Minneapolis Zoo

Yesterday, I made to yet another zoo I've never before visited!  This time it was the Minnesota Zoo, which is located in greater Minneapolis.  Specifically, Apply Valley.  We are in the great city of Minneapolis visiting friends. Well, I'm visiting friends.  DS is visiting a conference, and so he is staying busy doing other things.  It's always a lot of fun for me when I get to experience friends' local zoos, and lucky for me, Beth and Brian were happy to tag along even though it was hot.

This particular zoo does not have an amazing selection of animals.  However, the exhibits for the animals they do have are just fantastic.  The grizzly bears has geysers.  Every animal there had just a massive amount of space that they were often hard to find.  It must be a really nice place for them, which makes me happy.  Fun zoo facts: the decor is themed around Dr. Suess; first zoo I've been to with a dolphin!  Unfortunately, the zoo closed and we were scooted out before we got to see the Medtronic Minnesota Trail, which had a wolverine and a cougar.  This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't spent forever entranced by the coral reefs.

So a quick note about these photos.  Apparently the animals thought it would be fun to keep their butts towards the onlookers, so the three of us made it into a game.  Goal: Take as many butt photos as possible.  We were quite successful, though for your viewing pleasure, I tried to throw some good photos in here as well.

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Bri's Kittens

My friend Bri just got new baby kittens.  They're just 11 weeks old, and SO ADORABLE!  I spent the afternoon following them around with my camera after giving them some of the toys my cats ignore.  They make me realize just how humongous my cats are.  I mean, Felix was the runt, and she's still 13 lbs.  No wonder people look at them like they're freaks of nature...

Anywho, I hope you're prepared for a cuteness onslaught.

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Show at World Cafe Live

Here's video from the song DS and I helped out with at the show on June 17th at World Cafe Live.  Sometimes the sound doesn't match up just right, but you'll get the idea.  It was so much fun, and I hope that we get more chances to do fun things like this in the future.

If you like the music, be sure to check out the band's website for more info.

I'm With The Band

Today was a busy day.  I'm having a lot of those lately.  A good portion of this is because I've been playing with the band Designer, based in Philly.  I came along as they were finishing up recording their first CD, so I don't have a huge part yet.  They needed a second pianist for one of their songs when it's performed live, and luckily for me, piano is one of the instruments I play.

Being one of the only band members without a full time job (something I'm working on, more details on that if it pans out), I've started doing a lot of background stuff to help out.  The major thing was designing the website.  Website design is not something I have any training in, and I rely heavily on templates followed by back-end editing of html, css, and xml for those things templates won't let me do.  Thank goodness for Google.

Other things include imparting my (limited) knowledge about things like Square Up and business finances, and helping out with creating band merchandise like this poster.

Copyright 2011 Dan Bellotti, for Designer

No, I didn't design it, Dan, the drummer, did.  All I did was use my ink-free hands to move finished posters around during the screen printing process and then make sure they were dry with a blow dryer so they wouldn't smear.  The posters are going to be on sale at the CD release show on June 17th at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.  I'll be on the piano, and perhaps the flute.  We'll see about that last one.  I've been noodling around on the songs during practice, but I'm not sure anything I've done yet is worth playing at a show.

Check out some of the band's songs here (some will hopefully be on the website soon), and if you like them, pre-order the CD so we can afford to make another I'll actually be on!

What else have I been up to?  Practicing my mandolin, flute, and piano playing nearly every day.  Working out, which has actually been showing progress!  Sewing up a mobile for my friend Lisa's baby.  Lots of for real cooking;  I'm as shocked as you are.  Tonight I made DS a lentil soup from scratch for him to take in his lunches.  Of course, I've been doing the usual things, like cleaning the house, gardening, reading, etc.

What's keeping you busy?

Mandolin

Check out my new mandolin!

Not long after DS and I moved in together, or perhaps even before that, DS was given an old mandolin that had been found in his aunt's attic.  For a long time I dreamed about learning to play it, but it was not in great shape.  We held onto it anyway, and after I started playing with the band Designer, it was decided that my learning to play would be beneficial.

So I tuned it up with the old strings, which were rusted, to see if it was worth a shot.  It seemed to hold a tune, and I got really excited and bought new strings and a book for learning to play.  Unfortunately, when I went to restring the thing I discovered two of the tuning pegs were bent.  They would only turn so far in one direction before they would just stop moving and would only go back the other way.  This made restringing it impossible.

We took it to the repair guy at the music store who tried his best, but apparently that old thing has a weird tuning head and he couldn't find a replacement for it.  Poor me, I was forced to buy the one I had been playing with all the times DS had been shopping for a bass!

I've had it for just over a week, though it already feels like twice that.  I try to play for an 45 min to an hour everyday to help build up my calluses, because I've never played anything like this before.  I'm taking my time learning the basics, trying not to rush it.  DS keeps asking if I can play like Chris Thile yet, and I can assure you the answer is no.

Garden Update 01

It's been about a month since I last showed you my garden.  An update was requested, so here you go!  One of the garlic plants didn't make it, but the other seems to be doing well so far.  I've moved some things around as the plants have been getting bigger.  All four of the rail planters are full now.

I had my doubts the eggplant would do anything, especially since Felix kept eating it, but when I took photos of it today I found a bunch of flower buds.  I can't believe it.  The tomatoes are another thing beating my expectations.  There's a bigger balcony over ours, so I think at most we get 6 hours of direct sunlight.  Tomatoes like a lot of sun, so I was worried they wouldn't do well.  Those things are exploding right now.  I can't wait to taste the first batch!

The strawberries have had some hiccups, probably in large part because I didn't realize I shouldn't let them produce at first.  The one plant of the three that came from the nursery with blossoms already managed to make a little batch of strawberries, but they were smaller than marbles.  Not even the shooter size, just regular small ones would be bigger.  Those went straight into the trash.  The second crop is attempting to come in now, and maybe that one will work.  I still only have one plant even trying, but I'm not too worried about it after reading that strawberries do best in their second and third years.

After the success I had with hot peppers in Santa Barbara with only evening sun through my bedroom window, I figured I'd do well with those.  The plants are getting massive, and they each have at least 15 flower buds so far.  Within the next week or two they should start making their first actual peppers since a couple of the flowers are open.  The Hot Thai Pepper, which is more bushy than the others, is already making fruit.  You should be able to make it out in the photo.

