Pulling a Miranda

free research

2010-09-13T10:29:00.002-04:00

One more way I fake having a real office ... free Westlaw access at the New York City Bar in midtown. Sure, that means commuting into Manhattan when I don't really need to, but today I have a hearing anyway, so here I am. I pay my yearly membership dues, and that gets me unlimited westlaw access (and many other research tools) in the library of the New York City Bar, and gives me limited westlaw access from home (forms, which are pretty useful!). Westlaw subscriptions cost a lot more than the $244/year I will spend in City Bar dues, and of course I am also granted free or cheap CLEs several times a month. Pretty good deal! WHO NEEDS LAW FIRMS? Not I.

Today I am covering an appearance for another attorney, a guy whose parents were my clients at my old firm. Networking, people. That's what it's all about. If you are starting your own business of any sort, the first step is to call everyone you know, and tell them you are already in business. Fake it till you make it.

OK, back to researching ...

My Fake Law Office

2010-09-07T12:19:00.004-04:00

So, I am a real lawyer, and I am doing real legal work, but I am doing it in a fake office. Well, it's a real office, I guess, inasmuch as I have a desk and a computer, but it also happens to be adjacent to my washer and dryer, and next door to my baby's room. But it functions just as well as any office I have ever worked in, and here is why:

I have Evernote, a combination iphone app and computer website that helps me keep track of files and documents.

I have eFax, a virtual fax machine that lets me receive faxes at a true (fake) fax number, and sends them to my email.

I have JotNot, an iPhone app that allows me to photograph documents and then magically turns them into scans, and, in combination with Evernote and eFax, lets me fax them to my recipients.

I have Vonage, which allowed me to keep my home phone number (as I discussed below), and which then sends voicemails to my email address. Since I receive emails on my iPhone and am able to play audio files, I can listen to my home voicemail even when I am away from my "office."

I have Flat Rate shipping from the US Postal Service. I ordered boxes of various sizes (for free), and I can print my own labels and schedule pickups at my home. I don't even need to be home when the pickup happens -- I can leave the package outside my door and the mailman will take it.

I have a PayPal account, and can accept payment from my clients online. The only drawback to this is that unless I get a premium PayPal account, I do lose a small percentage of my fee to PayPal processing.

I have EasyBiller, an iPhone app that helps me record all of my billable hours. It sorts the time by client and by matter, and emails me reports in a wonderful, easy to read spreadsheet.

So, that is how I run my real (fake (real)) law practice from my "office." Gotta love technology. If I ever get too busy, I may employ the services of GetFriday.com, so I can have a telephone receptionist and personal assistant (and even light paralegal work).

Of course I do not see clients in my "office." My whole practice is based on making Estate Planning convenient for my clients -- when they are ready to deal with their wills, I come to their home, meet with them where it is easy for them, and I go back to my "office" to do my work ... and then execute the wills in their homes. They think I am the most flexible, accommodating lawyer ever. Nah ... just too cheap to rent my own conference room!

gadgets and whatnot

2010-08-29T16:15:00.002-04:00

So, among other news since I last blogged a million years ago (not counting last week): I quit my job in April. Everyone congratulated me on my "decision to stay home with the baby." Well, thanks, but I never really made that decision. I decided to quit that particular job. I did look around for other jobs before I quit, and I didn't find anything, and I decided I didn't really need to find the next rung on the ladder before I let go of that one. With a lot of support and encouragement from my husband and wisdom from my parents, I let the job go and did not know what was next.

I decided I would do a little bit of work on my own in the neighborhood. I told everyone I knew that I was starting my own practice, even though the truth was I had NO IDEA if I really wanted to start my own practice. Suddenly, I was pretty busy! I actually have real, live clients who are paying me in real, live money. Pretty cool.

I kept daycare twice a week, and Baby still enjoys going there when I have client appointments, court dates, or other things to do. It has worked out well. Of course, it's not free, and even though my little nascent firm is doing ok, I am not consistently making more than the cost of childcare, and we are of course behind where we were when we were both working full-time. So, that has led to some creative belt-tightening. Here is what we do:

CHEAP FOOD

Though I am not much of an environmentalist, I did find some inspiration in an online publication called The Daily Green. In a blog post about foods that cost less than a dollar a pound, the site dishes out some pretty excellent advice. So, we eat a lot of chicken legs and thighs, lentils, beans, bananas, cabbage, beets, potatoes, eggs, and rice. And you know what? We are happy and healthy. Also, I do not miss boring, flavorless chicken breasts one bit.

CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT

We cut cable! This was a pretty exciting step, and it wasn't painful at all. First, we realized that our wii, which we already owned thanks to Santa Claus a few years ago, can receive streaming netflix and deliver it to our tv. So, for $9.99 / month we signed up for Netflix, and now have unlimited access to streaming movies on our wii, or computer, our iphones, and our (new) iPad. It is amazing. We can also receive one DVD at a time via mail, but we rarely bother.

We got an iPad. I will not pretend that this was a budget-conscious purchase, but we can watch almost all primetime ABC shows on it, which is pretty neat, and we can also watch iTunes on it. And, with a $30 cable, we can connect it to our TV and watch iTunes on our tv. We do this for Mad Men, which is one of the few shows we love that we cannot watch on wii/Netflix or Hulu. The season pass to Mad Men on iTunes was $30. Anyway, the iPad is amazing, and I will gush about it more in a later post.

I also bought a digital antenna for $20 and can receive HDTV via free digital broadcast. Most of the channels come in pretty well. And, don't tell the cable company, but since we are still internet subscribers, the cable that comes into our house still gives us the first 13 channels for free. Not in HD, but clear enough to watch the Giants preseason game yesterday (unfortunately the Giants play just as poorly on free tv).

CHEAP COMMUNICATIONS

We got Vonage and cut our telephone service that we had been subscribing to through the cable company. We pay $15 / month now for 200 minutes of outgoing calls and unlimited incoming calls. We also get call waiting, caller ID, and voicemail, and the voicemail gets emailed to me as a wav file, so I can listen right on my iPhone if I am out or on my computer (or iPad) if I am home. Pretty cool. And, we were able to keep our phone number.

Our "triple play" through the cable company used to cost $189 / month. After getting rid of TV service and phone service, we now pay $41 for internet service, plus $15 for Vonage and $10 for Netflix. Pretty cool.

We also use Skype all the time, to talk to my parents, my in-laws, and friends around the country. They get to see the baby, and the baby gets to see them. This is essential at 10am when the baby gets fussy and bored, and my mom sings Itsy Bitsy Spider to her via Skype.

And, just now, I enabled the calling feature in gmail. I can call any phone in the country for free from my computer. Zero dollars. Awesome. I am looking forward to using this a lot.

.... I think that is it for our major adjustments lately. But we are having fun!

xoxo,

Your faithful blogger

Back, with a request

2010-08-21T10:40:00.008-04:00

Ok folks, I am blogging again after more than a year. Is this thing on? Can anybody hear me?

Just to bring you up to speed ... in the 13 months since I last posted, we had a baby girl named Noodle (not really), who has red hair and is adorable. She is now 10.5 months old and almost walking. She knows a few words and has a very silly sense of humor. She is a good napper and a pretty good sleeper, God bless her.

We are still in the same apartment -- it will be three years next month! Since Noodle's arrival, it has gotten kind of full and cluttered. I was really loving our apartment until I made friends with a mom two doors down living in an apartment identical to ours, but much better decorated. Suddenly I feel like all of our stuff, especially our furniture, is too big, and the whole place looks like an old lady lived here for 50 years and died, leaving a huge pile of junk. I need help! I am humbly posting pictures of my living room from four different angles. Please ignore the huge mess in the dining room and kitchen -- I had to move some clutter out so that you can see what is going on in the living room. I do not have much of a budget for new furniture, so we need to work with what we have, and I am open to rearranging it. Also, the long chaise piece on the couch can be moved to any other couch cushion or the arm chair.

Thank you, and please be nice!

We're Stuff-Free!

2009-07-24T10:23:00.002-04:00

Well, not really. But we're getting there.

Hubbyhubs and I are fans of two gurus ... Dave Ramsey and David Allen. Dave Ramsey advocates being debt-free, and we're working on that (we just have some stubborn student loans). When you are truly debt-free, you get to call Dave Ramsey's radio show and yell "WE'RE DEBT-FREE!" We are looking forward to that. David Allen shares methods for getting rid of all the "stuff" in your life -- emails cluttering your in-box, to-do lists stashed in every pocket, and that nagging feeling of not quite being in control of all of the tasks you have to take care of. Both men share the philosophy that if you would only take the time to plan, and to grow up, the results will be worth it. So, along those lines, we've been working on getting rid of "stuff" in our apartment. We also need to make room for baby.

In order to more promptly rid ourselves of stuff, we've been using freecycle. I'm a huge fan. So far, we've unloaded my bike (which was later stolen from the new owner. bastards), my desk, my desktop computer (sans hard drive), the speakers from my computer, a huge stack of towels, a slipcover for a couch I no longer own, and a light fixture we bought, decided not to use, and didn't return in time. Yesterday, we finally got rid of the shelves that had been in the guest room forever. Feels good to be getting rid of our stuff! So, now we just need a radio show that we can call to say, "WE'RE STUFF-FREE!"

some things are not hereditary

2009-07-23T17:01:00.003-04:00

I will never understand how my grandmother, God rest her soul, endured her first three pregnancies. Her first she carried while a million miles from home, 20 yrs old, a newlywed in a strange country (the Philippines). The entirety of her second she carried while a prisoner of war, in an internment camp, while chasing her toddler. The third pregnancy began in the camp (while chasing both children), survived a starvation period wherein she was making bread out of laundry starch, journeyed home, and concluded in New York. Knowing her, she never breathed a word of complaint to her husband, and never faltered in keeping up her energy or her smile, even while she vomited a very expensive turkey dinner upon hearing that other prisoners had killed and eaten a cat for Christmas.

I'm having trouble getting through ten-hour days at my desk in my air-conditioned office, writing motions, making phone calls, and talking to old ladies. Clearly I'm not made from the same stuff she was.

I swear I love my job ...

2009-07-23T11:23:00.002-04:00

I really do. But I'm having one of those days. Boss is freaking out about something that has been discussed and settled fourteen times ... clients are needing even more hand-holding than usual. The days are slipping by and the work is piling up, and I'm freaking out about getting everything wrapped up in the next ten weeks. Doesn't help that the baby kept me up kicking all night last night ... and when she wasn't kicking, I was getting the worst cramps in my calves, which also woke me up. I am tired of being pregnant and I still have a ways to go. I want a drink, and my mommy. And a day off.

A non-baby post

2009-07-22T15:12:00.002-04:00

...that is still sort of a baby post. As I mentioned earlier in the "expanding" post, I've been feeling a little bit unattractive lately. This is particularly dangerous, and hubbyhubs can testify ... a furniture salesman flirted with me and I spent six times what I planned to spend. Anyway, I bought a new lipstick a few weeks ago and it's really helped. I actually feel somewhat pretty! I'm a huge fan of Mac Slimshine lipsticks -- they are shiny like gloss, but have a real color like lipstick, and they don't get sticky. Huge, huge fan. [Slimshine in Scant]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall ...

2009-07-22T11:08:00.002-04:00

What do you think of this for the nursery? At $55, I think it's a good deal ...

I'm expanding

2009-07-22T10:57:00.003-04:00

I had trouble pulling my pants up this morning ... my maternity pants. I am not amused.

More Nursery Stuff

2009-07-21T13:19:00.002-04:00

Sorry if this is boring ... it's all I got. I picked out a few accent pieces to go with the furniture and whatnot. The crib bedding will be neutral (ecru, ivory), but I want to add a few of these things:

There is, of course, a whole crib bedding set in that pattern, but it's crazy expensive, so I'm going to go with the accent pieces. I won't be putting the blankets and pillows in the crib, but will put a couple on the sofabed and one on the chair, and see how it looks from there.

Baby's room also has a closet with sliding doors, but the doors are obnoxious and annoying, so I am going to replace them, I think with this curtain:

It is a shower curtain, but with the rod inside the closet, I think it will look fine. It's fabric, not plastic, don't worry. I might get another one and use it for the window on the opposite wall. We shall see.

Thoughts?

So, I had a dream last night that I was entertaining a toddler, and she kept on kicking me in the stomach. I woke up to realize that of course I was being kicked -- hard! -- by my own little munchkin. Let's hope this is not the beginning of bad sleep. I'm tired enough as it is!

I am feeling somewhat huge, and it feels like it happened overnight. I went from having a cute round little belly to carrying a pumpkin with me. I am going to try not to whine too much over the next 12 (well, 10-14) weeks, but no promises.

And Baby Makes Three!

2009-07-18T18:09:00.008-04:00

I know I am the world's worst blogger. I'm sorry. I'm not even going to commit right now to blogging again, but I thought I would start today.

As you can tell from the subject (and as all of my 3 readers know), we're expecting a baby! I'm 28 weeks pregnant, due on October 11. Thank God I've been feeling really good. The first 12 weeks or so were rough -- a lot of nausea and just unending fatigue -- but I've felt pretty much like a rock star ever since. Somewhere around 24 weeks my belly started really becoming cumbersome, and now that I am starting the third trimester I am really feeling the extra weight and the extra size! But all in all, no complaints. We are really excited to meet our baby girl, whom we call, for now, Cloetus the Foetus. Hubby Hubs and I have decided on a name, but we're going to keep it between us until she's born.

So, in anticipation of her arrival, we've started the job of turning the guest room into a nursery. I have never been much of a decorator, and no magic mommy genes have changed that thus far. But I've found some great inspiration rooms online, and we are slowly but surely getting there. I like this room.

That's basically the style I am going for, sort of a feminine vintage. The room is currently painted "creamy praline," which is sort of a candlelight color, and I think we are going to leave it. Actually, it's really very close to the background color of this blog. Here's what we have so far:

The Crib (to be delivered next weekend):

We are going to keep the same dresser we've had (which I scored for $89 at Salvation Army in 2003). I am toying with the idea of painting it white, but I'm not really sure about that. You can sort of see the wall color in the background.

What do you think? Should I leave it that color or try to match it to the crib? One of my favorite things about this arrangement is the way the wicker design on the crib matches the design on the cabinets of the dresser. I think they are going to look great together!

Of course, since we live in 1,200 square feet, the baby's room still has to function as a guest room. The inlaws and outlaws visit often enough, so we've purchased a sofabed to go in the baby's room (and baby will stay in a pack n' play in our room during those visits).

This is what we got:

It's shown in beige, but we got it in sand, the color shown in the rocker below, which we also bought:

I really hope it all comes together, and that it isn't too crowded in the room. I think with some throw pillows on the couch and the rocker, I'll be able to pull it all together. I hope so, anyway. I want it to look like a sweet little nursery, not like a jumble of furniture. Now that I say that, I'm leaning more and more toward painting the dresser to match the crib. I don't know.

For the walls, I'm thinking of scanning, enlarging, and framing illustrations from The Bumper Book, which has been a favorite in my family since my mom was a little girl.

Here are some examples:

And of course, a few other classics, not from the bumper book, such as:

Anyway, that's about where I am. I need to pick out crib bedding, curtains, and maybe a rug or something. I'd love to hear from you, if you have some help or advice to offer!

Life otherwise is pretty normal. I have been with my "new" firm for over eight months, and I really love it, still. Of course, like any job, there are drawbacks, but for the most part it's been really rewarding and educational. I feel valued there and I enjoy the work.

Hubbyhubs has a transition on the horizon. After about a year and a half with a very promising company that ultimately disappointed him, he's joining a different operation and is very excited about it. He'll be starting in early August, and we're thrilled!

Not much else to report ... thanks for reading!

Marital Bliss

2009-01-03T21:59:00.003-05:00

Tonight I made my Extra Special Meatloaf ... some broccoli on the side, some salad to start, and some Fat Bastard Shiraz to go with it. What a wonderful night and a wonderful meal with my wonderful husband. He loves the meatloaf (and so do I). We had some jazz playing while we ate, and our wedding song came on at the end. Yes, we got up and danced in the living room. And now he's cleaning the kitchen. Yes, I married the best man ever. Don't tell him I said that -- gotta keep his self-esteem low so I can retain the upper hand.

I'm back, I think.

2009-01-02T18:52:00.003-05:00

I've decided to start blogging again. I never really decided to stop, but had a very busy Fall. Right after my last post, I got a job interview with an estate planning firm in my neighborhood. I was skeptical -- thought it would be a mom and pop operation -- but thought I would check it out. I came away from my first interview extremely impressed with the firm and hoping for a second interview. Well, I got the second interview, and I got the job! The next few weeks at my old job were pretty busy, tying up loose ends and preparing to leave. So, that didn't leave too much time for blogging. I did take a couple weeks off between the old job and the new, and spent plenty of time catching up on my rest and my housekeeping (too much of the former and not enough of the latter).

The new job has been wonderful. I've been there for just about two months and it's going swimmingly. I don't miss the action of litigation at all, but I do miss writing, so I'm happy to be blogging again. I've caught on pretty quickly to the basics of estate planning and estate administration. I love (LOVE) working with elderly clients and being able to help people through difficult situations. My coworkers are all pretty cool, and my boss is both a terrific lawyer and a tremendous entrepreneur. All in all, I am extremely satisfied with the new job. Of course, it has its ups and downs, as any job does, but my stress level is comfortably low. I leave by 7pm no matter what, and nobody calls or emails me after hours. Life is good.

Life at home continues to be wonderful. It's hard to believe that we have been married for seven months already! There really is nothing like it. I love absolutely everything about being married. We're still working on a system for keeping our house clean, but we've got our budget down to a science, and I've been doing pretty well with meal planning. Now that I walk to and from work (did I mention that part?) I am able to ease up on the planning a little bit and shop for fresh ingredients on the way home. I cook probably 4 or 5 nights in an average week, and I love having more time for that now. Like I said, life is good.

We were with my family for Thanksgiving, and with hubbhub's family for Christmas. It was my first Christmas away from home, but it was nice, and quiet, and calm. Of course I got sick on our last night there (still fighting it off), but I am so glad we went. I am also glad to hear that the mayor of Seattle has decided that he will authorize the salting of roads during the next snow storm. Duh.

I can't think of too many other updates. I discovered that my love for good scotch extends to scotch cocktails -- particularly, the Rusty Nail. Give it a try -- you can thank me later.

I will say this ...

2008-08-29T10:29:00.002-04:00

Obama's daughters are really, really cute. I was excited for them last night, and I hope they remember their dad's speech proudly for a long time.

Other than that, I was not impressed, and I spent most of my time rolling my eyes as the inexperienced Obama spouted cliche after platitude after cliche. I think David Brooks summed it up best here.

But on to more positive and exciting news: PALIN! PALIN! PALIN!
I could not possibly be more excited. I really really really hope it's true. I would have Palin's babies if that were physically possible. This woman is so correct on every social issue I care about (and McCain usually isn't). McCain/Palin would give me everything I am looking for in a candidate. I would be so ridiculously happy to have her as VP. Fingers crossed!

