Feeding treats to the new critters! ˆ rats ˆ

We bought them a wheel, but they didn't use it. At first we thought it was because they didn't understand what they were supposed to do in it so we kept picking them up and putting them in it. They'd run for like three steps then climb out. Over time it because apparent that they understood, but they just didn't really like excercise. (Meredith: "See? Rats ARE really smart!") ˆ rats ˆ wheel ˆ

Tuesday night I went over to the meat packing district to the place that used to be called G0! (who knows what it's called these days...you know you're old when you're just content to call a place what it used to be called years ago)... ˆ crowd ˆ

...to visit Sarah who was DJing there. ˆ sarah ˆ dj ˆ

Gurj and Brandon getting their free-drink on. ˆ brandon ˆ jeet ˆ

Sarah and Gurj had been telling me for weeks that one of Sarah's new interns looked JUST LIKE ME! I was skeptical, but when Gurj introduced me I was sort of like "Whoa, yeah." ˆ me ˆ bizarro me ˆ

Wednesday night I went down to the Knitting Factory to see Nightmare of You play! ˆ nightmare of you ˆ poster ˆ

Brandon's so dreamy. ˆ band ˆ nightmare of you ˆ

I don't know who Constantine Maroulis is, but I do know that this photo makes me very, very happy. ˆ jeet ˆ best ˆ

On Saturday night I brought a big bag of jewelry that Tara mailed me over to Home Sweet Home to shoot photos for Leviticus Jewelry. My first model, Sarah! ˆ sarah ˆ leviticus jewelry ˆ portfolio ˆ

Then I shot Annabella (my secret jailbait-crush! Shhh!) ˆ annabella ˆ leviticus jewelry ˆ portfolio ˆ

Then I shot Leigh (who was there playing hooky from MisShapes! Shhhhh!). People call her "Princess Coldstare" for good reason (because I mean, look at that look! Seriously!), but Leigh's the best because as soon as I put my "fancy" camera away... ˆ leigh ˆ leviticus jewelry ˆ portfolio ˆ

...Princess Coldstare was instantly replaced by Princess Retardedface! ˆ leigh ˆ ugly face ˆ

Ugly face time! ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ ugly face ˆ

Take two! ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ ugly face ˆ

Hahahaha. ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ balloons ˆ ugly face ˆ

We took a quick dance-party break! (Who's that creeping on the dance floor?) ˆ leigh ˆ surprise ˆ

And then went back to making stupid faces! Here's Leigh and Sean. ˆ leigh ˆ sean dack ˆ ugly face ˆ

Oh, a smoosh-face ugly-face combo! Nice! ˆ leigh ˆ smoosh ˆ ugly face ˆ

Then, just when I thought things couldn't get any uglier, Andrew Borin stepped it up with this gem! ˆ andrew b ˆ ugly face ˆ

Which was pretty much a spot-on accidental recreation of Anthrax's "The Not" from back in the day! ˆ anthrax ˆ not ˆ

Check out Edie showing off her little blue windbreaker... ˆ edie ˆ best ˆ dogs ˆ hoodie ˆ jacket ˆ

...which we later realized pretty much exactly matched Meredith's little blue windbreaker! ˆ edie ˆ meredith ˆ dogs ˆ jacket ˆ

We gave her her very own giant cheeseburger (CD carrying case) and she was perplexed. ˆ edie ˆ burger ˆ dogs ˆ

But then she figured out that it was for biting. ˆ edie ˆ bite ˆ burger ˆ dogs ˆ

Later that night, a whole bunch of people came over for Cranium! ˆ amanda ˆ katie ˆ leigh ˆ meredith ˆ cranium ˆ

Meredith reading a clue and getting ready to perform charades. ˆ meredith ˆ cranium ˆ

Her team was stymied... ˆ amanda ˆ katie ˆ leigh ˆ cranium ˆ

...but managed to guess the correct answer right at the buzzer! Success! (This photo makes me so happy) ˆ meredith ˆ best ˆ cranium ˆ excited ˆ jump ˆ

