eat cake

eat cake!

2011-04-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Lindsay and I made a pilgrimmage to one of our favorite places on earth, Terrain for Brooklyn Day. We met one of the boys from McClure's Pickles (whose Bloody Mary Mix was super-delicious), as well as the lovely boys behind Brooklyn-bakery Baked, whose cookbook Baked Explorations is one of my new faves (I've made the doughnuts, whoopie pies, and a chocolate snack cake since I bought the book at Christmas-time). We hit it off with The Baked Boys immediately -- I think my size may have been an indication to them that I take baked goods pretty seriously. Then I showed them my tattoo -- needless to say, it was a big hit. Matt (in the middle of the picture) recommends their chocolate chip oatmeal cake as the next must-bake. I'm planning to try it this afternoon -- will let you know!

eggs

2011-03-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

andrew and neal make beautiful eggs. philadelphia magazine says so.

harry, and mom v. dad

2010-08-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

I came across a writing assignment that Lucy did early on in 3rd grade (ages and ages ago...5th grade is on the horizon!), a tragic tale about our dog Harry's death. Harry was an awesome dog -- a funny looking terrier mix who loved nothing more than to follow Richard around and drive him crazy. Lucy was five when he died of mysterious causes. A trip to the emergency vet on the day he died yielded a report that read, "Harry is so cute!!!" Super helpful. Anyway...Lucy's description of the sad day, from a distance of three years, is both touching and hilarious, particularly in the way that Richard and I are depicted. While I am described as weeping on the night of Harry's death (true), I clearly recovered very quickly in Lucy's mind. Check out this touching exchange:

"A day later I was still very crestfallen. My mom decided that we should get him cremated. I asked her what it meant. She said it meant to burn him. 'No, no! Don't burn him,' I exclaimed. 'It'll hurt him! No, no! You can't!' My mom replied, 'Honey, I know you love him but we can't let him rot here in the house.'"

Oh. My. God. I know that I tend toward directness, but really? I am quite sure I never said "We can't let him rot here in the house" to my grieving 5-year-old.....

But no worries, Richard comes to the rescue.

"I soon fell asleep with a book over my face. In the morning my dad woke me up with the enticing aroma of pancakes."

So, I am the grim reaper, burning dead dogs, and Richard is Mary F-ing Poppins, whipping up a fresh batch of pancakes to restore happiness to the world. Perfect.

wishing

2010-07-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

I asked Lucy today what she would wish for if she only had one wish.

She thought about it for a second or two, and then said, "A happy life."

Wow. That's what I wish for her too.

Lucy's best friend Serena reports that the last time she asked Lucy that question, she answered, "A lifetime supply of pancakes." Which in the end, amounts to the same thing, I suppose.

the simple things

2010-06-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

My mom is a great cook, specializing in simple, old-fashioned food. And she knows how to cook just about everything -- if you're ever in a bind and don't know how to cook something, or need to know what cut of meat to buy, definitely call MJP -- she can help you out. She has taught me tons of great techniques -- like lump-free gravy, and a killer, foolproof pie crust. But one of the best things she ever taught me how to cook, and probably one one of the first, was popcorn. Old school popcorn in a dutch oven on the stove top. In need of a salty snack, and no chips in the house? Whip up a batch of popcorn! If you cook it in olive oil, it's even relatively healthy, and always delicious. Plus, it only takes about 5 minutes from start to finish. Suck it, greasy, salty, preservative-laden microwave popcorn. MJP has you beat.

pies n' thighs

2010-06-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

reviewed in the new yorker this week. ate there with our brooklyn posse (this means you, JoJo, Franco, and Mike) earlier this year, and it was crazy tasty. fried chicken, mac & cheese, collards, biscuits, and pie - like whoa. love this line from the review: "The place is generally full of youngish Williamsburg types with beards and assertive eyewear, and enough plaid shirts to make you think you’ve ended up in the Appalachians."

assertive eyewear. funny.

tastes just like store-boughten!

2010-06-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

homemade beet, sweet potato, and potato chips.

file under "yes, you CAN make these, but it will take you at least one hundred times as long as it would to open a bag of terra chips."

Farm51

2010-06-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

My brother Andrew

and his friend Sarah

have started an urban farm in West Philadelphia.

Not on the trying-hard-to-be-hip-and-edgy-Bobby-Flay-burger-joint side of West Philly, but on the vacant-houses-corner-stores-micro-or-kinky?-gunshots-in-the-night side of West Philly (51st and Chester, to be exact). What started out as two overgrown and cement-strewn vacant lots next to my brother's apartment building is now lush with growth and bustling with activity. It even has an official name (Farm51), a farmstand (Saturdays from 10 - 2), a blog, and a logo (yay Neal Santos!).

Take lettuce, beets, radishes, collards, broccoli (can we talk about broccoli for a minute? it's a HUGE plant with ONE little broccoli stalk. lame.), raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, to-mah-toes, potatoes, pot-ah-toes....then throw in 29 (!) chickens and a beehive, and you get the picture. But just in case you don't, here you go:

You should totally stop by. Buy some eggs. Pull some weeds. Pet a chicken. You won't be sorry.

i would love to make...

2010-06-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

...these for my bedroom (especially since I happened to look up at my windows from the neighbor's yard the other day and realized you could TOTALLY see into my room, like A LOT), but I am pretty sure that my belief in the old adage measure once and cut twice (that's it, right?) means that I am far too half-assed to follow these directions: "It’s important to cut the fabric straight and even, so that the blind will hang straight. This is probably the trickiest part of this project, so take a little extra care to be sure you’ve got it really straight." Oh well.

i'm in love

2010-06-09T17:29:00.001-07:00

As I see it, we have three choices:
1) start a business venture with a fleet of snazzy camper vans
2) take Flo for a spin across England
3) get one snazzy camper van for personal use

eat cake, in stop motion

2010-05-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

Food about you - Annecy festival 2010 from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.

how do i love thee? let me count the ways.

2010-05-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Lucy told me today that the four must-have qualities in a love interest are:

1) kindness
2) smartness
3) sense of humor
4) cuteness.

Her caveat was that as long as someone had 1 through 3, then 4 didn't matter. I think she's on to something.

are we there yet?

2010-05-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

let's do a tour. we can go to all these places. especially the ones that involve food. or coffee.

holy hell

2010-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

must make these and fill with nutella. (thanks jojo.)

you talkin' to me?

2010-05-04T04:08:00.001-07:00

My day was made yesterday by the parking lot attendant who greeted me by saying, "Baby Girl, how you feelin'?" I have pretty firmly crossed over into the "Ma'am" category, and I am happy when someone calls me "Miss" instead -- so "Baby Girl"? That just took it to the next level of awesomeness.

super-excited for this!

2010-04-27T04:18:00.001-07:00

Moth Member Show

Lucy is mad she is not invited.

a blog post, in three axiomatic chapters

2010-04-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

1) better late than never
So, it's been awhile. I got out of the habit of blogging, and into the habit of facebook's quick fix. But I have discovered that I miss blogging. Miss taking note of something of interest, and saving it for later, to share. Miss turning an idea around in my head for awhile, and watching it take shape. So I'm back. For today at least. (Although Richard tells me that blogging is out of style. Oh well.)

2) patience is a virtue
Over the last year or so, I have mostly stopped biting my fingernails (my cuticles are a different story), and for the first time in my life, I pay attention to how they look, and even paint them from time to time. I painted them last week (gunmetal gray), and by this morning, they were a mess -- not fit to be on display at work. We were out of nail polish remover (amazing!), so I stopped at Happy Harry's on the way to work, and bought a jar of that remover stuff you just dip your fingers in. Obviously, I couldn't wait until I got to the office to use it (too exciting! too impatient!), so when I got to a red light, I opened the jar and promptly spilled acetone all over myself and my car (there is a lot more liquid in those jars than one might think!). I spent the morning in front of a space heater drying out my dress, and now my car smells like a nail salon. If you need me to drive you anywhere, just remember to bring your face mask.

3) honesty is(n't) the best policy
Lucy and I stopped at SuperFresh on the way home from work/school today and got sucked into an in-store demo of knives by the promise of a free knife and some pretty impressive displays of blade performance. The knives were amazing -- just ask Lucy. Not only did they slice tomatoes paper thin, but they also cut through a steel hammer and a block of wood (and were still sharp enough to make paper thin tomato slices!)....Duly impressed, under pressure from Lucy, and thinking about my friend Derek's summer selling Cutco knives (I still have one that he gave me as a wedding gift), I decided to pony up the $39.99 for not one, not two, but SEVEN knives, AND a food chopper, AND a juicer!! Amazing, right? So we went to the SuperFresh express lane with our groceries and our knives, and lo and behold, the check out girl neglected to charge me for the knife set. I had a moment where I debated leaving without saying anything, but then my conscience got the better of me (Lucy was with me after all), so I pointed out the mistake. The check out girl, clearly exhausted and uninterested in SuperFresh's bottom line, told me not to worry about it. Now, if this had been a $2.99 pack of Diet Coke, I might have let it go -- but really -- $39.99, and my kid at my side to boot? No way. We finished the transaction with the disinterested check out girl and walked over to the Customer Help desk. After waiting for an awfully long time to try to give SuperFresh more money, a customer service rep finally fixed the error and sent us on our way. We headed home to try out our fancy new knives, and make our fancy dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, only to discover that I had left our freshly-purchased milk on the SuperFresh customer service desk. Grrrr. That's what I get for being honest.

la gatica chiquita

2009-06-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

First, some advice. When you get your next kitten, please give her a real name, because when she escapes from the house and climbs 60 feet up the tree in your backyard, you are going to feel like a real asshole standing at the bottom of the tree yelling, "Tiny Kitten."

Also, should the above scenario befall you or someone you know, do everyone a favor and refrain from dispensing the two most useless pieces of advice:

1) "Put a can of cat food or tuna at the bottom of the tree." If the cat can't figure out how to get down, aren't you really torturing the poor thing by putting a tasty treat way out of her reach? I mean, maybe if a fat guy got stuck up your tree, you could get him to scramble down for a plate of nachos and a beer, but cats don't seem to think that way.
2) "Call the fire department" They don't really do that, unless the volunteer fireman on duty happens to be the brother of the kid who ice skated over your daughter's fingers resulting in her getting eight stitches and a deformed fingernail, and even when they do do that, they are not very good at it.

You should also refrain from making the following statement: "You never see a cat skeleton up a tree." Because, while that may be true, it is not particularly helpful when someone is trying to figure out how to get their apparently-really-stupid-and-frightened-cat out of a tree. But if you do think the cat is dead and turning rapidly skeletal in the tree, try to do a little more investigating before you and your child break down in hysterics, sobbing things like "Tiny Kitten was too young to die," because it is highly likely that the cat is playing possum.

