a sorta fairytale

from Storyland to Stardust, it's been quite a week!

We joined our friends Frank, Patrice & Sofia at Storyland, in NH, and I'm so glad we went. It was so fun...like a smaller, less corporate Disneyworld. Owen had a blast! He loved the rides and is still talking about them. He yet again did damage to his cute little face: he ran away from us and tripped into some gravel, cutting his forehead. Not badly, but enough to leave a mark. We had dinner & hung out with F/P/S; the next morning we were in the pool. We played an "evil monster" game that involved "saving;" Frank was the monster (I was the witch/sea hag) holding Sofia, and Owen "rescued" her. Sofia is really into princesses, so of course, they had to get married! It was the running joke all morning. Then somehow, Owen said they needed blood tests--how did he know? We'll see what happens in another 20+ years!

I went to my first Yelp elite event at the Milky Way in JP. Lots of fun...I actually got up to sing karaoke, "Love Shack" w/ Russ S, who is quite an entertainer. Met & matched some people up to their profiles, which was also neat.

Tonight, Owen slept over at my parents & Tak was working, so I took myself to see Stardust, finally! It was really good. If you go in not expecting things to be just like the book, it's very enjoyable. A plus seeing the gorgeous scenery on the big screen, and Charlie Cox is perfect as Tristan. I think I may have been more excited to see the trailer for the Golden Compass, though.

love is a mix tape

I saw this book in a little while ago, and it just conjured up so many memories. I have a few books in line before I can check it out, but it inspired me to dig through my old mix tapes. Luckily many of the songs are on iTunes. Some of the music I'd forgotten how good it was, like Mind Bomb by The the. Some of it I'm not surprised is hard-to-find (Miracle Legion, Mary's Danish, the Peregrins, 17 relics) and some I'm just going to get used (Bongwater, Edie Brickell, Melissa Etheridge). Now I have to figure out how to transfer the analog to digital (something that has been explained to me many times and it just won't stick in my head). Even the mixes themselves kind of hold up after all these years, too (if I may so myself). It's funny listening to songs that have such a strong place and time association.

And last week, I saw my friend Bob, who was in Boston visiting with his family, who I hadn't seen since the end of our freshman year when he moved back to Ohio. So cool. But lately it hasn't been the kind of day that I could bail on work, either, which is huge bummer, 'cause I would have loved to hang out more.

Which reminds me, I have to burn a CD (how times have changed! or not...) for my sister's sister-in-law, who is just starting college. I think it might be stuff she'd like, too.

No. 9

Here's us in 1998 at the Silver Bell Chapel in Vegas, right after we got married. We'd just been to Comic Con for the first time, our friend Rob was with us. One of my best friends from high school, Michelle, who introduced us, flew out from LA with her boyfriend to watch us get married, too. That was it! (We had a reception a few months later.)
They didn't even ask us for ID when we went to get our license. There was an Elvis in the building, but he didn't walk me down the aisle; we did get a photo with him later.
It was pretty surreal. We left the next day for San Fran, where we hung out and partied with friends up there. (I got the dress in London with Ilona.) Looking back, there isn't much I'd really do over.

knitmas in august

Photos of the yarn haul accident I had at Circles are up on flickr. More photos to come, since I think I need some serious stash and needle management in general. I've been on the fence about ravelry.com, between the site getting up and running and my own involvement--even though it looks like a ton of fun. Oh, what the heck--I just signed up anyway. I'm probably pretty far down on the list (which is actually OK with me).

Tak's dad really liked the hat, which was nice. He's going to wait until the fall to start wearing it. (OK, so I did use the bathroom as a backdrop. It has the best lighting at 11 o'clock at night in the house.)

I'm finally knitting a sweater for myself. It's slow going, since I'm pattern & time challenged. All of my #11 wooden needles have chipped at the tips, even my nice Lantern Moon pair. Out of curiosity and novelty (and a sale at AC Moore), I bought a pair of Knit Lites, knitting needles with plastic lights at the tips. Owen immediately began waving it around like a magic wand. I have to admit that I do quite like them, and the tips are quite smooth, although I don't know if I'd actually knit in the dark. They're just a little unwieldy for travel, and they've come on a couple times by accident. I keep eying the Options needle set from Knit Picks, but I really don't need it. I'll keep you posted.

surf & turf

It has been a crazy couple weeks. We spent last weekend in Boothbay/Southport Maine, visiting my sister's in-laws with our whole family. It was a gorgeous spot, perfect weather. Ate in Boothbay, toured around the harbor, relaxed. Except when I fell down the stairs at the house where we were staying (I'm OK. The extra padding helped cushion the fall.) I even got a tan! Owen had a great time, too. He did great in the car both ways, considering it was his first big road trip.

