Kiss Me I'm Bloggish

Last week I was bestowed, by the fabulous des, this wonderful award:


I failed to acknowledge this in a timely manner because, as a recipient, I am supposed to send the love onto ten other bloggers! Ack! Are you kidding? Have you seen my google reader? I subscribe to at least 50 blogs, and I read all of the 'friends shards items' AND I am a prodigious reader of several hundred other blogish sites (Stroller Derby, TWOP, PBN, Philadelphia Weekly, ad nauseum). So cropping the list down to ten was keeping me up at night!

First, I would love to return this love to des. I feel a burning desire (no pun intended) to see her tattoos up close and in person. Plus, it's fun to live vicariously through her. She just up and moved from NYC to Detroit (home of the Stanley Cup Champions, boo.) FOR LOVE! How cool is that?

Secondly, I want to call out my Philly homegirl Lora. She's one of those ladies who is going to be a big famous blogger one day, I'm sure. Funny? Yes! Adorable spawn? Check! Read her, so I can be cool when I said I knew her when...

Amy from Chicken and Cheese. Quite possibly the front runner for 'blogger I want to meet in person the most' award. Seriously. When she announced she was pregnant and not coming to BlogHer '08, I was happy for her and then totally devastated that she wasn't going to be there. P.S. I'm totally not stalking you!

Suzanne from C.U.S.S. Any blog with the word 'snatch' in the title is a winner in my book.

(Sidebar: did I ever mention that 'Snatch' was my dad's nickname in high school? I don't care to speculate on the origins of that nickname AT ALL.)

Janet from every samurai needs a mommy. Here's to rekindling old college friendships! And cute as hell babies!

The High Heeled Mama, because ATL represents. I miss you guys! Plus it's her one year blog anniversary (I loathe the term blogiversary and refuse to use it in a sentence unless it referencing how much I hate it) so go over and wish her some happy more to come!

Catherine, because her and her lady parts need all the love they can get. Plus: new baby happiness!

Susan, over at Stuff and Nonsense. Write more, damn it. Our thursday phone dates aren't cutting it! I need the written word of Susan!

The New Girl. If you don't finish that birth story in the next few days, I will find you and force you to tell it to me in person. And I mean that in a totally fun, non-threatening way!

And finally, Miss Zoot and her whole brood. Again with the new baby deliciousness! All these bloggers having babies are really out to make me ovulate, I just know it. Plus she was the originator of the lovely pink and green template I used to use before I broke it.

So there it is. My ten. There are ten more, and ten more beyond that, but I am tired. Thanks again Miss d for your continued love and adoration of my cute-as-buttons offspring!

Beans Beans the Musical Fruit

This morning SOB and I trotted off to the bank to get a cashier's check for the final deposit on our lovely new home. Even though we don't live right in the heart of town, we do live in Atlanta proper. So imagine my surprise when a little old man in overalls walked in with four plastic grocery bags overflowing with beans. He got in line for a teller, and when it was his turn, he set the bags o'beans on the counter. The woman greeted him in a familiar way, and they exchanged pleasantries. He asked her to wait one minute, and he went out to his truck and brought in two more bags of beans and two bags of zucchini. Before he even started his transaction, half the bank employees had gathered 'round for some beans. The zucchinis he had brought in especially for a certain someone, and they let him go behind the counter to deliver them in person. After he had doled out his produce, he made a cash deposit and moseyed back to his truck.

Now that's something, I'm willing to wager, that I'll never see in Philly.

North VS South: A Cop Out

I try and write my North VS South posts on wednesdays, but it is just so crummy here that anything I would attempt would just end in a totally unfair victory for the north. Look:



See, now don't you want to fetch me some hot cocoa?

North VS South: A Two-fer

Well, I was planning on doing my North VS South post this week on politics, in light of yesterday's elections, but then I realized that I know very very little about Georgia politics. The only thing I could come up with was that they have more conservatives and republicans, and to me, that equals bad. But I don't want to write an ill-informed post and I also don't want to take time to do the required research to write said post. So? New topic!

This week, we will focus on community/neighborhoods and, as a bonus, the pests that live in them! Two things which I have a great deal of experience with, as I have lived places and also I have had other species living there with me.

Let the games begin!

Philadelphia and it's outlying suburbs are very neighborhoody, for lack of a better word. Each part of town has it's own unique identity and vibe, as does most of the towns in the suburbs. Artsy? Go for Northern Liberties, Queen Village or New Hope. Rich as all hell? Then you want Rittenhouse and Gladwynne. Young and hip? Give Manayunk and Conshohocken a try. No matter where you are, though, you can always find an interesting place to live. Part of the charm of Philly, in my opinion, is that it wears its age well. Yes, there are new condos going up all over town, but it's still very easy to find streets like Camac, which is only wide enough to accommodate a horse-and-buggy. There are row homes and old trinity houses, which may have been remodeled on the inside, but the exterior looks the same as it did hundreds of years ago. Even though all of these neighborhoods touch and sometimes overlap, there is an overwhelming feel of community. Yes, there are occasionally disagreements where boundaries overlap, but it's because the city is such a huge part of who the people of Philadelphia are. It's a part of their lives that they are more than willing to fight for.