So, you ask, what SHOULD do if your cat gets stuck up a tree? Borrow your neighbor's 40-foot ladder and call my brother Andrew.

she's crafty, part II

2009-06-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update about our Clark Park Flea Market adventures....with pictures. Despite some setbacks (kitten in a tree, road closures, no coffee), I managed to arrive at Clark Park unscathed. Andrew had MANY terrariums (awesome!) and Marianne had vintage clothes (killer demin jumpsuit! you should buy it!) AND some crafts (mustache pins! amazing potholders!) We set up camp, and then basically hung out for about 7 hours, with a rotating cast of visitors, and periodic rain. Our booth was definitely the most fun (I felt kind of bad for the lonely jewelry-seller next to us -- we were kind of obnoxious, as you can imagine.) All told, I made about $70. To my surprise, my wallpaper notecards were my most popular item, and my button rings, not so much. Thanks to everyone who helped/hung out/bought stuff. Etsy shop will be up by the end of this week, and fully stocked!

she's crafty

2009-06-07T18:56:00.001-07:00

I have been crafting like a maniac in preparation for the Clark Park Flea Market, coming up this Saturday, where I will be sharing a table with Andrew (whimsical terrariums) and Marianne (cool vintage clothes). Once the Flea Market is over, I will unveil my new Etsy shop -- LucyEatsCake. But I know you are on the edge of your seat to see my wares, so here is a preview:

Vintage Button Rings (I inherited an amazing button collection from Aunt Jud.)

Serving Trays (that's vintage fabric, also from Aunt Jud, who rescued it before a museum sent it to the landfill. remind me to tell you about the time we all had to catalog the fabric collection. it was pretty hilarious.)

Bulletin Boards with Vintage Button Pushpins (that's vintage vinyl wallpaper, which I ordered from eBay -- isn't it spectacular? I probably have enough to wallpaper your whole house, so just let me know if you are interested.)

I have a selection of other items -- some button magnets, notecards with wallpaper -- I have been a little obsessed. If you're in Philly on Saturday, come visit us....and after that, go see my etsy shop! I just need to earn enough cash to support my craft habit!

a photo tour

2009-05-26T18:09:00.001-07:00

I usually post new pictures on facebook, often with little (sometimes amusing!) captions....but since I am struggling for a blog post topic, and hate to disappoint readers who are thirsty for an update (welcome to the club, Barbie!), I thought I'd give a little tour of my recent days, with photo exhibits.

Exhibit A: My Fridge
I opened my fridge yesterday, and it just looked so bountiful and pleasing that I had to take a picture. Here are some things you can see: 1) large plastic container of pureed strawberries from last year's picking expedition, thawing out to be made into jam (more on that later); 2) a big container of MJP-style potato salad for our Memorial Day cookout with my dad, Jenny, and Peter; 3) bread & butter pickles from Trader Joe's, best served on my favorite sandwich - ham, cheddar, spicy dijon mustard, pickles, on TJ's Tuscan Pane, toasted panini-style; 4) organic brown eggs from Margit & Marianne's CSA; and 5) fresh cilantro and a cantaloupe from the new Asian produce stand at the corner of Philadelphia Pike and Beeson Ave (amazingly cheap, totally non-organic produce).

Exhibit B: Strawberry Picking at Filasky's Produce
On Sunday, Lucy, Lindsay, Max and I headed down to Middletown, past every big box store and chain restaurant you can think of (Starbucks? check. Home Depot? check. Wal-Mart? check. Buffalo Wild Wings? mais bien sur.) until we reached the bucolic farmlands of Filasky's Produce. In about 45 minutes, we had each picked close to five pounds of sweet, juicy strawberries. If you've never done it, you really should. It's easy to do, and really becomes quite compelling - can you find THE perfect strawberry? After filling our buckets, which were deceptively roomy (5 lbs of strawberries is a lot), we headed to the produce stand to pay, and to buy the kids ice cream (it was almost 10 AM after all), and then headed back up north for Pajama Brunch at Buckley's. My blueberry pancakes were terrible, but everything else was good, and it was nice to hang out with the Lowry-Lebberns, an all-too-rare occurrence. I went home and set to work on berry preparation, while Richard kindly offered to go on a hunt for canning jars. You'll remember that in Exhibit A above, I referenced last year's berries.....So last year, I picked many pounds of strawberries in NJ, brought them home, cleaned them, pureed them, planning excitedly for fresh jam - while Richard went out looking for jars. Couldn't find them anywhere. Berries went into the freezer, where they have waited patiently for a year to be turned into delicious jammy goodness. So in some ways, canning jars are to Richard what Moby Dick was to Captain Ahab. And his quest this year was epic: SuperFresh, Happy Harry's, Dollar Store, Home Depot, KMart, Rite Aid, Christmas Tree Shop, and finally, Michael's, where you can buy Ball jars in the Wedding aisle (duh). Thanks to Richard, both this year's berries and last are now jam.

Exhibit C: LARPing in Clark Park
I don't know if you know this, but Richard is a bit of a geek. You know, he loves sci fi, played dungeons and dragons as a kid, reads comic books. And I know Geek is the New Cool, but still, some of geekdom is hard for me. Case in point: LARPing (translation for the uninitiated: Live Action Role Playing). This is where a group of people get together in public, often in costume, and act out battles with foam swords, often using various "magic" spells (have you seen the movie "Role Models"? That's LARPing.). On Saturday, we were in Clark Park with Margit and Marianne, enjoying a delicious ice cream cone from the Mister Softee truck, watching a very diverse group of people (black, white, asian, little kids, teenagers, adults, and even a couple of girls!) playing Capture the Flag, with foam swords. Lucy was entranced, and really wanted to play, but wasn't sure how. We watched for awhile, and it seemed like there were two teams, Headbands and No Headbands (we were very thankful it was not Shirts and Skins) who were each guarding a flag at a tree on opposite sides of the park. It looked like if you hit someone from the opposite team with your foam sword, they had to sit out for awhile, and could then rejoin the game after visiting their home tree. (I am sure there were many more intricacies that we were unable to ascertain just by watching from a bench.) Lucy kept saying she wanted to play, and we told her she could - she just needed to go grab a sword and start whacking people. Richard finally offered to walk her over to pick up a sword, and while he had it in his hand getting ready to offer it to Lucy, someone from the Headbands team instantly descended on him and gave him a whack. Margit, Marianne, and I almost died laughing. Richard and Lucy sparred for awhile, and then she joined the game and had a great time. (At one point, some of the game leaders called for a "Reality Check", which basically meant that the game stopped for a minute because something out of the ordinary had happened. Turned out someone was vomiting.) I just wish that the whole time Lucy was playing and having fun, I wasn't worried that she would turn into a weird kid whose only friends were people who LARPed. I insisted on calling it Capture the Flag with Foam Swords. I am a bad person.

Exhibit D: The Chickens Come for a Visit
Last weekend, Richard bought a nice pork roast at Trader Joe's that was really too big for the three of us, so we invited Andrew, Margit and Marianne over for dinner. Before we knew it, the guest list had grown to include roommates and boyfriends (which necessitated an additional pork purchase), and then there were some jokes about bringing all the dogs, and then, to Andrew, "Why don't you bring the chickens too?" So he did. In Andrew's West Philadelphia apartment that he shares with his very tolerant roommate Farris, Andrew is raising not only 1 dog, 3 stray cats (and a current litter of 4 kittens), 1 very mean turtle, and 1 stray adult chicken (Annie), but also 4 (or is it 5?) baby chicks (don't worry - the chicken coop is almost done!). The chicks came for a visit, and were delightful guests. As were all of the siblings, partners, and roommates - we love them all!

kirsten is writing this blog post

2009-05-06T04:13:00.001-07:00

Has it happened to you yet? You're participating in some activity in your daily life, say cooking dinner or watching a movie, and you hear a third-person narration in your head....."Kirsten is cooking homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner," or "Kirsten is watching 'Frozen River' (Melissa Leo definitely deserved that Oscar nomination but man, is she looking rough)." It's like that movie where Will Farrell plays a writer who's disturbed by the voice of Emma Thompson narrating his life as he lives it -- but much more mundane.

It's the curse of the Facebook status update.

I have really noticed it this week, for some reason. In my mind, I'll sort of stop what I'm doing and think about whether or not my current activity would make a compelling status update. Because the status update really is an art form, I think. I am a fan of a pithy, amusing update -- one that makes me think fondly of the updater, and admire his or her clever turn of phrase. A mini book or movie review can offer nice insight into what you're interested in, and can spark some good discussion. A little mystery can be fun too, as long as it is not taken too far, or for too long. I also like a link -- if it is funny or interesting or food-related. I really dislike the complaints -- I actually de-friended one person whose more-than-daily updates ran the very narrow gamut of "Stacy (not her real name) sprained her ankle" (followed by at least 20 pictures of her swollen ankle) to "Stacy has a cold" or "Stacy is sad." I understand that sometimes you feel crummy and want some cyber support, but hey -- just try to make it interesting, and don't overdo it. (On the other hand, I have another FB friend whose exotic travel-related updates usually make me roll my eyes -- so maybe don't overdo it on the interesting either.)

I enjoyed doing status update haikus a couple of weeks ago -- I thought it gave the "form" some nice structure, and added an element of craft. (I am still considering starting a new haiku blog -- something along the lines of Haiku My Life - your life story in 17 syllables -- could be fun, right?)

But 95% of the internal status updates that zip through my brain do not pass muster, and I think with good reason. Do you really care that I ate a lean pocket and an english muffin for dinner (I did -- so sad) or that I need to trim my toenails but I can't find the toenail clippers (also true)? I will pledge to try to keep my updates interesting if you will. And let me know -- what are your key status update dos & don'ts?

kick ass at life

2009-05-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

Ally blogged about it here, I bought it here, and I am blogging it here. So meta.

ps -- look at my craft area. isn't it cute?

la gripe porcina

2009-05-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, during the peak of panic about Swine Flu, my mother emailed me, worried about Lucy, and recommended that I call Dr. Borin (aka The Good Doctor) to make sure that he had flu supplies on hand. On Thursday, Richard did one better, calling the Cardiac Center at Nemours to see if there were any special precautions we should take, in light of her heart stuff -- the answer was a resounding "No" -- and that if Lucy did display any signs of flu, to visit the pediatrician.

Lo and behold, at 5:30 Friday morning, Lucy came into our bedroom complaining of headache and sore throat. Now Lucy is the queen of the late night and early morning stomach ache...but she rarely varies her symptoms. I groggily instructed her to climb into bed with me (Richard was already up, getting ready to head to Dover for Quality Examiner Training), and as soon as she curled up next to me, I could tell she had a fever. Miraculously, I was able to find both the children's Tylenol and the thermometer, so I dosed her up, and took her temp -- about 101. Lucy and I are dedicated viewers of the Today Show, so we were on Swine Flu overload this past week -- and while it seems like the cases in the US have been mild, all I could think was that Lucy was going to be Delaware's Elementary School Patient Zero, and bring the Brandywine School District to its knees. And poor Lucy herself was convinced that she had the Swine Flu -- I had to talk her down.

