ambient life

Mardi Gras

2010-02-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

"Mardi Gras is not a parade. Mardi Gras is not girls flashing on French Quarter balconies. Mardi Gras is not an alcoholic binge.

Mardi Gras is bars and restaurants changing out all the CDs in their jukeboxes to Professor Longhair and the Neville Brothers, and it is annual front-porch crawfish boils hours before the parades so your stomach and attitude reach a state of grace, and it is returning to the same street corner, year after year, and standing next to the same people, year after year- people whose names you may or may not even know but you've watched their kids grow up in this public tableau and when they're not there, you wonder: Where are those guys this year?

It is dressing your dog in a stupid costume and cheering when the marching bands go crazy and clapping and saluting the military bands when they crisply snap to.

Now, that part, more than ever.

It's mad piano professors converging on our city from all over the world and banging the 88s until dawn and laughing at the hairy-shouldered men in dresses too tight and stalking the indians under the Claiborne overpass and thrilling on the years you find them and lamenting the years you don't and promising yourself you will next year.

It's wearing frightful color combinations in public and rolling your eyes at the guy in your office who- like clockwork, year after year- denies he got the baby in the king cake and now someone else has to pony up the 10 bucks for the next one.

Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods and our joy of living. All at once."

-an excerpt from the book "1 dead in attic" by Chris Rose

To all of you who have never lived in South Louisiana, you may have experienced Mardi Gras, but... you only got a small taste of what it is to "experience Mardi Gras". It's not just an event. It's a celebration of our way of life.

uncle sam who?

2009-04-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

taxes still aren't done.

.. that's all for now.

my most literal labor day weekend yet

2008-08-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

so, i got this in my email today...
i think it about sums up my labor day weekend.

but it's okay... because we're in good hands.... right?? -

Quote from FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005:

"FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims." -

right.

switcheroo

2008-08-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

new look, new attitude. we're going big baby. i've changed up my links, so check 'em out. also, my photos are now a tad larger, so please excuse the differentiation (ha!- i didn't even have to look up the spelling).

so this sunday the clouds dumped a ton of water down on the good folks of south louisiana. had i not been getting heavily sedated by the lafourche teacher awards banquet, i probably would have also gotten soaked. but luckily, the rain had stopped by the time the awards were all handed out. the banquet wasn't all bad though, they did have a pretty entertaining comedian and some righteous grub. mostly just grilled chicken and shredded cheese for me though. oh, and the three amigos showed up to sing "feliz navidad" which i thought was a little odd. don't worry.. i'll spare you those photos.

here are a few from the flood- near the intersection of tunnel blvd and levron street in houma.

this is my favorite from the day:

matt shooting in flood waters:

me in a pirogue with some random dude... he rode me through the neighborhood so i could take some more photos- this was before i got attacked by ants. i had to end up throwing my socks away because i couldn't get rid of those little boogers.

you can see more of my flood photos on my photo blog here.

i've also updated my website, so if you'd like to take a look, click here.

... aaaand here's one from my gaffers tape moustache fiasco. i couldn't get it to stay on my face. dumb ol' non-sticky "been used 14 times already" gaffers tape. pleh.

as an added bonus, you can now subscribe to this blog (top right hand column), so no fear.. you can now have emails coming to you everytime i update my blog.. as you can see, is about 5 times a year :)

life, liberty, and the pursuit of a big "bang"

2008-07-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

this year for the 4th, we did what we normally do. we blew some junk up. except we got a little more creative this time. instead of investing our hard earned "dollas" at the fireworks stand on those cheap cardboard thingamagigs with firecrackers sticking out the back, we took a little trip to the local dollar general. we bought some toy boats, some orange plastic cones, and a few other things:

then we headed to val's for some homemade slip'n slide fun and what else.... that's right, you guessed it (well, some of you probably did anyway)... crawfish. i mean.. 4th of july without crawfish is like bread without butta'

here's some photos from the day:

brandi and taylor acting silly

let the sliding commence-

taylor thought i was a surfboard, apparently

mmmm... crawfish

icky fingers

benji sucking the heads (eeeewww)

val getting ready to bust into that capri sun

dad's still hungry

..... and now... onto the blowing stuff up section of this post..

taylor and her sparkler

fireworks that explode underwater??? um... heck yeah!

matt hopping around in front of a firework that acts like a strobe light

.... and what happens when you strap an artillery shell to a plastic boat??

that's right. ... "kaboom"

you can visit here for more fireworks photos.

and in the words of daffy duck-
"goodbye folkttthhh"

that poor dog

2008-07-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

i've been playing around with some lighting techniques lately... now, why would i do this do you ask. (okay, maybe some of you didn't ask.. okay okay.. nobody asked alright! but that's okay because there's no need to ask. i'll just tell you..)

because it's fun, that's why.

well, taylor decided to bust out the slip'n slide the other day and i decided to bust out my flashes -strapped them to the swingset with bungee cords.. attached some remotes, and *voila*.. we had a grand ol' time. until she brought out the dog (that poor dog)... yeah, mackenzie (the dog) was NOT having a grand ol' time. she doesn't like being bathed in the bathtub standing still... i seriously doubt that flying down a strip of plastic at the speed of a galloping pregnant elephant, covered in strawberry soap being held in taylor's death grip thrilled her at all.

anyway- here's a few photos. enjoy.

just 9 more months 'till girl scout cookie season... woohooh.

-4th of july photos on my next post :)

little bit 'o video and a whole lotta humor

2008-07-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

a little something to make you laugh.
(and don't be afraid to replay this 43 times- i know i did)..

oh, yeah.. and this too..

and folks, if you haven't yet seen our "wanker report" videos, please check 'em out. this is what matt and i do with time on our hands ((evil laugh))..

#2:

#3:

and the other day we visited the the insectarium in new orleans..

you can click on matt's profile and check out other videos he's uploaded.

we're pretty interesting people, if i do say so myself :)

jazzfestiness

2008-04-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

it's that time of year again!

jazz fest!!

matt and i hit up the festival today for the jazz madness kickoff. we saw the mardi gras indians (creole wild west tribe), a brass band parade, alison krauss with robert plant, and ozomatli with chali 2na who were awesome- (thanks ben for the suggestion).. who got down into the crowd and paraded around, then formed a little band circle right in front of us and played for a while. it was pretty awesome. they also let members of the st. augustine marching band perform with them (freaking rocked).

oh, and as a bonus, we got to hang out backstage at the fais do do stage with my co-worker chuck (who can be easily spotted wearing his highly visible fluorescent orange jazz fest hat and feathers). we hung out and listened to dwayne dopsie for a bit while we hydrated and dehydrated (if you get my drift).

the weather was great, the food was great, and the music, well... of course, great.

here are some photos i snagged with my phone:

here's matt in the crowd with ozomatli

here's ozomatli performing with the st. aug band in the crowd

me in the crowd with ozomatli & the st. aug band

alison krauss and robert plant

me and terrence simien (with his grammy!!)-
that's right, be jealous of my grammy holding abilities

i'll be headed out there with rennie on sunday (for sure) for the voice of the wetlands allstars and tim mcgraw. should be awesome (and wet- supposed to rain... wish us luck)!!

oh, and if you've never been... you GOTTA come... you just GOTTA!

and by the way.. if you haven't already heard, my good friends valerie and dustin are now the proud parents of little baby brylen james parkhill weighing in at 7lbs 14oz and 20 inches long. he's happy, he's healthy, and he poops. what more could they ask for?! congrats val, dustin, and big sister katelynn!! -you can view photos of him in my myspace photo albums at www.myspace.com/mistymacrocks

g'night y'all!

taxes

2008-04-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

still not done.

the end.

and the mentos have it!

