/hibernation

I have been extremely lax in my blogging these last several months. You know how it goes: Busy doing fun things. Not organized enough to put photos on Flickr. No photos = no writing about fun things. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I shall attempt to remedy that this weekend by doing a massive upload of photos. I’ll be doing them in installments, starting with last August.

It’s March. Pretty soon we will have ploughed through a quarter of the year. What have I been up to this year? What’s coming up? Hey, look! A list!

1. Coming up on Friday, I have a phone interview for a Project Archivist position at an area library. The lovely folks at MIT have offered to do a mock interview with me on Thursday to help me prep. I’ve also expanded my job search to include positions back in the DC/Baltimore area.
2. I had a whirlwind trip to Maryland and Florida last week. I left Boston for Baltimore on the 20th, caught the Riveters/CCRG bout, spent several days among friends and family in Maryland (met the BFF’s girlfriend, she’s rad), left for Florida on the 24th, spent a few days on the Gulf Coast with my seester and JeT’s dad enjoying the 80 degree weather, caught a Red Sox spring training game, then landed in Boston just as the snow began to fall Sunday morning. It was a bit of a wild week: one morning I woke up to broken glasses and raw patches on my hands and face. I try to tell people that the raw skin was due to extremely dry skin, and the glasses were on their way out anyway. There are some, however, who refuse to believe this and assert that I must have been in a bar fight.
3. I now have new glasses. They are red. And shaped rather like my pair-before-last, slightly cat-eye. Did I mention they are red? And awesome? Yes.
4. PRD is gearing up for the 2009 season. Our last batch of newbies joined in January, and there are only a couple left who haven’t yet passed their assessments to claim their name. This is really exciting! It’s going to be a fantastic season! I shall be continuing as the Rookie Wrangler, and I’ll also be taking on the job of League Archivist. I’m also going to be playing in two away games. In Canada! Also, PRD is playing host to several travel teams this year. The first Riveters home bout is against Harrisburg Area Roller Derby (HARD) on April 11 at the RICC. The Killah Bees are hosting the Skate Free or Die girls at a scrimmage next weekend, and then we play them at a NH bout in April. I’m not going to be playing in that one, though, as I’ll be playing in Ottowa the following week. It’s going to be a derby-filled summer, indeed. (Check www.providencerollerderby.com regularly for the most recent updates.)
5. I haven’t been very crafty though. I did finally finish my SIL’s hat and scarf, delivered only two months late. The BFF has a birthday coming up and I’m working on something for him. I started a hyperbolic plane in blue and white cotton, which was supposed to be a bath pouf. I ran out of the white, half way through the last round. I might just knot it off and call it done, though, since the whole reason for making it was to do a bit of stash busting. I also have to make another Jayne hat for myself, since I lost the one I made last Fall. Once I actually get going on something, I’ll feel better.
6. I have severely neglected my pen pals these last several months. The end of the derby season in September ate up all my time, and then it was fall, and then winter, and now here it is nearly spring and some of them haven’t heard from me in ages. It’s not due to lack of caring, but rather to severe lack of organization. I just need to cart around my little notebook of writing supplies, then I can write while I commute, just like old times.
7. Saw They Might Be Giants a while ago. They were super great, as usual. They played so many songs! And many many were ones I’d never heard them play before, or hadn’t heard in a long while. We made some concert friends, which was fun.
8. We have a new car: a 2008 Kia Sportage, silvery grey. It’s awesome. We can accelerate. Uphill! And it’s big enough to fit my legs! And passengers!
9. Though I have been bringing my lunch to work nearly every day (thanks to JeT who actually prepares and packs the food), I miss bringing super fun bentos. I shall endeavor to remedy this. We’ve been making some new foods, though, so we’re slowly edging out of our food rut, which I’m very happy about. More new foods to come, and of course bento photos!
10. I’ve recently discovered Wild Turkey’s American Honey. If you’re a fan of whiskey or bourbon, you need to try this. Even if you normally hate the stuff, you need to try this. It’s golden awesomeness in a bottle. Highly recommended.
11. Speaking of imbibing, my librarian friends and I came up with a blog idea to help us broaden our beer horizons. We plan to sample a different kind of beer each month, and report our findings on the blog. We’re still thinking of a name, though. I was all ready to go in January, and then I sort of just forgot about it. This should be quite fun, once we get going!
12. I would like to go bowling. And ice skating. And just go out more often. Maybe stay in town for a bit on Fridays or something. I just need to get my act together and play cruise director, I think. I’ve just been so disorganized; I haven’t felt like myself for months and months. I think I’m finally coming out of my stupor, though. I think the sunshine did me some good. I’ll work on my schedule this weekend, and will start planning some outings. I wonder where my planner is… probably under the laundry somewhere.
13. First outing: This Friday, March 6th! Watchmen! Who’s in? JeT and I are going to see it in Boston (on the Common). We’re buying our tix tonight, if anyone’s interested.
14. And then there are a couple of concerts coming up: OK Go! and The Pogues! So excited!