Except for the garlic, everything seems to be surviving.  Even thriving.  We've been putting the oregano and basil into our food, especially homemade pizzas.  With our CSA shares coming in we're getting a lot of salad makings right now, so the tomatoes will be very welcome.  We have no idea what we're going to do with all those peppers...  I don't even care really.  Gardening is like sustenance for my soul.

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Finished Garden 2011

Have I told you how excited I am to finally have a balcony for an entire growing season again? SO EXCITED. Feast your eyes on this gorgeousness.



Plants from left to right:
Catnip
Ornamental Thai Pepper
3 Strawberries
Lavender
Eggplant
Basil
Oregano
Cilantro
Garlic

Hanging:
Yellow Pear (Heirloom Tomato)
Marion (Heirloom Tomato)
Anaheim Pepper
Hot Banana Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Habanero Pepper

Things you can't see yet:
Spinach
Lots of part-sun flowers
The cats camped out in that camping chair
The water puddles on the balcony below because I can't figure out how not to make a mess when I'm watering.  :(  I'm seriously considering hanging a shower curtain that will funnel the water into a bucket.



This is the window box on the other side of the apartment, outside our bedroom.  It doesn't get much light, so I picked out plants that are supposed to like part-sun.  Gerbera daisies for the win!

Now I just need the sun to come out more than once every 10 days.

PIFA Street Fair 2011

This month has been the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, or PIFA for short.  It started April 7, but somehow I missed everything but the Street Fair.  I honestly thought the Street Fair would be awesome, and indeed, the individual aspects were pretty cool.  However, there are a good 100,000 or so more people crammed into that area than was good for me, and so I mostly felt a full-blown panic attack coming on the whole time.  We didn't stay long, and I'm glad for it, but I am happy we managed to see what we did.

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Attending a Royal Wedding

I am not one to care about things like royal weddings.  However, I am one for silly parties that allow me to dress up either in costume or fancy dresses.  Thankfully, I have a friend here in Philly that is down with that, and she agreed to participate in my "Royal Wedding Tea Party" party.  And no, we did not get up before dawn to watch this thing.  I have DVR silly.

We made Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar, as it seemed the most English thing to drink.  We don't really know.  We had lemon bars, for "tea and cake."  We had cakes from a small local bakery.  We had champagne.  We had dresses.  We had the ability to fast forward through the lamest parts.  We had everything except fascinators.  The commentators even seemed to answer every question we blurted out to the TV.

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And Tornadoes.

Yes, it's a movie.  It's also what it took to get me home from a visit to KY.  That and 24 hours.  Let me tell you about my adventures traveling through that massive storm.  (TL:DR version: it was a mess, but I made it after a crap ton of delays, 6 trains, and 24 hours.)

I got into KY on Tuesday, April 19th.  That night my mom got me up because the tornado sirens were going off and we were on the second floor of her house.  Tornado sirens pretty much sums up my visit.  Seriously.  It stormed every day that I was there, which I honestly enjoyed.  The problem came when I had to get home Wednesday.

Before I had even gotten to the airport, my first flight had been delayed long enough to make me miss the second one.  A quick call to customer service had me rebooked from the 7:35pm out of Atlanta to the 9:52pm.  It was going to get me home late enough that DS wasn't sure he could stay up to retrieve me, but that was a minor concern.  During the online check-in process, it asked for volunteers to be bumped, and I gladly signed up thinking, "hey, free voucher and getting to travel during not storms. score."

Having never signed up for this volunteer process before, I kept thinking I would be getting a call letting me know I wasn't flying, and there was no need to come to the airport today, kthx.  That didn't happen of course.  Since I knew the flight was delayed, Mom was actually able to take me to the airport, which was nice.  Not long after I was in the terminal, the flight was delayed again.  And then again.

A flight that was originally supposed to have me in Atlanta by 7pm ended up being a little after 8.  All in all not too bad.  My original second flight had been delayed as well by this point, and I ran to the gate in the hopes I would get lucky.  Ha!  That flight was overbooked because of all the previous cancellations and delays.  I didn't even try talking to the people at the counter.  They were completely surrounded by people losing their minds.  At this point I have a confirmed ticket for the next Philly flight, but no seat.  The counter people at that gate are also tired from dealing with crazies all day.  I got "the look" and was asked to come back after all the other flights leaving from my gate that weren't mine were gone.  Also, that flight was now delayed until 11:08.  Checking the airport-wide departure screens, I see that there are only 10 flights in the entire airport that are on time.

Now my phone battery is on its last leg and I'm starving, so I went in search of food and power.  Guess how much a phone charger in the airport costs.  Go on, guess!  Okay I'll tell you.  $24.99 plus tax.  That was a no sale, and a strong lesson in not putting my charger in my checked luggage.  After eating, the gate is in chaos.  Flights are being moved around from gate to gate with no really communication or warning.  The gate attendants have no idea they're even supposed to be boarding a flight to New Orleans, but all the New Orleans people are there expecting seats on standby.   Meanwhile they ask for volunteers to sit out the flight to Philly again, and again I think, "whoo! full night's sleep!" and quickly get in line.  They get through the first person in line, who gets a voucher and a free hotel, and just as they're finishing her our flight is moved to another gate.  That attendant kindly put me on the volunteer list but didn't do any of the actual work and sent me to the next gate.

There, I go to check in with the attendant and either get an actual seat or a hotel.  He says they're not even bumping people from the flight but thanks anyway kthx bai...  So I sit and wait while the flight is delayed, and delayed, and delayed.  There are torrential rains falling outside and lightning every couple of seconds.  It's announced our plane couldn't land and was diverted.  The flight might not leave until 2am.  Oh no wait, it's canceled.

So now there's a massive herd of people literally running to the concourse help center for rebookings.  By the time I get there, there must have been 1000 people at least.  We are being urged to go to the main ticketing counter outside of security, but a fair number of us decide to take our chances waiting in the terminal since we're imaging the throngs of people out there.  Then the person working the counter announces he's leaving in 5 minutes and we stood in line for nothing.  By this point I've attached myself to group of people that were all going to Philly, and we make our way down to the ticketing counter.  Where we get behind a line with thousands of people.  And then thousands more get in line behind us.  And then we stood there for 3 hours.

