We now return to your regularly scheduled program

As I'm sure my faithful readership has noticed, I haven't been keeping up with my blog. My 7+ year relationship has come to an end and the harsh reality of that has kept me from keeping up with my online life. But the show must go on! I apologize for the pause in blogging. I did take some pictures, but not daily ones. Tomorrow I will post what I have and then start fresh again with my daily photos.

Not so Lemon Tree

My lime tree (which was supposed to be a lemon tree, but the nursery sent the wrong kind of citrus) is blooming again! I'm excited, because a bunch of leaves had fallen off and it seemed dormant and somewhat sickly lately. But now it''s back to its old self! I guess it just needed some time to acclimate to being indoors again.

(Thursday February 14, 2008)

The apocalypse is coming!

It snowed today. And by "snow" I mean it flurried for a while and there was a dusting on the ground. Of course they closed the schools. People here are absolutely petrified of snow. School gets canceled if there is even a chance of snow. It's pathetic. Why when I was a youngster, I can recall days when I went to school in a foot of snow. It was hilarious to watch the neighborhood kids attempt to go sledding with less than 1/25 of an inch of snow on the ground. Sissy Tennesseans. Puh.

I downloaded the Feist CD and I'm listening to it now-- I like it.

Birthday Squid

Steph knitted me this squid for my birthday. Well, it was supposed to be for my birthday, but it took a little longer to make than expected. Here he is in the process of being felted. I haven't quite decided what to name him yet. Suggestions?

(Tuesday February 12, 2008)

Panera

We went to Panera this evening because we didn't feel like making anything, but we didn't want to have a large dinner either. Here is my meal-- half an asiago roast beef sandwich and half a greek salad, along with an apple. It was pretty good. The Paneras in TN are much better than the ones in Baltimore. When we lived in Baltimore, I pretty much hated Panera. Cosi is better, of course, but we don't have any here in TN.

(Monday February 11, 2008)

Little Red Baby

I think Beignet is sad because the cats are always featured in my blog and she is left out. So I took a picture of her over the weekend. She isn't very photogenic-- she is actually much cuter in person. In this picture, she's looking forlorn because she is inside and the kids are outside playing. I think her two favorite things are children and cats. She's a sweetie.

(Sunday February 10, 2008)

Anatomy of a weekend breakfast

Remnants of my delicious hard-boiled egg. Now that we are TV-less (3 days so far), I eat my breakfast in front of the computer. That way I can read the New York Times and catch up on my e-mail. I tried sitting at the table in silence and just eating, but it was too boring. Inspired by Andrew and Chad, we have given up our cable. We had planned to take the plunge in March, but we decided to start early-- no time like the present. So far it's been difficult-- I don't miss watching the shows, but I do miss the noise in the morning when I'm making and eating breakfast.

Blurb in Bon Appetit

Look, I have a lot of issues, I'm nowhere near perfect, but let me tell you this-- I can spot a trend or a good design thing like no one's business. This carafe, pictured above, was featured in this month's issue of Bon Appetit magazine's "What to Buy Now". The carafe comes from a shop, Three Potato Four, that I have been into and purchasing from since the day they opened. Stu & Janet (the owners) are great people and I always love the vintage finds and Japanese imports they have on their site. I knew from day one that they would be successful. I myself bought this carafe months and months ago. It always makes me feel good when I go into a shop and I see things by artists I've come to know of (or even sometimes know). More and more I see artists and the handmade movement being represented in chain stores-- the latest examples are Amy Ruppel's ad campaign for Target and Joy Cho's paper goods being sold at Anthropologie.

(Friday February 8, 2008)

For Andrew

Jam tomorrow...

Click here, watch this video clip. You will not be disappointed.

This never fails to crack me up. Next time I go out somewhere where dancing is required, I'm going to dance like this. Too funny.

I keep trying to find the entire video for sale somewhere, but so far no luck. It's been so long since I saw the entire "Alice in Wonderland" movie.

2 for 1 special

Winter is a glorious time in my life because satsuma oranges are in season. They are about the size of tangerines, but they are much easier to peel and they have no seeds. They are kind of like clementines, only much better. Plus they come with the leaves and branches still attached, which, as you can see, looks super cool.



Have you ever seen anything cuter? I know I haven't. Brotherly cat love is the greatest. Look how Winston holds and protects little Louis! My cats are the best cats in the world, methinks.

