Tuesday, July 7, 2009

In Which Our Heroine Gets To Know Kate

Hello my dear blog, I am sorry for having abandoned you for MORE THAN ONE WEEK. Gasp. How on earth did that happen? I feel like I ought to be ashamed, but honestly, I kind of don't. It was a crazy week with many wild things going on of an unbloggable nature, and they demanded my full attention. But here I am, nestled safely back in the bosom of my internet, and have I got some pictures and stories to share with you. First of all, you're never going to guess who I went to visit last week. No, don't read the headline, just guess. Give up? Okay, I'll tell you.

KATE!!



Can you believe it? This utterly lovely and charming blogger is a REAL LIVE PERSON! AND SO AM I! AND WE MET!! Doesn't it just blow your mind? Kate makes the third blogger I've met so far, and I have to say that as a group, I believe bloggers are generally pretty great. Matter of Fact Mommy (blog now six feet under, sadly) was hilarious and fun, Frank was clever and charming and handy, and Kate, well. Kate was nothing short of supercalafragalisticexpialidocious. Kate was up in Dallas visiting her parents WHO ARE AWESOME, BY THE WAY, and since I live in Austin and love road trips, and since I had an afternoon off, I popped Birdie in the car and off we hauled ourselves up to The Big D. I had a blast. I got to meet Isaac, the infant I've been in love with for the past year (pictured below with his doting grandmother, and who, as photographic evidence proved, looks EXACTLY like his mother in her baby pictures). His little blond curls are everything I had hoped they'd be, his smile would light up Times Square, and he does the cutest little speed-walkey thing I've ever seen. Sigh. (Repeat to self: do not reproduce yet, do not reproduce yet, do not reproduce yet...)



Kate's mother is a fire cracker, and we had a great time drinking wine, trading stories, and generally having fun. OH. And lest I forget, she gave me a GIFT BASKET for coming up to visit! Unreal, right? I love Kate's family. Except her Dad, who while I fully acknowledge that he is funny, handsome, smart, and a genial conversationalist, he shamelessly indulged in a torrid love affair with my dog right in front of my face, and for that I might never forgive him. Poor Birdie, she fell like a ton of bricks for this good looking fella, and has been heartsick for him ever since.



Ok, so clearly I'm kidding about the never forgiving him part; I really liked him tremendously, and it was completely cute how she followed him around and jumped up to cuddle in his lap. Who would've thought - my little Birdie having a thing for tall mustachioed gentlemen? I think if he'd jumped off the side of a tall building, Birdie would've gone right after him, howling the doggie version of "Aaaaaaaas yooouuuuu wiiiisssshhhh," as she fell.

And speaking of handsome gentlemen, though not yet tall and mustachioed, check out the awesome and amazing Aiden. I don't even know where to start in describing how much I liked this guy. First of all, wow is he well-mannered. When Kate introduced me he was playing a VIDEOGAME, which he promptly put down, stood up, smiled his charming smile, and told me how nice it was to meet me. Gawp. I heart this young man. OH! I almost forgot. Not only well mannered. Also sports a mohawk. HOW MUCH FREAKIN' COOLER CAN A LITTLE DUDE GET.



Of course, it being a hot day in the Texas summer, and there being a swimming pool in the back yard, we pretty quickly jumped into swimsuits and spend the rest of the afternoon splashing around.



Sorry I have no more pictures for you, but honestly when Kate gives you her OH NO YOU DON'T look:



Well. A girl's gotta know when to put away the camera and just have fun, so that's what we did. We went for a walk, plopped ourselves down in the swimming pool, and voilá! Just as Kate and I became internet buddies quickly and easily, so we fell into real live friendship, and it was no time at all before we were sitting in the pool like old girlfriends, talking about all the things girls sit around and talk about. You know, mid-term congressional elections, FDIC-insured bonds, the relative merits of 1991 Ferrari Testarossa versus the 1996 re-modeling... Oh, wait. No, that's wrong. I meant menstrual cycles, childbirth, and relationships. Yes, that was it. (Ba-domp-chaaaaa! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.)