We called Dr. Borin's on-call service (Nemours), and after an interminable wait (during which, I am sure, hundreds of other nervous parents were running Swine Flu scenarios with the service), we finally spoke to a Triage Technician (they are no longer called nurses, I noticed -- I am sure technicians are cheaper). The Triage Tech had all sorts of info about Lucy at her fingertips, and given Lucy's history, recommended that we head to the ER. This put me in a quandary -- the Nemours Cardiac Center had told us NOT to go to the ER, but the Nemours On-Call Service told us that we should. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and we decided to wait until Borin's office opened at 8 for our next set of instructions. So Lucy and I got up for our morning dose of the Today Show (Swine Flu confirmed in Delaware! Joe Biden tells people not to use public transportation! No Doubt to perform in the 8:30 half hour!) and Richard headed to Dover.

I finally got through to Borin's office at around 8:15 AM, and they told me that they could see Lucy at 9:30, but that I needed to call the office from the parking lot and someone would come out to the car with a mask for her to wear as a precaution. The good news about the 9:30 appt. was that Lucy and I were able to watch No Doubt perform on the Today Show summer stage -- they rocked, and Gwen looked adorable, as always. (During the commercial break between songs I bought us tickets for their show at the Tweeter in June. Wanna come? Lawn seats were only $10!) Then Richard called me to tell me he was having psychosomatic flu symptoms, and was going to come home, not wanting to infect the other loyal state employees pursuing their Quality Examiners Certification with psychosomatic flu.

We headed to Borin's at 9:30, and Richard met us in the parking lot with Lucy's mask, which she donned without complaint (the poor thing looked like Michael Jackson on a trip to the mall), and we headed straight back to an exam room. After another long wait, we were seen by Dr. Goldberg, who was perfectly nice, but was most decidedly NOT Dr. Borin (I am not sure she was actually old enough to have a driver's license, let alone prescriptive authority). She said that Lucy's symptoms were not really indicative of flu, but could be strep, so she did a rapid strep test. The strep test was negative, so Dr. Goldberg wrote us a scrip for a flu test, just in case.....

Headed to Nemours, with Lucy in her mask, and were sent straight back to the lab. Lucy was whisked into the lab hallway to wait for someone from Respiratory to come do the flu test. While we waited, a teenager in a mask joined us in the hall -- I got the impression that the lab was doing a pretty brisk trade in flu tests. (While we waited, Richard visited the Cardiac Center to let them know Lucy was in the hospital lab getting a flu test, and they thanked him for his call the day before which had prompted them to establish a Swine Flu protocol....yay Richard!) The flu test itself was pretty straightforward -- the tech squirted saline up Lucy's nose, and then sucked the saline and some boogers (her word) up with a tiny catheter. Took all of 30 seconds, and we were on our way, with results promised within a few hours.

Lucy and I went home to hang out and wait, while Richard shopped for popsicles and other important provisions (like a cheesesteak for me for lunch). Dr. Goldberg called mid-afternoon to let us know that Lucy did NOT have the flu. Lucy and I were so relieved that we each took a long nap (mine 2 hours, hers 3).

So that was our brush with the Swine Flu. It is now Sunday, and Lucy is still feverish (and a little obsessed with taking her own temperature -- you'd think she was charting her basal temp for her fertility chart). Other symptoms are minimal -- a slight sore throat, and general malaise. Hopefully, she will be back to normal by tomorrow. We're having homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, so that should help.

Happy Peep-ster!

2009-04-10T19:06:00.001-07:00

Check out these awesome Peep dioramas! Who wants to enter the contest with me next year?

love love love...

2009-04-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

...the fabric from this designer. Particularly the Garden Party line. can't find stuff like this at Joann Fabrics, that's for sure. but, in defense of Joann's, no one provides rude, terrible service quite as well as they do.

Mom 2.0 and Roberto

2009-03-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

I may be mom 2.0, starting a Facebook fan page for Lucy, but I do monitor her blog and email accounts (she's only 9!). Today, imagine my delight to find that Lucy had a marriage proposal waiting for her in her spam box, from Roberto. Marrying her off now would save so many headaches later! And Roberto has a way with words:

Reply back if interested in my proposal
of a marital life abroad with me in Paris,
in your actual life, only

Roberto (France)

I have no idea how Roberto came to be emailing Lucy - but you should check out his blog (especially all you single ladies) - it's kind of amazing. Here is one of my favorite parts:

If you're really ready to live your life
with me, i should advise you to take a stagecoach
in direction to Paris, in the case you live in the same
continent, cause planes are expensive.

(what? a stagecoach?)

Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to see Roberto's pictures -- you won't be sorry. But be forewarned:

Replies started with infantile negativism &
inconsistent clownish mockery will be zapped
& automatically filtered as well (this is a warning
for immature & aimless time killers).

look at these pretty pictures

2009-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

The intersection of the art and science of everyday objects. Beautiful.

more lovely

2009-03-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

It is not every day that the author of one of your favorite books offers to call you and sing you a lullaby...but if they do, you should take them up on it. Here's the story. On Wednesday, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (see my related posts here and here) used her Facebook status to offer up a lullaby-by-phone. We messaged back and forth, I gave her my number, and last night at around 10:45 she called me. We chit-chatted briefly, and then she offered me a choice of 2 songs -- "Love is a Song that You Sing in Your Heart" or "Shalom." I chose the former, and settled back for the lullaby (feeling only slightly awkward -- I did offer Amy the chance NOT to sing, but she insisted that a promise is a promise). So Amy sang. And lovely was beckoned.....

please visit...

2009-03-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

...Lucy's new blog (so far, it's a little less racy than the old one).

i want to make these

2009-03-08T11:18:00.001-07:00

from photojojo, by way of designsponge. isn't this a clever way to display photos? (and by the way, my photo jars might have as many gays in them as the photo jars in this picture....)

creative envy

2009-03-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is exactly the kind of project that gives me creative envy....quirky, mixed-media, used to tell a compelling story. While I do have a creative side (and a craft table!), I definitely don't consider myself to be artistic in a paint-y or draw-y way, and my overly active left-brain (and my half-assed-ness) often gets in my way.

a blog post for lucy

2009-02-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Since Lucy has ceased blogging (she actually asked me awhile ago if she could shut her old blog down because it is embarrassing...imagine...to be nine and have all of your eight-year-old thoughts on the internet...the horror! maybe I should scan and post my sixth grade diary where I spend pages writing Kevin Bacon's name in various handwriting styles)....I thought I would share this great poem she wrote at school as part of a biography project.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick was strong
Frederick was smart
Frederick was a slave
Frederick decided he needed to be, needed to be free
So off he went on a mysterious ship
To embark on a trip to the north, to the north
And once he was there he lived as a free man
A free man
Once he was there he lived as a free man.

LBJO, 2/19/09

platanos, puerto rican style

2009-02-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

I was perusing Mark Bittman's Bitten blog, which is one of my new favorites, and found a recipe for Platanos Maduros (sauteed ripe plantains), which gave me a craving for a slightly different take on this tropical banana cousin. During my senior year in college, and the summer after I graduated, I worked at an afterschool/summer camp program at a local public school in Hartford, CT, with a student body that was 75% Puerto Rican. Whenever we would have a picnic or potluck, someone was bound to bring Puerto Rican-style platanos, which are double-fried unripe platains (known as tostones in other places). I instantly fell in love, and had one of the Puerto Rican staff members teach me how to make them. It's been years since I've made them, and the only part I could remember had something to do with smashing the slices in the plaintain peel, so I had to google a reminder recipe (please click this link so you can see the majesty of the platano). I will definitely be picking up unripe plantains the next time I see them, along with some adobo seasoning, and maybe some queso fresco, so I can fry up a batch. Muy delicioso!

StoryCorps

2009-01-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

One of the best things we did when we were in New York last weekend was to record a story at the StoryCorps booth in Lower Manhattan (if you don't know about StoryCorps, you should read about it here). I was the interviewer and Richard was the storyteller, and we talked about Lucy's heart defect. The StoryCorps facilitator did a fantastic job at putting us at ease, and in spite of the microphone, and the small audience (Lucy and the facilitator), it felt like Richard and I were just having a private conversation. It was a really cool experience -- I recommend doing it. If you are so inclined, feel free to listen.

And since we are on the subject of heart defects, here are a some related links if you want to learn more:
The Congenital Heart Information Network (a great source of information and support)
Nemours Cardiac Center (Lucy's wonderful hospital)
Make-a-Wish (Lucy had a wish granted because of her heart defect, and it was awesome)

hipster much?

2009-01-25T18:11:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

Mike Sebba gave Lucy these awesome glasses (with no glass) which Lucy wore around Brooklyn and the West Village all day. She was happy as a clam, and managed to look both ridiculous and amazing at the same time. She finally took them off to go to sleep, but I think it is safe to say you will be seeing them a lot in the weeks to come. Thanks Mike -- I mean it!

you say it's your birthday

2009-01-23T07:35:00.000-08:00

Today's blog post is dedicated to Richard, because it is his birthday. And not just any birthday, mind you, but his 40th. In honor of this special day, I am posting some fun facts about Richard that you might not have known (and some that you probably do).

1. He is from Nuneaton, a small town near Coventry, in the middle of England. Nuneaton was a fabric mill town, and Richard's grandfather served in WWII in Egyptian cotton mills. Nuneaton was also the home to famous British author George Eliot, who was a lady. A lady named George -- imagine that..... As a side note, Nuneaton is about as far away from the ocean as you can get in England, yet Richard's mother is an avid supporter of the Bristish Lifeboating Association. That has always amused me.

2. Richard went to college a couple of times in England, but it didn't stick. He was actually accepted to some library science programs, but for some reason pursued sociology and nursing. He had to come here to be a British Librarian.

3. After the non-sticking college experience(s), Richard went to Israel where he worked on both a kibbutz and a moshav (farm). He has some great stories about the farm -- shooting porcupines from the back of an ultralight plane, living with runaway convicts, etc.

4. When I first met Richard, I thought he was Jewish. Refer to # 3.

5. When I first met Richard, he had long hair in a pony tail (which he did not wash for a year, as an experiment), skinny legs that ended in Doc Marten boots, and all his belongings fit in a backpack. Needless to say, he was dreamy.

6. Richard did a six month internship at a huge homeless shelter in DC, and was much beloved by the residents and staff. When we got married in Cecil County, MD (hotbed of the KKK) at the shelter where we met, a van-ful of African-American homeless people drove up for our wedding, to mingle with the rural white homeless people. Good times.

7. Richard loves to read. Anything and everything. He is happiest with his nose in some kind of reading material. He approaches the Economist the same way I approach Entertainment Weekly. For some reason, he knows MUCH more about current events than I do. He was meant to be a librarian. But for some reason, he refuses to change his name to Giles.

8. Speaking of Giles, Richard loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV show and the comic books. He also loves most science fiction, the Blade trilogy, and the collected works of the incredible actress, Michelle Rodriguez. You may be surprised to learn that he played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons as a youth. But now is his time, since Geek is the new Cool.