Amanda using Leigh as a puppet! ˆ amanda ˆ leigh ˆ cranium ˆ laugh ˆ puppet ˆ

HAHAHAHAHA. Edie's totally like, "FUCK! How in the world am I going to get them to guess this one?" ˆ edie ˆ best ˆ cranium ˆ

On Tuesday night Amy and I went on a super-long bike! We started out on the east side of Manhattan and then rode all the way down around the bottom and over to the west side. Right at the beginning of our ride, we took a smoke break and then like 45 minutes later I realized that I'd left my backpack sitting on the bench! The bag had a ton of shit in it, iPod, books, keys, two cameras (!!!). I was bumming because I pretty much figured it would be gone by the time we got back... ˆ amy k ˆ bike ˆ

...but it was sitting right out in the open on the bench where I'd left it! ˆ amy k ˆ thumbs up ˆ

Amy told me it was only there because it was my bag. If the bag had belonged to her, it would've been gone. Hahah. ˆ backpack ˆ

On Friday, Tara came from Texas to stay with us for a couple of days! Yay! We hadn't seen her since her and Greg's wedding in March! Here she is showing Meredith new pictures of Lucy. ˆ meredith ˆ tara ˆ phone ˆ

Meredith went to bed early... ˆ meredith ˆ asleep ˆ bed ˆ fur hat ˆ

...but not before I snapped this adorable pic of her! ˆ meredith ˆ bed ˆ fur hat ˆ smile ˆ

And Tara and I went out and hit the town. 4am pizza! ˆ tara ˆ pizza ˆ

Nighty-night, Shitso! ˆ tara ˆ couch ˆ

I was out running errands on Saturday and came home to find these two having themselves CraftFest 2006! ˆ meredith ˆ tara ˆ crafts ˆ

Shrinky Dinks? Really? Amazing. ˆ meredith ˆ tara ˆ crafts ˆ

Later that night we tried to get Meredith to come out with us, but she had a bunch of homework to do for school. So she decided to stay out home with Piper the Laser-Eyed Chiuaua (who we were taking care of for Ellen). ˆ meredith ˆ piper ˆ couch ˆ dogs ˆ laser ˆ studying ˆ

Piper's tongue is too big for her mouth and so it's always peeking out. Heartbreaking. ˆ piper ˆ dogs ˆ tongue ˆ

We started off the night locally at Revolver where we ran into Gideon and one of his "fans." Sunglasses at night indoors? Check! Avenged Sevenfold shirt sans sleeves? Check! Finger-less gloves? Check! Wow. Just wow. ˆ gideon ˆ douchebag ˆ sorta famous ˆ strangers ˆ

Seth Miller was in town and he came to meet us! How did I never realize that Seth and Gideon pretty much look like Bizarro brothers? ˆ seth miller ˆ phone ˆ

We left Revolver and started walking west on Rivington which led us directly past the apartment where Tara used to live back when she lived in NYC! *Sniffle!* ˆ tara ˆ sad ˆ

We hopped into a cab and headed over to MisShapes, where after years of internet friendship (dorks!), Tara and Leigh finally got to meet in person! Awww! It was a picture-perfect moment... ˆ leigh ˆ tara ˆ misshapes ˆ

...until Seth ruined it was his "vagina mouth" intrusion. Hahaha. ˆ leigh ˆ seth miller ˆ tara ˆ misshapes ˆ vagina mouth ˆ

Sean hates vagina mouth. ˆ sean dack ˆ barf ˆ misshapes ˆ

Then we made stupid faces! ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ misshapes ˆ sad ˆ ugly face ˆ

Leigh does her impression of a stressed-out elf! ˆ leigh ˆ misshapes ˆ

Tara weighed in large-and-in-charge with RAPTORFACE! ˆ tara ˆ bunny ears ˆ misshapes ˆ ugly face ˆ

Goodnight! ˆ seth miller ˆ tara ˆ misshapes ˆ

Sunday we went to a meeewvie. Leigh holding up the snuck-in (and incredibly chill) Edie in her lil' wiener-sweater! ˆ edie ˆ leigh ˆ dogs ˆ sweater ˆ

