Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Paper Courage?

Heehee. Sometimes I have indeed felt like this & I know I'm not alone!

From Sinfest, which is awesome. You should read it.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Sicknesses

My apologies for sparse posting lately, but I have been sick with a cough & congestion for about a month. This weekend, it took a turn for the worse & I've been laid up with nausea, fever & aches. Hopefully, I can kick this sooner than later & return to normal. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Hierarchy

So, "our song" is Ray LaMontagne's "You Are the Best Thing." Consequently, it's something we say to each other sometimes when we're being schmoopy. However, I feel a little weird saying it, because I have so many other wonderful people in my life that I met long before I met him. So sometimes I qualify it, e.g. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, behind my parents." This is an exchange we had the other day:

Me: "Sweebs, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, except for maybe Thing 1 & Thing 2."
Him: "Hmm, I'm going to be out of the running altogether once we have our own kids, aren't I?"
Me: "It's quite likely. Sorry, kiddo."

Monday, February 16, 2009

Valentine's Weekend - Fun! Food Poisoning - Not!

In short, our formal Valentine's Day dinner out was fantastic. The early morning hours spent on the bathroom floor were less so.

We failed in getting reservations in Portsmouth for Saturday night, so we spent a lazy night at home - cooked a special dinner & watched the first Harry Potter in our pjs. :)

Sunday night, we went out to Black Trumpet Bistro on Ceres St. & enjoyed a lovely dinner. No holding back - we ordered a cheese appetizer, soup & salad, lamb & duck entrees, and an amazing chocolate raspberry dessert. Then, we stopped at BNG for a coffee & drove out to the beach at Rye. We sat in the car with the window down, talked, and listened to the waves for a bit. Then, we went to the movies & saw Coraline in 3D!

All of this was wonderful. Around 3:30am, however, I woke up miserably sick & spent the next four hours migrating between fitful sleep & lying on the bathroom floor. :( Oh well, at least I had the day off on Monday so I could stay in my pjs all day & recuperate.

Oh, and the picture above is a lovely "toad in the hole" that The Boy made me for breakfast, using the "I Love You Egg Shaper" from Archie McPhee.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Getting to Know All About You

My lovely & talented friend Kristin of Camels & Chocolate wrote a post the other day that challenged us all to open ourselves up to an interview. As you all know, I have no problem blabbing about myself, so I jumped at the chance. In fact, I promised her (on the internets, which is like swearing an oath in blood) that I would publish this interview on Thursday or Friday. My apologies for the delay, Kristin & the maybe one other person who cared!

If you want to be interviewed as well, leave me a comment & I'll come up with 5 questions tailor-made just for you. However, I can't necessarily promise such insightful questions. Remember, she writes & sometimes interviews people for a living!

1. After going through quite a few Mr. Wrongs, who you dated for long stretches, how did you know The Boy was Mr. Right after just a few short months?


Excellent question & I've been pondering it for the last few days. Since The Boy & I got engaged so quickly, we've been asked this a number of times & I have yet to formulate an answer that works for me.

I think the easiest way to explain it is to rely on good old Anne of Green Gables. Like many of us female childhood bookworms, I've always been looking for my Gilbert. He had to be someone who understands my deepest thoughts, fears, and dreams, like Gilbert did for Anne. And somehow, The Boy fills that role. He "gets" me - all my weird, silly, goofy, deep-down parts.


There have been many moments that have brought this truth home to me, but I first realized this back in October when we were walking down by Prescott Park in Portsmouth. There were leaves all over the sidewalk & I was running ahead through the piles like a 7-year old. The wind ruffled through the trees & a shower of leaves came down near us. I turned back to him with bright eyes & said, "It's like we're walking in Rivendell!" Being a big Tolkein nerd himself, this was a wondrous thing to him & the look in his eyes was priceless. It's all those looks that remind me that this man understands & appreciates me for exactly who I am - no faking & no need to fake.

2. Once you guys tie the knot in a year-and-a-half, where do you think you'll live? Any chance of another stint in Scotland?