9. Richard is kind of deaf, which makes going to bars and restaurants kind of a bummer for him. But he likes to hang out with people, and is quite chatty. He is really funny, especially to Andrew. It took him some time to get used to my crazy family, and he still refuses to play Pictionary with us, but he loves it when everyone is around.

10. Richard is a great dad. He loves Lucy to the moon and back. Lucy and I both get a little scared when he uses his stern dad voice, but that is a rare occurrence. Richard is also a great husband. He would do anything for me, which is pretty amazing. I think his favorite thing to do is just hang out with me and Lucy, especially if he can be covered in cats.

11. Richard loves cats. Dogs, not so much, but he walks them and takes them to the park, and sometimes I catch him snuggling with Butterstick.

12. Richard can play the piano, guitar, and pretty much any stringed instrument. For awhile (when we lived in Cecil County), he had a banjo. I wish he would play more.

13. Richard is artistic. I always teased him when he was in school because he was Mr. 4.0. Then he had to take a studio art class, which I thought would bring an end to his perfect GPA. Imagine my surprise when he started painting amazing works of art. Next time you are at our house, check out the painting of paper cranes that hangs in our living room. Richard painted it, and it is awesome.

14. Richad has a tattoo that says "sui generis", which is Latin for one-of-a-kind (who knew?). Once, when he was at the Wawa, the clerk asked him if it said "You so generous" -- so now it does, in our hearts.

15. There are many more fun facts I could share, but we are getting ready to go to NYC to celebrate his big day, so I will end by saying:
I glitter heart Richard, and wish him a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't wait to see what he will be like at 50, 60, 70, 80....and more!

Love Love,
Me

2oo9 resolution update

2009-01-07T15:29:00.001-08:00

Floss.

Went to the dentist yesterday (it had been 2 years -- how did that happen?), and not only do I have cavities that need to be filled, but I also have an abscess in a tooth that has already had a root canal and crown. I have known for awhile that something was going on in that general area of my mouth, but the issues I was having were gum-related -- and I couldn't imagine there could actually be anything in the tooth to be a problem. But there is. And it is called pus, I think. I am on antibiotics to clear up the infection, and have a consult with the endodontist next week. Now, the tooth itself has not been hurting -- until today. Thanks Amoxicillin.

Good news -- no mouth cancer. Bad news -- bad dental coverage.

2009

2009-01-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's 2009 (which, as Margit pointed out, is the last year that you can make New Year's glasses with 2 0s for the eyes. now what?), and it is time to make resolutions, which I don't usually do. No one ever keeps them, do they? But, for blog's sake, here are a few:

1) blog more
2) facebook less
3) read more (I am avoiding a significant portion of the Strand's top 80, for sure)
4) watch TV less
5) do more arts & crafts
6) do fun things with the some of the 4,000+ pictures in my flickr account
7) play more games with Lucy
8) go on more dates with Richard
9) master some tasty new dishes
10) and of course, eat better and go to the gym

Happy New Year!
xoxo -- Kirsten

spell with flickr

2008-11-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

yes we did!

2008-11-08T08:17:00.001-08:00

According to Richard, who monitors my blog stats via Google Analytics, there was a huge spike in visits to my blog on election day, which leads me to believe that 40 of you (or ten of you who visited four times) were curious to know my thoughts on that momentous day. Here's the scoop -- I couldn't possibly blog that day because we were so busy electing Barack Obama!

Lucy and I headed over to the Bellefonte Fire Station at 7 am, and waited in line for about 40 minutes to vote, which seemed like a good sign to me. After our annual trip to the cardiologist (Lucy is fine! Come back in a year! Yay!), we went to Obama HQ in Wilmington, and were sent to Chester for GOTV activities, from a church basement in a housing project. It was an incredible operation -- people in and out all day -- tons of them from Delaware. Lucy, Richard and I knocked on about 75 doors in an African-American working class neighborhood. Most of the people we talked to were lovely, and most had already voted (we were on the second pass of three through the neighborhood). We were amazed (and frankly, appalled) by the polling station there -- it was the dilapidated clubhouse for the abandoned neighborhood swimming pool. According to one of the residents, the polls had closed for about 30 minutes because part of the ceiling had collapsed on some voters....Nice.

After canvassing, we headed back to Wilmington HQ. I made some phone calls to Virginia voters, and Richard made calls on behalf of the Delaware Dems. Lucy made signs. We saw Andrew and his friend Mandy, who had also volunteered to GOTV in Chester, got yelled at by the Delaware Campaign Director for chatting, but had a good time nonetheless. The energy in the room was high -- people were really optimistic about how the race was going to go. While we were there, we got the info on the planned Victory Party, and the Campaign Director (who I know from my last job) invited us to come to the Obama Volunteers Party room, which Lucy thought was pretty special.

Headed home to let out the dogs, and stopped by to visit our next door neighbors, who had also been on a GOTV mission, and ended up hanging out with them and their extended family for dinner and to watch early returns. It was nerve-wracking. As McCain-heavy returns would come in, Richard would remind everyone that these were tiny fractions of the precincts that had reported, or that the returns were from states McCain was expected to win, and that they were not signs of an apocalypse. We finally got too antsy to stay, and since the returns had started to move in Obama's favor, we decided to head downtown for the Victory Party (we didn't want to go the a Victory Party if McCain won -- how depressing would that have been?).

The party was fun -- most of the Delaware democrats were there giving victory speeches (we were standing right behind John Carney while Jack Markell gave his speech -- it seemed so sad, and I kind of wanted to give John a hug -- but Richard assures me that he will be OK). There was a balloon drop, which is always fun, although it seemed kind of early in the night. We saw tons of people we knew, which was cool --as I have said before, I like to surround myself with people who agree with me politically. Poor Lucy was exhausted, and really wanted to go into the special Obama Volunteers room, which had been on lockdown for some reason. At around 9:30, we finally got to go into the room, which just had marginally better food than the main ballroom, but worse TV. By 10:30, Lucy was about to collapse, so we headed home, just in time to see the election called for Obama.

Incredible. For the first time in 8 years, I was crying with happiness and pride, instead of sobbing in despair and threatening to leave the country. A couple of people have sent me messages thanking Richard, Lucy and me for our hard work on the campaign -- and I appreciate that -- but honestly, it was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. As cliched as it is to say, it was so cool to see a truly diverse group of people (young, old, black, white, men, women, dogs, etc.) coming together for a common purpose. And despite the terrible state of the economy, and the war, and the general shittiness of the world right now, I do have hope for the future, and a belief that Obama will help get us headed back in the right direction. And I am particularly glad that Lucy was able to be a part of all of this, too.

On Thursday, flickr created a group photo pool of messages for Obama. You should check it out -- the messages range from funny to inspiring (and a lot of people really want to make sure that the Obamas adopt a rescue dog). Here is mine (you may recognize a certain PostSecret-ness about it), which sums up my feelings about the election:

(To see the image larger, click here.) And thanks for visiting. Now that the election is over, I will have more time for blogging (if I can stop playing so much WordTwist on Facebook....).

the beckoning of lovely

2008-10-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Today I got an email from the author of my favorite book (see previous blog references here and here), Amy Krouse Rosenthal, that said the following:

"hello kirsten,
a) i save all my nice emails
b) yours falls into that category [i sent Amy an email two years ago thanking her for writing my favorite book, in particular the entry about NPR's Sylvia Poggioli -- a copy of my e-mail was included at the bottom of Amy's e-mail today -- impressive!]
c) i do not send out formal/official/mass updates or newsletters about my work
d) however, every once in a blue moon, i stumble into something that i might feel is worth letting you (someone who expressed interest in my work) personally know about
e) this is one of those moons
f) so here it is. it just launched a few days ago
g) PLEASE...if you want to be taken out of my "saved forever" email folder, just say the word in a reply email and consider it done. and accept my apology now.
h) if you do like the above, please feel free to pass it along to friends. the more people who see it and participate, the better... (this will make sense after viewing)

all my very best today and beyond,
amy k.r."

Needless to say, I viewed the video, and it choked me up a little, so I thought I would share it with my faithful blog readers. Watch the video, and see if you want to participate in the action with me.

all my very best today and beyond,
kirsten b.o.

if i were 17...

2008-09-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

he would be on my boyfriend list. but he's not. because i am not a total perv.

not for the faint of heart

2008-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Weight watchers food was hilarious in 1974.

what i learned from NPR today

2008-09-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

people are weird.

back in the saddle

2008-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

After a good (actually bad) two years of terrible job stress and personal life craziness, including anti-anxiety meds (MAY CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN! REALLY!) and abandonment of the gym...I have turned into a complete blob. But that is changing! Last week, I started Weight Watchers online (which I have used very successfully in the past), and headed back to the Y. Three good workouts on the elliptical last week made me think I should try a Saturday morning (pre-Brew Ha Ha) step class. Amazingly, I survived the 50-minute workout -- muscle memory is a good thing. I was feeling awfully impressed with myself...until about 3 PM Saturday when my knee started locking up and my calves began throbbing. But hey -- it's all part of the process, right? It's funny though -- sometimes the gym can seem like such a chore -- another obligation in an already busy day. But once I get there, I remember that I actually enjoy it. Step class is so fun, and bopping away on the ellipse, having an awesome gay 80s disco party in my head (George Michael! Erasure! Duran Duran! and some Dixie Chicks for good measure...) while watching Giada DiLaurentis do food porn on the big TV -- super. The only downside -- it is really hard for me not to sing out loud to my ipod. Like really hard. I want to do elliptical karaoke. I can picture the disco ball over my head perfectly.

hope-a-rama

2008-09-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

We went down to the Wilmington Obama-Biden (or joeBAMA as we like to call it) headquarters today to sign up to volunteer. We ran in to lots of people we know, which was great -- like I said to someone earlier this week, I like to surround myself with people who agree with my politics -- I don't have time for the others' foolishness. We signed up to come back to help out in the office next week, bought a few pins (wanted a T-shirt but they didn't have my size, and really, will I ever wear it?), and took Lucy's picture with Barack himself. It's always exciting to participate in the democratic process.

stress test

2008-08-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

stress test
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

Lucy visited the Nemours Cardiac Center on Friday for a stress test (or an exercise test, which we were calling it to make it seem more benign). Not only did she look super-cool in all the gear (look how her shirt matches the headgear, nose clamps, and breathing tube!), but more importantly, she passed with flying colors. Her two-chambered heart performed as well as your standard four-chambered heart. She is such a star!

cakewrecks

2008-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to this hilarious blog this week and had to share. Please check it out -- and keep scrolling -- you won't be disappointed.

oooh...another movie

2008-08-13T14:55:00.001-07:00

Once. Best movie I have seen in recent times. Just a sweet story with great music. And Glen Hansard was in the Commitments. Can you find him here?

movies...part II

2008-08-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I posted the first part of my movie list that I am not sure I even remember what movies I was planning to discuss for Part II. Hmmm....let's see. OK, I remember (actually, I found the scrap of the paper I wrote the list on):

Run Lola Run. I am not usually one for foreign films (subtitles = boring), but the three variations on Lola's attempts to save her boyfriend from almost certain disaster in this German movie are so different and so compelling, and Franka Potente's red hair is amazing. (I loved her again in the Bourne movies.)