All the "free hotel" vouchers were gone by then.  If I wanted to take several flights, I was told I could be in Philly by 10pm Thursday, but at this point I know that it's going to be storming all day in Philly.  The idea of leaving late and getting delayed and delayed again and spending another night in the airport was appalling, so I asked them for the earliest flight that got me anywhere near Philly.  I figured I'd rather be 60 miles from home and at the least retrievable by DS after he got off work than stranded in another airport somewhere.  They give me the 7:37am to Newark, NJ, and I'm sent off with a thin blanket and a toiletry kit which thankfully contained a toothbrush and some deodorant.

After going through security again, I zombie walked through the airport to my new gate, taking the long way since the trains between concourses don't run at night, only to see once I was there it had already been moved.  I zombie walked to the new gate, tried to sleep but couldn't because the seats in this terminal have arm rests and you can't lay down.  Not to mention my phone is in the red and can't be relied on to be an alarm.  The chances of me waking up in 4 hours don't seem good, so I sort of close my eyes and zone out for an hour.  And then the gate changed again, so I walked down another 5 concourses.

By this point, it's 4:30am.  I find a Starbucks that's open and get a coffee and a muffin.  Find I can't really eat, I'm just exhausted and need sleep.  The people I'd been with in line downstairs all show up for the same flight, and we talked until boarding.   I find out the first flight into Philly that morning is already canceled, and I feel so happy to being leaving for Newark on time.  I was asleep before the plane even left the ground, so I did managed to get an hour or so of sleep in there.

Once in NJ, I re-attach myself to 4 of the people from earlier, and we debate the different ways to get home.  There was Amtrak, NJ Transit, rental cars, or going across the water into NYC to catch a bus.  After talking to all of the car rental places, we decide the train is the easiest, and NJ Transit is cheapest.  There's an airport train to the real train.  That ends at Trenton and we switch to SEPTA which serves PA.  We roll into the 30th St Station around 2pm having not really eaten since 8pm the night before.  We all inhale some quickly bought food before catching another train to the airport to pick our up luggage which was never rerouted.  Not that I minded traveling those trains without a massive suitcase, but it was that much longer before getting home.

Somehow we managed to find our luggage within a minute of walking into the airport, and so I was able to catch the outbound train that left 9 min after dropping us off.  I said goodbye to my traveling companions and headed back to 30th St Station to meet DS because I didn't have my house key with me.  Then I take the subway to the stop near my house and push my suitcase the 2+ big city blocks home where I immediately showered.  It was a little after 4pm, which was almost exactly 24 hours after leaving my mom's house.  I attempted to stay awake until bedtime so as not to through off my sleeping schedule (which has been relatively normal recently, somehow), but I was actually doing the bobbing head thing sitting on the couch and gave up.  DS said I didn't even budge when he came home and brought Winston in to see me.

As awful as it was to stay in Atlanta overnight, standing or walking for most of it, I have to admit that wasn't entirely unpleasant overall.  I want to thank the flight attendant waiting for her next flight that let me use her phone charger until my canceled flight caused me to leave her.  Little Brad and his mother for entertaining me during both the 3 hour line wait and final boarding wait at the last gate.  And especially Angie, Denise and their husbands to let me tag along during the baggage hunt and travel from NJ to PA. They made what would probably have been a stressful and intimidating part of the journey no big deal, and at times even hilarious.  Also, there were massive tornadoes being made in this storm, so all things considered, a night in the Atlanta airport was way better than being yanked out of the sky or something.  I am home, alive, and none of my luggage is missing.  In fact, I have a new travel kit.

Important lessons:  keep your phone charger on you, and perhaps some emergency amenities (there were people who had no access to medications they needed); stay calm and chill.  That last one is key.  There were so many people telling horror stories, but they were freaking out and making demands.  Every single person I encountered at the airport and over the phone was completely helpful and nice to me.  They want you out of their airport as much as you want to be out of their airport, and blowing your top isn't going to endear them to you.  I saw desk attendants all night long that I had talked to not long after landing and they had mentioned they'd been working all day.  Their day wasn't much better than mine.  Probably worse really, because they had angry people yelling at them throughout.

Exciting things for Spring

Here are some things I'm currently very excited about:

• I bought my first strawberry plant
• I found an array of flowers that tolerate partial sun, so they might actually thrive on my balcony
• I have basil, lavender, and oregano growing right now
• I'm in the process of sprouting spinach and cilantro
• I have screens for all my windows and the balcony door, so no flies this summer!
• Joined my first CSA!  (Just awaiting some sort of confirmation that they haven't already sold out; nervous)
• Seeing Halladay pitch in person tonight with Bri
• Trees are blooming all over the city
• Found a Wegman's within easy driving distance of my house and it's great
• I was able to wear my Vibram's without my toes freezing yesterday on the concrete
• Nell and Brian are visiting this weekend
• Lots of fun trips planned in the very near future
• The weather is finally shifting to full on Spring, and not "sometimes I really want to be Winter still!!!"

There are a few things that aren't exciting, like how Spring makes my allergies turn from a slight annoyance to nearly incapacitating.  But just look at this list of awesomeness!  I'm so excited to have growing space again, even if none of it is south facing.

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, look for back posts in the near future.  At some point I plan to catch up with all these photos I have sitting on my computer...

Thanksgiving

We had the pleasure of being invited to the Boy family Thanksgiving.  In order to attend, we had to break our 5 year or so commitment of not travelling on this particular holiday.  One too many times spent stranded in uncomfortable places on DS's part has left a sour taste in his mouth.  Luckily, David's parents are only a few hours away, and in the direction of least traffic.  The drive was pleasant, and even included several tunnels through mountains, which never fail to enthuse my 5-year-old self.

The menu was planned out weeks, maybe months, in advance.  We all shared a Google spreadsheet, adding and editing and leaving comments until we were all excited and drooling.  In the end, this is what we ate:
2 turkeys (1 made by DS using Alton Brown's recipe)
1 smoked ham
baked mac 'n' cheese (again, Alton Brown)
green beans (grown in Tennessee by a family member as far as I could tell)
homemade rolls
stuffing
2 kinds of sweet potatoes
4 kinds of cranberry relish
homemade creamed corn
roasted brussel sprouts
cranberry citrus salad
mashed potatoes
pumpkin pie
cherry/rhubarb pie
a Colombian ice cream thing that was awesome
pumpkin pie/apple pie/pecan pie/dulce de leche with fig truffles
hot apple cider the whole trip
homemade cappuccinos

Are you drooling yet?  It was divine.  I thought it was entirely too much food, but there were so many of us that we managed to put a good dent in it.  We even had some to take home, which helped ease our sadness at not having an entire turkey in our own fridge like usual.