And then later that night we played Cranium! (Man, we really played A LOT of Cranium back then!) ˆ catrinel ˆ fatty ˆ meredith ˆ tara ˆ cranium ˆ

Edie! ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ sweater ˆ

Fatty working it on the Sensosketch tip! ˆ fatty ˆ meredith ˆ cranium ˆ

Tara and Cat. ˆ catrinel ˆ tara ˆ cranium ˆ

Tara re-enacting her preggo days! (As I'm writing this, Tara's actually knocked up again for real! Her second kid, a boy named Tex is due in June!). She left for Texas bring and early the next morning! It was great seeing you, Shitbird! Bring Greg and the rugrats next time! ˆ tara ˆ preggo ˆ

On Tuesday night I went over to the Hotel on Rivington to celebrate the release of one of Em & Lo's new books. And Lo licked my face. ˆ lorelei ˆ me ˆ lick ˆ tongue ˆ

The hotel is brand new and filled will all sorts of crazy modern furniture like this chair made out of braided rope that'd been sprayed with some sort of epoxy. It looked awesome... ˆ chair ˆ

...but felt like ouch. Hahah. ˆ meredith ˆ uncomfortable ˆ

On Thursday night, my co-workers and I took out Rob DeBaun to celebrate his departure from the company. Here's Montero pressuring Rob into drinking a shot! ˆ mike montero ˆ piotr ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ shots ˆ

Down the hatch! ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ shots ˆ

Once you've managed to convince someone to do one shot, the second one's a piece of cake! ˆ jeff car ˆ piotr ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ shots ˆ

Coworkers + Beers + Shots usually leads to just one thing... ˆ piotr ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ shots ˆ

...Co-worker Karaoke! After we were all pretty much sauced, we headed up the street to a nearby karaoke bar with private rooms that Dan Kwok knew about! Here's Phil and Dan kicking off the karaoke jams! ˆ dan kwok ˆ phil modestin ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Christine and Julie. ˆ julie ˆ mcquade ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Rob (check out the slow-blink drunkeness! Awww, yeah!) and Levi. ˆ levi ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

I sang and... ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

...simultaneously did my impression of Sly Stallone. "Yo, Adrian!" ˆ sly stallone ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ yell ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ ian ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Christine did a lil' go-go dance while Ian sang and Ralph RAGED! ˆ ian ˆ mcquade ˆ ralph ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

You know a karaoke party is in full effect when people start having difficulty operating familiar technology...like doors. ˆ levi ˆ drunk ˆ

Ralph and Melissa...giving it! ˆ melissa h ˆ ralph ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Hahaha. There's nothing better than a party with your co-worker that gets to the point where all inhibitions have completely vanished. Christine and Ian are singing their hearts out and Rob's just feeling it and dancing. Awesome. ˆ ian ˆ mcquade ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ dance ˆ karaoke ˆ

Levi and Melissa. ˆ levi ˆ melissa h ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Jazz hands! ˆ ralph ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ jazz hands ˆ karaoke ˆ

Phil and Christine. ˆ mcquade ˆ phil modestin ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

Melissa, Levi and Dan... ˆ dan kwok ˆ levi ˆ melissa h ˆ cci ˆ karaoke ˆ

...chose Hotel California as the final jam of the evening. ˆ karaoke ˆ lyrics ˆ monitor ˆ tv ˆ

Ralph Bishop won the Karaoke MVP award for using Melissa's leg as a guitar to play the entire guitar solo. Hahahaha. ˆ levi ˆ melissa h ˆ ralph ˆ best ˆ cci ˆ guitar ˆ karaoke ˆ

"You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!" Not true! Farewell, Rob! It was great working with you! ˆ levi ˆ mcquade ˆ melissa h ˆ ralph ˆ rob debaun ˆ cci ˆ group ˆ karaoke ˆ

Ratso and Roxy! Rats are so funny and smart: any time they have a treat, they're worried that the other rat is going to try to steal it from them. When we gave them both treats at the same time, they experimented with different cage positions before finally settling on the "mutual butt-touching treat-enjoyment position." They back up into each other and know that as long as they can feel the other one's butt, they can enjoy their treat in peace! Hahaha. ˆ ratso ˆ roxy ˆ best ˆ rats ˆ

