Out walking the dogs

Sunset

'shrooms!

Found while walking the dogs.

Peach Beer

Peach Beer

BB's

BB's

Mother's Day Weekend

Pics to follow, but it basically went like this....
New Haven Care Center - Tea with Grandma & Mom
Drive to Columbia
Meet the Webers for dinner
Javier show @ Cherry Street Artisan
Sleep...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Up Early for breakfast with the Webers at Main Sqeeze
Coffee @ Kaldi's
Head to LacubriousToo's Mom's
Lunch & Visit
Drive home
Finish FINAL Final
WHEW!!!!!

The gramaphone

Lites @ the gramaphone

Cinco De Mayo in STL

Jmb@cherokee st.

Saturday...

Mas margarita?!

Paul's Results!!!

Here are Paul's Race Results - WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul's Running For It - Fundraiser

My cousin's husband is running in the Boston Marathon and is raising money for the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter in Boston.

Check out his running blog here and the Pine Street Inn site.

The donation site is below. Give if you can!

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K-man deciding which jm songs should be on the next cd.

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Windex Margarita?!

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Book journey tickets

Javi@brandts

Post fever euphoria!

Footloose! @ ECC

We attended another ECC Theater event, Footloose! This time Holly was able to really shine and show off her singing and dancing abilities. She played Rusty in the show. Also, Ryan got in on that act as a spotlight operator with the crew. Awesome!

We waited too long to get our tickets and were stuck in the back of the theater. I won't make that mistake again. We really need to just sign up for The Patron of the Arts program.

The Wedding Singer

We enjoyed an evening out with a friend from work and her son, who was home from college. She had bought tickets to the performance of The Wedding Singer at The Fabulous Fox! These were special Fox Club seats, so there was table service and an assigned parking spot. Very nice!

We decided to grab some dinner along Grand Avenue and ended up at a Vietnamese place located down the street from Erato Wine Bar. The service was great and the meal was tasty. I had a tofu dish with onions and lemon grass.

After that we headed to the Fox and arrived in plenty of time to get to our seats. They were great, plush chairs with little tables for drinks and snacks. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine and settled in for the show. It was entertaining. There were some story line changes compared to the movie, but it was very enjoyable.

Sunmotel @ 10 Mile House

Opening band for Sunmotel...

We drank more than we ate!

Javiermendoza.com

Written on a window at Shakespeare's Pizza.

Flashback to the AVE in Spain...

I found this picture on my cell phone. It's from our vacation to Spain in June '06. We took the AVE (high speed train) from Madrid to Toledo and Sevilla and Cordoba. Although, I'm not sure which trip this one was. Most likely to Toledo as that was our first foray onto the train system!

Gourmet Salad @ Home!

I made this delicious salad with spring mix, mandarin oranges, grapes, dried cherries, goat cheese, carrots, walnuts, and raspberry cabernet dressing.

Los Cabos! Yum!

Salsa!

Dinner at Mom's

Saturday night we headed to Mom's for a pork chop dinner! Normally, I wouldn't blog about it, but I thought, well why not?

We have no photographic evidence, so here's an image I found online.

Although truthfully, we had baked potato, green beans, and a recreation of a salad from Dewey's pizza (spring mix, feta cheese, grapes, and walnuts with a Raspberry Vinagrette, thank you). All yummy and wonderfully prepared by Mom (except for the salad). Add a glass of Merlot and voila, dinner is served. Thanks Mom!

Javi & the Band @ Old Rock House

IMG_2461
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Great show! Smoky bar! You win some you lose some. This was another Live Feed Event, I'll talk more about the show on JavierTrueFans.com.

We headed out with the Jonezes on this night. Grabbed a fabulous pizza at Dewey's in Kirkwood! Goat cheese and sundried tomatoes...can't go wrong there!

Then we headed to the Old Rock House to catch the show. The opener was Dave Tamkin. I'm not a fan of the sound at this venue, but we ended up with a CD and I have to say this guy is pretty good. He's out of Chicago.

