everything worked out

perfectly in NYC. I'll explain. I was so excited I forgot my notes on what I wanted to see and where it was. Our train got into Grand Central Terminal around 7am. We bought a tourist map of Manhattan and the subway routes. After walking for a bit, we stopped for croissants and coffee so we could take a minute to read over the map. We decided to head to Rockefeller Center first. (After reading reviews, I decided against the Empire State Building and for Top of the Rock instead.) We headed up 5th Ave. and stumbled upon St. Patrick's Cathedral. Yes, I'd wanted to go but it just worked out to be on our path.We then headed over to Rockefeller Center and bought the Rock Pass which would get us to the Top of the Rock observation deck, a tour of NBC studios and a tour of Radio City Music Hall. Our first stop was the observation deck. Even though clouds were approaching, we had great views.One side offered a view of the Empire State Building while the other side offered a view of Central Park.

We finished with the sights up at the top and headed down for the studio tour. Boring. It was so boring and such a waste of time, we passed on Radio City Music Hall. We were in no hurry because it was raining by this time. (Remember how I said everything worked out perfectly? I needed to mail Eric's Six Flags season pass to him and we just happen to come across a post office in the building.) We wanted to find the right street, check out the severity of the rain and scope out the next sight. Somehow, we ended up at the subway. So we decided it was time to ride down to see the Brooklyn Bridge. Once on the subway, we weren't sure where to get off and swap trains.

See that girl over there reading? I, you know...being from Texas and all, asked her for directions. I think I scared her. She was really nice, told us which train to take next, got off at our stop and pointed out the direction to go. As soon as we got up to the street, we stopped for an umberella...even though the rain was just about finished. Then it was on to the Brooklyn Bridge.

After several attempts to get our picture together, we gave up and took one of each other. Once we got to the halfway point, we tried again to get a shot with the city behind us. A man came up and offered to help, so we let him. (If you look to the far left, you can see the Statue of Liberty.)

Once we walked across the bridge and back, we stopped at a deli for lunch. After our sandwiches and cheesecake, we headed over to the Staten Island Ferry. On the way we stopped in the NYPD museum. There were some pretty neat things in there. There were a lot of items they picked up from the debris from the World Trade Centers with tv screens of what was going on that day. I didn't stick around for too long. It was too real. I did get a picture of one of Al Capone's hats and machine guns. (I love that kind of stuff...not organized crime...historical artifacts.)

(I got a couple of pictures of Cosme but I'm not posting them because I'm sure he wouldn't want me to.) I decided we wouldn't go to the actual Statue of Liberty but instead take the Staten Island Ferry past it. It was a nice ride once I got my pictures. (With no help from the lady who tried to squeeze me out of the way.)
Once back to the ferry terminal, we took the subway to Times Square. We stopped for t-shirts and headed back to Grand Central Terminal. It was such a fun day. It doesn't seem like we did too much but our day was full. We were so sore and tired. We didn't even make it out for dinner, we had to get room service. I'm not complaining because it was pretty good. I wasn't feeling very well that evening. After a couple of Motrin, a pot (no, not a cup...a pot) of hot tea and a good night's sleep, I was better. The next morning we headed out of New Haven and went on a road trip to Providence. I'll save that for the next post.

today i'll post

some pictures from New Haven. We had a great time on our trip. We spent the first two nights in New Haven. We went walking through the area to find dinner.

We found this place called Basta. The food was wonderful. They had a lot of vegetarian dishes and went on about their organic ingredients. Cosme had a chicken dish and I had this steak with gorgonzola and red peppers. MMM... It was so good I HAD to get a picture of it (so I can try to copy).

All the buildings in that area are so pretty. I didn't get many pictures. I actually didn't take many pictures all week. It's just one of those things where you have to see it in person to enjoy it. We walked around a lot but wanted to get to bed early to catch the train to New York early the next morning. Here's a view from our hotel room.

strat really

missed Eric.

have you seen

Eric lately? He's probably doing this.
Sipping on a Diet Coke while speed-texting on his Blackberry. This was one night at the Mucky Duck.

welcome to my

cathouse. Seriously people. A year ago I would never have considered a cat. I've always hated cats. So what happened? Your guess is as good as mine.

Strat is the indoor cat. He's not demanding. He likes to be scratched occasionally and prefers to be left alone. I learned he also likes to sneak into the dryer when I accidentally leave the door open.

Oh, he also likes to take naps.

Lucille is the outdoor cat. I almost sent her packing when I found her "mess" in the flower bed. I decided to give her another shot and put a litter box in the garage for her. So far, so good. I caught her trying to earn her keep.

