Amie's Wedding aka: my very needed St John Vacation

so we arrived on St John last thursday - it was kind of an ordeal, since you have to fly directly into St Thomas & then take a water taxi over to the island. Worked out just fine...and the next day Randy & I went on an AMAZING snorkeling trip. First to visit the BATHS on Virgin Gorda, BVI and the to swim in the CAVES along Normand Island, BVI

that night Amie thru a rehersal dinner BBQ - gotta give lots of smooches

the wedding was beyond beautiful. Amie & Jeff said their vows 5 feet from the Ocean just at dusk. When the final "I DO's" were said, the sun went down

nothing is more beautiful then the sunset along a beach with a loved one

then the partying started as you can see - the sun from the day before attacked my back a bit (yes, my bathsuit criss-crosses along the back)
the happy newlywed couple, Amie & Jeff

next day I spent either hanging out with the Iguana's at the pool....
or being lazy in the ocean on a raft......

DUUUUUUUUUDE!

On All Hallow's Eve Todd popped in the DVD "THE BIG LEBOWSKI" and voila...he somehow channeled Jeff Bridges during the night and became THE DUDE on Halloween!

....scary similarities!

strolin in da' boken...

Lebowski: What do you do for recreation?

The Dude: Oh, the usual - I bowl, I drive around, ya know - the occasional acid flashback.

doesnt everyone dress up at work for Halloween?

WELL, I DO!!!!

ok, so I got home about 6pm & it was almost dark...this is how randy set up the front of our house so that the trick ~or~ treaters wouldn't be left out (since no one was home):
and this what I walked into once I opened the front door:

TWO observations from the express bus

1) gas has come down in price...it's now $2.39 by me

2) gas stations are already setting up x'mas tree buying stations. It's not even halloween yet, I think this is a bit early!

what do you do after mall shopping for 7 hrs with a toddler?

you find one of those coin operated riding toys!

Aunt Michy RULES...

...in case you dont have kids, that's ARTHUR driving Todd around in his school bus!

broadway + whitesnake = ROCK OF AGES

For my b-day, my sis got me tix to see the show ROCK OF AGES, so last night we went. I cant seem to get off my mexican kick, so the first stop was for a super yummy dinner (and close to the theatre district if you are heading to a show) at a place called TOLACHE & I totally recommend. We ordered the homemade guac, taco's & quesadilla's - and shared it all since it's all tapas size. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmm!

Then off to see the broadway show ROCK OF AGES - OMG it was so much fun (in a high school senior sing kind of way). Like I said - a lot of fun! It takes place during the late 1980's along the sunset strip & if you loved 80's hair metal music music like we did (ie: poison, whitesnake, winger, bon jovi, night ranger, warrent, extreme, etc)...then I PROMISE YOU that you wont be dissapointed. One of the coolest things was that the narrator totally reminded us of this guy we used to be good friends with way back when - ERNESTO. He had the most out there personality & was so much fun to hang with.

The final song was Journey's "Dont Stop Beleiving" - and they had the entire audience on their feet singing (kind of like the Mama Mia finale). Well, at least everyone that graduated high school back in the late 80's! The kid next to me was about 15 y/o and I dont even think he was born when any of these songs came out. What a waste of a perfectly good tix. Oh, right now the lead is played by Constantine Maroulis (from American Idol), who is sooooooooo damn cute in person!

I'm gonna make a suggestion at my work on monday - wonder if my meeting will turn out anything like this:

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

this weekend Randy & I took a drive up to Sleepy Hollow, NY to visit the grave of Washington Irving - who happens to be buried in the graveyard of the Old Dutch Church

so, is it weird to get such a pretty picture (with amazing foliage) at a place like this? I think not!
once the sun went down we headed to the Phillipsburg Manor, where there were having the Legends of Sleepy Hollow tour

a-MAIZE-ing

this weekend Randy took me to a corn maze at STONY HILL FARMS - it was soooooooooo much fun. As you can see, since there is a major election coming up next month - they carved VOTE '08, an elephant & a donkey into the corn maze

when we got there, it was about 5pm...so there was plenty of daylight
Randy even climbed the 8 ft bridge to get a good look of where were should be heading (this view is the back 1/4 of the maze)
good thing, cuz by 6:30 - it was DARK!
like.......REALLY DARK!
but with our flashlights & our maps - we made it out (we actaully did the maze twice...the first time it took us an hour cuz it was still daylight. The second time it took us over two hours cuz we kept getting lost in the dark)

happy birthday...to ME!

