Happy Memorial Day Weekend

This was perhaps the most poorly planned holiday weekend ever. I declined multiple graduation/birthday invitations. My cousin's wedding was the top choice, but my daughter decided she didn't want to go with less than 2 weeks notice. Four Ohio friends made plans to visit and then canceled at the last minute. With a one day notice, I didn't have time to rearrange travel to NY or OH for the things I originally should have done.

SALVATION! My friend Merritt and I were chatting and discovered his weekend plans also fell through; we decided to relax the weekend away in Phoenixville. Timmy worked Saturday and we arrived last night for a chill evening. We shopped downtown at Hipster Home; just wait till you see the 'accessories' I've purchased for the Joan Crawford night! The evening ended with a group meal preparation in his gourmet kitchen.

After a few martinis, we went to bed early for a Saturday. While everyone else is still sleeping, my insomnia forced me up at 5:30 this morning. Today's agenda is very loose which generally cultivates the most fun. I'm especially looking forward to our ethnic breakfast plans! Hopefully I'll remember to mobile blog the adventures...it's turning into a fabulous holiday weekend after all!

Old Post Updates...Remember the half marathon? I also received the video and added it to the finish line post. Click over and take a peek if you need a good laugh.

Save The Date - Ben's Chili Bowl Turns 50

Ben's Chili Bowl turns 50 this fall! The excerpt below was taken from a Washington Informer article where Joseph Young writes about the exciting things planned for the celebration! In addition, the new Ben's II (next door to the original location) will open that same weekend! How fantastic, a bar where one can enjoy both a chili smoke and a beer!

Ben’s 50th anniversary gala will be held at the historic Lincoln Theatre Aug. 21. Comedian-activist Bill Cosby will serve as Master of Ceremony.

“It will just be a celebratory night to celebrate mom and dad and the legacy of Ben’s Chili Bowl,” Nizam Ali said.

On Aug. 22, U Street will be closed and there will be musical performances and dancing in the street. On Aug. 24, there also will be a concert at the 9:30 Club. More can be learned about the history and legacy of Ben’s from their book, “Ben’s Chili Bowl: 50 Years of a Washington, D.C. Landmark,” which will be on sale Aug. 18 at area bookstores. The book is on pre-sale now at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.comBooks.

For all the latest details, click over to the anniversary pages at BensChiliBowl.com Thanks to Candy for sending me the article!

Where the earth rotates

While Big Tom prepares for our third car bomb and Young Kevin catches up, I am....well wasting precious time taking pictures.

Happy Birthday Girl!

Don't send a lame Birthday Card.
Try JibJab Sendables!

Sorry this is not an "actual" birthday card, but I wanted to select one that several of us could participate in. Hope your birthday is swell!

Divas Outdoors

From the Real Affirmations Website:

Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens, Metro Weekly, and One In Ten present DIVAS OUTDOORS: Summer Camp at its very best, classic films under the stars, picnic spread contests, Joan Crawford lookalike contest:


We already reserved tickets for Friday, June 13th, to see Strait Jacket. Buy your tickets now at 202.686.5807 if you want to join! The entire series looks awesome!

Long and Thin

Capri fun. I might have selected the wrong smokes

Working hard for the money

She's not dead...just getting a mani-pedi with me after lunch

The new Annies Upstairs

She waves to her peoples below with the serenity and grace of a Peterbilt.

Annies Steakhouse

We are having a nice lunch at Annies

Fun with Alice & the peeps

Sunday Funday

St Sophias

Guess who's first again this year.

Update: In fact, RJ finally made his virgin mobile blogging post. We love the Greek Festival! During the festival last Fall, they stopped selling wine by the bottle. This Spring festival, they lost their liquor license completely. Bummer, but we still had a good time.

Momma is a strong woman

...so Iris tried to take her mom home, but she insisted on going herself. She made a new friend, Wendy. Apparently this is ok because she has her addy on a bar nap

Happy Early Birthday Robert

A fantastic birthday dinner and a little candle for Mary at Rosemary's Thyme. Fun times with a great friend!

Fun times at the zoo

Iris (pictured left) and her mother, Alice, invited me for an afternoon at the zoo.

Desperate times

This dude totally has a jumbo slice in his bag

Red Suit

We might have stopped for Kostume karaoke after movie night. This cat showed up in his own costume to sing Benny & the Jets. fun times

Happy Anniversary Dad

This is a day of celebration! My Dad had his cancerous kidney removed 10 years ago today and has been cancer free ever since. The first five years were spent in fearful anticipation of the results every six months. The last five years have required annual tests. From this point forward, he only has to do bi-annual testing since he has been officially cancer free for 10 years. Click on the logo above to donate if you like.

