Athene Numphe

A week ago today my mom and sister came into town.

Friday during the day I showed mom how to make cake pops (or how to start them at least), we started making food for Seder, I took a half day at work, and mom and I went shopping for stuff for the cake pops. The problem with cake pops is that you need to create a display for them. So we went to Hobby Lobby and got some floral foam and some fake moss so we could make a "nest" for the dinosaur egg cake pops.

Friday night some friends came over and we had Passover Seder. It was very nice to have Seder with my family and friends, even if the evening was a touch more irreverent that I would have liked. We got to eat at the table (if you don't know the store of the table, ask lordaerith about it some time. I even had a touch of wine for each of the glasses of wine one must drink (and I buy the GOOD Kosher wine).

Saturday was get up and finish the cake pops with mom. Then finish cleaning the house (aka stuff things that shouldn't be out in rooms that will be closed off) while queencimmy, Byskwik, and mom got the last of the party things (including decorations).

Our baby shower was fantastic. You can read all about it and see tons of pictures from it on my pregnancy blog.

After the shower, mom, Cimmy, and I watched the last episode of Treme Season 1. We all got a bit emotional. Big surprise.

Then all four of us went out to a birthday party for some friends, but we didn't stay too long.

Sunday mom and I got up early and had a really wonderful talk. Then she and Cimmy had to leave and Aerith and I collapsed into exhaustion.

Yesterday I did my first full laundry load of baby clothing. So much and yet it all fit easily into the washer and dryer.

How do I describe this feeling? I'm still in shock(ey). Part of me doesn't believe that it happened. Part of me thinks that I'm dreaming. The New Orleans Saints WON the Mother Fucking Super Bowl. It was the first time they ever made it to the Super Bowl in the 43 years of them being a team. And they won. Their Super Bowl record is 1 for 1!!!!

Started out the day going to the first Mardi Gras parade I've been to since high school. Yelling "Who Dat" got you more throws than yelling "Throw me something."

Came home and my sister and her friends were painting themselves in liquid latex to make it look like they had on Saints jerseys. They looked fantastic and when they were done, they headed out to the Quarter for the game. I'm sure there'll be lots of pictures of them online somewhere.

Then mom and I worked together to decorate a New Orleans Saints Drew Brees cake. (Not the best picture, as I took it with my phone)

Let me explain. For years mom has made a cake in this football player shaped cake pan and decorated it to be a member of one of the teams in the Super Bowl. She's only decorated it in the losing team's colors once. She's never done a New Orleans Saints one before because they've never been to the Super Bowl before. So here we are trading off decorating the Saints cake (the advantage of having two bakers is that when one needs to take a break, the other one can step it) and it hits us. We're actually making a Saints cake because they're in the Super Bowl. It hit me when I was filling in the fleur-des-lis on his arm. The symbol of the Saints. The symbol of New Orleans. The symbol of my city. I almost cried. Mom almost cried. It was nuts.

Then we went to a Super Bowl party at mom's friend's private club and watched the game via projector on a wall. The experience itself was amazing. There was a ton of really good food :). Someone brought a Saints prayer candle, which had a picture of a Saints player on one side and a prayer for the Saints on the other. We lit the candle and I read the prayer out loud. Then we watched the game. I remember being nervous. I remember screaming and yelling. I remember Hartley making those beautiful beautiful field goals. The prayer candle went out twice and there was a rush to relight it both times. So then I started pouring out the wax every once in while. I ended up with a ball of wax that I was nervously mushing around and playing with. I remember the insanity of the onsides kick to start the second half and the way we screamed and yelled when it went to us. I remember mom yelling "Tracy Porter interception to a touchdown! Tracy Porter interception to a touchdown" and then it happened and somehow I was perched in the chair I was sitting in just moments before. And then there was less than 2 minutes left and the Colts had the ball near their own goal and we HELD them. We HELD them and then it was our ball and there was only 40 second left. WE HAD WON. I was in shock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I thought I'd be crying, but it was just so overwhelming and insane. Then we were all screaming and yelling and dancing to the songs. Watching the Saints get the trophy was surreal.