All jokes aside, Kate really is a rock star. She's funny, smart, self-deprecating, wise, and easy to be around; visiting her and her family was one of the highlights of my summer. Oh, and for those of you who read her blog and are wondering if it is even remotely possible that her husband Andy is even half as wonderful as she claims... Yes. Yes it is true. But don't let her fool you with her modesty: Andy got just as lucky as Kate did the day she clapped eyes on him, marched home, and told her mama she'd met the man she was going to marry. Kate, thanks for a wonderful visit. Here's to many more years of internet stalking each other!

UPDATE A FEW HOURS LATER: oh my lord, I forgot completely to tell you about the presents Kate made me. That's right, I said "made me". She's such a crafty wonder. She made me a new makeup bag (HOW DID SHE KNOW I NEEDED ONE?) in the funnest prints you could possibly imagine WITH MY NAME EMBROIDERED ON THE HANDLE. And a change purse with my initials! Kate, you're a miracle. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

20 comments:

Frank Irwin said...

Ok, so who was it that you met?

Nice pics. Cute kids. Sounds like a good time.

Bev said...

You are BOTH adorable and brilliant and I want to meet you too!! Seriously, before this post, I merely had a slight crush/infatuation with the lovely and witty Kate... now I'm moving full-on into stalker territory with Frank. ;-)

So glad you guys had fun!

Frank Irwin said...

Bev, you can move in with me anytime!

MoFM said...

yay that you got to meet YET ANOTHER blogger! are you going for a record or what?

sorry that my blog is now "six feet under", as the lovely cheasty states, but i'm still here. lurking. and commenting anonymously. heh.

i can't wait to meet kate now! adorable children, lovely family, fantastic conversation... and i don't blame kate AT ALL for not allowing you to take pregnant pictures. they are thee worst. perhaps someday i will share pictures from our trip to cabo when i was 8mos pregnant with my 2nd... naw, i won't ever do that.

Cheasty said...

Frank, you iz crazie.

Bev, join the club. Kate Fan Club. First Stalker in Charge, Frank. Secretary and Treasurer, Bev, I'll be the person who writes down every word that comes out of every person's mouth.

MOFM!!!!! sigh. i miss you. and yes, the don't you dare look is because Kate is preggers. and in a bathing suit. i understood completely, even though i thought she was being silly and looked beautiful.

Kate said...

Who is this family of which you speak? They sound fabulous! I want to meet them, I want to meet them!!

Cheasty, I thank you for your use of croppage on that last picture. I knew that it would make it into the blogosphere, and I am very grateful that it was not a full length shot!

Gentle readers, know that Cheasty is exactly like you would think. She is amazing, to put it mildly.

When I return to Alabama I will do my own post (which will probably consist of very few words and a link right back to Cheasty's beautiful words.)

I am now in a full-on competition to best Cheasty in the number of bloggers that have been met. She's only got one on me right now as I was honored to meet the loverly Jessica O this morning (more on my blog next week.) Frank--you're next mister! My next trip to TX will most definitely include you. And Bev? You rock my world. I will make it up there someday, someday. Samsmama-- uh huh. You too. I will track you down, you snuggie loving fool! (And MOFM, I would love to see those pics!)

Renny said...

Yay for meeting internet people! Now that I know that KATE was the person in Dallas that Cheasty stranded me at the airport for, I am less heartbroken.

Andrew said...

I agree with Cheasty whole heartedly about what she says on my family. They are absolutely fantastic and my joys in life. I am sure all who know Cheasty say the same....in fact, know that I know her some, I do say the same.

Frank Irwin said...

Bring it on, Kate!

Andy, did you find a bike ride in Dallas?

Andrew said...

Well, I just learned that watching "Disorder in the Court 2" and the Tour during breaks does not produce the best grammar.

And yes, it's painfully obvious that I did not win Kate over with my intellect.

Kate said...

Your intellect is but one of the many reasons I married you. Your spelling on the other hand...

Frank, Andy managed to get in 4 rides while here. He left from the house and just rode. No organized rides though. Maybe next time you and he can meet in the middle and do a metric century or so!

Re: Andy meeting Cheasty, I was a bit worried that he would fall head over heels in love with her and leave me. But thankfully, he managed to resist her.

Anonymous said...