Our living plans for the next five years or so are very much up in the air. It's both exciting & a little scary, actually. I will be finishing my master's in a couple of months & have begun the "Great Job Search of 2009 (& potentially beyond)." Depending on how that goes, I may or may not need to go back to school for my PhD. The Boy has one more year left in his bacheor's, then pretty firm plans to continue on to his PhD. All of these things will determine where we end up living over the next half-decade or so, but hopefully we'll be able to stay in the Northeast, near our families (particularly my little nephews!).

And, yes, I can easily imagine another stint in Scotland if the gods smile on us. The University of Edinburgh (where Kristin & I both studied) actually has a well-respected program in the field The Boy studies. Discovering that fact sent my mind racing on flights of "living-happily-in-Scotland-again" fancy. :)


3. Fifteen years from now, where do you see yourself(ves)?


In 15 years, I will have reached the venerable age of 42 and The Boy & I will have been married for about 13 years. Holy mother of monkeys! Since the rough plan is to begin trying for kids in about 5 years, we may even have a 9-year old & a 7-year(-ish) old. Cripes - this is freaking me out a bit. Let's focus on things like living quarters & careers - sharpish.

I'd love to be living within an hour's drive of my parents and/or my sister's family. I'd love to be living in an old or feels-old house, with hardwood floors, big windows to let in the light, and architectural accents (crown moldings, chair rails, etc.). I'd love to be the curator of a medium-sized museum & for The Boy to be happily ensconced in a professorship in his field.

4. What is it about the Red Sox that make the fans more fanatical (and annoying...ha! I kid...sorta!) than any other sports team in history?


Very funny, lady. ;) I'm not sure I would make the claim that Sox fans are the most fanatical, but we'll roll with it for now. It's hard to explain, really. A long & compelling team history, an 86-year World Series slump, and eternally famous past players like
Cy Young & Ted Williams all contribute to the intensity of Red Sox fandom. Boston is also a big sports town & has been for a very long time. Beyond all that, I think that the connection to history that is maintained by having one of the oldest ball parks in the nation & the connection that the fans feel with the players (& vice-versa) have much to do with the passion of Red Sox fans.

5. If you could be best friends with anyone on TV, who would it be and why?

Hmm - toughie. I watch very little TV these days, limiting myself to The Office & 30 Rock on Thursday nights and No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain on Monday nights. Actually, the latter is as good an answer as I can come up with! How awesome would it be to explore the world with Tony Bourdain, all with a focus on good food, good drinks, and well-placed doses of cynicism & sarcasm?

Thanks for the questions, Kristin! As I mentioned above, I'd be happy to come with up 5 interview questions for anyone who wants to give this a whirl. Just leave me a comment & your email address if I don't already have it and I'll get to work!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Birthdays!

OK, a few more photos from the birthday party on Saturday:

Looove this adorable smily photo of Thing 2,
captured by The Boy (Thing 2's future uncle)

Thing 1 is nothing if not speedy. And cute.

See? Him cheesin' for auntie.

Seriously, Thing 2's little smiles to himself make
my heart swell (& possibly my uterus)

The littlest one with his auntie!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Young Talent

Thing 1 & Thing 2 had their 3rd & 1st birthday party yesterday and had a great time! I'll post more photos later, but just wanted to share some of the ones that Thing 1 took. I know I'm biased, but the kid really does have an eye, especially for a not-quite 3 year old (his actual birthday is Wednesday). I hope he'll forgive me for taking the liberty of captioning his work. ;)

Thing 1's view of Thing 2 & looming auntie

Attack of the stuffed dinosaur!

Looming dinosaur & florescent lights

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

As Monica said, "baaa"

All right, all right. Since everyone & their mom is doing this "25 random things about me" bit on Facebook, I give in. I wasn't going to - but I got tagged by 5 people & clearly have no will power.