After the Saints got the trophy, I got a ride towards the Quarter with some of the people who were at the party. We ended up picking up their friends who lived near St. Charles. We drove St. Charles down to the Quarter. It seemed like the whole city was heading that way. People were walking down the neutral ground, not waiting for the street car. People were honking their horns. People were standing on the side of the street with their hands out and we'd roll down our windows, scream "Who Dat", and give them high fives. The closer we got to the Quarter, the more insane it got. Finally were were on Loyola and the traffic was barely moving but it didn't matter. People were hanging out of their cars with umbrellas. People were chanting "Who Dat." People were screaming and yelling and just generally so excited. The people I was with decided that it would be insane to try to go any further in, so we parked at the Holiday Inn on Loyola downtown of Poydras and walked into the Quarter. As we walked we chanted and screamed and high fived and hugged everyone else. It was crazy. When we got to Canal, we saw that the French Quarter side of it had been closed off, just like they do for Mardi Gras. Part way down we stopped and watched a Second Line go by. If I wasn't trying to meet up with my sister at that point, I probably would have joined them. We headed into the Quarter by way of Dauphine. There were people everywhere. Everyone was cheering and screaming and high fiving. People had out drums and were pounding out beats. We started to head down towards Bourbon. Bourbon was packed wall to wall. So I said good-bye to the people I was with, grabbed my purse and scarf tightly and pushed into the crowd to try and cross the street. I almost got pressed against a barrier by a cop on horseback. I was almost in the way of a fire truck that was trying to move down the street. It was insanely hard to press through the crowd (especially since I wasn't really going with most of the flow), but eventually I did it. Upside to that many people, I was nice and warm while in that press of bodies. Went down to Royal and walked it instead. Still a large number of people all celebrating, but so much easier to move through than Bourbon. Skipped over to Charters and walked by St. Louis Cathedral. I could smell the beignetts from Cafe du Monde. Charters was more empty than the other two streets, but there were still people chanting and hugging and high fiving there too.

Hit lower Decatur at Ursulines where I found another party going on. A true locals party. Found my sister at her local bar, dancing on a chair. Tweeted and my phone died. Hugged a whole bunch of people that I knew. Danced a bunch. Reveled in the realizations that "holy crap, we'd won the Super Bowl." Yelled "Who Dat" a ton, both inside and outside of the bar. Ate the best tasting pizza in the wold. Finally left the bar sometime after midnight to go home with my sister. On our way to the car, we started singing the Get Crunk song and a guy walking around with a drum picked up the beat and walked with us a bit. Got home and pretty much fell over.

I almost didn't come into New Orleans. But I'm so glad I did. I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else than were I was when the Saints came marching in.

PS. The Google ad was my favorite Super Bowl ad. It was the only one I can really remember.

I made this cake for gailmom's Halloween party last weekend. It was a big hit with the kids and the adults.

This weekend gailmom came to visit. She showed up right when I was getting home from work on Friday. We chilled at home and then lordaerith made grilled pork chops, rice pilaf, and steamed green beans for dinner. That night we went out to a benefit show for one of our friends, which was a lot of fun. Got to see the Lizardman perform. He was really funny.

Yesterday we brought the car to Groovy Lube for an oil change. They were really fast. Then we went to pick up the art pieces that Gail won at the benefit. While we were down south we headed to the mall so I could get soap from The Body Shop (I was out) and picked up a few other things. Then we went to Boomerangs for lunch. Mmmm...meat pie! And now we have frozen pies in our freezer!

After all that, we came home, crazed, and ran a low level instance on WoW. It was nice to have all of us in one room instead of working it all out over headset. Then we headed out a party at a friend's house. We were there until past 2am!

This morning (well, almost noon) Aerith made us bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast (brunch?). Then Gail had to leave (sadness). Tonight, the Tony's hosted by NPH!

Last weekend I went to a crawfish boil at a friend's house. Next week I'm going to be in New Orleans so I get to have more crawfish. Yay!

