if the dress fits...

Yes, the formal dress from 1993 does fit... if I totally sandwich myself into it like a corset.

Now the big decision: to go fancy, or casual, with my Esprit baggy button-down shirt, leggings & socks. Also, figuring out hair & makeup.

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.

NYC highlights

Lately I feel like I couldn't post anything until I'd put up a summary of the trip Memorial day weekend. The weather was perfect! We got to hang out with Tak's family, our NYC pals, and I got to see Karen & meet Zoe (she's so sweet)!

-Food/Coffee: We introduced Owen to the ritual of eating a New York hot dog from a cart on a rock in Central Park after going to the Natural History Museum; La Columbe Torrefaction in the Toyo's neighborhood won for best coffee (even if the interiors did get the Soho treatment--that's not a bad thing); the big coffee loser was City Girl cafe (too expensive and poorly laid out), and their Red Velvet cupcakes were not great and small to boot. The new Kinokuniya is gorgeous, and the cafe is really small, and sleek and modern (of course).
-Knitting: Visited the new location of Seaport Yarns (cool new straightforward layout, although somehow it seemed smaller than their old shop). Really wanted to get something at The Point Cafe but didn't--nothing really moved me. The owner at Stitch Therapy was very cool (especially about exchanging unused yarn from Christmas without a receipt), and it's a nice small place and I did get a nice skein plus a little camouflage Know Knits bag that I've had a little crush on for awhile. Lorie & Sarah were very patient with me while I futzed around.
-Friends & Family: Explored Hoboken a little bit to meet up with Karen & Zoe. Hoboken's a neat area and so close to Manahttan, plus it's got a bunch of kid-friendly parks along the water (yes, Frank Sinatra drive). We did some good hanging out with Lorie & Pete, Sarah & Dan: seeing Indiana Jones 4 at the Ziegfield, going out for dinner (Spice, yummy) & a Harvard Sailing Club sketch show at the P.I.T.; picnic at Prospect Park. Owen (and Tak & I) got some good hanging out time with Baba & Jiji.

A fine time!

almost 5 years ago to the minute

Owen was born!

Today is not only Owen's birthday, but also his graduation from Preschool (although he'll be attending over the summer since it's also a daycare center.. It's going to be a big change next year!

i heart procrastinating

Instead of packing, I'm blogging. SMART. We leave for a few days in NYC tomorrow and I haven't really begun to get my stuff together. Knitting? Do I bring the sweater for Owen, the baby gifts to finish... ? It might be 80 degrees over the weekend. Oh, and cleaning: must remember to hide things from the parents who are coming to check on the cat. I could color my hair (again; the Manic Panic washed out in less than 2 weeks), except that now it's really time to pack.

I was going to finish this post with some recent cooking exploits, but again, I'll put it off (or see my flickr page). Spike is showing 1000 Ways to Die (it's horrible but I can't resist the Bernie Wrightson-esque comic panels). Very Distracting.

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.

2nd blog aniversary

So I missed my own blogiversary on May 6. I'd been meaning to update the layout anyway, and needed an excuse. While I'm not exactly a fan of how much room is over on the side, the new & improved functionality of laying out in Blogger was pretty cool. There might be some more tweaking as I go along.

taking the rest of the day off

Friday I took the day off to write, knit, and explore a couple of neighborhoods. Happily, I managed to do everything!
First stop, Adams Village, to Greenhills Bakery--one of the best sources for Irish brown bread in Boston. While I didn't actually have the brown bread, I'll definietly go back. I was totally overwhelmed and hungry, to I went with the cinnamon roll. I walked around, although there's really not a lot to see. We considered living over there, and it's really quaint.
On a whim, I walked down to Lower Mills--both not too bad and no mean feat, either. It's a straight shot down Dorchester Ave. Lunch was served at Common Ground Cafe, which has a reputation for being excellent but the interiors are very woody--like a Hobbit's hole or a 70s holdover (or both). The other reason for its notoriety is that the cafe & market are run by the Twelve Tribes, an obscure Jewish sect (for lack of a better word) that's pretty hippie-ish. I sat and knitted while I had a really leisurely lunch. They were nice enough, and the food was really good. I kept walking, visiting a couple other shops. The high-speed trolley from Mattapan is back up and running, so I took that back to the Red line. Then I went home and Yelped all about it!

I'm finally tackling my first real sweater. Last weekend I went through some of my yarn stash (as the flickr shots will show), and found a fun camouflage self-stripe, so I'm working on that for Owen. Mostly, it's so I can practice increases and actually reading a pattern so I can knit my own sweater. It should be done by the fall; one sleeve is already 2/3rd of the way along.

