multimedia

We're doing a lot of chores early in the weekend to be able to hit the beach Sunday and come home and relax.
That, IMO, is the beauty of taking Friday off - which I can do as my boss is out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this month. By Friday I don't have much to do at my job...but I've digressed.

At the end of a busy day yesterday we plopped in front of the television. I watched the last half hour of Madonna's version of Swept Away, which isn't easy to watch with its terrible acting and bazillion Madonna close ups. But that last half hour is terribly sad and I've got the music from it on my iPhone and had forgotten how sad it is.
Anyway, next up was Couple's Retreat, a silly movie, that we got hooked into and actually laughed at from time to time. We were so smitten that K brought our dinners (homemade sausage with orichetti and broccoli rabe -UNBELIEVABLY GOOD) into the living room, so we could continue to watch. We nevernevernevernever eat in front of the tube, but we did last night and had fun.

We rounded it off with Get Him To The Greek which was, alternately: disgusting, hysterical, sad, and funny. It is the kind of movie we never see and it was okay!

My last note from yesterday pertains to Bon Iver (which I will pronounce like the French words, if you don't mind). We grabbed a couple of their cd's from the library and I've been listening to one album while K has the other. K uses current music sometimes for work and likes to stay abreast of things. I've seen their name all over the internet for weeks and thought I should check them out. K might think they are crap - he's still making up his mind, but I think I'm getting hooked.
I'm loving the break toward the end and the sound of fingers on strings - or whatever it is. It's haunting me.

The story of the recording is interesting too and I think the name of the band should be Bahn Eever, but that's just me.

(Actual final note from yesterday)
K took me to Anthropologie as I had a birthday coupon and wanted to get something on sale with it thereby having a present whilst spending very little money. I had a nice time wandering around the store. Sometimes, when I'm visiting Anthro there isn't a thing I'd want - usually that's when I have some money in my pocket and could buy something. Other times, when I'm visiting Anthro, and I have no money for extras or luxuries, I see dozens of things I'd like to have. This was one of those times.
I saw dresses I'd have loved to try on, bags that looked interesting, a beautiful cardigan and a couple of wonderful books. But I limited myself and found a great necklace that ended up costing $18 and was pretty pleased with myself. Still, at some point, I said something to K like oh, this is one of those times when I could spend thousands of dollars here! I got on line to pay and was behind two other customers. The lady on the left was finishing having her purchases packed up into three extra large shopping bags.
After carefully folding each item, while I waited patiently, the clerk told her her sales total. It was thousands of dollars. The lady checking out to the right had two huge bags. I didn't hear her total but, as the clerk gently and slowly began folding garment after garment and answered the phone, I asked, politely, if there was someone else who could ring me up. I'd been waiting a while and saw a longer wait ahead of me. The clerk on the right handed the phone to her customer (a special order) and got on her walkie talkie: can someone come up to checkout? this woman looks like she's in a hurry, she squawked. My eyes felt hot. I'm sorry, she said, I didn't mean to call you this woman.
But it was too late. The damage was done. My emotions got chipped at.
I was swirling in envy (bags and bags of luxuries in front of me) and embarrassment and anger.
If I were spending thousands of dollars at Anthropologie I would be dancing with joy - these customers looked like they were ordering coffee at Starbucks. I felt awful for for feeling that way and then ashamed for being envious. Neither woman looked happy. None of the five women looked happy.
I am happy. Slightly fragile, I suppose. But happy. I paid quickly and grabbed K to go to the car before bursting into tears.

I'm off to finish my chores to ensure that beach time.
And you? You should watch a goofy movie, or do your chores, or look at your sweet companions and remember how lucky you are.

Friday off, a big BIG post

This lady looked great yesterday evening.
Too much? I don't know.



I could have sworn that was Woody Allen on the train.



Couldn't be.



Gorgeous. Outfit. Hair. Shoes.



Short -



Long.



Short.



Long.
I lovelovelove long dresses and skirts but I can't really wear them. Too short.

The absolute cutest, best-dressed commuter was this little girl.





My stealthy photo skills were put to the test getting those pictures.



HA HA HA! Look at this new bench on my front porch, PAOLA!




You can make customized messages with the Okay Go video if you watch it on Chrome.
You follow?



Dinner required some shopping.



Tempted by beets, I bought radishes instead.



