bermudaful!

We got back from Bermuda this afternoon, and it was amazing. My sister is a married woman! We have a whole new wing to our family. My ears are still blocked from the plane landing. I'm still finding super-fine grains of sand in our luggage. It's hard to put it all down now; photos & commentary are up at flickr.com. We didn't do very much of what we wanted, but Bermuda is gorgeous and I want to go back. A 1-gig photocard is a wonderful thing. The cat is fine and very happy to see us.

After getting wrapped up in packing & wedding prep last week, I don't think I mentioned how awesome Loreena McKennit was in concert. She did a wide variety of her music, and "The Highwayman" gave me chills. There were about 7 other musicians on the stage. She was incredible live and is so talented. The Wang Center is a great place to see music, because it's such a beautiful hall.

lesson learned

The other night, in an effort to break up the Miyazaki repetition, I put on Disney's Alice in Wonderland, thinking that Owen would like the silliness of it. We've also been reading Bill Peet's The Caboose Who Got Loose, and he worked on a bunch of Disney movies, including Alice in Wonderland. We start watching, and we get to the part after Alice has fallen down the rabbit hole, and is looking through the keyhole as the White Rabbit is running away. Owen comes over to me, tells me to turn it off, and bursts into tears. When I get him to tell me why he's so upset, he says, "She lost her kitty!" The crying jag lasts a good 15 minutes. So, I guess we won't be watching a good chunk of the Disney catalog for awhile!

Currently listening to:

knitting at symphony

Since it's spring vacation and the little guy doesn't have preschool 2 days this week, I missed my recent usual knitting group night near my parents' house to go to the open rehearsal at Symphony Hall. Usually, there's a talk before the rehearsal; the lights are up, people are still coming in, it's pretty casual. I break out a small project, and my mom says not to, that it's rude. Really? It seemed pretty OK, or am I just clueless? We're sitting up in the balcony, the lights are on, I'm paying attention. I tell her I'll stop before the performance begins. So I look around, and there were 2 other knitters doing the same thing in our area where we're sitting. My mom grudgingly relented. I stopped when we were joined by some friends of my mom's. The talk was great, the music was great: Mozart (Nachtmusik, Serenade #13; Violin Concerto N1 in B-flat); Ravel (Ma Mere l'oye/Mother Goose) with Sir Andre Previn & Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Other knitting projects: I finally joined the 2 halves of my first sweater for me. I'm knitting the one-skein shell from WEBS in white cotton. Now I just need to keep knitting in the round & stitch in edges. woo-hoo!

There's a fugly vest for Owen that needs its edges finished & stitched together. It was one of those things that I bought a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky on-line and didn't realize what the true shade was until I started knitting it--and had to figure out what other colors to match with it. It'll be a good layering piece for next year. At least he likes the orange.

wedding countdown

There's a little over a week to my sister's wedding. I still have some things to do (get luggage, clean the house, make appointments, finish husband/son shopping, lose 3-5 lbs.). At least I have my dress, shoes, and some of the little things.

Oddly enough, one of my landmarks to my sister's wedding was the wedding of one of my best friends from high school on Saturday night. Michelle & Darren came to our wedding in Vegas, that's how long they've been together. Michelle looked beautiful, and Darren is so sweet. They make a great couple and I'm so happy for them. They've been dating for almost 10 years and it's nice to see them finally married. Stacy, our 3rd amiga, was there too, and it was awesome to hang out with her. It was also fantastic that my favorite teacher in high school was also there, Ms. V.; I ended up talking to her quite a bit. My parents were invited, and the oddest twist is that Tak & I ended up getting a ride with them, both to and from the wedding.

With the torrential downpour we've had with the Nor'easter this weekend, Morrisey Boulevard was the most flooded I've ever seen it. On even a small rain day, Morrisey Blvd. gets flooded, and walking to Shaw's from the JFK T stop involves navigating puddles that go into a whole lane of traffic. Down by the beach, it so bad they were closing the road off, but were just doing it at 10:30 this morning. Owen & I found out the hard way by suddenly driving into two massive puddles on the way to Ikea this morning. Luckily, our side of the road was farther away from the beach; the other side was completely overtaken by the tide. There was no beach.