However, the beauty of being a blogger is that I've already done one of these, almost two years ago. In order to be fair, though, I've updated it with some new "random things," but boy howdy! It was nice to have some seed items to start with. ;)
  1. I've always wanted to learn how to play the fiddle.
  2. I think it sucks that you can no longer "run away to sea."
  3. When I was 3 years old & staying at my family's house in Canada, my parents told me not to jump on the bed. As I was jumping on the bed (of course), I fell off and hit the side of my mouth on the radiator. I bled the entire 30-minute drive to the hospital. I still have the scar.
  4. I pretty much know Braveheart by heart.
  5. When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian, then a long-haul trucker, then a writer, then an historian. I stopped there.
  6. I honestly think that kilts are sexy.
  7. I accidentally killed one of my first pets - a gerbil named Garfield. I didn't give him enough water & he got dehydrated. It was very traumatic for little me.
  8. My parents gave my sister & I the option of having braces. We opted for not. Our lower teeth are crooked now, but we don't care.
  9. I have more clothes than I know what to do with, but since I'm a pack rat, I have trouble packing them up & shipping them off to Goodwill, even though I know that's the right thing to do.
  10. I once spent a half-hour outside a White Hen Pantry in Cambridge, being talked to by an old homeless man. I had given him some spare change, he started talking, and I was too nice to leave.
  11. My eyes are blue and I've always loved that, even when I hated everything else about my looks.
  12. Our wedding list is already at 216 people. Yikes.
  13. My first pet was a bunny named Jen. She was evil and used to bite my sister & I. My parents had to get rid of her.
  14. My sister & I had two goldfish when we were little - Big Bird and Little Bird.
  15. I once spent an evening reading Stevenson's Kidnapped at a hostel on a loch in northern Scotland.
  16. The first time I ever got drunk, I was about 13 or 14 and I had one shot of rum.
  17. The first time I ever got sick from drinking, I was 18. I had many shots of tequila and 4 Revs, which were horrible, blue-colored, caffeinated drinks. I threw up in the dunes at the beach. It was blue.
  18. When I lived in Edinburgh & grew weary of the city, I used to go lie on the side of Salisbury Crags in the tall grass. I couldn't see or hear the city from there and I would pretend I was in the Highlands.
  19. I have two birthmarks - one on my left thigh and one on my left bicep. When I was born, though, the doctors didn't think I had any.
  20. I have a tattoo of a Scottish thistle on my lower back. I got the idea from one I saw on a guy's calf at a Scottish event in Canada. The day that I got my tattoo, a guy in the tattoo parlor had the same one. Besides my Scottish friend David, those are the only two people who I've ever seen with the same tattoo as me.
  21. I talk to myself a lot. When I get caught doing so in my car, I usually start bobbing my head to make it seem like I had been singing.
  22. The first time I went skinny dipping was when I was about 16, in a pond at a campground somewhere in central Mass.
  23. When I drive my mother's car (a red Camaro) on the highway late at night, I sometimes pretend it's a fighter jet and I'm the pilot. I even do machine-gun noises.
  24. I once accidentally dyed my stomach blue from wearing a hand-dyed blue tank top on a hot day. I then went to a party with my friends in Canada (wearing a bathing suit) and at the end of the night, all of their white shirts had big blue stains from my drunken hugs.
  25. I believe in soulmates. Disgustingly cheesy, I know, but what else explains how The Boy & I went from first date to engaged in the life span of a coral reef goby?

Monday, February 02, 2009

Beware: Wedding Planning Approaching

It has begun. ;)

Even though the wedding isn't for more than a year & a half, I've been working on finding sites for the ceremony & reception. After a little teeth-gnashing & a couple of site drive-bys, I think we're pretty close!

The front runner for ceremony sites right now is a park in a nearby town. It's right by the ocean, with a ridiculously lovely view of the harbor mouth & the Isles of Shoals in the distance. I'm going to call the town & see if I can confirm the location soon.

Man, this post was boring. I promise to at least try to make the other wedding planning posts a little more interesting, dudes.