Last weekend was amazing - my parents, Randy & Sherri threw me a surprise b-day party one week before the actual date. The way they got me there was that they sent me an invite to Linda's surprise 60th b-day party...which was the same rouse as my bridal shower. And just as before - I bought a really nice gift for the person I thought I was going to their party!

As you can see - the theme is Mardi Gras....and the cake was AMAZING (one layer of white chocolate raspberry mousse & the other layer was a mocha mousse)
and so were the decorations - here is amie & me
sherri had every glass inscribed with "HURRICANE MICHELLE" - how cool is that?!?!?
barbara, irene, me & joanne - check out the banner that randy had made up for me behind us
my hubby is amazing...btwn the surprise & the decorations - hands down this was THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

Ugh.....UGGS!

This pic was taken over a week ago on my way home from work. Granted it was a few days after the official first day of Autumn...so it is fine to switch from capri's to long pants....but UGGS!

Are you kidding me?Someone needs to put a policy in place that if you are so un-tan that you make an albino look sunburned - maybe you shouldn't be wearing your UGGS in 78 degree weather with your shorts!

What the heck is going on with NYC fashion!?!?!?

Happy Birthday Barbara

DEAR BAR-BY,

LOVE, MICHY

Sesame Street "C is for COOKIE"

I know there are a lot of pervy sesame street skits out there on youtube...and truthfully I was gonna post one that cracked me up, but then I saw this & started singing along. I also realized how good some of their skits were way back when

oh screw it - here is the pervy one......do NOT open this in front of any kids!

The Magic Garden

Here is a perfect little 4 minute summary of my FAVOURITE show from back in the 1970's:

I loved when Carol & Paula said "...and hi to michelle..."

The Electric Company

HEY YOU GUUUUUUUUUUUUYS!
If you can't sing along to this, then you weren't a child watching PBS (which was channel 13 for me) btwn 1971-1977

and YES....you did recognize from the opening credits: Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno & Mel Brooks. Little piece of trivia: Gene Wilder was the voice of "LETTERMAN".

3-2-1.....CONTACT!

did ANYONE watching this while it was on PBS realize it was a science show? I didnt, I was already in junior high & I just thought it was cool!

Electra Woman & Dyna Girl

ok, so it didn't have any educational value....but in 1976 when sherri & I were both grammar school kids, this show had EVERYTHING young girls could ask for.

It was the only time that the 2 of us were quiet for a solid 30 minutes!

DMB @ MSG - Stand Up for a Cure

So I waited until 24 hrs before to decide I wanted to go to last night's show (truthfully, I thought the concert was in OCT, so I had more time). Any decent seat was actually $255, so I was happy when a WH'r told me he'd sell me his extra for $79. I did save on all the fees...but I can tell you that row L in section 341 is prob THE WORST SEAT IN THE ARENA. I think the 400 level seats were better.

So what is wrong with the seat?

Well how much time do you have?

First off.....there are only 2 rows behind me, so that tells you how seriously in nosebleed land I was. Top that off with a down slanted overhang from the 400 level which covered rows D-N, so the acoustics are horrible. Sounds like you are in a cave. All that was still do-able to me cuz seriously, the show was 100% sold out. People really wanted to be here & so did I.

Unfortunately, I've grown out of love of 21 year old boys who feel the need to smoke & drink so much that they cant stand up, and then continue to smoke & drink even more. By the second song - the entire row in front of me had whipped off the shirts from their hairless bodies & were doing this stupid a$$ skinheaded mosh dancing with their beer mugs so that everyone in the row in front & behind them got to wear their beer. Then came the puking & the falling ontop of each other since they couldnt stand. And this was just the boys. What about the girls? Ughhhhh - there is so much "I LOVE YOU DAVE" I can take when its screamed 500 + 1 times during in each song. Did I mention that acousticly I was in a cave...so their pitchy-ness was inflated tenfold?

After 5 or 6 songs I was ready to throw in the towel & walk out of my first dave show.

In fact - I did just that....sort of!

I walked down 2 escalator flights & then decided I should probably stop off at the bathroom first. Well - BAMMMM, the music took over me & I walked back into the arena. Walked straight down the first aisle I saw (which turned out to be section 96) and that was where I ended up dancing for the next 90 minutes.

Had the best time EVER!