The Royal Tenenbaums. I loved Wes Anderson's Rushmore too, which marked the welcomed return of Bill Murray to the screen, but the beautifully detailed set pieces, narration by Alec Baldwin and fantastic accompanying soundtrack to the Royal Tenenbaums make this one a favorite. The costumes are fantastic (especially Gwyneth Paltrow's wooden finger), the backstories are dry and funny, and while I'm usually not a fan of Ben Stiller, his portrayal of the widowed father panicked at the thought of losing his family is touching. Gene Hackman rocks my socks, as always. And Luke Wilson? See my list of boyfriends. 'Nuff said.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party. I had no expectation that I would like this movie -- to me, Dave Chappelle's humor teeters terribly close to the brink of offensive, and I am not overly familiar with or "into" R & B, rap, or hip hop artists. But I LOVED this movie. I found Dave Chappelle and his quest to bring the high school marching band to NY for the block party incredibly winning, the musical performances electrifying, and the story about the weird couple living in their creepy unfinished house fascinating. This is a great feel-good movie.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I watched this again last night, and fell in love all over again. This movie is so cleverly made, with the chronology bouncing all around but coming together perfectly in the end. When Joel's last memory of Clementine is erased, I always cry....but have hope that they will end up together again because that's what's meant to be. Plus, Mark Ruffalo in Ray Bans (see "boyfriends," again) and Kate Winslet with multi-colored hair (see "girlfriends"). Perfect.

Knocked Up. What can I say? I am a big fan of the Apatow oeuvre, from Freaks and Geeks to Superbad. (Haven't seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Pineapple Express yet, but I will.) I loved The 40-Year Old Virgin (oops...I forgot to put Catherine Keener on the girlfriends list...but she is on it in my heart) -- thought it was raunchy and sweet in a perfect mix, and Superbad features Michael Cera who I love love love, but Knocked Up wins it for me. Seth Rogen is so appealing as the father-to-be, I don't hate Katherine Heigl as much as I usually do, and Seth Rogen's roommates are HILARIOUS (and don't get me started on Kristin Wiig as the bitter TV producer, Craig Robinson as the brutally honest bouncer, and Judd Apatow/Leslie Mann's kids as the kids). But, my favorite thing about the movie is the subplot featuring Paul Rudd (boyfriend alert!) and Leslie Mann, who are painfully believable as a long-married couple. Plus, this movie features one of the best dialogue exchanges ever, including the line: "You look like a chollo on Easter." I am laughing while I type that.

Movies are awesome, right?

delicious

2008-08-06T04:44:00.000-07:00

very tasty but expensive.

hilarious

2008-08-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

this is surprisingly funny.

a note for people who use public bathrooms...

2008-07-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

...if you are a "hoverer" and you piss all over the seat, please please please wipe it up. really. that's gross.

i'm not a lesbian...but i sure have a lot of girlfriends

2008-07-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

You've met my boyfriends, and not one of you had a comment. Now I am going to list my girlfriends. For non-lesbians like myself (really, I am not a lesbian), I think girl crushes are more to do with wanting to be LIKE the person you are in love with, than to be WITH them...so here they are, in no particular order.

Tina Fey...if Franco liked me, he would introduce me to Tina. I know we would be besties, and she would tell me all about how she got her scar.
Heidi Klum...every time I see her, I have to say how pretty she is. And when she laughs her maniacal laugh, I laugh too.
Maggie Gyllenhaal...so much cuter than Jake. And did you see her in "Secretary"?
Helen Mirren....Forget "The Queen." Helen is the hottest cougar I know. You really must click the link and look at the picture. Amazing.
Courtney Cox...has shiny hair. Just ask Richard.
Scarlett Johanssen....so obvious. A terrible actress, but unbelievable voice, boobs, and lips.
And my favorite girlfriend of all, Kate Winslet....She is incredibly naturally pretty and so sure of herself, with a hot body to boot. And you should see her in "Extras" -- dressed as a nun and cursing like a sailor -- hilarious.

OK -- who did I miss?

my boyfriends

2008-07-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

I have decided to do the list of my boyfriends before I finish my movie list. Remember, these are MY boyfriends...you can't have them. (And if you don't think they are cute, keep it to yourself.)

In no particular order:

Hugh Laurie....loved him as a comedian in multiple BBC shows ("A Bit of Fry and Laurie," "Blackadder"), but on "House," he is gorgeous.
Christian Bale...from floppy-haired Laurie in "Little Women" to sociopathic Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho" to Batman in a codpiece (everyone looks better in a codpiece).
Mark Ruffalo...hangdog puppy man. I heart him.
Casey Affleck...my newest boyfriend, after watching "Gone Baby Gone." I will have to see if this one sticks.
Gordon Ramsay...so ugly he is hot. I love a man who curses.
Luke Wilson...he has a lantern jaw.
Justin Long...too young for me, but so adorable...and he shills for Mac.
Dave Grohl...the nicest man in Rock and Roll, according to Richard.
Paul Rudd...hilarious AND handsome.
Ewan MacGregor...He is my favorite boyfriend (and not that this matters, but he's kind of a big deal, if you know what I mean).

Richard wants me to make sure that I let you all know that he is my Number 1 Boyfriend. Note to Richard: you can also console yourself with the fact that 90% of my boyfriends are tall men with dark hair, just like you.

Note to everyone else: remind me if I left anyone else out.

it's a list, it's a list, it's a list list list

2008-07-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

As you probably know by now, I am a fan of lists, and had some time to think of a few during the drive back and forth to Rehoboth this weekend. I even wrote stuff down on a post-it pad I found in the glove compartment, like a real writer. But instead of deep philosophical musings, or lyrical prose, you are getting a list of my favorite movies (to be followed shortly by a list of boys I think are cute...informally known as "My Boyfriends" -- watch this space!). Like my list of favorite songs, this list includes movies that I have a nostalgiac attachment to for some reason, as well as movies that I just think are amazing. I am relatively picky about movies, but I am not a movie snob -- you will not find any Fellini or Bergman on my list. I think I am putting this list in chronological order. Let's start with the early years.

1) Grease. This movie came out in 1978, to much fanfare. I was seven, and I wanted to see the movie so badly, and my mom promised she would take me. And she did. Unfortunately, on the way to the movie theater, the clutch went out on the car, and my mom knew that if she stopped the car, she wouldn't be able to start it again, so instead of going to the movie, we had to take the car to the repair shop. I was wailing the whole way, saying "You promised! You promised!", completely unable to understand why we couldn't go see the movie. Looking back, I feel sorry for my mom -- I know it killed her to disappoint me -- but at the time, I just thought she was mean. She got so sick of listening to me wail that she decided to take me home before taking the car to the shop -- but since she couldn't stop the car, I had to jump out while it was moving. It was very exciting. My mom did take me to see the movie a few days later, at the fabulous Tri-State Mall theater, which had about 2 inches of standing water on the floor. Didn't matter. I was mesmerized. And I was lucky enough to get the soundtrack album, which had 2 records, and an amazingly lifelike pencil on the cover. As my friend Lindsay will be happy to tell you, we sang the songs over and over, and I always made her sing John Travolta's part. I was bossy -- so shoot me.

2) The Outsiders. This is not a good movie by any means. But if you saw this movie when you were a 12-year-old girl, like I did, this movie had it all. Lots of cute boys (C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise before he became a freaky scientologist), teenagers living wild without parents, star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the tracks, a tragic hero burned in a fire, a rumble in the rain, and the classic Robert Frost poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay".

3) Footloose. Yes, the scene where Kevin Bacon dances alone in the empty grain warehouse is almost unbearably awkward, and no, Lori Singer is not a very good actress. But honestly, if you haven't seen this movie in awhile (and why would you have, really?), it is actually still pretty cute. John Lithgow and Dianne Weist are great as the repressed parents, and Sarah Jessica Parker is cute as the nerdy best friend (she was so much cuter before she became a fashion icon), but Chris Penn (may he rest in peace) steals the show as Willard, Ren's dopey sidekick. And I had a huge crush on Kevin Bacon throughout sixth grade. Just ask my sixth grade diary.

4) Sixteen Candles. If you were a teenager in the 80s, you had a favorite John Hughes movie. I can quote widely from The Breakfast Club, found Some Kind of Wonderful almost too painful to watch because I identified with it so much at the time, and loved my cassette tape of the Pretty in Pink soundtrack (sidenote: the Psychadelic Furs played at my college's Spring Weekend one year and both opened and closed their set with "Pretty in Pink" because, really, that's all they had), but the John Hughes movie I could watch again and again is Sixteen Candles. It is so tragic and funny and digressive...and when Jake shows up to get Sam after her sister's wedding, and she turns around to look behind her to see who he is looking for, and she points at herself and says "Me?" and he mouths "Yeah, you," because really all the time, he was looking for her....words cannot express the eternal and repeated melting of my heart. And then, to top it all off, the final scene with the birthday cake and the Thompson Twins song? Perfect. (I do have some trouble with the whole Anthony Michael Hall/Rich Girl drunken sex scenario -- is it date rape? But I try not to think about that too much.)

5) Truly Madly Deeply. Have you seen this movie? If you haven't, you should. It is a touching and goofy love story featuring the amazing Alan Rickman. Plot summary: Nina and Jamie are soul mates, he dies suddenly, she can't cope, he comes back as a ghost, and bittersweet events ensue. If you think it sounds like "Ghost" with British people, you are wrong. I don't have much else to say about it except that I love it, and you will too.

This is long, and I want you to read and enjoy all of my opinions, so I will finish the more modern era of the list in a separate post. Stay tuned.

eat cake

2008-06-28T16:28:00.001-07:00

eat cake
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

done and done.

isn't it ironic?

2008-06-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Today, we were driving along Philadelphia Pike (which is a well-travelled 4-lane road with a 45 MPH speed limit) when two teenage girls ran across the street, in front of traffic, pushing a stroller. Of course, I cursed them and called them idiots, because who runs across traffic with a baby in a stroller? Then we realized that they were running across the street to join their friends protesting outside the Planned Parenthood. Clearly, actual living babies are significantly less important than their "pre-born" counterparts. And this is the idiocy of the anti-choice movement in a nutshell.

One Man Show

2008-06-16T16:20:00.001-07:00

We saw this ad when we were in NYC this weekend, and wondered how we could get tickets to see Harlan, the Two-Spirit Gay Man in Recovery from Alcohol, but alas, we realized that it was not actually an ad for a show, but for an LGBT community center. Bummer. If you know Harlan, tell him he should really get a show.

