How many lunatics live in my complex?

This many. This many lunatics.

BP8IENT

About 16% of license plates in Virginia carry a personalized message. Personalized plates are inexpensive here, and perhaps we who live in the area around DC also like to express ourselves just a bit too much. Whatever the reason, it makes for interesting reading while sitting in traffic -- another trait for which we are known.

I've always been a fan of personalized plates. When I lived in Michigan, I got a plate that told people behind me to "BP8IENT" when my 1998 Chevy Tracker didn't scoot away as fast as they might like. I kept the plate when I got a car with a bit more pep. Here's a photo of my Matrix parked next to a car with a contradictory message:

BP8IENT vs. IMP8NT (pardon the lights, I know it's a bad picture!)

When I moved to Virginia I got the same license plate.

Don't make me come over there.

I often spot my vanity plate nemesis driving on VA-28 when I'm on my way to work. 

MP8IENT

NOTE: Safe driving is a full-time job. Since this was taken on 28 during rush hour, neither of us were doing much driving.

Zellie loves to sew.

Altering my pants, in February.

Hemming Rob's pants, in March.

Actually, she just loves to get in the way of sewing.

Zellie's mad at us.

What cat wouldn't bask in the warmth of a stereo receiver? We even provided her a glass shelf to recline upon, so she wouldn't get fur in the receiver.

That all changed last weekend, when Rob hung our TV on the wall and mounted the electronicles next to it. No more kitty warming shelf!

Now Miss Girl must resort to lounging on sunny window sills, as Ceiling Cat intended.

Despite an abundance of sun, I still think she's mad at us for taking away her artificial warm spot -- especially during air-conditioning season.

Unemployment Towels

Not long after my last day at work, I started planning this set of towels. They're the most complicated project I've woven yet! The pattern was in an old issue of Weaver's Craft magazine (Issue 19, 2006), and it's called "Crocus in Snow". The original pattern was blue instead of pink. I have no idea whether pink croci exist, or whether they'd pop up out of the snow. But I like the pink; it's cheerful. Do petunias like snow? Probably not.

Yesterday afternoon I had a job interview, so while I was waiting for 1 pm to arrive I sat down at the loom, finished the last few pattern repeats, and cut the towel fabric loose from the loom!

I have now finished my unemployment towels, so I suppose that means I am ready to go back to work.

They started as a warp, or 423 pieces of cotton yarn that will run the length of all four towels.

Up close, the pattern doesn't look like much.

From a distance, the pattern appears: pink circles with yellow centers! Like magic!

Four neatly folded towels, resting on the loom that created them.

Two years and counting

Two years and two days ago, Rob and I both reluctantly (and separately) decided to go to a July 4th singles party sponsored by a couple of local singles groups. There were about 40 people there. I had already bought my ticket but didn't want to go. I told myself that I had to at least go, and I could always leave if it wasn't any fun. Rob went to the party but tells me he was talking to another woman on the phone while he was there. Sigh.

Out first meal together (I'm in the purple t-shirt and Rob's shirt matches the table). I think we were talking about where we were from, and how much we liked the Midwest.

Rob is armed with a water balloon and he looks like he's about to use it. 

After the picnic we went to watch fireworks. He has his left arm around another woman who was following him around all night. She even invited him to sit on her blanket to watch the fireworks. Ugh! I guess we all know how that story ended...

We went to the bar after fireworks, and shared our first nachos and beer.  I remember him showing me all of the photos he had on his iPhone.

Two years later, here we are! I have a much better haircut now. Rob looks pretty much the same. :-) To celebrate, we went out for a delectable lunch at Il Fornaio in Reston, which had a surprisingly good variety of vegetarian options. We are both very lucky to have found each other.