Owen's quote of the day: We read our first few of Shel Silverstein poems tonight. Owen loved the "Ickle me, Tickle Me..." poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends. His reaction: "Is there a silly poem about a froggie and a duck? It's called 'Take me to the water and I'll swim.'"

Happy Birthday, S.A.M.

April 11 is Tak's birfday, so we sent Owen stayed at my parents' overnight so we could have a date. Granted, we did the sort-of boring dinner & a movie. Since we were seeing The Host at Kendall Sq. Cinema, we ended up having upscale dinner at the Blue Room, which was excellent. Our waiter was great with suggestions, we had great drinks, delicious food (ricotta gnocci with spring peas, spinach & prosciutto; ceasar salad with white anchovies; mahi mahi with mango salsa, black beans & plaintain cake; stuffed eggplant with cous cous, chick peas and minty yogurt). I made the mistake of eating most of the dessert (banana bread & pudding) which put me over the edge. No room for popcorn! The Host was not your typical Asian horror film; the characters are bumbling & flawed, it's got a lot of humor in it. Weta helped out with the creature's effects; it shows--it's really well-done.

Owen's quote of the week, regarding my 95 or 96-year-old Uncle Francis: "He's old, but he's great."

what noisy cats are we

Happy accident: While typing in the url for the Boston Public Library (bpl.org), I typed in the bplo.org. Imagine my surprise to find the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra, an Irish cover band. Enjoy.

In avoiding putting together our stuff to finally pay our taxes, I'm blogging, and probably knitting. There's a crapalanche of half opened mail that needs going through, too.

Over the weekend we checked out the Art of Dr. Suess at Newbury Fine Arts, which runs until Thursday, 4/5. In addition to lithographs & proofs for the more well-known books, they also have advertising art and political cartoons. Owen & Sofia wanted to pet the large, $3000 statue of the Cat in the Hat. We took them to Ben & Jerry's, then to the Frog Pond playground. I'll have to go again either tomorrow or Thursday to actually read the work during my lunch break. Owen was just as interested in talking to the woman who worked in the gallery and playing at her desk than the art with corrected proof from the Cat in the Hat book.

sister of the bride II

I should start with my sister's shower/bachelorette, except we're watched the new Casino Royale, which is excellent. And now White Chicks is on, and I've never seen the whole thing.

The shower was good and went off without a hitch. The Old Colony house is a lovely place to have an event, service was great, the food was good. It was wonderful to see people, and Kate will need to re-register.

The kids' birthday party was hectic, going from one event to another, but Tak did fine going solo while I was still doing best-woman duties. I went & picked them up, and brought Owen & gifts to my parents' house. Then back home to party. Tak went off to meet the boys, and I left to meet the girls.

1st stop: Flash's for dinner. Started the night out right with Dark & Stormies. Food was great and we were there for 3 hours. They were very nice and let us have our Sweet n'Nasty cupcakes, which went over very well.
Oh, yeah, and it snowed.
2nd stop: Limelight for karaoke. I opted for the "private" studio, which was fun because we could be as cheesey as we wanted to be and not have to worry about Emaerson students. The drinks were big and strong, but our waiter kept opening & closing the door instead of bringing them all in on a tray. The singing was so much fun I'm just getting my voice back.
3rd & last stop: JJ Foley's. There isn't a better place to end a long night of drinking than at Foley's.
2:15AM: time to go home. Katie, Meredith & I hailed me a cab, miraculously on Beacon Hill. I hadn't been out that late in a looong time, and was shocked to see so many people out trying to get cabs. It was surreal.

Tak beat me home: he was back at 11:30, but the grooms' men started at noon. Their party included tequila shots. The next morning/afternoon we didn't recover until 12:30-1pm, when my parents brought back Owen. Needless to say, I've gone to bed early most nights this week. And "Heaven is a Place on Earth" has been jumping into my head at random times this week.

nature shock

Tonight at my parents' house, a big fox came trotting through the yard, and across the field next door. It was sudden, and had just caught something. Sometimes I forget how closely these creatures live to us. When it snowed Monday night, I saw--maybe it was even this same fox--animal prints close to the house before the tracks went towards the woods. All of us just watched the fox in the twilight.

