One of my relatives just forwarded me an email about how anti-semitic modern Germany is. I wasn't even able to read all the way through before I got too annoyed to constructively respond.

Hello, dears.

Drew, love, my thoughts are with you and your family. I wish you strength.

Connie, I hope the reunion goes better than you think it will. I heard somewhere that the reason family really knows how to push our buttons is that they installed them! I'm so sorry you're going through this right now.

Annabel is v. cute and thoughtful.

o_a, dude, I am with you on the unpacking. amyth and I have been here a month and it's shaping up, but slowly. Oy.

meara, glad you had a good time w/ the girl.

Just popped in to catch up, really. May or may not be on later.

Happiness is putting yourself in the hands of a Nordstrom's bra fitter.

I've been wearing some of my old maternity/nursing bras for several weeks, after the last of my favorite but now discontinued bras gave up the ghost. I spent a week or so trying to find some hidden stash of the discontinued style somewhere online, and this is the first time I've had a good chance to get to a mall since I gave up.

The Nordstrom's lady kept apologizing for not having a larger selection in my size and telling me if I came back next weekend during the anniversary sale there would be more. I said I might come back the weekend after that, but I'd be at a writers conference next weekend and needed a better bra right away so I could go try on clothes for said conference. And we eventually found one that worked so well that I think I look five years younger and ten pounds lighter.

I think I found a good outfit to wear to the conference award ceremony. It's business casual, but since contest finalists are apparently called up on stage, I sorta wanted something new and flattering. So I shopped with the mindset I talked about here a few months ago--what does the writer I want to be, the kind of person I think I am on the inside, look like on the outside?

I ended up with a very sheer, very detailed (lots of pleats, sort of a self-fabric dickey panel) blouse worn over a camisole, both in black. It was the last thing I tried on, because I thought it was too busy to be flattering to my body type. But the details fall at just the right places to make me look all hourglassy, and the fact it's black keeps all the detailing from looking too foofy and girly for me. So I'm happy. And I feel pretty. And I've got at least three pairs of pants it could work with.

I'm starting to remember why I used to love to shop...

ION, the garden on the deck off our bedroom, with a glimpse of the view beyond. I love reading out there on cool summer evenings: [link]

Annabel planted the carrots: [link]

Squinty smile: [link]

d, was that one of the Danskin triathlons? My daughter participated in one here in Wisconsin. She and a couple coworkers did it as a relay. Alexia did the 20k bike. She's all stoked to do another, now.

But the details fall at just the right places to make me look all hourglassy, and the fact it's black keeps all the detailing from looking too foofy and girly for me.

I bet with the new bra, it's KILLER.

Also? Annabel is too cute, and she has such shiny shiny hair! Is it thick? It looks like it's crazy thick.

No jury would convict if I killed the neighbors right now, right? I'm back in LA for the night. I'm picking up my car and driving back to San Diego in the morning to save on rental car costs. The neighbors up here are having a party tonight. They have a band that's been playing for over an hour and my whole house is shaking from it. Also? It's mostly ranchera and mariachi music. I think they've just switched to a DJ. I'm ready to go get a chainsaw and see how many I can kill.

I share your love of Nordie's bra-fitters, Susan. I was in the same situation (still wearing old nursing bras) and ended up getting two new, French bras at Norstrom recently. Makes a HUGE difference in how clothes fit. Glad you found something that makes you feel sexy and pretty.

Still can't get over how Annabel is morphing into this beautiful big girl!

Continued ~ma and {{{}}}, Drew.

Annabel is adorable.

DF and I need to get bra fittings like whoa.

We just booked our honeymoon trip! We're going to the Florida Keys in mid-September. Three nights in Islamorada and 3 nights in Key West. Can. Not. Wait.

Annabel is too cute, and she has such shiny shiny hair! Is it thick? It looks like it's crazy thick.

It's pretty thick--unfortunately, she got my tangle-prone hair and tender head, hence my leaving it in such a low-maintenance style. She can get something fancier when she's old enough to care, and hopefully old enough to style it herself!

I bet with the new bra, it's KILLER.

It totally is. I was going to buy shirts, then bra, but concluded on my first trip to the fitting room that wasn't such a good plan. So I left the pants I'd already picked with the nice helpful Lane Bryant staffer, went to Nordy's for the bra (because the Northgate LB doesn't carry large cup sizes in stock) and then went back to LB, wearing the new bra. It was such an improvement in looks and comfort that the bra fitter suggested clipping the tag off of it so I could wear it out.