a very merry birthday

Erica & I, originally uploaded by thebany.

my friend, erica jacobs, turned 30 this week. we had a really fun little get-together for her yesterday. it was a really special time to be able to spend with her and her husband, brian durham. both ben and i have shared many experiences with them. she is a special person, and someone i am increasingly grateful to be able to know and love.

happy birthday, erica!

infradig: last show

infradig's playing their farewell show tonight at rhythm & brews, downtown chatty. it says on the website that it's supposed to be starting @8. of course, the starting time will probably end up being much later than that.

if you're not up to anything, you should be there. and if you are up to anything, you should still be there.

bh is out

2 Bens and a B, originally uploaded by thebany.

kiko made japanese curry (yum yum) and we said fairwell to ben horner last night. bye bye bh! don't forget to write...

soldier boy

what do you call it when someone gets to spend 15 whole months in a land of sunshine and soft white sand? some call it vacation. the military calls it deployment. and my brother is up and leaving for whichever you want to call it very soon.

ever since we were kids, there was no possible way to get michael to make a normal smiling face for pictures. we took a whole bunch of pics when we were visiting with them this last weekend. i actually did get him to smile like a normal person in a couple of pictures, but this one is so his true personality. i had to post it.

i love you, brother!

petoskey stones

we went hiking out to lake michigan through the sleeping bear dunes on sunday. the dunes are absolutely enormous. it was about an hour hike, much to our surprise. the length of the hike is not due so much to the distance from where we parked to the lake as much as the enormity of the hills we had to climb, all soft sand mind you, in order to get there. it was worth it.

ben is looking for petoskey stones in this picture. they are some sort of fossilized stones, ancient coral or some such thing, that can be found in just about all of the lakes up here. they are also the official "state rock."

i ripped this picture from wikipedia. due to their popularity, petoskey stones are much harder to find now.

first day of vacation

vacation!

ben and i are headed up to michigan tomorrow for 2 weeks (!) at his family's cabin on glen lake. i am so very excited about it. we, well, ben hit the ground running the minute we got back to chattanooga mid-may. this is a much deserved rest for him.

the first week will just be us, a kind of second honeymoon (yippee!), and the second week his parents and grandmother will be joining us. this is quite a special place to the weaver family. his grandparents bought the property and cabin when dad (weaver) was a kid. ben spent the better part of many summers up there with his family. i am so looking forward to finally seeing the place that he told me about when we very first started dating.

i might post while we're up there, but we'll see. if not, it's probably because i'm relaxing by the lake :)