-------

Aside from Palin, I am also really excited to be going up to Hull, MA this weekend. We leave in a couple of hours (I'm working a half-ish day). My sister-in-law's parents live up there (brother's wife's parents), and I've gone up there for the last couple of Labor Days. It's quiet and chill, and right by the beach. I cannot wait to see my cutiepie nephews and drink some beers. Hooray for the long weekend (especially after the horrific night I had last night at work, which I will not relive by recounting here).

Time to finish my August billing so I can get the heck outta here ....

GO PALIN!

These guy's

2008-08-25T10:17:00.001-04:00

Are my hero's.

Just Say No

2008-08-21T11:33:00.001-04:00

to National Flakery.

I love Craigslist

2008-08-20T18:08:00.001-04:00

Really?

FREE PAN

Cheating is Disgusting.

2008-08-20T17:59:00.002-04:00

And so is the Chinese government for sanctioning it. See also: this.

Guess who's back?

2008-08-19T10:05:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the hiatus. I am boring when I'm sick, and I was sick until about two days ago. Thanks to the magic of Zithromax, I am finally back in the game. Thanks also to my former roommie Dr. Christina, for all her advice.

Part of being back in the game is that I am cooking up a storm. I am so excited about the dinner I made last night (with help from Hubbyhubs!).

Pork Medallions with Melon Salsa and Grilled Limes

From Good Housekeeping
triple-tested at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute

We spike this cantaloupe and honeydew melon salsa with fresh cilantro and plenty of fresh lime juice to make a showstopping pork tenderloin topper.

INGREDIENTS

conv. chart

U.S.

Metric

1 whole(s)	(1 1/4-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat
5	limes
1 tablespoon(s)	olive oil
1/2 cup(s)	(loosely packed) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon(s)	salt
1/8 teaspoon(s)	coarsely ground black pepper
2 cup(s)	chopped cantaloupe
1 cup(s)	chopped honeydew melon
1	jalapeño chile, minced

DIRECTIONS

Prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling on medium.
Cut pork tenderloin crosswise into 8 equal pieces. With palm of hand, firmly press on cut side of each piece to flatten to about 1-inch-thick medallion.
Cut 2 limes in half; reserve for grilling. From remaining limes, grate 1 teaspoon peel and squeeze 1/4 cup juice. In small bowl, combine oil, 1/2 teaspoon lime peel, half of cilantro, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Rub cilantro mixture on pork medallions to season both sides.
Place pork on hot grill grate and cook 4 minutes. Turn pork over. Add lime halves, cut sides down, to same grill grate and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly browned and warm. Cook pork 4 to 5 minutes longer or until browned on the outside and still slightly pink in the center.
Meanwhile, in medium bowl, combine melons, jalapeño, lime juice, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and remaining cilantro and lime peel. Makes about 3 cups salsa.

We followed the recipe almost exactly, with a couple of minor variations. First, I used my Emeril Grill Pan (one of my favorite bridal shower gifts, thanks RM!), instead of a barbecue, because I don't have a barbecue. If you're doing this in an apartment, it's very important to position a large fan in front of your smoke detector, blowing the smoke away. Trust me on that. Also, we only had cantaloupe, no honeydew (long story), but the salsa was just fine without it. I think it's only there to provide color contrast. We also used dried cilantro instead of fresh.

I can't even explain to you how incredibly good this was. The pork was insanely juicy and so tender, and really really lean. We ate the entire recipe. I am happy to say I have another pound of pork tenderloin in the freezer and another cantaloupe. Mom and Dad are talking about coming out this weekend -- I'm totally making this. It was super fast, too.

On Sunday night, I made another Good Housekeeping recipe that I can't find online. It was a Lasagna Toss, meaning you cook up the noodles in a pot and then just mix it together with the sauce and serve. No layering, no baking. Delicious. It was a nice bolognese sauce, topped with some spiced-up ricotta. I had leftovers for lunch yesterday, and will have more today (sorry, Hubbyhubs, I finished it ... ).

Tonight I'm making some sort of chicken wraps. We'll see!

I am fully into my adopted habit of sitting down on Sunday afternoon with my magazines and cookbooks and the Foodtown circular. I send Hubbyhubs to the grocery store (isn't he awesome?) with a long list (divided into sections of the store), and he comes back with everything we need for a week. I type up the weekly menu and clip it to the fridge, along with the recipes if they are torn out of magazines (or a note about which cookbook and which page to find them on), and every night when I get home, I don't have to think about what to make for dinner. It's such a relief. Everything I need is guaranteed to be in the house, and we get to eat a yummy, planned dinner. It's just fantastic.

I'm also trying to get control over other areas of homemaking, where I am SEVERELY lacking -- namely, cleaning. Um, and organizing. I'm just awful. I never had to share my bedroom as a kid, and honestly, I think that's a bad thing. My bad habits were just reinforced over and over again, and I just leave my clothes and my shoes everywhere. It's awful, and it's not fair to my husband, and I need to do better. I started by attacking the linen closet on Sunday. Again, thanks to Good Housekeeping, where I found a little guide to organizing your linen closet. I just needed a little direction! Everything fits beautifully now -- with room to spare! I took it one step further than GH by incorporating another idea I'd come across lately. For each sheet set, I take the fitted sheet, the flat sheet, and one pillow case, fold them up, and insert them inside the other pillow case. That way, sheet sets always stay together! It makes the shelves look just a little bit lumpy, but it's a good tradeoff.

All of that organizing didn't leave too much time for much else, but I did manage to get two loads of laundry done and make the Lasagna Toss, so not a bad night, overall. Also, two weeks ago I had to work from home because I had a doctor's appointment right in the middle of the day. I did get a lot of work done, but I also spent considerable time FINALLY cleaning out my bedroom closet to make room for Hubbyhubs (told you I'm a jerk -- he didn't even have his clothes in the bedroom closet). I totally went to town, putting my off-season and special occasion clothes in the back, adding an additional bar lower down for skirts and shirts, and moving all of Hubbyhubs' stuff into the other half of the closet. In the process, the guest room closet (where HH had previously been relegated) became completely empty. I cannot believe I live in NYC and I have a SPARE ROOM with a SPARE CLOSET. Life does not get any better than this.

We still have a few projects we need to tackle. The closet in the office is a total disaster, and we actually own the shelves that need to be put up in there, so we will get on that soon. Once that's in place, we should be able to move the remaining wedding presents from the guest room into that closet. Then, the guest room will be empty, until my parents show up this weekend with everything else that got sent to their house!

Everything else is going really well. I finally feel like we have a great handle on our spending and our budget, which is a terrific feeling. We do meet at least monthly (if not more) to go over the spreadsheet and see how we are doing. I use mint.com to keep track of everything, and I check in at least once a day. It's sort of a pain, but not really. I like knowing where all our hard-earned money is going!

So now, on day 87 of our marriage, I can say it's totally fabulous and under control. It's been fabulous the whole time, of course ... it's just less chaotic now!

...

2008-08-06T17:55:00.003-04:00

Either there's a 3,000 lb gorilla sitting on the bridge of my nose, or my sinus infection is back / never went away. Considering the fact that I don't smell a gorilla (and can't smell anything, really), I'm going to guess that the massive amount of pressure around my face is from an infection. Whoopdie-freakin'-do. Honestly. Those antibiotics made me feel so dizzy and nauseous, I don't know if I can handle them again. If I'm going to feel like that, and be limited to one drink a day, I might as well get knocked up ... of course, I'd still have the sinus infection to deal with.

After being put on hold for a whopping 15 min today by my doctor's office, I gave up and hung up. I'll call back tomorrow if I'm still feeling like crap.

In other news, last night was the first night Hubbyhubs and I spent apart since getting married. Unfortunately, it wasn't for a very nice reason (like a mini-vacation with just the girls, or something). I was in NJ to attend the wake for my mom's cousin's husband (a/k/a my uncle, because in this family, anyone somewhat related to you and older is your aunt or your uncle. They are also your aunt or your uncle if they are older than you and go to your church, or are a friend of your grandparents', regardless of religious affiliation.). Uncle Bill died suddenly this past Saturday, apparently of a heart attack, while spending the morning at the beach with his son.

I happen to be close with Uncle Bill's grown children -- my second cousins -- so I wanted to go to the wake. These things are always bittersweet -- so sad to say goodbye, and to see the immediate family members say goodbye, but also always a family reunion of sorts. I got to see a lot of other second cousins that I don't see too often (there are hundreds -- literally) so that was nice.

There's also always a certain comfort when the deceased is someone like Uncle Bill, who lived his entire life in service of his church, his family, his community, and his country. The wake becomes more of a send-off of a beloved friend to a "better place" (is there any phrase in the English language that is more of an understatement than that common term for eternal paradise and peace?). In the end, Uncle Bill lived the merciful, joyful, and charitable life we are all called on to live, and he got what we pray for every Sunday: A Christian ending to our lives, painless, blameless, and with a good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ. Memory Eternal!

I must discuss this with the man of the house ...

2008-08-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

Doesn't this sound perfect?

I love my husband.

2008-07-31T21:07:00.003-04:00

That is all.

___________

OK, of course that's not all. When have I ever stopped at 2 sentences? Sorry to be a gross newlywed, but really ... every once in a while I just get a little reminder of how handsome, and funny, and fun, and brilliant, and silly, and just plain wonderful he is. Hooray for Hubbyhubs.

Time to join him on the couch for Mad Men.

Back to Work

2008-07-30T10:56:00.002-04:00

Hubbyhubs and I got back last night from our mini-vacation to Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. We had a great time. Our visit was a surprise to his mom, who had been whisked to Portland on the pretense of visiting her aunt. She was stunned to see us, and even more surprised a few hours later when we walked her into a room of 40 people for her surprise party. I didn't get to see too much of Portland, but we did a little shopping in town, and it was very nice. We went to church at St. George in Portland, which was very warm and welcoming. For once, Hubbyhubs won the bet over whether or not I would run into someone I knew at a random Antiochian church. In my defense, the attendance was a little light (it's summer ...) so I still bet that I would know a parishioner there on a regular Sunday.

After that, we drove back to Seattle with the parents, and then Hubbyhubs and I went out to dinner with his friends (my friends too) who just got engaged. As always, the seafood in Seattle was great. We ate at Chinook's and had a lot of fun talking about their wedding plans and other stuff. I really REALLY love not being engaged anymore!

On Monday, we spent the day kind of lazing around the house. I finished a baby sweater for a new baby our friends out there just had, and then we got to deliver it in person. I love little baby boys, and how much they look like angry old men. We had a lot of fun hanging out over there. I am hoping that they will send a picture of him wearing the sweater.

We headed out for a family dinner at the Flying Fish, to celebrate my bday and my brother-in-law's (they are a day apart). I had halibut, and it was fantastic. My present was a book that I am really enjoying, called Three Cups of Tea. It's great so far.

Yesterday (or "lasterday," as my niece says), we woke up, packed, and flew home. We had everything we'd gone out there with, plus a family tree my father-in-law painted for us, a bread machine my mother-in-law picked up for us at a thrift store, and a mirror that H's aunt and uncle gave us as a wedding gift. We managed to get everything home in one piece. I'm excited about the breadmaker.

And now, here we are, back to work. I got a phone call from my niece this morning wishing me a happy belated birthday (ok, she didn't say "belated," but it's not that far out of her vocabulary), and it was great to hear her sweet little voice. My nephew called on my bday and I missed the call, so now I have a fantastic voicemail recording of his two-year-old rendition of Happy Birthday. Best_present_ever.

At last, this week is almost over.

2008-07-25T08:25:00.002-04:00

I am so glad it's Friday. I got in super early today because I have 14 million things to get done before the weekend. We're going away (more details on that to come), and won't be back until Tuesday, so I have a bunch of stuff to clear off my desk. Of course, Microsoft Word is frozen right now, so I thought I'd throw in a quick blog post.

We are about at the end of the pantry/freezer week, and I have to say, it was a great week, dinner-wise. We spent zero dollars and ate really well. Last night I remembered that I had two cooked hamburger patties in the freezer, so I warmed those up, and we had them in pita bread (a.k.a. Syrian bread, in my house). For a side dish, I whipped up some croquetas, a favorite cheap food in Spain. They were ugly but sooo good. I love how crispy they are on the outside and how soft and wonderful they are on the inside. Nutritional value is probably pretty low, but mmmm ....

We also had beer, thanks to the Christmas gift I gave Hubbyhubs last year -- Beer of the Month Club. Well, actually I got him beer-every-other-month, because I prepaid for 6 deliveries and scheduled them to come every other month. It's been awesome. I chose the domestic microbrews package, so every other month we get a sampling of beers from two or three different microbreweries. I think next year we'll sign up for 12 months of deliveries and just not ever buy beer at the grocery store. It's definitely cheaper that way, and we get more variety.

Now for the highlight of last night. I have a bday coming up (I'll be 21+, as my mother always said) in a few days, but Hubbyhubs wanted to give me my presents early, since we'll be away on my actual birthday. Well, he hit the nail on the head. First, he gave me a ridiculously funny card, which actually made me laugh out loud. Then, three gifts (elegantly wrapped in a leftover wedding gift bag he dug out of the guest room ... ): I got two books, The Annotated Alice, which I've been dying to read since forever, and a book on word usage by William F. Buckley, one of the best wordsmiths who ever lived. Last but not least, he got me an absolutely perfect wallet (no, not the Louis ... I would have killed him if he spent that much on my birthday!).

I can't find an exact picture of it, but it's pretty close to this, only black, and no visible snap on the tab:

I love it. I switched out all my cards and cash from my wristlet last night, and it's so nice to be able to see what's in my wallet. I feel like an actual, organized grownup now. Thank you, Hubbyhubs!

OK ... Microsoft Word finally closed itself down and I reopened it, so time to get back to work.

Is it Friday yet?

2008-07-24T16:38:00.002-04:00

I know I've only worked like 3 out of the last 10 days, but seriously ... this week is dragging, bigtime. I am preparing for an arbitration in case that I am 99% sure will settle on the eve of the hearing, so I have very little motivation to actually get the work done. The office is eerily quiet, and it looks like such a nice day outside my office.

Anyway ... I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats wondering what we had for dinner last night. I sauteed some shrimp in a pan with shallots, seasoned them with amazing Adobo, and tossed them with some olive oil and pepper over some ziti. It was delicious. Hubbyhubs brought the leftovers with him to the office for lunch today, but I say he chose wrong. The leftover quiche I dined on this afternoon -- cold, straight from the office fridge -- was singularly satisfying.

I have no idea what I'm making for dinner tonight. I'm pretty sure there's chicken in the freezer, and I think I saw a hamburger or two the last time I was in there. Tomorrow night is definitely Tilapia night, but tonight is going to be a mystery. I'm very proud of how little we spent on food this week. Let's see how we do next week!

In other news, I totally want this:

It's only $250 ... and I really need to get my wallet situation organized. I've been using a Coach wristlet for the last couple of years, and I absolutely love it, but it's not really functional as an everyday wallet. So, yeah ... kind of lusting after this little Louis ... (and of course I still want the big bag).

Quiche Me

2008-07-23T10:16:00.002-04:00

First of all, thank the Lord, I am feeling SO much better. Antibiotics are amazing. I slept through the night last night and I feel like a new woman.

Second, I have to say, I'm a genius in the kitchen. Trying to keep spending down, we are eating out of the pantry and the freezer this week. So far, so good. Monday night I made a delicious meal for two of us from one pork chop. There was rice, and beans, and onions, and I don't know what Goya puts in that Adobo stuff but it's the food equivalent of crack. I'm hooked.

Last night I made a crustless quiche, roughly following this recipe:

SPINACH - MUSHROOM QUICHE (CRUSTLESS)
3 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. flour
6 oz. shredded cheddar cheese (I usually use more)
1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach
1 can mushroom pieces
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in 8x8 inch pan (or 9-inch deep dish pie pan) in 350 degree oven. Beat eggs, add milk, flour, salt, baking powder, and mix well. Add shredded cheese, spinach (drained), and mushrooms. Pour into pan and bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

I didn't have any mushrooms, and I added some chopped up deli ham. For the cheese, I just tore up a few slices of provelone and tossed in some grated Parmesan. And then, the genius part ... we didn't have any milk in the house (I never drink it, and hubbyhubs uses it in his cereal a couple days a week ... we're often out of milk). So, instead of milk, I used a cup of L'Madeleine Tomato Soup, which my cousin in DC brings me jars of every time he visits. Yes, that shot the fat content up to about 18g per person ... but it was worth it. It also probably weighed the quiche down a little bit, as it was rather low, but it was absolutely delicious. I also added a few shakes of black pepper into the mix, because I thought it was a weird omission. Anyway, this is definitely going to be a staple in our menu.

I am feeling energized and ready to tackle the 2 million projects that have piled up on my desk in the last week. I swear, I don't even know what the point of working at a firm is, if nobody pulls together in my absence. I might as well be a sole practitioner.

I am knitting up a storm, as usual. I am in the middle of a baby sweater for a couple of friends who have a new little boy. I have one more baby sweater on the list, for the grandchild of my parents' friends. And then, I get to tackle that big bunting sweater thingy, and I CANNOT wait. I really hate that I have to waste so many hours at work when I could be knitting. My latest daydream is that I open up a teeny little knitting shop in our neighborhood, sell all kinds of soft fuzzy yarn, talk to old ladies all day, and read, and write, and knit. I'm not sure if it would pay the bills, but it sure would be nice ...

Classic Onion

2008-07-22T13:28:00.003-04:00

I mock my husband, pretty much constantly, for his undying love of This American Life.

Thankfully, The Onion has relieved me of the burden of coming up with new mockery. Genius.

A Monday kind of Tuesday

2008-07-22T12:40:00.002-04:00

I'm back at work today and incredibly exhausted. I finally went to the doctor yesterday, who confirmed that I have bronchitis, laryngitis, and a sinus infection. Lucky me. He started me on antibiotics and told me to stay home from work (well, if you insist ...). I am feeling a lot better today, congestion-wise, but either the bug or the antibiotics or the steady diet of Advil I've been on is just knocking me out. I might actually try to leave early today (like, 6).

Of course, I was a waste of life around the house all weekend, and got no cleaning done at all. I really really have to deal with all my clothes in the bedroom and the closet. Hubbyhubs was a champ, and did get some good cleaning done around the living room and kitchen, so at least that is taken care of. And, we finally finished our big batch of thank-you notes (105 so far), so that is a great relief.

Now I just have to get through the next four days until I can relax again. I hate that I spend every minute of the weekdays looking forward to the weekends. I need some more recreation in my life, I think.

Oh, I also finally finished the latest baby sweater (for a friend at church), and started working on another, the first of 3 projects I have sitting around. I'm a machine.

That's all, folks.

