Wine Lips: What Libby and I have been waiting for since about 1999

Hi, Everybody!

Okay, this is Part I of "what Bruce and Brax have been up to." I have decided to go in reverse order, starting with the most recent, Harry Potter weekend at last! As you all know, Libby and I are crazy Harry Potter fanatics. The depths of our fandom are eclipsed only by the 15 year olds who write fan fiction and run those Harry Potter websites. Websites which we may or may not check daily.

So, in celebration of the book being released, Libby and I always go out to dinner with Barb (Libby's mom) and a rotating cast of friends and family. After a long, wine-filled dinner, we always go to Joseph Beth's, an independant bookstore in Cincinnati, to get our books. This year, it was me, Libby, Barb, Libby's cousin Topher, Matt, Josh, and Libby's cousin Stephanie, and Stephanie's son Frankie. The drive down to the restaurant was uneventful until Barb hit something on the road, and we heard a loud "Bang!" I asked Barb if she blew a tire, and she said, "I don't know! I'm still rolling!"

Wellll.... Once we got to the restaurant (a good 5 miles down the road), it became clear that Barb had indeed blown a tire. After everyone freaked out about what to do for a second, it became clear that we all needed a drink inside the restaurant. In order to stop Bruce's mom from wandering the streets of Cincinnati looking for fix-it-flat, Josh and I decided to slip back outside and change the tire.

Well, Josh mostly changed the tire. I helped thusly:

Finally, after 45 minutes, the tire was changed, and we were finally seated on the patio. DInner was delicious, and many funny things were said. Unfortunately, the only picure I have is Libby's husband doing this:

Finally, after we were rushed out of the restaurant by the staff, we made our way to Joseph Beth's. Now, I want to preface this by saying that we have always gone to the same store for our books every year, and we have always bought pre-paid vouchers, which have enabled us to walk in at 12:15 or so, and walk right on out with our books. So, imagine our surprise when we showed up at 12:30 to this mess:

Whoa! What a line! We stood here for at least an hour. Here we are, with our vouchers. I have decided to hold my voucher in front of my face and cross my eyes for this picture:

We stood in line so long that we started to sober up, so we sent Matt and Frankie (aged 16) to the gas station on the corner for more wine. Yep, those are some classy dames in that picture. While we brown-bagged the wine, we noticed all the different costumes. All the little kids were dressed up like harry, malfoy, or luna. THe adults, however, had some pretty creative ones, like the guy dressed in a long, flowered nightgown. What a bunch of nerds we are! I had to yell at a handful of bad seeds who were flipping to the end of the book and trying to read the last sentance out loud. I bet they were scared straight.