Tuesday of last week I made both tzimmis (in the crock pot) and my first attempt at a raspberry-blackberry (aka razzleberry) pie. The pie was a little more liquidy than i wanted. I need to remember to clean the berries and let them dry before mixing them with the sugar.

Tuesday night I hung out with one group of friends and then went out to Karaoke, which was awesome because I hadn't been in ages. I missed it, even if it has changed somewhat since I started going.

Yesterday gailmom came for a visit which was awesome cause I missed her very much and it was great to see her. We hung out and went to Phil's Icehouse for burgers and watched Tank Girl. Then we got all pretty and went to a party which was good. Had some good talks with old friends and made some new ones.

Today we got up late and I wanted to make waffles, but there wasn't any milk so I ran to the store while gailmom and lordaerith cleaned up the kitchen. I came home and made the waffle batter and put the first batch in the waffle iron and then realized that I forgot to use the non-stick spray. The waffles stuck to the top and bottom and the top of the waffle iron kept threatening to fall backwards. Cue total breakdown from me due to not having eaten yet (ah, blood-sugar issues). But Gail and Aerith were awesome and cleaned it up and fed me. So the first set of waffles were more like waffle crumble, which we just dipped in the maple syrup and was pretty awesome anyway. The rest of the waffles came out just fine (even if the waffle maker still tries to open too far). Eventually Gail had to go home and Aerith and I played WoW and had more of the leftover tzimmis and watched last week's Dollhouse (which was awesome) and Heroes (which was really slow, but had a very interesting ending).

During the second weekend in October (10-12), I attended the 2008 Browncoat Ball, hosted by the Austin Browncoats.

Friday night I showed up in a take on River from Safe outfit. I got to hang out with lots of cool people and make new friends (some of whom I'd actually met before, but didn't realize it). Hung out by the merch booth and took part in some of the general sillyness. There was food and crafts in the reception room and Ammy from SF taught us some folk dancing for the ball the next night. Dancing in combat boots is not the easiest thing in the world. I think my favorite part of the dancing was when we were learning a traveling dance that included dancing with everyone and my partner (who was one of the people helping Ammy teach) said to me, "This isn't a very monogamous dance." To which I responded, "That's okay, I'm not a very monogamous person."

After it was over, oracle_tx and apryl_knight were kind enough to give me a ride home via Kerby Lane Cafe. They had a really awesome sounding meatloaf on the menu, but they were out of it by the time we got there.

( Pictures from Friday night )

On Saturday, emeraldliz and DCS picked me up bright and early for a day of fun sessions. The first session I went to was about video editing. I think that it went over the head of a lot of the audience. The second one I did was learning Mahjong.

After the second session, it was lunch break. Liz, DCS, and I ended up taking Ammy out to Threadgills for a true Southern lunch. After that there was some time to kill before the next session, so I crashed in Inara's Shuttle (aka the hospitality suite) for a while. Ended up in a cuddle pile watching Shindig.

My last session was Bellydancing, taught by apryl_knight. It was a lot of fun and a really good workout. We even learned a simple routine to perform at the Ball that night (which I ended up not performing due to wearing a corset-type top). After the session, we headed home to get ready for the Ball that night.

lordaerith and I decided to wear our wedding outfits to the Ball. It took us a while to get ready, but it was totally worth it. We got there near the end of the cocktail hour and got to chat with a bunch of lovely people, including zyrain, who had told me that he was coming to the BCB, but I was worried that he'd forgotten about it because I hadn't seen him all day.

The Ball itself was a ton of fun. Everyone got announced in. There was a string quartette during dinner. Dinner was quite good. We sat with emeraldliz, DCS, and a bunch of Austin Browncoats.

After dinner, the bellydancing class did their routine. Then there was dancing, including some of the folk dances from the day before, and talking and performances from the Brobdingnagian Bards and the Bedlam Bards. There was also a raffle and prizes for various things. zyrain ended up winning best male dancer.