Javi and the band played a fine show. The crowd was receptive and supportive. We had to bail right after because the smoke was too bad. Unfortunately we missed hearing My Left Arm. I'll have to check them out online.

L-Too got some great shots at this show. Check them out!

Javi @ Old Rock House

IMG_2667
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Dave Tamkin @ Old Rock House

This musician opened for Javier Mendoza @ the Live Feed Show @ The Old Rock House. Check out his website at www.davetamkin.com.

Galesburg, Illinois

So...LacubriousToo and I headed to Galesburg (brrr-ass-cold), Illinois for a Javi show and a chance to get outta dodge!

The drive was only 4 hours, which is just about my limit these days for travel by car.

We "blew" into town around 3pm, checked into Comfort Inn where we found our room to be a sweltering 98 degrees! The 120 degree temp difference between the minus 30 wind chill and that was a bit much.

We chilled for an hour or so, then headed our to find some dinner. We went to the Packinghouse, but ended up with appetizers and salad bar because we were pressed for time to get to the venue.

The Orpheum Theatre

We got to the venue at 6:30 (Thanks TomTom!) amid a brisk winter wind that practically blew us across the street. (Did I mention it was COLD!)

Javi had arranged for tickets so we hit the box office and were efficiently escorted to the correct seats...which happened to be in the middle of the theatre. We were lucky enough to get seated behind Jaime and Sue. Darrin overhead them discussing Javi and the band so he interupted to ask them if they would mind if he shot photos of the show between them and that if he got too annoying them should just let him know.

As fate would have it, Jaime worked at the Orpheum Theatre and he offered to go ask the manager is we could move down front for a better vantage point. While he was gone Sue mentioned that Jaime was her theatre student (she teaches at Carl Sandburg College) and had gotten to go backstage and meet the band.

Theatre Manager, Kate Francis, came by and said it would be no problem to move up to the handicapped seating area.

Check out that architecture!

The show started out with Kate introducing Javier and the band. This time the "band" was Carl Glad, Dave Aholt, Joe Pastor, and Eric Grossman.

The set was:

1. Blood in the Water


2. Part of History


3. Acorralado


4. Once in a Lifetime


5. Letter to You


6. Dime Luna


7. When You're Not Around


8. Waiting


9. Night in Cusco


10. Julianne


11. Rococo


12. Cordoba


13. Always There


14. Look Around


15. La Professional (encore)


16. We Wasted Our Time (encore)

You can read a bit more about the show highlights on my post to JavierTrueFans.com.

It was a fantastic show, check out more of L-Too's photos below...

After the show, we hit a local bar. (Did I mention the smoking ban in Illinois?) Can you say "breathing easy"? I can!

Anyhow, it turns out the theatre manager, Kate was once (20 years ago) a member of Mr.Wizard, a cover band from St. Louis! We also learned a bit more about the history of the Orpheum Theater, built in 1916.

We finally wrapped it up and headed out into the bitter cold, and agreed to meet Javi and the gang for breakfast at the Cafe & Creperie. Yum!

L-Too and I drove around Galesburg a bit the next day to check out the college, and some of the older buildings...then we headed back home.

Thanks again to my Bro' on Pup Patrol!

Javi & Band @ The Orpheum

IMG_2181f
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Javi @ The Orpheum Theatre

IMG_2164
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Los Cabos and Planning the Weekend

Tonight we met up with another set of friends. I haven't worked up a "blog pseudonym" for them yet. They may have to make some suggestions.

Anyhoo, we enjoyed another dinner with them, this time at Los Cabos. We caught up on the last two weeks and chatted about: Movies, Music, Vegas, "How to give flowers and mean it" ahem, and also this:

Also, I can not believe that I have found someone who has seen more John Cusack movies than I! I am truly ashamed to call myself a fan. I may have to reevaluate my level of comittment to the cause, truly.

On the plus side, I found people who A) Have heard of the movie "Better Off Dead" and 2) Will admit they like it!

Anyhow, another pleasant ending to a rather hectic week!