Here is a small selection of photos.  I'm sad to say that I didn't get one of the whole food spread, but that's okay.

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*Written 2/14/11 and backposted

A Wedding in Baltimore

We had the very great pleasure of attending a wedding in Baltimore.  Micah was a high school friend of DS, and though I haven't seen much of him, I've always had the impression that he and his family were, well, family.  So you can imagine how happy we are to only be 1.5 hours from him now.  This means a lot more now that the wedding has occurred, and he's no longer frantically preparing for it.

The cathedral where the wedding was held, and I do mean cathedral in the strictest sense of the word, was absolutely gorgeous.  Having catholic family, but not being raised catholic myself, I did my best to keep DS and myself in check throughout the ceremony and not embarrass ourselves.  At the reception I discovered I probably should have given all his friends a quick primer as they were confused, but no one did anything strange.  All standing and sitting went as expected.

The reception was held on the top floor of the Admiral Fell Inn.  There was an open bar.  I can tell you I danced.  A lot.  Not necessarily on the dance floor.  Apparently I felt the need to encourage everyone else to dance by whipping my head around a lot.  My neck has never been so sore.  It took 3 days to recover.

In all honesty, my night should have ended with the reception, but instead we all headed over to the Greene Turtle to watch the South Carolina football game.  Where there were more drinks.  And my husband decided to enjoy the company of his long lost friends and let me be as I went back to the bar.  *sigh*  At some point I was handed a Jägerbomb...  The next 36 hours were trying, let's put it that way.

For your enjoyment, here are a collection of photos of the beautiful church, and the parts of the ceremony DS and I managed to capture before things got too crazy.  We can't wait until Micah and Anne start visiting.

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Downtown SLC

With the actual reason for visit being a conference DS had to attend, I didn't have a whole lot to do starting Monday.  Except look at the snow, and walk through rain and sleet without a jacket looking for a lost phone.  Joy.  Tuesday turned out to be much more hospitable as far as the weather was concerned.  So I ventured out to see the town.  The only other time I'd been here, it had been dark and we were only interested in seeing the Christmas lights in Temple Square.

I decided to walk up to the Salt Palace convention center, where I'd experienced a really beautiful art installation while DS was getting his conference badge.  Outside the building there is a set of 12 windmills, and each one is connected to a wooden tubular bell inside the entrance.  As the windmill turns, it causes bell to strike.  Each windmill sort of does its own thing, so the music made is random.  I walked into this space, not even really in the building yet, just part of the entrance, and stood there with my mouth open.  I spun around a few times, looking at all the bells, the way the light played in the space.  DS was waiting for me, wondering what the heck was wrong with me.  I'm telling you, conference halls and locations are wasted on the people that use them.  For real.

I also wandered over to Temple Square to see the area in the light and the splendor of fall.  I had nearly made it out of there when I was caught by two Sisters who wanted to talk to me.  I think I could have gotten away, but they lured me in with the promise of seeing the inside of the Tabernacle.  With my love of historical architecture, I agreed to follow against my better judgement.  I will say without any reservation that they were more than nice, and didn't bring up religion in the sense of getting me more of it until I'd hung around and seemed interested for too long.  My mistake.  At the same time, they were nice in a way that made it really hard for me to just walk away or be rude, and so I felt trapped.  I ended up using a text from DS as an excuse to go because we had a "lunch date."  Which was mostly true.  He had texted me, and I still hadn't had lunch at 3pm.  And I honestly don't regret seeing that building, but remind me to never be Mormon.

In conclusion, if you ever get a chance to visit Salt Lake City, I highly recommend it.  It's beautiful, the people are nice, the food is delicious.  If you go at Christmas, check out the lights in Temple Square.  Just be wary of lingering too long in one spot in the square unless you're looking for advice on converting, or you're actually Mormon.

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Hiking Shoreline Trail

It was an absolutely beautiful day.  The kind of day that insists you go out and enjoy it.  There was some talk of climbing Mount Olympus, but as I had not packed any active gear and have not exactly been keeping up with my exercise, I pushed for something a little easier.  Thus, we hiked Shoreline Trail instead.    This is actually part of what will be a 280 mile trail system that follows the historical shoreline of Lake Bonneville, a massive lake that once covered most of the state of Utah.

The fall colors were gorgeous, and the hills were covered in long grasses and plants that made it all look like a blanket of suede.  Lovely.

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Triassic

The last time DS went climbing in Salt Lake City, he and Mike went to this place known as Triassic.  There was a particular climb that he was unable to finish, and it gnawed at him.  So during this trip we made an effort to tackle that particular beast.  I honestly can't say whether he was successful, because I was playing with Swiss and Kuro or reading most of the time.  I can say that he did finish some of the things that he climbed.  I can also say that I really should have taken more pictures of the scenery, but it was strangely beautiful for the middle of nowhere.

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Kuro and Swiss

Our friends in Salt Lake City just got a new puppy named Swiss, and I spent some time photographing him with his big brother Kuro.  Are these some handsome dogs, or are these some handsome dogs?

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Favorite Toys

Felix's favorite toys are always either what we call "fluff balls" or "sparkle balls."  Basically, small balls of either rabbit fur died bright colors or fake "fur" that sparkles.  She will bat those things around the house for hours.  I especially love when she "hunts."  She will chase down one of these fur balls, carry it around in her mouth, and cry very loudly like she's hurt or something.  It use to scare me a bit, but now look over to DS when I hear it and say something like, "someone just caught something good."

Winston's favorite toy has always been his mouse.  And he has always wanted DS to play fetch with him.  That's it.  No other toys, no other games.

When we moved to Philadelphia, the cats came without their stuff, as all of that was trundling along in the moving truck.  We got them a few new things to hold them over in this strange new place.  Felix got fluff ball on an elastic string attached to a stick.  At this point, we only had an air mattress, a few clothes, and our laptops, so I figured this was a great time to play with her.  (She is normally very content playing by herself.)  Winston got a rather large mouse covered in rabbit fur and some feathers sticking out with its tail. Little did I know that these two toys, meant to be mere placeholders until their real stuff showed up, would end up being the things they couldn't live without.