2008-03-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

happy late easter everyone!

oh, and happy late blogging also. i finally got the itch to share a little sumpin' sumpin' with you fine folks, so enjoy (or not, you know whatever.. i'm not telling you what to do or anything).

well, this week has been full of easter-type festivity stuff. thursday i went to taylor's school and hung out with her class and got to witness an easter egg hunt, egg-dying, and recess (oh my!).

here's a photo of taylor's class (a very hard image to capture, might i add)..

now.. i don't know how many of you were treated as kids, but when i was a kid, easter egg hunts consisted of "hurry and get what you can and see who gets the most". today? no. not allowed. why? because that would be "unfair" to the kids who get less eggs. taylor's class had to line up and run out when they said "go".. and then what?? they ran like mad to get as many eggs as possible?
no.
they ran like mad to each get their limit of 13 eggs.
that's right. limit. of. eggs.
so what if one kid gets 5 and the other gets 20. that just means the other kid could fly. oh, wait no? they can't fly?? oh right.. it just means the other kid was faster. and what's wrong with being rewarded for being faster?? nothing. nothing at all.

back when i was a kid, the phrase "tough tootie" pretty much summed up any competitive activities for me. yeah sometimes i lost, and yeah i didn't always get as much as other kids, but to me, that's the fun.. trying to see who can get the most.

alright. moving on...

here are some photos from the easter egg hunt:

taylor checking the grubbage inside her eggs

for easter, taylor got a mentos and coke experiment kit in her basket. so, what a better time to try it out than when the family gathers 'round....

the first bottle of coke we tried was a dud. it had only been sitting in my pantry for the last 3 years or so. but no fear... matt and i headed down to the local piggly wiggly.. uh.. i mean, walgreens and loaded up on armfulls of 2 liters of carbonated goodness (not for drinking of course, otherwise we would have gotten the regular coke). we also picked up a few extra boxes of mentos "just in case" (in case matt got hungry).

and if you've never heard of this, i'll give you a quick rundown:

mentos + coke = "PPPSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!"

don't believe me? watch this...

in our case, we attached the nifty tube thing to the top of the coke bottle so it allowed us to set all the mentos in the tube, pull a toothpick out, and run.

here's a shot of the bottle just after matt pulled the plug..

..and the bottle...

not a bad way to spend the holiday, i say. party on mentos. party on.

oh, and in case you didn't know... i started a photo blog, so go check it out. click here (www.mistymacphoto.blogspot.com). i've also got my website up and running if you'd like to check it out, you can click here (www.mistymacphoto.com) or you can just click one of the links off to the right of the blog.

g'night all.

(oh, and i'd like to apologize for posting this one twice. it's the only way it would show up correctly)

we call them poopies

2007-09-30T00:33:00.000-07:00

this week i got a phone call from my friend val asking me to go pickup a stray pup that showed up in her yard... so i did.

i've been through several litters of puppies (which are referred to as "poopies", because.. well, that's what they do).

dixie's been known to get herself knocked up on occasion, so i'm getting to be a pro at taking care of these little boogers. well, i had NO intention of holding onto this little guy.. who i've named "jeffrey".. in fact, i was hoping to get rid of him as quick as humanly possible. but after spending a few days with him, he's really starting to grow on me.

he comes to work with me, and sleeps in my bed... and well, taylor loves him and he likes to romp around with dixie. i'm not at all sure what he's mixed with, but we believe he's a daschund mix.

now i know he's a puppy and all, but MAN can this little guy chew. he chews on everything.. shoes, tables, couches, computer bags, rugs, carpet, towels, cords, EARS (yes i said ears.. and it freaking hurts too)... and this morning i woke up to him tugging on my comforter.

well, tonight i was working on my computer only to look down and see this....

the poop was chewing ON MY MAC..... i guess maybe he thought it was a big flat piece of chicken..

i can't be mad at him though.. he's just too darn cute.

oh, and last week i went in to dodge get my oil changed... and i got a dodge magnum instead.
so, yeah.. i changed my oil alright....

and this was just after learning of will ferrell's SNL skit with the phrase "i drive a dodge stratus!!"
if you've never seen it,... please... watch it. it's freaking hillarious (especially for those of us who USED TO drive a dodge stratus... that's right... "used to")... "i hate you, you big fat turd".. ha.. so funny.

oh, right.. and all the "herse" and "station wagon" comments about the magnum don't phase me. i love my car and it stores ALOT of junk. alot. i've waited a LONG time for this and it rocks.

alright.. bedtime for misty
g'night all.

crabs and squeeze cheese

2007-08-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

spent most of today learning how to edit web pages (great big ol' thanks to matt for helping me learn this junk). it's pretty interesting stuff (according to me). so, if you get a minute, go check out www.voiceofthewetlands.com and visit the VOW fest area and let me know what you think of my header (banner thing at the top)... and check out the rest of the site while you're there. i'll be updating it quite a bit in the next two months, so keep checking back.

oh, and clear your schedules for the weekend of october 12-14... that's the voice of the wetlands festival. and you'll be spending that weekend of your life at southdown plantation.. with me :)

yesterday we spent the day out on island rd. near pointe-aux-chenes ("pawn-a cha'n" for you non-louisiana folk. you actually don't say the "n" at the end, but that's the only way i could write it so you would say the "a" part right). we didn't do so hot in the "look how many crabs we caught" department. we ended up with 21 crabs, but it wasn't nearly enough to feed everyone. but like i said... heck, it was plenty enough for the four people who caught them. (that's right dad... i'm not counting you. what with your videotaping and sitting on your hiney and all). i actually like crabbing a whole lot more than i like fishing.... i'm a little impatient, and throwing 20 lines out and checking one every minute and a half or so is ALOT better than waiting with just the one line for a fish. plus i had chee-tos. so that rocked.

here's some photos of each of us and our first crabs of the day:

me

brandi

taylor (notice dad in the back)

val

and here's brandi and val recovering from almost losing a crab

me and taylor (the heat was making us a tad delerious)

taylor learned an important lesson on this trip: crabs think fingers taste like chicken

if you'd like to see more of these photos, check out my myspace page.

and i believe a little congratulations is in order for mr. matt stamey.. or stampley.. depending on your preference, i guess. he had his gallery opening of his photos from hurricane katrina at the waterlife museum on friday night. (to be said like the french guy in monty python) it was verry niice. they even had squeeze cheese.... see:

so i'm changing that phrase from "it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings" to.. "it ain't over 'till the squeeze cheese is gone"

here's a few more photos from his gallery opening (p.s. the gallery will be up for a few weeks, so stop by sometime)

the gallery has photos of his "faces of katrina" project which is portraits of evacuees who ended up in houma, as well as photos from the katrina evacuation and damage from the storm. so, congrats to matt on his gallery...

and to me for getting dvr (well, technically it won't be until tomorrow, but still... congrats are in order, i think).

