Introducing....the RDM Lazers!

My office has a softball team-the RDM Lazers- and last night was our first game. We played the American Red Cross at 5:30 at the Great Lawn in Central Park. The game was a tight one, but we lost 11-10. We had a lot of fielding errors, which cost us big time. Guess we need to wash the butter from our fingers.

However, I got 3 RBI's...which means that I hit the ball twice and enabled 3 people to run home and score. They were dribbly little hits, but did the trick.

Chopping Me Locks

So I'm getting a haircut today because the stuff growing out of my head is getting a little out of control and turning into a giant curtain.

I found this picture in Lucky a couple months ago and have been saving it for a day just like today. I think I'm going to go this route, but with a little less hair in my eyes.

Cat Stuff

Most cats dislike car rides, but Paws' feelings on leaving the comfort of his apartment go above and beyond simple dislike. When I have to put him in a car (once every couple years when I move to a new apartment) he will howl non-stop (sounds like "wow, wow, wow, wow, wow") and poop like 3 times in a matter of minutes.

So it should be pretty obvious that I don't take him for rides very often - he doesn't even go to the vet (knock on wood) because he's an indoor cat and doesn't live with other animals and because he is going to live forever. However, being so crazy in love with this little cat-man, I have cardboard carrier stored under the couch just in case he ever chokes or something and needs to be rushed to the hospital. This is fine, but it takes up a lot of space and collects a lot of dust & fur - plus it is not reusable because he will definitely take a dump inside if used.


But today I found this little number at Target (via ModernCat). Made from nylon, washable, packs flat....sounds purrr-fect!

Click here to go to Target.

Rhubahhhhb

I was in Shrewsbury this weekend and my aunt and uncle told me I could harvest some rhubarb and blueberries from their yard. Why anyone (apparently this person might have been in Mongolia - see below) decided to try eating a rhubarb plant is beyond me, but I'm glad someone gave it a shot because I love it. Growing up we would just dip the stalks in white sugar and eat it raw.


Abe being a fussy baby. He was put on blueberry picking duty after this.

A brief history on rhubarb from Wikipedia:

The plant is indigenous to Asia, and many suggest that it was often used by the Mongolians; particularly, the Tatars tribes of the Gobi Desert. The plant has grown wild along the banks of the River Volga for centuries; it may have been brought there by Eurasian tribes, such as the Scythians, Huns, Magyars or Mongols. The term rhubarb is a combination of the Greek rha and barbarum; rha being a term that referred both to the plant and to the River Volga. Varieties of rhubarb have a long history as medicinal plants in traditional Chinese medicine, but the use of rhubarb as food is a relatively recent innovation, first recorded in 17th century England, after affordable sugar became available to common people, and reaching a peak between the 20th century's two world wars. Rhubarb first came to America in the 1820s, entering the country in Maine and Massachusetts and moving westwards with the settlers.



Anyhoo, I modified a recipe for rhubarb cobbler that I found here and it was AMAZING. I forgot my camera this weekend so I am stealing a couple shots from the original recipe author's page.

My modifications include:

• Fresh picked blueberries (as many as you can pick - maybe a 1/2 cup?)
• 1 cup of sugar instead of 1/2 of cup (our rhubarb wasn't super ripe so I needed to cut the tartness)
• A tsp of cinnamon added to the crumble
  

New Website is Done*!

* please note: new website is not totally done and has some glitches, but at least it's up there.

Well, it's only been about a million nights of staring at my 15" laptop screen, but after many curse words and blood-shot eyes, I have finally updated my website!

Highlights include: updated products, an events page, and a fancy new drop-down menu bar. There are some other things too, but I won't bore you with the behind-the-scenes details. It might not be the fanciest of websites, but I'm pretty proud that I did it all myself. (Even though as I type this I'm noticing a bunch of stuff that needs to be fixed. )

I need a bigger monitor ASAP. I might do it this weekend when I'm home in Shrewsbury. If anyone has a reccomendation for a large, flat screen (19"-23") monitor with HD capabilities that is under $400 please let me know.

Movie Night for the WB

So last night I went to McCarren Pool to watch the movie "Desperately Seeking Susan". I met Colleen outside and we got some Starbucks shwag and then got some beers from the Brooklyn Brewery stand. Then we found Margot with her curry apricot cous cous salad.

Hippie Princess.

Then Margot gave me and Colleen our birthday presents:


Stevie Nicks posters!


Mmmm. Boxed wine. 30% of Italian families choose this wine.


Those families have no taste buds. This wine tastes like stale barf.


Nothing better than watching a solid 80's movie with 200 Williamsburgers.



Uh oh. Someone brought cupcakes. These were the best cupcakes of my life. They were from Sweet Sugar Sunshine. I only had half of one and I wanted more and I was offered to take some home but I played the brave girl "No, no...I couldn't...I barely like sugar. Does anyone have some lemon water?" This was the beginning of the end. I left here with a bag of leftover s'mores ingredients from Colleen's camping trip last weekend. For two days I have been squirting melted Hershey bars into my mouth. Bad news bears.

Hot Town, Summer in the City

This weekend was total "Summer in NYC" despite the 100 degree weather. On Friday night I went to a free concert in Prospect Park with Abe. We had a little picnic, drank some whiskey and beer, and chilled out to Deerhoof. Afterwards we went back up to Williamsburg for my friend's birthday party at the bar Legion. Two girls were DJing and they had a killer playlist - think late 90's hip-hop. I wish I could download their mix.

On Saturday I played some catch with Abe - gotta get my softball arm in shape - big game on Thursday! We also walked down Bedford Avenue. Some of the blocks were closed off to traffic to promote bicyling and using public space in a different way. I got an ice cream coffee float from Penny Licks. It was made with vanilla ice cream and Manhattan Special Espresso Soda.