As far as planning the weekend. MrLacubrious has that all TCO. We're driving to Galesburg, IL. to catch a Javi show. It's a 4+ hour drive, so we're staying over. My dear, sweet, bro has agreed to dog sit, yet again. I don't know what I would do without him! The dogs are big fans too. I think they like the shake up of the caretakers every once in a while.

Choco L'Art & Bowling

The entire Lacubrious Crew plus 2 met up for dinner and bowling tonight. It was the 2nd annual Javier True Fans Dinner & Bowling Classic. You may recall the first annual event where MrsJonez kicked butt at Oasis Lanes. This year was an upset as Javier sweeped the frames and won against everyone. I think he was motivated greatly after betting against each person individually and on different terms. All in all, it was fun and I was not lowest score! Thanks Kristina!

Prior to bowling we had a primer at the Jonez' house, where BlueFrost picked us all up in the Green Machine. We headed over to Choco L'Art in Washington to check out their dinner offerings and martinis.

Everyone else tried a martini, I opted for a glass of merlot, but after trying the espresso martini wished I'd gone for that...yum!

The food was decent, everyone had something different. I really enjoyed the atmoshpere, and we were able to talk even with 7 of us at the table. A very pleasant evening and great prelude to bowling.

After bowling, javi headed home and the rest of us crashed at the Jonez's, ate cheese and crackers, and chilled a bit before heading home....around 2-ish.

Can't wait for next year's event!

JavierTrueFans.com

UPGRADE!!!

Yes! So I signed up for my account on JavierTrueFans.com and my dear friend BlueFrost, upgraded my account so I can make posts to the site!

Now we have a place to park our show reviews, Javier news, and other Javier 411.

Also, Javier himself said he would link to the site once we get some more content online.

Amazing...

Promises, Promises...

So my commitment to post once a week is not working out so well.

Regardless, I'm pushing on and posting what and when I can.

LacubriousToo and I are immersed in our classes. I'm taking an online class in freelance magazine writing, and work has been crazy busy lately. So with all of that we are left with little free time.

That's not saying we are all work and no play. We've managed a couple of dinners out with friends or family. And we've worked our way through our wine stash. I see a trip to Luka's Liquor in our future!

We also have a social event tomorrow night with the entire LacubriousCrew - bowling and what-not. So that will be a welcome break from work.

and IT'S FRIDAY!!!

New Year's Eve...

#1 Margarita (Vallarta!)

#2 Beer Tasting (@ Ed & Kim's)

#3 Wine:

Borsao (Thanks to Ed & Joanne!)

Pepperwood Grove Old Vine Zinfandel



#4 Cheesy goodness with essence of circuit board

#5 Pistachios

#6 Kurtis' Junker KICK ASS Speaker Box - Can you say Ho-made? I knew you could!

#7 Rare Earth Magnets - KILLER Magnetron

#8 Jalapeno Hummus

#9 Hayseed Dixie - Oh No You Di'int!!!






More????

Sweetie-face-Linus & FESTIVUS

Another great shot by Ltoo...It really captures the essence of L-dog.

I just noticed that I am logged into flickr as Ltoo so all these postings appear to be by him! Doh! It really is me...LacubriousOne! I guess it IS too much trouble to log out!

Well, I need to get back to preparing for FESTIVUS.

Yes that's right, all my relatives are coming over on Christmas Eve. We need a better name for our Christmas Eve get together...so I am stealing a name from my boss, who stole it from Seinfeld who in turn got it from a writer who's father came up with the idea...FESTIVUS!

We are however NOT going to be partaking in any of the traditional FESTIVUS events:

For one, it is supposed to be held on December 23rd, NOT DOING THAT.

Also, there will be no Airing of Grievences and no Feats of Strength, and no aluminum Festivus pole.

However, I am NOT ruling out a FESTIVUS miracle...as anything can happen!

Merry Christmas...Peaceful Puppy

LacubriousToo took this lovely photo of Linus under our tree! We are going to try to get another one and include the Baby-dog in it. It would be a great Holiday Card...for next year!