Tea, anyone?

new favorite

lucky

The scene: blackbird and Youngest are at the dining table eating breakfast.
bb has a bowl of Frosted Flakes, Youngest a bowl of Lucky Charms.

Youngest: I can't decide. Should I have a second bowl?


bb: ...

Youngest: Naaah. It might end up being a little too much magic.

new favorite

From Scot, sadly, blogless.





Scot: The Porcelain Unicorn is the winner of the Constrained Cinema Competition. Filmmakers can only use these six lines of dialogue: 
"What is that?,"
"It's a unicorn," 
"Never seen one up close before," 
"Beautiful," "Get away, get away," and "I'm sorry."
What Keegan Wilcox did with 3 minutes and those lines is most excellent.
This could be the best 3 minutes of your day. I hope not.

off water and on his way home

I don't know if you've followed B's expedition but he's out of the water on on his way home with stories to tell and another successful trip under his belt.
There was a bear attack in Alaska last weekend and though everyone will eventually be fine it certainly seems as though it was harrowing. I'm grateful knowing that B has a vast amount of training and is prepared, when heading out, for many eventualities. I'm also grateful he hasn't had to use his training in such an emergency. NOLS instructors (which he is also) are well trained and I'm certain things could have been worse had NOLS instructors not been involved in this situation.
Don't I sound like a know-it-all? In truth, I've been chatting with B as I wanted his opinion on what happened.
And here? In Tuvalu?
A mystery package*...some slight boredom at work...matte nail polish...the end of Youngest's art classes, and slightly cooler temperatures.

I'm contemplating a new pair of jeans for the fall - like school clothes, but I don't want boot-cut jeans, I don't think. I want straight, slightly baggy jeans, and I'm not spending anything close to $100.
Thoughts?








*more on this later!

Monday

It's been kind of funny over here. Not haha funny, strange funny.
We've had bad news about a few friends and this weighs on me, work is still slow for K and we are (or I am) feeling a little stretched emotionally.

Our weekly beach trip, which usually does a nice job of de-stressing us, was cut terribly short as we were plagued by flies. (Back at the office, today, I learned of several others who experienced the same insect issue at their beaches.) We only managed to stay a couple of hours.
Youngest is finishing up his time at art school and both Middle and Oldest have been very busy - much of their work being outdoors in the heat, which has worried me.

Still, I can put a good face on things...Middle has gotten a raise, K has several prospects, Oldest is busy and happy, Youngest is well, and I am looking forward to two trips.

I was reading my archives over the weekend, specifically the posts from just before I went to work.
I made promises about continuing to write here and, on some level, I've kept them.
But, on the other hand, I've had to fold to the pressure of being at work every day.
I used to be able to devote so much of my time to posting and it just isn't possible now.
My head is in a different place.
I find myself posting the same things over and over.
Woe is me.

It's cooler tonight.
The windows are open and there's a slight breeze and this is enough.

random, with links/photos? I don't know

It's only 97 so I can think a little better today.
I had breakfast with my IRL pal K (not K, my girlfriend K). I had a BLT which, let me tell you, is the perfect choice when it's this hot out.
I'll shut up about the heat except for one more thing: I'm proud of us for not using the giant downstairs AC unit until today. Money = tight.
IRL, K, AC. You're following me, right?

And, speaking of following, each of us had to walk at least a mile yesterday (103) as our commutes were all mangled. Oldest had to be in town after K, who scooted and had to be in town before Middle, but way before Youngest. It was kooky but we all managed.

I saw a few good things on my way to the station (which I walked to slowly whilst exclaiming on the hotness, to myself).

The lady with the red bag



got off the bus and was greeted with a big hug by the other lady. They were dressed in exactly the same outfit and I laughed out loud when I walked past them. Red-bag lady (the mom) said: we didn't even realize! Mom had come in from DC to visit. They were cute!

Then I saw some great-looking ladies in the station.





In the second picture, each of those people had a tall, cool beer. But none of those khaki-men looked as cool as the blond in the fabulous skirt.

I stood near this guy whilst awaiting my track to be called.



They wear an amazing amount of gear, those soldiers. Heavy looking gear. I still can't decide if I feel safer around them or afraid. I noticed that their pistols are wired onto their pants with a twisty cord. I'm guessing so no one can grab them? (Middle says it's so they can't drop them.)

On a completely unrelated note, have I mentioned that I'm a member of some shopping sites? There's some good stuff out there, though I'm not shopping right now, and I think it's worth mentioning.