I've also been doing a fair amount of cooking; more to come.

what a little nightshade can do

Last summer when I dyed my hair pink, I still had leftovers of the 2 almost-rans: violet & Manic Panic's Deadly Nightshade. To get out of my gray-hair funk, I went with the nightshade, since it's slightly more conservative.

I forget how the grays really pick up color and reflect it=no bleaching necessary. I love it. It's a fantastic purple-y plum color. Plus, I still have half a jar!

(Owen & I are playing with Photobooth. He especially loved the twisty effect but I vetoed it.)

delicious

Last week I finally started up with del.icio.us and love it. Thanks to Rob, I found Cooking with Rockstars, and maybe someone will find and enjoy Best Parent Ever, a.k.a. Stuff White Parents Like.

I was in an odd mood last night, and so I made banana bread using my mother's recipe. As I was getting underway, I realized that I ran out of crushed walnuts. Luckily it still tastes good, but walnuts definitely add an extra level of texture and fragrance.

My crazy work project is finally over, and it's so weird not to be going constantly. I can shamelessly laugh out loud to LOL cats.

mucinex-d is my friend

I've finally completely off the Mucinex-D--the one with pseudoephedrine that I had to get ID'd for--which worked like a charm. I figured out the extra strength was 2x the dosage I needed. Duh. That and the antibiotics.

mucinex is not my friend

I have had a nastier-than-usual cough for the last couple weeks (but really it's been about a month). I've been to the doctor's twice and today they finally put me on antibiotics for definitely an ear infection, maybe a sinus infection, and possibly atypical pneumonia. (At least it's not strep.) Until now, I've tried various combinations of sinus & allergy meds, cough & cold meds of the drowsy and non-drowsy varieties, inhalers, homeopathic honey cough syrup, and typical home remedies. The only OTC drug I haven't tried up to this point is Mucinex, and the doc recommended it today.

It's horrible. I still need to cough, my body goes through all the coughing actions, but nothing comes out. It's like there's a hair stuck somewhere in the back of my throat. Since it's a 12-hour dosage, I still have about four hours to go.

Needless to say, I'm working at home tomorrow.

best weekend in ages

Friday night: Took Owen to the Kids' Night at the Flower show after school, which involved riding a Town Trolley to the Expo Center, seeing Hedwig the Bard Owl, petting both a boa constrictor and an alligator. Owen got his face painted with a leopard. It wasn't one of the pre-fab choices (yay!), but inspired by the leopard they had on the table.

Saturday: Visited the South Shore Model Railway Club in Hingham, for their bi-annual Open House. Yes, grown men who rent a space in former WWII storage buildings with bad lighting may not sound exciting, but Owen had a great time. Some of the tracks were still a work-in-progress, which was cool to see. Some of the model freight trains even had graf! The boy really liked the model Green Line Train (the old ones). When, when will the MBTA learn to sell toys like their trains?

Sunday: After much resistance, we made it in the nick of time to catch most of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie at my friend's house and hang out with her & her family. She grew up right on the parade route, and we got to watch from the front window. And we enjoyed eating a traditional corned beef & cabbage, plus loads of sugar.
Also: I totally finished the pink boucle hat. I look almost like I did this summer with the pink hair.

Monday: Owen had the day off from school because of Evacuation Day, which just happened to also be St. Pat's day proper. Gotta love those Boston-area holidays! I took a personal day so we could hang out. It was so nice to have a long weekend. So we saw Horton Hears a Who, his first movie in the theater. We'd been reading the story, so he was OK with it, but he was way more excited to actually see a movie on the big screen. Unlike most movies, the volume was set to a normal level, not outrageously loud, which I was really happy about, even though we were prepared with cotton balls. It was a banner eating day: we shared a Shamrock shake and ate movie theater popcorn.

All that fun has made Owen a tired boy! It also makes up for the not-so-great news we got from the Boston Public Schools last week. He (we) got waitlisted for our 2 top schools. (You can pick up to 5, but you only get on the wait list for your first & second choice schools for a year.) BPS doesn't choose alternate schools for K, only for G1 (because it's mandatory the kid be in school by age 6; which is sad to think that for some kids the first time they're in a classroom could be in 1st grade). We could have gone in and frantically tried to find a seat at a school that we may not have seen or didn't feel 100% about. What a huge drag. Most of the charter schools have already just done or their lotteries/applications, and there weren't too many we were interested in. Luckily, we also applied to Catholic school! So unless 82 kids (!) at our #1 school don't go, or 8 other kids from our #2 school--which I don't think is going to happen--the BPS is out for us. Maybe we'll give it another shot next year, but I'm actually looking forward to sending him to the school we chose. What a surprise!

cables ahoy!

