there are a lot of ducks and geese that hang out around my office building. when i left today, i encountered this guy at the back door:

do you hear me say “oh!” and fumble with the camera at the end? that is because i just looked around and up and realized there was another, angrier goose on the ledge RIGHT ABOVE ME. so that is when i panicked and ran away.

urban geese are not as friendly as urban turkeys, let me tell you.

because i’m terrible at keeping up, i am now, almost three weeks later, going to share the photos and videos i took with my iphone at this year’s saintly city cat show. MEOW!

my favorite judge, walter hutzler, was back again this year. maybe you want to watch a video that includes him? my friend, mary — who attended the cat show for the first time this year — shared this video with me. so great!

persian so fluffy she be lookin’ like a sausage.

i think the most common breeds at the show are usually rex kitties and persian kitties. total opposites, right?

honestly, i left my dslr at home this year because i thought i probably didn’t need to come home for the fourth year in a row with 200+ photos of cats that aren’t mine. there are oodles of kitties that i wanted to photograph (such as an american curl! i’ve never seen that breed before.) but i’m glad i had the iphone because it takes excellent video — which came in handy when the vulcans showed up!

first, vulcanus rex knighted the prince of replacement (cat show) judges.

then he knighted the people’s choice award winning kitty, an egyptian mau named mica. the most adorable moment happens at about 1:52.

i love hanging out with other crazy cat people. and cats. in fact, little miss sio kitty is taking up most of my lap right now — every night she tries to separate me from the computer but my arms are long and i can still reach the keyboard!

PURRS! (that one’s for you, vani!)

</crazy cat lady… for now>

how does this song make you feel? tonight it makes me feel a little blue, though i still like it a lot.

i heard it on my way home tonight, after attending my company’s holiday party. i’ve only been working there for a little over a month, so i don’t know many people beyond my immediate team. unfortunately being an introvert got the best of me tonight — trying to socialize while there’s a loud blues band playing? not happening. i just can’t stand trying to yell conversation at people.

i guess i’ll just have to keep trying. a little bit at a time.

a couple saturdays ago, jason and i went out for a fancy date night. i wore my pearl necklace and a skirt, that’s just how fancy it was.

we went to see his friend, steve clarke, play jazz at a french pastry shop in eagan — pardon my french. i don’t usually get down to that area very often, but it was worth the trip. at one point, both jason and i had our dslr cameras out and we were taking photos of our food. a waiter paused at our table, “oh, is this your first time eating french food?” “no, we’re just nerds,” i replied. he explained how excited he was about the food as it was his first day of work in the restaurant.

we ate cheese, and for my dinner i ordered a couple quiches and a french onion soup. i thought it was all pretty delicious! i also thought that i need to learn how to whip up a quiche.

i’m sort of interested in that whole “domestic goddess” thing. i want to try it.

steve was really excellent. he played slow, romantic songs and fast, funny songs. (one was about a bag of potato chips…)

when jason introduced us, steve was quite the gentleman and kissed my hand. is anything better than french pastries and dapper men?

and then the passion cake arrived. oh, did it ever. YUM.

my handsome, artsy boyfriend ordered creme brulee, which was also YUM.

it was a really splendid night. my man sure knows how to plan a good date!

this is me, putting florence + the machine on repeat for the next few weeks. please stand by.