Saturday, May 14, 2011

may

may has come along and with it lots more rain. in between downpours, we have ben's t-ball games. what an adventure this is! he takes it very seriously and believes his sole purpose on this earth is to catch the ball.


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the yard and gardens here are beautiful. i can't believe they are mine. every day almost brings a surprise. flourishing bleedings hearts, huge hostas. thriving berry patch. lilacs, clematis, roses. so exciting.

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april

we have been enjoying a lovely (if wet) spring. lots of fun over easter. ben hosted his friends at the house for an egg hunt.

carson came for easter as well. we took a day trip to pittsburgh and gawked at the bunny palace.

i'll let the pictures do the talking.

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my guy

angry rabbit

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

I suck

Ok, so I clearly was unable to keep on top of sxsw posts. or any posts for that matter. I'll try to catch up here and now.

6th Street

Day One:

Premier of Source Code. Saw it at the Paramount. Encountered Vera Fermiga in the ladies' room.

Day Two:

Turkey Bowl at the Alamo. I love you, Alamo! Very comfortable film, relatable. And did I mention that I love the Alamo?

A Bag of Hammers. Love this movie!!!!

The Pee-Wee Herman Show at the State Theater. Paul Reubens present. We were in Austin. That's over HEEEEYAH!

The Innkeepers at the Paramount. Hated it. WTF.

Frog Design Party. Delicious apps and copious amounts of alcohol. Lovely starlit Austin skyline.

Day Three:

A Matter of Taste. Loved it. Visiting Corton is now on my to do list.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop. They aren't kidding. He's hyperactive, self-absorbed, and fascinating.

No Matter What. Slightly depressing but refreshing in a way. The leads are not professional actors. A touching movie, actually. Enjoyed watching it but enjoy it even more in retrospect. Director was gratingly pretentious, however. Ugh.

I know we attended some type of party because I ended up at Wasted on the Young well on my way to healthy buzz. Downed two Alamojitos while watching this feature length Australian version of the OC on steroids. The film was on steroids, not me.

Day Four:

The Dish and the Spoon. Um, lame mumblecore that I should not have put us through. I think I enjoyed it far more than husband only because I've been spending vacations in Rehoboth since I can remember.

The Other F Word. I pray this film gets distribution. An engaging look at punk rockers who find themselves in the compromising position of being fathers.

Flim Florida Fish Fry. Conch fritters and fried fish. Yummo.

Day Five:

Something Ventured. Cerebral but fascinating doc on the venture capitalists who gave Silicon Valley its start. Bad combovers and private submarines.

Foo Fighters at the Paramount. Um. Greatest thing ever. Um. They were there. Um, I was two feet away from Dave Grohl and got to say hi to him. Um, we were in line and got wristbands for a private show at Stubbs. Um, we were in the FOURTH ROW AT A FOO FIGHTERS CONCERT WHERE THEY PLAYED THE NEW ALBUM IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT STOPPING. Um, can you say awesome? Then they played everything else. We were right behind the person who filmed this.

Grohl

Day Six:

New Music from Wales. Annual showcase sponsored by the British Embassy. Handpies, rarebit, meatless sausage. Yum.

French Party. Canada Party. New Zealand Party- oh wait, I missed that. At this point I got a little carried away and forgot that I'm not actually a college coed. I'm a 34-year-old mother. Yikes. Blur.

Brett Dennen and Matt Nathanson at the Moody Theater. I wish I could say I didn't feel like puking the entire time we were there.

Berry Austin. Trip number one.

Day Seven:

The Head and the Heart. My new favorite band.

Devotchka. My other new favorite band. I've enjoyed them for years, but it's amplified now for sure. We saw the show in the clip.

No clue what we did that evening. According to Matt we went to the second floor of Maggie Mae's on 6th Street but left because it was weird. Then we stood in line at Esther's Follies but did not get in. I think I got street pizza and went to the room and watched Law and Order.

Day Eight:

Sunbathing at the pool. AHHHH.

Showcasing Scotland at the British Embassy. I hate to say it, but sort of a disappointment.