this ain't your grandma's washboard

2007-08-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

alright, so since no one showed up with a corkscrew, i had to get creative (well, that and i forgot to pick one up at walmart, again). so i took my battery drill and a screw with reasonably wide threads, snatched up a pair of pliers, and *voila*... (insert that "pop" noise you make with your finger and your cheek, here).

now my bottle's open and i've got a pretty cool ornament for my christmas tree. (i'm always looking for neat things to hang on my tree).

so, yeah... corkscrew schmorkscrew. i just saved myself ten bucks. ha.
and i've decided... money spent on a case of coke is better than on a bottle of wine... no matter how little you pay for it.

in other news...
this weekend my parents are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary (well, technically tomorrow). they kicked it off in style, with dinner at big al's followed by drinks at the jolly inn (and the rest will be spent at the beau rivage casino resort in biloxi- fyi).

well, i was kind of leery about going to the jolly inn.. not thinking it would be very interesting, but... alas.. indeed it was. folks dancing, accordians and fiddles playing, drunkards drunking,.. and washboards being used for other uses than their intended purpose. i'm guessing somewhere along the lines, after people decided that the washboard could be used for making sounds (not necessarily music, mind you- i've heard what they're capable of)... someone decided that it was just entirely too much work to have to hold it up. so, he sat down, had a little conversation with himself and said "self... this is just too much work. hows about i make some washboard overalls so i can just strum on my chest without having to hold that thing up all the time"... "naaah.. that would be too much.. a little too much stress on the nether regions".. "oh, yeah... i agree.. let's just make it a chest plate type thing then.. and make it hook over the shoulders, kind of like a bib, but not so much'"... "why, self, that sounds like a superb idea" (i like his use of the word "superb".. i thought that was a nice touch).

and so, now one can play the washboard with great ease... if you like all that "zipp" "ziippp" noise it makes... geeezzz... that creeps me out. anyway.. so, moms and pops, and our cousin diane took to the washboard stack at the jolly inn and tried their hand at it. and after i grabbed a few photos, i gave it a whirl also. and for what it was, i have to say.. i'm pretty freaking good. (feel free to be jealous.. it's an understandable emotion when it comes to my musical talents).

this is the jolly inn (where all the jolly takes place)..

here's mom and dad and cousin diane jammin out on the washboard vests (yes, that is what i will continue to call them)

here's me and dad jammin out "zydeco jam session".. haha.

and here's a group of random people.. (and diane again- she's not shy)

people dancing stuff that i can't do.. and frankly, they're not defensive dancers.. nono. they'll plow right over your behind, and without shame too. (crazy people)

and here's me and dustin's "rockstar" poses out in the parking lot. (we put the "cool" in coolpop- and YES that is a vest i am wearing.. and i will continue to wear it in the summer and the winter and the fall and the spring and in jamaica if i ever go.. because darn it i paid 47 cents for it, and i'm gonna get my money's worth)

thanks, i'll be here all week.

saints, toilet paper, and birthday cake

2007-08-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

well, today was insane.

i planned on taking the day off to help dad out with some birthday plans for my mom's birthday today, but i had two assignments and a lunch date to smush in there... and, so, i was running around like a crazy person. for my second assignment i had to drive out to des allemands to photograph this chick who is CRAZY about the saints. seriously.. i've never seen anything like it. i thought i've met sports nuts before in my day, but nono. nothing compared to this chick. nothing. she could rattle off player stats, who got traded when and to what team, what year they were drafted, what teams the coaches played for, their mommas' maiden names, pediatricians names, their fanta flavor preferences... holy. fricking. cow. it was insane. super interesting though.

here's a couple of shots from that assignment (and, yes... that is, indeed, saints toilet paper)

then i went to my mom's for her 60th birthday bash. woohooh! yay for cake.

this is a shot of her, my godchild lauren, and taylor trying to put out the forest fire...

it was fun, especially since i got to visit with my great uncle felix... "uncle p". he's my favorite uncle, and one of the funniest people i know. i love it when i can call someone "old fart" and he replies with "hey, who invited this monkey?". so fun. at one point, we were letting him listen to southpark and family guy clips. i thought he was going to pee his pants.

for this photo, i told him to give me his best "mcelroy" face, and this is what he gave....

and my brother garrett brought over the newest member of the mcelroy family... "buster". he's a 6 week old boston terrier. and his breath smells like puppy. i think instead of spearmint or peppermint flavored mints.. they should make "puppy breath" mints. that would be awesome.

here's a couple pictures i snagged of buster (one of them i just really like because dustin looks funny)

after the party, taylor decided it was time to attempt rollerblading. she's about as good at rollerblading as i am at peeing standing up.
here's a shot of her just after taking a spill near a neighbor's house.

on another note...
earlier in the day me and dustin went pick up a bottle of wine for mom as a gift... and while we were there, we decided to each get our own bottle of wine. and, although i always said that if i ever bought a bottle of wine, i'd get one with the coolest looking bottle.... i lied. while we were shopping, dustin said "hey, this one's good.. and it's really cheap too"... well, whatta ya know. i'm a cheap kind of girl. so we each got one. now, this is the first time i've ever gotten a bottle of wine, so, frankly, i haven't a clue what to do with it. i wonder if it's considered poor form to drink it from a mardi gras cup.

so, here's my problem. i don't have a corkscrew. i ALMOST had one, but dustin said "you can find a better one than that"... well... stupid me decided that he was probably right, even though i knew that it wasn't likely that i was going to go anywhere else to get one... and now i'm stuck with a bottle of wine that i CAN'T OPEN. geez. so, if anyone would like to drive their corkscrew over to my house, i'll let you have some of my "probably costs less than the bottle it's in" wine. so, come on.

i'll just be sitting here holding my empty mardi gras cup in my hand, watching tv, not going to work,... until you get here with your corkscrew. and i'll just blame you for not being able to go to work.

sweet. drive careful.

that girl's a dome fool

2007-08-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

so yesterday afternoon i drove out to new orleans so i could take a good photo of the superdome for a project i'm working on.... probably not the smartest idea in the world. especially by myself. let's just say that it's not just zippers and bucktoothed penguins that freak me out... walking around new orleans alone kinda freaks me out too. and.. AND... here's a little tidbit of information for you lovely people. if you want to take a decent picture of something that's the size of roseanne bar (ergo- the superdome).. the best location to do that is not standing right next to it. so what i thought was going to be a ten minute project turned out to take over an hour.

i drove around town for a while looking for a good parking spot and trying to eye maybe a hotel where i could get up high and get a clear shot of the big easy's belly button. it was pretty cool though.. i got to try out the satellite on my new phone. didn't help much though. still kinda cool.

after a while, i found a decent enough spot to park, and walked right up to the lobby of one of the ginormous buildings next to the dome, and the security guard came ask me if i was there for the road home program... um.... not really, but thanks. so, that was kind of wierd. i explained to the lady what i was trying to do, and she was like "um.. no, i don't know what you can do, but i do know that you can't take photos on this building's property".. um.. ok. good to know. i must have ran over those invisible warning signs on my way in... unless that's just information i was supposed to be born with. like the chemical formula for polyester- you're just supposed to know.

anyway.. then i started asking her about the other buildings around... and was like "what about that one.. you think that one is open?"... (the building was only about a block away).. and she was all like "no, but you were gonna go waaay over there??"

