extreme hangover

a couple weeks ago my sister was watching something lame on tv (I didn't know what it was but I could tell it was lame) when I asked her what it was she said 'Extreme Home Makeover'

but I thought she said 'Extreme Hangover' which amused me for a while. I thought about how funny that show would be.... until Friday, when I lived it. and my memory was refreshed that someone hungover should never be videotaped or photographed. or probably be exposed to sunlight or living things.

Friday morning I saw Katie at Velouria. she said I 'looked tired' and asked if I ever went to bed the night before. it felt like I hadn't slept (or tasted water) in a long time.

that image still makes me queasy.

about 5 years ago my cousin Aileen showed up to a family gathering at my grandma's house in NH really hungover. she didn't want to tell my relatives why she didn't feel good so all my aunts started thinking maybe it was morning sickness. they laughed and looked disappointed when she told a select few she wasn't up the spout.
here we are 2 months ago at Shannon's wedding (happily inheriting some champagnes)

enough of the lowlights, time for highlights.

Friday night were happyhaps for Elise's 25th birthday. Elise enjoying a sangria sampler:

friendly bats at Kaitlin's art show:

AI goes to the Pistons:

I'm not sure how I feel about the trade. it will be interesting to see how the remaining Pistons react to having a superstar instead of being the team with no stars. I watched the Celtics - Pistons game last night and was surprised how handily the Cs won. I didn't miss Billups or McDyess that's for sure.

I finished reading Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. I'm almost done with The Uses of Enchantment. I need a book to read next, I'm on a roll. if Mary finishes Notes on a Scandal soon I will read that. I'd like to have a book club of books made into movies. then it can be a book and movie club.

Happy Birthday Perk


the party at the Good Life was beyond good.

they asked Mary and I to have a monthly party there, so more partees to come! the next one being December 6.

pound it

places seemed crowded today...there was traffic going everywhere, Starbucks had a line out the door, the elderly affordable housing complex in JP where I voted was lively and swarmed with people (I'm guessing a rare occurance)... but I noticed very little impatience and road rage (also a rare occurance).

it felt like the day of the deciding game in the World Series or the NBA Finals last year. or maybe Christmas Eve...there's a buzz of energy in the air and people on the T actually make chit-chat and you feel comaraderie with your neighbors? that's what today felt like. it was exciting. and after the victory (fingers-crossed) tomorrow feels even better.


Barack would totally get up there if there was a President trophy... there really should be one.


I like how this person thinks:

how the cookie crumbles

my sister (and roomie) is moving West in December.

I've known this for about 2 months now, but every time I think about it I feel like I'm just hearing it the first time and someone is punching me in the stomach.

last night I was in bed and Emily knew I hadn't eaten dinner. so she woke me up with a plate full of onies (macaroni & cheese) and a hot dog.

Emily makes the best macaroni & cheese.

we have our own language (something I also lamented about when Shannon moved because we have our own language, too) i.e. onies. we always tell eachother 'luvshu' (love you)... now you are hip to a couple of our words.

Emily's kitten and probably car will stay here with me. but they don't help me feel better about her leaving.



shortly after we moved in together, Emily heard me making my middle-of-the-night snack. (a ritual old roommates thought was completely weird because it is.) she burst out of her room looking so relieved that I was awake too. "I can't sleep" she said (and looking like she had taken some no-doz.) while I ate my rice krispies, Emily made bacon. then I had cashews and she had a jello. like this was a perfectly normal thing to be doing at 3am.

oh Emshee I mishu already.




in other news: I hate this time of year. go Celtics.

the party to be thankful for

putting the 'stun' in Boston

it's a stretch but an appropriate one. sports in a second. first, the weather.

I recently turned my heat on for the first time in this apartment. today I wore a hat, scarf and gloves. seems like the cold weather is coming earlier this year than in years past. where are the effects of global warming that make the weather more comfortable?
I try not to wear my winter coat til Thanksgiving.

I had a lovely past few days.

2 days at the cottage on 2 perfect bright sunshining days



attending a Sox playoff game that turned out to be the greatest comeback in a playoff game since 1929

(yes we stayed til the end)

'omg I can't believe this is happening and we're here to see it ahhh'


Emily just yelled at Chip to 'stop acting gay'. how does a cat act gay?

Chip, I love you.

Sox win last night. game 7 tonight. Pats on Monday night football. 3 nights, 3 big games and no overlapping, sweet.

I have to admit that now that Tom Brady is out, I find the Pats much more interesting and likeable... he's just too good. Cassel is the Achilles heel. you feel like if you root for him it just might make a difference. that's my take on it, anyways.

even Cassel was bored by Brady.

9 days til the Celtics' first regular season game.

that was the only picture I could find of my Celtics jacket.

baseball time, all the time

I really thought the Dodgers were going to pull out a victory last night. Chase Utley hit a clutch home run to tie the game... gave the Phillies the MMT (momentum). I forgot about Chase after the All-Star break but he's really good and cute.
aka Mr Philadelphia:


so big Game 1 tonight - Sox vs Rays. Dice-K vs Shields. Cocoa's fists vs Gomes, Navarro, etc. Shields is the pitcher who hit Cocoa back in June and they had the benches-clearing-brawl. this video is a nice little recap of the fight.

the day after the fight I was watching the video on Youtube (the actual replay of the fight, not the video above) and my Fed Ex guy came by and watched with me. now every so often we watch sports highlights together. it's a beautiful thing.

the Sox will win the series but I don't want them to sweep.... because I have tickets to game 5 on Thursday! hooray!

seasoning

currently enjoying an apple cider donut from Brooksby Farms in Peabody. field trip there last week for apple picking, fall appreciation, and nerdy photo-ops.


drinking hot coffee, wearing socks everyday, knitting a new scarf... yes fall is really here! I took out all of my fall decorations... frankenstein lantern, jack-o-lantern candy dish, pumpkin salt & pepper shakers, apple shaped dishes, etc.

fall centerpiece...

