First in line

Last night, my friend Rasa and I went to see my favorite folk guitar artist ever.

Although he didn't sing to me specifically like he did last time, I did manage to strategize my way into his life. Via being first in a very long line at a post-show meet/greet. Embarrassing, I know.

And really, not for nothing. I somehow convinced the tour manager to give me his contact information. Next time they're in town, I have ins and welcome permission to drop off cupcakes. AND I got this great picture (and an autographed CD for C) out of it.

He's super talented. Beautiful lyrics. Amazing melodies. Quirky inspiration. I like him a lot. Go iTunes Joshua Radin. (Wow, I wasn't even paid to write this. Word-of-mouth marketing works when it's something this good.)

P.S. Thanks to new friend Jessica who saved the day by taking this picture for me (and actually followed through with sending it over) when my phone died. :)

Skunky

When I woke up this morning, I smelled skunk inside our house.

At first, I thought it was my breath. (I'm sick, so my morning breath is pretty ripe.)
Then I thought it was my hair. (I got it done yesterday, so I thought - maybe it's the chemicals.)
Then I thought it was C. So I pulled him close and took a big whiff. Nope.
Then I thought it was C's breath. "Did you brush your teeth this morning?" "Yes, Mom."

I couldn't figure out what it was, so I let it go, took C to preschool, and came home to print some stuff in the office.

Ew. Ew, ew, ew. It REEKS down there. We have a basement office that has a window that opens up to the underside of our deck. So yeah, I'm pretty sure there's something fishy going on down there. Or skunky.

I'll let D handle it when he gets home.

Inauguration Day

Today is January 20, 2009. It's my mom's birthday. (Happy birthday, Mom!)

It's also Barack Obama's inauguration day - the 44th President of the United States. D's company pretty much shut down this morning so they could have this huge inauguration party at his office. I'm watching this from home. C is at preschool, watching.

We have a relative and a few friends who are at the inauguration. A friend of mine actually got up at 3 this morning so he could drive to a satellite office (on the other side of the Potomac), park, and walk into DC. A five mile walk. Some people they know actually paid somewhere around $2,000 to be there today.

While I'm actually totally jealous that we're not there at this once-in-a-lifetime event, it's okay because I fully plan on having a run-in with the President sometime while he's visiting his hometown. And at least this way I don't have to share a port-a-potty with 299 other people.

Anyhow, here's to the next four years. (Oh, and for the record, I still am getting chills watching this. So it's almost like I'm there in 14 degree weather. Balmy.)

China Trip

So, D and I just got back from China and Hong Kong.

Here's a slideshow of some pictures.


Some noteworthy experiences...

Hong Kong:

• Seeing old friends and meeting their spouses/fiances/kids.
• Victoria Peak and Stanley. Seeing the richie rich of the Hong Kong elite and their seaside mansions.
  
• TST and the entire market scene. Haggling. Our Cantonese-speaking friend doing the wheeling and dealing for us.

Crossing the border:

• The Great and Spacious Building in Shenzhen. I thought we weren't ever going to make it out of there alive. But D got two suits for $200. What a deal!
• Having no clue whatsoever what we were doing once we got into China. What? Take a bus? Where? How far is it to the airport? An hour? And it only costs $3? or $30? or $300?

Shanghai:

• Seeing a million bikes in Shanghai. Literally. A million. And thus, the widest bike lanes we've ever seen in our lives.
  
• Trying to find church. "It's by a Starbucks," we tell the cabbie. He stares back and then spews out something in Chinese. D and I look at each other, then proceed to laugh and pray that we'll make it somewhere, anywhere, alive.
• A charter bus ride to nearby Suzhou. The driver decided that tailing new middle-class drivers and honking at them ferociously was appropriate. And passing on the right at what felt like 80 mph.
  
• Pointing. Charades. Gestures. "We want to go here. Do you speak English?" The reply: something in reallyreallyreallyfast Chinese.
• Seeing a million silkworms. And watching how silk is made. And being yelled at for taking a picture of it.
  
• Seeing pedicab pedalers hauling a family of four and all their luggage uphill to the bus station.
• Witnessing some of the most grave poverty we've ever seen. Chinese men selling towels and hair accessories outside of their shanties for pennies, hoping to earn a living.
• Shopping in Shanghai. Ribbons. Lace. Eyelets. Embellishment heaven! Fake purses. "Jade." Dollar stores that were really 2 RMB stores (about $0.30). Haggling. Walking away. Aggressive salespeople. Desperate for business.
• A cruise on the Huangpu River at dusk. There's a light show in Pudong. Kind of Disneyland-ish, but also, we couldn't believe how much building was going on over there. Insane.
• Taking the Maglev at 400km/hour from Shanghai to the airport. I think it took all of 10 minutes.

Beijing:

• The flight from Shanghai to Beijing, with a plane full of first-time Chinese fliers. Buckle seat belts, tray tables up, seats in the upright position? No way. Volume down when talking to your friend? No, just holler at them from across the entire airplane. "Ohhhhhhhh...." when the plane descends. And a burst of applause when the pilot successfuly lands. Once we're on the ground - no need to wait to taxi to the gate. Half the plane is up. Hilarious.
  
• Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City. Instructing cabbies strictly by pointing at pictures and grunting. Finding the best cab driver in the entire country of China - the death cabbie who took driving lessons from Jason Bourne.
• The Paralympics. Cheering on USA's Men's Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball team right when we needed a dose of good ol' America. Watching the USA beat those Aussies.
• Waiting for what felt like hours for a cab. And being bypassed for other Chinese people. Because, well, that's how it is.
• Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Finding Five Star bathroom facilities, and discovering those that were NOT. Ewwww.
  
• Getting an hour long massage by blind Chinese men in a pharmacy at 11 p.m. for $8.00, following dinner at what is possibly the biggest mall in the world.

Xian:

• Randomly happening upon the coolest street market in the world in Xian. Tons of food. Tons of knockoffs. Tons of handcrafted goodies. Nuts. Pomegranates. Sweets. Muslim Chinese women. A mosque in China.
• Getting my toenail almost ripped off by a mad dash of people in a bus. Hint: never wear flip flops in China. Ever. And ride the bus for experience only. Otherwise, you won't get a seat. There are just too many people.
• Stepping into a puddle of fish guts, loogies, and who-knows-what-else. In flip flops. See hint above.
  
• D getting beaten up by a local Chinese woman for refusing to pay for a picture that wasn't theirs to collect money for to begin with. At first, "10 RMB! You have to pay 10 RMB!" D: "No. We're walking away." "Fine, 2 RMB! Give me 2!" "No!" {whack. kick. punch. D and I running for our lives.}
• Terracotta Soldiers. Just, wow.
• Sesame buns for $0.25. Pork dumplings for $2.00. Some sort of bland, nasty bread for $0.10. You get what you pay for.

The trip home:

• Reading. Finishing entire books on the 17 hour journey back.
• Coming home to a happy and excited son who was even more thrilled to get a space shuttle for being a good boy while mom and dad were away.
• Getting sick 24 hours upon returning, and having a husband drive me to the ER at 10 at night for fear that I had contracted Bird Flu, SARS, parasites, or malaria. The diagnosis? E, none of the above.
  

What an experience! And we're so glad to be home. Thanks to all who made this a ridiculously fun, once-in-a-lifetime adventure for us.