well, duh.

so, eventually i did get a decent enough shot, but i had to walk clear around the dome and climb 12 half-flights of stairs (so like 6 real flights) in a VERY very abandoned parking garage. (not cool). it sure is a good thing my camera weighs as much as a computer monitor, ... in the event i would have had to whack somebody with it.

anyway... here is my "betyounevergotasuperdomephotowithnocarsinit" photo...

and speaking of spam...

i've got a little job for you fine folks. seems that the word on the street.. well, at least my street.. okay, well, maybe just the word around my living room is that when i take self portraits (alot), that i tend to make the same rotation of faces each time (alot). so, as i was going through the self portraits i took yesterday evening (again,.. alot)... i noticed that there were, indeed, a variety of facial mishaps. so, i'm curious to see what others think is my best self portrait face. and maybe, just maybe (or maybe not even), the next time i stop to take a self portrait, i just may save some time by just doing the one face. and not the whole bushel of faces. but, if i had to guess, i am willing to bet things will continue just as they always have, but ...

i'm still curious.

so, here you go. me. and the dome. in overtime.

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

#7:

had enough of me yet??? no? well, aren't you in for a treat.

i finally put up some of my photos up on the web. you can check them out here:
4th of july gallery

these are some pictures from my trip to portland, oregon in early june for "geekfest". which, is basically just a gathering of photographers from around the country, where we get to meet other photographers, listen to awesome speakers, and can carry around our cameras 24/7 and bust them out whenever necessary, and not feel awkward about it- like we do when we're around "normal'' people (for example, you).
portland #1 gallery
portland #2 gallery
portland #3 gallery

i've got more portland photos to put up, but i'll send those in another blog. let's just hope i can get around to blogging before we lose another planet.

((laughing uncontrollably))... sorry, just had to share this little bit of late-breaking news- i just saw on jimmy kimmel where a couple was being interviewed by a reporter because somebody stole their pool while they were sleeping.

their pool!!! that's crazy. haha. too funny.

g'night all :)

little bit 'o jazz and a macbook cord

2007-05-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

i'm going to try and finish this entry before my boy "ferg" (craig ferguson- not to be confused with lauren's dog "fergie") starts... so no interruptions please.. if you feel the need to interrupt, just drink a pepsi.. that should leave you gagging long enough for me to finish this post. anyway.. what was i saying? oh, right... we were discussing how awesome i am. no?? oh, wait.. did i interrupt you discussing to yourself how awesome i am? because if i did, i'm very sorry. it won't happen again.

here's a little story:
so last night i was watching one of my "oprah anniversary collection" dvds.. and there was this story about a little boy with muscular dystrophy who was pretty much confined to a wheelchair with a breathing tube in his throat... who could barely talk and had to tote around an oxygen tank and several other devices that i have no clue what they are or what they do, on the back of his wheelchair. he was probably the happiest, most optimistic child i have ever seen and he was saying how he had three wishes. 1. to have a book of his poetry published 2. to meet jimmy carter 3. to meet oprah. well, he actually did get all three of his wishes (the jimmy carter one came in the form of a phone call and not a personal visit, but to the boy that was close enough).. and taylor was sitting on my lap watching it with me and i was explaining to her how grateful the little boy was and trying to relay the point of the story to her when she turned to me, arms folded and said "hmph. i didn't get three wishes." boy. talk about a punch in the gut. how IN THE WORLD did she pull that from that story, i will never know. but she did.

i sometimes wish there was a computer program that i use to schedule regular attitude adjustments.... and sometimes i think.. if i did that, then where would all the funny come from?? so i guess you just have to take the good with the bad and drink a mr pibb and get over it.

so i got to see spiderman 3 today with my friends brandi and benji. there are three lessons i learned from that little expedition.. 1. don't order a large popcorn and a large drink even if it the guy at the counter convinces you it's a great deal.. it's not worth all the wastedness that occurs when you're a person who knows she can't eat much more than a bowl of microwaveable easy mac in one sitting and ends up only eating the overflow of popcorn that sits on top of the bag 2. you actually can get away with throwing handfulls of popcorn as long as you do it when the lights go down between previews. 3. do NOT use the first stall in the bathrom at the movies... people can see you.

quick macbook update... aka "the switch":
i know i haven't taked about my computer much lately, but i'm back up and running so i thought i'd give it a shot. my computer hadn't been doing all that well lately.. i was having problems with it getting hot as a fajita skillet and making whirring noises that sound like a ceiling fan on crack (lauren can vouch for that one).. then one night i was sitting in my comfy chair getting ready to put my computer down when dixie took a dive to the floor and took my computer with it. in that split moment of my life i thought my chest was going to explode. i couldn't believe it... the sound of my computer hitting the floor might as well have been the sound of a freight trane running over it. with my past experiences with computers i just knew that thing wasn't gonna have a pulse. but it suffered minor damage and now it doesn't get hot anymore, .... it just rocks when i set it down (so annoying)... but it's better than a cracked computer screen which i have inflicted before (sorry dad)... also- i've actually had to retire it for the last couple of days because lately it's been hard as a mofo to charge and i couldn't figure out why.. so on monday me and brandi took a little trip to comp usa and found out that it was my cord and not the computer (thank you jesus). so i ordered the cord, waited.... waited..... waited.... and *ta da*... today it came!! now we're back in business.

while we were in new orleans, we stopped by the french quarter and had some shirts made at one of my all-time favorite stores ever. mine says "trailer trash" and hers says "the shaws". here's a shot taken with my phone of us wearing our shirts at the bowling alley (and yes, those are my awesome new glasses) :

here are some photos from stuff we've done in the last couple of weeks:

a couple of "firsts" for taylor:

her first time blackberry picking (one of my favorite memories as a kid)

her first time crabbing (pointe-aux-chenes)
-this day i learned not wade into the water and stand in the mud with boots for any length of time... when you try to move your feet, you will lose your balance and fall into the water (and none of this nonsense about how to get unstuck from the mud properly... frankly, i would just rather believe that was the only way)

from the front of my dad's boat for the grand caillou boat blessing

my awesome new sunglasses :o)

this is me and the fish i caught on island road the day i got my fishing ticket for being a retard and deciding not to get my fishing license. because that's the kind of proud genius i am.

here's a couple from jazzfest:

this is me in front of the "fais do do" stage run by my friend and co-worker chuck (seen at the far right in the orange hat)

another self portrait (i'm full of them)

some guy in some band playing some song in some parade during jazzfest

ludacris "the guy who lets the audience sing his songs for him"

my "best hair of the day" winner from jazzfest

a band that was playing on a street corner near the end of the line for the shuttle bus

my "fork" picture (i plan on getting one random shot of a fork on the ground at every jazzfest i attend). yes i am a dork. no i don't care if you know it.

from the brad paisley concert... it was freaking awesome

we also got a personal warm up session viewing by gillian welch and her banjo boy while hanging out in a tent behind the fais do do stage. i have to admit they play a mean banjo.... but it's nothing compared to my mad banjo skills.

