eager little mind

Natyananda Dancer

Originally uploaded by Mojo Denbow’s Photo Studio.
Check out Chris’ Magic City Art Connection Flickr Set. We had a great time checking out the art, various dancers, bands, and the great food at the Corks & Chefs tent.

Chris was asked to photograph a local art show this weekend, the ONB Magic City Art Connection. With press passes in hand and free tickets to the Corks & Chefs (which for me will be all about the chefs and none of the corks.. drat) that’s where we’ll be this weekend. Check our Flickr accounts in the next few days for pics and for the big reveal (we hope) after my 20 week ultrasound, May 2nd.

Photos Exist To Be Shared
Chris & several of his friends from the photography and online world put together a PhotoCamp conference this weekend at the Homewood library. Here’s Chris in action.

For the last week or two I’ve thought I might have felt Baby, but the sensation was so very faint, I couldn’t be sure… that is until last night. Chris & I were going to bed and I felt a very distinct KICK (well, it was really like someone flicked me) right where the baby should be, followed by a rolling flutter, or a very small earthquake. At first I was startled. In fact I think I might have scared Chris when I yelled out, ” I think I just felt the baby!” Today I didn’t feel much of anything until after lunch. Now Baby has been really active.. maybe he/she liked the Popeye’s Red Beans & Rice I had. In a little over a week and a half we will have our 20 week ultrasound. Hopefully Baby will be moving around enough so we can see if we are expecting a boy or a girl!! Might have to eat red beans & rice again.

I am completely incapable of keeping a surprise from Chris, especially with gifts. Granted, most of the time I hate trying to keep a secret, end up spilling too many “hints” and then end up giving Chris his gift immediately. But sometimes he just guesses right off what it is. For example, today at Whole Foods I stumbled across some Johnny’s Jamaica Me Crazy seasoned salt & pepper. Chris & I have been searching all our local stores for the salad dressing, Johnny’s Jamaica Mistake, since Costco stopped carrying it several years ago. So I snatched up the seasonings and casually mentioned to Chris later that afternoon that I bought him a treat from Whole Foods. This is pretty much how the conversation went:

Jenny- “Hey sweetie, I bought you a treat from Whole Foods.”

Chris- “Brisket?”

Jenny- “No, I thought we had enough leftovers that you wouldn’t want BBQ. Anyway, it’s not a prepared food item”

Chris- “Did you get me Jamaica Mistake, or Jamaica Me Crazy”

Jenny- Silence, then “Maybe?”

Ok, how the heck did he guess that?!? I haven’t seen Chris since this morning around 7:00. As far as I know there is no private eye tailing me. We’ve looked at Whole Foods before and been unable to find it. He could have guessed a fancy cheese, or gourmet beer, or a lemon blueberry cream cake from the bakery, but no, he zeroed in directly on the seasonings. Unbelievable.

Last weekend we took advantage of Chris’ Good Friday holiday from work and headed down to Mobile/Gulf Shores, AL. This was just a scouting trip to check out the sights and see if we might want to come back one summer and rent a condo on the beach for a week. We had several previous trips planned which always got interrupted by hurricanes or Baby Denbow (C&J’s Mexico cruise 2007). This time the weather was clear, but cold, only in the 60’s!!

Friday we headed to the USS Alabama Battleship in Mobile. Just a word of advice, if you ever decide to visit, don’t wear flip flops. If was hard to climb up and down all the steep ladders between floors when your shoes were always falling off.

I was bored out of my mind, but tried to be a trooper, even when I bonked my head climbing up the ladder to one of the upper decks. Chris says it’s because the opening was just barely larger than my ginormous head. Real funny. But I think Chris enjoyed himself. While we were planning our trip I kept referring to the Battleship as a Battlestar, which Chris also pounced on. “What Battlestar would that be, the Galatica?” While we were roaming around the ship there were several large displays of Battlestars.. ha ha, I did see a Battlestar in Mobile.

After the Battleship we went to Ed’s Seafood Shack in Spanish Fort, AL for some fresh gulf shrimp. I don’t think I’ve ever seen bigger fried shrimp- at least three bites a piece. Food was good, not as good as the shrimp in Savannah, but we still enjoyed ourselves. After lunch we went to Dauphin Island, then Bayou La Batre (which you will remember was where Bubba was from in Forrest Gump). When we pulled in Bayou La Batre the town was dead, I mean no one on the streets. We could tell on the way that there was a fire close by. Later that evening we learned that arsonists have been setting parts of town on fire for several days and the town had been evacuated. Here’s a shot of the shrimping boats- can’t you just see Forrest Gump floating by:

We finally headed back to Mobile to crash for the night and woke up bright and early for the outlet shops in Foley, AL and finally Gulf Shores. The water and beaches were very pretty, nice white powder sand, clear blue/green water. Almost couldn’t believe you were in Alabama, until you went into a restaurant and saw all the rednecks.. this is the Redneck Riviera after all. After lunch at the Original Oyster House and a quick tour of town, we headed into FL to score some bootleg FL liquor. Alabama has very strict liquor laws so several brands of beer that Chris enjoys, like Kalik, aren’t available. We toured Pensacola then headed back to AL and the short trip home.

Saturday Chris got us tickets to see Opera Birmingham’s production of La Boheme. It was a great evening and we had wonderful seats. The only complaint I had was the venue (and the crazy, smelly Italian lady sitting next to me who was singing along, but that’s another story). Although the Alabama Theater is beautiful and historic, the stage was so tiny that I thought it looked a little cramped. The Tulsa Opera did a much better job on stage design when I saw La Boheme in high school. Chris had never been to the opera before and I think he liked it (or at least tolerated it since he knew I really wanted to go)! Heck, I even got all dressed up & let him take pictures (which I normally try to avoid- the picture taking, not the dressing up). Let’s just say it’s a good thing that the opera was in March, because I don’t think my little black dress is going to fit me much longer, at least until after Baby Denbow’s arrival.