AUX 3

Hey...so, I'm just now posting photos and video from last Saturday's AUX 3 - EXPERIMENTAL ARTS FESTIVAL, which happened in downtown Athens at LITTLE KINGS and our local art house movie theater, CINE. Missy and I actually performed at the very first AUX event as THE FRENCH TOASTS, and then at AUX 2 we participated in their craft fair. This year we decided to just be spectators (especially since we missed seeing most of the bands last time) and shoppers. We spent the day picking and choosing which bands/films/performances (I think there was like, 30+ participants to choose from), running back and forth between home and running errands. The day started off nicely with a little craft fair in Little King's blacktop courtyard:





An abbreviated version of the band DARK MEAT kicked off the event, eventually leading everyone on a short parade over to Cine and the following event. It was fun to see the bewildered looks on motorists' faces as the procession crossed the intersection and made it's way down the street:


AUX 3 2436 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.



















(yup...there were people playing animal horns/antlers)


AUX3 2460 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

The Dark Meat parade segued into a performance by FLOORSPACE studio's YOUTH MOVEMENT WORKSHOP. This was one of my favorite moments of the festival because I thought about how peculiar it was...these little girls doing modern interpretive dance...and then I thought how cool it was to live in a town where something like this can happen and be celebrated:


AUX3 2463 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Later on that day we popped back into Cine to see KILLICK perform with his specially-made one-of-a-kind baritone guitar slash bass harp hybrid:




AUX3 2470 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

We ducked back in to Little Kings to see ELF POWER's Andrew Rieger and Eric Harris perform a noisy 15-minute jam with HOWLING JELLY, and then back to Cine to see OUR NEW SILENCE:






AUX3 2480 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

On into the evening we stopped into Cine to see Missy's friend (and former trapeze instructor) Julie perform with her band MAPS AND TRANSIT. They did a mult-media performance which incorporated live music, shadow projection, and aerial acrobatics:







Afterwards, we dashed over to a jam-packed Little Kings to witness the spectacle of BILL DOSS AND THE FLASH CARD ORCHESTRA. Bill (who is a member of OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL) conducted a gaggle of Athens musicians via the use of FLASH CARDS. He would show the cards to the band and the audience (who also participated in the performance) and they would improvise according to the directions or "moods" written on the cue cards:





Here, the audience and band are instructed to howl like wolves:


AUX3 2503 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

This was a command for everyone to stomp their feet, followed by a card that said "bubbles popping":


AUX3 2504 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


Missy's editor at FLAGPOLE (who publish her weekly comic), Larry, played bass in the band BRAVE NEW CITIZEN, who were awesome, of course. By the end of their energetic performance, Missy and started to feel the effects of a long Friday and an even longer Saturday finally catch up to us...we left for home soon after Brave New Citizen, regrettably missing THE ICY DEMONS festival-closing set...




AUX3 2516 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


AUX3 2517 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Nilla Forty-Four

Last saturday, we took NILLA to the vet for her yearly check up. She was well behaved, considering, though she was really meowy on the short ride to the FIREHALL 4 animal clinic, which is literally right around the corner from our house, next to the fire station. Surprisingly, she didn't peep when she "got the thermometer", but she did let out a couple of yelps when she got her vaccination shots. The doctor gave Nilla a clean bill of health...though, she did suggest that she lose a couple of pounds over the next year, after she weighed in at 17 pounds. BIG KITTY!

Weekend Wind-Down #44

(Missy posing with the house she made for the benefit art auction)

Friday night was the HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS benefit art auction for the Athens Area HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WOMEN BUILD. The crowd was lively and at times, it was difficult to get good shots of the art that was for sale. By the end of the night every piece in the show had sold. I took a few pictures at the event and even shot a little video...








HABITAT 2395 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

I was tempted to bid on this house with a heart and eye painted on it. In the end, I put down a couple of bids on this really whimsical and child-like painting that hung above the table where my piece was. In the end, I got outbid when the price climbed to higher than I was willing to pay. Oh well...







