framable favorites and double dates - an alliterative post

a couple of months ago, Paul left the then hugely pregnant me home with the kiddos and went to the beach for a long weekend for a good friend's bachelor party -
The kiddos kept me busy, but during the time that I would normally be visiting with Paul and/or vegging with Paul watching a Netflix dvd, I went through all the five thousand pictures in my iphoto library. I had recently realized that I didn't have any framed photos in my house.... I know- this is ridiculous - especially when one has photogenic children. But, it was true. So, I went through hoping to pick out some pics to frame.

Well, after I went through them, I had narrowed from 5000 to about a hundred, which is pretty good.... although you cannot go from zero framed pictures in your house to a hundred over night. But, we do now have 7 framed that weren't here three months ago. Yay us.

Anyway, I thought I would start sharing the 'framable favorites' - as the Event in iphoto is now titled. And write a little snippet about where the picture came from - a retro active blog snippet, if you will.

(I love "If you will" - rarely is there a perfect place for it in a sentence, but when there is, well, its like a good cream sauce on angel hair...)

So... picture of the day, above. I'm estimating a October 2004 date. I'm not off by more than a month in either direction.
location: the park in Oxford - i am forgetting the name of it - Not the park close to the library (which is avent park, right?), but the one off of Jackson avenue. There is a lake and it is dog walking heaven. And, if you are so inclined, a great place to meet single dog owners. (ha)
Paul went for a run while I read and occasionally took pictures of ada brooks lying on a quilt. My mother refers to this series of pictures as "The Cancer Baby Shoot" - because ada brooks was an unfortunately bald child during the 4-14 month phase of her life. And, in fairness to my mother, she did kind of look like a chemo patient. I love this picture of me because it looks like me - if that makes sense. I had on blue jeans and a long sleeved polo my mother wore in college and my glasses. (the pair of glasses i wore from age 15 through age 25 - new glasses last month...). I also love it because it is one of the first pictures I have that I know Paul took. He's a terrible photographer of people, generally, but he's my husband...so I like having a picture he took. Also, this one isn't bad. I also love it because Ada Brooks, Paul and I spent a lot of time at that park.



I feel like a double date may be the perfect social interaction. I just think a foursome is easy to deal with and lovely in most every way. You can hear everything being said at the table, but there is enough difference to make the table interesting. Not that a date with just my husband isn't interesting, but its just not the same kind of stimulating.

If its just the two of us, Paul and I either end up in a very, very nuanced conversation about some obscure issue, because even after only 3 1/2 years of marriage, we have pretty much nailed down all mainstream issues, and if a new issue comes up, the chances of me predicting exactly what he will say about it are about 87% i would say. Or we talk about our future dreams - you know, our craftsman architecture house with 12 foot ceilings and 8 inch heart pine plank floors. Or, worst of all, we end up doing 'business' - like making logistical plans - talking about when a good time to go to Sam's would be. (Or we people watch and speculate about their lives and usually mock, which isn't very sweet and we shouldn't do it....)

The big kids were in Hburg last night for the night with Paul's parents - and Paul and I had TWO double dates in one evening. (I should clarify that the couples on a double date are not restricted to romantic couples...)

First, we met the woodliff men - dan and max- for happy hour at sal and mookies. Where they have great beer, decent wine, and some fun cocktails (try the ginny hendricks - an awesome gin, lemon juice and sugar martini - very refreshing and a new take on gin). Their bar is called the Pi lounge and their happy hour starts at 3:14 pm and lasts for 3 hours and 14 minutes and you get 31.4% off of all drinks. Pretty clever, jeff good.

Then we met Calen and Will for supper at aladdin. I just love aladdin. Bring your own wine (I learned from our very amusing, expressive waiter last night that the reason Aladdin is BYOB is that a conservative Muslim family owns it and they don't want to fool with a liquor license out of moral concerns). After supper, we went back to the Brantleys for pie. Key Lime Pie. Paul's favorite. well, in his top three (my cherrie pie, most anyone's cheesecake being the other two).

My cheeks hurt from all the laughing and smiling we did on our double dates last night.

now off to kroger. on a saturday. i know, i swore, but i chose happy hour over kroger yesterday afternoon...