While Atlanta does have quaint little neighborhoods and some towns out in the 'burbs that have a nice local feel, between them are vast roads and massive developments that cut the communities off from one another. I would love to spend more time in places like Little Five Points, Midtown and Decatur, not to mention the million places I don't even know exist yet. But then there are places like Atlantic Station, where you live next door to Ikea, Old Navy and California Pizza Kitchen. Since when did people live in malls? There is nothing wrong with places like this, per say, but they lack a true identity. Atlantic Station could just as easily be Lake Michigan Station or Puget Sound Station. Overall, I think that this hurts the population of the city. I rarely hear people say they are from Atlanta. I can think of two people I know that would say that, and despite the fact that I have few friends, I have met a lot of folks.

Finally, the pests. I have had personal experience with both kinds, and all I need to say is this:

VS

No fucking contest.

Winner: North

P.S. As always, I am more than happy to entertain your suggestions for topics in the North VS South debate. Bring it.

North VS South: NFL Smackdown

(Yes, I know this is late as all hell, but given my sour state lately I thought it best to put off the comparison until my mood improved, even slightly. I would have only bored you with the inevitable 'wah wah wah, the south sucks, I hate it here, etc.' Please forgive me.)

We started out this season so giddy and full of excitement. Despite the Eagles poor performance last year, fans were hopeful that without the distraction knows as Terrell Owens they would be able to get it together for another stellar season. Who knows? Maybe another trip to the Superbowl! Probably not, but a girl can hope, right? But now they're four and four, with the two most recent losses to Tampa and Jacksonville! Thank the christ they don't play Miami, because surely they would lose and get a hat trick dick slap from America's wang. They have the top ranked offense in the NFL, so WTF guys? How could you not score a touchdown against a crummy team that had half of it's defense on the sidelines with injuries! Where is the offensive line? Donovan got sacked four times last week! I can only hope that you are spending this bye week thinking about all of the ways in which you've let me down.

You know who else has let me down? The mother fucking Pittsburgh Steelers. Two and five bitches. That's all I need to say. Ben, check yourself into some sort of convalescent home and get healthy because you are flushing this team right down the toilet. Troy Polamalu, getting tackled by your hair is the only thing that's gotten you mentioned in the headlines. Oh and special teams? You blow goats.

Meanwhile the Atlanta Falcons, and in particular Michael Vick, are the only thing keeping me from weeping openly on Sundays. There was talk in the pre-season about Vick not maturing into a championship quarterback, but lately the future looks a whole lot rosier for Vick and the Falcons. And they are a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
So who wins it this week? It's a tough call because there is still a glimmer of hope for the Eagles if they manage to get their shit together. And while the Falcons are fun to watch, they'll never fill the hole in my heart left by the Steelers.

Winner: North!

North VS South

Welcome to the newest feature on the Cheese Party, North VS South! Every Wednesday I am going to attempt to compare and contrast these two geographical locales in relation to something of matter to me. I'm hoping that by doing so, the Dr. and I will have an easier time deciding where the fuck to live come next July. At the end of each battle, I will declare a winner. It'll kind of be like the civil war, only in blog form and without the nasty racism. First topic: Grocery Stores!

When we lived in Philly, we had an Acme directly across the street from us. We also had several other grocery stores within just a few miles. Here in Atlanta, we have a Publix directly across the street from us, and we also live very close to several more stores. This has it's pros and cons, but that is another subject entirely.

In Philly, I wouldn't dare to get within 100 feet of the Acme after 4pm. Once people started getting released from their jobs, the place became an absolute jungle where it was every man, woman and child for themselves. People would run you over in the parking lot if they saw a good spot opening. A tweaked out body builder who couldn't figure out the self checkout once threatened Dr. SOB while he was wearing Sam in a snugli. We ended up ringing out his Icy Hot for him in order to keep him from killing my baby. The lines were eternal at all times of day or night. Shelves were never stocked, especially if the item was on sale. The produce was shitty.

Down here, it's an entirely different story. Yesterday we went to Publix at 5:45pm and the place was downright calm. We ambled up and down aisles with nary another shopper. And those few that we did encounter were polite to the point of insanity. All items were easily found, the staff was more than helpful and there wasn't a line to be seen at the checkout. The produce was fresh and crisp looking. All in all, it was a pleasant experience. As it has been every time and at every store.

I declare The South as the hands down winner of the battle of the grocery stores!

Stay tuned for next week's topic: Football! Also, I would be overjoyed to hear any ideas or suggestions from you, my dear readers, for future battles.