I'm Speechless

2008-07-18T08:02:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm voiceless, anyway. I ended up sleeping on the couch last night because it was too hot in the bedroom and I couldn't prop myself up the right way. This chest cold has gone from bad to worse. I didn't fall asleep until after 2:30, and that was with the aid of Benedryl (that stuff is practically Ambien to me). So, much to the probable chagrin of my boss, I am not going in today. I have absolutely no voice whatsoever -- I can't croak out a single word. And, the periodic coughing fits are no picnic either. I don't feel like spending the day fielding the "why are you even here?" questions I'm sure I will get. I think they will survive a day without me.

Mejor en Espanol

2008-07-17T20:40:00.002-04:00

I had a chat with my friend Vivian today. If I had to write an acrostic poem about VIVIAN, it would go something like this:
Vivacious
In-style
Very cool (hubbyhubs says "oh please, that's a cop-out ... don't transcribe my words!")
Interesante
Absolutely fabulous
Nobody's better.

Anyway, I digress. So, I was talking to Vivian (never Viv) today, about how certain sentiments are just better expressed in Spanish. Vivian, for the record, is an American-born Cubana. She humors me when I speak Spanish to her all the time. Anyway ... these are the words that have no meaningful English translation:

Estrenar: loosely, it means, "to debut," but that doesn't quite cut it. You would use it to tell someone that you are wearing your new outfit for the first time, or that a movie is opening this weekend. There's no real, concise way to express this in English.

Antelacion: loosely (again), it sort of means "lead time," or time ahead. Eg: I want to get to the theater with enough "antelacion" to buy tickets and get a seat. I am convinced that there is no single word in the English language that can express this. For that reason, I am trying to Anglosize it. Pronounce it: an-tu-lay-shun. Let's see how that goes.

Janeado: I think this is the right spelling. This was Vivian's contribution. It means that something is in your way, like when a bunch of annoying tourists stop RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK and you are trying to get to work. Janeado.

(Full disclosure: due to my ridiculous chest cold, I've been drinking a hot mix of scotch, lemon juice, and honey. I'm not sure it's helped, but I'm more than a little drunk. Oops. Forgive my nonsense.)

Hubbyhubs is laughing at me.

Yeah, I have a funny husband.

2008-07-17T12:14:00.002-04:00

I don't mind that he's also tall, cute, and brilliant. And so sweet.

I don't think he'll ever understand my need to climb, but at least he accepts it. Sometimes, I just see a high ledge or platform, and I think, that needs to be climbed (clome?). I'm probably half monkey, or cat.

Someday, when Hubbyhubs has his own blog, I will guest blog and tell you all embarassing things about him.

I'm (reluctantly) back in the office today. I still feel like I have a cactus stuck in my throat, with branches trying to push out through my ears, but my fever seems to be staying down. I am definitely not staying late, though (famous last words). At least tomorrow is Friday and I can relax over the weekend.

Back to work -- there is plenty of it today.

Climbyness is Next to Oddliness

2008-07-16T22:38:00.007-04:00

What's up, it's the Notorious H.U.B.S., guestblogging by popular demand. (And I do mean demand -- thanks to reader A.T. for the late-night text message. Please can I have my puppy back now?)

Here's a little story about your regular blogger. When I met BrooklynGirl I was a starving student, living in a tiny dorm studio. It was the type of place where the kitchen was a sink and two burners, in the hallway. It was the type of place where I could sit up in bed and very nearly touch three walls. It was the type of place where I literally -- LITERALLY literally - propped my bedframe up on its side every day so I could stand the mattress behind it and pretend I had a living room. Ok, half a living room. It was that type of place.

Anyway, after I met BrooklynGirl but before she looked around my fireproof hovel and sang "let me upgrade you," she came over a few times to hang out. We were young and giddy with newfound love, but I was extra giddy at not having been dumped when I told her I lived in a dorm. What sort of person does that, at my distinguished age? How strange do you have to be to voluntarily cohabitate with close-talking grad students from Minsk and college sophomores in Levi-would-shudder jeans? Pretty odd, right?

And then, all at once, my worries were gone. Because during one of BrooklynGirl's visits, I looked up from my seat in the "living room" to see my unofficial fiancee, the love of my life, the syrup on my pancakes, standing.

On my windowsill.

Just standing there, four feet up. As if it were perfectly normal. Chillin'. What's more, this relocation from normal altitude had occurred when I'd looked away for just a moment, IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION. "Sometimes I feel climb-y, " she explained meekly, and I've learned that to be true. The other day she towered over me from the ledge by my desk, and last week she was alarmed when she thought--mistakenly, for just a second--that someone had pruned a certain tree on our block. Seems she finds that tree tantalizingly climbalicious, and has been waiting for a chance to scale it. All of which is to say: I know I have nothing to worry about. My wife is one odd duck. (A climbing duck, I guess.)

H.U.B.S. is out, my people. I will strike again when you least expect it!

Blech.

2008-07-16T18:52:00.002-04:00

I am sick. And I'm not a very good patient. I started getting that gross sticky throat / itchy ears / headache feeling yesterday. I took some Tylenol Cold last night and woke up feeling worse. I took my temp and it was 99.5, which didn't seem bad enough to skip work. Well, the bus ride was frickin excruciating. I don't know why, but whenever I have even the slightest fever, my legs ACHE. My hips, my knees, my thighs, everything. It's unbearable. So I got into the office around 8:30, cleaned up my desk, made copies of stuff I need to work on, and drafted a letter that had to go out today. When Partner arrived at 9:30, I told him I was leaving. I couldn't bear to get back on the bus again, so one $40 cab ride later, I was back in the comfort of my bed, now with about 100.6. I know it's a low fever (as my dad also pointed out) but crappy is crappy, and even a little fever makes me feel awful. Plus I think my normal body temperature is low-ish, so anything just feels lousy. So, I slept until about 3pm with a couple of snack breaks, then watched Mad Men (great show), and then actually managed to make dinner for Hubbyhubs and me. Again, Rachael Ray came through, but I found a way to make her recipe even simpler. It was for a Sicilian Eggplant Marinara pasta dish, and she said to take a whole eggplant, roast it in the oven, and scoop out the insides, and put the insides through a food processor. Well, because I am my mother's daughter, I already had about 2 pounds of frozen "inside of roasted eggplant" in a ziplock the freezer. Does Rachael Ray not know that stuff comes in cans now? It took a while to thaw it out in the microwave (it was leftover from a previously opened can), but if I'd had a can on the shelf it would have been about a 9-minute meal. Definitely going to keep that one in mind.

Now I'm ready to head back to the couch. I'm so annoyed that I'm home and basically unable to do anything. There's a ton of laundry and organizing that I've been meaning to get to, but I just don't have the energy. I guess it will have to wait for the weekend.

Sorry for such a blah post ... maybe it is time for Hubbyhubs to start guest blogging? What do you think? I want to hear from all 5 of my readers (that's excluding the 20 or so people in Pakistan who end up at my blog every day after searching for images of Katrina Kaif).

Yum-O

2008-07-15T15:30:00.003-04:00

Hubbyhubs is supposedly making dinner tonight, as he is working from home and I am working ~~from the depths of Hell~~ at the office. According to the menu I planned on Sunday, tonight's meal is Rachael Ray's Chicken Curry in a Hurry. Everything he needs is already in the kitchen, and we even own a wok, so I think he can probably handle it. Vamos a ver.

And yes, I totally just googled the html code for strikethrough because blogger doesn't do it automatically and I'm that big a nerd.

I am a lazy blogger.

2008-07-14T17:25:00.002-04:00

Sorry, guys ... I know you're all dying to know what this boring old married lady is up to every second of the day, but I just don't have that kind of time.

We had a great weekend. Friday I ran out of work, got my hair done, ran to Duane Reade and (gasp!) bought pre-glued fake nails to slap over my grubby claws. They looked fabulous. I ran and met hubbyhubs, coworker, and coworker's girlfriend for dinner. We went to Bhukara Grill, which was delicious if a little bit expensive. Had a lovely time. From there we went to my cousin's 25th bday party at a bar in the meatpacking district, where we had a few drinks and ran into some people I hadn't seen in a while. Took a nice cab ride home and slept waaay late on Saturday morning. Went for a walk along the water, made pancakes from scratch (and scrambled eggs), wrote about 25 thank-you notes out on our balcony, while mosquitoes ate my legs mercilessly. Found some ground turkey in the freezer and made Turkey Paprikash a la Rachael Ray, which was right tasty if I do say so myself. I also made a big pot of yogurt (that's "leban" to my fellow Arabs), which, the next day, I put into a cheesecloth bag and strained to make lebneh. It was delicious and I am awesome.

Sunday we had a nice morning at church, followed by my favorite Sunday-afternoon activities of overeating, napping on the couch, writing another 20 thank-you notes (indoors, where the bugs couldn't bite), and watching TV. I printed out the circular from our local grocery store, sat down with my Rachael Ray 30-min meals cookbook, and planned our week's dinners around the sales. Gave hubbyhubs the circular with my circles on it, took my own written list, and we hit the grocery store. In the end, we saved 26 bucks and got enough food for a week of dinners and probably two weeks of lunches and breakfasts. We're awesome. I came home and made Engagement Chicken (does it count if he's already proposed to and married me?), which, as usual, was scrumptious.

I ordered some Alpaca yarn and some new needles, and I'm really excited to start a project for my cousin's baby-on-the-way:

It doesn't get much cuter than that, folks. I'm doing it in a dark magenta. Unfortunately, the pattern has been translated from Norwegian to British English, which means I still need to translate it to American knitting terms to be able to follow it, but ... I really think I am ready for the challenge. How hard could it be? (famous last words!) Seriously, though, look how cute this stuff is!

Today I got into work at the ungodly hour of about 7am, and I am totally beat. I had to get through a ton of documents by 9:30 to bring Partner up to speed before our 11:30 client meeting, which lasted until 2:45. Am I the only one who EVER has to go to the bathroom? WTF? There is no way these people are drinking the recommended 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. I thought I was going to pass out.

And now, finally, the day is over and I am heading out for our parish council meeting. If I leave now, I'll be about an hour early, but I am not getting anything done here (as you can plainly see), so I am going to take a hike. I will try to be a better blogger ... and hubbyhubs might start guest-blogging. I'm a little nervous that he's going to be more entertaining than I am ...

Hooray!

2008-07-02T13:05:00.000-04:00

I love when bad guys get caught -- or turn themselves in! Now pay up, jerk!

Adorable Little Piece

2008-07-02T10:53:00.001-04:00

Thanks, Tara, for pointing this out!

Please stop calling it a disaster.

2008-07-01T09:25:00.002-04:00

I'm working on discovery responses for a really annoying case I'm handling. One of the requests states:

"If your response to any document request is that the document was lost in the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center disaster, please provide a copy of your response to NYSE Information Memo 01-34 listing those documents."

I am sick and tired of people calling the BRUTAL, MURDEROUS, TERRORIST ATTACKS on the World Trade Center a "disaster." Disasters, in my opinion, include earthquakes, floods, and the Clinton administration.

Maybe the strict definition isn't totally inapplicable, but the connotation is all wrong. "Disaster" depersonalizes it, and makes us forget that it was a willful act by a bunch of crazy terrorist scumbags.

Where the heck is my vorpal sword?

The Frumious Bandersnatch

2008-07-01T07:50:00.002-04:00

I don't know why, but I have been SUPER cranky the last two days. Everything bugs me -- too cold in the office, too hot outside, a/c at home is too loud, nothing on tv, blah blah blah.

I was feeling that way on the (very cold) bus this morning, and I decided to resort to my old cure for the crankies ... reading Jabberwocky:

JABBERWOCKY

Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

--------------------------------------

Now don't you feel better? Seriously, I could use a Tumtum tree right about now. I am so annoyed with just about every aspect of my job. It's not exactly stressful (well, sometimes it's stressful) but it just gets soooooo unimaginably boring. I feel like the creative parts of my brain are going to atrophy. Some day, when hubbyhubs opens a kick-ass charter school in Brooklyn, I will teach English and be happier. It's not that I don't like being a lawyer -- I love learning about the law, writing about the law, crafting cogent and convincing arguments, etc ... What I don't like is pasting together the same cookie-cutter documents over and over for every case, and devoting all of my mental energy to making sure I don't miss a deadline, and fighting with opposing counsel.

So, yeah ... I'm not really sure where that leaves me. But while in uffish thought I stand, at least I have the Jabberwocky to amuse me.

Enough with the "Coed" already

2008-06-29T22:38:00.003-04:00

Am I the only person who is sick and tired of newspapers calling female college students "coeds"? I mean what year is this, people? Everything about that word bugs me, mostly because it gives the weird impression that women on campus are some sort of novelty; we all know by now that women make up the majority of college graduates.

Now, I'm not much of a feminist (at least under the popular definition), but I feel strongly about this. Anyone else?

------

Sunday recap ...

We had a lovely day today, starting with waking up too late and doing a speed clean of the apartment (basically scooping up everything that didn't belong in the kitchen, living room, or office, shoving it into a bedroom or closet, and slamming the door). Good thing we do have one bathroom that is accessible without going through our bedroom!

We got to church just in time for liturgy (no matins for our lazy butts today), and my parents were already there. Sermon was particularly good, and then we had our crowns removed at the end. It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be, but very nice. Thank you, Tara, for taking pictures. You rock.

There was also a 40-day memorial for my mom's cousin's husband, who was a longtime member of our church and very well liked. He was young -- in his mid-sixties -- when he died, so it was a big shock to everyone. Well, the church was packed with his relatives (many of whom are my relatives), so, even though it was a sad occasion, it was really nice to catch up with people who were a little too distantly related to be invited to the wedding. My mom always has a great time when she revisits her roots here, and she caught up with a lot of the "girls" she grew up with (incidentally, the term "girls" doesn't bother me at all (except when wall street guys use it to refer to their secretaries) (now I'm wondering if there's a limit on inter-parenthetical parentheticals)).

After church, my parents came back to the apartment and we hung out for a few hours, drinking coffee, watching the Yankees / Mets game, and just relaxing. My parents met their friends for dinner, and I did some knitting while hubby did some work. Oh, I made a yum-o Rachel Ray dinner -- sesame noodles and a chicken breast addition of my own creation -- and that was very good. Parents came back with their friends to sit for a minute, and now we are heading to bed. Well, I am, anyway ... hubbyhubs still has some work to do.

Boss is out this week so things should be relatively relaxed around my office -- finally.

Snowball in July

2008-06-28T16:23:00.002-04:00

Ok, so it's still June, but July sounds better.

Hubbyhubs and I just spent the better part of our afternoon gathering up all of our credit cards and student loan information, and came up with a big debt snowball plan from whatsthecost. Very exciting. If we follow the plan, we will be entirely free of debt -- including student loans -- by November 2011. Pretty frickin' exciting, especially when you consider how much interest we will save by paying it all off early. Wooot woot! It was also just really awesome and affirming to know that we can really sit down and deal with finances and big decisions together without any tensions. It was almost fun. If you're not already convinced that I have the best husband ever, spend five minutes on the "Trouble in Paradise" board on The Nest.

We also tried to lower some of our fixed expenses, and were moderately successful. I called Time Warner Cable, which provides our cable tv, internet, and telephone for $184 a month. By signing a 2-year agreement, we lowered that cost to $162 a month. We'll save about $500 over the next two years (which obviously means I should buy my LV bag now, right?). We also combined our cell phone plans, but only saved about $9 a month on that. We'll see if we make enough of a dent in our talking (my talking) to lower our plan, but it's not likely. Oh, and we lowered the interest rate on a credit card from 27% (!!!) to a more reasonable 15%. We won't have a balance on that one for very long anyway, but seriously, that is an insane interest rate and I'm glad we got it taken care of.

Anyway it's not my favorite way to spend a Saturday but it felt really REALLY good to get all that info on one page and come up with a plan. Hopefully, by the time we are ready to buy a house, being totally debt-free will help us get a reasonable mortgage.

---------------

Meanwhile, we had a great time last night. We met up for dinner and went to the Heartland Brewery at the Empire State Building. I love this place. They always have enough seating, really good beer, and pretty tasty food. The service could be a little quicker, but it's okay.

After dinner, we headed over to Stout on W 33rd for my friend's birthday party. It's always good to see old law school friends.

My friend Katherine (aka "New Katherine," even though we've known her for more than a year) met up with us as well, and it was great to catch up with her. We stayed a little while longer at Stout, and then decided to head over to Ginger Man, which was packed. We quickly left Ginger Man and headed back over to Heartland, which was closed. We headed back in the opposite direction and finally ended up at Caliente Cab Co, where we had giant margaritas and some mediocre guac. One of those items is responsible for the tremendous headache I'm dealing with today.

Tonight I'm going to work on some thank-you notes and clean up the apartment a little, since my parents will probably come by for a while after church tomorrow (they are coming to see us get our crowns removed).

I didn't get to do any of the kitchen wizardry I'd been planning on, but that's okay. Looking like spaghetti from the box for dinner tonight (cost: $1 -- we bought 10 boxes of pasta for $10 a few months ago and we are STILL eating it).

Oh, we also went to the bank this morning and finally officially changed my name on the account. When we got back, I went online and ordered checks with both of our names on them, which is unreasonably exciting for me. Once again, IT'S OFFICIAL! We also signed up for a rewards debit card, which is pretty cool. I am looking forward to getting some free stuff :)

Time to go hit the couch! (I mean time to go write thank-you notes ... right ...).

Kitchen Aid

2008-06-27T10:19:00.002-04:00

I watched a little Iron Chef: America last night, and I am inspired to go a little crazy with my Kitchen Aid mixer this weekend. I am definitely going to bake some bread, and I'm sort of thinking about making fresh pasta. Any advice?

I am also, hopefully, finally going to bake my late, great, Uncle Leddy's chocolate chip cookies and send them to my friend Marie at camp. I was all set to make them last Saturday, but the cupcakes kind of took over, and then the butter melted right there on the countertop, and so did the bags of chocolate chips ... so I am giving it another shot this weekend. I'm so excited to make and eat a batch myself (ok, I might share with hubby), and I'm super excited to send a batch to camp, where they belong.

TGIF

2008-06-27T09:54:00.002-04:00

Honestly, this week took FOREVER. My boss is going on vacation next week (yippee!) so he's been scrambling around like a madman trying to tie up loose ends. Even though I'm the most junior associate in his department, I've been here the longest (don't you just love how stupid law firm seniority goes by class year instead of years at the firm?), so I am sort of his default second-in-command when he is gone. I have the most familiarity with the clients (and they with me) so he just tells them to contact me when he's gone ... which means I have to be caught up on everything. His being busy also means that he took forever editing an Answer I drafted yesterday, and I was here making edits and working on other stuff until after 9pm last night. Awesome. My excellent husband ordered some chinese garlic shrimp for me last night, though, so I at least I didn't have to cook when I got home at nearly 10. We both had trouble getting out of bed this morning, but I did manage to get to work by 9:30ish. Hooray for me. Not that ANY of this will make a difference when I finally have my review for bonus/raise purposes in July. I hate how everything is focused on billables, even though 1) I can't control the work load and 2) it punishes efficiency. There is so much more I do here -- always willing to stay late, come in early, never whining (really hard for me) . . . but all they care about is the numbers. We'll see -- maybe they'll surprise me with a big bonus and I can buy my fancy bag.