oh and ... AND this weekend at the fireman's fair in thibodaux i ran across this lady who was trying to guess either your weight, your age, or your birth month... sooo.. i decided i'd give it a shot. like one in 84 people come even semi-close to guessing my age so i figured this was a piece of cake (oooh chocolate cake.. mmmmm).. oh, anyway.. yeah, so i gave her my three bucks, she acted like she knew me and everything about me... and then EENNNNGGHHH... wrong mister. she guessed i was 22. which was actually closer than ALOT of people guess. so i paid three bucks, got a little satisfaction out of knowing that i could trick a lady who hadn't gotten any guesses right in the last 5 people, and taylor got a stuffed fox. i think i know who came out ahead on that deal. brandi-she didn't spend any money :o) bravo brandi. bravo.

oh, and i left $10 worth of ride tickets on the ferris wheel so i believe i made someone's night. you're welcome whoever you are.

alright all, it' s been fun, but momma needs a new pair of shoes.
wait.. no.... that's not right... um...
oh right. bath time.

g'night all.

that girl of mine

2007-04-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

nothing very interesting happened today, so here's a few shots i grabbed of taylor acting silly yesterday. it's what she does best, and i haven't a clue where she gets it.

this is a shot of her sitting in the backseat of my car, decked out in her soccer gear with her snowball in hand.

here she's trying to make the same face as the partially earless chocolate rabbit.... one eye and all..

and then she chomped out another piece of its ears

oh, and i'd like to thank the academy, my adoring fans for staying up to date with my life by reading my blogs, and my dear friend lauren for coming shopping with me to buy my "girlie" clothes which i was sporting at the french quarter festival. thanks bertha!

"plethora" because i just like that word

2007-04-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

i've had a couple things happen since my last post... the saturday before easter me, taylor, & matt sat down in my mom's kitchen and dyed a smurf-load of eggs. i picked up some tie-dye and funky paint egg dye and mom had the cups-o-color for egg dunking (which was taylor's main method of egg-coloring). we spent a good while prettying the eggs up, and well, for some of the eggs... they actually looked better before we got our hands on them. i actually think taylor put more egg dye on her shirt and my mom's floor than she did on the eggs. here's a couple shots from the "egg coloring eggstravaganza" (haha.. i crack me up... get it .. crack.. haha).

this is matt telling taylor how she's supposed to slice gouda cheese.. oh, no wait.. he's explaining how to dye the eggs.. silly me.

check out her shirt.

i tried using one of the cups for a funky photo effect, but i wasn't impressed (impressed with myself, of course.. just not the "effect'')

matt fashioned him some eggshell eyeballs.. the one on the right was his pride and joy.. he made some really cool looking dead trees on the egg.

this is my swamp egg... i know, i know.. you're jealous. i'm not surprised.

easter morning the bunny paid a visit to taylor and got her some really neat junk (if i do say so myself).. she got some bubbles, lots of candy, sweedish fish, a frisbee, happy feet dvd, some jewelry, a doll that came with markers for her to write on it with, which i'm supposed to throw in the washer to clean it off for her to draw on it all over again, but it looks like instead her comforter is going to have to take a trip to the washer because she apparently "missed" when trying to write on the doll and went to town on her comforter.

here's some shots from easter morning:

that's her "wow, look at that easter grass" face.

probably the most photographed child ever.

taylor sporting her easter dress with her massive chocolate bunny who's ears she chomped off last night.... and that's her brand new basketball goal there to the left.

we had a good easter.... lots of food, lots of eggs, and of course... lots of reese's peanutbutter eggs.

post-easter news:

last monday i didn't have to bowl league.. thanks to brandi and lisa who were on their awesome cruise kissing dolphins and snorkeling and junk.... but i still love them anyway (punks). so me and matt hit up the bowling alley to shoot a few games and i um.... well, let's just say i knocked one out of the park. it's really too bad i wasn't bowling league that night (thanks again y'all) because i bowled a 215 baby!! the funny thing is that me, matt, and the little dude bowling on the lane on side of us all had strikes in the first frame.. and i said "hey, look, we're all working on our first 300 game".. even though that wasn't true, i sure thought it was when my first six balls were strikes...

this is the printout of the games i bowled that night.. pretty consistent eh? i really think i deserve a ring or something for this.

this is matt reading taylor dr seuss' "sneetches". if you've never read it, read it. it's a pretty awesome book.

oh and something else.. we've made some more paintings...

this one is another one of our "jelly donuts". the left side is mine and the right side is matt's.

this is my newest one. i figured i'd be a little less retarded about this whole abstract art thing and make use of my elementary circles and lines paint skills. matt's been working on one for a while, but it's not done yet and i don't want to spoil it, so you'll have to wait until he finishes it.

also... we have our paintings hanging at the waterlife museum here in houma. we put them up thursday for "art after dark". to read about the event, just click here. and if you look really good at the photo on that link, you can see our paintings on the wall.... but no fear.. if you can't see them in there, check them out here:
they'll be there for the next couple weeks i guess.. so if you've got a hair appointment that got cancelled or just got out of court, take a walk over to the museum and check it out.

we didn't get to visit art after dark and listen to the awesome comments people said about our paintings because we were at the french quarter festival in new orleans. i showed up a little late, but i got to hear rebirth... here's a shot of them.. and then, of course, a self portrait.

it was muggy for a while and then the wind started blowing like 48.763 miles an hour, but we loaded up on coke caps, so that was good.. ah ahem.. by the way.. i'm still accepting those.. you know, just whenever. um, no.. now. i meant now. i'm accepting them now. but you know, just whenever. (i'd like to thank all of those who have helped us out so far... just like "that person who just farted, but is trying not to look like they did"... you know who you are).

oh, and on sunday was the annual blessing of the fleet in chauvin. it's basically a boat parade where all the shrimp boats and skiffs.. and even some smaller boats get decorated up and parade down the bayou into lake boudreaux. the priest rides on the lead boat and blesses all the shrimp boats he passes as he goes down the bayou (before they all go out into the waters for the shrimping season). matt put up a gallery of photos from the event on houmatoday.com so go check it out. as for me,... i've got my own little gallery of photos from the boat blessing:

this is the boat we rode on (the lead boat).

me and matt on the boat

and, of course (sorry matt) me and martin folse (for those of you who don't know him, he was in my first blog.. sort of.. and he's a "local celebrity" .. the guy who owns the tv station and proudly puts himself on it every chance he gets). i got him to volunteer for the dunk tank for relay for life at the end of this month, so that should be fun. anyone who wants to see martin folse get dunked.... or wants to dunk him yourself.. hey hey... now you get your chance. you're welcome. i am accepting gifts for this awesome work that i do for the community, so please, don't be shy.

please direct all positive comments about me, my blog, my paintings, my photography, my exceptional cheeseball eating skills, my awesome car, my wonderful use of the words "a", "and", & "the", or my pop a shot skills to me personally (oh and anything else you'd like to leave positive feedback about).

as for all negative comments, please refer them to my dog dixie. she doesn't listen to you anyway.

oh and congratulations are in order.. since i finally finished my taxes.

i wish you all a great week... and myself as well :o)

pibbs and cokes

2007-04-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago i drove with matt to lafayette to photograph the high school boys basketball finals.. and to avoid as much sports talk as humanly possible (chimichanga).... i'll just say that we took alot of photos and you can find the galleries of those photos on www.houmatoday.com. there is also an option to purchase the photos online now if you'd like (just fyi).