I love my Dad.

Seriously?

They seriously have guitar hero set up on a big screen on the smoking patio...and Pitchers are still only 5 dollars

Is Your "Betty" Ready?

...this is unbelievable. If you don't have time to watch the brief Leno clip above, click over to the Betty Beauty links below and find out what the hype is all about. I am particularly fond of the Charmcils to shape your Betty and the Bridal Betty in Malibu Blue when you want your "something special" to be the "something blue" on your wedding day. I don't know about you, but I'm going with Fun Betty for my birthday weekend.

Mother's Day Finale

Mother's Day is finally over. It was a long, fun, rain filled day. Here's a brief synopsis.

8:30 AM - Get up and ready!

10:00 AM - Pick up Mom & Dad for Church. The sermon was about Charlatan preachers selling "Prosperity Gospel." Actually a decent perspective on it.

11:55 AM - Arrive at Bob Evans with 17 family members. Who goes to a restaurant, that doesn't take reservations, with 17 people on Mother's Day? We divided and conquered. Eli's family of 7 took one area, Esther's family of 5 took another (they scored Grandma,) and my baby Bro, Keith, and I sat with my parents.

12:00 PM - The Sheriff's Department responds to a 9-1-1 call at my parent's house. Apparently the lightning storm took out a telephone pole back the road and knocked out their landline. During the madness, their phone mysteriously dialed 9-1-1, but nobody was home. The neighbor, James, contacted my brother via cell phone to see if anyone was in the house when nobody answered the door. Not sure why they didn't just walk in...I doubt the door was even locked.

3:30 PM - Hang out with Steve & Lisa and meet her new pets, Smelia & Mimmick. They are rather shy and a-scared of the humans right now, but unbelievably adorable. If it wasn't rainy and gross, I would have tried to play with them, but they were all wet.

6:00 PM - Pick up my Mom from a Tupperware party / Bridal Shower for my cousin's fiance. I guess it is the latest trend to have parties and buy things for the bride instead of bringing useless gifts. I was judged by my Aunts for showing up at a girls only party, but I had to collect Mom or she would have been there all night. Yes, I did buy two items of Tupperware for myself; none for the bride...I wasn't invited.

7:30 PM - Cookout at Steve & Lisa's house. We had a great meal and then settled by the fireplace for some casual conversation. Dad and Moose were tired and apparently a little bored as we posed for the picture above. Lisa must have taken 30 shots, but we had the giggles like we were 12 years old and couldn't get a good posed one. This one makes me smile.

The most notable conversation revolved around Keith's relationship prospects. Mom apparently has a good one for him, but he didn't "do anything with the last one she introduced him to," so she's not sure how she should introduce him to this one. We had to explain that, no matter how perfect a girl may be, it is never cool for a Mom to play matchmaker. Keith offered to go back and "do something" with the last one if that was all Mom expected. I'm not certain she got it, but the rest of us were howling.

Happy Mother's Day

I should have saved Friday's post about my friend Ja and her mommy adventures for today. Since I didn't, I dug through the archives and found this rare photo from 2002 of Cynthia and Dalia. I think it may have been the only time our mothers were actually together.

Cynthia with her cursing and Dalia with her Jesus...they don't exactly go together like Jack & Coke.

Regardless...Happy Mother's Day to all who are, were, or aspire to be mothers to their chirrens, their pets, or even their friends!

Memory and Laughter

I know my chimney friends will think this is a child in training for life on U Street. In reality, it is a pic from my friend Ja's blog. She has taken time off work to be a full-time mommy and started blogging the details of their adventures.

I absolutely love it; she reminds me of all the quirky little things my baby girl did as a child. I wish 'blogging' was available and common back then because she had many blog worthy moments in her days.

If you would like to read about Ho Cakes, and generally useless happenings on U Street, keep scrolling down my pages. If you want a good wholesome smile, pop over to The Postlewait's and check out my friend and her kids! In this picture, for example, her baby girl is "talking to the toilet" as if it was entirely normal. In another post, she can't understand why Nina won't open the door to the van - you have to read it; reminds me of Rita Jean talking to the Neverlost module in the 'Gator on our last road trip. I love the innocent antics of chirrens and hers are especially adorable.

Hoe Cake

Ho's got to eat too

Duffarific

Have you picked up the latest issue of On Tap Magazine? There is a full page article titled, "On The Cheap; Happy Hour at Duffy's" about Duffy's Irish Restaurant & Pub!

Nice Publicity Andy!

