congratulations, greg & lee ann!

i adore greg. he is one of my most favorite people. and today, in a beautiful ceremony, he married lee ann. LET'S ALL BE SO HAPPY FOR THEM!!! :) i'd never met lee ann before, but the way that he looked at her--well, we could all tell that she has made him a whole man. she's the kind of girl that you wish for your best friend, you know? and greg... well, he's a sweetheart all on his own. so, this looks to be a perfect match, and i wish them the best for the years and years to come!


greg & i met in 1999, working for the YMCA SACC program. we were both track athletes, and even though he competed for Penn State, i still loved him. ;)


-->please be aware of my vociferous hatred of all things Nittany Lion... except for greg. :)

-->oh, and doesn't he bear a stirring resemblance to joshua jackson? it's uncanny!






they make each other so happy!

flower girl ashton (i think) and ring bearer griffin


-->CUUUUUUUTE!!!

melissa is such a cool chick. she was our boss for SACC, and she also coached greg during his prep track career. her husband brian is a fantastic soccer player and an all-around stand-up guy. and, oh, did we mention that griffin is cuuuuuuuuuuuuute?!!

all in all, it was a lovely november day, perfect for "i do's" and dinner and dancing. and i can't say that i've been happier for a friend than i am for greg. here's to greg and lee ann, and to the rest of us--> let's hope we're all as blessed in love as they are.

contemplating the carpet

i'm on the floor as i write this. sometimes i wish that we could all eschew ridiculous adult rigidity and enjoy pillows and shag rugs and homemade quilts. there's something about lowering our bodies in the company of others though. nobody wants the low position. how silly.

anyway, today's run was rough. for once, i didn't push it, but i felt weighed down the whole time. i'm struggling with my disease, and today is proving especially difficult. i just can't make any big decisions today. things will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. but back to the run. i went up hickory to Rite Aid to drop of the prescription, then i did an out & back on roland for ~25 min, after which i picked up my meds and ran home. all told, it was 40 min, roughly 4.5 miles. my knees just didn't want to go, and i felt like throwing up on the last small leg. most days, i don't force myself, but i today i knew that if i didn't do it, if i didn't accomplish even something little, i would feel far worse later.

i'll have to have that same attitude for the rest of today. i have a list: read the rest of disgrace, call cecilia, call 4Eyes, return books to the library, walk toby, run, clean the kitchen and get the Rx. so far, i've read, made my calls, ran and picked up the Rx, so i only have 3 things left. i don't really want to go out tonight, but we'll see how chris feels. it might be the thing that i need. fuck bipolar.

beatty halloween!

so halloween was pretty big this year, both in baltimore and in philadelphia. i was in philly on saturday and sunday meeting my baby niece, and she, her brothers, geoff & mia and i went to a little hween party together. it was great. there aren't pictures of me or mia in here, but the rest are fun.





bluebird and lionbear before the halloween party...
lionbear is not amused.













manny makes an excellent bluebird!


















benice flashes ten for his fantastic, if hybrid, ensemble.






















lionbear with his pet monkey














three fathers and their respective vegetables: brighton is a tomato, zadie is a carrot, and clara is a pea. geoff, by the way, passes as a ripped lance armstrong. his lady mia/sheryl crow is taking pictures.









post-halloween, clara and i got acquainted in no time at all. i'm lucky to have such a sweet little niece, and i can't wait to spend as much time with her as possible!

halloween pix, PART DEUX!

here's phase two, as promised.


rock out, catwoman and batgirl!













i loves my supertoby.






supertoby takes home the "Best Sidekick" award.
:)








God bless Mr. America.











rock star and wrestler. awesome.







electric blue and outrageous orange (susanne & courtney) had the cutest costumes of the night.











catwoman, outrageous orange and batgirl are having a blast.









whatever i try to say about this is bound to be ultra-cheesy, so oh well. since i can't be witty, and i don't really care for whimsical, i can just be... lucky. yeah, lucky, i think. this has been the best halloween in years!

running, + toby in the park

the run was good. i made myself take it easy (or easier, as the case may be), since i was trying to do a little more. i did roland-cold spring-charles/st.paul/charlcote/charles-art museum-wyman-remington-chestnut-home. about 38 min, ~9min. pace. the weather was BEAUTIFUL; i wore shorts and a tank, and that felt lovely. i spent a lot of time looking at my toes though. i'm not sure why. it's not like i was running on trails or anything... i did notice the foliage and everything, and i love being a part of fall. :)

toby had a major breakthrough at the park today. every time that he's escaped the leash, he's taken off running, and it's been horrible trying to catch him. BUT, at the encouragement of other dog owners, i let him off the leash to play with the other dogs. and he was GREAT!!! not only did he have a blast meeting other pups, but he also thoroughly enjoyed the running and wrestling. another big surprise--he actually came back to me when i called him. i thought that even if he did stay that it'd be really hard to get him back on the leash, and it really wasn't at all. and now, barely a half hour later, he's fast asleep on his pillow. hehehe. i think that this might be good for him overall--more exercise and more socializing with other dogs might help him be less neurotic at home. yay!

here are the halloween pictures. i promise.

so, after last night's technical difficulties, here is phase one of the halloween party pictures. woo!




here's supertoby getting all the ladies' attention. that's my boy!













L to R--Jump to Conclusions Mat (re: Office Space), Corpse Bride, and BlankMan

sadly, you can't see the corpse bride's husband behind chris.















Good Dorothy and Slutty Dorothy



















na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, BATGIRL!
(i seriously hope that people know the batman theme. otherwise the na na's don't make any sense at all...)















UnderDog and Catwoman--you'd think we'd be mortal enemies, but we're both so cute that we can't help being buddies!
















Shaun of the Dead and UnderDog--what a great couple!


















look closely, and you'll be able to see the conclusions that you can jump to: ???, jump again, won't happen, could be, moot, yes!, it's a trap!, accept it, and go!














speaks for itself.

:)

running and halloween pix

i ran today after being slightly stressed out. it was good though. i did hickory-41st-beech-home and then came home. then i grabbed toby and we did our figure 8 loop in the park. it was nice, about 34 min total for me.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY!!! WE HAVE PICTURES FROM OUR HALLOWEEN PARTY!!! OOOOOOOO!!!!

and, the awesome part is this is only part one...