Now Felix trots through the house carrying that red fluff ball like usual, except now there's a long plastic stick trailing along behind her.  It took us a while to realize that this was why some of the side tables in the living room would be in the middle of the floor when we woke up.  Turns out she's getting the stick stuck in there and just pulling it all along behind her.  Sometimes she wakes us up because we have wooden floors, and there's a step in the hallway, and she just clatters through there in the middle of the on her way to bring me her kill.  Where I use to wake up to a small collection of toys on the floor beside the bed, now I wake up to this stick and its fluff ball.

Winston, on the other hand, gave up playing fetch for a long time.  He flips this new mouse up in the air, and then bats it back down and kicks it around like a soccer ball.  He will do this by himself for at least 20 min at at time, several times a day.  It usually ends with him getting it stuck under the couch.  Apparently the best part of this game is almost losing it, and then wrangling it back from the depths.  Recently we discovered he'll still play fetch if he has to weave through all the living room furniture to chase the thing down.  He still hasn't looked at his old favorites though.

Perhaps that plane ride was more traumatic than we thought...  Their personalities do seem to be slightly altered.  Winston even snuggles all the time now.  In my lap.  It's crazy.

Attempts

I have been struggling my way through cooking dinner every night.  I started easy.  You can't really mess up frozen chicken tenders and frozen fries that you just throw in the oven.  Or spaghetti...

Now I'm attempting things like lamb kebobs..  I'm scared guys.  This morning I had a broiled brown sugar grapefruit that was so nasty I couldn't finish it.  I should have known going into it, because I hate grapefruit.  But this magazine I have has all these recipes for meals that will keep you feeling full all day and eating a reasonable number of calories, so I thought 'what the hell.'  Luckily, the almond butter and honey toast I had with it was delicious.  Not sure what I'm going to do with that other grapefruit I bought.  See a bad play maybe....

So like I said, tonight I'm trying 'Greek Lamb Kebob', which involves lamb, on a kebob.  And also some sort of salad base thing with cooked barley, tomatoes, red onion (nope, not doing that part, blech), mint, parsley, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.  Except I forgot to buy barley.  Hell, I'm not completely sure what barley is.  I'm assuming some sort of leaf or grain?  It's in beer after all.  But I don't have it, and I've already started the kebobs, so we'll have steamed kale.  Hopefully that's not nasty, otherwise this will be a whole day of nasty.

UPDATE:  Turns out steamed kale tastes nearly the same, but not quite as good, as steamed broccoli.  A little bitter maybe.  I can live with that, though it's not high on my 'oh man, that sounds delicious!' list.

Random Bit of Info

These popsicles I referred to 2 years ago?  Yeah, there are still some in my freezer from that very same box.  Turns out 200 of them take longer to go through than you would think.

Retirement

Admittedly, some days I have more trouble adjusting to my retirement than others.  It's strange not working while your husband does.  It leaves you feeling sort of worthless, like you don't contribute anything to this life you share.  I mean, I don't even have kids to care for, and my craft business isn't going anywhere because I can't figure out the PA laws.  These problems aren't constant though.  I've been making an effort to cook dinner everyday.  This is a major step for me, and it sort of rubs in that housewifey feeling I don't particularly like.  But at the same time, it's something DS hates doing, and it's one less thing he has to worry about after a long day at work.  I have to admit that it feels good to make something tasty.  Most nights though, I'm just putting Tyson chicken strips in the oven or something.  Baby steps people.

What I have been doing more of is baking.  It's awesome.  I'll sometimes get on a kick, and DS will have to ask me to stop because he can't stop eating cookies and he feels sick.  Ha!  We didn't do gifts for our anniversary, but I did make him some peanut butter cookies.  (He ended up getting a little something from Naked Chocolate for me, which was DELICIOUS.)  I had some decorative sugars in the cupboard in fall colors, and thought they'd be fun to use since peanut butter cookies have to be rolled in sugar anyway.  Check it.

4 Years of Awesome

Happy Anniversary dearest.  Thank you for making life wonderful, and the opposite of being in jail, or caged, or tied down, or any of the other things people seem to associate with marriage.  I cannot imagine a better second half.  <3

Twilight

Weekend in Aiken

DS and I managed to find some last minute plane tickets to South Carolina to celebrate his mom's birthday over the weekend.  It had been a long time since I was able to go with him, and we spent a lot of time at his sister's house playing with the kids.  They were so much fun, and the little one cried when we left.  <3

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Party in NY

Friday, October 8th, was Sam of NY's (not Sam of Santa Barbara) birthday.  DS and I fought 3+ hours of rush hour traffic to get to Brooklyn in time for dinner.  It was totally worth it!  DS, Sam, Matt and I took the subway to Manhattan so we could go to the Barrel.  It was a beautiful little tapas place.  The food was delicious, if a bit overpriced.  There were many many people there, all of whom I had never before met.  There were also many many drinks.  I tried to remember the names of everyone I managed to photograph (it was very dim, and people were moving a LOT), but there is a bit of fuzziness.  This was seriously a wonderful time.  We all just kept randomly ordering items off the tapas menu, so that food just kept appearing.  And then quickly disappearing.  They also had quite the list of original mixed drinks, including something with basil infused vodka that had me swooning.

After we finally scarfed down cheesecake and tiramisu, and paid our (OMGSERIOUSLY) bill, we all careened off to the nearest bar with room for us all.  It ended up being a new place called Queen Vic, which was meant to look like a little English Pub.  This led to Sam and I drunkenly explaining to each other what English pubs really look like (Sam) and random tidbits about Queen Victoria (me).  Did you know that English pubs have carpet?  I can't imagine how horrible that would be to clean.  She tells me it's because it's so cold all the time.

Anyway, what I'm saying is, our friends have cool friends, and Manhattan is apparently an excellent, though expensive, place to celebrate.

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Wookie

I wish I could say that I took this, but alas, I did not.  This is Wookie, Matt and Sam's lovable cat, and Sam took this with DS's new lens.  Wookie showed up one day, looking disheveled, and decided to stay.  All he wants is love.  All love all the time.  It's so different than my cats.  We curled up together on the futon bed while I recovered from a bit of drinking the night before for Sam's birthday.  Isn't he so handsome?  He is one of the many treats that await us when we visit our friends in New York.

