Fabuloso!

I had noticed a new (independent!) coffee shop opening at this Brookside area a while ago and we tried it last night. It's so cool - it's like a clean but just as campy verson of Someday cafe - painted wood paneling on the walls and local artists work hanging (and for sale)... cups and saucers are all made by a potter down the street... place is called Shades of Brown (which Brendan has taken to calling Shades of Crap - he really hates coffee).. anyway, they have a room at the back with a huge table so the four of us went there and worked away. No starbucks evilness of Borders weirdness... it was really cool. I think they actually have music performances on Fri, Sat nights - oh! and they have WiFi! (Borders has it but it is $30 / month... this seems to be free ?! Hopefully, that's our new place.

Go Ropin'

Not much to report from here aside from the fact that I cleaned like crazy yesterday which was very gratifying. Saturday, we headed to this town - suburb of Tulsa really - that is known to have a "quaint downtown"... it was hilarious from the New England perspective because it was new-ish and had several antique stores, but not too much to write home about. Further down the street there was a large store called the "Trading Post" that had 6'x6' booths of stuff for sale - people would rent out these little booths to sell their junk... kind of like going to 200 garage sales all at once. Some of the stuff was really awful. Kinda neat to just poke around.

Went to a housewarming party on Friday night... Matt and his wife Annie... horrified (but expected) to see a Bush-Cheney sign on their front lawn. Someone, I'm not kidding here, pulled out a rope... to go roping... i.e., a rodeo rope, cowboy style. Sadly, really, I'm not kidding. What kind of alternate universe are we living in?

Finally, the interview

I just got the mail and there's a letter for a green card interview (which will be videotaped, apparently)... it is for October 13th (the morning after I get back from MA, thankfully!). Apparently, I shouldn't have surrendered my original I-94 to the OK city office when they gave me my EAD (!) - I'm supposed to bring it to the interview. And, argh, they want letters of employment showing rate of pay and hours worked... not a problem for me, but they're not supposed to count me/my income, just Brendan's... I better bring proof of all our assets and apparently, "evidence of a common residence and shared life (including photos)".

We should have one of those types of parties...

Tonight we're going to a house party for some friends that just bought a house... Matt and his wife Annie. Brendan helped them move in last month that weekend I was in Boston. He described as "one of those disaster moves" that took 8+hours... Anyway, they're having a "stock our bar" housewarming party tonight. Brendan needs to work the rest of the weekend since he's trying to propose his dissertation (i.e., finish writing his proposal and propose it to his committee) before Nov 1st and apply for internship, etc. etc. I'm not planning anything really - there's lot of stuff on my to do list to take care of, so errands, cleaning, finishing the last of the wedding thank yous (which I put down for a couple of weeks to finish the sweater).

Designed and Knit and finally finished...

I finished!

I designed this pattern last winter especially for Brendan to come up with his own family "Fisherman Knit Sweater"... I finished the knitting this week in the 88 deg weather, just in time for .... well, "fall". In any case, here it is:

Weekend Wedding on Lon Gisland

After 2.5 exhausting weeks, we're back at home in Tulsa. We had a great time visiting while in MA (and RI and NY), but it took its toll. Last Saturday, I started feeling ill on the drive down to NYC. Once we got into Brooklyn, I was feeling kind of queasy and dizzy and bloated with swollen glands. Anyway, by Sunday I had alternating fever and chills, dizzyness and burning in my stomach. Ugh. I sent Brendan off to do Best Man stuff and I went to check into our little hotel and sweat out the fever. I felt a bit better after a few more hours of sleep and perked up for the wedding. Brendan's friend Paul (one of the groomsmen at our wedding) was the one getting married - his fiance/now wife is from long island.... so this was definitely the fanciest wedding I've been to - valet parking, white-gloved service at every turn, women in full-length formal dresses, several hors d'oeuvres stations in a crystal chandeliered, two story high room (wedding was at Bethpage Golf Club - where the 2002 and 2009 US Open for Golf was and will be, so previous hosts to Tiger Woods). Insanity. The dessert wasn't just dessert or one dessert table, but about six dessert tables, each staffed with someone making something for you - a guy with a waffle maker, fruit, syrup, and ice cream, a guy at an ice cream sundae bar, a 2 foot high chocolate fountain, a creperie... and so on. Live band... troupe of irish dancers performing during the first course (bride is sicilian-american, but brendan's buddy the groom, of course, is irish). La la...

After getting back yesterday morning, I slept most of the afternoon and then from 7pm till 8 am this morning. Tonsils briefly had white spots on Monday and those seem to be gone now, but still thinking I'll go to the doctor. I'm just now starting to eat (yes, I passed up that wonderful dessert oasis - ha ha, get it - at the wedding) and still feel like I have a bullfrog in my throat.

Oh, I went in for my fingerprinting today - with real ink and everything - at the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office. Apparently, I just made it under the line - next month, all fingerprinting will be done in Oklahoma City, so that save us three hours of driving. I guess the fbi now takes about 4-6 weeks to check me out before they give ins the okay. I was simply amazed that I missed my scheduled appt (which was going to happen 8/27, while I was in Boston) and I went in today instead and was done in about 20 minutes. :-) The guy had to make a note that I had a severed finger so that the fbi wouldn't think it was just a bad print and would need to be redone. la la...

Weather is like summer here which is nice - I can definitely handle another month or two of this. I'm really looking forward to kicking back this weekend, maybe going to the Tulsa Rose Garden and Horticultural Centre for the Iris Sale (saw a sign this morning) and cleaning/organizing the house, finishing the few straggler wedding thank yous...