Red Beans and Rice: August 2007

...or at least it’s the closest we’ve come to parenting. Junior and his brother Ziggy showed up in our new backyard the day before we moved into the new apartment. For being stray street pups they were quite clean and healthy looking (besides the flea and tick infestation). We quickly accepted our fate when our friends Sage and Brad decided to adopt Ziggy. In the past 2 weeks Junior has become our son, and has brought us immeasurable joy. He is a 7 month old 40 pound mostly rotweiler, but the mutt in him will keep him from getting too gigantic (we hope). He is grateful, mellow, faithful, potty-trained, and overly affectionate…PERFECT! We hope Junior will satisfy my mom’s desire for grand babies, for at least five years… :) just joking, sort of.

After spending the first week cleaning, painting, sneezing, and getting shocked (literally), we’re finally feeling at home in our sweet new loft apartment. It is equipped with a sound proof room for Johnny’s music, an office for me, high ceilings, brick walls, and a fenced-in 3 acre backyard (today Johnny and Brad turned black trimming bushes and trees, mowing, leaf blowing and scrubbing the back while Sage and I had a glass of wine and chatted). Our new neighborhood is in a run-down slightly diverse art district not far from the Perkins Center. Our building seems to be an old warehouse/restaurant that has been converted into two very unique apartments (Erin, and Nuno from Portugal, live in the other apartment and have a plastic furniture hobby/business), a garage used by friends for a concrete counter top business, and a massive photography studio.
So if you’ve ever considered visiting Jackson, now is the time to COME VISIT US! We are eagerly anticipating upcoming visits from good friends Sarah, Denise, Andrew and Luke.

Johnny has really been enjoying his new job as slicer, dicer, mixer, and baker at The High Noon Vegetarian Café inside Rainbow Whole Foods Grocery Store. He is a natural in the kitchen (news to me:) and of course, everyone loves him. He eats for free, brings home tasty things to sample like egg-less salad, tofu tuna, fake bacon BLT’s, and Johnny B’s Vegan Chili, and we get 25% off everything in the grocery store where we do most of our shopping.

Through much persistence and nagging, I’ve finally received a full ride to Jackson State University through an academic diversity scholarship (for being one of only a handful of white girls). I’m grateful and eager to get back in the classroom, taking Political Science, Economics, Dance, Urban Studies, and Social Work courses.
I was also just offered a waitress position at a local gyro restaurant and start training today. We’ll see if it fits.

We are welcoming these transitions, excited for a new sense of freedom and change of scenery. Peace and love to you family and friends,
Em

Hopefully all these photos make up for the past couple months of inactivity…