Thursday, July 31, 2008

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Y'all know I went to Vanderbilt. Being in the dirrrty South, we love our Preppy Gangstas:

A welcome weekend

Hey y'all!


I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last couple weeks. The move and a big reorg at work have me running around every two seconds. I'm very very excited to say that my Mum, Dad, and little brother are flying in tomorrow for a week(!) to help me out.

(I say "little" brother but check out below. In this photo I'm 6'. Told you he's a big boy.)

(Little Brother and I don't hug.)

I am seriously tearing up, I'm so excited.

Truth be told, I need a little babying. DH has been gone and I'm super stressed out. I also haven't told DH that I've felt bloody awful for the past three weeks. (See, this is a reason to find doctors EARLY when you move!) I don't know what's wrong with me but I'm utterly exhausted ALL THE TIME. I've also been incredibly nauseated for weeks now. You'd think I'd be fitting into my all-time skinniest jeans due to the inability to eat but all of my pants are fitting weirdly and I have to wear skirts.

Oh, and I almost killed myself last night when I ate something to which I'm allergic (still undetermined) and my throat closed up. Awesome.

Wow. /bad vibes>

In HAPPIER news, I've become completely addicted to the Twilight series. See, some of you with girls know what I'm talking about. Everyone else is going "huh?" They're a "young adult" series of novels about (Oh, I hate to admit this) a vampire-human-werewolf love triangle. I promise, they are very entertaining! They're about 400~500 pages but the font is large and they're a quick read. The final installment is coming on Monday and I'm VERY excited. If I don't sleep Saturday night, I'm pretty sure I can finish it by the time we head to church Sunday morning. :)

I've also been watching a bunch of tv shows from the early 90s. Mad About You and Northern Exposure, mostly. Interesting observation: I used to think NE was HILARIOUS and MAY was "eh." I now find MAY *HYSTERICAL* and NE sort of "eh." That perspective sure changes once you get married, no?

Paul: What's the big deal with Valentine's Day? It's a made-up holiday. Nobody even knows who this St. Valentine guy was.

Jamie: He was a Roman priest who defended the Christians and was beheaded by Claudius II on February 14, 269 A.D.

Peace out to Brooklyn. I'm out.


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tag!

5 Guilty Pleasure songs:
(Edited to include YouTube videos)

Yes, I'm finally doing it. Here are the five songs I uploaded under different names so that my hard-won indie cred wouldn't be stripped by my too-cool-for-school coworkers:

1. Sex Bomb - Tom Jones. Sex Bomb came out while I lived in Russia and it always makes me think of St. Petersburg. ...you can give it to me when you need to come along...


2. Get UR Freak On - Missy Elliot. I know every single word and have dance moves to match. This is what happens to southern sorority girls with too much time and JD on their hands. :)


3. Don't Stop. Believing. HOLD ON TO THAT FEEEEELIN'! You know you just started singing along with me. Question: Why does everyone say they hate this song but the moment you put it on the juke box, everyone is screaming away?


4. The Sign - Ace of Base. I first heard this on a girl scout white water rafting trip. I still love it just as much as that day.


5. Only Wanna Be with You - Hootie. Still one of the best songs when you roll down the windows on a blue-sky day.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Etsy love

Totally, totally, totally in love with these pillows.



Le Sigh (redux)

DH is headed to the East Coast again. He's also in the worst mood I have ever seen him in. The man won't eat, he won't sleep. He's just angry. (Not at me - at the project.)

When we were married, we wrote our own vows. Mine have been lost forever (long story but no one saved my copy) but one of the lines I most remember writing was "Your happiness is inseparable from my own." It's true. When he's upset, I'm upset. I would do anything for that man and it's tough when you know it's going to be a horrible week for him.

On the house front, I've ordered window treatments from Hunter Douglas. Sweet Jesus - why did no one tell me it was going to be $5k for ONE window?! Looks like we're going to have to wait until Christmas to install hardwoods. :(

Also on the house front - we found a painter that can do 17' ceilings! Woo! We're going with Ralph Lauren Greenwich for most of the room. We have some interesting architectural details that we're highlighting with Ralph Lauren Sand Heather. I painted two rooms with Behr and have decided it's the devil. FOUR coats people. FOUR.