anyway... i've got this very strange attraction to mr. pibb. i'd say it ranks right up there with spam in my book (yes people, it's no secret.. misty loves spam). i am all too familiar with the fact that none of the grocery stores in and around the houmthibodeauxneworleansmorgancity area carry mr pibb. nono.. you've gotta drive clear through to lafayette to find these little jewels. (i am currently aware that the civic stop right next to the houma courier carries bottles of mr pibb, but i was not aware of this until about a month ago.... and well, even though the information comes from reliable enough sources, i still have yet to see them with my own eyes so i'll just pretend that i've never heard that information for the sake of this blog.)

well, matt took several trips to lafayette to photograph the lhsaa basketball tournaments (boys and girls).. and everytime he'd bring me back several bottles of mr. pibb (thanks matt!)... i thought i was in heaven. until.......... we both went up there. on our way back from lafayette we decided to stop in at a gas station and stock up on a few bottles of pibb just in case we didn't come across any in a grocery store.. we grabbed about 7 bottles from the gas station then got directions to albertson's (the nearest grocery store).. there we found twelve packs and two liters!!!! holy bearded cow!! i couldn't believe it.. so we stocked up on about $30 worth of pibb and headed out... and when i got home, i loaded up my refrigerator..

and on another entirely unrelated note... i took first place with my ncaa tourney bracket in my mom's office pool.. $120.. i came in 3 points above my dad's bracket (which i filled out also).. it was fun talking trash to people who have no idea what teams they picked (my mom and dad).. so that gave me an interesting few weeks.. and a reason to watch the tournament.

oh, and another thing.. me and matt are saving the coke rewards.. any red bottle caps from coke, diet coke, and coke zero.. oh, and vault (but those caps are silver)... and the rewards off the twelve packs (it's the part you pull off the fridge pack to get inside the box). we've got about 200 some odd points and we need 26,000, so we're asking for your help. any cap or box that says cokerewards on it... we want that code. you can save them up for the next time we see you, or you can just e-mail us the codes. (we've even gone as far as walking up to strange people asking them for their empty bottles that are sitting on their tables.. and um.. matt is going around making u-turns in the middle of subdivisions in his efforts to snatch up any and every red cap he finds.. so please people.. save him from running over innocent people walking their schnoodle puppies). i'm thinking about giving away one of our jelly donut paintings to the person who sends in the most points. either that.. or we could get your picture on a mug... a bundle of multi-colored coathangers.. used toothbrushes.. our autographs... toe socks... big huge tub of cheeseballs... you name it. and if anyone else has any good ideas as to how we can get the most coke rewards, feel free to send them to me. (and did we mention how much we love all of you??) :o)

tomorrow is good friday and i plan on filling up my tummy with as much crawfish, yogurt pretzels, and cheeseballs as humanly possible... (it is a shame i can't have any sausage with my crawfish, but ah, well).

happy early easter to everyone!

washing away

2007-03-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

as i stated in the previous blog, two weekends ago i went up in a plane over terrebonne, lafourche, and plaquemines parishes. i saw the bayous, the barrier islands, port fourchon, grand isle, and port sulphur. for those of you who have never visited south louisiana and are unaware of the situation we are facing down here, i will briefly enlighten you. (and for those of you who didn't pay attention in school or ... well, anywhere else... feel free to listen up too).

our gulf coast is in the process of losing our wetlands at an alarming rate. places where people used to be able to ride their horses must now be reached by boat (or by swimming, if you're up to it). the rich culture of south louisiana is in danger of dying out. many efforts are being made to salvage what is left of the wetlands and to create an environment where nature can take its course and rebuild itself.

it is UNBELIEVABLE how many people in the united states have no clue what is going on down here. hurricane katrina's effects on new orleans shed some light on our problem, but very few people truly understand the real problem. me and matt went to see the "hurricane on the bayou" imax film in new orleans a few months ago and a lady next to us said "wow. i had no idea that the wetlands were so useful in protecting the cities from storms". the sad part is that she's not the only one. also.. many people who do know what is going on down here think that levees are the answer. levees aren't the only answer. there are many variables that factor into this equation. i would strongly advise everyone who reads this to further educate themselves on our situation. you will be surprised at what you find out.

here are some photos i took while i was up in the plane:

this is the fishing community of cocodrie. if you look along the left-hand side of the highway you can see LUMCON (louisiana universities marine consortium). if you are seeing this area for the first time from the air... i imagine you are surprised at how little land there really is (just as i was surprised). and for those of you who know the area, you know from experience that you really can't tell from the ground that there is that much water surrounding everything.

here's a view of the pilot flying over the marshes just beyond cocodrie.

this is wine island which is a portion of the barrier island chain (notice the outline of rocks. it wasn't all that long ago that the land was out past those rocks). the chain of islands at one time was connected, but in recent years, daily erosion and hurricanes have contributed to their massive landloss. these islands are the first line of defense when it comes to storms. if the wetlands and barrier islands hadn't existed during hurricanes katrina and rita, i can't imagine how much worse the damage would have been.

this is a photo of the west end of timbalier island, another part of the barrier island chain.

this is port fourchon. the rock jetties off the coast are to help prevent coastal erosion.

this is the grand isle bridge... as you can see, there isn't much land here.

this is a photo of fort livingston on grand terre island which you can see from the tip of grand isle (a louisiana state park). barataria pass separates the two.

and here is a shot of port sulphur in plaquemines parish. when flying over port sulphur, if you looked close enough, you could see the superdome. it was actually kind of neat. i bet not many people realize that just outside of new orleans is marshland. but it's true.

and of course.... a self portrait.

hope you enjoyed the photos and maybe even learned a thing or two. you can click here to check out my wetlands myspace page (it's got a plethera of links and more photos)... if that doesn't work... or if you'd like to check it frequently, i have a very convenient link off in the right hand column of my blog.. along with all the other awesome links you should check out.

also, if you haven't seen matt's aerial slideshow of lower terrebonne parish from when we went up in a helicopter last july, click here. he's also got a few other galleries including a "hurricane rita: then/now" gallery that you might check out. just click here.

(when you get a minute, you really should check those out... he's got some... eh... eh.... alright... he's got some great stuff so go check it out)

alright. well, peace, love, and jelly donuts.
goodnight all :o)

mother of all worms

2007-03-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

saturday morning i was scheduled to go with a group of high school kids up in a plane for their world geography class. but my retarded self left my trunk popped all night and couldn't start my car (killed my battery)... good thing matt was at my house. he offered to bring me to the airport and drop taylor off at my mom's for me (thanks matt). oh, and on a side note... he and taylor apparently had a discussion about how they were going to plan a trip to chuck e. cheese without me "no mom's allowed" is what i was told she said. the plane ride was awesome... a great way to spend a saturday morning (i'll post photos from the flight in my next blog).

when i got back, since i was car-less, i hung out at my mom & dad's house for a good part of the day. they were working out in the yard, so taylor killed some time by digging in the dirt for creatures. i went inside and got her a cup of water mixed with laundry detergent and poured it on some piles of dirt for her... to try to draw up some bugs and worms. (this is one of those things where i have no clue the science behind it, but this is what we did when i was a kid, so this is what i know to do). in fact, my mom even said "i don't remember the kids ever doing that, but if she remembers doing it, i guess they did". um.. yeah, that's definitely one thing i've learned being a parent is that kids remember EVERYTHING. it's quite a thing.