We were happy to find out that our friend LAURA, who's an awesome book illustrator, by the way (check out her work HERE), bid on and won Missy's piece:



FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Watching Julie and Kyle perform at AUX.
RAOUL - AUX 3 Experimental Arts Festival was pretty awesome...

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - My tummy hurt.
RAOUL - Nilla getting her shots.

MOST ANNOYING THING ABOUT LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Your cough!
RAOUL - My cough.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "PIZZA HUT!"
RAOUL - "fly like paper"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The Grit on friday night.
RAOUL - Ice cream cake!

FAVORITE HOUSE AT THE AUCTION (NOT OURS)?
MISSY - I liked Mark Braught's house.
RAOUL - The one with the eye in the heart.

PERSONAL RESOLUTION FOR NEXT WEEK?
MISSY - Try to finish knitting my bear.
RAOUL - Make up for my weekend transgressions.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Of Montreal and everything on my iPod.
RAOUL - Mahjongg, B52's, Tender Forever

What Happy Tastes Like

Last night we stopped at KROGER after the art auction and dinner at the Grit. On a whim, we brought this ice cream cake home with us, even though we had just bought a slice of scrumptious and all-natural Grit cake. It was just too cute to pass up. And we had a serious sweet tooth attack. And sometimes you just want to put unhealthy junk in your system. You understand.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

This Friday, tomorrow night, is the HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS art auction to benefit the Athens area HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WOMEN BUILD. The art auction is being held at the LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER here in Athens, from 6pm to 8pm and is open to the public. If you're in town, please please please stop by, look at some art, maybe bid on some art, and learn a bit about HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and their cause.

Missy and I (along with about 30 other local artists) are participating in the event. Each artist was given a wooden silhouette of a house to decorate based around the theme of "home is where the heart is". Last year's auction (which was also their very first auction) raised over $3000, and we're hoping to top that this year. We participated in last year's auction which was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to tomorrow night.

This is the house I decorated last year with felt:



And this is the house I decorated for tomorrow's auction. Once again, I wanted to use felt in some way:



I used these sliced up pieces of tree branches from our backyard. Last year, Missy's dad had cut up some fallen tree limbs into these sections. We had been saving them for some sort of project. I took some of those slices and hot glued them to the wood base. Afterwards, I made a little paper template that I used to cut these little house silhouettes out of stiff felt:







I punched hearts out of the middle of each felt house. Then, I carved out slits in some of the bigger wood slices that I could slip the houses into, after applying a bit of hot glue to the bottom edges:





Again, I used my heart-shaped hole punch, and punched out little red hearts from stiff felt, which I popped into the centers of each house. Then, I strung them all together with red thread. I used twigs to make miniature trees:







The piece is called "A Community Was Here Once Before"...now, here's where I get "deep like purple"...I used the house as a base rather than a canvas because I wanted to play around with the notion of the house or home being the foundation for community. The little white houses are actually "ghost houses", and they represent a community that was there once before but is actually no longer there for whatever reason (natural disaster, economic disaster, etc.). The little neighborhood is actually a ghost town. Maybe it's a neighborhood destroyed by fire or flood. Maybe it's a neighborhood that disintegrated because of foreclosure or maybe it was a neighborhood that was only half-way built. Maybe it's a neighborhood destroyed by economic hardship. Or gentrification. Also in the mix is the notion of an ecosystem being destroyed in order to make room for another ecosystem. Forests are cleared to make way for "land development"; trees are cut down to make the planks of wood that are used to build these houses - each house seems to emerge from each of their woody bases, as if they were carved out of the wood...

Anyways...come on out tomorrow night if you can and check out all the different ways these houses were decorated. Buy some unique art and support a worthy cause!

Nilla Forty-Three

Here is your weekly fix of Nilla! We had alot of posts about our pets this week. I guess cos we found Oreo and are so excited about bunnies all of a sudden! I will post this photo of Nilla I took last week while I was trying to figure out my new camera. Nilla loves to get a drink from my bathroom sink. She does this every day. It is her routine. This is the face she makes when she does not get a drink of water! Ha ha. I always give her a drink!