WHYY...Why?

2008-06-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

So I got this email from our local PBS/NPR station today, excerpted below. It made me laugh.

"If this week's heat wave is any indication, summer is definitely here to stay. And what is everyone's favorite summertime treat? Ice cream, of course! WHYY is teaming up with Bassetts Ice Cream to create a new flavor — called the "WHYY Experience" — and you can help decide what it will taste like!"

Baby boomers and doo wop, obviously.

i love this

2008-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

First of all:
I am tired.
I am true of heart!

And also:
You are tired.
You are true of heart!

Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

For some reason, this quote just kills me. Tattoo?

This is just to say....

2008-05-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, This American Life did a feature on the poem, "This is just to say" by William Carlos Williams. It's a simple poem, but incredibly evocative, and often-imitated. Several of the regular TAL contributors composed their own versions of the poem, and the results ranged from funny to tragic.

Here is the original poem:

This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

-- William Carlos Williams

Here is my attempt (it's autobiographical, even):

This is just to say that
I ate your chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
from the Happy Harry's

and which apparently,
you were
saving for a before-bed snack
Lucy ate some too.

Forgive us
it was chocolatey
and chippy
and so sweet.

-- Kirsten

And here is Richard's entry, in his favorite creative style, LOLcats (click on the picture to make it bigger):

Christmas in May

2008-05-18T17:55:00.001-07:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

For Christmas, my mother gave all of us kids a weekend at the beach, staying in a great B&B owned by a friend of hers. Mia and her boyfriend Josh came out from California for a visit, so we were all together for the first time in ages (along with Marianne, Andrea and Brian). The weather on Saturday was amazing and we took a wholesome family bike ride to Gordon's Pond (except for Richard whose broken knee gave him the perfect excuse to stay at the B&B and read a book), where we collected tadpoles from a giant puddle, and found whelk egg cases and baby horseshoe crabs on the beach. We ate and drank way too much all weekend, and spent an excessive amount of time watching what we dubbed "Train Wreck Karaoke" at the Purple Parrot, and all in all, had a lovely time. Merry Christmas!

the horror

2008-05-05T08:40:00.001-07:00

the horror
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

We went to our friend Olivia's First Communion on Saturday (Lucy wore black pants and a blue polo shirt). After the ceremony, we went back to Olivia's house, and Olivia's grandmother, the very persuasive Nonna Bibia, convinced Lucy to try on Olivia's Easter dress. This was the result.

birfday or no birfday

2008-04-30T15:28:00.001-07:00

cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

happy birthday to marianne.

travelogue part 2

2008-04-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to wrap up the travelogue for a few weeks, but just haven't gotten around to it. I know you all have been waiting with bated breath, so let's get this over with.

The second week of our England trip was spent in a lovely little canal town called Bulbourne. We rented a great house right next to the canal, which we shared with Richard's family -- his mother (aka "English Grandma"), brother Duncan and his wife Tracie, and their 2 kids Katie and Ben. The week was relaxing -- a much slower pace than the week in London. And by this point in the vacation, Richard was getting around much better, which was good for everyone.

For the sake of brevity, I am going to post a Jocelyn-style list of highlights:

1) Watching canal boats go by the front of the house, and learning about canal locks
2) Feeding ducks (we named one set King George and Queen Elizabeth, and for some reason, I took about 20 pictures of them throughout the week -- they're just regular old mallards. There was also a set of gay ducks -- two males -- that we named Drake and Josh.)
DRINKING TEA
3) Going to quiz night at the local pub (we came in 4th -- not too shabby)
4) Visiting the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, and sitting in Roald Dahl's actual writing chair
DRINKING TEA
5) A trip to the Whipsnade Zoo which was huge, but distinctly lacking in animals
6) A walk around the ruins of Berkhamstead Castle
DRINKING TEA
7) Watching the clouds and snow (!!!) pass across the field behind the house
8) Eating a delicious English roast chicken and potatoes
9) Spending time with Richard's family
10) And did I mention, DRINKING TEA??? Man, did we drink a LOT of tea.

All in all, a lovely week. Lucy got a little sick of her younger cousins --- the poor thing is an only child at heart -- and Richard got a lot sick of his mother, nothing new there.

The End.

inapprop

2008-04-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

I saw a very disturbing sight today while driving Lucy to the skating rink. I tried to get a picture of it with my camera phone, but it didn't work out.

It was a minivan, with a license plate that had one of those holders around it which said "Clergy." Now that in and of itself may be disturbing to some -- perhaps to heathens like myself who hate to share the road with god's messengers on earth. But no, the ick-factor does not stop there. The license plate was a vanity tag which said BACKRUB. Eeeew. Should I call the Pope?

misery loves company

2008-04-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I have been working on a mixtape in my head called "Misery Loves Company" -- a mix of all the best (i.e. most tragic) love-gone-wrong songs. I was thinking about my list today while cranking my iPod on a trip to scenic Dover, and thought I would post a list of the five songs I have come up with so far.

5. "The Art Teacher" -- Rufus Wainwright. A great song about a woman remembering her unrequited love for her high school art teacher. Lucy and I were singing this throughout London as we visited art museums..."I looked at the Rubens and Rembrandts. I liked the John Singer Sargents. He told me he liked Turner. Never have I turned since then. No, never have I turned to any other man."

4. "Simple Kind of Life" -- No Doubt. Back when they were just a couple of kids growing up in the OC, Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal fell in love. After years of hard work, touring the country with their little ska band, life got in the way, and Gwen and Tony broke up. But despite the band's success, all Gwen ever wanted was a simple kind of life. "I always thought that I'd be a mom. Sometimes I wish for a mistake. The longer that I wait the more selfish that it gets. You look like you'd be a good dad." Now Gwen has Gavin, and baby Kingston, with another on the way, so she is living the dream, and I am happy for her. But if Tony needs someone to carry his baby, so he can find out if he would indeed be a good dad, I could probably make myself available.

3. "You Were Mine" -- Dixie Chicks. Country music. Key changes. Cheating men. Do you really need anything more for a great break-up song? Well, how about if we throw in an additional dagger to the heart (Justin, if Ally is reading this to you, brace yourself.....), kids caught in the middle. "I can give you two good reasons to show your love's not blind. He's two and she's four and you know they adore you, so how can I tell them that you've changed your mind?" Cue weeping.

2. "No Children" --Mountain Goats. More bitter than working class voters in Pennsylvania, and at least twice as witty. "I hope it stays dark forever, I hope the worst isn't over. I hope you blink before I do, I hope I never get sober. And I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can't find one good thing to say....And I hope you die, I hope we both die..." Hey, at least they don't have kids.

1. "Fairytale of New York"-- the Pogues with Kirsty McColl. This song gets me every time. Poor Shane McGowan is in the drunk tank on Christmas Eve, pining away for Kirsty, and Kirsty is totally over him, calling him a "scumbag" and a "maggot", among other choice words. This one is made so much more poignant by the fact that Shane McGowan really is a horrible drunk, and Kirsty McColl met a tragic end, decapitated by a boat. You can't make that shit up.

Now you have to tell me what other songs I should put on my mixtape (and by mixtape, I mean iTunes playlist). Thanks for your help.

blog this

2008-04-16T11:07:00.001-07:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

Lucy took this picture of me yesterday when I was dropping her off at school. I really like this shirt (which Lucy insisted I buy), and think that my blog is the perfect place to share mundane facts like that. Also, I like Doritos a lot. Had some for lunch today and boy, were they tasty.

picnik

2008-04-13T18:34:00.001-07:00

tower bridge duo
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

My latest obsession is the editing software that interfaces with flickr, called picnik. I am applying duotones to all my pictures. I think it looks cool. I am working my slowly towards a project that I bought art supplies for about 6 months ago-- applying encaustic to photos. I am thinking it will look cool with the duotones. I'll let you know in another 6 months.

a haiku for you

2008-04-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate this to Lucy and Jen. Prepare to be touched.

"Mutter Museum
has floaty bits of babies
perfect but for brains."

(Some backstory: We were at the Mutter Museum once looking at all the deformed babies in jars, including one with no brain. These women in front of us said one of the funniest things I have ever heard: "Oh! That baby is so cute! It would have been perfect if it only had a brain!" I was inspired to write this haiku because Jen sent me a picture of her standing alarmingly close to a brain in a jar with a delighted grin on her face, and Lucy has been writing haikus at school.)

good news...

2008-04-10T17:58:00.001-07:00

...all of my england photos are up on flickr. i am still working on tags, but check them out.

happy accident

2008-04-08T03:52:00.001-07:00

I did not take this picture on purpose at all, and didn't even know I had taken it. If you enlarge the picture of Lucy standing in front of Shakespeare's Globe, posted below, you will see this reflection -- Shakespeare superimposed on a perfect London streetscape, bookended by St. Paul's Cathedral. It looks cool, doesn't it?

commercial break

2008-04-06T06:19:00.001-07:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

We interrupt this gripping travelogue to bring you a picture of the previously referenced mayonnaise cake, which I made for my dad's birthday. I did not beat the icing for as long as I should have so it was a little weird (hence the brightly colored sprinkle disguise), but the cake itself was delicious.

travelogue

2008-04-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

As promised, a not-so-brief travelogue of our adventures abroad. (Going abroad sounds so fancy. It's also fun to say that we went to Europe. But several people have asked me how our "trip across the pond" was -- that just sounds lame.) I am going break the travelogue into two posts because otherwise, I am afraid it will be too long for my loyal readers to get through on their daily tours around the internets.

We had planned our trip to be divided into 2 stages -- a week in London, doing major sightseeing, inhaling bus fumes, and generally enjoying all the excitement that a major metropolitan location (in Europe) has to offer, followed by a more relaxed week in a small market-town in a rented cottage (cottages are cute, houses are boring) with Richard's family. Unfortunately, given the fact that Richard was still in a lot of pain and not particularly mobile the first week, London was not the best place to be, and it may have been better if the weeks had been reversed, but it all worked out just fine.

Week One --London.

Richard spent a lot of time in the hotel while Lucy and I traipsed around the city. Luckily, the hotel owner, also named Lucy, was just incredible. Before arrived, Richard had called the hotel to request a first floor room. We had booked a triple room, but because she did not have a triple on the first floor, she gave us an adjoining double and a single. The only bummer of this was that we did not feel comfortable letting Lucy sleep in the single by herself (and she didn't like that idea either), so poor Richard was banished to sleep alone. From the minute we arrived at the hotel, Big Lucy, as we called her, was just lovely. Each morning, they would prepare a breakfast tray for Old Gimpy, as we called him, since he couldn't make it down the steps into the dining room. And a couple of times, Lucy looked in on RIchard to make sure he was faring ok on his own while his wife and child, who had ditched his ass, were roaming London. When we left, she gave Little Lucy a small Easter present. Honestly, I can't say enough about her. (If you are ever in London, please stay at the Merlyn Court Hotel in Earl's Court. Tell Lucy we sent you.) But anyway....here are some highlights of the week.