here's a photo of taylor holding one of her (in her words) "mother of all worms". the red ice chest was full of worms and snails and junk... she later made me take the ice chest home and free the creatures in our yard. so that was interesting. oh, and while taylor was digging for worms, i helped my dad put up that white fence behind taylor. i'm quite handy if i do say so myself.

on tuesday we had our third soccer practice. taylor fell down more times than i have fingers, and came to us fussing that people keep pushing her... so, i told her that's what you're supposed to do and to just not push with her hands. of everything i told her during soccer practice, THAT is what she remembered. she got on the field and started knocking other kids out of the way with every part of her body she could think of..... even used her hands a couple times (well, i really didn't expect her to pick up on everything i said).. i felt a little bad about telling her to push the other kids.. but seriously, that IS what you're supposed to do..... sort of. but i was expecting her to be more "five year old girl" about it and not all "grown woman with pms" about it. here's a photo i grabbed while out there... no clue if taylor caused this, but from the fact that she's on the ground too, i'd say there's a pretty good chance...

oh, and i finally got my sportsshooter page up and running so if you'd like to check it out, you can click this link www.sportsshooter.com/mistymac

bad bowling and pee wee soccer

2007-03-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

so it's been a while since i posted anything, and to my devoted and not-so devoted fans, and others of you who have no idea who i am, but googled "awesome" and stumbled on my blog... i apologize. i will try harder to post faster and more frequent. i sort of promise.

so recently i've had a craving to try something new. so, instead of having a sex change, i went with the more obvious... i shaved my head. oh, no wait.. that's brittney spears. wow, i really need to stop confusing us. anyway.. so i've decided to start painting. i took a trip to michael's last week and gathered up the cheapest painting supplies i could find (i really wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway) and tried my hand at painting on canvas. it's pretty neat actually. i even tried that "mad at the world so i'm going to slap my brush against the canvas and see what happens" technique, but i guess you really have to be angry for that to work because it really didn't do anything for me. the first painting consisted of me drawing a line down the middle of the canvas, and well, i know this is not a term many of you are comfortable with, but.... "sharing" with matt. he painted his masterpiece on the right hand side and i on the left. and, as a matter of fact, i really like these... matt thinks we should do more like them, and i agree. plus, with him being a famous flaming baton juggler here in america and me being all famous in japan... i really think they'll appeal to a broader audience. plus, if you don't like one half, just cover that eye... look at the other half. hard to argue with me, if i do say so myself.

you can check out the first painting we did here at mattstamey.com which i have solely named "jelly donut" (for no reason other than the fact that it's the first thing i felt i wanted to name it. matt doesn't really agree with the name, so next week it may be called "jelly donut and kung pow" or something like that.

taylor also has been painting some masterpieces lately. plus, she creates masterpieces on her skin and clothes too.... and sometimes the table. here is the first of her series, which i have no idea what the name is:

this is the second painting i did, which i call "bad bowling" because, well.... that's what happened that night. i came home in an unpleasant mood from my horrible last game of bowling monday night during league, and i relaxed by making this:

which is hanging on my wall by my bedroom along with the painting me and matt made wednesday night while watching "borat" (and no, i wouldn't exactly classify the movie as inspiration...... for anything). i have yet to give this painting a name, and i think since i named the first one, i'll let matt have the option of naming this one, or re-naming the first one (but it'll still be "jelly donut" to me). so, here's the most recent addition to our "photographer paint art" collection:

now, aside from our new painting hobby, we've got something else new going on. tuesday was taylor's first day playing soccer at the local ymca. this is her first time involved in a sport or team activity outside of preschool, so i'm pretty excited for her. plus, the socks are freaking awesome. also, one of her friends kambria who used to go to nursery with her (and, ironically, used to take beatings from taylor and vice versa....on a daily basis) is on her soccer team. so she's really happy about that. plus, i think she's catching on to the whole "dribbling" the ball thing... i'm always a little afraid when she tries something new, but i think she'll do just fine. here's a few shots i grabbed today of her practicing (they don't have their shirts yet, but i am indeed hoping for orange).

taylor dribbling the soccer ball through cones (supposed to teach her to use both her feet)... aren't the socks awesome?!

taylor giving her friend kambria a hug. they haven't seen each other in a long time before tuesday and are really happy to be back together.

one of the drills they did was to try and kick the soccerball down the field and try to get it past a "defender" (one of the other kids on the team). here, taylor tries to stop kambria from kicking the ball into the net.

i'm excited to see what this experience is going to do for her.
but for now, i think it's time for another painting.

word.

toga man with the alligator and the crawfish

2007-02-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

since tomorrow is "hercules day"... i thought i would share this with you fine folks. (hercules has always been my favorite parade and this year will be matt's second year riding so i'm super excited). plus, his family is down for the weekend (some have never experienced mardi gras, and others of them are now insanely addicted from their last-year's experience), so we're gonna show them a good time.

this past weekend, i attended a pre-tableau party (i guess that's what it's called) for the krewe of hercules. it was at the quality inn here in houma. they open up the whole inside part of the hotel to these bunch of lieunatics (best way to describe them really).. there's a band, a pool, a 1.5 foot high wooden platform square thing in the middle of the floor for people to dance on and drunk people to trip on. there was even a man doing the alligator on that box and he dumped his drink all over himself... and for those of you who have never experienced what we call "the alligator"... basically all it is is someone humping the floor. i've never actually done it myself, but i've seen it hundreds of times. we had lots of fun making faces through the hotel room window when people walked by us.

the next night was the hercules tableau and ball thing... men dress up in skirts and tights and feathers... and everyone gets all perty and dances around like drunk fools. too bad i got there a half hour before it ended. i had to shoot a wedding and then my bro dustin locked his keys in his car ... so that delayed us a bit. anyway, here's some shots from the weekend.

me and matt being ourselves

THIS is what he does.. (see what i put up with?)

me and brandi dancing (i know it goes the other way, i just like it better like this)

us, the retards

fun with the popo.

i will go to any lengths to get in your pictures, so watch out.

these guys had no idea what happened here.. (look at this one closely)

nothing like a little window shopping to pass the time.

i think this thing was called a peppermint patty. i had no idea what was happening they just told me to sit my hiney down and then everybody gathered around and started taking pictures. really kinda freaked me out. first the whip cream, then the chocolate syrup, followed by some peppermint schnapps, swish around lightly.... then down the hatch. it was actually pretty good.

brandi, me, and matt (see, he really is capable of making a normal face .... even though he has to be threatened first)

of course... again.. there is ALWAYS time for self portraits.

me, brandi, and my brother dustin at the hercules tableau ball thing.

matt and me at the hercules tableau ball thing (that's his costume for the float... pretty snazzy eh?... CHICKENS?! did someone order CHICKENS?!)

so, here's to hoping matt has a great ride day tomorrow.... and, of course, that he sees us on the parade route.

a tisket, a tasket, gays don't like snickers

2007-02-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

okay so i'm sitting at home tonight enjoying my pizza rolls and watching house as usual on a tuesday, and i hear the newslady say something along the lines of "remember that snickers commercial during the superbowl? well, stay tuned to find out why it won't be seen on tv anymore" ... i always look forward to seeing the funny superbowl commercials. heck, even if the game's not good, the commercials give you a reason to keep watching. and this year, i thought the snickers one where the guys kiss was one of the better ones. so, this is a tad upsetting (but not enough for me to lose sleep over .. in my queen-sized double foam padded, feather matressed comfy bed).