In other news, I've decided to take up cross stitching again. I used to do it a lot when I was a kiddo and want to take up another hobby. What shall I do first (got to love Etsy!):

These are all from Tiny Modernist (which is, btw, the CUTEST baby store EVER):


The beloved Eames Chair. When I got my first apartment, my father gave me his Eames because I loved it so. It's the only "designer" furniture I own. I treasure that it was my father's and I adore its design. (I won't mention his first Eames chair that my brother and I ruined when we jumped up and down on it at 7 and 4 years of age.)

Ah the Van der Rohe. If I were to buy a new piece of furniture, it would be this chair, without question. Not only is MVDR one of my favorite architects, this chair is STUNNING in white calf leather.

The Ball. You know you wanted one when Austin Powers came out. Admit it.

The Arne Egg. I think this would be so fabulous in a library. You could curl up and dive right into a ox blood leather covered volume of Proust.

Which one should I pick? It'll only take me an evening or two (I stitch incredibly fast) so I could probably do several by August. Where to start...where to start?

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Busy bee...

Oh lordy - I. Am. Tired.

Poor DH is working flat out, seven days a week. He has been flying back and forth to the East Coast and on the days he flies he typically works 17+ hours. (He can't sleep on planes so he works the entire time.) When he is home, I try to do everything so that he can rest and decompress.

This also means that I have been doing most of the house stuff. I do have to say, DH was great on Tuesday and painted an entire bedroom. I've been running out the door at work each evening in order to get home to meet with contractors. After that I either tape or paint a room. Then I run home and make dinner out of whatever we have left in the freezer. (It isn't pretty. Soon we're going to be eating walnuts, garlic naan, and corn. We're down that low in the freezer and pantry.) After that I take a shower and go to bed, hopefully by 11.

So yes, we're both exhausted and not doing much fun stuff. :( But, on the up side, we're going to move in in two weeks. Woo hoo! I just hope I can get my painting done, the professional painters in, and get the window treatments up in the next ten days. Aiyee!

On a completely unrelated note, I have been shopping for engagement and wedding gifts. (Tis the season, no?) While looking at Georg Jensen silver (AMAZING), I got the itch to look up toast racks on ebay. Let me tell ya, I am OBSESSED with finding a great toast rack. I had never seen one until I went to England and met my future in-laws. I know some people like to use them for mail but I literally think its use for toast is GENIUS.

Since we buy obscenely expensive sourdough bread for toast at the farmer's market on Sundays, I feel we need one.

It spells TOAST!

Or perhaps this one. Polo mallets, dogs, and a horseshoe?? It's like they made it for me. Seriously, I am head over heels for this.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Champagne for all!

Our good friends K and J are staying with us this weekend. Last night K proposed! Congratulations you two! Huzzah!!



The happy couple. Aww. :)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Come hooooome

DH has been gone this week and is (hopefully) coming home tonight. (He texted that he missed his connection. God knows where he is because he isn't answering. I'm hoping that means he found another flight!) He's here for the weekend and then he's gone for the next week. This makes me sad for many reasons:

1. He's my husband and best friend. It's weird to be without him. While I don't mind leaving, I hate being left. :(

2. I have some OCD issues concerning locks and doors and he's the only one I trust to lock up behind me. It took me 20 minutes and two trips to the parking garage before I was absolutely positively sure I had locked the house door. (Logically, I know I had locked it. But I still have to check. It's OCD, I can't control it.) Try explaining that to the boss when I was late this morning.

3. While it's great to have the bed to myself and set the thermostat above 70, I miss him like mad. I stole one of his tshirts and have been wearing it to bed for the last two nights because it smells like him.