Oh....here is a cool thing. There was this young indian guy on the aisle who after a few songs asked me if Dave always plays such long songs. I looked at him confused & said "hahahaha - what is this, your first show?" And he said "YES". HOLY CRAP - I was hanging with a DMB virgin! How cool is that? I remember my first DMB experience (and that was like 15 yrs ago), so I was really happy for him.

I did miss the opening act, which was Ingrid Michaelson. You can catch a glimpse of her singing with Dave below to SPOON. I was told she was pretty good & even closed her set with a rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I wasnt there, so I'm not sure - but I bet she added a small dedication to LeRoi.

Here is the set list:

*Don’t Drink the Water

*Proudest Monkey

*Satellite

*So Damn Lucky

*Corn Bread

*Burning Down The House (crazy fun version of the Talking Heads song...click on title to watch a great version)

*Spoon (click to see video w/Ingrid Michaelson). I've been told the first time Dave did this song he dueted with Alanis Morrisette, which must have been AMAZING!

*Stay Or Leave

*Eh Hee

*Water Into Wine

*#41

*Louisiana Bayou

*Sledgehammer (I'm sorry...I never liked this song and even w/Dave singing it...ehhhhh)

*Crash Into Me

*Two Step

*Anyone Seen The Bridge

*Too Much Intro

*Ants Marching

Encore:

*Too Much

*All Along The Watchtower *

mocha & chewie CAN get along!

Sometimes I forget that just 2 years ago Mocha was behind a baby gate 24hrs a day in my bedroom. Now she has the run of the house (even has mutiple beds...one upstairs & one downstairs). Here are my observant pets watching a jogger go by. Obviously Mocha is too impatient to wait for her own quality picture window time....so she scoots Chewie over.

Do Cougar's need trendy cells?

ok, i know i b*tch a lot about what goes on my express bus...but I spend approx 6.5 hrs a week sitting on that cylinder going back & forth from manhattan 5 days a week, so I get a bit stir crazy. I've also begun to get a bit bolder with taking pictures. I'm waiting for someone to turn to me & say "why did you just take a picture of me?". I wouldnt have an answer, but so far - no confrontation.

Here is my latest annoyance...the chatty russian cougar who cant sit still.

Nothing wrong with being stylish, but at age 65....animal prints are just a bit much. Oh, if you havent noticed - she's carrying a silver juicy couture bag. Great even up to age 40...but...ummmm, nevermind. Now I'm just being nitpicky. Ok, so the part that has been driving me nutso is the chit-chatting & then texting that never stops the entire ride. I need to add that to my unwritten "DO NOT DO ON THE EXPRESS BUS" list. In the 35 minute ride i feel TYPE TEXT, SEND, LAUGH, RECEIVE TEXT, LAUGH, DIAL & SPEAK (in russian...oiy!) AND THEN ITS STARTS OVER AS SHE GOES BACK TO TYPING TEXT AGAIN! Each time she puts the phone in this jingly embossed cell phone case that looks like she picked it up for $2.99 at Claires Boutique and then back in her bag...so each time she's still for a sec, I start to fall asleep (which is something that I can do LIKE THAT on the bus) and then I feel her fiddling in her bag for the case & then she removes the phone...well, you get the picture. On friday she was sitting across from me instead of next to me & I could just FEEL HER MOVEMENTS!!!

Lianna & Zoey

Amaryah & Alex are so proud to welcome home their two beautiful little girls:
Lianna & Zoey born on Aug 11th

Something tells me that these girls are going to be "daddy's little princesses"!

MD, DC & Monuments...OH MY!

Had an awesome mini-vacation this past 4 days down in maryland visiting Amie (looooooove your dress!) On Saturday night on our way back from a wine tasting party in DC, we drove past some historical sites. Being the fact that I haven't visited our nation's capitol since junior year of high school, when we were driving over the Potamic River I said, "hey lets get a bit closer so I can see some sites."

Here is what you get when you slow down to 25 mph & stick your camera phone out the window:

ok.....WAAAAAAAY in the back is the Lincoln Memorial & in front of that is the Korean War Veterans Statues
and here you can guess what I'm shooting at - true it's not the best picture out there of the Washington Monument, but I can tell you that it caused the most giggles by a bunch of mature professional ladies (btw: 2 are lawyers & 1 is an accountant...there has got to be a joke in that by itself!)