Happy 5th of July!

Nothing special about today, but I didn’t get around to posting yesterday. I tried to embed this for to wish you all the best Independence Day in the only way I know how (with Muppets!) but I couldn’t get it to work right. I am YouTube deficient. But enjoy, anyway!

We had some people over for a bonfire and snacks yesterday evening, and the last guest left at 2am, so I’d say it was a pretty fun night! It was great seeing people I don’t normally get to see and sit around the fire (my favorite summer activity). We even found vegan marshmallows that were absolutely divine. They’re by Sweet and Sara. You need them. Do not try to resist them. They will rule you, and you will love them for it.

Anyway, I hope your 4th of July was as fun as ours!

Thanks for the rocking

Thanks to those who came to the Battle of the Bands last night. (And for paying to have a photo with me. SUCKAH!) Sorry I missed some of you! I was running incredibly late all day. I wanted to get there by 8, but didn’t arrive until after 9. I hope you all had fun! I did, indeed! I hadn’t heard of many of the bands before last night (I just don’t follow local music, bad me). Most of them (the ones that I saw) weren’t my cup of tea, but it was really great of them to support us like that. My favorite band that played was definitely The Chasers. Surf rock. Guys in black suits with white ties. They were rad. The band that won was one that I didn’t get to see. They played second that evening: The Providence Morons.

JeT and I are going out to lunch today at the Garden Grille, because we couldn’t work it into the schedule yesterday. Yum! Kangaroo sauce!! Can’t wait.

Happy Chocolate Day!

yum

So, JeT and I don’t actually celebrate Valentine’s Day. It just feels awkward and weird. One year, I went all out with a theme, “pink, red, and mellow” with a themed meal and a concert, but really, it was only because The Kings of Convenience were in town that week. So, in order to celebrate it, we have to coat it with a huge layer of irony and sarcasm, and I just didn’t have it in me this year. On the day in question, while scoffing at the dudes buying flowers in the depths of South Station (not even bothering to go upstairs to the good flower shop in the same station, sheesh) on their way home, I thought about a different way to celebrate the day.

Because I can’t just ignore it and hope it will go away; it’s way to In Yo Face, Foo! to just pretend it isn’t there, I decided instead of celebrating Love (TM), we should celebrate chocolate (and maybe flowers, but mostly chocolate). Now that’s a holiday I can get behind.

I do love JeT. Very much. I just don’t like Valentine’s Day. And not just because it’s all commercial. (Because I still like Christmas and Easter and Halloween, and those are just as commercialized.) It’s that I can’t shake the awkwardness of the whole thing. When I was single, it made me feel crappy. When I was coupled, it made me feel weird, like I was trying to live up to some expectation where the standards were set by some weird, faceless entity. Yeah. Awkward. No matter what. I’ve tried to do the whole “hooray for love” thing on 14 February, but it just feels… not good. Besides, diamond commercials make me… not happy. And I’m already annoyed and angered by all the other commercials out there this time of year: diet! Diet! DIET, bitches! Oh, and here’s an ad for junk food! /rage

But the celebration of chocolate, I can get behind. So, today I made awesome chocolates. On the right are ginger candies dipped in dark chocolate. In the middle are marzipan balls dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. And on the left is a dark chocolate bark made with raisins, dried blueberries, and coconut (because I got tired of dipping things). Yum!!!

Merry Decemberween!

Merry Decemberween!

