Paging Airport Security

Cupcake is packed and ready for vacation. Bon voyage!

Sillyface

I love it when other people take pictures of my cute kid so I don't have to.

Girls' Club Revisited

The Girls' Club is growing and expanding. (Picture totally swiped from my sister's blog.)

"You Only Grow Old When You Are Alone"

Paul Newman died today of cancer. He was 83 years old, and still right sexy, even at the end. He did good things. He made great movies. He loved his life. He loved his wife of 50 years.


And I will miss him.
Obit.

Panorama: Porch

View from the back porch of the Hilltop House at Lynx Creek Farm, Prescott, AZ. My sister and I stayed here when we went to Adam & Amanda's wedding. (Compiled using Autostitch -- sorry for the small picture but if you click into it you can see a bigger version.)

God's Own Cheeseburger

They say you always remember your first. There's a reason for that. No matter how much time passes, you will never forget the smell, the taste, the special feel of the toasted bun, the juiciness of the beef, the tang and salt of the delicious cheese as it melts in your mouth. And those fries ... freshly peeled and sliced in each restaurant, never frozen, just the perfect amount of seasoning. Bliss in a paper bag, with an ice cold Dr. Pepper.

I was supposed to be doing a compare-and-contrast style review of In-N-Out and Jack in the Box, but there really is no comparison to be made. In-N-Out is God's own cheeseburger. And someday, my precious: someday, I will have you again.

(Pictured -- Easy #2 Combo: Cheeseburger, medium fries, medium Dr. Pepper, about 1/2 dozen ketchups. Purchased at the In-N-Out in Prescott, Arizona on Saturday, September 20, 2008 for $4.76. The fact that this was Adam & Amanda's wedding day probably only helped to enhance the awesome.)

Sistwerps

G had to stay home with the Cupcake while I ran off to Phoenix for Adam & Amanda's Nuptial Extravaganza and tried to sneak in a bit of vacation. It was kind of a failure, relaxation-wise, because I spent the whole 4½ days in entirely the wrong time-zone mind-space because my internal clock is set on "hibernate" already and I never got myself acclimated to Pacific time or whatever, and even though I was up until past midnight every night, I was still up every day at 5:00, oh my lands it was bizarre.

But anyway ... the wedding was lovely, and my sister was my plus-1, and before it got down to like 40 degrees that night with the coyotes howling in the middle distance somewhere (seriously!), it was a gorgeous, perfect day. I didn't love all of my trip, but the time we spent in Prescott was splendid. And I can't remember when Shelleybeans ever looked this pretty. Honest.

Photo by Amanda's friend Chas
Adorable child provided by Biz, the Groom's sister and Matron of Honor

(Click the pic to go to my photostream, and from there you can get to Chas's photostream, where you can see more pictures from the wedding, including the original version of this one.)

First Things First ...

... big fat congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Adam Scott Dailey! Thanks for having us, guys. It was a blast, an honor, and a privilege. Plus, the food was fan-frickin-tastic.

Quickies

Um ... got bored, updated my template, added some goodies, will post actual content later, follow me on Twitter if you want and maybe be one of my Blogger stalkers, tip your waitress and bartender, the end.

Under A Rock

O hai! U has bin missin meh? Is it can be updaets tiemz nao?

Or, in other words: Been away a while. In Arizona. Old friend's wedding, and hanging with my sister. Coming home tomorrow with stories and rememberies and complaints and reviews of In-N-Out Burger and also Jack In The Box.

In the meantime, mazel tov and congratulations to the lovely Adam Dailey and his even lovelier new wife Amanda, and a great big huzzah and thank you to the entire Dailey family, plus the Cities of Phoenix and Prescott and pretty much all of Maricopa and Yavapai Counties for putting up with my bullshit for the past four days. It's been a time, yo.

Say Cheese

It's really, really hard to get a toddler to sit still for pictures when there is cheese on the table in front of her. Like, really hard. Biblically hard. Like, I almost had to staple gun her butt into the high chair hard. It was almost easier to get her to let me do her hair, is what I am saying. And that is saying something, because ... I don't do hair.

"If Cupcakes Were Made of Spaghetti, This Is What They Would Look Like"

-- G, today.

Six Months

Six months, kiddo. We made it six months. Almost done. Almost home. Almost ours. Forever.

Love you. Always, and all ways.
XOXO, Mom.

Silliness

Three of my most favorite people in the world. I keep telling G that he looks good in pink, but he never listens.

Open Letter to Geraldine Ferraro

Dear Gerry,

You know I loved you once, right? I hope you know how much I once loved you. Back in 1984, when I was 10 years old and I had no earthly reason to know who you were, I followed the Presidential election because you were on the ballot. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, my parents really mean it when they say that I can grow up to do whatever I want, don't they?"

In the 24 years since then, you have shaped me in ways that still astound even me. To a fledgling feminist, you were The One, the benchmark, the standard. From that point on, I never took any crap from anybody, because I knew I didn't have to. Why couldn't the best and the brightest in the class be a girl? Why can't I do anything as well as any man could? You could.

With you, it was always about qualifications and policies. Which is why I am so disappointed to hear rumors that there is a hint of a chance that you would consider voting for the McCain/Palin ticket, just because there is a woman's name on the ballot. I hope this is because your politics and priorities have changed, and not out of some misdirected sense of girl-power cameraderie, because in that case, you would be doing us all a great disservice.

When you accepted the VP nomination back then, you said:

By choosing a woman to run for our nation's second highest office, you send a powerful signal to all Americans: There are no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on achievement. If we can do this, we can do anything. ...The issue is not what America can do for women, but what women can do for America.

I will quote it again, because it bears repeating: "The issue is ... what women can do for America." What women can do for America, all women, is recognize that voting for a person solely on the basis of her gender would instead lock doors that people like yourself have blown wide open. We would be saying that values, principles, policies, and experience do not matter as much as the simple fact of our gender identities.

Which, back in 1984, 24 years ago, when I was just a kid, you told me was false.

At the risk of sounding like one of those "punk kids" who do not respect their elders, I ask you: Is this what you really believe? Do you believe that simply being a woman is enough to qualify someone for this great office? You fought so hard for so long for other people's right to receive my vote; why aren't you fighting equally hard for Sarah Palin to earn mine?

It saddens me to read things you have said over the past few months. Where once I saw a person I one day aspired to become, now instead I see a bitter, spiteful, nasty person who will not graciously accept defeat and recognize the opportunities that coming this far has afforded you. What it has afforded all of us.

What I see now is exactly the sort of person who is wrong for America: a person who sees only what she wants to see. And as the equal-opportunity-for-all feminist that I have become, the one you helped teach me to be, I don't see in Sarah Palin a person I want to vote for. Sorry to disappoint you, but mostly I am sorry that you have disappointed me.

Hopefully, before all of this is over, you will be yourself again, that smart, funny, talented, savvy, awesome woman I always hoped that I could be. Until then, I will be ...

Wishing you all the best,
rockle.

Etsy

Have I mentioned that I love Etsy? No? OMG, I love me some Etsy. I have gotten some really awesome things over there, like the Sock Zombie for Cupcake, and Sock Monkey Friends for Boba and for my friend Melissa's oldest son Evan, and I have lots of ideas for Christmas. Almost everything is handmade and a lot of things can be custom-made just for you. Check it out, you will love it.

A good place to start? This shop, where everything is adorable (and from where I might win a new dress for the baby, whooo!)

Phillies Update

Sigh. That is all.