Last week I went to my first Yelp event, an open house in a wonderful coffeeshop in the North End. The North End is one of those places that I just don't get to enough. I've also realized that Yelp is totally addictive for me. I think I wrote 5 or 7 reviews in one sitting last week, and stayed up until 3am. Silly me.

Oh! and went with Katie, Jason & my uncle George & aunt Cyndy to see Crowded House a week ago. Pete Yorn opened, and Juliana Hatfield came out and did a duet. Crowded House were very good--I love the sing a-longs. The best show I've seen Neil Finn was in Feb of 2003, it was Neil Finn with a couple other back-up musicians at Avalon, and my whole family went for my dad & George's birthday. The Harborlights/ Bank of America Pavilion show was great, too. The weather was lovely, and it's a great spot to see a show, under the tent and on the water. We all got a little goofy at the end, too.

My hair color is really fading. After doing the whole thing fuchsia, I decided it was too much and did low-lights (dark brown) myself, leaving pink parts in the front and sides. Now it looks closer to light brown and a washed out, light pink. I'll re-color the whole thing brown for a family wedding this weekend. It was fun while it lasted. Heck, I could always do it again!

optimus prime

The o-man slept over at my parents' house last night, and Tak & I got to go to the movies before his trip to NYC. We saw Transformers and WHOA it was excellent. Non-stop go go go. Sometimes the special effects were too much so that you don't know what's happening on the screen. Also a couple plot holes/wha-wha-what just happened moments. My friend Sofia has been recommending this to me for the last month and I'm so glad we saw it on the big screen.

My big OOPS for the day was I made Tak's train reservations and scheduled him to be on a train *yesterday* morning. Luckily he was able to switch the ticket over and make his train. Whew!

when the editor needs an edior

I'm finding this to be especailly true like in the long random psycho tailspin post from a couple days ago. I've edited a chunk out. Thanks for the support, too!

my new favorite things: July wrap-up

Haven't done one of these in ages!

Thomas's Blueberry Bagels: OMG. I have to split this in half because they're diet wreckers. Soft bagels. Mmmm...with cream cheese.

L'Oreal Colour Rays One Step Brush-on Highlights/ Fuchsia Flash ($12.99 CVS): Because it's made for dark hair, the color is *very* vibrant (the lightener is 30vol for DIY beauty shop junkies). My hair is pretty gray too, and I obviously ignored the warning on the box. 1 application/box is a waste if you're only going to do highlights, unless you have super-long hair, but it's hard to measure the proportions right. One box was enough to color my short hair--and have leftovers to spare. The applicator is like a big mascara wand that really grabs the hair from end to tip; wash it out and save if for another time. The color is staying put (but then, I haven't been washing my hair everyday either. TMI?)

Almay Smart Shade Makeup (SPF 15/light): This is an amazing base for hard-to-match skin tones. Takes the guesswork out of figuring out if your skin has warm tones, rose tones or whatever confusing jargon the makeup companies come up with. Covers evenly and also does ok masking small blemishes.

Neutrogena Fresh Cooling Mist Sunblock SPF 45: It's not greasy, and yes, fresh and cooling too.

Lexie Barnes handbags: I have the Hermosa 8&1/2" x11" bag and it fits whatever knitting I bring around with me. Found it at Webs 'cause the it's imperfect (aren't we all?), sewn upside down, but you'd hardly know it. ($13.99)

Brooklyn Industries' Heritage Lexy Bag: Mine isn't on the website anymore since I got in on clearance ($36). The print is excellent, the pockets all make sense, and it's roomier than you'd think on the inside. The handles don't slip easily off my shoulders--another bonus. Yep, I'm a bag fiend!

boingboing.net and mcsweeneys.net: Better late than never. Read Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs... last year and loved it; the website didn't occur to me until I saw news on gawker.com. Found Cory Doctorow through Neil Gaiman's blog, and loved Overclocked.