( Pictures from the Ball )

On Sunday, Zee and Adam were kind enough to drive me to brunch. Mmm...brunch. Ended up leaving a little earlier than planned with oracle_tx in order to drop off a friend from LA at the ER to get her arm checked out (she had injured it at the Ball and it was swelling) before her flight later that day. I'm still not sure what became of that.

Came home and crashed for a little while.

More pictures from the BCB 2008 can be found at:
Sky Pirate
Robyn's Roost
Flickr Group

crabes and I should probably never be left alone together...especially with a computer that has a camera on it. Click the picture for more silliness.



Yesterday lordaerith and I went to the Edible Book Festival. My entry was the Cakeonomicon, which I made out of golden cake, vanilla cupcakes, butter cream icing, gel icing, and a pineapple slice. lordaerith helped me cut up the cupcakes and place them on the cake.



The festival went really really well. I didn't win anything *sad* but the ballot counters told me afterwards that I had quite a few votes for Tastiest and some for Wittiest. :)

One of the best entries was the League of Extraordinary Gingerbread Men. It won both Best Book Construction and Best in Show.



After the judging was over we got to eat some of the entries. Yum. I saved most of mine and brought it to FireCat and Silver's party that night, but there's still some left over. Had a good time at the party, but left early-ish due to sleepiness and large amounts of homework.

Talking about homework, I am totally overwhelmed right now. I don't think I'll be sleeping much in the next few weeks.

Went to NYE party at noeticist and seripis house. I baked two cakes for the occasion, a golden Dragon cake and a chocolate Castle cake.





The party was a lot of fun and the cakes went over really well.

The next day we went back to the house and played Rock Band.

Since NYE I've mostly been hanging around the house getting house work done and dealing with the Washer Saga™. Got the oil changed on the Camry on Thurs. Realized when I got home that they put in regular oil instead of the synthetic, even though I'd asked for the synthetic. Called them up (as they were about to close) and they said I could bring it back on Friday and they'd fix it. I brought it back after lordaerith got home from work and they put in the right oil and gave it a car wash for free. :)

Today I'm hoping to go see Enchanted. It's such a nice day out too. In the mid-70s.

Hey Austin Peoples,

It's my Golden Birthday on Friday. That's right, I'm turning 28 on the 28th!

We're going to celebrate at Blazer Tag. I've reseved 3 games with 20 people per game max (if there is more, it's fine, but there's no guarantee of space past 20). Check in time is at 8pm (please be prompt), and the games are at 8:20, 9:00, and 9:40. Games last about 20 minutes. If we end up not playing the last game, that's cool.

Each game costs $6. We have to pay as a group, so please bring cash for each game you intent to play.

Go to http://www.blazertag.com/ for more information about Blazer Tag.

If you want to carpool down, we can all meet at my place (email if you need directions) around 7. We'll be leaving no later than 7:30 to head down there.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Wow, it's been a couple of crazy busy days for us.

On Thursday we went to Shinma's birthday party at Elysium. There were lots of cool people there, and I really started to feel like "part of the group." Had a good time talking with people and being at the club. Unfortunately they played mostly electronic/techno stuff, even though Allycat and I went up to the DJ booth and requested "swirly gothy stuff."

On Friday there was an "Art Party" at Allycat's place. We got there a little late (due to me taking a 3 hour nap upon getting home), but still got to hang out with people. Played some Bust-A-Movie and Guitar Hero. Talked about also sorts of various things. Felt really good. Like we were finally part of a group. And it's a group that likes us, understands our references, and basically talks the same language as we do.

Yesterday lordaerith stayed home, but I went to AC&B J's place for bbq and swimming with peoples. Just hanging out with people was lots of fun. The bbq was good. I traded some of my two zucchinis for parts of other people's steaks, which worked out really well. Once they convinced me to get in the water, we had a lot of silly fun. After swimming there was pie (mmm...pie), and hanging out at the apartment and then ACJ decided to put on Clueless. The two of us proceeded to quote the whole thing...hehehe.

There was talk of going to a movie or hanging out at drackyyn's place...but I may just stay home.

Tomorrow is lordaerith and my two year. If the weather's good, we're hoping to go to Schlitterbahn to celebrate.