Dogs Like New Years, too.

Perhaps you are tired of me posting pictures of my dog but he's just so darn cute (sans cone) I can't help myself! New Year's Eve he was in rare form so we snapped a few photos adding even more adorableness to the Tal family photo album. Ch-check it out.

We decided to take a little stroll NYE day at Sweetwater Creek. I had heard from a co-worker that it's beautiful and a great place for a leisurely hike. Here's Tal in action.
And here is the beautiful "creek". Still in a massive drought, maybe yes? Yeesh. I feel like we should have been in a protective radioactive suit or something.


At night we headed over to the Hannah's to hang with the god-child, among other coolish people we know. You can't tell so much from this photo but Tal is actually about a foot or two off the ground. He climbed onto about a 6 inch wide ledge and sat there staring at us all night. If he could talk he was saying "Um, guys....can you please let me inside? It's a little chilly out here. Besides, I'm totally the life of the party..."


He begged us to wear a Happy New Year party hat so, being the good, loving parents that we are, we obliged. He loved every second of it.


And, done. I promise. No more Tal. He's really not THAT cute anyway, right? I promise, no more. Really. Except this one....

Yeah!!!!

OK, now done. For real.

Hope Floats

For those of us that need a little positivity in our lives and assurance that others out there have great hopes for each of us...head on over to Tammy O.'s newest blogging endeavor: fresh hope for 2008. Basically she is collecting wishes from all over the world for 2008 and posting one wish each day. So far, they've ranged from:

"I hope that our presidential election runs smoothly, follows the rule of law without significant controversy, and results in a president that a clear majority of the nation endorses."

to:

"I hope everyone I know has way more sex in 2008. Okay, I’m mostly talking about me. But I figure all boats rise with the tide."

All wishes are welcome. She has collected 63 wishes so far, only 302 to go! I just sent her two this morning so it's not too late to get yours in. I have linked her page over on the right so check it out. I promise looking at it each morning is a great way to start your day!

Save Scrabulous!

Oh no! I just read this! I see their point I guess but dang!

High-Tech Granny: Momma Dot Does Facebook

I hate to disappoint all you suckers that think your grandmothers are pretty cool and hip with the times. I'm pretty sure my grandmother takes the cake. She has always been fairly "with it" I guess, always watching the cool tv shows, playing Nintendo with us when we were little (and wii bowling over new year's....she totally kicked ass!), getting a Myspace page last year, checking my blog, etc (yea, I'm totally sucking up right now hoping she's adding my name to more stuff at her house - i kid!!). Her newest online adventure is Facebook where she and I stay in touch via Scrabulous. My sis and I showed her how to add it to her page and the three of us have been playing ever since. As we speak, Momma Dot and I are in a head-to-head match-up that, until recently, was very close. I whizzed past her a couple days ago with the most inappropriate 27 point word you should ever use when playing Scrabulous with your grandmother but, hey, I'm not ashamed to say I'm competitive and have no problem kicking some granny butt. Believe me, she has killed me countless times in our years and years of fierce Monte Carlo and Russian Bank tourneys. She beat me twice over Christmas!

So, the word? L-A-B-I-A. 27 points.

As of today, the score is: Momma Dot 132, Cami 165.

SNOW!

Lo and behold, it does snow in Atlanta! Yipee is all I have to say. This is the first time it has snowed in Atlanta since we moved back from Denver almost three years ago...I can't believe it has been that long. You'd think I would have gotten all the snow out of my system dealing with the Colorado winters but I'm just as giddy right this second as I was on the rare occasion it snowed here when I was little. I'm a big fat ball of excitement waiting to see if the roads freeze over so maybe we won't be able to get to work tomorrow. THAT is what is fun about snow in Atlanta. Of the three years we were in Denver there was only one time work closed down due to snow and that was because it snowed about 4 feet and my snow angel looked like this...

Needless to say, Atlanta doesn't tend to have huge stores of mag-chloride on hand making a morning commute bearable...in fact, I don't think we have much of anything on hand to deal with icy roads. People make fun of the way we southerners react to snow and ice but the truth of the matter is we don't have the resources to deal with the roads and none of us have any business trying to navigate snow and ice, trust me. Just like I had no business driving my Hotlanta butt around Denver on snowy roads. They really should make southerners that transplant to snowy locales take some type of winter driving course before they are allowed on the roads. I still remember the countless terrifying drives to work where I would white-knuckle the steering wheel, close my eyes & say a prayer then see my life flash before my eyes when I had to make a lane change. I still say that is hands down the scariest part of driving in snow....having to cross over that treacherous no-mans-land between the nice, wet tire tracks in each lane. It gives me the willies just thinking about it.

Here are some pictures of Atlanta snow from my front porch. I hope we can all be kids again for a minute or two...how many flakes can you catch on your tongue? How many snowballs can you throw at your dogs face before he realizes he can try and dodge or eat them? SNOW!!!!

"This is for my pal Cleetus"

clee-tus [clee-tuh s]
-noun
1. Another word for a redneck or hick. Derived from the popular TV series The Simpsons, a cleetus or cleet is a country bumpkin who is below average intelligence. Can be recognized wearing armless t-shirts and possibly sporting a mullet.
Put your top back on, you look like a right cleet.

2. Slang term for Britney Spears' ex-husband, Kevin Federline.
"I heard Britney was divorcing Cleetus!"

Source: urbandictionary.com

Last night I went to my first ever Rockabilly show. It was a bit of an accident, I suppose. We were meeting my bro-in-law for a few farewell drinks before he heads down to the sea breezes and salty air of Daytona Beach where, Lord willing, he can start a new, healthy life for himself. Unbeknown to the group, the chosen bar happened to be showcasing a delightfully fun rockabilly band called the Blacktop Rockets. Unfortunately we had just missed the Psycho Devilles and the Twistin' Tarantulas. Charles hated every second of it so, sadly, we didn't get to stay too long but I was there long enough to absorb the scene so next time I will show up prepared.

Checklist before heading out to the next rockabilly show sans husband:
* plenty of cash for plenty of pbr...i guess that should always be the case no matter where i'm headed but i figure i better go ahead and get it down so i don't forget
* brush up on my knowledge of roy orbison songs
* wear chaps
* if my chaps happen to be at the cleaners, wear plaid snap-button shirt
* if my chaps happen to be at the cleaners & my plaid shirts are all dirty (maybe from too much spooge cake at new year's?), a good pair of fishnets will work just fine
* trim bangs so they hang approximately a half an inch below my hairline
* show up with a guy either sporting a fierce, eye-gouging mohawk OR a snazzy fedora
* figure out which move in my extensive arsenal of kickass dance moves goes best with "Awop-bop-a-loo-mop"
* do one of the following to my hair: bleach it, dye it black, dye it red....the jennifer aniston dark blond/light brown shade i'm currently sporting won't quite pull off the look
* perfect my speed bopping technique
* liberally tattoo arms, neck, legs

I was genuinely enjoying myself and a little bummed we left so soon. Fantastic people-watching, good music you can't help but bounce along with....what's not to love? I'm still trying to decide if last night was better than the surreal night we spent at Trader Vic's tiki bar watching a tiki band play as a bikini-clad chick with a monkey mask danced around provocatively/primate-ively while shoving bananas down her throat. Hmmm.