Nilla and Oreo

Here is one of my favorite photos I took of Oreo and Nilla. Are they not a fab pair, or what? We let Oreo hop around in the patio, and boy, as you can see, Nilla was enjoying watching the bunny! I had a good time, too. I fed Oreo mixed greens and hay. He (at least we think he is a he) ate it all up and then washed his face. It was adorable. I feel just like Beatrix Potter now!

Bunnycam!

OREO 2379 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

So cute! OREO is adjusting to living at Rancho Cocoa quite nicely. Here he is frolicking on our back patio. Needless to say, he drives Nilla crazy sometimes...


OREO 2381 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


OREO 2383 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Weekend Wind-Down #43 - Valentine's Day Edition

VAL 2228 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Missy and I went to the GEORGIA AQUARIUM in Atlanta for Valentine's Day. We had purchased tickets thru work about a year ago and had to use them before they expired...so we figured, "why not on Valentine's Day?" Well, we thought that maybe the aquarium wouldn't be so crowded because of Valentine's, but boy were we wrong. So many families were there. Also, because we ran errands in the morning and got stuck in traffic, we got to the aquarium about an hour and a half before they closed. We were afraid that we wouldn't get to see all the exhibits but we were able to hit them all despite the crowds...

Missy was super excited to see the BELUGA WHALES:




VAL 2249 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

My favorite part of the aquarium was the GLASS TUNNEL...truly amazing:












VAL 2276 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

They had these cool little GARDEN EELS that looked like little plants. They would duck down into their burrows when the bigger fish rushed them:


VAL 2279 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

I really dug the JELLYFISH tanks:




VAL 2282 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.




VAL 2286 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

A bunch of couples were trying to take their pictures in front of this tropical reef, so we decided we should too:















These OTTERS were another favorite exhibit of ours:




VAL 2329 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

After the aquarium, we went to our favorite vegetarian restaurant in Atlanta, CAFE SUNFLOWER, and we ordered our favorite dish. It's a mountain of mashed potatoes shored up by a "garden loaf", roasted asparagus, and spring rolls, all floating on a puddle of mushroom gravy. You wouldn't think that the spring rolls would work with something as traditional as "meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy", but it totally does in the most delicious way. We capped dinner off with a peanut butter mousse cake...







After dinner, walking back to the car, we came across this cage with a bunny rabbit in it. It was right outisde this 24 hour fitness place and we thought at first that maybe it belonged to somebody in the gym but then saw this note on it that said FREE...we didn't even have to think twice about it. Missy and I carried the cage and put it in the back of my car and took it back home to Athens with us...





We put the bunny in our back porch, which is enclosed, and wrapped a blanket around it for warmth. This morning, Missy took the blanket off and introduced the newly-named OREO to NILLA. Fortunately for us, neither of them seemed to be freaked out by each other. Oreo is so friendly too...he isn't skittish or timid at all and doesn't mind being petted. What a totally unexpected Valentine's Day present:





FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Going to the aquarium.
RAOUL - Valentine's Day!

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Fear of getting laid off at work.
RAOUL - Finding an abandoned bunny...it's terrible that someone would abandon a bunny on Valentine's Day!

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "Do you have a bed at home?"
RAOUL - "Captain Lou"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Cafe Sunflower...peanut butter mousse!
RAOUL - Dinner at Cafe Sunflower.

FAVORITE EXHIBIT AT THE GEORGIA AQUARIUM?
MISSY - The beluga whales.
RAOUL - I'm gonna have to go with the jellyfish.

PERSONAL RESOLUTION FOR NEXT WEEK?
MISSY - Get more rest.
RAOUL - Get back on my exercise and eating routine.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Lykke Li, Of Montreal, Beirut, Hawk And A Hacksaw.
RAOUL - The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers, Hawk And A Hacksaw, Beirut, M.I.A., Cannanes, Praying Mantis, Danielson, Beck, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Komeda, TeenBeat Records' "Wakefield" box set.

More To Love

We usually have pancakes on Saturday mornings and today was no exception...except that today being VALENTINE'S DAY, Missy decided to use a cookie cutter to cut out some heart shapes. We filled the hearts in with BLUE AGAVE NECTAR...