Tate Modern. I really enjoyed this museum. The most interesting installation is this huge artist-made crack in the floor. I can't imagine that it would fly in the States (that's what you call America when you are abroad, by the way) -- definitely a lawsuit waiting to happen -- I could just see ankles snapping (and one of my worst fears in life is a broken ankle. Just ask Richard.). This visit was definitely a highlight for Lucy because for some reason, a group of Harajuku girls were there taking photos. Lucy was enthralled.

Shakespeare's Globe. Surprisingly fun. When we got there, it was mobbed with American school groups, so we could not do the full tour. Lucy was gutted. (She has loved Shakespeare since Jocelyn et al. gave her a book of poems for Christmas. Next time you see Lucy, ask her to do her recitation of the Battle of Agincourt scene from Henry V. It is superb.) We did, however, get to have a "Quick Peek" as they were calling it, which allowed us to go into the theater and look around. They had a school group there rehearsing for a kids production of Hamlet (or Blamlet, as we were calling it). Definitely cool. And the museum was nice too.

Sir John Soane's Museum. This is an under-appreciated gem. Really. John Soane was the architect for the Bank of England, and he built this incredible house on Lincoln's Inn Fields that is just full of fascinating stuff. He even has an Egyptian sarcophagus in the house. And he had so much artwork that it did not fit on his walls, so he built these hidden panels that fold out again and again. It was just super-cool. Lucy and I loved it.

Tower of London. This is a no-brainer. I have been there a couple of times, and think it is so fun. If I never saw the crown jewels again, it would be too soon (although I was interested in how they have that display set up now to keep the line moving -- they have moving walkways, so there is NO lingering), but everything else is great. Unfortunately, it was pouring, so our Beefeater cancelled the tour halfway through. We had a good time poking around nonetheless. (Fun Fact: they feed the ravens bunnies and bunny blood. Poor bunnies.)

National Gallery. I am not a huge fan of gigantic traditional art museums (the Louvre kills me), but Lucy and I enjoyed the National Gallery because they had a really good audio tour for kids. And they have a great cafe. Chicken and mushroom pie to die for.

Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. I am not a history buff at all, and only went here because for some reason, Lucy wanted to, but I loved it. The Cabinet War Rooms are the underground bunker used by Churchill and his cabinet during WW II, left virtually untouched. So cool. And the Churchill Museum is pretty new, and really well done. I enjoyed this way more than I would have expected, and would definitely go again.

Some other highlights: Lucy participating in street theater in Covent Garden....a solo trip to Portobello Road market....a quick stop in the sketchiest coffee shop ever, featuring a giant English tranny and a smacked out couple nodding on the couch (you should have seen poor Lucy's face)....free Irish yogurt as part of a St. Patrick's Day Irish food fest....dinner at a new Gordon Ramsay pub in Docklands with Richard's friend Alan....a day with our friends Tariq, Trish and their kids (8-year old English kids love Hannah Montana too). I really could go on and on. It was a fabulous week for me and Lucy (not so much for Richard since London is not handicapped-accessible at all, but he did not complain overmuch).

More to come.....I will let you know when I get all 500 of my pictures up on Flickr so you can take your time perusing them.

home again home again

2008-04-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let my loyal readers know that we made it back from England safe and sound. Despite the craziness before we left, we had a great trip. I'll post a mini-travelogue soon (you know you want me to). In the meantime, here are a few photos to tide you over.

pear-shaped update

2008-03-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Richard had his knee put back together yesterday and is at home resting relatively comfortably thanks to the help of some heavy-duty pharmaceuticals (Matthew Perry, if you're reading this, we can hook you up. That joke is old, right?) and this crazy mini-cooler with tubing that pumps ice water up under his knee immobilizer (it will be great for beer later). The doctor cleared him to fly to England on Friday, and put him on injections of a blood thinner called Lovenox to try to prevent any clots. He is now making lots of phone calls to various vacation-related places -- hotel for a first floor room, airline for some kind of seat where he can stretch out his leg, doctor for the prescription for a wheelchair. When we get back, I will have the shoulders of Gwen Stefani from pushing his ass all over England.

So....the last-minute preparations are underway, and with any luck, a meteor will not fall out of the sky onto our house between now and Friday evening. Think good thoughts for us, please.

pear-shaped

2008-03-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am really starting to think the universe is out to get my family. Since January 5th, things have gone pear-shaped, to use my friend Lindsay's excellent expression. First, my aunt died unexpectedly, and this brought with it a whole host of family drama, which I won't go into detail about, but which continues to spiral. This past week (while I was at my first-ever therapy appointment, thank you very much), Lucy had a skating accident -- her fingers were run over by the freshly-sharpened blades of her 14-year old skating partner. We spent 5 hours in the emergency room at AI, and Lucy got 8 stitches. But, you know, it was all ok because we were looking forward to our vacation -- a 2-week trip to England starting on Friday, March 14th.

Cue Saturday. Richard goes down to the basement to clean out the dog pen. The basement floor is wet because it has been pouring rain all day. Richard's croc-clad foot slips out from under him and he pile-drives his knee straight down onto the cement floor. Ambulance is called, we go to Wilmington Hospital (where we received fabulous and attentive treatment, seriously), and it turns out that Richard has broken his kneecap into three pieces
(we are calling it a dinner plate fracture TM). He is now in a knee-immobilizer, and is scheduled to see the orthopedic surgeon to make a plan to put the pieces back together. He is really being a good sport about the whole thing --much more than I am. We are just hoping against hope that he will be cleared to fly on Friday. Word on the street is that Virgin airlines will upgrade us if we can fly -- fingers crossed, dear readers.

I think it will all work out though because this morning, I saw a sign. Not the Virgin Mary in a stick of butter, mind you, or Jesus in a potato -- but for an atheist like myself, even better -- a smily face on a plate. It's a good sign, right?

"Once," sweded

2008-03-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

I loved the movie "Once" and was so excited that Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Best Song Oscar, but this "sweded" version of the trailer is pretty funny. It's no "30-second movie with bunnies," but amusing nonetheless.

West Philly Saturday

2008-03-02T13:07:00.001-08:00

West Philly Saturday
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

whoopie pies from the clark park farmers market are the best. this week i had to be a good mom and give mine to lucy after she dropped hers on the ground. in spite of the invocation of the 5-second rule, it was inedible.

richard

2008-03-01T16:19:00.001-08:00

richard is hungry
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

look how handsome richard is. taken today at dock street brewery in west phila.

lucy

2008-02-26T20:04:00.001-08:00

lomo lucy sleeping
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

I took this picture last year at the end of an awesome southern road trip that Lucy, Margit, and I took. Lucy looks so peaceful and gorgeous. I wish I could feel this peaceful....

you know you're a middle-aged middle-class white lady...

2008-02-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

...when you spend a good half-hour on the couch (that you bought at Crate and Barrel) with your middle-aged middle-class white husband looking at pictures of NPR correspondents on their NPR bios and discussing which one is your favorite (Sylvia Poggioli), which one has the best name (David Folkenflik), which one looks like he/she sounds (Nina Totenberg), and which one is the hottest (both Sylvia Poggioli and David Folkenflik are quite the lookers, actually). Yikes.

eat cake, for real

2008-02-12T17:59:00.001-08:00

Richard installed Google analytics on my blog so that I can learn more about my several readers. I thought I knew all three of you since I obsessively read your blogs, but it turns out that not only do I have readers in Delaware (Ran and myself), New York (Jocelyn), and California (Ally), but someone also visited my blog from Canada, and someone (maybe the same person) stumbled onto "Eat Cake" while looking for a recipe for cake, of all things.

So, for that person, and the rest of my faithful readers, I am posting my favorite cake recipe. Growing up, this is the cake that I always requested for my birthday. It was handed down to my mom by the cook in her sorority house, name of Smitty (if you know my mom, the idea of her in a sorority is pretty hilarious, by-the-bye). It sounds gross, but it is delicious, really.

Mayonnaise Cake (Smitty)
Makes a 3-layer cake

3 C. flour
2 C. sugar
10 T. cocoa
4 t. baking soda
1 1/2 C. mayonnaise
2 C. cold water
2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt

Sift together dry ingredients. Add water and beat 1 minute. Add mayonnaise and beat 1 minute. Add vanilla and beat 1 minute.

Pour batter into 3 greased, floured 9-inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean (this part of the instructions is missing....so use your best judgment!)

Butter Icing (Jesse)
(this recipe is courtesy of the sister of our old neighbor, Cookie)

3 T. flour
1 C. milk
1 C. butter, softened
1 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Combine flour and milk. Strain to remove any lumps. Cook over medium heat until boils and becomes very thick, stirring constantly. Cool completely.

Cream butter. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat with electric mixer until fluffy.

I am becoming a Buddhist....

2008-02-09T17:29:00.001-08:00

...and I am going to this temple. Fo' sho'.

shout out to the passport people

2008-02-06T04:26:00.000-08:00

Richard, Lucy and I are planning a big trip to England in March -- we've booked our plane tickets, London hotel, and English country cottage -- so exciting. In order to complete the planning, both Lucy and I needed passports (mine had gathered dust in the office for 10 years before finally expiring). Because we waited until the last minute in passport terms (about 8 weeks before departure -- the passport wait time is 6-8 weeks), we paid extra to expedite service. (On a side note, let me just say that the passport agent that we dealt with at the 30th St. Post Office in Philly was just lovely -- perfectly pleasant and helpful, in stark contrast to my expectations.) Expediting the passport was supposed to bring the delivery time down to 3 weeks, which would have worked just fine. Imagine my surprise when the passports arrived in the mail yesterday, just 10 days after we applied! That is service. Have you seen the recently redesigned passports though? They are hilarious. It looks to me like George Bush commissioned the Happy Painter Bob Ross (may he rest in peace) to paint the most patriotic scenes they could think of. There are the requisite pictures of eagles and flags and the Statue of Liberty, and then we have steamboats and Mt. Rushmore and cowboys. But the best? The picture of the moon and outer space on the inside back cover. Apparently, if Lance Bass ever gets that trip on the Space Shuttle, he will have to bring his passport.

obama 2008

2008-02-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

I often feel like I am copying Jocelyn's blog...but, hey, she's super cool and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Like Jocelyn, I am using my highly-read blog to endorse a political candidate: Barack Obama, of course. He came to Wilmington yesterday, and I was one of the 20,000 or so people who waited around in Rodney Square for several hours to see him and hear him speak. The frozen toes were totally worth it. He was amazing -- just an incredible speaker with tons of charisma, saying all the right things. And hey -- it is a rare political candidate that can be bothered to spend time in little ol' Delaware, so that meant a lot. I hope that Super Duper Tuesday goes Obama's way. Yes we can, right?

parumpumpumpum

2008-01-22T16:48:00.000-08:00

Lucy got a pretty awesome set of drums for Christmas, and has just started drum lessons. Tonight, I am making her practice and she is so annoyed with me. She is in the "music room" (which now has 2 acoustic guitars, an electric guitar with amp, an electric keyboard, and a drum set -- can you say "living vicariously?"), muttering and stomping. I have heard that playing the drums is a good way to get rid of frustration, though. I'll let you know how that all works out.

it's been awhile

2008-01-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a month since I last posted, and lots of stuff has happened, some good, some bad. Here's a recap.