well, apparently some gay activist convinced a bunch of his gay activist friends that this commercial was offensive and that the money snickers paid to make this commercial should have been used for posters and multi-colored markers for their next public protest.... because they managed to get it pulled off the air. i have to say, if i got together a group of friends and complained every time something offended me, donald trump would have to walk around with a sombrero to cover that face-cringing mop of his.

and i'm still confused as to how archie bunker and al bundy slipped through the activist cracks, but... ah, well.

so, in my own personal protest of this decision, i am posting the commercial, and responses to the commercial and how great people think it is. i will warn you though.... if you get offended by red cars, men with hair on their heads and/or chests, chocolate, candy, candy wrappers, white people, hands, fingers, sounds, hubcaps, flourescent light, leather jackets, air hoses, testosterone, long hair, tires, screw drivers, nipples, noses, ears, car seats, wall clocks, plaid shirts, or the word "manly", it's probably best you shy away from this viewing experience. wouldn't want to ruffle your panties. (haha... i said panties.) panties. panties. panties. chimichanga. panties. panties. panties.

on another note, i brought taylor to the bank yesterday to open her own savings account and while we were filling out the paperwork, the owner of the bank came over and introduced himself to her... and, of course, posed for a few pictures. here are two of my favorites.

oh, and just so everyone knows, she is saving up for a kim possible doll (so she says)... it was a black brick house with a swimming pool, but she's changed her mind. silly girl. everyone knows you use your savings to buy girlscout cookies.

my next post will consist of photos from the hercules bash this past weekend.. but for now, i'm just too darn pooped.

laundry over troubled water

2007-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

some people are addicted to smoking, some to biting their fingernails, others are addicted to driving as poorly as humanly possible. me? i'm addicted to flooding my bathroom (apparently). every night while getting my bath water ready, i tend to roam around the house and search for things to do in the meantime. my bath takes a good twenty minutes or more to fill up to where i like it, and i am not a "sit and watch the bath water pour" kind of person.... nono. i am a multi-tasker. and while something is doing all on it's own, i keep myself busy. i usually get taylor ready for bed, let the dogs out, watch a little tv, do some laundry, some dishes, or check my e-mail. well, last night i decided to sit down at the computer and try to work on a photo project..... bad idea. it was a good 40 minutes or so before i realized that the bath water was still running. and out of my 5 or so times of flooding the bathroom, this was by far the worst time. the reason i remembered the bath was running was because i heard water draining from my air conditioner. thought it was strange.... so i thought some more.... and then i made a mad dash for the bathroom... only to find exactly what i knew i'd find. the water had seeped about two feet into the carpet of my bedroom. how nice. not to mention that the air condition vent on the floor was spraying water into the air (that's a new one... even for me).

i've learned not to panic in such a situation... maybe i did my first two or three times, but not now.. not this time. oh no.. i'm an old pro now. since the laundry on the floor of my bathroom closet had kept the water from going into the closet, i decided to macgyver this sucker. (maybe that's not the right term, but if i feel like using it.. i will -note this for future reference of all my blogs). anyway, so i spread my laundry all over the floor to try to soak up the water... then whatta you know... i remembered that i had a WHOLE lot more dirty laundry that i could use. so i took a little journey to the laundry room and gathered it all up and threw it on the flo'. (this would save me having to wash more stuff than i was already scheduled to).

right in the middle of all this, matt called while on his way home from an assignment and he offered to go to my parents' house and pick up the shampooer. fantastic. that was a huge help and saved me from having to freeze my tootsies off by going outside (thanks matt). now why the shampooer you ask? well, i've learned that sucking up the water with a machine that is made to suck up water from carpet is much more efficient than trying to terrycloth the situation.

hopefully i will figure out how not to do this in the future, but until then... i will become a google result for how to ruin an evening.

cheers.

fruitcakes and gingerbread men

2007-01-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

here's a little video i found today. enjoy.

blogs, bowling balls, and martin folse

2007-01-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

i hereby welcome myself to my new blog. i hope this will be a comfy spot for myself, and i wish me the best in all my endeavors. ((bows)) thank you... thank you..

i hope to keep up with this blog on a fairly regular basis (feel free to not quote me on that). i will try to use this as an outlet for photos, stories, updates on whatever's going on in my life, venting my frustrations, and noting anything else i find humerous or noteworthy (i may even include some not-so-accurate sports information from time to time just to give you sports nuts something to discuss with yourself -*singular*). this first post will be a little bit of all of these (not necessarily in that order). but don't worry... i will categorize them so's not to cause mass confusion. this one will be a tad bit long, and i apologize, but i do have to make a grand entrance, now don't i. (oh and just for the record, there are no capital letters in misty blog land).

i will begin with venting:

so tonight was my weekly bowling league night. my average is somewhere in the neighborhood of 124 and my high score is a 201 (which i was pretty smurfed about, so feel free to applaud....... *now*..................*) tonight my high score was a 135. i didn't really care about the scores as much as i was annoyed at the team we were playing against. one thing that is at the top of my "stuff that aggrivates the poop out of me" list is being rushed. i hate it, and i tend to avoid it at all costs (yes, even if it means being a few minutes late... as some of you may be familiar with). well, to make a not-so-long story short, one of the ladies on the other team was fussing because we weren't bowling fast enough and she needed to hurry up and get to work. misty said "poop on her" and continued at her same old "normal person trying to tick off the person who ticked her off in the first place" pace. not only was this, in my opinion, the least friendly team i had bowled against thus far, the lady who was in such a hurry actually stayed for a bit after to chat with her friends. ergo- misty was annoyed.

story:

so matt met up with us at the bowling alley on this not-so-stormy night and watched us play a few games during league. after we were finished, we all decided to bowl some more games. matt got up there, bowled a strike, another strike maybe, maybe another one.... possibly even a spare or two (can't really recall exactly how it all "went down"), and at the end of the tenth frame, lo and behold, he pulls out a 203 (his first 200+ game ever). we were all extremely proud of him.. but none more than myself. he even got a my little pony sticker for his efforts from taylor.... who, incidentally, was involved with her crush (a 13+ year old boy who she thought was just so cute, and felt the need to tell everyone). she would even wave with just the tips of her fingers and batt her eyes at him... it was too funny.

so, congratulations to matt for his awesome bowling score tonight... and let's hope taylor forgets about boys and starts playing in the dirt or something.

goins on in my life:

house, deperate housewives, american idol, & pizza rolls
oh, and sometimes, in between all of that, i go to my job as a "non-engineer of compressed air parts for all sorts of machines" oh, and that mom thing that i do... and occasionally i pick up a camera and shoot stuff.

sports:

all this discussion about reggie bush's unsportsmanlike conduct during the bears game........ i personally thought bush's pointing at that urlacher guy while running into the endzone just before his flip was fantastic... props my brother, props.

photo:

now i leave you with a photo booth self portrait from tonight of me and our very own martin folse (bayou time).

feel free to bookmark my page and check it as often as you change your socks (and for some of you... as often as you think about changing your socks).

goodnight and good news,

misty :o)