Fabulous seafood at Trulucks. Flight of Chardonnay. Seafood tower. Scallops. Berry Austin number two. I love you Berry Austin.

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Day Nine:

Yorkshire and North East at the British Embassy. Tacos and techno.

MMM watched WVU lose while KTM got a sunburn at the pool.

Watched the Willie Nelson documentary and listened to Billy Bob Thornton yammer on and on and on and holy crap is he crazy.

Berry Austin number three.

Fro yo

Day Ten:

HOME!!!!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

austin

here we are again.

80 degrees. sunny. free-flowing alcohol. i am in heaven.

i am noticing that the older i get the harder it is to turn off the everyday laundry list of worries and just relax. we had a great day yesterday, but still, this morning i woke up in my usual "shit i'm late for work and i have 50 things to do and oh my gosh i just want to lie here" groucho mood. it took a few minutes to look around and say "wait a minute, i'm on VACATION."

we were incredibly lucky travel-wise yesterday. flight out of PIT left on time and our Midway flight was only about an hour late. and just like that we went from 30 degrees and 4 inches of snow to 78 and sunshine.

we arrived, registered and hit the ground running, or, well, walking really fast. went to a few lounges. experienced a sobe apple margarita. very tart and yummy. however, it's been, oh maybe 7 months since i've had hard liquor. i did fine, though.

we grabbed sushi on congress and went to the premier of source code. it was good, but probably the least favorite opening night flick i've seen here. we skipped out on the second premier and went to a random bar on 6th and watched the funkadelic "jean claude van jamme" perform. there is no way to describe the absurdity of this scene, and only my husband will understand when i say "when the man in the kilt tells you to dance, YOU DANCE!" truer words have never been spoken.

street pizza and bed after that.

i'm going to try to do a better job of capturing our activities this year. we'll see if i can keep it up.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

feet upon the snow

love this song.

the past couple of weeks have fluctuated between glimpses of spring and debilitating respiratory infections. i am beginning to feel like we will never again go for more than a day or two without someone being sick. (insert my standard whine here- i eat healthy, i exercise, i sleep, i have a relatively stress-free existence- how can i be sick so much?).

during the springy interludes we've finally been able to explore our new yard and neighborhood. there are so many beautiful old houses (including our own) and very interesting old trees.

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we have tromped around the soggy yard, laying out spaces for herb bed, veggie bed and fish pond.

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we moved rowan's hutch across the yard. he seems fat and content as usual.

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shannon's birthday was this weekend. i volunteered dessert. tartine's lemon meringue cake. a time intensive cake with many steps. i enjoyed every second of it. i also enjoyed having yet another reason to use my kitchen torch.

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all told, i think the cake has something like 17 eggs in it. a chiffon base, lemon cream filling and gorgeous meringue frosting.

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Monday, February 21, 2011

l'opera

our good friend came for supper yesterday. it was his first time at our new house.

i made giada's chicken and penne in a lemon cream sauce. i loved it. the guys? not so much i don't think.

i also took opportunity to make a dessert i'd been wanting to try out for quite some time: opera cake.

it was an enjoyable cake to make, but the clean up was out of control. three different sauce pans! hand mixer! stand mixer! sheesh.

i gave the leftover cake to my mother so i wouldn't eat it. i regret that decision.


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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

benny had his four-year well-child visit today. he loves the attention he gets at doctors' offices and he absolutely loves his pediatrician. he blushes and giggles when she touches him. it's very cute. verbal skills and fine motor skills are very advanced. smoothness with the ladies? not so much.

after his appointment we took advantage of the warmer weather and went to friendship hill to hike and ride bikes. we explored the grounds, pretending to be chasing bears, really tracking dear, and speculating on spectral activity. felt great to be outside, not wearing a coat, breathing fresh air.

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i really do love something about that place. ben call's it albert's house and loves it there as much as i do.

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we ate at apple annie's on the way home. good food and such a friendly atmosphere. they have an incredible dessert case. easily over 20 choices of cakes, pies and pastries. all made in house and all clearly delicious. i won the bad parent award for the day and let ben eat this:

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