The Christmas holiday was really fun this year. Started out with what I am calling "The LGBTQ Bar Crawl" with Margit, Marianne, Andrew, Brian, Michelle, Grant, Scott, Caitlin (Camp Tockwogh, represent!), and our new friend, karaoke-bartender Tinh. So much fun. Then had a fantastic time at the Trigg-Lowry-Lebbern Christmas Eve happening, with an incredible "fresh ham" (which it turns out is just a gigantic pork roast, amazing), and convivial good cheer with my favorite family that I am not actually related to. And then Christmas Day with the actual family was really low-key and relaxing (we did miss Mia though, who was stuck in California). In spite of scheduling a bunch of vacation days over the holiday, I ended up working a lot, but I didn't really mind for some reason.

2008 got off to a rocky start. My aunt died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving behind quite a mess to deal with. It sounds trite, but I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Aunt Jud, remembering the good times we had, and all of the nice things she did for people. When Lucy was a baby, just diagnosed with her heart defect, Aunt Jud took charge of a paper crane "drive" on her behalf, ultimately folding 1,000 origami paper cranes (along with my cousins and their friends), all to bring health and good fortune to Lucy. Then, when Lucy was in the hospital having a surgery when she was one, Aunt Jud came to stay at our house to help take care of the dog, and to be nearby to offer support. When Lucy got spaghetti sauce all over her special blankie, Aunt Jud spent hours using different tricks to get the stains out (the blanket turned from lavender to pink, but, no spaghetti sauce!). It is all very sad the way things turned out, and I will miss her a lot. We are having her funeral this weekend, with a "prayer card" featuring the Dalai Lama, and lots of paper cranes. I think she would have approved.

I turned 37 on Tuesday. That sounds old, doesn't it? (I just hope all of my 25-ish year old friends will still hang out with me when I turn 40. Some of them will be in their 30s by then though, so that will be ok.) But, because I am actually old, I celebrated my birthday by working late, then having a delicious dinner of pork chops and arugula salad, with a yummy cake from the Acme. I topped it off by watching the Democratic debates. Crazy fun.

did you hear the one about...

2007-12-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

... the family that got lost in the mountains for three days while trying to chop down a Christmas tree? Yet another reason why gas station trees rule.

i love michael cera

2007-12-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

seriously.

O Tannenbaum

2007-12-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

We just got our Christmas tree! Yay! I know many people have this idea that you need to go out in the woods on a snowy day and chop your own perfect, fresh tree down for the quintessential holiday experience, but I am a firm believer in the gas station tree. A woman I know told me that she got her tree at Gulf Station across from the Pizza Hut on Marsh Rd. for $35...so the things that went through my mind were 1) bargain, and 2) no long commute to Smyrna or Middletown. So off we went tonight for a scenic tour of the lights of North Wilmington, and then a stop at the gas station. It could not have been more perfect. The guys running the lot were, as we call them in my family for some reason, hooples -- several mullets and not very many teeth. And one of them was even a little person. They were nice as could be and super helpful, and my lovely Frasier Fir from Schuylkill Township was cut down just three days ago. It smells just like Christmas, even though it came from the Gulf Station. We are baking cookies tommorrow and decorating the tree. It will be so festive! Come join us!

cheese glorious cheese

2007-12-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

My family has a long-standing tradition that if you get straight-A's on your report card, you get to have what is cleverly known as a "Straight-A Dinner." When I was growing up, this meant that you got to pick the menu for my mom to cook. Of course, Lucy's childhood, while in many ways similar to mine (I was an only child until I was almost nine, I was not allowed to have Atari, I liked to read), is also different in significant ways. First, her report cards don't even have A's on them -- just numbers and pluses and asterisks. So, we had to make a concession, allowing for a "Straight A Dinner" even when it should now be called a "Straight 4s and Asterisks and Pluses and Lucy is an excellent role model for her classmates Dinner." Second, instead of getting to have her mom make her spaghetti and meatballs or porkchops, she got to pick a trip to Toscana for a NY Strip Steak, followed by a Godiva Chocolate Mousse Bombe (which is pronounced "Godeeva Chocolate Mouse Bombay").

But here's the real point. Toscana's food is good. Nothing too exciting, but pretty tasty. But the best thing they have there is a FRESH FRESH FRESH mozzarella di bufalo. It is to die for. Richard, Lucy and I are getting to be quite the cheese afficianados. Definitely a worthwhile pursuit. (Lucy actually knows about manchego, and humboldt fog, and brie. When I was a kid, Velveeta was exotic. My child is really spoiled, isn't she?)

by popular demand....

2007-11-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

Lomo Homos.

(Jocelyn, this one's for you.)

Lomo (not to be confused with Homo)

2007-11-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

I found a digital photo manipulation website through my friend Ran's flickr gallery, and have discovered a new love: the lomography treatment. Apparently, lomography is a both a photo technique and a philosophy. The technique revolves around a certain kind of cheap mass-produced Russian camera that takes over-saturated pictures with weird distortion, and the philosophy focuses on taking pictures in the moment, without any focus on what is "good." I have no interest in pursuing actual lomography (way too much work, when dumpr.net will do it for me!), but I am loving what the digital manipulation does to my pictures. They look grainy and bright and cool. In researching lomography, I learned, however, that it is apparently hot with hipsters, because you can buy all kinds of gear from Urban Outfitters. Weird. Richard says I need to embrace my inner-hipster. I already have the glasses.

THANKSgiving

2007-11-22T03:52:00.001-08:00

You know me. I am not prone to extravagant displays of love and affection. In fact, my heart is firmly encased in a thick protective layer of irony and sarcasm. (My sixth grade science teacher told me I was so sarcastic that people were afraid to be my friend....maybe if the girls in the burgeoning "clique" had not been so mean to me in 5th and 6th grades, I would now be writing romantic poetry and working on my disney princesses movie collection instead of finely honing my dry wit and snarky sense of humor...but we'll never know now, will we?)
Anyway...in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday (which is Richard's favorite for three reasons: 1) it's all about food; 2) there are no presents to exchange thereby leading to inevitable disappointment; and 3) did I mention the food?), I thought I would try to lower my defensive irony, and name some things for which I am thankful this year.

1) Lucy and Richard. This has been kind of a tough year for me, and I have not always been much fun to be around, but Lucy and Richard have been great. Lucy is so incredibly smart and funny -- she is just way cooler and more confident than I will ever be, and I am proud to be her mom. Richard is the best husband there is -- supportive, helpful, a great dad -- and smart and funny too. I love them both very much.
2) My siblings. My brother and sisters are the best. We have so much fun together, I sometimes feel sorry for other people who hang out with us and have no idea about half of the things we are talking and laughing about. Awesome.
3) My parents (and my stepmother). My dad is my hero. Totally level-headed, but funny as hell (we all live to make my dad laugh -- there is nothing like it), and always supportive. My mom can be prickly, but she loves us all like a lioness, and would do anything for us. And if I don't know how to cook something, I always call her first. My stepmother Jenny is under appreciated. She is willing to help us in any way she can, and she is a great Granny to Lucy.
4) My fake family -- the Trigg-Lowry-Lebberns. I've known these guys since I was six, and I love them all to death. Even though Lindsay and I make each other a little nuts (we are very different people), she is my best friend in the world. Barbie is like my second, much cooler, mom. And Jocelyn -- what can I say? Cyber-stalking JoJo is one of my favorite pastimes. I can't wait until she is back on the east coast so I can even see her in person. It was such a treat to spend time with everyone in California this summer -- I had a blast (shout out to the whole fam: Linz, Ian, Max, Barbara, Justin, Jocelyn, Ally, and Skip).
5) My siblings' significant others, roommates, and friends. I love that they are willing to spend time with my crazy family even when they don't have to. I love Marianne, Brian, Chelsea, Andrea, and Tall Chris. So cute.
6) All my creature comforts. I am definitely thankful that I have the financial resources to allow me to be a member of the bourgeoisie. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have so much stuff, but most of the time I am just happy it's all there -- the nice house in the cute neighborhood, the pets (namecheck: Sadie, Butterstick, Fred Weasley, Chomper, Oliver, and Maddie), the giant TV and digital cable, my iPod and my iBook. Which brings me to...
7) The internet. What would I do without Facebook, Google, Blogger, Flickr and iTunes? I am a web-a-holic. Mostly I love how the interweb let's me keep up with friends that I don't often see in person (like Jocelyn and Ran).
8) Pharmaceuticals. As I mentioned before, this was kind of a tough year for me. But, thanks largely to the power of prescription drugs, I am feeling and sleeping much better. Thanks, big Pharma.

There are many more things for which I am thankful (PostSecret, podcasts of This American Life and StoryCorps, arts and crafts, books, crossword puzzles, Tom Bergeron, etc.) but I can feel the snark creeping back into my heart. So, in closing, have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for everything. Love love. Kirsten

my 7-year old has a blog?

2007-11-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

I was out all afternoon (taking pictures of merchandise at Lindsay's store, Sanity, for her upcoming website launch...link to be posted soon!) and Richard and Lucy were left to their own devices. Not only did they get our Thanksgiving turkey -- a 16 pound Butterball (feel free to stop by for dinner Thursday at 4 pm) -- and new winter coats, but they also started a blog. Lucy's Black Bandanna features her latest writing, so you can expect lots of great pop songs and even a book review or two. It is pretty cool. You won't be disappointed.

life stories

2007-11-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Do you know about StoryCorps? It is one of my new obsessions, because I am now so middle-aged that I sometimes prefer to listen to talk radio podcasts in the car instead of music. (The other day on a trip to Dover I listened to both a "This American Life" and a "CarTalk". Man, you could blow the dust off me, I swear. Before too long I will be wearing cardigans and listening to the Glenn Miller Orchestra.) Anyway, StoryCorps is so cool, each mini-episode featuring two regular people talking to each other about their lives. These small vignettes about average (and not-so-average) lives totally thrill my inner-voyeur. There is a permanent StoryCorps recording booth in NYC, but it turns out that the mobile studio is in Philadelphia until December. I really want to go. Any volunteers to submit to my penetrating gaze and personal questions?

a private family moment, blog-style

2007-11-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Now that I have figured out how to post photos to my blog, it's a whole new ball game. I took this picture with my camera phone a couple of weeks ago. I think Richard and Lucy are so cute, but there is something about the whole thing that looks a little sketchy. Totally reminds me of a Sally Mann photograph (if Sally Mann's chosen photographic format was a Samsung cell phone instead of some really nice 8x10 Leica or what-have-you). Don't call Child Protective Services on me, please.