I thought that having pet rats would be similar to having a hamster or a gerbil - that they'd just sort of be things that sat in a cage looking cute. But in the first few weeks of having them, I was amazed by how smart and friendly and genuinely interested in people they were! They're like teeny tiny dogs! Hahaha. ˆ ratso ˆ roxy ˆ climb ˆ rats ˆ

Later that night I met up with Dave and Vin in the East Village for some beers... ˆ dave g ˆ vin ˆ

...and some Big Buck Hunter! Triple Buck bonus, y'all. Not once... ˆ buckhunter ˆ videogames ˆ

..but twice! I'm a video-deer-slaying champion! ˆ buckhunter ˆ videogames ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ vin ˆ buckhunter ˆ videogames ˆ

Quality time with Ratso. ˆ me ˆ ratso ˆ

Later that night, Mer and I went out to Siege and Katie's for some Cranium. (Again!) ˆ cranium ˆ

Mer and Katie basking in the warmth of the fake, TV-fire. ˆ katie ˆ meredith ˆ cranium ˆ

I got a text from my friend Miye that she and a bunch of her girlfriends were hosting a karaoke party at 205. I wasn't going to go all the way down there alone, but then I figured I'd at least try texting Amanda before blowing it off (since she's is the only person I know who's insane enough to entertain a "wanna go to karaoke?" text at 1:30am on a Monday night. Hahaha). We got there a little before 2am and found the place in full-effect! ˆ crowd ˆ

Miye! ˆ me ˆ miye ˆ hat ˆ

She took the stage shortly after our arrival... ˆ miye ˆ hat ˆ karaoke ˆ

...for a duet with her friend Banao. ˆ buanao ˆ miye ˆ hat ˆ karaoke ˆ

There wasn't much of a stage, so Amanda hopped up on a crate and got everyone's attention by doubling-up on the mics! ˆ amanda ˆ double fist ˆ karaoke ˆ

Then handed off the second mic to some girl and turned her solo into a duet! ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ smoke ˆ

It was also right around this time that we realized that most of the other people that were singing karaoke with us were actors. Apparently, they were all working on a movie that was filming nearby. Anybody have any idea what movie filmed in 2006 starred Matthew Lillard... ˆ matthew lillard ˆ karaoke ˆ sorta famous ˆ

...Balthazar Getty Liev Schreiber, Rosie Perez... ˆ liev schreiber ˆ rosie perez ˆ karaoke ˆ sorta famous ˆ

...and Sam Rockwell? ˆ amanda ˆ sam rockwell ˆ karaoke ˆ sorta famous ˆ

Hi, we have a karaoke "problem." ˆ amanda ˆ me ˆ

Thursday night I went over to Sarah's to catch up and so that Monkey and... ˆ dogs ˆ monkey ˆ

...Edie could spend some QT together. (Leigh was traveling again and so we got Edie for a few more days! Yay!) ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ monkey ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ

Edie's a face-licker, alright. ˆ edie ˆ meredith ˆ dogs ˆ hoodie ˆ lick ˆ

Meredith shows off her newly-cleaned teeth, courtesy of Edie. ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ hoodie ˆ laugh ˆ

Ready for bed, weiner-dog? Ok, then go ahead and tuck yerself in! ˆ edie ˆ bed ˆ dogs ˆ

Edie climbs under the sheet head-first, makes a u-turn, and then pokes her lil' face out. Adorable. ˆ edie ˆ bed ˆ dogs ˆ

Mom's home! Leigh came over to pick up Edie and she and Meredith modeled their matching shades. I love how Edie's sunglasses are sitting on her snout and her little doggy legs are just hanging down all slack. Hahaha. Best. Photo. Ever! ˆ edie ˆ leigh ˆ meredith ˆ best ˆ dogs ˆ sunglasses ˆ

Goodbye, Edie! We'll miss you! ˆ edie ˆ leigh ˆ dogs ˆ sunglasses ˆ