This weekend should be good and relaxing. I have a birthday party to get to tonight, and hopefully hubby won't be stuck at work. We'd planned a housekeeping day for tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to tackling some projects and also just relaxing.

Sunday we are getting our crowns removed. I am trying to find a link online to explain what that means, but I'm having trouble. The long and short of it is that crowns play a big part in our wedding service, and, traditionally, wedding parties lasted for a week or more, and the bride and groom wore their crowns the whole time (so all the party-goers would be able to identify them). At the end of the festivities, the priest would remove the crowns and say a blessing, signifying that the party was over, and the new couple were ready to receive guests in their home. These days, the party only lasts a day (NOT LONG ENOUGH!), but we come back after our honeymoons and do a quick service at the end of liturgy, where the priest will put the crowns back on our heads, say a little prayer, remove the crowns, and present us to the church. It's supposed to be done the first time you return to church, but for us that was Pentecost, which is an insanely long service anyway. I missed last week for my friend's bridal shower, so we are doing it this Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

I heart Glenn Beck

2008-06-26T11:28:00.001-04:00

I'm not saying I'd leave my husband for him or anything, but ...

Glenn Beck is great.

I'm a sucker

2008-06-26T10:09:00.003-04:00

Ha ... I was wondering why the bag I linked to was so cheap. It's a knockoff. Way to go ...

Here's the real thing:

Busses, cars, and bags ...

2008-06-26T09:47:00.004-04:00

This morning, I ran into three people I knew on the bus or waiting for the bus -- one of the nice / funny things about living in Bay Ridge. When my mom was in high school (she grew up in Bay Ridge) she got grounded for smoking pretty much once a month. Seems that no matter where she tried to sneak a cigarette, one of her aunts, cousins, or neighbors would spot her. Now that I've lived here about 10 months, I'm starting to understand it.

And, not because I don't like running into friends and family on the bus ... I'm starting to wonder about buying a car. We spend about $400 a month on our commute (express bus is $5 each way), and we rent a car one or two weekends a month to go to Jersey. It occured to me today that we might not be saving quite as much as we thought we were by being car-free. If we drove to work every day and paid for parking in Manhattan and in Bay Ridge, plus gas, and insurance (and whatever the car itself costs) we might only be spending an extra $100-$200 a month. Could be worth it. Anyone have any thoughts?

Also, I really really really want a nice bag. I am tired of my crapola briefcase with the broken zipper pulls, and I need something nicer than a shopping bag to tote my knitting and work shoes around in. I'm thinking something like this would be good ...

A girl can dream, can't she?

I think I'll bake some bread this weekend ...

2008-06-25T15:43:00.001-04:00

Doesn't this recipe look great?

Oprah and Fasting

2008-06-25T09:53:00.002-04:00

I found this article amusing. Oprah adhered to a vegan diet for the last three weeks, also avoiding alcohol, gluten, and sugar. She said, before embarking on the diet, that she hoped it would "give me a chance to think about [eating] differently and see what my attachments are to certain kinds of foods – and what I'm willing to do to change." Afterwards, she reflected that "This has been exactly what we intended: enlightening. I will forever be a more cautious and conscious eater. That's my commitment for now. To stay awakened."

Interesting. She abstained from the food she loved the most in order to assess her material attachments and achieve enlightenment. I wonder what she would say about Orthodox Christian fasting practices? After all, "we fast ... to gain mastery over ourselves and to conquer the passions of the flesh."

I'm imagining Oprah doing an episode on Orthodoxy. On her stage, I see a couple of Orthodox Bishops (I am incapable of picturing anyone other than Metropolitan Philip and Bishop Antoun), a few priests (both old FOB priests and some American-born 20-somethings, newly ordained), and a group of parishioners (old church ladies, some teens ... maybe even the people who come to Palm Sunday in their best clubbing outfits). Would she criticize our fasting practices as outdated remnants of an old-fashioned, oppressive, male-dominated society? And what of the fact that we have no women priests? I can't imagine she'd approve ...

Yet here she is, resurrecting our oldest fasting traditions not only for weight loss (hardly even mentioned in those articles) but to achieve spiritual enlightenment and to conquer her earthly desires.

Oh, Oprah ... her shows always seem to center on this theme of each of us (especially women) deserving to be happy, fulfilled, satisfied above all other things. Ironic, then, that she sees self-denial as a route to true self-discovery.

The semicolon allows woozy clauses to lean on each other like drunks for support.

2008-06-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Has Modern Life Killed the Semicolon?

Crap.

2008-06-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

The list below is missing number 23. Thanks a lot, jerks!

Why not do a listy thing?

2008-06-24T10:01:00.002-04:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? Alarm went off at 6 . . . I dragged my arse out of bed at 6:30
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Refuse to choose!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Hmm ... crap. I have NO idea.
4. What is your favorite TV show? I'm pathetic -- GMA.
5. What did you eat for breakfast? Nature Valley Chewy Granola Bar
6. What foods do you dislike? Sauerkraut.
7. Your favorite potato chip? Lay's Mediterraneas (not available in the US, despite my letter-writing campaign).
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Don't have one.
9. What kind of car do you drive? I ride the bus.
10. Favorite sandwich? "Alice" from Toasties.
11. What characteristics do you despise? Brattiness (other than mine)
12. What are your favorite clothes? my wedding dress
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Spain
14. What color is your bathroom? Full bathroom is builder white; half bath is all white except for a pool-cue-chalk blue wall (we haven't had a chance to repaint)
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Eh, I don't care.
16. Favorite time of day? Bedtime
17. Where would you want to retire to? I'd stay in Bay Ridge
18. Favorite sports to watch? Football
19. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke
20. Are you a morning person or night owl? Neither
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Nope.
22. What did you want to be when you were little? Sadly, a lawyer.
24. Nicknames? Panda
25. Piercings? Ears. Used to have my bellybutton pierced too.
26. Eye Color? brown
27. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
28. Favorite restaurant? Kion
29. Favorite ice cream? Chocolate or coffee
30. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Century21
31. Bedtime? Usually around 10:30 or 11:00
32. What are you listening to right now? The very loud hvac system in our office
33. How many tattoos do you have? zero.
34. Next film you'll see? Hopefully SATC but all my girlfriends have seen it, and there is no way my husband will accompany me to view "the downfall of Western Civilization."

Alright, People ...

2008-06-24T08:46:00.002-04:00

I'm back.

All the wedding craziness -- and a very busy couple of months at work -- really threw me off course. Once I had time (sort of) to post, I was too intimidated by the thought of recapping all those weeks that I kept on putting it off. Sort of like when I don't post my billable hours every day ...

Anyway, I am not going to try to summarize the last couple months in detail. I'm going to pick it up again starting today, and, I hope, return to a regular routine.

I will say this much: the wedding was perfect. We had an amazing weekend with all of our friends and family members, from the rehearsal on Friday through the brunch on Sunday. Every second of Saturday was just absolutely perfect. I didn't cry, I didn't get too overwhelmed ... I just stood through our wedding ceremony, following the service, and feeling very much like I did the first time we went to church together (the day after our first date): I am standing next to my husband in church, and I will do this for the rest of my life.

And then we partied.

The food, the flowers, the music -- everything was just right. Better than just right. Over the top without being over the top. Incredible. Memorable. Perfect.

Our first dance went really well (especially if you ignore the few times we both got caught up in the many layers of my dress!). I will always be happy that we took time out of our ridiculously busy schedules to take dance lessons together. It was such a great opportunity to spend quiet alone time together, and we really felt comfortable on the dance floor. Later in the evening, we even obliged when our guests shoved us onto the dance floor for some Arabic dancing. I have to say, for once, my arms didn't look like duck wings, and my husband moved like a sheik.

The honeymoon was idyllic. We spent the week doing very little. We sunned on the beach, swam in the Caribbean, read a ton of books, ate a ton of food (I think I'd outgrown my wedding dress by day 3), and did the things that newlyweds like to do. Oh, and we had a surfing lesson, which was 3 parts fun and 9 parts torture. We both got up on the boards, though, and it was a good experience.

And now, here we are, exactly one month since the wedding. Life at home is great -- I love being married. I really didn't know if I would feel any different as "wife" than I did as "fiancee," but I really do. Something just changes, and it's wonderful. Of course, concrete -- and not just abstract -- things change, too. Like my name! It is weirder than weird to have a different last name after nearly 27 years with this one, but I am getting used to it. I finally jumped through all the hoops with the attorney registration people in NY and NJ, and am, as of yesterday, practicing under my married name in both states. I'll get my new email account set up today, and I can officially pass out the business cards. Next up: the DMV and my credit cards. I wish I could take another week off just to deal with the paperwork!

I'm so glad summer is finally here! We went to the Mets / Mariners game last night (thank you, Noah, for the suggestion), and my hubby was very happy to see his Mariners win (even though we missed the legendary grand slam because we were in the concession line). I want to keep doing fun summer activities and not get too dragged down with work. We are hoping to go to a movie at Bryant Park one of these Mondays, and we are really happy to have our weekends free again to roam around Bay Ridge.

Oh, and we went to the funniest show last week: Boeing-Boeing. I laughed so hard, and so continuously, that I actually worried I was going to throw up. I loved Dirty Rotten Scoundrels when I saw it a few years ago, and I have to say, Boeing-Boeing was even funnier. Go see it! It's winning Tonys and stuff! And it's frickin' hilarious!

And that is all for now ... so much for getting in early to catch up on the stuff I was supposed to do yesterday! Oh well ... It will get done.

PS -- I'm updating my blog roll. Make sure to check out the new link!

copy editing?

2008-04-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

"Assessing his loss in Pennsylvania, the Illinois senator said Tuesday's primary result was not primarily due to how working class Democrats voted — a voting bloc that has long supported Clinton over Obama — then with the decisions of older voters."

2 Questions -- What the heck does that sentence mean? Why is it on Cnn.com? Why don't I have that person's job?

Okay, that was 3 questions -- just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

And finally, the bachelorette party ...

2008-04-11T10:41:00.003-04:00

I know both of my readers have been desperately awaiting the follow-up to my Bridal Shower post.

My last entry left off as the girls and I were getting fixed up at my apartment. I wore an absolutely killer dress, a picture of which I am still hoping to find online. If all else fails, I'll post a picture of myself in it, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it was a smoky blue-gray, with braided straps, an incredibly low V-neck, and a silver braided double belt around the ribcage. It was a nice bouncy jersey fabric, a-line, that hit just below the knees. Super duper hot, if I do say so myself.

We took a cab/car service into the city, which in itself was pretty hilarious. Our driver was a guy about our age, who was having serious lady drama. Every once in a while his phone (a blackberry pearl, like mine) would light up with at least 20 lines of text message. He'd glance at it and keep driving. Finally the phone rang and he answered it. The portion of the conversation we were able to hear went something like this "Yo, I ain't trying to read that right now, why you keep sending me essays? I'm driving! Oh, is that what you think? You think I'm with you so that when you piss me off I go get with someone else? That's what you think? I ain't got time for this." Hangup. Poor guy. He wasn't helped by the fact that we were stuck in major traffic, and the girls and I said "no" when he asked if he could smoke. Sorry, dude ... I just didn't want to stink all night. Anyway, I feel bad for the guy. As we were getting out of the car, I told him it's really not supposed to be that hard (it's really not). I wonder what happened with them.

+++

Finally, we arrived at Toloache. My amazing cousin and maid of honor arranged an absolutely terrific meal to kick off the evening. I thought only a few of us would be there -- like maybe 4 or 5 girls, but there were sixteen! The table was covered in confetti, each guest had a goodie bag and a place card, and there was a huge wedding-cake-shaped "Congratulations" helium balloon tied to my chair. I was immediately crowned with what turned out to be the "veil" my older cousin (and matron of honor) had worn at her own bachelorette party nine years ago.

The food was out of this world. I cannot say enough about it. There was a stuffed hot pepper, a roast suckling pig dish, a chicken quesadilla ... everything was amazing. I was drinking Toloache's signature drink (something potent and blueberry), and everything was wonderful. Dessert did not disappoint -- I had an outrageous warm, melty, gooey chocolate cake. There was a perfect flan, and delicious churros con chocolate. This place is terrific, and I will definitely go back.

I really enjoyed having more time to chat with the girls, since the shower had been sort of insane. I know everyone had a great time.

From Toloache, we went to one of my favorite spots in the city -- Divine Bar. Unfortunately, I no longer have to specify that this was Divine Bar West, since, I am informed, Divine Bar East has recently closed. To say I am heartbroken is not an understatement. Enough sadness, though ... that night we were at DBW, and it was, as always, a perfect venue.

The drinking and cavorting continued. At one point, someone had the absolutely inspired idea to give me a scavenger-hunt-style to-do list. Off the top of my head, I recall that I had to do the following:

Kiss a bald man (other than the bar tender, who wrote this item) on the head.

Find a guy named Mike and take a picture with him.

Get somebody to sing you a love song.

Get a condom from somebody in this bar.

Get somebody to buy you a drink.

Find your way home!

I'm pretty sure that was everything. You'll be glad to know I scored a perfect 100%, though I do have to thank the strange, slightly cross-eyed and relatively unattractive bachelorette who was also there for one of the items. The young lady wore a necklace that was adorned with tiny penises and a variety of condoms. She gladly donated one to my cause. It was ... bizarre.

Anyway, we had an absolute blast. Someone had the brilliant idea to do Irish Car Bombs, which are probably my favorite drink in the world. Anyone who knew me in college knows that I gained 15lbs of Car Bomb during my semester in Salamanca, Spain (We drank them at O'Neill's, by the Plaza Mayor, and called them "Coche Bombas"). Well, first of all, the bartender, Alejandro, did not know how to make a car bomb. I was shocked. I told him, it's a pint of Guinness or another Stout, and a shot glass filled mostly with Jamison and topped off with Bailey's. I explained that you drop the shot glass into the pint glass and gulp the whole thing down. He left, and came back with a manager. She told us that wouldn't be possible, since they don't have regular shot glasses there, just little mini wine-glasses, with stems. Part of their whole wine bar theme. I suggested that we could just pour the Jamison and Baileys from the shot glass into the pint glass and drink it down. But then, my maid of honor remembered that inside each of our goodie bags, she had placed pink plastic shot glasses that said Girls Night Out on them (excuse the cheesiness -- my "no penis" request had left her with few options). Yes, we're the kind of girls who bring their own shot glasses to bars. They rinsed them out for us and we went to town. I love car bombs.

From Divine Bar, those of us still standing went downtown to Le Souk. For some reason I can't get past the welcome page of their website, but I assure you, this place is awesome. It is huge annd packed, multiple floors of bars with hookahs and great Arabic music. I will have you know that this uptight nerd danced on the bar. And I made three dollars. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

We did find our way home with no problem. We crashed and slept until noon. It was fantastic.

Dancing with the Spaz

2008-04-11T10:36:00.001-04:00

Well, some things never change: I am still a terrible dancer. Fiance and I had our first ballroom dance lesson last night at Fred Astaire New York Midtown Dance Studio. Five minutes into the lesson, our instructor, Zahar (a cute Ukrainian guy) was asking Fiance if he'd ever had dance lessons before, and whether he played an instrument. I got patient and sympathetic looks from him. And I got tapped on the shoulder, in an effort to make me hear the beat. Gloria Estefan I am not. I cannot, for the life of me, hear the percussion while I'm trying to figure out what to do with my feet. And God help me on the Under Arm Turn in the Rumba. I think the situation might be hopeless. We signed up for 5 more lessons. Hopefully I won't embarrass myself at the wedding. Good thing I have a big dress to hide under!

...and we're back

2008-04-07T10:10:00.002-04:00

I apologize for the hiatus -- my writers were on strike.

The last few weeks have just been insane. Work has alternated between overwhelming (when I'm too busy to blog) and coma-inducingly boring (when I'm too uninspired to blog). But, someone brought chocolate cake to work today, and I had a modest piece, and I'm feeling good.

Where to begin ... last weekend!

My good friend from high school (and bridesmaid) flew in on Friday the 28th, and came straight to my office. I skipped out of work early, we grabbed a coffee, and headed back to Bay Ridge. I was really excited to show her my apartment, especially because my last apartment was so small that I couldn't even invite her and her husband up for a cup of coffee the last time they were in town, let alone have them over night. So, I gave her the grand tour, and we headed off to do serious business -- shoe shopping at Century 21 on 86th in Bay Ridge. I love this place. While we were on our way out the door, my best buddy from college called to say he was out of court and ready to meet up. He lives in Philly, and despite the fact that he'll be a groomsman in my wedding in less than two months, he hadn't yet met Fiance. So, I was very excited that he was in town, and I insisted that he stay over as well. We met up with him right by Century 21, and he was a good sport about shoe shopping. Thanks to my girlfriend's expert eye, we were in and out of there rather quickly, with a pair of four-inch gold stilletos for me to wear to my shower. It was sort of difficult to match this dress:

And this is why I love Jessica Simpson:

See? They were perfect. Hooray!

After the successful C21 trip, Fiance met up with me and my friends, and we went to my favorite Bay Ridge restaurant for dinner: Circles Grille on 3rd Ave and 91st Street. Excellent food. I had shimp kebabs, and I can't remember what anyone else had.

Then, we went back to the house, girlfriend and I changed and got fixed up, and the boys played Wii (they were instant best friends). We headed out to Tarboosh on 5th Ave and I think 75th (in Bay Ridge), for an Arabic music festival. Three of our good friends were there with a table, and we had a blast. The place was loud and crowded, and lots of fun. We drank a little, smoked a little hookah, danced a lot (even Fiance!) and stayed out until 2am (well ... it would have been a little bit earlier, but due to the close proximity of Bay Ridge Ave and Bay Ridge Parkway, there was a little bit of confusion as to where the boys had parked the car. I'm over it ... ). We went home and collapsed.

Of course, I never should have stayed out that late, given that I had to wake up at 8 am on Saturday, to get ready for my shower. Ooops! Thank God for coffee. I got up, said goodbye to college buddy, and started getting ready. We were all in the car, looking fabulous, by 10:30ish. We showed up about 10 minutes late (as planned) to my 11:30 shower. Fiance dropped me off and high-tailed it to my parents' house to chill with my dad, my brothers, and the babies. I understand there was some basketball involved, and they had a good time.

My shower was AMAZING. I think that if it had been a suprise, I absolutely would have passed out. I knew all about it, I knew that 50 people would be there (I even saw the RSVP list), and I was still completely overwhelmed. And I don't overwhelm ... ever. I seriously had trouble making out people's faces, couldn't remember how I knew people and who knew whom. I walked up to two of my best friends from college and almost introduced them ... to each other. Oops. It was insane.

