roller derby

last night baldman and i went to watch our first every roller derby game (or bout as they call them). it was so fantastic! we saw our local team, the columbia quad squad versus the nrv from virginia. man, those are some tough girls. we took a few picts but they're not the most clear because of the constant action. but check it out!


the columbia quad squad are in black and nrv in pink. in this pict you can see the girl with the red helmet sneaking up the outside of the lane. she's what they call the jammer (and she's on the quad squad). she'll score points for her team if she passes opposing players. boy, was she a zippy little woman!


this is pretty much what it looked like the whole time. just a blur.


it's actually a fairly complicated game. you see the number of referees that are out there? it really takes some careful watching to see who is illegally hitting each other and how many people the jammers are passing.


here you can see the opposing team's jammer (with the star on her helmet) sneaking by.

the quad squad took the game. i think they have a pretty good record. but someone in the crowd told us that the other local team, the richland county regulators are better. we'll just have to check that out ourselves. i definitely think that the hubby and i will check out more games in the future.

cupcake

oh, cupcake. how i love you. thank you for opening a new store in our city. your delicious goodness is pleasing to my soul. here's to many more evenings of spending time together.

yoga

i went to my 3rd ever yoga class tonight. because my husband works at the university i can now go to one of the gyms and attend whatever classes i want. so two nights a week i'm trying to go to yoga. it's been great. i really like the focus on breathing and feeling good about yourself. and tonight's class really kicked my butt (which i know i need)!

and it speaks to how how small columbia is that at both classes this week i have known several people.

i found it!

a site to watch the new season of project runway! woot woot! well, it worked for episode 1, so i hope it'll work for the remaining episodes! we'll "make it work!"

sick day and movies

i left work early friday because i'd had a sore throat since thursday night (still have it, thanks for asking) and i just wasn't feeling too hot. before i went home i stopped off at the library and picked up a bunch of movies to keep me company while i was resting.

so i'm just going to say it. i watched the sex and the city movie and loved it. i laughed. i cried. i thoroughly enjoyed it. i've never watched an episode of this show in my life. ok, maybe i've seen one episode at some point. and it's not that i had a horrible opinion of the show. i just didn't think i'd like it that much. but you know what i really liked about it? these days we see woman always hating on each other. they're always fighting each other about something (usually men) and jealous of one another. i love that here is a healthy view of women in friendship. they support each other. they love each other. it was sweet.

i also watched cars, fantastic 4, license to wed, and we went to the theater last night to see district 9. cars was cute. fantastic 4-not good. license to wed-awful. district 9 was really good. but i had to stomach my way through not vomiting from the jolty camera.

they have lasers

check out my hubs and his sis on we have lasers!

an ode to trees

baldman was so inspired by the scenery yesterday that he wrote this little tune:

lake jocassee

yesterday we spent a day on a boat!

our friends, the dells, found themselves in possession of a boat for the day. well, actually it's a pontoon. but, same thing to me. anyways, they were kind enough to share their good fortune with us and some other friends. so we spent the day yesterday on lake jocassee in the way way upstate.

i can't tell you how much fun we had. it seems like it's been a really long time since i had such a completely enjoyable day. the weather was beautiful, the scenery was spectacular, the company was fabulous, the food...oh the food. yums. and one of the best parts, i didn't have to do anything. we literally just showed up on friday night and the rest was taken care of. what a treat!

thanks, dells et al. for such a great adventure! i'd be up for doing it again soon!

here are some choice shots, but you can see the whole set on flickr. and, please, no comments on those of us in bathing suits.


"the captain and maryann" with the rock wall behind them




the lake and mountains


hiking to and through waterfalls


dogwood sliding down a waterfall


one of the many waterfalls we saw


he's on a boat, motha' f'ers!


hiking the treacherous terrain up the waterfalls


zach and lindsay swimming


swimming by our fabulous pontoon

slow food fundraiser

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Food & Wine Tasting - Slow Food Columbia fundraiser at Terra Restaurant
When: August 13, 2009 6pm-9pm
Where: Terra, 100 State Street, West Columbia
Tickets: $30 for Slow Food members; $40 for non-members; couples rates
Buy Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76464

Book your tickets today! We're so excited Terra Restaurant is hosting this Slow Food Columbia fundraiser. Food from Five Leaves Farm, Little Creek Plantation and Anson Mills will be featured with wine from Spanish Vines. Proceeds will go towards future Slow Food Columbia workshops, projects, events and other endeavors.

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my new obsession

seriously, y'all. i'm, like, obsessed with etsy. i've been going on there looking for gifts for other people and find myself just browsing for hours and looking at everything that i want. bad habit.

i'm not kidding, i love everything on the site and want it all. okay, not everything because i did find some seriously heinous things. but there's a lot of stuff that i really do love. and i want that.

yea for handmade stuff!

mom the kayaker

recently my mom and step-dad acquired a kayak. so apparently my mom has been going out every chance she can get and doing a little rowing on the bay. well, this weekend she completed her first race. check out my mom kicking butt!


the start of the race


there's the silver bullet pulling out into the pack


hmmm, is it just me, or is mom's kayak facing the wrong direction?


you go girl!


she finishes!

all pictures taken by my step-dad, jim.

sad farewll

so, did i mention that our somali family is moving? yea, after about 4 years of living in columbia, they're moving to kentucky. their dad joined them in the states a few months ago and i guess he wasn't thrilled with his employment options here. so he found what he feels will be a better job so they're taking off.

on the one hand i'm so proud of them for being able to seek out the best situation for themselves and being savvy enough to take care of their own needs.

on the other hand, i can't help but feel a little selfish and get mad that the dad is "taking them away from us."

so it's with half reluctance that we bid them farewell this week. baldman took the kids to franky's fun park in the morning on saturday and then we had a cookout in the evening. sadly, their mom had already left so we just got the kids (and some extended kids*) and their "aunt"**. we had a great time though.




nicole and the kids dancing to somali music


khadija killing at connect four


if anyone hangs out in our back yard, there must be s'more making


our family (minus hamido). from left to right: hawa, mohammud, khadija, ikra, me, and baldman in the back

best of luck, guys! you'll be missed!

*you can't hang out with somalis without extra kids being around.

**hawa is not their biological aunt, as far as i can tell. but she has helped raise them at least as long as they have been in america. they all came over around the same time. hawa, sadly for them, is not moving to kentucky. so we will still go over to help her out some.