Then we walked over to Meredith's house and made frozen margaritas with her and Piper. We talked about periods a lot - anything to make Abe a little uncomfortable. Then we walked over to The Feast and had dinner (funnel cake, pork sandwiches, arepas, grilled corn).




And today I went to the beach with Mere, Margot and Piper. We had a great spot next to some teens and enjoyed eavesdropping on their conversations for 6 hours.

West Coast Home Shopping

Every time I visit San Francisco I think I want to live here. I have been playing this game since 1996. There was a time that I almost did it, but then I heard NYC calling my name from across the country and I called up my BFF, Allyson, and said "I'm coming home - let's move to New York!" But now I've lived in NYC for almost 6 years and I'm thinking maybe Abe and I could move away for a little while (just a little while). Unfortunately, I'm also at that age where I'm starting to become an adult and thinking about doing certain things I'm not adult enough to write out (m*rri@ge and b@b!es). All of a sudden it doesn't seem so easy to move so far away from my family.

Anyway - no decisions are being made. This always happens in the summer because NYC is so gross and hot - you go away on vacation to where it's 70 degrees and all of a sudden your brain freaks out and doesn't want to leave.

It is so pretty in SF though - it is impossible not to play the "Which house would I buy?' game. Yesterday I was walking in the Marina and picked out this house, which I thought was very practical of myself - I could have gone for some crazy castle. Of course, the last time I went "practical" I found a small row house in Greenpoint and was certain it was meant to be. When I called the realtor I found out the asking price was $639,000 - not so practical for a tiny house built on an oil spill.



I would also like to have these flowers spilling into my backyard.


The funny thing is that I ended up buying these shoes soon after seeing this house. I didn't realize the color theme until just now, but I guess it really speaks to me.

Can't quite figure this one out...

All the way from San Francisco...

Walking to the Renegade Craft Fair on Sunday morning I encountered this random mix left on a front porch:


Close up:


There must be a baby with spectacular fine motor skills and a drug problem running around town.

San Francisco!!

I'm in San Francisco for the Renegade Craft Fair. Woo hoo!! I love SF. My aunt lives here so I come visit pretty often and every time I'm here I start playing the game "Maybe I Should Move Here" and it always ends with "It's too far away from my family."

I was here in October and a new awesome thing to happen to SF since then is FREE INTERNET! It's amazing! Now I really feel like we're in the future.

Once of my favorite things to do while on the West Coast is to not change my clocks to Pacific time. I get a rush whenever I look at my phone/computer and see that it is 10:30am and then realize that it is only 7:30am! So much more time!

Today I have to run some errands for things I wasn't able to pack for the show. The night before I was leaving my car broke down and Abe ended up in the ER for dehydration (he's fine now- he had the stomach flu for a few days). So, I was a little out of my mind and forgot some crucial elements needed for my booth.

A Ferndale Fourth

Abe and I drove down to Ferndale, Pennsylvania to spend the 4th of July at our friends' new home. There were about 18 of us there for the weekend - we set up Tent City in their backyard and just had a heck of a lot of fun.

I would say one of the most exciting moments was when a bat got into the house and flew into Jessica's hair. Preeya and I went inside to shoo the bat out of the house. Preeya was really good at throwing her sweatshirt at the bat, but in the end the best solution was Mike just wrapping the sweatshirt around the bat and carrying it outside.



I didn't take that many pictures because even though the weekend was filled with laughs and good times - and quality time with the baby - it was very uneventful. Uneventful because it was so relaxing and all we did was eat, drink, sit by the fire pit, light off fireworks, play with the baby, and eat some more. I feel like I had a 2-week vacation in those 3 days.

We got the wood, now where is the fire?

Losing hope.


Oooh...I see a spark.


Doug's a good stoker.

Yachts = too much fun

Last Thursday Abe texted me and said "Do you want to go to a yacht party tonight?" and I thought to myself "What are the chances? I do want to go to a yacht party tonight!"

Turns out that Abe's co-worker's best friend works for a family with two yachts and they let him take one of them for a bit as a birthday present. Since they are from Chicago and don't know a heck of a lot of people in NYC we really lucked out when they docked at Chelsea Piers.

The yacht was basically a floating 5-star hotel. Two jacuzzis, a crew of 12, a chef cooking gourmet food, and unlimited Dom Pérignon.

Older women and gay men instantly fall in love with Abe when he hits the dance floor.

We arrived around 8pm in our best "yacht chic" clothing, took off our shoes and boarded the ship. From there things got progressively more gluttonous and hazy. I never knew this, but it is very hard to control your alcohol intake when someone is constantly topping off your champagne flute - especially when you are on a 200 foot yacht.

The photo isn't blurry - it is just a special effect so you can feel how drunk I was.

We left sometime around 2am and took a cab home with Sam. I somehow lost one of my new shoes. Good thing they were from Payless (shhh...don't tell the yachties).

Captain's desk - mapping the route to the New World (a.k.a The Hamptons)

Anchors Aweigh :: What I sent....

I am sending out my ATC's for the swap I hosted titled "Anchors Aweigh!"

I created these ATC's using some scrap papers, paint, glitter, ink, but mostly they were created from the security envelopes that I receive at work. Ever since I started collecting these security envelopes I have become slightly obsessed with finding ways to use them (see examples here and here). The patterns are pretty amazing.

Men Who Look Like Zach Braff

Everyone knows how much I enjoy a good Zach Braff moment. Two of my best friends invented a blog dedicated to ZB look-a-likes (some are a stretch, but it's hilarious to see the hidden similarities).

http://menwholooklikezachbraff.blogspot.com/