Last night I finally taught myself how to cable. A friend tried to teach me last winter, and I just couldn't get it. Lo and behold, thanks in part to Knitty's feature Techniques with Theresa, also to Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway, and some time alone on the couch, I was finally able to get it. Now I don't have any idea what to do the the 1.5"w x 19"l strip of knitting (steering wheel cover? sweater section?), but I am quite proud of myself.

fear of a boucle hat

My 2nd knitting anniversary has come and gone, and I recently rediscovered the boucle yarn that I bought on my first trip to Woolcott & Co. I had tried to knit it when I was first learning, and just couldn't get the hang of it. Then for Christmas, Lorie gave me a hat & scarf kit--in alpaca boucle.

I started the hat, sans the earflaps called for in the pattern. On #8 wood needles it has taken me at least a month to do (in gray Lang Bolero/ Mohair blend). Then Saturday night while watching 30 Days of Night, I started on a purse that was going to have a pink boucle border--and it grew until I used one whole ball. It's now on its way to being a hat, I think. On #11 metal needles, it flew by.

So now I think I've gotten over my fear of boucle. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

i confess

I have been mostly good and have only had one muffin. Of course that doesn't count the lovely homemade cupcakes from my friend Barbara Ann, the orange chocolate K Bliss bars or the 100 calorie Hostess Carrot Cake cupcakes. At least I can still fit into my skinny jeans, but I haven't lost any weight. Oh well. Still haven't joined WW, but I am working out once a week, usually followed by vermicelli bun, or cutlets & anko donut.

Tak & I got out for a night out to see the English Beat (which is really a Red Bull pounding Dave Wakeling & a new band). He still sounds the same, and the show was almost 2 hours full of skanking goodness.

Just finished the sequel to Peeps called The Last Days. One of my favorite things about it was the chapters are named after bands.

Fat Tuesday

Usually I don't like to talk about weight, because it gets kind of boring really fast. But after months of stress-induced eating & holiday feasts, I've managed to gain back half of the weight I lost while doing Weight Watchers--15 pounds/30 lost total. Part of it I'd like to blame on hormonal eating binges; back in April I had my IUD taken out in a so-far unsuccessful not-quite-whole-hearted attempt for baby #2. (Sorry if that's a little TMI.)

So, tomorrow we diet. To celebrate Fat Tuesday, I had an apple fritter from Starbucks. Damn, those things are eeeevil.

I haven't given anything up for Lent in ages, but to get kick started, I'm giving up coffee-shop pastries: fritters, donuts, muffins, breads, etc., baked by our friends at Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Borders Cafe, et al. I'll keep the home-made goodies to a minimum.

Part of the whole Weight Watchers thing is tracking what you eat, and that really makes a difference. And meetings. Somehow being held responsible to a group of people and paying for someone to weigh you is a motivating incentive.

Heck, maybe I'll even to a yoga class on a regular basis. I may even go to church!

Oh yeah, and I aim to finish knitting a sweater.

Wish me luck.

surfacing

So I'm finally almost coming out of my work insanity. January has flown. We've looked at and registered for public schools. We find out in March. We're starting to look at Catholic schools.

I've also got back to cooking. After two weeks of having lunch brought in (very nice lunch), it was good to have lighter fare & be in the kitchen. I made steak tips with my homemade marinade: salt & TJ's 21 Seasoning Salute rub, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine, sesame oil, lemon juice. With whole wheat orzo to beef up the rice pilaf. Tonight Tak made apple chicken sausage with squash I'd saved from the farmer's market in November (it was still good!).

Owen has discovered "rocking out." One of his train videos features Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which he really likes. On our ride in the car the other day we had our own little Wayne's World moment.

Yay! ROTD!

On Yelp, they have a Review of the Day, and, after thinking I would never get one, I did! It's for Black Ink, which is a review I really like and had fun writing.

psst...if you sign up, you can vote on reviews you think are Useful, Funny, or Cool. That's how they calculate ROTD.

Yes, it is snowing, very hard and wet. We have about 2-5" at 10:15amEST. Owen's school is still open, and I'm at work. Happy Mondy!

a very merry unbirthday

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! And happy new year, too. 

I worked on my birthday. (Work is still crazy.) We had a mellow family dinner, courtesy of Tak & Teriyaki House. My dad was funny, and said it was the best Chinese food he ever had. And cake, of course. Owen was sick (ear infection), but he still managed to jam a huge piece into his mouth. 

One of the Dig cover artists Tak uses/knows, Daniel Lim, aka Fawn Fruits, is doing a project of 1000 drawings. Tak sent him my photos to use, and lo--there's my birthday present, #47 "Sweeter." 

Very cool.