Cuatro de Cinco

Katie had a Cuatro de Mayo barbecue yesterday, which means that these dudes wear straw hats.


And in what can only be described as a Cuatro de Mayo miracle, a ladybug flew inside and parked right on Katie's bangs.




Remember the other day when I posted a bunch of crappy pictures of stuff in our neighborhood? I forgot to include the picture of my neighbor's parrot, which she lets out every day.


When we first moved in it said goodbye to me and I responded. I hate birds.

Photo Essay #14: DC Going Away Party #1,283,643

Leaving DC is one of the great pastimes of the city. Let's move to New York! Let's move to LA! Let's move to San Francisco! Let's move to Petaluma!

Our friends


are moving to Oakland, which is like San Francisco but with more popular sports teams. So we had a going-away barbecue for them yesterday in Petworth, where only people with beautiful children are allowed. Seriously, look:

During the afternoon, we did things that people do at barbecues, like playing horseshoes,


arguing that our horseshoe abilities are far superior to others,


eating frozen plums,


and taking naps on the front steps in our own label's t-shirt.

That's Petworth, y'all!

But seriously. Piero decided that in lieu of gifts, he would sell some of his art (which he is good at) to raise money for the cross-country trip. Perhaps the best one, however, was a sheet of drawings by Clarissa's nephew. They are either ruminations on modern life, character studies for new superheroes, or some mixture of the two. Whatever the idea was, it produced something amazing:


This one is "Xler8", which is how kids spell "accelerate" now. Really, you can use the "8" for anything with the "-ate" sound, like "sk8" or "ber8". Xler8 looks to be a cross of donkey and cleric.


Next up is "Four Arms," which isn't a creative name at all.



Luckily, he recovers with "Ripjaw", which is a turtle in medieval battle garb. Its jaw isn't ripped; rather, it rips other things' jaws.


Then is "Stink Fly," which is gross.


Ahhh! "Ghost Freak"!


"Heat Blood" sounds like a 70's movie, but it's not. It's blood that is the product of heat.



Bored with violent and gross imagery, he moves on to "Diamondhead," which is a rabbit with ears made from big diamonds. He subdues his enemies with them in some way or another.


"Grey Matter" is probably the coolest one of all: a brain that anthropomorphizes and kicks ass.


And finally, in a tip of the hat to Beyonce and perhaps the pop music world in general, comes "Upgrade." On second thought, it might be a tip of the hat to the nerd world. The head looks like it could be a PDA or 3G phone. If that is the case, I would've recommended the name "Motherboard" instead.

Photo Essay #11: Good Sunday Guidelines

Step 1: Be awoken with offer of free tickets to ballgame.

Step 2: Agree to accept tickets. Bike to ballgame. Biking to the ballgame makes one feel superior to the chumps driving or metroing. Exercise and it's faster.

Step 3: Roll in during the 4th inning.


Step 4: Snacks. Washing shorts before taking the picture would be preferable, or maybe wearing clothing that hasn't been worn to work for last two weeks.

Step 5: Ooh! The Cracker Jack Prize!

Step 6: Beware, because the Cracker Jack prizes suck now.

Step 7: Look! It's DC's version of Milwaukee's sausage race, only with dead presidents! Things we learn: Teddy Roosevelt is a lout, a drunkard, and a skirt-chaser. George Washington pulls it out in the end. Abe Lincoln survives.


Step 8: Woot! Home team rallies to win. Kid in front of us cheers in the wrong direction, solemnly.


Step 9: What to do now? Philadelphia Water Ice, that's what. One mango, one pineapple, please.


Step 10: Mmm.


Step 11: Barbecue. Natch.


Step 12: Hot dog + ketchup + mustard + EXTREME GOLDFISH.


Step 13: Good day.

Photo Essay #2: Of the First Barbeque of the Season.

We got an extra hour of sunlight yesterday (the government can legislate TIME?!?), which required us to have a barbecue. Here is a brief checklist of recommendations for having a successful first barbecue of the season:

1. Have beautiful, cloudless day.


2. Purchase party balloon. Preferably pirate-related.


3. Put on your new shoes.

4. Cook up all the bacon in your fridge. Eat only 2 or 3 slices while cooking.

5. Tunes! Barbecues need tunes. Preferably vinyl. Include Debbie Gibson and the Dead Boys, if possible.

5. Get friend to bring you enormous steak.

6. Eat ribs like an animal.


7. Feed cheese-injected hotdog to vegetarian. Try to photograph the incident, realize that camera cannot comprehend the event. Post blurry photo anyway.


8. Adjourn to bar with photobooth. Take session with friends, and one by yourself. Everyone needs to take photobooth pictures by themselves once in their life. Or once a week.


9. Walk back home. It is nighttime. Only stay awake for six more hours. Repeat next week.