happy days

our 4th of july started too early for our own good; people were allowed to set up shop in front of our house beginning at 5am. 5am! ridiculous. we finally pulled ourselves out of bed around 7:15a. olea and adam rang, said they were circling the block for a place to park. rachelle and ashley popped by a little after that, bearing patriotic treats from the bakery. as mor says, "nothing says 'i love america' like red, white and blue iced sugar cookies." the singers weren't far behind, taking the majority of their 5min drive over in search of, you guessed it, a place to park. we brought the dining room chairs out to the porch and began enjoying the festivities and treats. chocolate chip pancakes, sausage and bacon, quiche a la debbie and dave (the neighbors downstairs), lots of sugary juice, strawberries, piña coladas of the virgin persuasion, puppy chow/monkey munch/muddy buddies. in the words of rachael ray, "yumO!" we indulged our sweet tooth and ooh-ed and aah-ed at all the spectacular floats and mini horses and star wars characters. i mean really, what 4th of july parade is complete without mini horses and luke skywalker? exactly. my favorite parts of the parade were the balloons: curious george who was curiously missing his pantaloons, underdog who was resplendent with his unmistakable U ring and babar who...well...um...not sure what french babar was doing in our american parade. anyone? no? no one? moving on then...we retired inside after the parade to watch some "conchords" with the mills and singers. always a good time with jemaine and brett. then mor and i took in a show, "kung fu panda," and just chillaxed at home with the swamp on full-blast.
saturday brought us pm singer's 25th birthday, dinner at happy sumo, a show by monkey grinder and two new radical recliners. la-z-boys to be precise. i haggled duane down from $300 apiece to $480 for two. yeah, i'm that good. actually i just had mor bat his pretty lashes and duane was a goner. as were the ladies at the cashiers' desk. they couldn't get enough of them; it's so unfair that the boys always get the eyelashes, make sure when we procreate that our girls get my eyes with mor's lashes (because we have control over that, of course), does mor have trouble finding sunglasses yadda yadda yadda. by the time we were able to walk away from the cashier ladies, we were starving. haggling (moi) and accepting compliments (mor) has a way of working up appetites. phil and jen helped us home with our new purchases and then on we went to happy sumo. i told mor as we were leaving i felt like we should be getting a happy ending massage with all the dim lights and dark sheer curtains at each booth and scantily clad waitresses. we perused borders for a few before returning a la nuestro casa. we got back just in time to meet rich wood and venture down to the freedom festival for monkey grinder. visit them here.

the new setup. on the right side of the front door. they will be moved during football season. we will not be having people over from august-february. unless they don't mind copping a squat on the floor.

no, that is not a trashbag hanging on the front door. okay. maybe it is.

not flattering mugshots. the only person i know as hairy as mor is richard. no wonder they're such good friends. they can give each other chest shaving hints and how-tos.

the singers and yours truly. let me catch the flash for you two. there we go.
and i cannot possibly forget to mention...