Ok, my seat is sinking in on itself (it's one of those storage stools with a foam top but old and cat-clawed) and it's way past my bedtime. Again!

weird, random, stupid things maybe you don't want to know or I shouldn't tell you

It's weird being a cartoon character. It's also pretty cool too. Naming myself was the weirdest part. Having your husband ask is weird too. I keep thinking that I should have put together cooler names to choose from. (Marie is my middle name; Campana is a family name, and the last name of my cousin who was in 4 of the 5 Planet of the Apes movies, and her sister was the model on the 60s version of the Nancy Drew books)

Every once in awhile, I think of changing my name to match the rest of my family. Then I realize that I really like my name, and I get my stubborn pants on. Part of me wants to blend in, and part of me fights that urge tooth and nail. I spent so much of high school wanting to be cool (in the Molly Ringwald Pretty in Pink way), trying not to care that I was pretty far from the mark. Then I went off to college and ended up being kind of cool after all. Being part of the beginning of the edgy alt-news weekly was also incredibly cool and DIY and also gave me a purpose and focus I didn't have before. Part of me misses it fiercely, and then I remember how burnt out I was working basically 2 full time jobs by the time I had Owen. I missed a deadline when I went into labor and that was it.

So it's funny running around on Yelp, seeing 1st reviews for places I wrote up years ago. Part of it is nice & reassuring that those shops are still around, and people are getting that jolt of excitement. And it's a high, a rush, discovering someplace special. Another part of me is jealous and missing my old silly self that used to go around exploring neighborhoods for days--that I don't have the time and energy to really do that anymore. That all the cool points I had pre-momhood have been used up, which gets me down, and now I'm trying to put some of the pieces back but they're fitting in a weird way. Not in a pity party/boo-hoo/woe-is-me kind of way, but just that I get the feeling I'm doing something wrong or bad, and I don't know what it is. And no one wants to tell me, either. OR maybe everyone goes through it and you just have to work it through yourself.

Oops. I wasn't supposed to drop off emotional baggage. Too many nights of writing between 11pm and 2am. I was supposed to post pix of the FOs; talk about how crazy Hogwarts Sq was (and being called Tonks!); that I loved Order of the Phoenix; that I colored over most of the pink hair but left the pink shock in the front (and got complimented by girls on the subway and a hair stylist on it). Well, the hormonal post has been brewing for awhile. Sorry. When you all look at me funny next time I see you at least I'll know maybe why. Or maybe you'll tell me your story.

yelping away

I've been writing a bunch of reviews on yelp.com, which has been fun. Kind of like what I used to do for the Dig except I don't have a theme or a deadline or manage/find, writers. The word count is short so it helps me try to keep the writing tight and still fun. And I just got asked to be on the Elite team, which feels like being one of the cool kids. The downside is that I've let the blog slide, but I'll catch up tomorrow.

I finished knitting the fugly vest, and I'm going to donate it. Owen refuses to even try it on, and I don't blame him! The trim and the colors are all wrong. Maybe next time I'll use a pattern! Circles knitting salon in JP closed its storefront today, and I "helped" them by buying up some of the stash. oops. Allison, the owner, was very sweet and gave Owen one of the trucks from the kids area. There's also a binder sitting on my kitchen table crammed full of circular knitting needles that need to be inventoried now that I have them all in one place.

wotcher!

me at 3am with book 7 & pink hair

the things kids say

Some funny things Owen has said in the last couple weeks:
When being grilled on who his favorite character was, Owen replied, "Mama."

He points to my Harry Potter book and says, "That looks like Mama!"
(I'm supposed to pick up my copy of book #7 at Borders at Downtown Crossing, but haven't decided if I should see the events at either Harvard Sq or Coolidge Corner, where there are going to be all kinds of events. This also means going out after Owen is asleep and taking a cab home.)

Decides he likes changing his clothes in his egg chair from IKEA, and emerges waving his arms, flies around, and says, "I'm a beautiful butterfly." He then makes both Tak & I fly around for the rest of the morning.

if wishes were fishes

We now have fish in the house again. It was kind-of a last minute decision; we'd talked about it in vague terms. So, we went to the pet store to buy cat food and came home with a fish: a blue and red Betta/fighting fish named James. We haven't had fish since Owen was born and we moved. Our managuense ended up at New England Fish and Reptile; our chinese water dragons Bode and Bisley died before or while I was pregnant. Tak and his friends always had fish (M the arowana, a variety of South American and African cichilds). Wiley has been good with the new fish so far. He used to sit on top of the managuense tank and stick his arm in the water to taunt the fish; he even got bit a couple times!