Pretty Kitties

My mom got DS a new lens for his camera for his birthday.  I am predictably taking photos of the cats with it.

Winston makes doing laundry difficult.  2 years away from a dryer and he still has forgotten how much he loves being in one.

Felix continues to be sweet and loving.  Plus the new food change has her coat even more silky and shiny.

Not too Shabby

Life around here has been pretty mellow.  A lack of immediate friends will do that.  Also, DS has been scarce because teaching has swallowed him whole.  I'm just happy if he's home by 7 and not completely catatonic.  It's a good thing those notes he's making can be used in future classes...

So I've been celebrating little things.  Why not?  Tuesday was DS's birthday.  I didn't give myself time to make him a treat, (and honestly, after the birthday cupcakes I made myself which were so nasty that we threw them all away, that's probably a good thing) so I picked him up a little cake and two of his favorite ice cream flavors.  Well.. I'm guessing he'll love that Baked Apple Dumpling.  He does love apple pie like crazy.

He got all kinds of sweet presents, including a new lens and flash for his fancy pants camera.  I'm told he took cool pictures at Maker Faire, but I have yet to see them (see above).

My most recent sewing triumph is this new cushion for the window seat.  It's corduroy, so it's super soft.  I even put a zipper on one end in case it needs washing.  Felix has claimed it, which is to be expected.

She's a little confused at my coming near and not loving her...

I love this set up, because it's the perfect length for me to stretch out and lean back against the pillow and read books.  And thanks to a helpful tip on Facebook from a family friend, I picked up some shelf liner to keep the cushion from sliding.  And also the couch (thank god, for real; hardwood floors are slippery), and the craft station table top.  Finding that in the grocery was way easier than dragging myself to someplace like walmart...

Six Flags Great Adventure

DS and I spent the weekend with our friends Matt and Sam.  The Matt who married us.  They live in NY, which had its first Maker Faire.  It seemed smaller than the SF one we went to last year, and DS and I got there late in the afternoon so we didn't have a lot of time.  Still though, it was cool to go, and ARC Attack was AWESOME!  I recommend finding some video of the dudes themselves, because it was so cool.  Though maybe you've heard of them?  Apparently they were on America's Got Talent?  I have no idea, I don't watch TV...

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner, delicious chocolates, and good conversation.  Then on Sunday we drove Sam out to Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ.  It's been at least six years since I've ridden a roller coaster.  I have a serious fear of heights.  Well, not so much of heights, but of falling.  If I think I'm safe, I have no problem whatsoever being high in the air.  Roller coasters were something that took me some years of concerted effort to be comfortable with, to trust that they wouldn't kill me and accept the fear so I could enjoy the adrenaline rush.  It's a skill that requires practice to maintain, and so I was excited about Six Flags, but also horrified...

There were six of us altogether, and we split a Flash Pass so we wouldn't have to wait in line.  (so worth it!)  We started off with the Batman coaster, which looked about on par with the types of coasters I really enjoyed back in the day.  I've looked up some point of view videos on YouTube for you to ride along.



Not too high, not too fast.  Easy peasy.  Also, shoulder harnesses, which are an important part of me feeling safe.  So then they all insisted we do Nitro, which is the second highest coaster in the park, with the first downhill going past vertical.  Yowza.  According to Wikipedia, you can see Philadelphia on a clear night from up there.  There aren't even shoulder harnesses.  I was freaking out.  I closed my eyes for the lift hill, because contemplating falling to my death is less forceful when I can't see it laid out before me.  Surprising myself, I opened my eyes as we crested the hill and let go.  It was exhilarating.  Watch.



That horizontal helix is just the right length so that you just start to feel your vision fading, then those little snake hills would have me giggling from the blood still stuck in my head.  Probably not good for you to do all the time, but several times a day once a year seems like a good plan.

Other notable experiences:

 El Toro, which I think is supposed to make you feel like you're riding a bull. And as such, there's little to hold on to, and I was lifting out of my seat quite a bit.  Also, those rails always freak me out, which is oddly one of the reasons I love wooden coasters so much.  And hooray for banked turns!  That's something wooden coasters have seriously needed.

Kingda Ka gave me a panic attack just looking at it.  DS loved it, and I sat and tried not to think about him failing to come back to me...

Superman would probably be a lot of fun for me, except that the cars invert you so you face the ground like you're flying.  Staring straight down at the ground as I plummet towards it was a little too much for me visually.  Though with my eyes closed, it didn't feel all that crazy movement-wise.

Bizarro is actually a fun coaster, but it has this music that plays right in your ears the whole time that's loud and static-y and completely annoying.

Skull Mountain reminded me of Kentucky Kingdom's old Starchaser, and as such had me laughing through the whole thing.  Also, they put a giant foam jack-o-lantern at the bottom with a spotlight on it.  SCARY!

After at least six hours of this, we were exhausted.  DS and I made the short trip home (about an hour, and some of that was because we took a wrong turn; though we ended up getting home toll free because of that wrong turn, so I was happy) on our own.  We made a frozen pizza, checked the interwebs, and then crashed as the pitiful hour of 8:30.  Even me people.  Me who is currently up at 3am.  I slept 14 hours last night!

This was my third separate theme park, the first two being Kentucky Kingdom and King's Island.  I have to say it was a lot of fun.  Sometimes terrifying, but overall, fun.

Apartment Tour!

I kept thinking I would do this when everything was neat and pretty.  Then I realized that would probably never happen, at least not up to my expectations.  So here it is!  The apartment in all its glory, and mess, and lived-in-ness.  Enjoy.

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My Husband is a Professor!

Here is the photo that will soon be adorning the faculty website!  I'm so proud. :)

Birthday update to follow soon!

PSA: Laundry

This post has some nasty images in it, so move along if you don't want to see them.  No blood and guts though, just what came out of my washer.  It is meant to serve two purposes.  

1. To let the previous tenants of my apartment know that I will punch them in the face if I ever meet them.

2. To warn the rest of you about things I've learned the hard way when it comes to washing clothes.

So you know that piece on the washer that says "Liquid bleach only"?  Yeah, they mean it when they say that.  Apparently the previous tenants didn't care, or couldn't read, because they put other things in there.  Nasty things.  Things which I discovered with my nose, because I couldn't figure out why my washer smelled like mold after using it.

