AKJN, circa 1990 / IRENE

OMG - this was 21 years ago!!!!   The hippie look was definately not the best for me!!  That necklace is hideous!  Also notice that I am drinking a wine cooler.....that was probably the last Bartles & James I ever drank.  Axel looks totally normal, and I think we actually have the shirt and the jeans, and they still fit him!  What a cutie :)  So this is about 5 years before we got together.

This was taken at a birthday party for our college friend Lucy, and it was at her boyfriend Buck's house in Virginia Beach.  His house was so cool - the backyard was all tiki huts, dense palm foliage, lights in the trees - we always thought it was an old Magnum P.I. set.  Those were the days - no cares, no worries! 

Our friend Dean forwarded this picture to us over the weekend.  In college, we used to see the band Rare Daze pretty much every weekend. We were all friends, and had a huge group that would all hang together.  One of the gals, Robin, was smart enough to take pictures of everything back then, and has been posting them on Facebook.  As we don't FB here, Dean keeps us posted on the college gang, and forwards pictures like this one to us.  Neither Axel or I had ever seen this picture before, so it was so fun to look at it together, and (surprisingly) actually remember details of that night!  We both remember eating chocolate chip cookies with pot in them that night, and how awful they were!  It was like biting into grass clippings.  Still ate them :)

Current events:

I had to continuously take Xanax over the weekend - I was so worried about Irene, and all of our peeps up and down the East Coast.  Of course I was mostly concerned about my mom, and sort of raised her anxiety level, too, as I rattled off all the things she should be doing with each phone call.  By Sunday morning, I was a real wreck.  I was sneaking watching the Weather Channel and CNN - anythime Axel came in a room I was watching the storm coverage, he turned the channel and take the remote from me!  On Sunday, I called mom at 9am (6am Cali time) immediately upon waking, prior to having coffee, and I still don't remember what I was saying to her.....Axel was telling me to put down the phone, while my mom was telling me to get my coffee.  Within 5 minutes, Axel had me tucked in bed with my coffee, tissues and Opus doll, and held my hand while I blubbered for  a little bit.  He assured me everything would be okay, and that mom would be fine.  Why is he so smart?  Mom was completely fine - a tiny bit of water in the basement, but superstar Raymond went over and took care of it for her Monday.  Thanks, Ray!

Latest movies:

Thor - we watched it last night.  I loved it!  The actor playing Thor is young, blonde and buff, and Natalie Portmen is really cute in the movie - total non-serious role.  We gave it 2 thumbs up.

The Tillman Story -  I read 2-3 books on Patrick Tillman last year, mainly because he was from this area.  I was completely familiar with the story while watching, but Axel was blown away by the story.  I totally recommend this movie, but it's not a "feel good" story.

Peace Out, peeps!  So glad everyone got through Irene okay - you guys have been getting bitch slapped on the East Side lately!