closing time

we're buying this house tomorrow!
we're pretty excited.

nites 'n white satin

saturday night magically transported us to what we imagine high school prom in 1987 might have been like. we imagined bright clothes, bad lipstick, big hair, and a rat tail. i can't imagine a better way to celebrate molly's 30th birthday. behold, the prom queen....
here is the prom committee proudly displaying their banner announcing the night.
prom is not complete without a balloon-ensconced backdrop for young couples to stand near and pose awkwardly.


fierce!
there was dancing under the mirrorball to sweet tunes by toto and soft cell.
happy birthday prom queen!

cats!

my sister sent me this lovely valentine's day video a few years ago. it features a wonderful cat named otto. all 3 minutes of the video are worth your time, in my humble opinion.

c.o.t.s. is on!

despite the musicians strike, concerts on the square will happen according to schedule this summer. yes! according to the wisconsin state journal, "the wisconsin chamber orchestra’s musicians have committed to playing this summer’s six-show concerts on the square series, guaranteeing that the popular concerts will go on despite a long-running contract dispute." it would have been a devastating blow to the summer if the concerts had been canceled.

get you picnic baskets ready. the first concert is only 8 weeks from yesterday!

mendota mental health institute

this afternoon we took a bike ride around to the north side of lake mendota to tour the grounds of the mendota mental health institute. founded in 1860 and formerly known as wisconsin hospital for the insane , mendota mental health institute is a functioning psychiatric hospital, and has a long an interesting history. it was the eventual home of the notorious murderer and grave robber ed "the butcher of plainfeild" gein, who fashioned trophies, keepsakes, and furniture from bones and skin.

on the grounds are a number of old hospital buildings which have either been abandoned or repurposed. it's an interesting place, although it feels very solemn, as i don't think it would be a very nice place to have to live. below is a stitched-together photo of the old main hospital building, which is no longer in use, and awaiting potential demolition.

building 25 appears to be the home of music therapy. you can see the lake in the background.

this is where marta would live if she worked at mmhi a hundred years ago.
there are a lot of trails around the grounds, including this one which leads out onto a small peninsula known as governors island.

you can see the capitol across lake mendota from governor's island

there's something a little eerie about strolling through the woods on the grounds of a mental health facility. we couldn't help but thinking that it was the perfect setting for a ghost story. and then we came upon this...

and this...

it was hard not to imagine something creepy going on in this shipping container, so we moved on rather quickly.

forward!

spring in madison marches forward with the coming of the first farmers' market on the capitol square.

*'forward' is the wisconsin state motto

friday!

crazy cryin' crazy crazamazin'

i don't want to say why, but i will say that we were watching aerosmith videos on youtube when we discovered a young josh holloway stealing alicia silverstone's back pack in the crying video. who is josh holloway, you ask?
it's sawyer! from lost!

easter weekend

part I:
yesterday, we celebrated easter with the scott family.
we made bunny bread (bread shaped like a rabbit, a scott family tradition), and had general merriment and festivity.

part II:
thanks to a few east side buddies, we celebrated again today.
the party was complete with some classic easter competitions, including an easter egg hunt, spoon race, and standing long jump.

matt and dave demonstrate skill and precision during a heated race with spoons, eggs, and beer.
leo, reed, matt, erik and david go for standing long jump glory.

happy easter from the staples (who were, incidentally, this year's easter egg hunt champions).

kenny rogers roaster

remember kenny rogers roasters?
it was so delicious. i really miss it. it had the best rotisserie chicken, the best side dishes, and the best 70s/80s country music of any national rotisserie chicken chain. ever.

according to wikipedia, it is still quite popular in asia (particularly the philipines), and there is still one left in america (ontario, ca). it might be time for a road trip.

happy easter....

...from the easter cats.

10 days until...

we can hardly wait.

spring?

we awoke this morning to find several inches of snow blanketing the ground.

the spring lilies will persevere through this minor setback...

...as will our backyard friends.

also, there was a donkey named festus at church today for palm sunday. so, despite the snow, the day is off to a good start.

j.c.v.d.

the reviews on jcvd the movie are in:

"5 stars" - the marta and david times

"the performance of a lifetime" -the staple telegraph

"a must see" -the east wilson tribune

"if you only see one jean-claude van damme movie in 2009, this should be the one" -the staple

"jean-claude's best performance since bloodsport" -david's entertainment gazette

"the muscles from brussels is back" -the daily staple rambler

"unequivocal" -marta monthly

wff

tonight will be our first taste of the annual wisconsin film festival. we can't wait! we have tickets to 24 city tonight at mmoca. tomorrow we go to the orpheum to see jcvd, the long anticipated return to action of jean claude van damme. david's been excited about jcvd for a while. he even blogged about it in october of 2007.

on saturday, the climax of the film festival excitement arrives. the winter of frozen dreams will be playing at the monona terrace. we plan to get in line as early as possible for tickets. keep your fingers crossed! this movie promises unparalleled excitement. it's a true story about a two murders in madison in the 1970s. but wait! it gets more interesting. the murderer is a young beautiful undergraduate, studying biochemistry (biochemistry!) at the university of wisconsin. at night, she is a prostitute who forms relationships with her johns, and then takes out life insurance policies on her johns. then things go wrong, and then they go horribly wrong. the assistant district attorney at the trial is none other than our own govenor jim doyle. wow. the book, written by the owner of movin' shoes on s. park street, is riveting. i can't wait to see this movie.