This is my new love. His name is Chowder. He belongs to my mom's hairdresser in Chatham and was the first thing to greet me as we rolled into the Cape on Friday. Well, technically Mom was the first thing to greet me. At the salon as she waited for her color to set. And also cause she made me come see her first. And rightly so. But then I headed straight for this guy.
He's a lover...
AND a fighter (not really...he just looks like one here)
What a great way to kick off the weekend. I miss him already....
We're going here this weeeknd. Tonight, in fact. After I get home from the theatre.
Thank God.
Technically we'll be there shooting my friend Anne's wedding, but we've managed to turn it into a mini family trip, since I haven't seen my parents since Christmas. So we'll be able to have father's day with my dad.
Yay.
And yay for the peace and quiet, even for just a day or so.
Don't know why the "17% more" struck me as so funny, but we laughed about it all night. I feel it will become a running joke.
And we didn't make it out to dinner. I was too tired/defeated by a shopping attempt that went horribly wrong. And Geoff had a killer day too. So that = Thai food, a bottle of wine and the Real Housewives of NYC Reunion - Parts 1 & 2 (don't judge). It was lovely.
And to be entered into the log as Reason #127 Why I Love My Husband, I give you an excerpt from our text conversation last night after an incredibly frustrating attempt to find a dress to wear to my friend Anne's wedding this weekend.
(WARNING: This may be offensive to those who aren't fans of strong language - even when used for good and not for evil, or those who puke easily at lovey-dovey stuff)
ME: I'm fat and ugly and so over shopping. G: Noooooooo!! That's my gorgeous wife you're talking about!!!!! Themselves fighting words!! ME: Wandered into DKNY. Which was a mistake as everyone is thin and fashionable. G: Oh f*@% those skinny drugged up flat as a pancake chicks!!** Give me a sweet, sassy, curly haired curvy WOMAN!!!!
Um. I heart him.
And now I promise to put a moratorium on mushiness for a significant period of time.
**DISCLAIMER: Obviously no offense is meant to women who are thin and fashionable. We don't actually hate you. We are sure you are lovely people. The writers of this blog hope that the above re-creation of a text conversation was received in the spirit in which it was meant: as an encouragement to those women who are neither thin, nor fashionable and have just spent two hours looking horrible in absolutely every dress she tried on.
Which I suppose is better than one of us forgetting and the other feeling sad. And it's also pretty typical of life right now. Busy. Distracted. Stresed. Thinking of 10 thousand other things.We talked last week about how it was our anniversary and can you believe it's been two years, but then this morning, it took my mom wishing me Happy Anniversary on the morning subway phone call and my friend Marisa texting both of us for us to remember.
So. I'm really on top of things. As usual.
No fun adventures planned today, not like last year where we discovered our dream home. We'll be lucky to make it to dinner together. And if we do, I'm thinking this authentic Italian place in Long Island City....you know, to keep with the whole Italy = love theme.
Even amid all the hustle and the bustle and the forgetting of anniversaries...life is good. We are good. The "us" part of life is quite lovely. And I am grateful for it.
We were kind of like real New Yorkers on Wednesday night. Our friend Greg King had made a documentary with his friend David Teague and it was screening at the Brooklyn International Film Festival in Williamsburg. So, like real cultured people who aren't tied with a ball and chain to their respective jobs, we went.
It. Was. Awesome.
1) The film was great. BEAUTIFULLY shot. Which is no surprise. Because when Greg has shot for us in the past, his stuff is always gorgeous. So much so that when we talk about needing to get some really pretty, beautifully composed shots, we actually call them "Greg Shots". That's our shorthand. And when we told him that, he claims that half the shots in the film we thought were "Greg Shots", were actually "David Shots". So....a talented pair of guys, basically.
The film is called Our House. I think the tagline on their website sums it up pretty well:
Our House Illegal squatters. Anarchist radicals. Devout Christians.
Here's a trailer... It's an older version of the trailer (because it's all I could find online to embed here).