...small pumpkin on my kitchen table (actually I think it might just be a gourd) and chestnuts we picked up off the sidewalk near my house. we have Halloween candy all around the apartment. Emily and I ate all the kit-kats already.

happy one month wedding anniversary Shannie and Mike!


so Shannie told me there are 2 new therapists where she works and their names are Heidi and Elise! Heidi is shorter and has a weird sense of humor; Elise is taller, blond, and constantly laughs to herself. WOW.

mirror technology that's light-years ahead

(SkyMall)

my creative director read this book and thought I should borrow it.

the female equivalent of 'nice guys finish last' is apparently 'men marry bitches'.

we'll know tomorrow if Dusty wins the batting title. currently .326

I wonder if Dusty's wife is bitchy.

she looks so friendly there...... ah I bet that's how they get you.

good sports

clinch last night. nice work, guys!

I love that they are shaking cans of Bud Light.


sweet goggles


this means the Yankees can't make the postseason (for the first time since 1995) ...it's the end of an era. and the Sox will get the Wild Card unless they miraculously gain 2+ games on the Rays in 5 days.

Celtics tickets go on sale this Friday.

I love you.

I don't think I can get tickets for game 1 vs the Cavs so I'll have to wait til March 6 to see LBJ.

I love you.

i just google your na-ame

Brittany's friend directed this video

how to make a rice krispie treat panda

thanks Mary

6 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 (10 oz.) package regular marshmallows OR 8 cups of mini marshmallows
12 cups or 2 boxes of Rice Krispies
One 12 oz tub of white icing
Black food coloring
1 small tube of black gel icing


1. Follow the instructions for making Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats Original. Be sure to make two separate batches.

2. While one batch is still hot, form a large egg shape, with a flat bottom so that it can stand up on its own. In order to mold, be sure to use wax paper, as the Rice Krispies are so sticky you will not be able to mold them with your hands.

3. Take four smaller proportions of the second batch of Rice Krispies and form four cylinders (these will serve as the paws). While the Rice Krispies cylinders are still hot, press them against the large egg shape made in the previous step, in the positions where the paws would be. Again, be sure to use wax paper, as it is still too sticky to work with.

4. Take a larger proportion of the second batch, and form a dome (this will serve as the snout). Press this onto the facial region. The importance of using wax paper can't be emphasized enough, as the sticky consistency of the Rice Krispie treats has not changed.

5. Next form smaller domes and place these where the ears should be.



6. Allow to cool. While the panda cools, take a quarter of a 12 oz tub of icing and dye it black with black food coloring.

7. Once the entire panda is cooled, coat him/her entirely in white frosting.

8. Place black frosting on top of the white frosting, wherever you desire black accents.




9. Draw on a face with a gel icing tube.

10. Give your panda a name (preferably Chinese, since pandas are native to China).
(I would name mine Ni Hao)



11. Put the panda in the refrigerator until it's time for it to be in the spotlight.



12. Bask in the glory as party-goers admire your creation.



whoever added this to wikiHow should be my friend

while on the topic of China......gchat conversation with Brittany (on 9/4)

Brittany: Heidi
whats the story
?

me: morning glory?

Brittany: HOLY SHIT WAIT
Shannon wedding this Saturday

me: you know it

Brittany: oh my God, life sneaks by

me: hows chiners?

Brittany: i had food poisioning
tonight
a bit earlier
OMG shannon
have you seen the dress???

me: yes

Brittany: is there any way that i can see it?

me: oh dear feel better
will email you pics tonight!

Brittany: Ok that would make my life in china like 10000000x better
god my apartment was filthy when i moved in here. Mould on my pillows (thew them away)
i cried for 2 days
cleaned for 9 hours
so i am serious when i say that pictures of S would really cheer me up
then 2 nights ago i thought someone had like broken into my apt
and i got scared and went to the door and it was a HUGE cockroach

me: NOOOO

Brittany: yeah
i wanted to puke and die

me: did it knock the door down
do you have a door

Brittany: i am serious.
It had like, legs.
like, man sized legs
wait i have a pic

I said 'we'

I know everyone wants to see the pictures from the wedding. here's a little preview...



everything was beautiful and fun and there was more love in the air than at the Smith house at Christmas.

yes Josh performed the ceremony.

photo by Elise Schroeder.

bon

today I rode my bike to work. it takes about the same amount of time as the t (40 minutes) but it requires a bit more energy than sitting and reading the Metro.

when I got to Cambridge I was so tired and sweaty. I thought, what is something really big (and cheap and full of calories) that I can eat for breakfast? I remembered the apple fritter from Starbucks that Rhianna used to get when we worked at Anthropologie.

(while looking for that photo I found so many other oldies but goodies, like eating lunch at "little bon")

the apple fritter was good, but Starbucks has made it like half the size that it used to be. it was only about the size of a donut. Rhianna just reminded me that the fritter used to be the size of her head. you can see her feeding it to Chris above (he has a large head though.)
I ate it so fast I didn't think of taking a picture of it for research.