Owen is now a reader: a couple weeks ago he read the whole book of Today I Will Fly. It was awesome to see him recognize words he knew and figure out the ones he didn't. The book is a good one because it has repeated text, words that are slight variations of each other, and lots of picture support. Owen thought it was funny, too.

Secret Asian Man is up daily. Check it out at comics.com.
My work has also been pretty insane too.

Lastly, I finished Ilona's scarf after a year, and a cap for Tak's dad.
If you ever wanted to knit marzipan, here's how.

catch the magic

In gearing up for the Harry Potter onslaught, I'm re-watching movies #3 (my favorite) tonight and #4 tomorrow night, and will hopefully see #5 over the weekend. I re-read books 5 & 6 last month, too.

Neil Gaiman keeps letting people know about Stardust, which should be in theaters later this year.

Over 4th of July, our friend Dan had his annual BBQ. Once again, the numbers are intimate, about 20 people. I think for his 30th (or 29th?) birthday, there must have been 300+ people there, and amenities included a DJ, a band, bar with an ice sculpture shot slide, and port-a-potties. Crazy. One of the best though, was the year ('96? '97?) people got up on the mic, (we think--the memory is vague) Scruffy from the Dropkick Murphys played bagpipes against some drumbeats (amazing), and f-14s flew overhead towards the end of the night. (BTW, if someone reads this who was there, please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points!) Anyway, again, happy birthday Dan. You rock!

The fireworks in Dorchester lasted at least until midnight, and people were still lighting them off until Sunday night.

Lorie from NYC stayed with us, and I kidnapped her to sleep overnight at my parents' house with Owen. We went blueberry picking (TreeBerry Farm in Scituate), lunch at Haddad's in Brant Rock, and a jaunt to Scituate Harbor. We did a lot of driving around, too. It was awesome to hang out (sans Owen) with Rob & Jude, go out to an excellent dinner at Petit Robert, visit the Dig offices, and cap off the night at JJ Foley's. Lorie left the next morning. Sadly, her guy Pete couldn't come up because he has to save his vacation for San Diego Comic Con, where he & co will be doing their Comic Book Show. Woo-hoo! We missed him, but we know how fantastic ComicCon is, too.

Last bit of news: Tak's comic, Secret Asian Man, should (fingers crossing, wood knocking) start running daily on Monday in the Patriot Ledger and other papers all over the place.

I love my neighborhood #2

Almost every night for the last couple of weeks, there have been fireworks. I don't know where they're coming from, except slightly southwest of my neighborhood, on the other side of Rt. 93. Whatever the occasion, they can last from 9-11. It's nothing like the Pops for 4th of July, but they're big enough to be pretty and make a lot of noise. Who'd have thought living in the Dot would be so festive?

yummy

This morning I got through washing all the strawberries we picked over the weekend. On Saturday we went to Lookout Farm in Natick. Friends of ours went the weekend before, and said it was packed; so we left relatively early and picked a ton of strawberries. The picking was good; we didn't find too many large strawberries, but small and sweet ones. The Farm itself is huge and more like a theme park. What farm has a petting zoo with ostriches, emu, and reindeer? Owen had a blast riding the "trains" all over the farm, the catepillar ride, and the burlap maze. There's a gigantic playground with a mountain climbing structure and a treehouse slide. I only wished we had packed a lunch or picked up a sandwich from the market, because the food served at the playground was superbasic and priced conveniently.

Guess what we had for breakfast on Sunday? Strawberry pancakes! And for dessert? Coconut sorbet with...strawberries!
If any are left after tomorrow, I'm freezing them.

The delicious Sea Dog blueberry wheat beer I had tonight reminded me that blueberry picking will be here before we know it. Especially if we keep having hot humid days like today!

Currently reading: Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present by Cory Doctorow.

what's up with imports from China?