My niece, JULIA, was inspired by the photos we took at last weekend's LOVE show at CANOPY STUDIO, emulating Missy and the other performers on the swingset in my parent's backyard back in Riverside, California. I took these photos from my dad's Shutterfly account...what a goof! Actually, if my family were living here in Athens (which I often wish), I'm sure Julia would make an excellent student in Canopy's classes for juveniles. She's pretty athletic and fearless:

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYBODY! Well, not quite but almost...The other day while grocery shopping at our local KROGER, we spotted these two balloons that Missy had designed at our work, burton + BURTON! She also designed the white melamine planter. So, if you happen to be in Kroger (or GIANT EAGLE up north, or ALBERTSON'S out west) you can pick some cute gift items that Missy designed for your beloved...or for yourself!

Tomorrow we're headed out to Atlanta to see the GEORGIA AQUARIUM, which is the world's largest aquarium. We've not gone yet and have a couple of tickets that we bought last year that are going to expire soon! Afterwards, we're gonna hit Atlanta's premier vegetarian restaurant CAFE SUNFLOWER for a romantic dinner...awwwww...

How I Spent My Weekend: Canopy's Love Show

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be a part of Canopy Studio's Love performance! We ran the show three times last weekend, and it was really amazing! Everyone was sooo good and amazing to watch. The above photo is my classmate - Nathan. He is doing a split, and those always get applause!


I believe there were about 16 acts total with the kids classes performing on Friday and Saturday. They were so good! The theme was love, so the children are wearing hearts on their shirts.


Some of the teens wore wigs as their costumes. The funniest thing was when one wig popped right off during our dress rehearsal!




Here I am during Sunday's show! My piece had exciting moves such as the spice drop, glissade, single foot twisty, and the candy cane! I was really happy with my piece. I love making the choreography with the tricks and music. I am not a dancer, by any means, but I think I did pretty good considering. Sometimes I worry that I look like a little fish flopping all over up there!


Here is Kathy and Ellen performing together. I really liked their piece and I love seeing a trapeze duo. It is always inspiring!




Equally as inspiring are some of the other aerial objects (apparatus?) used at Canopy. There were a couple lyra acts (see above), ladders, slings, cube, and tetra. Everyone was fabulous!!

My other favorite part about performing in the Canopy shows is the final bow - all the performers prance back on to the stage, clapping and excited from the show. It is just how I imagine models feel after their catwalk - and it is like Susan Murphy is our Betsey Johnson and we are all clapping for her and us!

Nilla Forty-Two

Here is my silly cat, Nilla. In this photo she is just waking up from an afternoon nap. She is so lazy! As I type this she is plucking at the curtain. She loves to pluck.

Through The Stratosphere

Hammer Time from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

(Missy works out some pre-show jitters by helping our friends JO & ANDRE demolish a wall in their recently expanding hairstyling business, HONEY'S SALON, which is a couple of doors down from CANOPY STUDIO)

This past weekend was another busy one...Missy performed three nights in a row at CANOPY STUDIO, doing aerial acrobatics with along with a handful of her classmates in a show called LOVE. Every night was sold out, with a line of eager spectators waiting to get the best seats in the studio:



Missy waves "HI" from the bottom of the stairs leading up to observation tower:







I took a bunch of pictures on saturday night with my camera, but the ones I took in the darkened studio came out too blurry or too dark. There were only a couple of performances that happened with the house lights on, and I only took a few photos of those performances. I did, however, videotape Missy's entire performance on Saturday night, on my camera:






"Barbarella" by Missy Kulik from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Of course, it doesn't really do Missy's live performance any justice...like, you really don't get a sense of how incredibly high Missy is when she performs...WITHOUT A NET, so seeing the actual live performance is way more exhilarating. In any case, hopefully the video will give some of you an idea of Missy's acrobatic skill...

After Sunday night's performance we headed out to Ellen's house (which is, I KID YOU NOT, right next door to MICHAEL STIPE'S HOUSE) for the wrap party (Ellen is the one in the stripes). There was tons of good food there and since trapeze artists tend to eat healthy, all the food there was vegetarian, much to our delight...and, it was delicious!