4. I'm incredibly bored without him. I have no one to talk to! This evening I took the night off from painting our new place and did the following in four hours:
  • Vacuumed the apartment
  • Sorted, washed, and folded six loads of laundry (including one just of bathmats. They were totally overdue)
  • Dusted all wooden furniture
  • Conditioned and polished all of the leather furniture
  • Cleaned the oven (by hand)
  • Cleaned the cooktop (That took 15 minutes which is an incredibly long time to clean a stove, methinks.)
  • Cleaned all the bathrooms, floor to ceiling
  • Sorted and recycled all of our cans/magazines/bottles/etc...
  • Hit the dry cleaner
  • Made blueberry strussel muffins for our houseguests
  • Made several floral arrangements
  • Watched two episodes of Mad About You (I am OBSESSED with that show and tivo it every day)
  • Cleaned the kitchen floor
  • Scrubbed all of our stainless steel appliances and sinks
  • Organized my closet
  • Organized my shoes
  • Went a little crazy at the Banana/Gap online sale. Rest assured, I had a couple of gift cards and a 25% off coupon so it wasn't too bad:
I LOVE Gap Body for undies. This is a great great thong (and on super-sale) so I bought a dozen in beige. I have a pet peeve about women who wear white undies or bras when they should be wearing a nude color. Matching isn't always the best course, ladies!

But I also stocked up on some fun prints too.

This is a cotton/cashmere shell. I fell in love with the ribbon detail. I might have to buy a couple other colors if it fits well.

I bought these wedges in kelly green pebbled leather. I love the woven detail on the heel.
I've decided that I need more tops for work that don't require dry cleaning. As much as I love a cool, crisp blouse or button down, the dry cleaners are SUPER expensive in downtown San Diego. I used to get shirts done for $2, it's more than double that at the place down the street!


I've been eyeing this eyelet jacket since it came out. Thanks to Shop It to Me, I didn't buy it last weekend when it was $48 in the store. I got it tonight for $23!

I think this is the cutest top. I also got it in white. Plain but still interesting. Kinda like me, I suppose. :)

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Home Depot, sweet Depot

I am all about gadgets when it comes to DIY. Since I am HORRIBLE at DIY I depend upon people smarter than me figuring out the best way to do stuff. Things that have made life a heck of a lot easier since we got the condo last week. (Please also note the two-tone pink PLAYTEX gloves. Yes, Playtex. For some reason I couldn't stop giggling when I bought them. Cross my heart.)

Grout sealer roller bottle - used to cover the miles and miles of grout in the bathrooms. Decent but had a tendancy to leak a little. I'd probably do it with a thin paintbrush next time.

Drip and pour guide for paint cans. Again, decent but takes even more clean-up time than wiping down a can side.

Greatest gadget ever. It's $3.50 of heaven; the paint edger. I'm still going to tape everything in the room but this makes a fabulous straight line around baseboards, doors, and the ceiling. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

This isn't a gadget, I just wanted to share. We finally picked out hardwoods for the first floor - a brilliant exotic doussie wood with a lot of tonal variation. I heart it so. It's very hard and resists termites. Not that I think we'll get termites (knock on wood) but it's a good thing. :)

Greatest. Salad. Ever.

DH is away this week (boo!) so I made "girl-food" i.e. the GREATEST. SALAD. EVER.

Picture and recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks! Which is, by the way, an utterly fabulous cooking blog with easy, step-by-step photos along with the recipes. Even kitchen klutzies like moi can follow along!

SALAD INGREDIENTS:

1 packages linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled (I used Tofu Shirataki noodles. 20 calories vs. 420 calories in regular pasta - thank you Hungry Girl!)

1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin (if available)
1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)
3 sliced scallions
3 peeled, sliced cucumbers
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch (Like Pioneer Woman, I heart cilantro. I used two bunches in my salad because I'm crazy like that)
1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet (I don't like nuts so I left them out)

DRESSING:

Juice of 1 lime
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped
More chopped cilantro—LOTS

Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.

I thought this was a tasty dressing but it needed more acid. I guess my limes weren't juicy enough. I added two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and was much happier.

Bon Appetit!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Hoo boy, what a weekend.


DH and I went on a cruise that his company sponsored. Here we are at the beginning of the night. (Notice my *way* shorter hair - I loves it! I'm looking a wee bit windblown because the cabbie on the way over totally didn't put up the windows.)

Let's just say being stuck on a boat with an open bar for many many hours was not good to me. Let's just put it out there; I was *wasted,* college-style. Classy, I was not. I dropped it like it's hot and it wasn't pretty. There was dancing. There was an after party that ended at 3am. I am WAY too old for this.