Everything was so beautiful. It was held at Broccolini Restaurant in Madison, NJ, and the food was delicious. I understand the beautiful cake was also delicious, but I somehow never got a piece! It was wonderful to see everyone. Some of my mom's neighborhood friends were there, and I don't think I'd seen a few of them in years. All of my aunts and cousins and my mom's cousins were there too, and it was just fantastic. My grandmother seemed to be feeling really good, and it was great to have her there. My bridesmaids were amazing -- everything was perfect.

I spent about 14 hours unwrapping gifts, and the little girls helped me with the wrapping paper, and my sisters-in-law wrote down all of the gifts. There are about a thousand pictures, which I might post at some point, but I like the (relative) anonymity of this blog so far, so we'll see. I got a ton of great stuff -- all of my everyday flatware (all 24 place settings!), two settings of my china, a ton of serving pieces, beautiful tablecloths, placemats, and some other really creative and wonderful gifts. My bridesmaids got me a huge basket filled with all of my baking pans and my hand mixer, and my sister-in-law designed the most adorable recipe box, which all of the girls filled with recipes. My cousin put in the cookie recipe that her late father -- the best uncle ever -- used to make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever. I teared up a little at that point but was mostly able to control myself. I can't wait to make the cookies, though.

After the shower, fiance picked me up, and we, along with two of my bridesmaids, went back to Bay Ridge to change and get ready for the bachelorette party! Fiance got out of the house as quickly as possible, and went to stay with our priest (a very good decision).

Stay tuned for details about the bachelorette party ... (time to get some actual work done).

TGIF

2008-03-28T09:00:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm pretty much losing my mind. I apologize for the lack of updates, though I'm not sure I'm apologizing to anyone other than Ashley (and maybe Tara).

This week has just been absolutely insane. Work has been ridiculously stressful, both in general and personally. We have a ton going on, so we've all been here very late, and I just haven't been able to do the greatest job. So, there have been very mature episodes, featuring me crying in front of my boss. They will totally remember that for bonus time. I'm such a grownup.

On top of that, my bridal shower is this weekend! I'm really excited to see everyone who is coming in for it, and I'm excited for the party. It's going to be a great time. Of course, nothing is ever simple with my family, and there have been endless conversations about planes, trains, an automobiles, all of which have also left me in tears multiple times. I never used to be such a baby! But, it looks like everyone is taken care of now. I'm not even supposed to be involved in any of this, and my family and bridesmaids have done a fairly good job of keeping me out of it, but, as they say, shit rolls downhill. So, I don't know about any of the good stuff -- all of that is a surprise -- but I do know who is on what train and when, and how they feel about it. Awesome.

Also this weekend is my BACHELORETTE PARTY. Wooot woot! I'm just really excited to have a girls' night out. It's been forever. We've all been so busy with work, and now that I live a little bit out of the city it's more difficult, and I just don't have the time, energy, or money to go out big like I used to. I'm really looking forward to it. Fiance is staying in a safe place Saturday night -- with our priest! (sweetie, if you're reading this, don't forget to call him and confirm :) )

I'm taking a half day today because my friends are already on their way in for the festivities. We are going to do a little mani-pedi and shoe shopping, hopefully have dinner out tonight, and then we'll see.

I should have a much more fun update on Monday :)

It's the 24th!

2008-03-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

..... I just realized my wedding is in exactly two months. Holy crap.

Monday already?

2008-03-24T09:43:00.002-04:00

I know you're all dying for the weekend recap, so I won't keep you waiting. But first, who wants to know what happened with Partner confronted Admin about her mistakes? You'll recall that I asked her to make corrections to a letter, and that she would not let me show her, telling me that she can read, etc etc, and I left it on her desk and walked away. Well, Partner did talk to her the next day, showed her the mistakes she'd made, and said maybe next time she should let me walk her through the corrections. Her excuse for the mistakes? "I was already so aggravated by what had happened, that I just wasn't focused on the letter when I was doing it." This girl should run for office.

+++

Weekend Recap

Friday we finished up work and I met Tara on the bus, sort of (fiance had worked from home and was meeting us at church). I sat all the way in the front of the bus so I could pass Tara my metro card when she boarded, and so she could sit next me. Well, some lady who got on at the same stop as Tara, but slightly before her, plopped herself down next to me and did not offer to move, even when she saw me pass Tara the card. So, Tara and I chatted on blackberry messenger while this opinionated, obnoxious woman prattled on for the entire hour-long bus ride, telling the driver her thoughts on everything from her national merit scholar niece to the best vacuum for your money to why slate floors are the best in bathrooms. It was surreal.

Finally, we got off at the stop near church (and I remembered my purse!), and we headed over. Had a lovely evening over there, and then I went home and crashed. I woke up on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. I can't even remember the last time I slept past 8. It felt good, and it seemed to help me avoid the cold that has been threatening me for the last couple of weeks.

The rest of Saturday was nice. We drove to Jersey City (Fiance did end up driving me since I felt like crap), and I tried on bridesmaid dresses with my friend and a few of her other bridesmaids. I think I selected a nice dress (we each get to choose our own). It will be this, but all black:

I'm pretty sure I found a picture of it in black, below, but I'm not positive.

I'm pretty pleased with it. Of course, I'll be an old married hag by the time that wedding comes (well, it's only 4 months after my own) ...

Saturday night we went to church (noticing a pattern?), and then went to a great little Greek restaurant in Bay Ridge called Elia. Excellent. We went with Tara and another friend. We all shared a fried calamari appetizer which was perfectly done, and then I had a shellfish dish baked in a clay pot. Delicious. It's a great little place. After dinner, we went home, and Tara and Fiance played some Wii while I snuggled on the couch.

Sunday was a busy busy day. The parish council had to set up the coffee hour because our custodian was out, celebrating his own Easter. So, we missed most of Matins and the first fifteen minutes of Liturgy, cutting bread, arranging olives and everything else, putting out everything ... and then we get downstairs after Liturgy and there is ten times as much food, uncut, in tinfoil pans, out downstairs. There was a 40-day memorial for someone, and the family brought enough food to feed a small army. Greaaat. They are supposed to tell people when they are going to do that! So, on top of the fact that everyone was running around buying food and missing church to prepare, we had about ten times as much cleanup to do. Oh well. It was good food anyway.

After church Fiance and our friend went home and warmed up the Wii, and Tara stayed with me at church to help clean up. Thanks, Tara! Finally we were able to join the boys at home, and we played a ton of Wii. I schooled everyone in bowling, scoring a personal best of 209. Then I got my butt kicked in tennis and boxing. Well, first I beat Fiance to a bloody pulp in boxing, and then I got my ass handed to me by our friend. Ouch. Today I feel like I've done about a thousand pushups.

I managed to get four loads of laundry done yesterday while we were all playing and hanging out, and I made some pretty fantastic imjadra. It was nice to have company for dinner -- I am just so in love with the dining table.

Fiance and I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood last night, and got to bed early. I had big plans to wake up at 6 and make oatmeal, but I didn't manage to get out of bed until 7:15. Oops. Oh well. Here we are on another Monday ... which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves, lately:

They just changed the elevator system in my office building. I work on the 15th floor. The building is served by two separate elevator banks. The one I take serves floors 14 through 32. We each have a special key card that we need to use in order to access our floor. You have to wait for the elevator to come, and then when you get on, you have to fight everyone else to make sure that you can wave your keycard in front of a censor, and then push your floor. Since the 15th floor comes very quickly, I have to make sure that I have my floor pushed before the elevator starts moving, or I could miss my floor. If anyone else tries to wave theirs at the same time, you cancel each other out. It's the most asinine system ever, and it gives me endless anxiety.

That's about it for now.

It's Official!

2008-03-21T12:27:00.002-04:00

My mom is on her way to the post office with our wedding invitations as we speak. Fiance likes to make fun of me, because every time we've checked off another item on our to-do list, I say "It's really official now! We're really getting married!" But REALLY -- this is OFFICIAL. {:-D

I was very sad to leave my wedding band at home today, but fair is fair, I guess. It is wonderful to have my engagement ring back on my finger, though, and I can enjoy looking at it on its own for the next two months, until it has to share company with my band.

*******

In other news, who remembers the saga of the irreverent admin? Here's a little update. Things had been going fairly well. I'd actually talked to my priest about how out-of-control angry the situation was making me, and I had resolved to just try to think nice things about her every time she did something that would aggravate me. Well, before I'd even had a chance to implement that new policy, she actually started acting a little nicer to me. Apparently, though, her change of attitude was short-lived.

For the last several weeks, the securities partner and I have been working with the Department of Banking of a certain state, because one of our clients, a broker-dealer, is facing some securities violations there. The potential penalties are severe -- their registration could be revoked, and they could be fined enough money to put them out of business. Not a good situation. So, I've been researching like crazy, to find examples of more severe violations with lesser penalties imposed. Partner has been working on a letter, which is pretty much our last chance to show them why they should settle for less of a fine. On Wednesday night I stayed late, creating squibs of these example cases so that Partner could slug them into the letter. Last night, he finished drafting it all. He told Admin to pull up the file on her computer and to format the letter for letterhead. He told me to print out a hard copy and make any necessary edits (it's kind of my thing).

So, I printed out the letter (about eight pages), and I did some fine tuning. There was one type-o ("gain" instead of "again,") but most of my changes were stylistic: word choice ("incidence" was used where "incident" belonged), punctuation, capitalization, etc. I brought my changes to Partner, and he OK'd them. I walked over to Admin's desk, and she was talking to my friend, Associate. She didn't see me, and was telling him that she was waiting for me (well excuse the crap out of me for doing a thorough job!). So, I said, "you're not waiting anymore -- here I am!" in a really cheerful tone. I walked closer to her desk with the letter in my hand, and I began to show her the changes. She tried to take it out of my hand, and said "Just give it to me, I don't need you to go through every little thing." I said, "I would like to go through it all with you so we are clear." She said, "This is going to take too long -- I guarantee I can do it faster myself" (I wasn't aware that speed -- not accuracy -- was the goal). I said, "Partner always goes through his edits with me, and I'm doing the same with you." I swear, my tone was calm but firm, and not belittling or rude or anything else. Her tone was something else entirely. Well, she says, "[Miranda], I can read, I don't need you to go through this! Just give it to me!" So I said "Fine." and I dropped it on her desk / keyboard, and I walked away. I circled back around the other side of the firm and I went into Associate's office, because he had heard the first half of the interaction. He said "Wow, I didn't know she spoke to you like THAT!" Yup.

So, I decided I would go right into Partner's office while I was still mad. I went in and shut the door, and told him that I'd just had a moment with Admin that I was sure he was going to hear about, and that I wanted him to hear it from me first. I related it to him exactly as I've just posted here, and he took me at my word. He asked if maybe she was busy, because he'd given her some other stuff. I told him she's like this with me 100% of the time, and that I had spoken to Admin Coordinator about it, but that I hadn't wanted to bother him. He apologized for her behavior, which I said wasn't necessary, and he said he would speak with her. I told him I didn't care if he spoke with her or not -- she's his employee, his business -- but that I just wanted him to know the truth about what happened in case she spoke to him.

So, for the next couple of hours, I was working on something else. When I was finished with everything and was about to leave (at 9pm), I asked him if that letter had gone out. He said "Yes, Admin printed it, I signed it, and she scanned it and emailed it to the Dept of Banking." I asked if he'd checked it before he signed it, and he said he hadn't. We pulled out the copy of what was sent ... SHE MISSED HALF OF MY CORRECTIONS.

Thankfully, she changed "gain" to "again," but she left "incidence," and she left "Dollar" capitalized several times. Partner is NOT happy with her. He told me that she had, in fact, come in to speak with him after I had, and told the exact same story, except in her version, she was right to tell me that she didn't need to be hand-held, that she'd been doing this for 13 years, etc (Oh, excuse me, but I was in college and law school during that time, which, once again, makes me more qualified to give you direction). She told him that I threw the paper at her and it hit her in the arm ( 1-- I dropped it; I did not throw it. 2 -- It's a piece of paper). She told him that I was rude to him, and he said he found that hard to believe, as I am always very respectful of everyone. She said, "Not to the staff," which is complete and total poppycock.

I have been treated like "the help" before, like I was beneath contempt, like I was a peon (the two most memorable instances are working as a hostest and working as the caretaker of a house that belonged to cranky old stamp collectors ... but that's a whole other cabin time, as they say). The point is, I would never treat anyone that way, first of all because it's wrong, and I don't think I'm better than anyone else, and second, because I've been treated that way and I know how demeaning and hurtful it is. It is just not in my nature at all, and it's not how I was raised. Implications that I act superior and rudely like that really hit home -- it's personally offensive, and it's also professionally dangerous. Nobody wants to hire attorneys who are rude to the staff.

Thankfully, Partner didn't believe her for a second. And, he promised he's going to point out the errors she missed in this document. When he gets back from lunch, I'll follow up with him and make sure that happened. Based on the way she was bouncing around the office this morning, she clearly believes last night was a win in her column. Not so.

********

I am very much looking forward to the weekend, as you might imagine. It's not Easter for us yet (about another month), but it should be a good weekend. On Saturday I'm going to Jersey City to help one of my bridesmaids and best friends pick out the bridesmaid dresses for her own wedding, which I am also going to be in. If I am feeling brave and the weather is clear, I might just drive myself. Otherwise my gallant knight has agreed to drive me and then go wait in a Starbucks for a while. And people say romance is dead!

That's all, folks!

I'm Jactitating

2008-03-20T15:19:00.002-04:00

Don't worry, it's not gross. It's not even illegal anymore.

But, if you're interested, here's the evidence:

Not the best photo, as I took it with my blackberry, but you get the idea!

The Eagle has Landed

2008-03-20T12:43:00.002-04:00

My rings are here! It's so nice to have my engagement ring back -- I missed it like crazy. Plus they cleaned and polished it, so it's as shiny as the day fiance proposed (down on one knee, in the Yorkville Diner, after cheeseburgers and beer).

My wedding band is absolutely perfect. It looks roughly like this, though that's not where I bought it. It fits together so nicely with my engagement ring (but fiance says I'm not allowed to wear them together until after the wedding ... he's such a stickler!). For now, I have the wedding band on my right hand and my engagement ring back where it belongs, on my left. When I get home, I'll put it someplace safe.

My engagement ring, in case you've never seen it, looks like this:

Rainy Hump Day

2008-03-19T14:12:00.003-04:00

Sorry no post yesterday -- I just wasn't feeling it. Work was typical, but we did go out for nice casual dinner at Circles last night, always a treat.

Work today is business as usual, as usual. I did hear that my engagement ring and wedding band are officially in the mail -- hopefully they'll get here super fast!

I continue to be turned off by Obama's rhetoric. If we are to believe what he says, then he's either very naive or he agrees with Wright. Either way, I'm not interested in seeing him as President.

Wedding stuff is getting very annoying and stressful. We're down to the nitty-gritty details now and they just make me want to bury my head in the sand. Every time anyone tries to talk to me about logistics and timing for the "day of," I just feel my heart racing and my face get hot. It's too much.

Sorry this is such a Debbie Downer post -- I blame the weather. I'll post again if something cool happens today :)

7 Weird, Strange and/or Random things about ME

2008-03-17T10:31:00.003-04:00

In honor of Ashley (the crazy cat lady -- see my blogroll), here is a NaBloPoMo list:

7 Weird, Strange and/or Random things about ME

1 - I still sleep with a teddy bear.

2 - Everyone I know thinks I'm this super-organized "together" person, but my house and my office are always a mess.

3 - I have a sort-of-photographic memory.

4 - I'm a pretty lousy baker (but a pretty awesome regular-food-cooker).

5 - I've been to at least 20 different countries.

6 - I'm terrible at math.

7 - I spoke pretty decent Portuguese as a toddler.

KeySpan Follow-up

2008-03-17T10:30:00.000-04:00

$179 came out of my checking today via auto-bill-pay. Pretty glad I didn't listen to that monster on the phone.

Weekend Recap

2008-03-17T10:02:00.003-04:00

Well ... I didn't post on Friday because I was too busy freaking out over the possibility that I'd lost 1000 pages of opposing counsel's documents. Not to worry ... it seems the guy started numbering at 1000. Thanks.

Fiance and I got on the same bus Friday evening and went straight to church. We've got a lot of church going on between now and our Easter (someday I'll explain why we're on a different calendar, but not right now).

After church we went home and vegged. I didn't even make dinner -- my stomach has been upset since Friday afternoon (blame the luncheonette's Manhattan clam chowder, or blame the guy who started numbering at 1000 ...).

Saturday morning we were all set to tackle a bunch of home projects -- mostly cleaning and organizing, but possibly putting up shelves and a tapestry. But, on my way down to the kitchen, I noticed the answering machine light blinking. Of course, I hadn't checked it on Friday night. Curiously, a woman named Angela left me a message, saying that her brother-in-law, a bus driver, had my purse, and that if I wanted to meet up with him to get it back before he turned it in, I should call her, since he can't answer his phone on his route. While it was playing, I thought, that's odd, I wonder how old this message is, since obviously I'd already gotten my purse back. When the message ended, my machine said "Friday, 8:13 p.m." Yup, folks, you guessed it: I left the same purse on the same bus for the second time in a week. I'm a genius.

So, I called Angela back, and got her answering machine. I called the number she'd left for the driver, and he answered (sleepily) and told me that he'd turned it in. I called the bus depot in Coney Island, and they confirmed that they had it. Eager to avoid the Manhattan Lost Property unit and Yee, I told Fiance that we had to go get it right away. He was amazing. He didn't make fun of me or lecture me or anything. So, we walked to where he had parked the car on Thursday night, and he clicked the button to unlock the doors. Nothing. We manually unlocked the car, put the key in the ignition ... nothing. Totally dead. This is my parents' "extra" car that we're borrowing for a while, and neither of us is that familiar with the automatic light settings. Fiance must have left a light on. He was probably pretty glad that he hadn't given me a hard time about leaving my purse on the bus (again). So, we called my dad, and he said not to bother with AAA, just to call a friend. We called my cousin, and he came right over with his super cool Mercedes, which laughed at our pathetic 9-yr-old Chrysler. Well, the jump was successful, and we drove to Coney Island.

I got my purse back with little difficulty, we drove around a little more, took the car to a gas station where the guy tried to sell us a new battery and a new alternator (we declined) and we drove home. I did my hair and Fiance napped on the couch, and then he went for a haircut. And THEN ----- I DROVE! I drove over to the haircut place and picked him up, and we drove over to church for our premarital counseling session. For those of you who don't know, I've driven about 5 times in the last 6 years, usually only under emergency circumstances. I already was sort of afraid of driving (since I totalled my brand new car in '01), and then being out of the practice has made me totally paranoid. It's practically a phobia. But, we were running late, and I decided to stop being a baby.

