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A Message from Matthew.

"Tawntawns, I'm in Denver flying to Puerta Vallarta in like three minutes. Tell Irvin I miss him."

"Future Matthew Park."

"Guess blog these for me? Hot."

Apparently I've become Matthew's secretary and his only way of correspondence while he's out of the country.

-tawntawns

Non sequitur

Birthday.

Yesterday, Anna and I went to Yesterday’s to celebrate Anna’s (21-forever-and-always-amen-or-was-it-18?) birthday!





They served our drinks in cute jars. I love how the diet Coke looks against the glass and ice along with the lemon wedge (for taste and, yes, visual accent). I used to wash my paintbrushes in similar jars at the Art & Design Center! Awesome.

Anna ordered a custom salad with chicken and raspberry vinaigrette.



I ordered fish tacos with their homemade Ranch dressing.

After our food, our waitress and her accomplice brought out our desserts and put this orange party hat on Anna and had the entire section of our eating area sing for Anna. That lady in red looks jealous.





Strawberry cheesecake, yum-o.



I ordered their banana cream pie. It was delicious.

Happy birthday, Anna!



I love you. ♥

Fridays

Last week, the first week of December, my workplace had our newly formed integrated office open house. In order to better utilize space, my boss and I moved to the attic to create a print design studio. I like my workspace, hidden filing system beneath my desk and pole:





During a typical work day, Ammiel shows Jesse and me during an afternoon break how gravity works by pulling objects towards the center. I guess that astronomy class she takes (‘took’ since finals are over now) helps her learn practical things she is able to implement in real life (that is, spiraling around a chair using only your arms, etc.). Jesse likens it to an ice skater, think triple axels. Design kids are so genius. Marsupials, really? Brilliant.



Speaking of Ammiel/Jesse, they both got matching iMacs for work! No longer will you have to lug your laptops everywhere (or at least to work, yeah?)...

I love their keyboards.

I tried to get a video conference going via iChat/AIM/Skype with Tawny and Irv (post-five, Nades-Justin-Keri, etc.) using the Jesse-Jesse monster, aka Studio Five, but to no avail.





Why are you hiding, Tawnya Lipoon? Boo...

So the real reason why I am blogging is to share the happenings of Fridays, both the fifth and yesterday, hence the title of this entry. A week from yesterday (the last day of our open house which was also Dead Friday for the University), we all load up in the afternoon with student workers galore and head to South Bend, Ind., for bowling and (macaroni, etc.) pizza.

Ammiel bowls with style, observe:





I think Jesse had three strikes in a row bowling from way behind the wooden floor.





Boss Justin had the highest score at the end of the event.

Beware of the pink bowling ball...

Thursday night, Josh comes to visit and brings Jully with him. This did not happen on a Friday, but I just wanted to get a picture of her in here somewhere...



...and back to yesterday (a Friday), Ammiel calls with a hankering for Japanese food. We end up at Mikado Japanese nearby Notre Dame on Dixie Way.





Ammiel adds ‘in bed’ after our fortunes.

Afterwards, Ammiel wants to shop for Christmas cards. We contemplate Borders and Target and decide on Target. I saw this black swimsuit, thought of Beyoncé-Jael-Ellen-Nades and had Ammiel pose with the piece. Jump on it, ladies! Put your hands up! I need me a black robo-glove, stat.



Alright, obligatory random art-fart shots.

My Bat-Signal to summon my...un-LVoe via sign language...





Can you guess what this is?

Thanks.

Always during Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to consider what you are thankful for.

This year, I am thankful for: (a) age—both my boss and Ammiel once simultaneously told me (to my face) I was old but more so because with age seems to come, well, wisdom; (b) persons—specifically a special desert (or is it dessert?) person, close friends, virtual ones (even pseudo-virtual, ahem, Tiffany), coworkers (Nades, you belong in the close friends category; check), family; and (c) my mother whom already belongs in the last category so must-go-without-saying but deserves a mention all to her own.

These last few days (or weeks, really), I have been pondering ideas of hope, desire, fulfillment, love, purpose and the likes. After some good home cooked grub (courtesy of chef Anna) and Kung Fu Panda (courtesy of entertainer Anna), my mother offers advice to a question I posed after my drive to their home on Wednesday. I did find it odd she did not offer any immediate thoughts to my mulls. But I am glad she held off until the physical and mental fills of today.

Mother reasons with me that life is, at best, limited to about eighty or so years. She empowers me to go after dreams with responsibility—to self—and faithfulness—to God. Because a life of I-tried is better than a life of what-ifs. And putting yourself out there builds self and faith. And failure is not a done deal. You can always fail again.

That last sentence was meant to be funny.

Anyway, I like where I am right now. In therapy sessions, this would be called a break.

I needed a break.

In both a therapeutic and absence-of-work sense.

Thank goodness...

Cousin’s

Before Ellen went across the giant pond (for hitch purposes), we had a chance to play in the city. I meant to blog about this experience a while back, but perhaps now is better than never...

Nunz won tickets to a Christian Finnegan show; it was genius times, for sure. He spoke well aware of his audience, grand. But beforehand, we went to a Mediterranean eatery called Cousin’s on Broadway:

Please excuse the shoddy stitch job. You get the idea.

Hurrah to meeting Jae for the first time.

I thought the hanging tapestries were, well (to use an Ellen word), bangin’ as was the seamless pattern on the tables you eat on (and sit around, this is key).


The winner and the mooch. To more fun times, I salute.

I want to try Etheopian food, yes.