Pictures from my birthday day.orPosting pictures and writing captions seems like less work than just writing a post.

Our new place is significantly smaller in square footage than our condo in Texas, so we have had to situate our furniture and items differently here, which is taking some getting used to. For example, Bela's palace tower, which used to be in our indoor-balcony-ish sun room in our condo now is in a corner of our bedroom right next to the bed. So I often wake up with Bela staring down at me from atop his tower, willing me to wake up so that I can spoon him some delicious wet food like a good servant. But at night, I like when he perches up there because it's like he's my very own rescue panther. 

This is what 32-year old Ysabel looks like right after waking up. My eyeballs are going cross-eyed in their old age. Har har. Just kidding, I did that on purpose. It's better than duck face, amirite?

Next stop: Kitchen for my daily cup of crack. Look at Bela moving swiftly as he demands his wet food breakfast. He's so impatient!

And then it's off to the backyard for a few minutes so BB can activate her lady walnut while I sip coffee on our little deck. It's warm here, but not super hot (yet?) so it makes for a disgustingly idyllic morning. When the little yellow butterflies flitter about BB as she prances about the grass, it's sickeningly cute.

And then I go inside and drown myself in my tub of toffee nuts. Ugh. Why do I buy these things at the grocery store, when I know I'm just going to gorge myself on them uncontrollably and then regret it immediately after? Um, because toffee nots are delicious, that's why. Doy.

True story: The first thing I thought when I saw this sticker on our duplex-mates' car was "Oh my god, they're Kate+Sawyer fans!" And then I realized that this probably had something to do with skateboarding instead of LOST. But whatever. It would have been pretty cool if it was about Kate and Sawyer, is all I'm saying. Skateboarding is cool, too. (Not as cool as LOST.)

Bela looks how I feel about turning 32.

So fresh and so clean clean!

You don't learn this pose until you reach Level 10 of yoga master training!

My birthday present to myself was a cute new yoga mat from TJ Maxx. Look what I spotted across the way from the parking lot! Due to open in a few weeks, I think. Wheeee! Also, don't pay attention to that giant crack across Schmooblebottoms' car's windshield. I toyed with the idea of getting it fixed as his Christmas present last year. And then I learned it'll cost like $600. So I got him a sweater instead.

And then I decided to not be totally lame and head to downtown Lexington to check out some bars or restaurants or something to celebrate my glorious birth. Parking in a big (?) city is something that I dread everywhere except for San Francisco (go figure), so I was a little intimidated by this adventure - especially since I was by myself and I am convinced that there are rapists and murderers hiding behind every car and concrete column. Luckily, the parking garage I chose was literally right next to the police department. And, yes, I totally circled my way up the levels until I came across the perfect spot that was both right next to the elevators/staircases and next to where some unmarked police cars were parked. Try and catch me now, knife-wielding maniacs!

I spotted a policeman-on-a-segue while I walked around.

The restaurant at which I had specifically planned to have dinner was not scheduled to open for more than a half hour after I parked, so I decided to walk around downtown Lex and kill some time. I was just looking for a coffee place, but I just kept passing bars, pubs and restaurants. So I gaaave in and sat outside Sidebar Grill and enjoyed a refreshing gin and tonic in the fairly-bearable heat (Texas has made me strong). I sat at a small table by myself while, to my direct left, was a hipster dude doing the same. Just a few minutes later, another hipster dude went up to his table and they exchanged pleasantries while the second guy pulled up a chair and sat down. After just a few seconds of eavesdropping (like I could help it), I quickly gathered that they did not know each other at all and just decided that it would be okay to sit at the same table and just make conversation. I thought it was actually neat, but - do people do that?! Maybe it's an unspoken hipster code that you are allowed to sidle up to fellow hipsters at bars and just strike up a conversation? And why wasn't I included, anyway? I was wearing skinny jeans! No bangs, thick-rimmed eyeglasses or vintage tee, though. And I was totally typing away on both my iPhone and iPad (borrowed from Schmooblebutt). Maybe that was a turn-off.

I like collecting matchbooks.

This was what I was staring at for 30 minutes while quenching my thirst at Sidebar. Kids playing in a fountain. How cute. I hope that water isn't from the sewer.