Missy was smitten by this little hand-made bottle cap chair sitting on the dessert table and mesmerized with all the ornaments hanging above Ellen's kitchen sink:





Here's Missy with Susan, who is the owner and director of Canopy Studio, as well as one of the many instructors:



Of course, it wouldn't be a party for aerial acrobats without an actual trapeze...Ellen gladly let party goers play with the trapeze bar she has hanging in her spacious living room:

Weekend Wind-Down #42

Saturday night was a busy one...Missy had her second of three back-to-back performances at CANOPY (which I'll probably blog about tomorrow night) and then immediately afterwards we rushed to the 40 WATT to catch ELF POWER and VIC CHESNUTT's homecoming show. Elf Power played an energetic set and then returned as Vic's backing band. Needless to say, the show was awesome and if they happen to be touring anywhere near you in the next couple of months, you owe it to yourself to go...








Vic Chesnutt sample 1 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.


Vic Chesnutt sample 2 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Doing the LOVE shows this week!
RAOUL - Cirque du Soleil and LOVE...the past week had a definite theme.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Being so nervous for the shows...
RAOUL - Being stranded at the mall while we waited for our tires to be repaired.

LEAST FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Breakfast at Chic-Fil-A.
RAOUL - Breakfast at Chic-Fil-A (neveragain!)

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "Mermaid hook wrap"
RAOUL - "Through the stratosphere!"

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The lady on the hydraulic chair at Cirque.
RAOUL - Being stranded at the mall.

FAVORITE SHOP AT THE GEORGIA SQUARE MALL?
MISSY - Toss up between Dairy Queen and Macy's.
RAOUL - The Gap.

WHAT'S THE ONE THING ON YOUR TO DO LIST FOR NEXT WEEK
THAT PROBABLY WON'T GET DONE?
MISSY - Clean up the kitchen table.
RAOUL - Clear out space in our backyard for our victory garden.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Love Letter, Hawk And A Hacksaw, Laura Marling, Unrest, Siouxie And The Banshees
RAOUL - Death By Chocolate, Gilroy, Desolation Wilderness, D+, Microphones, Karl Blau, Phil Krauth, M, Blood Sausage, Make Up, Galaxie 500, M.I.A., Fannypack, LCD Soundsystem, Devendra Banhart, Squarepusher, Architecture In Helsinki, Elf Power, Shrimper Records “Abridged Perversion - A Compilation of Previously Released Compilations” comp, Lazer Sword “Future Blappin’” mix on theXLR8R podcast, Pimp Paul & Play Boy Wolf (a.k.a. Prince Paul & Peanut Butter Wolf) “Be Our Valentine” mix on the Stones Throw podcast.

LOVE is in the air

Hey Everybody!

Tonight is the first of three nights of the LOVE show at CANOPY STUDIO here in Athens, Georgia...students will be performing various aerial-acrobatic acts to delight and excite...and Missy will be performing a death-defying piece on the SILKS, set to LOVELETTER's sixties-inspired indiepop song, "BARBARELLA". Missy wanted to wear something special for the performance so she ordered this handmade top from PAPERDOLL FASHION in Portland, Oregon (and wow, check out the BANDS/PERFORMERS they've outfitted in the past). We didn't think she would get the top in time for the show until...TAH DAH!...we opened our mailbox when we got home from work today. Missy eagerly tried on her entire "costume" and we took some pictures in the backyard...she paired her "futuristic" turtleneck with shorts and leggings we got at AMERICAN APPAREL last weekend, and her pair of special edition JOHN FLUEVOGS made for the DANIELSON FAMILY's band uniforms. We were really digging the quilty-looking basket weave details on the shoulders and even on the collar. Those folks at Paperdoll sure are talented...and, they're super cool for rushing the top over to us, toot suite.









So, if you're in the area this weekend, come on out to Canopy Studios here in Athens and catch LOVE...you can read about the details HERE and HERE. But hurry because Canopy performances tend to sell-out quickly. Dollar for dollar, you're gonna get some quality entertainment at a bargain price. Really! Here are some images of Missy doing her thang, just to get you in the mood:

Nilla Forty-One

Happy Birthday, Julia!

