so after months of waiting, of nail-biting anticipation (who are you kidding, borogoves, you do not limit biting of nails to anticipatory anxiety), i know. i know that my toenail will fall off again this year. if you were not around last year, or you have blocked the memory like a child who walked in on grandma and grandpa (nudge nudge wink wink say no more), my big toenail on my right foot fell off, shortly after i posted this.

i went skiing again this year, and thought i had made sure to get good-fitting boots, but alas, comfortable bootwear was not to be. though i had a bit of bruising after leaving steamboat, i naively thought that because it didn't seem to be as bad as last year, i'd keep my toenail. it has progressively changed over the last 4 months, but still, i held out hope that it would eventually just grow out. but then, at the sangria potluck on friday night, i was dancing (was it salsa? or meringue?) with ev, and i stubbed my toe (me, not so much a graceful dancer, much to my dismay). hurt like a bitch at the time, but the freely flowing wine quickly eased the pain. i had painted my toenails a lovely deep glittery red, to (a) hide the disgusting bruised color and relatedly (b) allow me to at least pretend there was nothing wrong with it (what you can't see...). so it wasn't til the next day with i (actually, karl) noticed that it was gooey with mostly dried-up ooze. eew. so i took the polish off, and lo! and behold! there was some pooled blood and a definite gap between the damaged nail and the new baby nail that is growing underneath. sigh... this year, i think i'll save you the pictures.

so, the sangria potluck! it was a smashing success, if i do say so myself. even though it was raining (what else is new in the mid-atlantic during the spring of 2003), and thus we couldn't use the balcony (which you'd *think* we'd be able to use, since it's covered, but you'd be wrong, because it leaks. a LOT), it was loads of fun. a couple of people invited extra friends, and it's always good news for a kick-ass party if you don't know some of the people who show up at the door. we had LOADS of sangria: three white sangrias (one with lemon, orange, and peach, made with asti spumante and peach schnapps, one with pear, kiwi, and green grapes, made with a sweet spanish white, triple sec, and cognac, with a little club soda for sparkle, and one with strawberries and mint, made with cheap sweet champagne) and a bunch of red sangrias. the most notable of those was made with cinnamon and cloves, in addition to the fruit, and had been left to steep for 3 days. people also brought food, including a lovely mexican dip, two rocking guacs, rice and beans, spanish tortilla, mexican brownies (made with cinnamon, people), chili, and a to-die-for mango-corn salsa. so people ate, drank, and were merry. i put the salsa y meringue channel on digital cable (I HEART YOU, DIGITAL CABLE!) and people actually DANCED. see, you gotta understand that i have never thrown a party that had ACTUAL DANCING before. it was very exciting, and well worth the toenail.