On an odd note, I have weird memories from childhood--I must have been 5ish--of checking books out of the library where we lived in upstate NJ that had color photos of teddy bears doing stuff outside. Although I might be getting them mixed up with the Leo Lionni books, I feel like some of them may have been mice in the (real) grass.

Owen has been asking for his own library card, but I have to find out what the minimum age is. We are currently reading George & Martha, and he loves them.
I am reading Stolen by Kelley Armstrong, the follow-up to Bitten. Since I'm on my parents' computer, I don't want to download anything that I won't be able to figure out how to delete later. It's amazing how much I've forgotten about using PCs since I've been back on a Mac for the last few years. It was bad enough that I had to explain to my mom what a blog was and that I had to tell her I had one.

We're in the home stretch for my sister's wedding. The shower & bachelorette are this weekend. Should be a treat!

jolly good show

We're finally watching Bridge on the River Kwai. It's fantastic...and long. What motivated us to watch it was Sessue Hayakawa, one of the first Japanese actors to break into Hollywood--in 1915.

Happy Evacuation Day and St. Patrick's Day. We've been invited to a friend's family home in Southie to watch the parade on Sunday. Again, something I've never done in all my years of living in Boston. Maybe it's the insanity of dealing with the yahoos who come in, like on First Night. But this year will be fun, and Owen's first big Irish parade.

Also on Sunday is a new Boston Comic Con, at the Back Bay Events Center. Something to do before or instead of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. People I know who'll be there: Paul Gould, Hannibal King, Mark Poutenis, and Frankie B. Washington

In other comic book geekery, my friend Pete does a fun improv show in NYC called the Comic Book Club at the PIT. Congrats on the show, the website, and interviewing the editor of Captain America. Keep up the good work.

Just finished: Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. It got a lot of hype as being part of the graphic novel wave, and deservedly so. Quick read and superbly done.

Owen and his jingly hippo have stumbled into the room, so it's time to get in the big bed. Good night!

Knits in the Dig

Here's the photo used in the Dig of the mini hat & scarf I knit for the photo shoot. (It'll open in a new window.) The little blue hat & bag came out better. Big props to the design team who made the whole set from scratch.

Owen's been using the gift bag I made to carry his nice stones/rocks in. Guess I'll have to make another.

cold snap

Crivens! Winter isn't done yet. It's still ridiculously cold. Finished Wintersmith, though, and liked it better than Hat Full of Sky. It's just a really enjoyable series. Love those Mac Nac Feegles.

Knitted a smaller version of the gift bag on the cover of Last Minute Gifts, but in Malabrigio yarn. It came out really nice, especially as my first time doing yarn overs. Now I just have to figure out what to put in it! Next I'll have to do the gift bag in the yummy Blue Sky Alpaca yarn like in the book.

Finally saw the Departed. Holy smokes. It's amazing. There are very recognizable scenes from Infernal Affairs, but it's also its own film--as it should be. And the language is outrageous. The extras are worth it for the second disc. We also got to check out Letters from Iwo Jima, which was also incredible.

Oh, and remember how I didn't think I'd need another circular knitting needle? I need a 24" size 15 for my next projects, a felted handbag and the Diotoma shell from Webs. Oops. Of course, Michael's didn't have one in 24" (or 32"), but in 29". At least I can return it.

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!

will knit (poorly) for Police tickets

I had it in my head to call this post Driven to Tears, but I have better things to talk about than being one of the many to not get Police tickets. But still...I've seen Sting live on his first solo tour, and Stewart Copeland with Animal Logic at the Living Room in Providence (with Bob), so it would be nice to see them all together with Andy Summers. And ticketmaster is being stingy (sorry, it's a really appropriate word) with tickets. The shows aren't sold out, but tickets are not available now. oops, I'm kvetching. Onward & upward...

