Quiet days around the house

After a very busy Fall, I am looking forward to hibernating a bit during the winter. Last weekend we barely left the house and it was wonderful. We caught up on laundry, I read the New Yorker (if you get it, you should definitely read the article about fermentation, by the way), Steph worked on her knitting projects, we watched weird movies like Babes In Toyland, and we thoroughly cleaned the house.

We did leave to have Sunday brunch with Jess and Mike at Woodberry Kitchen, which was amazing. I took some photos with my Canon S90, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

I made an effort to take some pictures around the house though, as most of the photos on my blog lately have been from when we were out and about.

Currently listening to: Sufjan Stevens, "Songs for Christmas" (I'm getting an early start on Christmas music this year)

Looking forward to: a very festive Joslyn Thanksgiving! Steph is making spinach squares and I am making the turkey again this year.

Pizza, and other thoughts on life

1. While vacuuming this afternoon, I discovered that one of the cats had peed in my sneaker. Said discovery has really dampened my mood for the day. There has been lots of strife and drama amongst the cats lately, for reasons unknown. I won't bore anyone with the details (though there are many. hint: most of them involve urine).

2. I haven't really been taking a lot of pictures with my cameras lately. It needs to stop. I've let myself get into an impending winter funk that involves a lot of sleeping, reading Harry Potter, and watching Dexter on OnDemand. I've determined that these activities are a reaction to the upcoming holidays, and all the small and large decisions that need to be made in the near future. Example of a small decision: what am I going to get ____ for Christmas? Example of a large decision: the need to update wills and insurance.

3. I've been cooking a lot. Example? Here's a picture I took with my iPhone of a pizza I made the other day. It was delicious and included caramelized fennel, roasted cauliflower, garlic scape pesto, and goat cheese. Other delicious delights I've made recently include eggplant parmesan and lots of mushroom cobblers. In fact, I'm making another mushroom cobbler tonight. Jess and Mike are going to come over for dinner.

4. I'm just going to come out and say this, although I'm sure I'll receive a lot of hate mail about it. I think Glee has jumped the shark. It hasn't been holding my attention this season and the song choices have often been lackluster. I'm also seriously offended by their portrayal of both Kurt and Mercedes. Does Kurt have any personality other than his gayness anymore? NO! And why can't Mercedes have a storyline that doesn't involve her weight or eating habits? Blah.

5. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I even bought a special Thanksgiving themed shirt from Threadless for the occasion.

Sufjan Stevens at the Academy of Music

I downloaded Sufjan Stevens' new album, "Age of Adz" on September 28th, and according to iTunes, I have listened to it 51 times since then. Please note that this does not include the countless times I listened to it in the car. So yeah, I'm just a liiitttle obsessed with this album, and with Sufjan Stevens in general. Thanks to Blair for introducing Sufjan's music to me way back in 2004.

This concert was amazing, especially the live performance of "Impossible Soul", a song that is really more of an opus and is twenty-five minutes long. During the concert, Sufjan (I call him by his first name because we are besties. DO NOT QUESTION ME!) said that with this album, he wanted to strip away characters, geography, and narrative, melody, and even music. He wanted to get to what he called the "heart, the brain, the spine of the noise". Some reviewers have called this album self-indulgent, likening it to a musical masturbation session. Haters. I know very little about music or instruments. I focus on what sounds good and on meaningful lyrics, so I can only speak from that perspective. With that in mind, this is my favorite album. It feels raw, emotional, and like a piece of him, sort of like his other albums were novels and this is a memoir in progress.

A great night that will serve as a beautiful memory in my mind for many years to come. I took some videos of the concert (hand held, so somewhat shaky), which you can view on my YouTube Channel, here.

Baby Madness

It seems like everyone around us is having babies lately. I've lost track of how many Mysterio Predicts baby t-shirts we've bought. Life seems like an endless schedule of baby showers and visiting new parents.

I feel left out of all the fun. I thought we would be working on our second baby at this point in our lives. In some ways, it was a blessing that it did not work out for us earlier. Steph has a much better job now, a job that will allow her to be a more present parent. We've gotten to do a lot of traveling and camping, and our relationship has really deepened and been strengthened in these past few years. Still, there is sadness there, an emptiness. So we are back to trying to add a new family member and hopefully we will have a very happy announcement to share within the next year.

It's scary to think that the thing you want most in the world may not happen for you, or that it won't happen exactly the way you had envisioned for yourself. It's especially scary when that thing is something that you are supposed to be able to do, your biological imperative. I admit that I feel pangs of jealousy-- having a baby seems so easy for everyone else (and it probably isn't, but no one really likes to talk about those things), not to mention free.

For us, it's clinical. You pick out a donor based on limited amounts of information. The sperm comes on dry ice, shipped from California. You get inseminated in the doctor's office. Maybe your partner is there and maybe she isn't, depending on her schedule and when you ovulated that month. You sit on a hard doctor's table with your legs up in the air for 20 minutes. You pay your bill. You try not to think about how weird and other-worldly the whole process is for you. You go home and you wait. You fend off well-meaning comments from friends and family asking you why you aren't pregnant yet. So romantic.

I am happy for our friends though, don't get me wrong. It's wonderful to see them grow into parenthood and to watch little versions of them sprout up before your eyes.

Countdown to Sufjan concert: 29 hours! SQUEE! (if we have a boy, maybe we will name him Sufjan)

Currently listening to: Jonsi, "Around Us"

Fall in our neighborhood

I can feel winter creeping closer and closer. The days are getting shorter and the light is different. I'm starting the get that *meh* winter feeling. I decided I needed to take some photos of the foliage in our neighborhood before the trees were all bare.

I wish we had a maple tree. We had a swamp maple at our old house, but it's a crappy maple, as far as maples go, and it never really did very much in terms of fall foliage. At our house in Nashville, we planted a ton of gorgeous trees-- pin oaks, blue pines, serviceberry...I've really been missing our place in Nashville lately. I think it's because I'm tired of living in a 100 year old house and dealing with the kinds of issues 100 year old houses have. We did plant a witch hazel tree this Fall and I can't wait for it to bloom in the winter.

It's going to be a busy weekend. On Saturday we're going to be hosting a baby shower for Korrina and then on Sunday we're going to Ann's birthday party. The theme of Ann's party is "fruit". I love it.

Countdown to the Sufjan concert: 7 days!

Currently listening to: My Brightest Diamond, "Bring me the Workhorse" (she opened for Sufjan on his last tour, so I've been listening to her a lot lately)

Depressing November Playlist

Quid pro quo.

Mostly for Julie, but for anyone else who wants a depressing playlist for a cold autumn day, here you go. Try not to fall into a pit of despair. Bwahahaha.

Oh yeah, and since this is technically a photo blog, here's a photo. DEPRESSION HURTS.