I will say this ...

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

Are my hero's.

Just Say No

to National Flakery.

I love Craigslist

Really?

FREE PAN

Cheating is Disgusting.

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

Guess who's back?

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

1. Prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling on medium.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!

...

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 ...

Doesn't this sound perfect?

I love my husband.

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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

Adorable Little Piece

Thanks, Tara, for pointing this out!

Please stop calling it a disaster.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Glenn Beck is great.

I'm a sucker

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 ...

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 ...

Doesn't this recipe look great?

Oprah and Fasting

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.

Has Modern Life Killed the Semicolon?

Crap.

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

Why not do a listy thing?

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 ...

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?

"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 ...

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

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

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

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!

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

Monday already?

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!

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

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

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

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 :)