Premarital counseling was great. We went through the ceremony bit by bit, and we definitely have a greater appreciation for everything now. I'm very excited for the ceremony. It's a pretty cool idea -- you get everyone you know to come pray for your marriage. We stayed for Vespers after counseling, and then a whole bunch of us went out to dinner (I drove). Good times were had by all. After dinner, I drove my friend all the way to 59th street, and then I drove home. Woohoo -- that was in the dark!

Sunday, we drove to church (I drove!), and then I DROVE INTO THE CITY. Seriously. Got on the BQE, went through the Battery Tunnel, up the West Side highway (even though we were going to the east side, because we wanted to avoid the crane catastrophe traffic), and then drove across the park at 79th Street, and dropped off our friend. Then we parked in a garage, Fiance found a Dunkin Donuts, and I met my cousin for some serious shopping.

We started at a small store on Lex between 63rd and 64th, called Expose. Their dresses are ADORABLE. I found a ton that I really liked, and I narrowed it down to one dress for my bachelorette party, and an out-of-this-world dress for the rehearsal dinner.

Then we went over to Bloomingdales, and had good luck up at BCBG, where we found a ton of dresses for my shower. One of them was perfect. So ... lighter in the checkbook and heavier in the shopping bag, we headed out to grab a bite. It was great to spend the day with my cousin -- who, by the way, is an amazing maid of honor. We just don't get enough time together anymore. I'm glad we got to spend Sunday doing some super fun (and successful) shopping.

I went back over and met Fiance, we picked our friend back up, and I drove to my brother's house in Jersey. That's right, folks ... through the Lincoln Tunnel, on to Route 3, and so on and so forth. I'm practically a professional driver. My brother was stunned to see me get out of the driver's side.

We had a fun evening celebrating another friend's birthday. I got to see my ridiculously cute nephews, so that's always a good time. I finally made the Dr Pepper cake, and it was delicious. I probably should have greased the pan, and I probably should have mixed the ingredients with an electric mixer instead of a spatula, but it was super yummy. I frosted it with cool whip. I highly recommend it. Here's the recipe:

Dr Pepper Cake

Ingredients:
One box of cake mix
One can of Dr Pepper (I used diet)

Process:
Combine ingredients. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at time and temp recommended on cake mix box.

Turn it out of the pan, cool slightly, and frost with Cool Whip. Enjoy.

****

That's about all I have for now. I woke up feeling crappy -- my throat is sore and my stomach is still upset. I had to get off the bus 10 blocks early because of stupid traffic. I had a horrible nightmare last night that Fiance was eaten alive by mice in the subway, so I don't think I slept very well. I'm at work now, but I'd much rather be back in bed. Hope you're all having better Mondays.

A list

2008-03-13T15:57:00.003-04:00

I am absolutely freaking out about wedding stuff right now -- I think you all know that already. I'm not really going to go into the details but I'm just stresssssed. So, I'm calming myself down with a little list/poll thingie ... very NaBloPoMo of me.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Babysitter
2. Hostest
3. Camp Nurse's Assistant
4. Attorney

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Breakfast Club
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. My Cousin Vinny
4. Finding Nemo

Four places I have lived:
1. Randolph, NJ
2. Lewisburg, PA
3. New York, NY
4. Brooklyn, NY

Four places out of the U.S. I have been:
1. Spain
2. Turkey
3. Japan
4. Thailand

(yes I picked the four coolest places)

Four of my favorite foods
1. Arabic (duh) -- Mom's or Tata's if it's homemade, Byblos if it's not.
2. Spanish mmm
3. Sushi
4. Chocolate

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Home
2. My parents'
3. My future in-laws'
4. Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Four T.V. Shows that I watch right now:
1. Good Morning America (even though I can't stand the fact that it's not "Good Morning, America")
2. American Idol
3. John and Kate + 8
4. Little People, Big World

Stressssssss

2008-03-13T10:48:00.003-04:00

I was wide awake at 4 a.m., my heart racing, wondering if it's okay that we didn't include directions to the church inside the invitation. I spent 20 minutes calming myself down. All of the out-of-towners will be staying at the hotel and will be shuttled to the church; all of the locals know where the church is. Breathe in, breathe out, relax ...

When I got to work today, my mom IMed me to alert me to the fact that I had registered for 12 place settings, each of which included a mug, and also registered for 12 cups and 12 saucers, and then an additional 12 mugs. Ooops. I certainly don't need to serve that much tea and coffee at once. I guess I didn't realize that the place settings included the mugs. So, I took the extra mugs off the registry. I try not to peek too often, but we have gotten a lot of our Macy's stuff, so that's really exciting -- it's all of our everyday ware. Unfortunately, our Michael C. Fina registry is, so far, untouched. I really hope we get at least some of our china for the wedding. It's sooooo pretty.

I got a lovely email from Fiance's grandmother (yes, she's 83ish and Internet savvy), letting me know that she won't make it out to my shower but is very excited to come celebrate with us for the wedding. She's just adorable.

Anyway, I think I am just going to have to get used to the racing heart for the next 72 days, and hope it means I'm burning extra calories. I am just panicked.

One of my best coping methods / distractions is cooking. Last night I made a perfect (and perfectly Lenten) portobello mushroom risotto. This is a recipe I've fooled around with a lot, so the measurements aren't perfect, but it should work out.

1 and 3/4 cups arborio rice (I ran out of that and used about half sushi rice, and it was fine)
one medium onion, halved and sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 box (32 oz) Imagine Foods Cream of Portobello soup (it's vegan)
3 portobello mushroom caps, sliced and chopped
1/4 cup dry sherry or other dry white wine
salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder

Saute the onion in the vegetable broth over medium-high heat until the onions are translucent but not brown. If you are not fasting from oil, use extra virgin olive oil for this step instead of the broth, but be more careful of the heat because the oil will brown or burn the onions much faster.

Add all of the rice, followed by all of the liquid (soup plus wine). This recipe goes faster if you heat the soup to boiling before adding it, but that dirties another pot, and this works just fine. Bring to a boil (stirring frequently), and then lower to a simmer. Cook for about ten minutes, stirring frequently (but not constantly -- which is why I love this particular risotto recipe). Add generous amounts of garlic powder, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice if it tastes like it needs some acidity. Mix in the mushrooms and cook for about another five minutes, until the rice is al dente and the mushrooms are warm. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for five minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley (and extra virgin olive oil, if you are using it). Serves two as an entree and 4 as a side dish. This recipe ALWAYS needs more salt than I think it will, so don't be shy with it.

I also made a very simple and delightful salad to start last night. I made a homemade honey mustard dressing (about 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, about two tablespoons of honey, and a good squirt of bottled lemon juice, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder), and put it over mixed baby greens, red peppers, and tangerine slices. It was perfect.

And here we are at another Thursday. Tomorrow is payday (for both of us!) so that's something to look forward to. We need to buy two wedding bands and pay for our honeymoon this month, so I welcome every dollar that comes in.

Meanwhile, I haven't heard from KeySpan since the irate phone call, which, on the one hand, is very nice. On the other hand, though, it makes me even more furious with the guy on the phone who told me that they'd keep calling me unless I wrote a check. Automatic payment should occur in 4 days -- we'll see.

I'm not cut out for this bridal crap

2008-03-12T17:19:00.002-04:00

Honestly ... I've been dying to get married since forever, and I am excited about it. But the being engaged part ... not really my thing. Por ejemplo, today on theknot.com message boards, someone was asking how she should ask her friends to be in her wedding. For me, I think all 8 girls already knew they were going to be in my wedding -- we figured it out when we were about 10. I called them up and said, "You're in my wedding, right?" and that was it. Here's how another bride did it (and this is NOT unusual):

I bought little favor boxes, mesh fabric, little folded place cards, ribbon, and a little heart charm type thing (same hearts that were on the place cards) from Walmart and wrote their name on the front of the card and on the inside wrote Will you be my bridesmaid/MOH/Flowergirl?... I stuffed the box with the fabric and stuck the note inside, tied the ribbon around it like a present, and added the little charm. They turned out really cute, and were like $13 total for all of them.

Um ... seriously?

Happy Hump Day

2008-03-12T10:35:00.003-04:00

First of all, I am turning over a new leaf today. I was lazy the last two days, but I am buckling down today and getting a lot of work done. It's Lent, I need to not be a lazy piece of crap, and that should probably be the case year-round anyway.

I forgot to blog about Monday's Parish Council meeting -- my very first. It was ... not bad! Not bad at all, actually. We had an agenda, the meeting was organized, and we went through it item by item. No debates, minimal discussion, nobody raised his voice. It was over in an hour and a half. I am very happy about that. I went home and made some sort of shrimp-avocado-salsa-tortilla thing, and it wasn't bad.

Last night, I made very simple and very yummy stir fry, from another Fresh Direct recipe.

Stir-Fried Shrimp with Scallions From "New York Cookbook" by Molly O'Neill

Elaine Louie recommends cooking this dish in two batches in an ordinary-size wok. Overloading the wok will cause the food to steam rather than fry. Serve this with boiled rice and cucumber salad. This recipe was adapted from Chinese Home Cooking, a pamphlet written by Elaine Louie and Julia Chang Bloch and published by The Organization of Chinese American Women.

Serves 4 to 6
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Scotch whiskey or dry sherry
2 teaspoons sugar4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 slices fresh ginger (1/4 inch thick), lightly smashed
2 bunches scallions, or 1 bunch Chinese or Western Chives, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
2 pounds medium shrimp, rinsed and patted dry
Cooked rice, for serving

1.In a small bowl, mix together the soy, whisky, and sugar. Set aside.

2.In a wok, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil until very hot. Add 3 of the ginger slices and stir-fry for 1minute. Add half of the scallions, half of the shrimp, and half of the soy mixture and stir-fry rapidly until the shrimp turn pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove to a warm platter, discarding the ginger.

3.Return the wok to the heat and warm the remaining 2 tablespoons oil until very hot. Add the remaining ginger, shrimp, scallions, and soy mixture and stir-fry as before. Add to the previously cooked shrimp and mix. Serve over cooked rice.

I halved everything except the sauce, and I added the cooked rice right into the wok at the end. I probably should have stir-fried the stuff in half the amount of sauce and then should have added the rest of the sauce when I added the rice. It was a little too liquidy while I was cooking. But, the results were delicious. It was very light but not bland, and tasted very authentic. I used Sherry because the only Whisky I had was Canadian. I don't know how I can claim to be my father's daughter or the granddaughter of either of my grandfathers and not have Dewars in the house, but it is what it is. Anyway it was good with the Sherry.

****

So here I am, back at work on Wednesday, and I actually have some energy. I am going to be a real go-getter today, I swear!

In blog-related news, I am happy to report that according to SiteTracker, more people than my real-life friends are reading this blog. People searching the following terms ended up here: Coned (I assume it was ConEd), Katrina Kaif (I now have a reader in India, or at least I did, for a moment), and Orthodoxchristiandating.com brought someone from Oklahoma here. Very exciting.

73 days to go ...

Blah Tuesday

2008-03-11T17:50:00.005-04:00

I keep feeling like it must be Wednesday. I feel super blah. I got to work a little late today (got a late start and then bus hit traffic), and I just never really got on a roll with my work. I can't get any momentum.

I called the bus depot in Brooklyn to find out about my purse, and they told me it was moved to Manhattan today. I called the MTA Lost Property Unit in Manhattan, and spoke to Heather, who told me that they had my purse, and that they close at 4. I went over there around 1:15, via subway. I was wandering around the 34th and 8th A-C-E station looking for the Lost Property Unit, and I asked a subway maintenance guy where it was. His reply: Downstairs, but they are closed right now. Me: No, they aren't. How do I get there? ... He told me where to go (lower level, behind the stairs, in sketchiville). The man at the counter was Yee, whom I spoke to last week (he didn't remember) and who doesn't speak a whole lot of English. I gave Yee my claim number, and he disappeared for about 5 min. Upon his return, he told me he did not have my bag. I told him that Heather said they had it. He verified my claim number, and asked again where I'd left it. I told him (again) that I'd left it on a Brooklyn-bound bus, and that it had been turned in at Elmer Park. He left again and came back, asking me if I'd left it in Staten Island. Nope, I said, Brooklyn. He left again and was gone for a good 10 min.

He came back and said they did have my purse, but that it needed to be processed, which would take at least 10 or 15 min. He told me four different times to be "patient" -- which was odd, considering I'd smiled the whole time we spoke and was very calm and patient. Whatever. I waited forever (patiently) and a manager came out and asked if I had any ID. I told him it was in my purse (duh). He asked my name and I gave it to him. He told me that he couldn't return the $26 that had been in my purse, because they didn't have petty cash at that station. I decided not to try to make sense of that statement. He asked me to write down my address so he could mail me a check. Whatever. I finally got my purse back, and got back to work around 2:30ish. Fun times.

The whole thing was like something out of a Cold-War era documentary on bureaucracy. The lesson: if you are going to leave something on a bus, leave it on a bus in Brooklyn, and claim it in Brooklyn.

******

Meanwhile, I decided to go ahead with the platinum wedding band, even though the price has gone up 50%. The guy I'm dealing with sent me a chart on the price of platinum in the last six months, and it really has skyrocketed. I hate having to pay up (especially since the price will probably eventually fall) but if I'm going to be wearing this ring for the rest of my life, I want it to look right. I'm probably not going to get my engagement ring back for another couple of weeks, which is absolutely driving me bananas. As long as I have it back in time for my bridal shower, though, I guess it will be fine. I just miss it!

Seventy-four single days left. Weird freakout feeling not abating.

They love me in India

2008-03-10T16:36:00.002-04:00

A partner at my firm (of Indian origin) keeps telling me I look like this Indian film star. I mean ... she's good looking and everything, but that's kind of weird!

Katrina Kaif

I've had enough of useless words

2008-03-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

"digerati" -- really?

Holy Crap!

2008-03-10T11:04:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I forgot to post the most significant event of the weekend! My parents' best friends dropped off wedding gifts for us at their house, and we opened them on Saturday ...

I GOT MY KITCHEN AID!

It's so beautiful. I can't wait to use it! The Rules say that we have to wait until after the wedding. I think that totally stinks. I really want to use the pasta attachment to make homemade vegan ravioli during Lent. Oh well. They also got us the Sausage Stuffer attachment, just because it made them laugh. It made us laugh, too. :)

Weekend Recap

2008-03-10T10:36:00.004-04:00

I just do not like Mondays at all. Starting around 5 pm on Sunday, I get what my mom calls Ed Sullivan Syndrome -- that feeling of dread that comes upon you when you know the weekend is dwindling and Monday is roaring toward you. I get anxious and crabby and I just don't like it. Work has been so stressful lately, and weekends are so nice that I get lulled into a good mood ... and then BAM here we are again. So ... let's escape for a moment and relive the weekend, shall we?

Friday night, Fiance and I took the bus straight from work to my brother's in Northern NJ, to spend the night. We had a yummy dinner, played with the kiddos, had some wine, and watched TV. Pretty much a perfect Friday night.

Saturday morning we went to the Diner with them, and the boys were very good. I mean, the baby doesn't do too much, but the 2-yr-old is just hilarious and adorable. I can't even stand him.

Afterwards we went back to the house, and Fiance and Brother built a treadmill while Sister-in-law gave me a much-needed haircut. I no longer resemble the 18th Duggar Child. Thank the Lord. It's about shoulder-length now with good shape and layers, so I'm getting some really nice curl. Very very pleased.

Fiance and I then drove out to my parents' house to begin the laborious task of assembling the invitations. Each invitation has it's own neato sleeve thingie, with a layer of tissue paper that needs to get slipped inside. Then, there's a response card with its own tissue paper and its own little envelope, and then there's the inner envelope and the outer envelope. Things needed to be sorted, stamped, numbered, alphabetized and stamped, and double checked. Four envelopes had minor -- but crucial -- errors, so the calligrapher has to redo them. I hope that I checked all the others thoroughly. They are going out approximately 3/20. My mom is going to give them one last look and will seal them and bring them to the post office to be hand-cancelled. Fun times. It actually wasn't awful at all. The four of us sat at the dining table with some music on, and we had a nice little assembly line going. Nobody argued, no serious mistakes were made, and we just all had a chance to chat.

We went to Minado for sushi -- it's "all you care to eat," and it's pretty good. Then we all went home, had some scotch, and sat around and talked some more. It was a very nice night.

Sunday morning Fiance and I drove straight back to Brooklyn for church, in a car we are borrowing indefinitely from my parents. After church we went to the Diner and had cheese omelets -- our last rendezvous with eggs and cheese until Pascha (we began fasting from meat last week). I'm actually excited about Lent this year -- I definitely feel like my mind and body need to be detoxed and refocused. I hope I don't fall into the carb trap; we'll see.

We went home and FINALLY put up curtains in the living room. I know you're all sick of my empty promises to post pictures of things so I won't even bother making promises. Soon, I hope to have the whole apartment picture-ready, and then I will post pictures. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination.

We went back to church at 5 for Forgiveness Vespers, which is definitely one of my favorite services all year. It's an excellent way to begin Lent -- but my hamstrings are a little sore today from all the metania. Turns out I can touch the floor without bending my knees -- news to me!

After church we went home and I made an outrageously good dinner of pan-seared tuna with macaroni and homemade pesto. I was working without a recipe, and I must say, I am officially back in the game. I did a little laundry and started to tackle the Pile of Clothes in the bedroom, but I have a ways to go. Then I passed out on the couch.

***********

I'm still without my engagement ring, and they are reneging on the price of the wedding band. I know the cost of precious metals has gone up, but this is a pretty significant increase. I am going to see how much wiggle room I have. I'm a little resentful that they only mentioned the increase after I sent them my engagement ring -- sort of prevents me from going anywhere else, and makes it hard to haggle.

I'm also still without my purse, which, as you know, I moronically left on the bus on Thursday. I should be able to get it back by the middle of this week. I have to hand it to the MTA people, though -- they've been great about calling me and keeping track of it. I'm very impressed.

So far I haven't gotten any more calls from KeySpan about my gas bill. We'll see what happens between now and March 17, the day the autopay is supposed to occur. If they keep calling me this week, I am going to call the Brooklyn Borough President. This stupid company has full access to my bank account and has had my authorization for nearly two months -- they have no business calling and treating me like a deadbeat.

******

In other news, my wedding is in two and a half months. Ten more weeks as a single girl ... what a weird, weird feeling. I can't believe it's really happening! Fiance has been teasing me because he knows I'm starting to freak out. I'll get my revenge when he starts freaking out (which will definitely happen). We are supposed to have our premarital prep on Saturday, and hopefully it won't get rescheduled for the fourth time. We've been trying to schedule it since December. I'm really looking forward to it, actually.

OK, time to work ... I don't know how I'm supposed to bill so many hours when there isn't enough work to go around, do you?

Friday from Heck

2008-03-07T10:52:00.002-05:00

Why was I looking forward to Friday so much? Why? Why? It's just another infuriating day.

