climbing panda

lighting the "climbing panda"


stepping back from said panda...


jumping back from panda...


happy little panda, through all the smoke it produced.
target audience: most likely 5 year old girls.
verdict: maybe my favorite firework. :)
oh well, what can I say?

Happy 4th!

Today I held my first Roman Candle, threw my first (successful) bottle rocket and wrote my name with a sparkler. By far, my favorite firework of the night, however, was the "growing panda" which looked deceptively cute. The innocent anime creature sits on a stick that's supposed to shoot up after lighting the fuse. We put him on top of the fencepost I reached up high and lit my choice firework. I stepped away just in time as he began to hiss and spin violently, colored flames radiating in a circle and raining down. Next shot out a fire ball just off to my right. I don't think I'm the only one who gasped. I doubt Jon or Walt would admit to it. Maybe Pam will. It was quite a shock! A green fireball shot out and then the panda shot up... all at once. The surprise was worth it all.

Today we grilled out, bought a sprinkler, took Atlas to the farmers market and on a walk at Tom Lee Park (whose monument calls him a "very worthy negro" for heroically saving 32 lives on the Mississippi one night), hung out with friends, watched the Memphis fireworks from Arkansas's flood plain (maybe a 15 minute show with no recognizable finale... but fireworks nonetheless) and enjoyed an overcast day in the midst of summer heat.

It was a great holiday. I think it's finally time for bed. (yay!) :)

p.s.

Oh and I'll have to tell you what I did for my birthday! It involved fulfilling a decade old wish, dressing up, delicious food, lots of driving, and very little sleep. :) But I'm off to bed. gotta be out the door in less than 8 hours. g'nite!

Birthday Bonanza

December is chock full of birthdays for me: friends, family, Jesus... and me.

Every year birthdays have been kind of a big deal for me. I mean, I've always really been excited to be able to honestly say that I'm a year older than I could have the day before. And I always spent about 6 months almost slipping out that I was older than actually was the case. Not so with 26. Somehow this one is different. I think I'd rather stay 25 for now... at least until I feel like I understand myself a bit more, have my life squared away a bit better, and have accomplished one or two of my life goals. You think it could just hold off? :)

Anyway, I've always held fast to the rule that (at least when I had any say in the matter) I would not travel on my birthday. We always travel this time of year. As a kid I traveled from Chicago to Dayton, 6 hours in the car. Now I make the trek from Memphis to somewhere 10 hours away (be it Chicago or Dayton) and I've always held fastidiously to my rule: no traveling on my birthday. so there. This year I'm thinking about breaking it. (haven't talked to walter about it yet... we'll see). somehow the date just doesn't feel as important, car rides can be relaxing, and it does seem like the right timing to head up to the family. I don't know.

Regardless, I want to celebrate my birthday while still here in Memphis. I'm thinking the 22nd. And that's as far as I've thought. I mean, I just don't know what to do. Any ideas?

Looking back over this post it seems weird that I'd spend time telling you that this birthday doesn't feel as important or maybe that I'm not looking forward to it as much (I don't know, is that what I'm saying?) and then go on to ask for party ideas. The odd thing is that the party wasn't ever that big of a deal to me when adding a year to my age was. But again, this year feels different. Maybe I'm trying to compensate for the change. Maybe I'm just bored. :)

Either way, I would LOVE to heard your suggestions. I want to do something fun! (thanks)

Again!

Today is our anniversary. (hi, btw, it's been awhile...) 3 glorious years! :) Well, obviously not every moment has been glorious (mostly my fault, I'm very sure) but I am very happy to be married and very happy that it's to Walter. (yay!)

So what did we do? Well first off, Walter did NOT go to the court house bc he was excused from the current jury duty case (hooray). He got called up this month. Instead, we slept in, ate a delicious breakfast of homemade biscuits and real pork sausage (we normally go for the healthier turkey alternative), and made the decision to join the hordes of people "geocacheing". I have no idea, hordes may be an overstatement. But if you check it out there are tons of little geocaches out there. All over the place. It's like a random little treasure hunt that could send you anywhere in the world. It's supposed to be a great way to get off the beaten path and explore with a purpose. I'm not sure about that yet.

We tried to find 3 that are supposed to be right here in town. To no avail. One street had been re-done, presumably removing the cache. A parking lot was being repaved (or something). And the one we are absolutely certain we were exactly where it should be just wasn't there. Probably an over zealous gardener found the item and disposed of it promptly. Alas. A slightly less than stellar begining but at least we figured out the website and got ourselves a user name. There's no stopping us now. ;) It's pretty geeky but we had fun travelling around and exploring fields, gazebos, etc. Very nice.

After our geocaching adventure we headed over to Memphis to pick up Walter's present. We don't normally do big deal presents but this was just perfect so I made an exception. :) We scouted out a few music stores and headed home with a bass guitar, amp, headphones, stand, and two instructional dvds. I've been promised a serenade for our next anniversary. Although I bought this with Walter completely in mind I have to say that I'm not entirely bummed to have an instrument in the house. I've already had him teach me a little of what he's had a chance to learn. I'm going to have to remember that it is HIS present, not mine. :)

Walter took me out for my absolute favorite coconut shrimp (Joe's Crab Shack) and even let me steal one of his hush puppies (an old favorite from the days of Long John Silvers... oh my). All in all, a wonderful day so far. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughs. And the night is yet young.

So on a different note:
I've got some fun online finds I really think you should check out.

• Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog This one you gotta move fast on! It's a free internet tv show that is only free until 20th. And Act I is great! Especially if you're a big Nathan Fillion fan (like me).
• xkcd A fun comic Walter introduced me to (he even made me a super cute anniversary card with one of the strips). This is where my new header came from. I can't vouche for all of it but I have enjoyed what I've read so far. It does come with a warning. Check it out at the bottom of the page. Made me chuckle.

Quick! Totally worth it.