as well.

This was the view from the walk out patio. It was the plateau before you went down one more level to the rock beach.

The fire pit. Many a marshmallow met their end at this place.

Then came the beach.

Sarah and Catherine thought they could swim to the island, even in the freezing cold water. They only made it this far.

We took a ton of rocks from this beach to use in our stone massages. I only fell once in all my hours on the shifting surface.

The motley crew of Juut.

Before we headed home, we hiked Cascade Falls. I forgot how pretty they were!

Juut hikes to the falls.

Some of us held back and climbed out on the rocks to get a better view of the falls. They thought we got lost, so Aaron came back to find us.

He did it chicken style.

It was a perfect getaway.