Before I get into that, I must respond to Ashley's anxious comment regarding my news yesterday. Of course I am going to continue with the regular blog. The two new services are in addition to the one I already provide: artful recounting of the details of my boring-ass life. Also, I need to add that I am also available for grammatical advice. Duh.

Okay, so back to the day from Heck ...

The Gas Company Saga

Let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start). Fiance and I moved into our apartment on 9/15/2007. My lease on my old apartment in Manhattan ended on 10/31/2007, so I had a bit of an overlap. I called ConEd in Manhattan before I left, and I advised them to continue the first account through 10/31, and also to open an additional account in my name on 9/15 in Brooklyn. No problem.

About 3 weeks after we move in, the landlady calls Fiance to tell him that the gas company just pushed past her into the garage and turned off the gas to our apartment, despite her protests that people (we) actually lived there. Fiance calls me, and I spend the rest of the (very busy work) day on the phone with KeySpan. It turns out that ConEd controlled both electric and gas in Manhattan, but only electric in Brooklyn. Gas in Brooklyn is provided by KeySpan, formerly Brooklyn Union. Well, who knew. So, they had no name on the account, and the just showed up and turned off the gas. When I asked the woman why they didn't tack a note to the door or something first, she said, we didn't know where you lived! I said, "well you certainly found the place when you decided to shut my gas off!" to which she responded, "We didn't shut off your gas, we shut off our gas!"

They were totally obnoxious to me. It was a Thursday, and they said that in order to schedule the gas to be turned on that Monday, I'd have to make it down to their headquarters in Brooklyn on Thursday with a copy of my lease and two forms of photo ID, by 5pm. Well, it was 1:30 pm, and even if I could leave work (and I couldn't), it would take at least an hour to get to my apartment to get those documents, and then another hour to get to their headquarters. Not gonna happen. I called back every 15 minutes, trying to get someone reasonable on the phone. I called my mother, crying, just like any mature, 26-yr-old attorney would do. My mom said, "Geeze, tell them you have a baby!" as if that's the obvious secret code to get your gas turned back on, and only an idiot wouldn't know that. So, I called back, and I told the next person that without my gas stove, I didn't know how I'd heat my baby's bottles, and I didn't know how I could do the laundry, and I didn't know how I could bathe my baby, and it was supposed to get down to 40` that weekend, and I didn't know if it would be warm enough ... for the baby. I told the guy that I was an attorney, and that I would swear an affirmation that I did live at that address and did have a lease, and I would have that affirmation notarized, and I would fax it to him right away with two forms of photo ID. He said yes! So I faxed my sworn statement along with a copy of my NJ drivers license (bearing my parents' address) and a copy of my expired student ID. Gas got turned back on about 20 min later. So ... that was my first encounter with the gas company.

Fast forward a couple of months, as Fiance and I are trying to merge our fiances, debt, etc. I find that the easiest thing to do is to sign up for level bill pay, so all my bills are equal, and auto bill pay, so the money comes right out of my checking. This way, I know exactly how much I am going to be charged, and when. So I signed up for this in about January. I never got billed. I called the gas company at least twice in January and twice in February. Both times, I was told that the auto bill pay takes time, that I should ignore my paper bills, and just wait for the system to get caught up. I did what they said, but still called back every couple of weeks because I was nervous that they would cut my gas off.

On Wednesday, I got an email saying that on March 17, my account would be debited $179. My level bill pay amount is only supposed to be $89, so I called to see what was going on. They said I would be charged for two months this time, because the February bill never got paid, because their system wasn't caught up yet. Fine.

Wednesday was an annoying, long day, and at the end of it, I went home and went to bed. Thursday morning I noticed that the answering machine was blinking. Sure enough, it was KeySpan, calling about a "very important issue" regarding my bill. I called them back right away, and I told them that I had been eager to pay for months, and I didn't know what the problem was. They had an attitude with me right away, and they said sometimes the system takes 20 - 30 days to get straightened out, because they have to wait for authorization from my bank. So I said, fine, but you're the ones who called me, so just stop calling me if everything is fine. They said sorry for the misunderstanding.

Thursday was another annoying day at work. I got home pretty late, we had leftover mac and cheese, and I went to bed. This morning the answering machine was blinking again, meaning they called yesterday. Got a very similar message from KeySpan. This time when I called, I was irate. I was shouting at them at about 7:15, telling them to stop calling me like I'm some sort of deadbeat. I gave them access to my bank account more than 2 months ago -- just take the friggin money! I even called them multiple times to let them know that I wasn't being charged! It was like the Twilight Zone of customer service. It was infuriating. I said please make them stop calling me. The guy said, just send a check for $179 and they will stop. I am absolutely certain that if I send them a check for $179, they will still autodebit another $179 on March 17. I asked the guy if they would shut off my gas if I didn't pay in the next 10 days, and he said no. He said the only thing that will happen is that I will get kicked off level bill pay (am I even on it???). I said fine. He said that the money will not get autodebited on March 17, because the auto bill pay can't be activated unless there is a zero balance on the account. I am going to take my chances. If the money doesn't come out on 3/17, I'll send a check on 3/18. Until then, I expect to get a call every day from KeySpan. I am pretty tempted to get Seven on my Side.

The day continues ...

So then I get to work this morning, already fired up about the Keyspan thing, and I have a message on my work voicemail, from 9pm last night. It's the MTA (that's the bus and subway people, for you non-New Yorkers), letting me know that one of their drivers turned in my purse. Great. I didn't even know it was missing. All my credit cards, debit cards, drivers license, etc are in there, not to mention what the guy called "my personal stuff." Fantastic. The best part is that I didn't even notice it was gone. Good thing I had a bunch of business cards in there, so the guy knew how to reach me. So now my purse is at a depot in Brooklyn, and I can't get it because I am going to NJ this weekend. It will be moved to a depot in Manhattan sometime next week, and then I'll be able to claim it. Fan-freaking-tastic. Good thing Fiance and I merged our accounts -- he can just give me cash and I'll be fine. I also have all my credit card info on SeamlessWeb already, so lunch will not be a problem. But really? Did I need this? It's only 11am. What else is going to happen today?

Announcing New Services!

2008-03-06T16:41:00.002-05:00

1) *Dear Miranda*

I think a fun way to get this blog really rolling is to turn it into a vehicle for one of my secret career dreams: advice columnist. Readers are all hereby invited to email me at pullingamiranda@gmail.com with requests for advice on just about anything: dating, single life, breakups, relationships, cooking, cleaning, careers, dealing with relatives, wedding planning, and whatever else you can think of. After 5/24/08 I might entertain requests for sex-related advice, but until then, if I'm not gettin' any, you're not gettin' any advice. I will not answer requests for legal advice. Sorry.

I'll publish the letters and my answers (redacting names, of course).

2) *I Have*

The second part of the news is the launching of the "I Have" project, whereby I will endeavor to match up all my single Orthodox friends either with each other or with random Internet strangers. Random Internet strangers are encouraged to apply. Don't be shy -- I met Fiance online, and he's (fairly) normal. We met on orthodoxchristiandating.com, but unless you are into Russian brides (or are a Russian bride), I fear you might be disappointed by that site. Plus, this way I get to indulge both my Orthodox Christian side and my (paternal) Jewish side, by finally letting my inner Yenta set up all my goyish friends.

Again, contact me at pullingamiranda@gmail.com if you wish to be set up. I will require a brief description of you, a photo, your location, and what you are looking for in a mate. I'll add you to my index, and if a suitable match arises, I'll contact you again and put everything into motion. Should be fun.

Is it Friday yet?

2008-03-06T14:43:00.002-05:00

That's the question I asked on Monday morning. I had a premonition that this was going to be a craptastic week, and I was right. Nothing horrendous happened (thank God) but it just dragged and dragged, and I had two snafus at work that were not a lot of fun to deal with.

On the bright side, I made some amazing macaroni and cheese last night. This probably isn't the best weeknight meal, since it's a pretty involved recipe, but it was just to die for. I made two changes: I used 2% milk instead of whole, and I used Italian bread crumbs instead of plain, because that's what I had in the house. Also, I baked it in a 7 x 7 casserole instead of an 8 x 8 baking dish; it cooked in about 13 minutes instead of the 30 - 35 the recipe said, but I have no idea why.

Macaroni and Cheese

From "Artisanal Cooking" by Terrance Brennan and Andrew Friedman

Serves 4 as a Side Dish
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
5 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
Kosher salt
White pepper in a mill
2 1/2 cups Gruyere or Comté, grated (from 5 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the water into a 3-quart pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

2.In a small sauce pan, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons of the butter over low heat. Add the bread crumbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, toss well, and set aside.

3.Put the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a 2-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan and melt it over low heat. Add the flour and cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly, but not letting the flour burn. (I had trouble with this step - I basically got globs of flour, nothing that could be whisked, but it didn't seem to matter. Once I added the milk, it all smoothed out) Pour in the milk and cook for 5 minutes, whisking or stirring with a wooden spoon. Add 4 1/2 teaspoons salt, 4 grinds of pepper, the Gruyère and mascarpone, and continue to whisk until the cheese is melted and incorporated. Remove the pot from the heat.

4.Add 1 tablespoon of salt and the elbow macaroni to the boiling water and cook until al dente, approximately 8 minutes. Drain the macaroni in a colander and add it to the pot with the cheese sauce. Mix well with a wooden spoon.

5.Pour the macaroni mixture into an 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, approximately 30-35 minutes. Serve hot.

Embellishment: For a main-course pasta dish, double the recipe and add prosciutto and/or peas.

We had this as a main course, without the Embellishments. It was fantastic. We started with a salad with my usual olive oil / lemon juice etc dressing. It stood up well to red wine.

*****

In other news, I am having serious baby fever. Part of it is that work has been crappy this week, and my go-to daydream is that Fiance gets a huge raise, and I quit my job and stay home with babies. The other factor is this article I just read, which definitely did something to my hormones. The rest of the problem is probably just hormones. We shall see, my friends.

We're going to sleep at my brother's tomorrow night, which means we get to see the boys! They are insanely cute. Saturday we are going to my parents' to stuff wedding invitations. I cannot believe we are this close!

I'm wearing a new red dress today and I feel pretty special. That's about all the news I got right now. :)

Recipes

2008-03-04T16:00:00.002-05:00

I don't have much to say today, other than that I worked 13 hours yesterday and got royally chewed out by the partner for no good reason. So, I'm cranky today, and thinking about food. I thought I'd post what I made Saturday night.

First, the Strawberry Misu, by Rachael Ray:

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 bag frozen strawberries, defrosted
1/2 cup water
1 package lady fingers
Cocoa powder, to garnish

Yields: 6 servings

Preparation

In a medium mixing bowl, whip 1/2 cup of the heavy cream to soft peaks with a hand mixer. In a large bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream, mascarpone cheese and confectioners sugar. The cream will loosen up the mascarpone making it easier to mix with other ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. In a blender, combine strawberries and 1/2 cup water. Blend until you have a smoothie-like texture. Set aside until ready to assemble. Layer the bottom of a square baking dish (I used red wine glasses instead) with lady fingers (you may need to break some in half to make it fit in the dish). Ladle half of strawberry puree over the cookies. Top with half of the cheese mixture. Add another layer of lady fingers and ladle the remaining strawberry puree over them. Add the rest of the cheese mixture and dust with cocoa powder.

This was delicious, and it looked great prepared in red wine glasses instead of in a baking dish. Plus, I didn't have to worry about how to make nice servings from the baking dish. Overall, I give this 5 out of 5 stars -- and it was well worth trekking all over tarnation for the lady fingers.

********************

Green Beans with Ricotta Salata Recipe #75454 (Recipe Czar)

Tender fresh string beans sprinkled with fresh basil leaves and ricotta salata and coated with a homemade mustard vinaigrette. Feta cheese can be substituted if ricotta salata is not available. by sugarpea 15 min 15 min prep SERVES 2
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
8 ounces string beans, stem ends trimmed
1 ounce ricotta salata cheese, crumbled
10 small fresh basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pinch fresh ground black pepper

Cook beans in boiling water with 1 1/2 tsp salt, about 4 minutes, until just tender; drain and immerse in an ice bath; drain, pat dry and place in bowl with cheese and basil leaves. Whisk mustard, vinegar, oil, remaining 1/8 tsp salt, and pepper until oil is emulsified; pour over beans and toss to coat.

This was excellent. 5 out of 5 stars. Ricotta salata was a little hard to find, but we tracked it down at Piazza Mercado on 3rd Ave.

*****************

Steak Diane Recipe #19464 (Recipe Czar)

This one's a truly memorable dinner without a lot of time spent in the kitchen. by MizzNezz 15 min 5 min prep SERVES 4

4 rib eye steaks (1/2 in)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter (divided)
3 teaspoons green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon fresh chives, minced

Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Heat 2 T butter in skillet,stir in onions and mustard. Add steaks. Cook for 3 minutes on each side. Remove to serving platter and keep warm. To skillet, add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and remaining 2 T butter. Cook for 2 minutes. Add parsley and chives. Pour over steaks.

I give this a 4 out of 5. It was missing a little something, but was very tender, and I loved the buttery taste.

************

Roasted Potatoes

I don't have an actual recipe for this, since I just did whatever I always saw my mom do.

1 bag of red "new" potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Rosemary (dried or fresh)
salt and pepper to taste
onion powder
garlic powder

Mix everything together and put it in a baking dish. Stick in the over at about 375. Stir with spatula occasionally. Turn it up if it's taking too long. Remove when golden brown.

Epilogue

2008-03-03T13:29:00.003-05:00

I forgot to mention the most traumatic part of the weekend ...

After Fiance made the Duggar comment, I went into the bathroom to admire my long dark locks. I have super dark brown hair, almost black, but it's lighter around my hairline and has a lot of red mixed up in it, if you look at it under the lights. So there I was, examining my raven Rapunzelage, when I saw it ... yet another wiry silver hair, sticking straight up from my part. I had my first gray hair October 6, 2001. I remember because it was the day before my cousin's wedding, and I was only 20. I freaked out, but I attributed it to 9/11 stress, and I didn't see another one for years. The LSAT, law school, the Bar Exam ... no grays. I got engaged April 13, 2007, and I've had probably 10 gray hairs. I've blamed Fiance for each and every one of them. I pulled out the little sucker, and continued the examination, whereupon I found another hair that was black through most of the shaft, but silver from the root through the first few inches. This cannot be a good sign. I do not want to start dying my hair, mostly because I have such cool variation of color, and I want to keep it (except for the gray). Highlights just don't look right on me, since I'm olive but not really dark, so I can't use highlights to camouflage. I guess I'll keep an eye on them for a while, but I think I am going to have to start dying my hair very dark brown / black. I am not pleased.

You Look Like a Duggar

2008-03-03T12:10:00.003-05:00

First things first ... apparently I've fallen off the NaBloPoMo wagon before I even got on it. I'm supposed to post every day of March, with a list theme. I'm going to quit before I begin. I don't want to be boxed in like that, and you guys (if you exist) don't want to read formulaic posts. So, now that that's out of the way ...

The Weekend

Fiance and I had dinner at Divine Bar (East) on Friday night with his friend from high school and her fiance. Fiance and the friend hadn't seen each other since graduation (10 years ago), so it was exciting, and turned out to be a lot of fun. She's super sweet, and the two of them are getting married a week before we are. We had fun talking about wedding and non-wedding things. They are both M.D. / PhD students (morons, obvi), and we had some interesting chats about health care, among other things. I really hope we go out with them soon.

Saturday was insanity. I woke up (sufficiently hungover) at 7 a.m. and hightailed it to the grocery store (the "groshery" as Fiance would say), to prepare for the little dinner party we were planning for Saturday eve. I had to get an early start since we were planning on being at church all day for a retreat. Well, I was originally going to make Dr Pepper cake for dessert, but our new wonderful paralegal talked me into making Rachel Ray's Strawberry Tiramisu. I cannot for the life of me find the recipe online, but if I do, I will post it. The paralegal printed it out for me (I think she was horrified that I was going to feed my guests Dr Pepper cake). Anyway, so it's 7am and I am hungover, and my grocery cart (the one I bring from home, since I am sans auto), has a shaky wheel. I'm weaving up and down the streets, and I probably looked like a crazy person. I went to Foodtown and got everything I needed, except for the lady fingers for the tiramisu. So then I went over to Key Foods, down the road, stopping at two convenience stores and two bakeries along the way. No lady fingers anywhere. I already had the strawberries and the mascarpone cheese for the tiramisu, plus the steak and veggies for dinner, and I just stopped and bought a can of Dr Pepper (back to Plan A), and went home.

It was still only 8:45 when I got home, but I saw my mom was online, so I gave her a call. She said to use pound cake. Poor Fiance was as hungover as I was (even though he got to sleep two hours later), and my ranting and carrying on with my mother did not amuse him. Sorry, honey. He was probably less amused when I asked him to run out and buy some pound cake. Anyway I put all the groceries in the fridge, we cleaned the house (80% anyway), showered, and we made it to church by 11. Not bad.

The retreat at church was pretty good, but, as always, dragged on way longer than it needed to. We started with Saturday of the Souls Liturgy. I don't know why I didn't expect to cry though a Liturgy praying for all our dead friends, but somehow I was surprised by the fact that I wept through the whole thing. Every time I started to get myself together, I would look over at my priest's wife, and since she was crying harder than I was, I'd lose it all over again. Not a good situation. I thought I was pretty much finished crying but I guess not.

We had two speakers. The first is a crazy Canadian man who is really energetic and really wise. His lecture was hilarious but really moving, too. He talked about why we fast, how we should fast, and what we are supposed to get out of fasting (this was a Lenten-themed retreat). I think everyone -- especially the older generation that isn't as accustomed to fasting -- came away with a better understanding and appreciation for fasting. Then we ate an ironically large lunch of subs and cookies.

The second speaker talked about forgiveness, and his lecture wasn't as carefully structured. The old ladies ended up standing up and, without using any names but saying things like "I think you all know who I'm talking about," recounted stories of old grudges that they either had or hadn't let go. It was amusing, to say the least.

We then had a too-long coffee break, followed by a too-long question-and-answer session, followed by Vespers. Vespers usually lasts about 35 min, but we had so many guest chanters who liked to do thing slooooowly that we didn't get out of there in less than an hour. So, it was 6 p.m. before we left church, and my friends were supposed to come by 7. I was anxious, to say the least.

Then, I remembered this little Italian Market in the neighborhood. I don't know how I didn't notice it as I was wandering up and down the street that morning. My friend was with us and offered to run there for lady fingers (and another cheese I needed), and, thankfully, they had it.

We ran home, started the roasted potatoes (thanks again to my friend), did the string bean salad (recipes to follow), and assembled the strawberry tiramisu. We finished cleaning (squirrelling) the house, and I had the steaks ready to be cooked before my friends got there.

We had a great evening of wine, fine dining, and wii. Very sophisticated. I was thrilled to break in the new dining table, and it was just a great night all around.

