babymoon staycation

Call it the calm before the storm. For the last two weeks. the boy has been staying with my parents and going to a nature summer day camp in the afternoons and taking swimming lessons. Husband & I have been cleaning, working, sleeping, and (gasp) going out, either together or with friends. Tak actually went to NYC last weekend for the first Asian American Comic Con, while I went home and hung out with the boy and the rest of my family. Needless to say, it's been weird not having him around, but it's been kind of quiet, too. Tak & I went to the movies to see the new Harry Potter, took an infant CPR class, and ate out a lot.

Tonight the boy is back in town, and what did we do? Head to Ikea to get his new loft/bunk bed to make room for his new brother. We took a Honda Element as a Zipcar and he loved riding in it, plus it fit all the boxes perfectly. Tomorrow we put it together--more big changes in store!

vices, indulgences, necessities

Some things are a combination of all of these.
1) Coffee. Yes, I'm down to half-caf in the morning, but I have slightly upped my iced decaf consumption. I've also tried cold-brewing my own, using the smitten kitchen's recipe with varying results. The key is not using artificially flavored coffees.
2) Foot Soaks. These do double duty to relieve my swollen toes and general relaxation. I love Earth Theraputics' tea tree oil soak with peppermint, and have already gone through two jars. In fact, I'm soaking my feet as I write this (and praying I don't drop my laptop)!
3) Massages. Spa vs. Bodywork--there's definitely a difference. I like both, but the bodywork is less expensive because they take insurance, and there's a certain professionalism that I'm more used to.
4) A special body pillow. I'm a back sleeper, but it's just not comfortable anymore. I also needed the back & hip support, so I broke down and bought a Snoogle. Seriously, it was like choosing a car, since I wasn't buying the $10 pillow at target. I like this one because it's firm, but spending an extra $20 on a cover seemed silly to me. For now I'm subbing in king-size pillowcases on the end for softness, but eventually I'll have to do something--either make one or co-opt a $10 target body pillow cover.
5. Makeup remover/ facial cleansing cloths. When moving from the couch to bed, these are great if nothing else but making sure I get all the junk off my face before crashing out early.

Another year

"Every year unfolds like a petal inside all the years that preceded it." –Naomi Shihab Nye

Oh, yeah, I had a birthday! Since we were in NYC, we met friends in Hoboken for lunch, went to the cray-cray Toys R' Us in Times Sq. with the indoor Ferris Wheel. While we were tromping around looking for a Disney store, I saw a pair of Tokidoki rubber rain boots and got an immediate case of the "I wants."* Then some solo shopping to The Point Knitting Cafe, Purl, and Uniqlo. Followed by pizza, cake (strawberry shortcake), and lambic. Owen went to sleep fairly quickly, followed by a drunken evening at Tom & Jerry's.

Remember: beer before liquor, never been sicker. And lambic *is* beer. You'd think I'd be old enough to know this, but older is not always wiser.

Being righteously hung over did not stop me from eating my two-day-old red velvet cupcake from The Point (which I think is really from Magnolia's) that survived intact the train ride home. The cupcake was smartly "packaged" in an upside-down coffee cup & lid. Sure, it looked like a Glade air freshener, but it worked! Oh, and I can thank my mother-in-law's still-warm and homemade omusubi, rice balls wrapped in seaweed.

*I did get the boots as my present to myself, but thought about it for a week first.

yard sales will never be the same

For the last few years, my mother has been saying, "When we have our yard sale..." My sister finally called her on it and we made the date. Over weekend we finally all pitched in and had a it at my parents' house. It was a total dud. Not that many people came, ad while we did sell a few things, the most productive part about it was taking several truckloads to Salvation Army. The biggest thing about it is that my mother didn't even protest us donating so much of the junk; she is a major packrat. Maybe it was just bad timing, but now we all know that we can't hold out for another one to be a success.

One of the biggest successes of the day is that I found the dress I wore to my senior formal in 1993--just in time for someone to wear to a big '80s/'90s prom.

The Apple has Landed

Today the new store opens in the Back Bay, and it's coooool. Thanks to the excellent Digsters, I was able to check it out before the masses sully its pristine glass. But I was cheated out of a first to review (oh well) on Yelp. There will be tons of photos swarming the Internets--it's the biggest store in the states and #2 worldwide. The stairs are the one of the coolest parts. Looking up...
...and looking down.

aw, shucks

Thanks, you guys for being so supportive. Really, I wasn't fishing for compliments. I know I am not a bad knitter, and I wish I just had more time to practice.

Where I failed in Police tickets (so far), I succeeded in Loreena McKennit tickets. I'm taking my mom. So psyched.

I did end up finding the Departed at Borders--a couple days after it came out. Everyone probably bum-rushed the stores in case we got a ton of snow. (We didn't, but it was cold and messy.) We still haven't watched it yet. I know, I know... Infernal Affairs is great, so it's not like I don't know what happens. We are going to the movies on Sunday, and it's still playing in Boston. Or we might see Children of Men (thanks Bob!). Or Letters from Iwo Jima. We'll see.

Taking a break with Terry Pratchett (thanks Liz!), and reading a vaguely trashy British mom lit called Yummy Mummy by Polly Williams. It's awful and totally engaging, like the Shopaholic books. What's even funnier is that I know a Polly Williams, and this is so not her.

Tak is doing a talk tomorrow at UMD, so what did I do? Shop for yarn like an imbecile. Like I need more? Actually, I've been seriously coveting this Lexie B. bag in Baja, and was debating whether to buy it from WEBS or kpixie. I'm hoping kpixie has a store front so I can go look at it, because I am NOT going to Webs (yet). Now I'm just waiting for Owen to wake up to come in the big bed.

Note: links will open in a separate window. Hope that's OK. I lost my sticky note with the code so links do not open in a new window, and I'm too lazy to hunt through blogger's help menu. thanks!