Coke & Nestle have come out with a new line of calorie-burning drinks called Enviga. I tried the green tea one, and it was OK at first but very quickly went bad. Blech. Maybe it's a calorie burner because it upsets your tummy so you don't want to eat anything else. And it has enough caffeine in it that now I'm wide awake.

Tak asked me to knit some little hats & scarves for an upcoming photo shoot for the Dig, which was a ton of fun. I got to test drive my Valley Yarns from Webs & my new ebony Lantern moon needles.

Since I've been knitting for a whole year, I've come to realize that although I like it, I'm not very good. Not that I let my ineptitude stop me. And I'm still trying to learn more new things--like cables, which are still not so easy for me--and continental style.

No knitting tonight, though. Work has left me feeling achey in the mouse-arm and leg joints, so I'm going to try to sleep. Thin Mints didn't help the achiness, but they did help my upset tummy. And yay! to Edy's ice cream for not only making Girl Scout cookie ice cream, but using "Samoas" instead of "Caramel deLites." They will always be Samoas to me.

How do I love thee?

Happy V-day everyone! I know I should probably do something gushy, but... I'm at work. Here's the best news, though, that I can finally sort-of broadcast since it's been leaked via Angry Asian Man: Tak's comic is in the process of going daily.

Just finished Terry Prachett's Wee Free Men, and I'm hooked. Good Omens is one of my all-time favorite books, and this is my first (and successful) foray into Prachett's Discworld.

The Departed came out yesterday on DVD, and it seems to be sold out everywhere in Boston. What a shocker!

Yet another reason to love Google: Its weather is currently describing the weather here as "light ice pellets," which is the most accurate one I've seen today.

Enjoy!

NO... Sleep...for Cranky

We watch quite a bit of Thomas the Tank engine at our house. The other day I got out a DVD from the library with the story about Cranky. It doesn't even matter now what it's really called, because once we sang the title to the tune of "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn," that's what it'll be known as now. Owen ran around the other night yelling "NO... SLEEP...for CRANKY," and he hasn't even heard the song yet.

leopardmonster

I was going to wait until Wiley's birthday, when he and his sister Cloud turn 12! If you want to see more photos of Wiles, click on the flickr button, and he has his own public tag. But I found this link in an old email, and it's too funny not to pass on. It's the site for a Swedish Bengal breeder, who translated something...into leopardmonster and leopardkatten. Now, I don't speak Swedish, but I can guess that this means leopard cat.
www.bengaler.com/jungle_cats.htm

Here's the original text, which has since been taken down. (It looks like German, but I did a lookup on the country code for the breeder, and it's in Sweden.) Bengalen är resultatet av en korsning mellan den Asiatiska leopardkatten och tamkatten. Det utmärkande för Bengalen är att den har en ultramjuk päls med leopardmönster i form av rosettliknande spottar eller tvåfärgade spottar och ljust färgade magar.

They've since updated the site to include English text, but the FAQs are just funny. The photos are beautiful. Ja!

yay librarians!

Well, actually, yay to the supervisor at the circulation desk. I was a dummy and left this photo in the copy of Children of Men when I returned it to the library. After one call to ask them to look for it, and another call to see if they had found it, I was told that it had already gone back. If I wanted to find out more I should come in ask for a supervisor. So I did. Luckily, the really nice circulation desk person got me the supervisor on duty, who was AWESOME, and after looking in several places and checking the computer, came back with it. I think he was going to offer some marriage advice, but was called back to duty. Thank you! Thank you, BPL circulation desk supervisor, for finding a photo of me as a blond and Tak with a mohawk from Halloween '93.

Children of Men was a good read. Took awhile to get into it, but it was very satisfying. I'll see the movie eventually, which I've heard takes some liberties (as most movie versions do). Also saw A Scanner Darkly, and I was surprised how true to the book it was. The animation made it better, too; although I'd be curious to watch the live action footage that was used for the animation. We got a babysitter to check out Pan's Labyrinth, which was amazing. The fairy tale part had the otherworldly quality needed, and the "real life" is gritty. The effects & makeup are incredible.