Sunday we dragged ourselves back to church, and then went to Skinflints for burgers. We went home and I basically sat on the couch all day while Fiance did some cleaning and organizing. Finally, we were hanging out on the couch last night, and I mentioned about how badly I need a haircut (it's been since Labor Day, and it's now past the middle of my back). Fiance says, "Yeah, you look like a Duggar!" I've never been so angry while laughing so hard before. He's hilarious.

And now, somehow, it's Monday again. I got to work super early this morning, and I have a ton to do (why am I blogging? because my people need me). Hopefully won't be a super late night, but Fiance is going to have to stay late anyway, so I don't really mind. I'm planning on making tilapia tonight. We'll see.

I Have a Soft Spot for Vigilante Justice

2008-02-29T09:28:00.002-05:00

and happy endings.

(no pun intended ... seriously).

I love it when people get tough and take down the bad guys.

Red Alert!

2008-02-28T14:34:00.001-05:00

My CZ fell out of my fake engagement ring! It's gone! Nothing but an empty setting. I guess that's what $16.50 will get you. How sad. I hope my real ring comes back soon!

My nephew is 2!

2008-02-28T09:49:00.003-05:00

Ahh ... I just got off the phone with my two-year-old nephew. He couldn't be any cuter if he tried. He was telling me all about his birthday hat, birthday cake, birthday balloon ... he was so excited! I can't take it. My sister-in-law's mom told me that they lucked out this morning -- Sesame Street was all about birthdays!

More good news to report: It turns out there is nothing wrong with my Pearl. The plug slipped out of the wall the other night, so that's why it didn't charge. So, quite to the contrary of yesterday's post, I am very impressed that my new little toy ran for two days on a very small charge. Go Pearl! I also learned how to use the blackberry messenger thing, which is super cool. Fiance said not to bother him at work though ... jerk!

Actually, I take back the jerk part. He did surprise me with pink roses last night, for no reason! Kind of a crapola picture, but you get the idea.

It was a good thing, too, because I was a little bit cranky that the kitchen was a mess. We definitely need to establish a better system for emptying the dishwasher, etc. But we're getting there!

OK, time to get down to serious business. I am really at a loss for words with respect to the American Idol girls last night. Well, obviously I'm not at a loss for words -- that's never actually happened to me -- but I just don't really know what to make of it. I thought they were all pretty lousy. Irish Chick was good, but she is totally not my style, at all. I thought the girl in the blue dress, who sang Hopelessly Devoted, was excellent. The judges were not impressed, though. Nobody else really did anything for me, at all. Kristy Lee Cook was good but she seemed totally inauthentic doing R&B (especially with her little "Yes!" jump / fist pump when the judges said she was good), but I look forward to hearing her sing some country. And I am as frustrated as Simon and everyone else is with the Britney-impersonating Opera Singer Girl. She clearly has talent -- where is it when she comes on stage? I think the problem is that she just hasn't really figured out what her personality is.

Biker Chick is also just not doing it for me. Fiance likes her, but we both agreed that she was no good last night. The pretty girl with the little 'fro -- I can't remember her name but she is the one who had laryngitis and really long legs -- was totally forgettable last night. I have no idea what she sang. Ramiele was OK, not great. Ditto Alexandrea (whose name I will continue to pronounce Alexandria, like the ancient city, because her pronounciation is messed up). I know there were more girls, but I have no idea who they were. Oh, Asia'h (don't get me started on that apostrophe) was also just okay.

Overall, I was much more impressed with the guys than with the girls. Don't get me wrong -- I personally can't carry a tune in a bucket (not that that stops me from karaoke, to the embarrassment of my friends), so please understand that it is a given that I am impressed with all of these people. Every one of them can really really sing. But in terms of American Idol, I was unmoved by the girls last night. I'm quite interested to see what happens tonight.

*******

So, pretty much my life right now is about drooling over my niece and nephews, making dinner, stressing about a messy kitchen, receiving and appreciating romantic gestures from Fiance, playing with new gadgets, and watching American Idol. I seriously used to be very cool. I went out on weeknights! I drank! I flirted with boys! I had a lot of fun. Seriously, ask anyone. Well, ask anyone I went to law school with, at least (I was in my cool prime).

I'm getting married in 86 days. Obviously I am madly, nauseatingly, ridiculously in love with Fiance, who I am certain was custom-made for me. I am really excited to spend the rest of my life with him (if he were standing over my shoulder right now he'd remind me that it's not just the rest of our lives -- it's ETERNITY). I can't help feeling, though, that getting married means I'm OLD. All I've ever wanted my whole life was to meet Fiance, get married, settle down, and start making babies. I love that stuff. I live for that stuff. I long for that stuff. But now it's here and it's like ... wow. I'll never live alone again, never come stumbling in at 3am and go to bed with my eyeliner on and my teeth unbrushed, leaving a trail of dirty clothes from the door to the bed, neglect the dishes for 3, 4, sometimes 5 days ... Basically my Pig Days are over. I think this is what men usually fret about when they are settling down, but I guess I'm not your typical girl. And I'm not exactly fretting, either ... just sort of taking in the fact that I am at a huge turning point in my life.

In related news, for those of you who were concerned, my engagement ring safely arrived in Altoona, PA, where the jeweler is customizing my wedding band. Of course, between the time he gave me an estimate and today, the price of precious metals has gone way up. Naturally, that includes platinum. So, my wedding band is going to cost about 30% more than I was originally quoted. I think I'm going to go with it anyway. The fake engagement ring has been doing a fine job. It would probably do a better job if I didn't tell everyone that it's fake.

One really cool thing about getting married is that people send you presents. We're still 2 months and 25 day (approximately) from our wedding day, and we've already received all of our everyday place settings, a couple of platters, a vase, some bowls, and various other crystal stuff. It's pretty neat. Luckily I scored a super fabulous china cabinet from a crazy lady in my neighborhood -- it's antique, mahogany, and was $75. Most of the presents are in there; the rest are in the guest room.

*********

I'm pretty sure most people who read this blog know me IRL (that's "In Real Life," for the uninitiated). But, if you don't, it might surprise you that despite my prolific blogging, I actually have a real job, as a real lawyer, in a real firm. I'm here about 10 or 11 hours a day, which is not bad, as lawyer life goes. I don't get paid very much, but it's enough. I've had some frustrations over the past two years, but overall, I like it. I adore the partner I work for -- he's smart, he's fair, and he has a fun personality -- and I have some terrific coworkers. I am one of only 4 women in a 20-attorney firm, and that's actually alright by me. Girls are annoying (sorry, I know that's not PC or whatever, but ask me if I care). Lately, my biggest work-related gripe has to do with the admins. Ours are just awful. One of them is sweet but totally incompetent. She gets attitude once in a while, but generally she is bearable. Just don't ask her to do anything more complicated than make copies. Another is very competent but lazy, and has the worst attitude of anyone I've ever met. She talks to me and to the other associates as if she's our boss, refuses to do what we ask, walks away or turns her back while I'm speaking, cuts me off as I'm explaining something, and is generally a terrible person to work with -- unless you're a partner. Then she's prompt, cheerful, and competent. Kind of makes it tough to complain to the partner about the admin, when he thinks she walks on water. I am trying really hard to figure out how to deal with her. I'm morally opposed to just being a total bitch to her, but that might be the most effective way. I've tried just being firm and serious with her, which is only effective for about 45 minutes. I've complained to the admin coordinator, who is a lovely woman, but I'm not sure it did any good.

At least I have the admin coordinator, and, finally, mercifully, the firm hired a fantastic paralegal. She's bright, she's very pleasant, she is concerned about getting the job done right, and she's just a dream to work with. Coincidentally (or maybe not) she's Orthodox Christian (like me), so I have all kinds of wishful thoughts about going to vespers with her during Holy Week if I can't get to Bay Ridge in time. We shall see.

********

My credit card company called this morning, to verify that my card hadn't been stolen. Ummm ... nope. All of that spending was done by yours truly. I used it to buy gifts for my bridesmaids (no I'm not going to tell you!), and I sorta kinda bought a TV from BestBuy yesterday. It was on sale! I found it on Gottadeal.com, my favorite website ever. It's a 15" LCD flat screen, for the bedroom.

It was only $199 plus tax, and it will replace the 13" tv/vcr combo I bought with high school graduation money for $150 in 1999. I think it will be a nice upgrade. I'll move the old tv to the guest room, but probably won't run cable in there for a while, unless we ever actually put an elliptical machine in there like we keep thinking about doing. The thing is, I don't think we'll do that until after the wedding ... and at that point, what's my motivation to get in shape?

Alright ... time to get down to business. :)

Two more things

2008-02-27T12:26:00.001-05:00

I'm very bloggy today.

1 - Seamlessweb is probably the coolest thing ever invented.

2 - Fiance makes me laugh like no other.

RIP, WFB

2008-02-27T11:39:00.003-05:00

We'll miss you.

I Heart Jonah Goldberg (and other matters)

2008-02-27T11:17:00.003-05:00

He's just so gosh darn good at saying what I'm thinking. Radicals Never Say Sorry

********

And on to more pressing matters ... American Idol was really good last night. David Achuleta (am I still spelling it wrong? Too lazy to check) is just so incredibly talented. I am really impressed with him. So impressed, in fact, that I voted for him -- twice.

Here's something I'm not impressed with, though. I have my very first complaint about my new toy. We all know that when you vote for your favorite American Idol, you have to dial 1-866-Idols-10 (or whatever the contestant number you want -- David A. was 10 last night). Here's the problem: The Pearl has a QWERTY keyboard with two letters per key. In the center of the keypad, the keys also have numbers on them, for actually dialing the phone, arranged in the normal pattern (1 2 3 across the top, 4 5 6 in the next row, and so on). These numbers do not correspond with letters the way a normal phone does (where 1 is blank, 2 has ABC, 3 has DEF), and so on. I had to use Fiance's Razor as a reference to figure out how to dial IDOLS on my phone. It was really tough.

When I woke up this morning, I had my second complaint about the Pearl: I charged it all night, and as soon as I unplugged it this morning, the battery was at half full (or half empty ...). I'm not sure why that happened, but if it happens again tonight, I'll call the store.

Otherwise, I am thoroughly wowed by this little gadget. It gets my emails, it locates me via satellite, it makes a creamy cappuccino .... It's just super cool.

New toy

2008-02-26T16:02:00.002-05:00

I am embarassingly excited about my new Blackberry Pearl. Now I can quit bugging Fiance to borrow his on the bus. Woot woot! Anybody know of any super cool stuff I should be doing with it?

If all else fails ...

2008-02-25T21:12:00.002-05:00

beat the crap out of it with a hammer. That's the lesson for today. We finally finished assembling our Billy bookcases from Ikea, but the brackets for the Morebo glass door hinges were totally warped. We have two bookcases, so that's 12 hinges in all. The very last one took, oh .... two hours? Not a fun time. I finally went online and found some Ikea Fan Forum, and someone with a similar problem beat the crap out of the hinge with a hammer. So, I gave it a shot. Whaddaya know -- we have bookcases. I know a real blogger would post pics of the finished products, but I am too lazy to clean the office right now. Soon, I promise.

After that I made a dinner of spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and cucumber, in a lemon vinaigrette, followed by something I will call Boring Chicken, which I will never make again. Methinks I'm getting a little overconfident in the kitchen. I know it's hit or miss, but lately it's been a lot of miss. Maybe we'll win the lottery (not that we play) and I can stay home and be Suzie Homemaker, and perfect my weeknight dinners. A girl can dream.

And, we're back.

2008-02-25T10:49:00.002-05:00

We got in very late last night and are both taking vacation days today. I probably could have gotten through a work day if something really important were going on, but there's nothing crucial, and I'm sad and tired.

I'm really glad we went. There were probably a thousand people at the wake, no exaggeration, including about 50 - 100 clergy members. The line of people paying their respects stretched through the church hall and out into the parking lot, and went on for over four continuous hours. I guess if you start an Orthodox school from the ground up, starting when you're 17, people take notice. Beyond that, Sonia went out of her way all the time to get people jobs, keep in touch, and just be a good friend to everyone. People flew in from California, Florida, Mexico ... the regional bishop drove down from Montreal to lead the prayers. Everyone was there. We should all live the kind of lives that touch so many people.

It broke my heart to see Nick, but I know he will be OK. There is no shortage of volunteers to look after the baby, and I know everyone will have their eye on him.

+++++++

This morning, we got up and took a walk along Shore Road. It's cold but sunny, and it felt good to get out. I made us a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits (using my camel cookie cutter), and grapefruit. I got into a little fight with the biscuit dough, and they came out a little dry, but overall it was a good way to start the day. I wish we had more mornings like this. Not sure what we're going to do for the rest of the day, but I'd like to make dinner for my priest and his family and drop it off before they get back from Boston. We'll see.

Here we go ...

2008-02-23T12:06:00.003-05:00

Fiance and I are heading up to Boston with two of our friends tonight. The next couple of days are probably going to be awful, but I'm really glad that we are going. We'll probably come back Sunday night. I'm sure there will be literally thousands of people there to remember and pray for Sonia. The one beautiful part about all of this is that nobody has to BS when they say what they remember about her. All of those posts on her website say exactly what people said about Sonia in life. We are all blessed to have known her and to have seen her example.

Friday

2008-02-22T11:06:00.003-05:00

Today, the reality of Sonia's passing is starting to make its way into my brain. Yesterday I was just stunned and confused. Today I'm just sad. If you are so moved, please make a donation in Sonia's memory to The Theophany School: 754 Greendale Ave. ~ PO Box 920-736 ~ Needham, MA ~ 02492-0736.

We woke up to a blizzard this morning, with several inches of snow already on the ground. True to form, my landlords did not shovel the steps, and whoever is in charge of plowing our street hadn't gotten around to it by 8. At least Shore Road was relatively clear, and the bus ride didn't take as long as I thought it would.

When I moved to Bay Ridge, everyone warned me that the hour-long commute would be a drag. Turns out it's probably my favorite part of the whole day. The express bus is really peaceful, and Fiance and I get to commute together pretty often. Beats the heck out of the subway, that's for sure.

Yesterday I left work early -- ran out of things to pretend to do -- and I went to the post office to send my engagement ring to the jeweler who is making my wedding band (he needs to make sure it matches up). The post office was, as usual, slow and annoying. Just as I was finishing up, a crazy person went off on one of the postal workers. It was sort of terrifying. My nerves were so shot anyway that I almost fainted. Did you know that the postal workers aren't allowed to keep guns behind the counter? That seems sort of nuts to me, especially when they aren't behind glass. I also overheard, while I was there, that that particular post office won't hand-cancel your wedding invitations. Good to know. I think I'm sending them from Mom and Dad's anyway.

While my ring is at the jeweler's, probably for the next two or three weeks, I'm wearing a fake engagement ring that I bought on Amazon for $16.50. It looks disturbingly like my actual ring. It feels really light, though, since it's silver and mine is platinum. It's much more comfortable to wear a fake than it is to go without a ring entirely. Last week I ran out of the house without my ring for the first time since we got engaged almost a year ago, and I felt so weird all day.

Looks like the plan for the weekend is to head up to Boston on Saturday afternoon, stay with my sister-in-law's parents, go to the wake on Sunday afternoon / evening, and then either drive back home Sunday night or stay over again, attend the funeral on Monday, and get a ride home with my priest and his family. Either way, I'm probably not working on Monday. I don't even know why I'm here today -- all of the clients I need to speak with are out of their offices because of the snow.

I am so so sad.

2008-02-21T11:11:00.003-05:00

And yesterday I was worried about bridesmaid dresses. Tragedy has a way of humbling you, I guess. It's hard to think through any of this without being trite, but what a reminder that we have to live every day the right way. We can't wait until we are old to repent. Sonia, like my Uncle Leddy, followed God every day, made the Church the center of her life, and, despite her piety, preserved her sense of humor. One of the first times I ever really talked to Sonia, she had me howling with laughter as she recounted a story about the ladies in her church critcizing her for her modesty. She said, "What? You want me to hike up my skirt a little more?" I guess you had to be there.

To be honest, I'm a little annoyed that she never sent me her Easter cheese bread recipe. I'd really like to make it in her memory this year. Maybe in a few weeks I can ask Nick for it.

I'm sad for Nick, and for the baby, and I'm selfishly aware that this could happen to me. She just got married, had a baby, and was settling into the part of her life that we all look forward to. I can't believe that was all she got. I am so terrified that it could happen to me. Would I be ready?

Lord Have Mercy

2008-02-21T09:55:00.005-05:00

I got an email this morning from my brother, telling me that our friend Sonia (above, with her husband Nick and son Andrew), died suddenly last night. Grief never ceases to amaze me.

In Other News

2008-02-21T08:03:00.003-05:00

Michael Moore is disgusting. 'Nuff said.

*******

Right ... Like I could actually stop at two words. Everyone should read Waiting for Snow in Havana. Then they can tell me how wonderful that slime dictator is.

Yo yo yo dog, for me ...

2008-02-21T07:29:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty much done with Randy and Paula. I never have any idea what Randy is trying to say. Usually it's something like, "For me (which means, in Randyspeak, "in my opinion",), it just was a little pitchy, and for me, dog, it just didn't have that yo." Oh, okay Randy, thanks for clearing that up. To be fair, though, his comments are usually a lot more encouraging "Yo yo man, dog, wow, you, wow, for me? You blew me away." Uh ...

Paula .... I'd like to just give her a bowl of pudding and a big spoon, so she can fling gobs of pudding at the contestants after they sing. It would have about as much meaning. She doesn't seem to understand, either, that the contest is an ongoing elimination. Every time someone sucks, she says, "But you're beautiful, we know you can sing," (tearing up now) " you just blow me away with all of your colors, your energy is like a rain forest ...."

At this point, Simon appropriately jumps in with his cogent criticism (and I mean that in the sense of literary criticism, not what your mother does when you gain a few pounds). When are people going to learn that Simon is ALWAYS right? This contest is about marketability, and he knows that. I might not be totally with him on the marketability of Achuela or however you spell it, but that kid can SING.

I think Randy and Paula should take a hike, and Simon should be allowed to pick two really hot girls from the audience, and the three of them should judge together. He'd be happier, the audience would have something to look at, and I wouldn't have to listen to Dog and the Botox Hunter anymore.

More Wedding Stuff Done!

2008-02-20T16:21:00.001-05:00

Favors and guestbook are both ordered!

We might be encountering a minor situation with the bridesmaid dresses, but I think it's going to be fine.

And the Envelopes ...

2008-02-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

are done! Hooray for the calligrapher. One less wedding thing to think about. I can't wait to see them!

Sexy Punctuation is Making a Comeback

2008-02-20T09:55:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Tara, for directing me to this lovely article on semicolons: Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location.

It almost makes up for the NJ PATH signs ("Won't you please give this seat to the elderly or disabled.") No, I did not forget the question mark; they did.