At The Foundary:



this is a good deal on sheets and they have every size. Personally, I'm not sure I could feel the difference between 250 thread-count and 650, but that's just me.



This is a great deal on this bench (and, if anyone feels like sending it to me, the bench on our porch is completely rotted) and there's more where that came from.

These are pretty interesting too -



not sure I get the scarves/flasks relationship but they're pretty.

Finally, I saw this on Pinterest.



VERY TEMPTING.

Wait. One last thing. Go to the Dos Equis site, punch in your fake age, and watch the newest Most Interesting Man In The World commercials. Great stuff.

Stay cool, people.

--except, perhaps, for this

I'm not sure what else you could possibly need to know.

Let's walk back to the station, shall we?

It's terribly hot in my city.
Have I mentioned that?
I mean, 98 degrees hot, hot.
What are people wearing?
Let's see...



Short skirts and tops, long and drapey whites, and floaty little dresses.



Shorts and cotton plaids.



Splashes of color.



Great little flat shoes.



Light suits.



Little black skirts everywhere - including on me.



And her.




White jeans. With everything.



Maxis with everything.



On everyone.





It's, sort of, a free for all and anything we can do to stay cool.

new favorite

via Oldest.

"This is what happens when you don't want a party."

So, I took off work yesterday.
We are given a birthday day off and I took it yesterday.
This morning, I arrived to this:




As I'm not sure you will comprehend the magnitude of this, I can further illustrate.

On Friday I told my boss that I would not be in on Monday.
Because it's your birthday? he asked.
Our birthdays have never been discussed before this year. Before I arranged a surprise party for his birthday last month.
I explained that I was taking the day because he would be out of the office and, I supposed, because I could, because we are offered our birthdays off.

He called me later that day and asked me to leave our office door unlocked. Said he wanted to come in in the afternoon, after we had closed to catch up on some paperwork.
It wasn't an unusual request. I left the door unlocked.

This morning I arrived...



and was overwhelmed.



My office had been "foiled."

Every. Single. Thing. Every piece of paper. Every pushpin, every pencil. Foiled.

It was brilliant.



It was blinding.



It took my dear friends C and D over three hours to accomplish this
and they had the balls to take pictures of themselves afterward.




On my desk was a package, wrapped in foil, with a black ribbon. Inside, a beautiful little glass box with a ball of foil in it, with a note in that, which read: This is what happens when you don't want a party.



I adore it.
Though, by three o'clock I had a wee little headache from the glare.

I can only exclaim what each of us has said upon occasion about the place where we work: how lucky am I?

As for my boss, the big fat liar, he brought me a beautiful hand-thrown bowl. It's gorgeous.

the internet is a vast and open space

Antonia's kitchen is finished. I couldn't be more delighted with the results. Perhaps I'll pin it.

Other Adages For Sailors cracks me up, people!

I had a bite of this last week and am here to report that it rivals Crack Pie.

You might be surprised to learn that I read C. Jane, but I do. I am a Mommy Blogger, after all.

It's a big/crazy/action-packed site but I'm enjoying Refinery 29.

You know what my house looks like...well, sometimes, I'm itching for this.

One of the best things we ate in Holland was an apple cake at Keukenhof. We're on a quest and made one from this mix the other night. Sort of a home-made/mix combo. Not bad, but not IT.

This is a nice dress, isn't it? I need to work on looking slightly less like a 12 year old.

I'm a closet Belgian Waffle reader too. This is an awfully good, thought-provoking bit about bodies. I cannot lie, I have a completely delusional sense of what I look like and think about food far too much.
I weigh about 5 pounds more than I'd like to and yet I tend to eat responsibly and do a good bit of walking. Am I going to work hard to lose the 5 pounds? Probably not. But I'm always thinking about what I look like and I don't think that's healthy.

I've found HEARBLACK and am liking it very much. Go watch.

Finally, this is too damn funny. And spot on.

7/18

Last year, here at SLV, I got away with nary a mention.
No one at work even knew when my birthday was. This year I organized a surprise party for my boss and, suddenly, everyone has noted the date.

And my boys...



Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World)



The most wonderful sailor shirt with the perfect card and the most fascinating wrapping.





That big-ass soap you like.




One to make me smile.



One to make me cry.

And? A ticket to see my pals in Chicago...