I pried the little cover off the bleach thing, and to my horror, discovered the entire compartment full of moldy, caked in detergent and fabric softener.  Or maybe just fabric softener.  It had that really horrid smell that liquid softener has.  (Did I really use to like that stuff?  UGH.)

What you're looking at in that second photo is the top rim of the drum part of the washer, with mold on it.  In the bottom left corner you can see where the caked in detergent is all the way up to the rim of the bleach compartment.  GAG.

I spent over an hour today scraping that stuff out with a butter knife.  A knife I might have to trash....

Yeah, that's nasty stuff.  And just think, when you use liquid fabric softener, that crap is in your clothes.  All the time.  Maybe not moldy, granted.  I'm not sure that makes it any better.  This is why your towels smell nasty and no amount of washing them fixes it.  It's partially why you have sweat stains, but that's also due to antiperspirants in deodorant (something else we've given up, and been the happier for it).

Even if you don't agree with me on the fabric softener thing, please don't use the bleach compartment for anything other than bleach.  The drain holes it has are super tiny and clog very easily.  And you're likely to cut your hand on the metal washer casing when you clean it out, because I did twice.  If you have a mold smell in your washer that you can't seem to get out by running an empty cycle with bleach, check in there.

Winston is Angry, but we are not.

Before we left Santa Barbara, we had to take the cats in to the vet for official health certificates.  They were behind on the FCL something or other, I don't know.  It's a shot they need yearly.  So we paid the check up fees for each cat, the cost of the shots, and a small prescription of "chill out" medication, just in case.  Then we find out that for the vet to sign the piece of paper saying she looked at them was extra.  To the tune of $37 EACH.  So yeah, that wasn't a cheap trip.

So when the vet told us Winston would need oral surgery to fix his bulging gums to the tune of $700+, we were not happy.  Then she told us that we needed to do it as soon as possible.  Double not happy.

The move meant that wasn't really happening though.  We had to wait until DS's paychecks started rolling in and we were a bit more settled.  I found a vet nearby with decent reviews.  When I called to schedule the surgery, they let me know that they couldn't do it without a normal check up with them first, which was another $52.  *sigh*  The things we do for these kids...

Today we took him in for his check up, which actually went really well!  Whew!  After all that stuff that happened above, I was sort of dreading this.  Don't get me wrong, Winston yowled the whole way there, frightening the guys that work in our garage, and then growled the whole time he was being examined.  But he didn't swipe at anyone, or try to bite anyone.  He just sat there and let the vet stick her fingers in his mouth, around his lymph nodes, and over his tummy.  Well, sat there and growled, but he let her do it!  She was super nice, answered all our questions, and was really good with him.

To top it all off, their estimates for the surgery are a LOT cheaper.  We also learned that Winston is in good health, probably shouldn't eat grapes anymore, and has lost 4 ounces.  Hooray!

Monday we take him back for the surgery.  He can't eat after 9pm the night before, which is going to be hard, since when he's hungry he finds plastic somewhere and chews it loudly beside the bed at 3am.  He'll be there all day, but will thankfully be sedated.  I can't really afford to pay for some vet people to get stitches.  Oy.

Oh!  And we got the cat food Beth suggested, the Natural Balance, Green Peas and Duck.  Well, the wet is that.  The dry is Green Peas and Chicken, because the didn't have big bags of the duck.  The cats are now going on a half wet, half dry diet, at the recommendation of the vet.  They got their first can tonight, and are now sleeping happily.  Here's hoping Felix stops dropping bombs all over the apartment soon...

Slowly but Surely

We are slowly making progress on the apartment.  There are just a few boxes left, but most of the last week has gone into making sure things are in the spaces they belong.  A lot of the initial work was just getting the boxes emptied as quickly as possible.  Things went wherever there was space, and there was packing paper EVERYWHERE.  I've never seen so much paper in my life.  I kept one whole trash bag of it to use when shipping fragile items, and bags and bags of it are slowly making it to the recycle bin.

Meanwhile, Felix is finally taking to the window seat I set up.  I knew she would love it.

Current Goals

1.  Make good use of my new gym membership.  Ultimate goal: stop feeling like dog doo everyday.  Vanity goal: lose 25 lbs.  And yes, that is based on healthy weights told to me by a doctor.  For some reason people always look at me like I'm crazy when I say that.  Though, upon hearing my weight, one friend did say "Man, you're dense aren't you?" So... yeah.  I guess I am.  Progress thus far:  2 visits in 1 week.

2.  Build a standing work desk for the craft room so I don't sit on my butt all day.  Perhaps something like this.  It's going to be awesome.

3.  Make a pad for the larger than normal window sill in the living room that I've decided to make into a window seat.  Here's hoping my sewing skills, or lack thereof, are up to it.

4.  Finish unpacking and arranging this freaking apartment.  *groan*

Moving In

When we got to town, we were very excited to finally be out of the car and HOME.  Of course, we love traveling and visiting friends and family, but it can be so exhausting living out of a suitcase and juggling all the people who want to spend time with you.  Especially when you have to cram everything into such a short space because of how infrequently we're in town.  So yes, home was calling our names.

Having been here a full week now, I have compiled a list of loves, and not-so loves, regarding our new place.

Loves:
1. The apartment is on the National Register of Historic Places, because it was the first lager house in the US.  This is why our building is called the Lager House.
2. Because of #1, we have giant, wood frame windows, and original exposed brick and wooden support beams.
3. We have a balcony again.
4. From my couch, when the blinds are open, I can see the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, the Delaware River, and some other cool buildings.
5. It's surprisingly quiet here, even though we're right next to the bridge and highway.  The only thing we really hear is when the train goes over the bridge, and I don't mind it.
6. This place is larger than our last two apartments, so I don't feel squished anymore.
7. Washer and dryer!
8. Built in HDTVs in the living room and office.
9. A/C
10. Walking distance to the subway, various DELICIOUS restaurants, a small grocery, pet supply stores, bars, a gym, and some of the more popular tourist attractions.
11. Our actual street has none of these things, so street noise is nonexistent.
12. Did I mention how good the food here is??  Because it SO IS.
13. My office has built in shelving, and a ginormous walk in closet that I don't have to share with DS.