Today is my niece JULIA's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIA! She's turning 6 YEARS OLD today. Where did all that time go? In honor of her special day, my parents got her this super cool pedal-powered MERRY-GO-ROUND. To say that my parents love to spoil their grandchildren is a gross understatement. Above is the freshly delivered merry-go-round sitting on a pallet in my parents garage...and below is my nephew EVAN and his big sis JULIA taking a spin in their backyard, back in sunny Southern California. Wish we could be at the big birthday bash this coming weekend, but we're all the way on the other side of the country!

Kooza!

Last weekend we went to see Cirque du Soleil in Atlanta. We went to see Kooza! It was fabulous!




You know Cirque is in town when the striped tents are up! This is the second time Raoul and I have been to see the show. Cynthia had gone to some, too. You know to expect exciting things under this big top! My favorite acts included the contortionists, chair balance, and a unicycle act. I was very nervous during the wheel of death! How can they do that??


Here is Cynthia and Raoul getting programs and getting psyched to see the show. We had a great time, I am so glad Cynthia got to come with us.




By the time the show let out it was dark outside. I love how the tents look at night.

Weekend Wind-Down #41

This WEEKEND WIND-DOWN is comin' atcha a little late...this past weekend was crazy busy, since my baby sis CYNTHIA flew into Atlanta from California friday night. She only just left last night, and in-between her arrival and departure we tried to pack in as much activity as possible. The big thing we did was go to Atlanta on Sunday to see KOOZA, the newest CIRQUE DU SOLEIL show. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera with me, so I'm hoping that Missy will be able to post a few pictures in a couple of days...

Anyways, by the time we got back from the airport on friday it was already like, 1:30 in the morning...we went to bed late and slept in, waking up plenty famished. Hungry, we headed to THE GRIT to carbo-load on some yummy brunch:







We spent the rest of our Saturday afternoon walking all over downtown Athens, poking around in different shops, looking for birthday presents for our niece, JULIA, who is having a birthday this February 4th. Missy and Cynthia scoured AGORA for amazing finds, but came up empty handed:





Later that night, we headed out to ATHICA - the ATHENS INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART - to attend an opening for their newest exhibit, a show called "RUNNING ON EMPTY". The theme centered around our addiction and dependence on oil...the gallery was jam packed with people and it was sometimes difficult to see (and photograph) the individual pieces...



Cynthia enjoyed some wine in a plastic cup while Missy was reminded of what it's like to be sitting in metro Atlanta traffic:





Here, Iraqis desperately stand in line for hours, waiting to get gas:





They had this sleek electric scooter on display...we were sorely tempted to sit on it and take pictures:









FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Having Cynthia come visit!
RAOUL - Having my baby sis come visit - if only for the weekend.
CYNTHIA - Playing Mario Kart with Raoul, like we did back in the day.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Have to do rush jobs at work.
RAOUL - Running out of sweet hang-out time.
CYNTHIA - Going from California weather to 30 degree weather.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE WEEK?
MISSY - “Go Steelers!”
RAOUL - "Polamalu"
CYNTHIA - “It’s USED”

THING THAT ANNOYED YOU MOST ABOUT LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Being sore from practicing.
RAOUL - The one day I forgot to bring my iPod to work.
CYNTHIA - Getting to the airport late because of work.

PERSONAL RESOLUTION FOR NEXT WEEK?
MISSY - Get up early so I can make up time at work.
RAOUL - Get back on my regular workout schedule.
CYNTHIA - File my taxes.

FAVORITE MEAL OF LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Brunch at the Grit.
RAOUL - Brunch at the Grit.
CYNTHIA - Hummingbird Cake from the Grit.

THREE THINGS ON YOUR GROCERY LIST FOR NEXT WEEK?
MISSY - Tomatoes, bread, cheese.
RAOUL - Burritos, apples, broccoli.
CYNTHIA - Eggs, milk, tampons.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Loveletter, Laura Marling, Unrest
RAOUL - New Order, Violent Femmes, WNYC's RadioLab podcast
CYNTHIA - Fountains of Wayne