Ahhh. Home Sweet Card Reader

After only a one-hour delay and a completely full flight, we made it home safely from Atlanta. Miraculous, actually, that leaving the ATL wasn't more of a pain in the neck. It usually is.

Had we not had the Arb Party tonight, we just might still be in Atlanta. AirTran had oversold our flight by, oh, about 150 people it seemed, so they were desperate for people like us to go standby and take two free round trip tickets. Sounds like a great deal, right? Not according to my good friend Amy. Yeah, ask her about her AirTran "free ticket" bonanza sometime.

Speaking of the Lawn Party/Croquet Tournament, let me post some photos. I'm very tired after getting up at 6:45 this morning to head to the airport, so I apologize in advance for the lack of witty commentary accompanying these photos.

My good friend and all-around cool chick Carrie Rengers and steward Robin Macy played host for this annual extravaganza. This was actually the first year we were able to attend. (Both of the last two years, I was in California over this weekend.)

Ain't we cute?
My favorite part of this photo is Maria's shadow in the lower left corner!

I think Adam is waiting for Baby Houseman to walk by, carrying a watermelon.

Cool centerpieces.

Marvelous Maria and Dapper Dan.
Two more reasons we'll miss Wichita when we make the big move.

Opps and Carter.

More missing Wichita.

Check out my mad croquet skills. It's a good thing I watched the movie "Heathers" 9,000 times when I was a kid.

Maria and Teresa (making her first appearance on the Chittum Files).

Denise and Chris and I having an improptu meeting of Book Club
(wait, that can't be right, I'm the only one with a drink in my hand).

The official referee/rules master of Croquet, Joe Stumpe.

It's Travis and Randy.
(Too bad they aren't in opposite order - then they'd be Randy Travis)

Here's the scarf I knit for the silent auction.
When we left, the bidding was at $30.

And, it wouldn't be the Chittums without the one-armed self-portrait.

Oh yes, it's ladies night.

I love going to book club.

Is it the intellectually stimulating discussion of this month's selection? Probably not.

Is it the delectable choices of eats? Probably a little bit.

Is it the gossip and laughs I get caught up on? Um, yes.

People ask me all the time if I miss working at the Eagle. Of course I miss being a photographer - who wouldn't miss that job? But, the thing I miss the most are the witty, sarcastic women that I used to see on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, I do still see witty women - it's just that the ones I see are of the 17-year-old variety, and there's something to be said for communing with the women of your own generation. We all have common cynical journalist senses of humor, and some of the best laughs I have each month come courteous of the good ol' Eagle book club.

Topics of tonight's discussion: the book, of course (Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential), Crazy Mike (aka "The Mall Walker"), my friend and fellow teacher who has to lie about smoking to be eligible to win a cool million, crappy interns, "Happy Birthday to Poop," "Can someone please check me?") It never stops.

Tonight's book club was at la casa de Stumpe. Good food, good wine, good friends. For what more could I ask?

Ahh, to be 2 again.

It's so exciting when you get clothes for your birthday and you get to try them on...in front of everyone. Lauryn will rue the day her daddy decides to show the video to her prom date!
Phew. So many presents, so little time. It's hard work being the birthday girl.


A couple of photos from Lauryn's second birthday party.

I'm relaxing a bit before heading off to book club, but I thought I'd throw these on here.