Yesterday's brouhaha over the Aqua Teen Hunger Force stunt in Boston is all over the news--and I haven't read/watched much of it. Luckily it didn't snarl my commute, but I can't imagine the gigantic inconvenience to those whose day was wrecked.

On a closing note & back to yay! librarians, Lydia, who's a librarian, used to write for the Dig in the early days. Check out her site renegade librarian, which has lots of cool links. She's got a Bengal kitty, too!

bardot? or bettie page?

I took the "which pinup are you" quizilla from Leslie's myspace page, and depending mostly on where I'd like to vacation and what did I with my date's hand at the movies, I was either Brigitte Bardot or Bettie Page.

Speaking of which, a bunch of us met at Match for drinks & I got to see Leslie & Erin, which was great. Match, as Marcie put it, was very New York. But not even really good New York. The slider/mini burger was greasy but good; combined with the massive onion rings it was still yummy. Yet, even worse than Chinese food, I was hungry and hour later and I felt like I'd eaten a package of hot dogs. At least the pricey martini drinks packed a punch, but it was still kind of...eh. The company was the best part of the night! And happy birthday Nicole! ^_^

Took my first morning commute from the South Shore yesterday in the 'van, and it was only 45 minutes. Not too shabby, but definitely not something I'd like to do everyday. I also found that a tape cassette adapter is how I can listen to my iPod over the radio, and the speakers are still in good shape. Not too shabby.

Currently reading: Thanks to William Gibson's blog, I found this neat book about George Appo. He was a famous Chinese/Irish pickpocket in New York in the late 19th century. Of course, the same day I bought it, my request for Children of Men came in for the library. So I hustled through the rest of Blood & Chocolate (easy & fun read, not too sure about the movie).

OK, now I have to figure out what is going on with Battlestar Galactica. I've seen the same episode from different parts, and it's kind of confusing.

catching up

We've been so sleepy lately. Maybe it's the cold finally come to bite us. Maybe it's staying up too late finishing Christmas gifts. Owen doesn't want to get out of bed and is super clingy.

I finally made myself a pom & vanilla vodka & it was just what I needed tonight...
Owen wanted one too, and laughed when I called it a cocktail. Of course it's funny. So I just gave him just the juice, and he liked it better than when we gave it to him the other day. 'Cause it's better when mom's drinking with you, too.

My girlfriend Ilona always gives us fun liquor from her travels, and christmas was no exception. She sent us a nip of Cuandole Marzipan Sahneliqueur from Germany. Yes, it's yummy. How can almond flavored liqueur not be sweet & delicious? Even when it's mixed with coffee liquer. I'm almost embarrassed to say all I could find in the house is the Starbucks liqueur, which is surprisingly good--and also a Christmas gift last year from my future brother-in-law.

Speaking of weddings, we found a bridesmaid dress. Angie, Jason's sister, liked the dress that Katie, my mom & I liked. So we're doing the same dress, different colors (Wtoo, #352). Mine will be "midnight" (dark blue), and Angie's will be powder blue. Now we need to figure out all the shower stuff. Wish me luck.

Currently reading: Necklace of Kisses by Francesca Lia Block.

maiden voyage

Ok, not the greatest photo of our new wheels, but there it is. I got the plates & insurance Tuesday, my dad took it to get a sticker Wednesday, and yesterday dad & mom drove it in before they left for FL. It did shockingly well on emissions for a 1994 Caravan that's 16.9 mpg. For its maiden voyage I drove it to...South Bay Center. That's right: Target, Stop & Shop, Old Navy, etc. Not very exciting, but it was great not having to wait for the shuttle & get on the train when it takes 10 minutes to drive. Owen loves riding in it too. Of course, Zipcar now has Subaru Outbacks in its fleet, and I won't be giving up my membership just in case. But this'll give us an idea of how often we'd really use a car now that we have one at our disposal and don't have to rush to return it by a certain time.

On a separate note, I love having a Google account for a reason I'd never thought: two of my favorite authors' blogs--Neil Gaiman & William Gibson--on my front page. The quick link to post on my blog is nice too, but I'd much rather read about how the movie version of Coraline is coming or see Gibson's Xmas gift from Thomas Pynchon.