Cinco de lockdown

Today was completely useless; thankfully I was pre-scheduled off work for a recovery day. Tomorrow I will resume living like a grown up person and will not pretend to be 12. While tempted with the fun that can be had on el Cinco de Mayo, 24 hours with my pillow are required. I've been up long enough to hydrate and re-fuel. Time to return to my horizontal recovery.

Voluminous Something

We might be going to work

Vol 2 chapter ?

Happy Cinco De Mayo dancing happy time at the place the earth rotates

Vol 2 Chapter 6

It's a fast bus...

Vol 2 Chapter 5

Yup...p-rat

Vol 2 Chapter 4

Both tims are missing

Vol 2 Chapter 3

We're at Solly's too

Vol 2 chapter 2

Vol 2 Chapter 1

The second part of today's daylight drinking starts now

Can u believe the sun be up?

Oops...might Be morning and we might need cash to pay

Trying

Apparently RJ isn't is his special place...yet

Is this the place?

Interesting...wish the Big Jackey Cafe was open

Part 12

Our new friend (i mean taxi driver) is taking us to the after hours chinese restaurant in china town cuz we need some late night treats. See this meter? I feel this might cost more than zones? Not sure...of this or much

Wrong Tim?

They say...all's well that ends well. Apparently Too Tall Tom and I ended up in the bed together...again.

Time to start Sunday Funday!

Act five?

Who can say? YK says he has no limits, but I believe I've thested this hypothesis and it be false

Part III

This is how we roll with Travman. Why am I in Adams Morgan? Oh yeah...bonding with Jym and speaking anime

Leaving The Country

Apparently someone enjoyed the full liquor bar too much and they didnt have beer so we have a designated driver who didnt drink liquor. we went back to Joanie and Richards for a few more and the Derby. Now we headed to the city for part II

The Hot Brown Horse

The horses are warming up in the paddock. RJthinks the walker for horse 4 is hoafter him because he keeps walking by. I guess he hasnt noticed the paddock is a circe

Maximizing Time

I am not sure if it is good or bad that we have the most exclusive passes. RJ is ready for her rider. Think she'll win the race?

Pre-Race!

Pre-race festivities are nice and relaxing in the country

Gold Cup Fun Begins

We arrived early to watch the Jack Russell terrier races. RJ is impressed that we are sitting inside the fence.

Rock Star Weekend Part 1

This is going to be a great weekend. RJ and I kicked it off yesterday with a visit to our personal shopper at Macy's where we each selected diva outfits for tomorrow's Gold Cup. My new Marc Ecko seersucker and plaid patchwork spring blazer may be a little much for those across the bridge, but I'm sure they'll deal with it. It may be a little bit urban, but I'm making it a lot bit gay. Mother & Father should already be in Warrenton and Shannon has finished a Friday night on U Street including a fab dinner at Ulah Bistro (pictured above.) We're going to bed early to prepare for the weekend!

Tomorrow while we are at the race, Bosox Siobhan and BKDM will arrive and go to a Nationals game with the peeps and tomorrow night a Chimney Fall house party is in the works! Fun times in the city!

Stay tuned!

The Thin Blue Line

This hottie, Lukas, that owns (or maybe manages) Chix has an interesting bumper sticker on the back of his sexy Jeep. I've seen it on other vehicles, but never understood what it was. I have no idea what nationality he is, but assumed it may be from his ancestral homeland. Having never spoken to Lukas in person, I have no idea what that is. I assumed a Latin descent, but his name is decidedly German. Both of those are very good things, but didn't help me locate the flag.

Timmy and I colluded, at one point, that it was a more masculine version of the Leather Pride flag (the one with the heart) and that the girl he was always riding around with was merely his sister. The picture above is stolen from their website where he was taking food to a shelter during the holidays. The gays; they volunteer and we're always hoping... A neighborhood friend assured us he was straight after unsuccessfully trying to "pick him up" along with his takeout order. Apparently, Lukas wasn't on the menu.

It was a relief and a disappointment when we finally stumbled upon the Unidentified Flags section on the Allstates Flag & Banner Company website. We found it stood for "The Thin Blue Line," which was readily Googleable. Apparently, according to the truth that is Wikipedia, the emblem can be used to identify off-duty law enforcement and their families. Others say it represents fallen law enforcement personnel with the blue line representing the living and the black representing those killed in the line of duty. This follows from the tradition of putting black tape across their badges after one of their own is lost. Regardless of the origin or current meaning, there is a controversy around the utilization of the flag on personal automobiles. It is assumed a degree of favoritism is given to those sporting the emblem when it comes to dishing out the law.

I can't believe nobody has firsthand knowledge of this flag. Have any of you heard of it? Whether it confuses the gaybies or gets me out of a traffic ticket, perhaps I should get one on my vehicle!