2. We spent the evening in Brooklyn. Which, as a borough, I love more and more every time I'm there. Even though I don't quite fit in entirely. I don't wear flannel shirts and leggings. I'm not incredibly alternative or indie. I don't know all the cool bands. My world is a little more Ann Taylor Loft than Beacon's Closet or American Apparel. But I sure do dig Brooklyn. And there I was - on a Wednesday night, just hanging out at a film festival, going for beers afterwards (you know I'm more of a wine person) and even wearing my glasses, all Brooklyn-like. It was pretty rad. And I loved it.
3. It was great to see some friends I don't hang out with all that often and feel enough like a normal person, who might just, oh, go to Brooklyn on a Wednesday for a film festival and then, oh, I don't know - go to an AWESOME Beer Garden (which looks like it should be a tavern in a Lord of the Rings movie) a few blocks away and hang out with Greg & David and our friend Joanna until 1230am. And talk about film. And life. And relationships. And meet Greg's awesome girlfriend, Ashley. It was a nice change from my life of schlepping to every play in town before it closes.
Here is the world's darkest iPhone picture of my new favorite Lord of the Rings Beer Garden.
I like to be a real person sometimes. And step a little outside myself.
Monday nights are sometimes the only time Geoff and I see each other during the week, what with me at the theatre most evenings. Sometimes we turn it into a "business meeting" where we discuss all kinds of thoughts and concerns and ideas about Geoff's business. And it just so happens that Monday night is "All You Can Eat Mussels & Fries" Night at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants.
So that's where we went last night. And sat on the patio. And the weather was actually from heaven. Like, I think that's what the weather will be like in heaven.
And the restaurant had their herb garden growing right out on the patio, directly next to our table. Loved it.
Also loved the string of lights running around the patio and the ivy that climbs up the wall of the apartment building behind it.
Some snapshots of our view from the patio over margaritas (for me) and $3 beers (for him). In case you were curious, this is absolutely the way to spend a Monday night in the summer.
Remember that red celery? Well I mixed it with the above and attempted to make my first pie last night. A Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with an oatmeal crumble topping. Ok, so technically I don't actually own a pie dish. So mostly I made it in one of those disposable 8x8 square tins that you buy at the grocery store for 99cents. So it looked more like a cobbler when I was done. But it was technically a pie recipe. (You can find it here)
The filling (strawberries, rhubarb, organic sugar & vanilla and an egg)
The final product.
It was really good. I was kinda surprised (and proud of myself, truth be told). I've never made a pie OR a cobbler before. And I even used wheat flour instead of regular. Next time I'll probably cut down the butter in the crumble topping a hair. It'll still be yum.
We picked up our first batch of organic fruit & vegetables yesterday. We are splitting a veggie share with our neighbors and have a fruit share all to ourselves. I knew there would be some things delivered that I wouldn't know what to do with, and boy did they start us off with a bang!
OK: strawberries, radishes, Boston Lettuce, Arugula, Romaine - those I could identify. I was pretty confident that those white things with leafy stems were turnips. And while I initially thought I was looking at red celery (?!), a quick internet search confirmed the suspicion that it was rhubarb. Surprisingly, the thing that took the longest to identify was a leafy green that was a little red/purple at the stem. Figured it was some kind of lettuce, but when I mentioned the red stem to Mom over the phone, she thought it might be Swiss Chard. Turns out it's just plain ole spinach.
I feel this will be a very educational experience for me.
I think I may attempt some sort of Strawberry Rhubarb something-or-other on Sunday. And I will definitely be making a ton of salad dressing to go with all those greens.
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves."
-Rilke
Mom found this quote and read it to me this morning. I like it. It makes me take a deep breath and release a little of the tension from my shoulders. And knowing what a few of my friends are going through, I thought others might feel the same.
...the staff will bring dogs to the office for the day.
This is Daphne. Stephen, my co-worker, was dog-sitting her for the weekend and her owner hadn't picked her back up yet, so he brought her in on Tuesday. Corgies aren't even on my Top Ten Favorite Breeds list, but she was pretty durn sweet when she curled up under my desk. It's amazing what having a dog around does for morale. We should do this more often.
