Dang. I had heard of Cheerwine, a regional soda (North Carolina). Saw some while refueling in southern Virginia and had to try it. It's freaking incredible. It's like a good fountain Cherry Coke with that punch of extra syrup without being too sweet. I'm a new fan.

Mosby, specifically. He has an upper respiratory infection, so he's got the throne of the caravan, in my back seat. The other 28 are in the cargo van... the more feral of the 60 Feral Cats of Oakton. The ones that didn't get caught the first go round. 7 hours so far, and I've only suffered one bite, when somebody decided to remind me she was wild. Now, the easy part. Driving and depositing them at their new spacious home, where 30 of their other friends are already settling in.

Mom and I ate lunch today at this great new place in Fairfax City called First Watch. It's open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tres good.

The best friend and I were just discussing juniper not an hour before this little guy showed up at ThinkGeek from one of our rockin' screenprinters. As Holly pointed out, bonsai junipers must be where those little mini bottles of gin come from.

Somebody's a little upset that I'm spending valuable petting time outside raking instead. But while I was raking I realized two things: 1) I am not cut out for manual labor, and 2) I've never lived in a house with a yard larger than around 30 square feet. I was trying to figure out how to get wet leaves to release their stranglehold on the pavement and then how to get them into a bag effectively when I realized these are probably skills most folks pick up when they're young. But aside from a stint in Navy housing before I was in school and a half a year or so during the Master's, I haven't ever lived a serious yard. Which almost excuses my cluelessness about these things.

With Kay and her repertoire. ;)

With Kay and friends. Yay. 15th anniversary and stuff (with special guest). ;)

Decapitated R2 units. *whistles sadly*

A half a dozen of us, including mlee, are sharing Aaron on his visit to D.C. This part of his pizza tour was eh, but Disney thinks he's da bomb. No surprise there.

Check out Richard Simmons on the bottom row. He wasn't mine.