First, it was the cat food. Back in February, the Wileymonster stopped eating his wet food, Nutro Max Light pouch food. Luckily he was still eating the light Science Diet dry, even if he was occasionally throwing up, and I played around with the Friskies/9 lives/Fancy Feast for treats. I took him to the vet in March, where thankfully, his blood & urine didn't test for anything. That same weekend was when the first press release came out about the tainted wheat gluten in pet food. (He continued to lose weight, but has started gaining it back with a low-allergy dry food). Totally opened my eyes to the insane stuff that's in pet food.

Then the fake Colgate toothpaste arrived. Yes, that's my brand. Great. Good thing I don't shop at dollar stores.

Now, the staple toy of choice for my kid has been recalled: red paint on wooden Thomas the Tank toys. We happened to be watching the news the first night they announced the recall, and we're sending back several trains as a result. Lucky for me, Thomas and Percy are the favorites, and not James. But I look at Bertie the bus and wonder if I should I should send him back because he's red, junt not that vibrant bright red. In addition to the horror and disgust at the thought of "who still uses lead paint?!", I just hope these toys are being destroyed. If they're using the tainted production methods, what the hell are they using for their own kids?

Thanks too, to everyone who's told me about this.

An insight to why this stuff happens was a great documentary we saw on PBS called China Blue about a girl who works/lives in a jeans factory. Takes the fun out of shopping, and is just a facet a consumer culture.

same fight, different day

We have on a UFC fight that we watched last week (the guy in green trunks wins).

Owen has been having problems with transitions which is hard. I go to pick him up at school, and he gives me a hug an then he hits me/bites my clothes, won't go to the bathroom, runs off to the elevator. I try and help him go to sleep and he hits me, headbutts me, unleashes a torrent of poophead talk. (BTW, the word for today was booger.) When I threaten to leave, he begs me to stay and starts crying. It sucks. The situation has been snowballing for the last week or so. Tonight we didn't give in and Tak helped him go to sleep. It's funny, but going to sleep is that last little thing that he really wants me to help him with. I see it as a sign he's really torn about getting bigger. It would be great for him to go to sleep without so many problems, but it makes me sad because it's a kind of weaning.

He's making great strides reading: reading signs, high frequency words like and and the. He finished reading the title of Minerva Louise and the Red Truck; he loved the book and totally has a sense of humor.

Last night I sat in bed and knit: I finished a coaster for my sister (how I love self-striping yarn) and ended up ripping out the cap I'm knitting for my father-in-law. I admitted defeat that not only were the stitches twisted and going moebius, but also that it was going to be way too big. Do over!

a little bit of shameless promotion

...For Secret Asian Man in the Patriot Ledger: http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/06/20/life/life04.txt
Hopefully the link will work, and if not, I'll fix it later if I can remember the code. Go ahead & copy/paste if it doesn't. Enjoy!

blogging in bed

This past Father's Day weekend was exciting: Tak got a new computer, a spankin' new 15" MacBook Pro, wireless, the whole kit and caboodle. Sure, we still have the 4-year-old iMac with a whopping 800MGhz connection and OS 9 to work Word. But it pales in comparision to a light-up keyboard and widescreen. Sigh. Tak also got a new desk, because the dinner table where he'd been working was constantly littered with mail and crap, which entailed moving a bunch of stuff around in the living room. The dinner table still needs a thorough douching, but that can wait until we get the rest of the garbage off the floor and vacuum.

At least the bathroom and kitchen are clean, even if Wily has been stalking mice. He had one last night, but he dropped it on floor to show me, it came to, and scampered under the floorboard, avoiding the carefully laid out trap. Delightful. Better than on Sunday, when we came home from brunch, and Owen picked up a dead mouse, not knowing what it was. Luckily, I was in the bathroom for that 2-minute interval, and Tak had the pleasure of freaking out. We checked out the body, and figured that Wiles got that one too. He's been keeping watch over the kitchen for us, thankfully.

Secret Asian Man is going to be running in my parents' local paper, The Patirot Ledger. Our new summer schedule is working out so far, so good. I finally finished my knitted cotton shell, and still need to weave in the ends, even if I did bind it off too tightly. Looking forward to the Order of the Phoenix movie and final Potter book, as well as in the fall/winter, I think, Stardust and the Golden Compass films. Found this great magazine I can't believe I'd missed, Venuszine, which is like a more music-based version of BUST. Bjork's on the cover, and there's also an interview with Tori Amos. OK, I think Tak needs his computer back. Sometimes, it's hard to share.