I know it’s almost over, but I hope everyone’s December festivities have been super wonderful. We’re down at my folk’s house in MD for the week and having a great time. Christmas was super fun. I love watching the kids open presents. Since there are only two kids in the family at the moment, everyone was putting the pressure on for JeT and I to contribute to the younger population so that there’ll be more kids to watch on Christmas morning. Yeah, probably not anytime soon. Though woo hoo for all the friends who have announced their expected little ones! (You’ve all been busy: there were two baby announcements and one engagement! Hooray!)

I’ve finally uploaded photos from the last couple of months. Geez, we were wicked busy, weren’t we? There are photos from Thanksgiving with friends, the Fancy Schmancy Dancy Birthiversary Party, the Hooray for Repeal Day Party with librarians, the Ugly Sweater Party, snow, birthday, and Christmas. It’s been crazy-fun. There are also pictures of recent crafty projects: felted bags, and a doll of The Dude (from The Big Lebowski). And cupcakes. Yum!

See you all in the New Year!

Done.

Yes, as of Thursday, 12:30 pm I finished the work for my MLIS. Woot! To celebrate, the skies dropped a foot of snow on us. I went to lunch with a fellow graduate, The Spinstah, and another GSLIS student, The Boss Lady. We had lunch and beer at Thornton’s while we watched passers-by stumble in the snow, and drivers sit in the city-wide gridlock.

Walking to the T (and to and fro the restaurant) was a bit of an adventure, because I am wicked smart: I forgot my snow boots at home. I was wearing dress shoes. I might as well have been walking bare foot. By the time we got back to the car (3 1/2 hours later) we had to shovel it out and then drive home on the treacherous roads. We got stuck at one point because the plows cleared (sort of) the main road, but when we turned on to our own road we couldn’t get over the plow pile. Because JeT is awesome, he dug us out (with our emergency shovel, because at least one of us is thinking clearly about winter weather) and we were home very shortly afterwards.

Once I got home it was really weird. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I kept thinking there was something I was supposed to be doing, and I’d get this momentary panic, like “what am I forgetting.” It was kind of funny. Today was wonderful. I woke up at my leisure (7:30, which is wicked late considering we get up at 5 on weekdays) and we watched Saturday Morning Cartoons for hours and hours. I even took a nap. And then made cupcakes. And we’re going to a party later this evening. Hooray for leisure!

I do have to figure out the details of my Christmas shopping list, especially the knitting that I’ve neglected for ages and ages. Shouldn’t be too difficult, considering I’m giving myself a couple of weeks after Christmas to get things done. Some stuff will have to be done before then, as we’re traveling to Maryland to spend Christmas week with my family. It’s going to rule.

I have tons of pictures to upload: from the Birthiversary party onward. Perhaps I’ll do that tomorrow, since, you know, I don’t have any homework to finish. Ever. Rock!

Berries, games, and music

Bountiful harvest

It was another busy summer weekend, hooray! The weather this month has not been horrible, and I’m super excited about that. August usually has numerous stretches of unbearable days, but luckily this year we’ve had several good days in between the icky. Today is possibly one of the nicest days ever.

Saturday was pretty nice, too. JeT and I went with my old college roommate and her parents to pick blueberries at Eastover Farm in Rochester (owned and operated by the Hiller family since 1912). Tons of berries everywhere! We picked 6 pounds and pretty much stayed in the same spot the whole time. (I went back today and picked a few more pounds. In the hour and a half that I was there, I only picked from three bushes.)

Saturday was also M’s birthday party (her actual birthday was Thursday), which was a lot of fun. We played a pop culture trivia game. I am no good with trivia. I don’t know anyone’s name. Under the pressure of the competition, I nearly forgot Alan Rickman’s name for goodness’ sake! It was a super fun game, though. Thanks to The Bohnsternator (I’m trying to come up with blog names for you all) for putting together the questions and for moderating. Rrrrrr (you know, like pirates?) made us all wear hats with our team names on them, and photographs of ourselves, in case we forgot what we looked like. Our team was called The Noblets, after the character Chuck Noblet, played by Stephen Colbert, in Strangers with Candy. (See more photos of that evening here.)

Leaving the party was a bit of an adventure. Unfortunately someone’s house a block over was on fire. The streets were filled with police cars and fire trucks. Our car was not parked on the same street as the house fire, but it was just around the corner. Near a fire hydrant. So, we were blocked in. One of the neighbors came over to move her car so I could wiggle out of the space between the curb and the fire truck. I ended up having to back up the hill, maneuvering around the fire truck, and a police car. I panicked a bit because all these people were on the sidewalk watching me. Weird. But I’d rather have to do some awkward driving than have my house burn down, so I’m not really complaining.