Not-so loves:
1. Bugs.  Creepy, fast, multi-legged things that come out of nowhere and scare the crap out of me.  They seem to be few and far between, but boy do they creep me out.
2. Dirt.  Some of which I suspect is due to a prolonged vacancy, just judging by the dust and the knowledge that it was empty when we toured it a month before.  The rest was obviously from the last tenants, meaning that the place wasn't cleaned by the landlord before we moved in.  It took me 4 hours and 3 magic erasers to clean all the walls, and I'm still not done with the bathroom.
3. Somehow, this place has the same bad plumbing as our last place.  Specifically, the shower hardware was installed incorrectly so that the single knob goes left for cold water, or right for hot water.  Showers are sometimes uncomfortable...
4. It takes 3 full cycles on high heat for clothes to dry in the dryer, even if there are only 4 things in there.
5. There is evidence of water damage in multiple places.
6. There are at least 10 light bulbs either missing or burnt out throughout the apartment.  (We have a combination of track and recessed lighting.)
6. The landlord has yet to return any of our phone calls since we moved in, so we none of this is even being addressed.

That's it so far.  Today DS and I pulled out the W/D combo to check the hoses for lint.  The exhaust didn't look too bad, but the intake was completely covered.  I'm hoping laundry tomorrow goes smoother.  I at least know that the heating apparatus is functioning, so here's hoping cleaning the back helps.  All things considered, I think this place is awesome.  The things that are wrong are completely manageable, and the things that are right are SO RIGHT.

We still have boxes all over the place, because there is only so much unpacking and arranging I can handle at one time.  But we're much much closer to being done, and I will post photos once we are.  I checked to see if there was anything useable from my move in photos, but they're all close ups of various things I wanted to document for the landlord whenever we move out.

The one thing I miss the most right now are my friends.  Right now, we don't know anyone, and without me having a job, I have no immediate hopes of meeting anyone.  It's incredibly difficult to spend all day alone, and then just get a few minutes of conversation out of DS once he's home.  It's like pulling teeth.  We're both adjusting, him to a new job that's more stressful and demanding, me to an utter lack of human interaction.  I wish we could just put an ad on craigslist for friends :P  But I did join a gym today, and we have briefly met one of our neighbors, who seemed cool.  DS has even been to the local climbing gym.  With any luck, we'll have friends soon.  In the meantime, if anyone wants to visit, you have our permission.

The Move

Is it Thursday already?  We've been at our new place for over 4 days??  Wow.  Well, let me tell you about the move.  Be forewarned, there is boring narrative to follow.

The cats were taken away, and I cried like a little baby.  They looked horrified.  The movers came and boxed all our stuff in a mere 7 hours.  I guess when the things aren't yours, you aren't as tempted to spend time touching, remembering, getting sidetracked by each thing you own.  Everything just got quadruple wrapped in white paper and stuck in a box.  DONE.

At the Palace, clinking glasses with the staff as we sang What a Beautiful World.

That night we started staying at our friends, to whom we gave our big tv.  It was a wedding present, and also a way to get rid of it since the new place has built in televisions.  We were not opposed to getting the best new thing whenever we manage to get a house :)  That Friday we did just a little bit of cleaning, but nothing much since we were basically told by our landlord that he was taking the money out of our deposit to have it professionally cleaned no matter what.  I was not about to break a sweat cleaning some place for nothing.  The pick up for our things was delayed until Saturday, but went smoothly.  Though there was some muttering about just how much stuff we had, and packing the truck had to be done carefully to make sure it all fit.  I don't know what to tell them.  A guy came to estimate our belongings' volume a month ago, and it's not like we got a bunch of new stuff...

Nell and DS looking at the city and the moon.

We took our friends out to dinner at The Palace, a Louisiana inspired grill that is soooooo good.  Then we all went up to Lizard's Mouth (a rocky spot on the mountain) to see the sun set over the ocean and take photos.  After too little rest, we caught a plane to KY, where we were picked up by my mom and her husband.

Me and Sam at Lizard's Mouth.

Monday we visited my grandmother, then the four of us toured the Louisville Slugger Museum.  I'm not sure how none of them had ever been before, but I made sure that was fixed.  Back in G'Town, we took my mom out to dinner for her birthday.

Kid in front us at the Bat game, covered in cotton candy.

Tuesday we hung out with my college friend Tim and his wife, and their dog Sterling.  We grilled burgers and learned a new way to make delicious corn on the grill.  After dinner we went downtown to see the Louisville Bats play.  DS was so excited because this guy named Chapman was relief pitching, and he's supposed to be the next best thing for the Reds.

Aroldis Chapman pitching.

Wednesday we picked up Chanda and went north to see Kelly and Jon.  We enjoyed their patio, and their cats, and the booze in their fridge.  For dinner we had Olive Garden, which I hadn't been to in years and years.  Seems strange.

DS, Tim and Beth at the game.

Thursday we saw Geno, walked the dogs, and I was surprised to discover my good friend Mike had moved back next door.  My brother even graced us with his presence.  We picked up the rental car, then DS made dinner for us.  Everyone thought it was delicious, and I let them know it's because Alton Brown can do no wrong.  (Seriously, try that 40 cloves and a chicken recipe)

Chapman's pitching speed.  DS claims we saw him pitch 101.

Friday morning we piled into the car and drove to Elkins, WV to visit with DS's grandparents.  It's only the second time that I've been there, and it was nice to have more than a few hours to see the place.  We spent the rest of the weekend bouncing between his two grandmothers, and I met loads of extended family at various dinners.  Elkins is beautiful, and decidedly cooler than KY this time of year.

Elkins as seen from the Triplett place "in the holla".

Sunday morning we loaded up the car again and drove the rest of the way to Philly.  Pennsylvania looks almost exactly like the region of KY where I lived.  At least, the region we drove through did.  We mostly took back roads out of WV, then took the Turnpike the rest of the way.  Stupid tolls, and lunch at one of those little stops on Turnpike was not great.  But I guess it was better than driving through places like DC the whole way.  That would have take an hour or two longer.

Once in the city, we quickly realized that driving here is nowhere near as nice as walking here.  It made me very happy that we chose to live downtown so we won't need the car hardly ever.  We managed to get some keys, drag in our few belongings from the car, and set up the air mattress before dinner.

Up next: Moving in.

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For some reason, I only have photos of a couple of things.  I'm assuming DS has the rest on his camera.  Though I know I forgot to gets photos of me with Kel and Chanda :(