freedom.

the day has finally arrived. i have been freed from the snowbound hell that i have been in for the past week. yes folks one whole week: 7 days, 268 hours, 10,800 minutes, 604,800 seconds...you get the picture. i have been released from my prison, but my poor car is still iced in. baby steps, baby steps. but for now, i feel like i have gained a small victory after being imprisoned in my own home.

i did however enjoy a lovely stroll (ice skating session) with the dogs yesterday. i was actually stopped whilst walking them and told that i was brave to be walking 2 dogs on the ice. fair, but he didn't understand my vitamin d deficiency or my lack of caring anymore, because i could finally go outside using the sketchy steps on the side of my house (the driveway just ain't happening.)

speaking of sketchy; one of my favorite things about working in the ghetto, not the deep dark ghetto (that does border us, but we are not "exactly" in that area...close, but not quite), is being the token white people. now with white guys, it's not that big of a deal, but a little white girl in the ghetto is something of a sight. take for instance, getting gas. there are lots of awkward stares, friendly smiles, and of course asking for spare change. but my all time favorite is going to the bank. sometimes on fridays, i don't want to drive to my house to make deposits, so i just take a left instead of a right and go to one of the two that are within walking distance (a mile...that i'm not walking). one is next to a classy strip club - the bouncer cops are out there at approximately 11 o'clock everyday...a little early for strippers if you ask me, but who am i to judge? i normally go to this bank. darwin thinks i am crazy, but i've grown rather fond of it. most of the time i go through the drive-through or the atm, but sometimes, just sometimes, i get a little too bold and i venture indoors. THAT makes for a fun afternoon.

the cops know me by now, and i guess assume that i am not out there to purchase drugs so they just leave me be. they used to look at me very concerned, but not anymore. when i do venture indoors, it gets deafeningly quiet. people stop and stare. quite literally STOP and stare. the tellers all look a little frantic, but whatever.

my second favorite token white people encounter was at the quiznos that was open for about a week. darwin and i went in twice. neither of us care anymore, because people are too shocked to bother with you. but it is fun to see the looks on people's faces when they walk in and see two white people just sitting and eating like it's nothing. always throws them for a loop. we went one time with one of our sales guys. he was overly concerned with the area we were in and kept needing reassurance that everything would be okay. darwin and i just nodded and kept right on eating. he however, was a little squirrely and always apprehensive when darwin and i would take him to restaurants right by the shop. well, he was just a little squirrely in general.

darwin and i's all time favorite restaurant was a persian restaurant called Kabobee. it was the greatest place ever. we knew everyone there, they knew us. it was a win win situation. oh and it was delicious! i'll tell you all about kabobee one of these days...

the cupcake has absolutely no relevance, other than the fact that i want one.