Most of DH's work folks were very nice. They were as tipsy as I was. I totally got hit on by one guy who didn't speak the good English. I still got it. *snap* Then I got hit on by another dude who TOTALLY gave me the creeps. I mean, ew. There's a point where you can be overly-complimentary and totally icky.

The rest of the weekend I spent painting our place. Here's the MB (it's still drying so please excuse the patchy-ness.)

See how it looks scary avocado-ish? I'm glad it dries down to a wonderful leafy green. I'm still not convinced about Corn Hush, though. It looks pretty minty. Hmm...

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

Just a little snip

Spontaneously cut 6" of my hair off this afternoon. I love it. Pics to follow.

Chips

Hi folks! Sorry I haven't posted in a while - we finally got the keys to our townhouse!

DH and I come home every evening, throw on some old clothes and head on over to paint. (It is rather convenient that we're only moving a block.) Right now we're finishing up the master bedroom. We went with Behr Corn Husk Green (400D-4) for three walls and an accent wall of Grape Leaves (400D-6). Corn Husk is more minty than I thought it would be. And Grape Leaves was *totally* scary looking 70s-ish avocado when it first went on. It has since dried to a lovely leafy green.

I know our colors tend to be a lot bolder than most would choose. However, DH and I have very contemporary design taste and bold colors make the clean lines much more interesting.

And if the worst happens, we paint again. Huzzah!

Next up: Cool Dusk (550F-4) for the guest bedroom. I'm already wondering if it's too gray and not enough blue. Pictures this weekend!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Dual citizenship cake



We try not to inflame tensions between our desserts.

Anglo-American relations

I would like to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day.
DH would like wish everyone a happy Insurgency Day.

To discuss Anglo-American relations, I leave you with clips from Eddie Izzard, a cross-dressing English comedian. (He's also the star of the show "The Riches" if you've ever seen that.)







Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Oh sweet mother Mary...

Today I reached a new low.

Let me set the scene: The entire office took a 15 minute break and gathered in the center of the room to attend the retirement party for one of my co-workers. Yes, that's right - give us 30+ years of your life and we will celebrate over brownies for 15 minutes. Anywho... the point is that everyone was there.

I had been standing in the crowd for ten minutes when a woman taps me on the shoulder. "Uhm," she whispered, "your skirt isn't zipped up." I put my hands over my behind and yup, there's a big hole. "Oh my god," I whisper back, as I slowly retreat to the ladies room.

As I'm walking there, I think to myself, "Didn't I zip it up this morning? I'm sure I did." And when I reach the restroom, I realize three things:

1. Yes, I did zip it up this morning.
2. The zip is completely busted, meaning the zipper is at the top and the teeth have torn themselves apart.
3. I have on a thong and the entire "T" of the thong (including tush!) has been on show for God-knows how long.

Now I'd like to point out that 1) this skirt fits, it's even a little big and 2) I bought it three days ago. The zipper should not have busted.

Now the story gets worse. I manage to get the zipper half way down the zip, thus "re-zipping" the top of the zipper but still leaving a sizable hole where the teeth won't close. I man-handle this skirt for another four or five minutes before completely breaking the zipper pull OFF one side.

I now have a huge hole exposing my tush with no way to fix it. I contemplate telling my boss I have to go home. No go - I have meetings that I absolutely cannot miss. I've been out of the office since Thursday and this week is short enough with the holiday.

So what's a girl to do? I can't pin it because it would require about five pins and would still be on display every time I stood up. I decide that I shall have to break my rule about looking put-together at the office. Desperate times = desperate measures.

I hiked my skirt up so that the hole was covered by my sweater. What was once a neat, knee-length pencil skirt became a mini. I then grabbed my emergency fleece shawl neck cardigan (worn ONLY on casual Fridays and even then ONLY at my desk) and threw it on. It covered my tush enough that I felt I could make it through my meetings with some strategic notebook placement while walking the halls.

I made it through the day even though I got some really strange looks from people.

Gap is going to get a mouthful when I return that blasted skirt tomorrow.