Since the heat and mosquitos have been pretty bad, I've been letting Lucille in. Oh, let's face it. She's been inside for about a week now. (She WILL go back out once everything lets up.) Anyway, she's not like Strat. She's very affectionate. If we sit, she jumps up in our laps and "makes biscuits" as Lauren calls it. Here's a shot I got of Lucille yesterday. Yeah, I wouldn't exactly call this an action shot.

don't judge a

book by its cover. As pretty as it was, delicious it was not. While sitting in the window of the cupcake shop, I took a picture of myself. See me in Cosme's glasses?
While I'm on the topic of self portraits, here I am again.Yes, I'm lying on the ground with my legs up against the building.

i wonder what

could possibly be in this box. Oh yeah, it must be a guitar. Eric took out a loan to pay for this guitar, a Les Paul Menace. So far he likes it. So far I like him having a loan...the chores are endless. [Insert crazed "mwhahaha"-like laugh here.] We have list of possible chores with the amount that gets knocked off the balance after completing said chore. Oh, there's also a penalty for having a bad attitude.

i set up another

computer in the guest room a while back. After all the frustration with the laptop and installing my camera stuff on the kitchen computer, I gave up and started doing "my thing" on that computer. It has internet problems. My pictures go from the camera to that computer, from that computer to a cd and from a cd to the kitchen computer. Fine, I can deal with that...quite well actually. Eric spilled Diet Coke on the kitchen keyboard. In the middle of the night he stole my keyboard and set it up in the kitchen. Deep down I just know that one day I might have good luck with a computer and get by without so many problems.

here's lucille

napping on the recycling bag.

Here she is hugging Strat. (Well, playing.)

Here's a better idea of their size difference.

Every once in a while I'll let her in the laundry room to play with Strat. He likes to play with her but she starts growling and hissing. Then she goes back out to kill June bugs. She was on the front walkway yesterday when I opened the door. Strat got out and went to grab her. Then it was as if he realized how hot it was outside and said, "screw this, I'm going back in with the a/c". I didn't even have to chase him, he turned around and ran back inside.

ugh.

That describes today. Simple enough. I'm ready to go to bed and start over again tomorrow. Since 2:00 I've baked two cakes. The first ended up in the garbage and the second might as well be. I'm so tired, I stacked the second cake wrong. Whatever.

We went to Houston today to drop Eric's amp off at the shop. I stopped at McDonalds. After ordering, I pulled to the front window and asked the woman to repeat the order. I corrected her and she told me to hang on. She took an order on her little headset and I pulled money out of my purse. I sat there and she blurted out, "I'm waitin' on you"... Excuse me...what? I couldn't say anything. I was shocked. Actually, my jaw dropped and I turned to look at Eric and his friend (whose jaws had also dropped). I couldn't help but laugh. No, it wasn't funny, I was furious. I had to laugh because I couldn't believe someone could be that uncouth. That's the only word I can think of. I called the Mc-main office in Illinois to tell on her. I almost called to complain to the establishment but then I didn't want her to know she got to me. Yeah, she'll eventually know she made somebody mad, but by then I'll be over it.

I need to make dinner now. I wonder how bad I can mess it up?

a while back i said

I should start a topic on things I've always asked for but never got. There's a Baskin Robbins on Gessner. Every time we went to Baskin Robbins I'd ask for a clown cone. Mom always said no. Cosme and I went the other day and I bought myself a clown cone. No, there was nothing great about it. Actually, it wasn't even very good. But now I can say I had one.I guess there's only one more thing I always asked for but never got. When I say always, this is around ages 5 to 12. Every year it was like this:

Mom, Dad & everybody: Melanie, what do you want for Christmas?

Melanie: a dummy

or

Mom, Dad & everybody: Melanie, what do you want for your birthday?

Melanie: a dummy

I still don't understand why I never got one. Cosme says they probably thought I'd have issues. Picture this, 1980, sitting around the dinner table and I'm told to eat my vegetables. I ignore everyone but Charlie McCarthy turns around and says, "Melanie doesn't like vegetables" - I guess I can understand.

these are from

last night at the Armadillo. The band that Eric's in played for a party. The first is right before they went on. I know it's really dark but there's something about this picture I like.

The next is one from the sound check.

And the last is one of Eric's solos.

"i wonder why all

those DPS guys and firetrucks have the roads blocked?" That's what I kept asking on Sunday while we were doing all our sight-seeing around the Capitol. Eric wanted a nap so Cosme and I dropped him off at the hotel and went out for some sights. duh. I didn't find out about the Governor's Mansion until Monday morning. This pic is what we got when we set the timer and placed the camera in the grass.Cosme in front of the Capitol.

Here I am in what had to have been the coolest spot the city had to offer.

That, my friends, was Austin.

we went to austin

last weekend. Brittany colored Eric's hair with blue chunks (same as last year) and straightened it just for kicks. We met up with Cindy and Dodo for lunch then headed over to the hotel and went out for some sight-seeing.








Here are a few of the pics.

Oh, and here's the reason we went...

just a little something

I saw out in the flower bed. There's been a lot of spiders out lately.

for those who

haven't seen it. Here's my cousin Brittany's debut as a cover-girl.

mmm, shrimp

If the second two pictures don't make you want some, I don't know what will. As for the first picture, that should put "Jambalaya on the Bayou" in your head for the rest of the day.


A couple of weeks ago we went out and had some shrimp. The other night I decided to try a recipe that sounded similar to what we had at the restaurant. It was pretty good and I didn't even fry them!

the fix-all

(license plate has been altered to protect the innocent, it's not duct tape)
Mom, Lauren and I were driving down the freeway last week in Arlington and saw this truck. Look closely. The light for the license plate is a flashlight attached to a trailer hitch with duct tape. (No, that's not an orb following the truck. It's residue on my windshield.)