Bat Building

The most recognizable building in the downtown Nashville skyline is the AT&T Tower, known by locals as "The Bat Building" because the spikes from the top look like Batman ears. It's weird looking, but kind of cute in a way. Notice the gloomy clouds-- last night we had some really scary thunderstorms-- I even heard the tornado siren at about 2am, and I think we have more thunderstorms on tap for this evening.

Dentist Appointment

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a dentist appointment. Here is a picture of the entrance to the office. One of my goals this year is to get my teeth taken care of-- I grind them during the day and at night and therefore have ground them down to little nubs. So I made an appointment at this swanky dentist to have them fixed. I'm not sure what exactly they're going to do yet, as this appointment was just to meet with the dentist and get x-rays taken. Mind you, this is a totally different dental experience. It's supposed to be like a "spa dentist". In the exam rooms there are flat screen TVs and you can watch a DVD while you get your dental work done. They also give you paraffin hand wax treatments while you're there and they have aromatherapy candles. If you're cold, they give you blankets and pillows. Also, they have valet parking. All this is in a loft, hip atmosphere. The best part? Our dental insurance covers it. It's about a billion times better than what you think the dentist is supposed to be like. Here is Dr. Nabors' website. I still don't LIKE going to the dentist, but these amenities certainly make the experience much more tolerable.

(Tuesday February 5, 2008)

A not so interesting video

While I was at Andrew and Chad's place, I used my Flip Video Camera for pretty much the first time. This video was taken at dinner on Saturday night, when Erin and Matt (Andrew's sister and her husband), and Kathy and Rich (Andrew's parents) came for dinner. Chad isn't in the video because he was upstairs wrapping my birthday presents.

This is hardly a work of art, and it captures nothing substantial, but I thought maybe some of you would like to see it. If so, click here. At the very least, you'll get to watch me videotape the food and hear my lovely voice. Haha.

Enjoy.

Freesia

Freesia are my favorite flowers and have been for a long time. I love the way they smell and they are so dainty looking. We got these last week at Whole Foods and they are still going strong. I tried to grow them in our garden in Baltimore, but animals (probably squirrels) ate the bulbs. Maybe I'll have better luck growing them in TN.

On an unrelated note, I just saw the most incredible lamp in the West Elm catalog. Andrew and Chad, I know you will be pleased with it as well. Check out page 5 of the Feb. 2008 catalog. I've been searching for new lamps for the bedroom and I think these may be the lamps of my dreams, as Steph would say.

New prints

I've decided to cover the wall in my study (the one on against which my desk sits) with prints. The three framed prints are all new, and from the same artist. The one on the top right corner, Andrew and Chad got me for my birthday. I loved it so much that later that night, after they gifted it to me, I went online and bought 3 more of her prints (the other one is also in my study, but against a different wall). Right now my little room is filled with flowers, art, and of course, my glorious iMac. It makes me happier than I could ever describe to you.

I should have some Super Bowl related post, I know, but I just don't care enough. Sorry.

(Sunday February 3, 2008)

How I came to own a gun

Don't worry, it's a toy gun. Did I scare you for a second?

I know it's early for a post (8:15am on Saturday), but I just had to share this little nugget with you, my dear readers. Steph and I have a rule-- if a child leaves something in our yard, we take it. We have accumulated quite a collection of balls and baseball gloves this way. Is this wrong? Maybe a little bit, but kids leave their crap in our yard all the time and I have no idea who it belongs to and I don't feel like it's my responsibility to hunt the owner down. And no one comes looking for their stuff, so they obviously have a billion other toys with which to amuse themselves.

So this morning, when I opened up the blinds, I saw this toy gun. I am all too happy to add it to our growing collection of children's toys in our garage. Bwahahaha (evil laugh).

Saving the date

Today we got a Save the Date card in the mail for Becky and Scott's wedding. Becky has been my friend since 4th grade and she is now an architect in Winston-Salem, NC. I am so excited for their wedding, but it is still weird for me to think about Becky getting married. When I think about her, I remember being a kid and dyeing Easter Eggs at her house and putting on waaay too much blue eye shadow (I know now, of course, that any amount of blue eye shadow is too much) to go and loiter at the mall together. Ah, memories. We have all grown up and it's thrilling and fun, but sort of sad in a way too.