Fall Into Winter

IMG_9858f
Originally uploaded by sunday_photo_chronicles

I feel bad for not using my own photo for my "Peaceful Winter Day" post on Saturday...so this morning I went out and got a few of my own.

Check out my Flickr Site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photo_chronicles/

Props to L-Too for the post photo processing work on these...I'm still learning in that area.

New T-Day Dessert - Libby's Pumpkin Roll

IMG_0026f, originally uploaded by sunday_photo_chronicles.

So I tried a new dessert this year.Oh, but by no means did I NOT make my usual Cheesecake Supreme. They would have chased me outta town with pitchforks!

Anyhow, it's just the recipe inside the label of the Libby's canned pumpkin. It was super yummy! I kept a little wedge back at home so L-Too and I could have a couple of slices the next day.

You can get the recipe here: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=32372

My "roll" turned out a little more oval shaped, but it was still beautiful. I can't wait to try it again.

Senioritis...

I was talking to our friend Kurtis about how angry we've been lately. Angry that is, when it comes to going to evening classes for our Business Management degree, or studying, or working on projects. Fits of anger overtake us and spill into other areas of our life. We wake up grumpy, shout at the other drivers on the way to work each morning, get snippy with people at work, and generally become unpleasant to be around. Kurtis enlightened us, saying "It's probably been awhile for you too, but it sounds like you have a classic case of Senioritis!" But of course! Thanks to Kurtis for putting a name to our disorder!

This week we are finishing a term that, for me, included the two 8-week classes from CMU plus a 16-week accounting class from ECC. I have only two classes to go and L-Too has three. We'll be done May 8th!

Graduation is not formally until August '08. We are still not sure whether we are going to participate in it. I hear you have to pay the $75 grad fee either way, so maybe we should just do it. L-Too just wants to go so they have to build a ramp! Ha!

Then again, it would be a reason to have a little get together with family and friends, plus L-Too's b-day is around the same time! Happy Birthday Graduation Party, anyone!?!

A Peaceful Day...

Foggy Bottoms 3.6.2006, originally uploaded by 10thAvenue.

So we spent today at home, kicking back with a cup of tea, finishing some final projects for our classes and studying. I had the Christmas lights on, Sound of the Seasons playing, both dogs curled up under the tree (so cute!), and it feels very...peaceful.

You can't get much more lacubrious than that on rainy, foggy, December day!

A bowl of vegetable soup and another cup of tea, anyone?

Javier @ Finale Final

IMG_1207f, originally uploaded by dehmystic.

Javi's Christmas Show(s) were rockin'! He played a lot of our favorites, rarities like Selle El Recuerdo & Corre La Mente!

We had a great time, met some new people (Basilio & Christine, Javi fans transplanted from Columbia!) and got to say adios to the venue.

Yes, Finale is closing...the building is going "Senior Condo". Bummer, because the place was great for intimate concerts and has fab sound. Rumor has it that it will reopen in another location, but it could be a year before that happens!

Javi & Carl @ Cherry Street

IMG_0873f, originally uploaded by dehmystic.

The most important thing...Javi had his Christmas Album for sale so we bought two! One for us and one for Mom.

I think we'll need to pick up a few more at Brandt's this month!

We listened to it on the way home and there's a surprise track! But you'll have to pick one up, cuz I'm not tellin!

You can buy one here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/jmband9

Brady Didion @ Cherry Street Artisan

IMG_0844f - Brady Diddion, originally uploaded by dehmystic.

LacubriousToo and I took a quick trip to Columbia on Friday night to see Javi and Carl play at the place where it all began (for us anyhow) the Cherry Street Artisan. We grabbed dinner at Flat Branch (and filled up the growler - Irish Red baby!) and headed over to Cherry St. The place was packed to hear this guy, Brady Didion.

He plays "tapping" guitar. He was accompanied by a viola player and a cahon player and it was very good. Check out his myspace site at:

http://www.myspace.com/bradydidion

He's a local musician and has a pretty big following. He even jammed with Javi on a song.

Hermits? or Lazy? or just plain Busy?