A couple blocks down, as I made my way to Alfalfa restaurant. See the horse bush sculpture in front of the fountain feature? They like horses in this state, in case you didn't know.

Alfalfa. Specializing in organic and local ingredients. Whee! Directly across the street is my scary parking garage o' hidden criminals and right next to it is the police station.

The window right next to my table for one.

I ordered the local lamb curry masala with a mango chutney, a tomato bisque and a glass of organic northern California red blend. Omg, do I sound pretentious or what? Whatever, it's my birthday.

Happy Birthday to me!

Schmooblebutt is away at Nerdville until next next week, so today I celebrated the 32nd year since burgeoning from my mother's loins solo. Meh. If I didn't actually put pressure on myself to do something today, I would have been perfectly content to just stay home and watch a marathon of Big Rich Texas on the Style Network all day (FYI those women and their daughters are awful). But I knew I would get a craving for cake at about sundown, so I consulted Oogly Googly to see about some good, well-liked organic restaurants (look at me, I'm fancy and high-fallutin') in town and decided on Alfalfa Restaurant in downtown. It was good. I'll post more pictures tomorrow when I don't have the slight aftertaste of gin and wine on my tongue and a deep desire to just plop down on the couch and watch some bad television.

Also, I went to TJ Maxx and bought myself a pretty new green yoga mat ($12.99!). Because nothing says "I need to start doing some more ass-raising exercises. Now!" like turning 32. 

Two pictures in lieu of writing about those seven things I listed previously.

BB's first real walk around the neighborhood! Our new place is a duplex that has a small yard out back (albeit not fully enclosed since it opens up to our driveway), and our favorite morning ritual is for me to put my eyeballs in, stumble to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, then sit out on the small deck while I watch BB do her morning business. She's really good about not going past the driveway - and retreating immediately when she gets too adventurous and I yell at her to come back - but I would never be so confident as to let her out back unattended. Anyway, she's usually pretty happy with a few backyard visits throughout the day, but it is nice to go on a short walk exploring the neighborhood every once in a while. 

Except this time, we got to the high school that's just a block behind our house and I saw a police officer that must have just finished telling a homeless vagrant (a rare sight around here, I can assure you) to vacate wherever it was he was loitering. And then when BB and I completed our neighborhood circle and were just about to walk back down our driveway, I saw that same vagrant crossing the street just at the nearby corner! Chances are, he is completely harmless, but seeing as how I have become addicted to watching murder mystery shows on the ID channel (Keith Morrison narrating: "It was a regular Saturday morning...in the pleasant toney neighborhood. Nobody would ever suspect anything bad would happen in this quiet, peaceful enclave. Especially not.....murderrrr."), I obviously did what any paranoid, murder-conscious young female would do and immediately back tracked out of our driveway and milled about on the sidewalk while keeping a wary side-eye on the poor guy just to make it as un-obvious as possible that this was where I lived. And then when his back was turned, I dragged BB quickly back inside our house. And then hightailed it to the front window to keep a lookout and make sure that he wasn't staking the house waiting for the perfect time to kidnap BB. Ah, it's good to be paranoid. Maybe less ID channel and more Food Network for a while.

Anyway. I like our neighborhood a lot. There are quite a few convenience stores and coffee shops within a mile from here - if only BB were capable of walking 2 miles round trip on a regular basis (and by "BB" I mean "Ysabel") - and even a weekly Sunday farmers market and organic food co-op!

In other news: What in the hell are BB's front legs doing in this picture?

This is what we call BB "cooling her walnut." Her favorite post-walk position.

Ohai from Kentucky!

So much to tell you about.

1. Last weeks working for our university and telling the students that Schmoobles and I were leaving.

2. Packing up our Texas life. (No longer "Texass" since we have left and now we have nothing but good memories. Funny how that works, right?)

3. Road trip! i.e. Arkansas highways suck.

4. New duplex. Oh hello, Home Depot and Target! Hello again and again and again.

5. Lexington.

6. I is a doktorul student!

7. Poor Internet technician numbnuts from hell.

But in the meantime, here is the link to my Facebook album from all of the above.