You bloggers are too cute!

-Cookie
anonymous blogger commenter

onebadmamajama said...

How awesome! I have yet to met another blogger and that makes me very sad:( I gotta get out of the house more!

I'm so glad you guys had a great time and shared it with us!

Cheasty said...

Kate - I can't wait to read your post!
Renny - I didn't strand you!! "alternate pick-up" does not equal stranding. it's just a rearrangement.
Andy - ha! you're funny. thanks for the kind words.
Cookie - join the dark side...
obmj- do it. bloggers are fun!

Anonymous said...

Cheasty, now that you're almost fully educated and I feel as if you're one of us already, and mature enough to stay out late, and able to make wise decisions, can I adopt you?

Love,
Kate's mom

Multiple Vann Pile Up said...

Cheasty,
They are that wonderful, aren't they - and adorable and kind and polite? And even though I was a teensy bit jealous of all your fabulosity, the fact that in your "recap of the meeting blog" you quoted The Princess Bride means that I must completely approve of yours and Kate's blossoming friendship. And it helps that, after meeting you, Kate did not immediately replace me for a new best friend.

I do, however, think that we should chastise Kate (if only slightly - she is about 17 months pregnant) for not including more description of the meeting on her blog? Shall we?

:)

Multiple Vann Pile Up said...

Cheasty,
They are that wonderful, aren't they - and adorable and kind and polite? And even though I was a teensy bit jealous of all your fabulosity, the fact that in your "recap of the meeting blog" you quoted The Princess Bride means that I must completely approve of yours and Kate's blossoming friendship. And it helps that, after meeting you, Kate did not immediately replace me for a new best friend.

I do, however, think that we should chastise Kate (if only slightly - she is about 17 months pregnant) for not including more description of the meeting on her blog? Shall we?

:)

Cheasty said...

Kate's Mom - YES PLEASE!

Molly's Mom - YES. also for posting those horrific pictures of me, especially the one where I look like I've got the hangover from hell. not fair! :)

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

[u][b]Xrumer[/b][/u]

[b]Xrumer SEO Professionals

As Xrumer experts, we from been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] for a long fix now and grasp how to harness the titanic power of Xrumer and turn it into a Cash machine.

We also provender the cheapest prices on the market. Numberless competitors will order 2x or square 3x and a lot of the opportunity 5x what we debt you. But we believe in providing prominent service at a debilitated affordable rate. The unbroken direct attention to of purchasing Xrumer blasts is because it is a cheaper alternative to buying Xrumer. So we plan to support that thought in recollection and provide you with the cheapest standing possible.

Not only do we cause the most successfully prices but our turnaround time payment your Xrumer posting is wonderful fast. We intention have your posting done ahead of you discern it.

We also produce you with a sated log of affluent posts on contrary forums. So that you can notice over the extent of yourself the power of Xrumer and how we have harnessed it to help your site.[/b]


[b]Search Engine Optimization

Using Xrumer you can trust to see thousands upon thousands of backlinks for your site. Many of the forums that your Site you intent be posted on oblige exalted PageRank. Having your link on these sites can truly expropriate strengthen up some top rank recoil from links and as a matter of fact riding-boot your Alexa Rating and Google PageRank rating utterly the roof.

This is making your instal more and more popular. And with this inflate in regard as grammatically as PageRank you can expect to lead your milieu really superiority high in those Search Locomotive Results.
Traffic

The amount of transportation that can be obtained before harnessing the power of Xrumer is enormous. You are publishing your locality to tens of thousands of forums. With our higher packages you may still be publishing your site to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of forums. Imagine 1 brief on a popular forum last will and testament almost always rig out 1000 or so views, with signify 100 of those people visiting your site. Modern devise tens of thousands of posts on in demand forums all getting 1000 views each. Your freight will withdraw through the roof.

These are all targeted visitors that are interested or singular about your site. Imagine how divers sales or leads you can execute with this considerable figure up of targeted visitors. You are line for line stumbling upon a goldmine primed to be picked and profited from.

Reminisce over, Traffic is Money.
[/b]

BECOME ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT YOUR CHEAPLY ERUPTION TODAY:


http://www.xrumer-seo.com