So, how sad is it that we have not posted to this blog since September 30th?!?! We suck! I could rattles off the usual list of excuses:
"No time!"
"We have 3 nights of school a week..."
"Nothing exciting has happened!"
"The dog threw up!"
"I had to take photos for the Sunday Afternoon Group!"
"I had to bake a cheesecake!"
"I got drunk!"
"I had to watch Shakespeare for class!"
"Blogger was down"
"I'm studying for my mid-term"
"We went out with friends!"

The bottom line is...we just haven't made this a priority! So in prep for the new year I make no promises but I will try to post at least once a week! I will also probably be posting some backdated entries, so keep an eye out!

Sarah Bettens @ The Old Rock House

IMG_0743f - Sarah Bettens, originally uploaded by dehmystic.

LacubriousToo can take a mean concert photo!

Sarah Bettens w/US Band

IMG_0571f - Sarah Bettens w/US Band, originally uploaded by dehmystic.

A bass player we know from Javi's band, Eric Grossman, plays a full time gig with another artist by the name of Sarah Bettens. She's originally from Denmark (lives in Nashville) and does mostly European tours, but she had 3 US concert dates recently and Eric really wanted us to see her show when she came to STL.

We were not disappointed! She was great! Great voice and a rocking show. She has a great stage presence.

There were some very loyal fans on hand to see her. I spoke to one woman whose family drove in from Ohio! She had first seen Sarah in California and lamented that she had not been able to see her show since because she rarely plays in the US.

We picked up her latest CD, SHINE and what the heck, I had her sign it for me. She was super nice and made time for every one that came by, posing for photos and answering questions.

I also downloaded a prior CD release called SCREAM from iTunes and I have to say that I really like that one too.

I would definitely check her show out the next time she's in town...a road trip wouldn't be out of the question either!

Visit www.sarahbettens.com

Boston - Day 1

Beer Sampler
Originally uploaded by mhaithaca

The entire Lacubrious Crew headed to Boston for our fall vacation. The Jonez's can only stay until Sunday, but the Lacurbrious's will be heading to CT for a few days, anyhoo.......

Day 1 - We landed, picked up the car and headed onto the Mass Pike to get to Framingham to our hotel. We made it after only one mishap on the Pike, can you say I-93, I thought you could. And then can say, "Helloe Mr Tollbooth guy, can you please direct me BACK to I-90?" I thought you could...

After checking in and grabbing some sandwich grub at D'Angelos, a local sub chain, we got directions from my cousin Lena so we could head to her house for a super quick visit with my Aunt Ruthe, and a longer visit with my cousin and her kids.

We stayed long enough that she finally recommended a brew pub where we could get some dinner and corralled her family together to join us! We went to John Harvard's in Framingham....tasty goodness and beer abounded!

Anniversary Weekend - No Not Pagan Pride Day...That's Tomorrow

IMG_0828f - Robynn Ragland
Originally uploaded by dehmystic

Mr. Lacubrious and I headed into Columbia to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary by attending the Renewable Energy Expo. Now I know that may not sound very romantic, but anything we get to do together is always a good time and this was no different.

We spotted the event on a poster at Schlafly Bottleworks and we were planning to go to Columbia anyway, so we headed to Rocheport instead.

We learned quite a few tidbits about conserving energy, solar cooking, wind turbines, and passive solar. Plus they had beer, wine, and sliced up organic watermelon, cantalope, and peaches for sale. The weather was great and the event was held on some property (vineyard) of Les Bourgeous Winery.

Between some of the presentations there were musical events and at the end was a concert with 4 musicians/bands. We stayed to hear them and were pleasantly surprised by some! The performers were: Robynn Ragland, Leslie Sanazaro, Celia, and The In.

MrL got a few pictures...so check them out! The funny thing is that Leslie Sanazaro used to sing with a band that we almost went to see, called "So Say We All"....and the funnier thing about that is the band name is something we would say on our Colorado vacation every time we made a decision or all agreed on something!

IMG_0884f - Leslie Sanazaro
Originally uploaded by dehmystic