Sunday afternoon we drove out to western MA for a Great Big Sea concert. They are from Newfoundland and they rock! We picked up Blake (can’t think of a good name for him), picked up SEA from the Eric Carle Museum where she volunteers on Sundays, got some dinner from this great restaurant in Northampton, and made our way to Look Park, where the concert was to be. We parked and then began the trek to the outdoor theater.

We started walking towards one particular pavilion only to find that there was only a handful of old people listening to Kenny G type music. Didn’t seem like the type of crowd, nor the type of opening act appropriate for the awesomeness that is GBS. So we asked the uniformed folks in the golf cart where we should go, and eventually made it to the correct location.

The concert rocked. They played all the hits. (Or as they say “all the hit.”) I danced until my feet were dirty and sore (no shoes! plushy grass!) They are so much fun, and this venue was a great way to showcase their talents. They fit perfectly in an outdoor place or in a pub. They make me want to go back to Newfoundland. The opening band was pretty good, too: Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers. They did this great pop culture medley set to one of their folky tunes. It ruled.

All in all a fantastic weekend. I’m seriously enjoying this summer. I usually hate summer, and I’ll probably hate it again before too long, once this gorgeous weather goes away. I don’t mind the rainy, overcast days, but hate, hate, hate! the hot, humid ones. Days like today, though, are absolutely perfect.

Happy Easter!

cherry cupcakes

Behold! Today’s dessert!

We bought a bunch of stuff from Pangea, and I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes, transforming lemon frosting into cherry frosting. They came out pretty good. I couldn’t pipe the frosting on, though, because of all the cherry bits.

Today was pretty fun. I didn’t get enough work done this weekend, but that’s always the case. Nothing I can’t catch up on this week.

Click through to Flickr for more Easter photos. Here’s a fun link: Cat and Girl celebrate Easter. Man, I love this comic.

Falafel!

Bento #11

No lunchbox today, as I’m working (read: blah, blah, blahgging) from home today. I’ll take the later train in, yes, just so I can go to SNB this evening. Ok, ok, so I have to go to the library to do work, too, but that’s not as fun.

I’m just really in the mood to be around knitters today. I listened to the recent podcast from It’s a Purl, Man regarding the Yarn Harlot‘s appearance in NYC this past Thursday, and I’m all about Representing today. I have more to say on that subject, but later for that.

This is yesterday’s lunch. Contents: leftover falafel, tomatoes, lettuce, hummus, pickle, tabouleh, potatoes faux gratin, mixed nuts, grapes, blueberries, and a little container of soy yogurt dill dip for the falafel. Not pictured are the pieces of pita bread that I nestled in the box on top of these containers.

The falafel reheated rather well, though it wasn’t crispy, obviously. I ate the fruit and nuts as a morning snack (in addition to the fruit smoothie that I brought in my “food jar”), and still I had a headache by 1 pm. I was completely out of commission last night. I went to bed as soon as we got home, around 6 pm. I thought I had this thing figured out, but apparently, I still need to tweak my habits. I even took it easy on the computer yesterday, and had plenty of water. Oh, well. I’ll figure it out. I’m getting really tired of answering the “how are you” question with “fine, but I’ve got a killer headache.” Grr.

At least my lunch was yummy!

How I spent my Saturday night:

  

lemon yellow 

We were going to call people and go out tonight, but decided to bake instead. (Old!)

I finally got around to making something from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It’s just your basic golden cupcake with buttercream, but somehow adding lemon extract, lemon zest, and a sprig of mint, and it looks all gourmet! Super simple, though.

The batter and icing were smooth as silk. I couldn’t believe how great they tasted. I was so hopped up on sugar from licking the batter and icing bowls that I didn’t even eat one to see how the finished cake tasted. Cake for breakfast, I say.

I’m still not used to piping frosting, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually. This was the best looking one of the bunch, but click through to see more photos of the whole dozen, if you feel so inclined, and I think you do.

I almost never use these plates, and I forgot how awesome they are. Usually, if I remember, I put fresh lemon slices on them at parties for cocktail enhancement. Lemons are so cheery!

(Edit to add: Sunday morning cupcakes = crazy delicious)