Oh, speaking of jokes - yesterday I went to brunch at the Orig Pancake House & overhead a couple egging on their 12 mth old baby to say his first word.
Was it "M A M A"?

nope.
Was it "D A D A"?

nope again.
It was "O B A M A".
I was speachless.

...here is what I look like in Amie's convertible. Kinda reminds me of a female version of Cousin It :)

R.I.P - LeRoi Moore

I am very saddened by the passing of LeRoi Moore, yesterday Aug 19th (due to complications from an ATV accident in June). He was an intregal part of one of the most amazing bands ever assembled. His sax music touched my heart and it's sad to know that future DMB concerts will never be the same.

R.I.P. LeRoi

Click on this video for a beautiful tribute to the song "#34"

At last night's show (in LA at the Staples Ctr), Dave told a story about when he first met Leroi at a bar. "Leroi had had too much to drink and was leaning up against the counter near the stage, and proceeded to play the most beautiful version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow I had heard in my life." He said, "that's when I fell in love with him, and I'm still in love and always will be."

Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco

Last weekend I saw another AMAZING Cirque Du Soleil show - Saltimbanco. Ironically, this traveling show was the very first one that I've been trying to catch for close to 12 years. When I was traveling around Europe with Sherri back in 1996, we kept being a city behind & never caught their show.

Let me tell you - it was SOOOOOOOOOOO worth the wait (tho the city of Newark robbed us on parking since you cant park on the street...every lot within walking distance to the Prudential Ctr was btw $25-$35 instead of it's normal $10)

Here's some reviews of my past shows:

Quidam - my first show held down at Battery Park City summer of '98 held in a tent. I went with Sherri & Irene for Sherri's b-day...and I came "THIS" close to making a u-turn at the Battery Tunnel entrance!

Allegria - during Jazzfest 2000 I roadtriped from New Orleans to Biloxi, MO - this show kicked a$$ !!!!!
Dralion - at Liberty State Park with EVERYONE in 2001. It was "ok", but it didnt have the same effect as the first two shows cuz all the performers were not in makeup-costume
La Nouba - in Dowtown DisneyWorld 2002. This was Randy & Derek's first experience to Cirque du Soliel & I think Derek was sold with all the skateboarding & bike tricks (after all - it was during his 7th grade spring break). I was happy cuz the performers were back in makeup!
Wintuk - at MSG this past winter '07...ok if you're under the age of 10...but turned me off so much I was almost ready to never buy a tix to another Cirque show again

'nother IceCream - Cherry Chip

mmmmmmmmmmmm - last night I made my version of Cherry Garcia. I found the plumpest cherries in Kings & then Hershey's dark chocolate broken into chunks for the chips.

YUMMMM-O

Its not too late to buy an ice cream machine & make some yourself - I promise you that you won't be dissapointed!

John Butler Trio

last night I decided to join Shannon & check out the John Butler Trio....THREE THUMBS UP!!!! The opening band was Tristan Prettyman - I listened to her on napster earlier that day. Ehhhhhh - but it didnt matter cuz by the time I got to Roseland, JBT just started.

Headlining was G-Love & Special Sauce , so I also listened to them on napster earlier that day....I thought they sounded kind of like Jason Mraz (which i LVOE). Nope, it was too harmonica hillbilly for our group, so by 10pm - we split.

Ice Cream Machines are AWESOME

If you have never made your own ice cream....you're missing out! This summer I finally bought my own ice cream machine and it was the BEST investment I've ever made. Sure I've made a few goofs in the beginning (like NO WHERE in the instructions does it say to add the ingrediants SLOWLY WHILE the machine is moving....I can tell you if you add them BEFORE you turn on the machine everything will freeze to the sides & within 10 min the machine will go bump...bump....bump...STOP!)

Here are pics of my favs so far:

Hawaiian Delight (coconut ice cream w/macadamia nuts, toasted coconut & pinapple mixed in)

Butter Pecan....sinful!
Choc Chip Mint (what are the chips? Crushed Andes candies!)

Damn Ugly Funky Hair

Have people stopped looking in mirrors? As I've gotten older, I haven't lost one drop of vanity...have you? I still check myself out when walking along a glass building...just like everyone else does. What happened to hubbies around the world saying stuff like "are you REALLY going out like THAT?" I may not be the biggest fashionista out there, but I also dont walk cross town with damn ugly funky hair either!

Can someone give this lady a "WTF were you thinking" prize!