some pictures

Here are some pics from the last week or so. Enjoy!



Laura is very happy about her apples. She wasn't smiling a few minutes later when she found some spider eggs in one ofher pickings... shudder...



Josh and the Giant Apple! I like this pic because you can see the water droplets on the apple.



I used the open shutter for this one and like how it came out. We are on our way back to the stand after picking about 30 pounds of apples.



The Green Line was down Thursday afternoon, so I was forced to walk through the Gardens to Park Street. It was one of those perfect fall days. I might keep the practice until it gets too cold.



I am trying to be artsy here. It is the fence outsdie the graveyard near Boyleston.



Same fence, different angle.

gills, dreams, cake

Prof. Gill was behind me in line at Dunkin Donuts today. I recognized him immeidiatly. That greying beard, the twinkle in his smile, the rosy cheeks. By far the most popular professor at Tufts, known to even the engineers for his engaging lectures, jokes, fairness and the ability to remember everyone who has ever had one of his history class. Ever. Alas, I was not one of the lucky ones, but did do a stint in the History Deptartment office while on loan from the Classics Department office. That year, he said hello to me by name whenever he saw me and I felt flattered every time.

But I was too shy to say hello, afraid that he won't remember me and that he would have to fake it. That I would be just another face among thousands. I regret not turning around, though. The minute I went through the turnstiles, it was too late. I even entertained thoughts of emailing him a belated hello.

A coworker sent me an article on a Latin symposium from the Boston Globe and I recognized my old advior's name in the article. She had left Tufts a few years after we graduated and went to UMass for a tenure tract. I emailed her immidiatly, saying that I read about her project on Nantucket and am glad she is getting a more hands on experience at UMass. She emailed me back with instant recognition (well, I WAS the only one who got a 100 on the final, thank you very much).

Maybe it is easier to put yourself out there when you know you won't have to deal with the reaction. No faces to read, no smiles to fake. I don't like that I hid and hid behind email. That is something about myself that I will change.

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This morning I had the oddest dream. I went to visit Sara as a surprise. She didnt know I was coming. I had to walk up a very steep hill to get there and when I did, everyone was already there. Allie peered at my from behind a door - oh Deepa is here too! she said with delight. Merry was there, and Becca. Eden. It seemed like all our friends were there for the weekend.
Cut to us all sleeping in a room with bunk beds and sleeping bags. I say that I am very hurt that this was all planned and no one told me about it. That I came as a surprise only and was not invited. I was angry. Merry said she honestly didn't care for my being there and some people nodded their heads. Becca said that she loved me dearly, but thought that my bringing it up was not tactful and I should have not said anything.
Cut to the next morning. I am sleeping still and everyone is getting up to make room for a little boy. He was in a car accident.
Cut to all of us on a deck with the other people who lived in the house. Everyone is is dressed yet I am still in my PJs. Paparazzi are taking pictures of the boys family. I feel underdressed and want to shower.
Then I wake up.


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Had people over for dinner last night and it went very well! Good conversation, lots of laughs. I was very proud of the menu: proscuitto wrapped melon, fresh bruschetta, homemade mushroom and parmesean and ricotta and spincah ravioli and molten chocolate cake. the dishes need a few tweaks here and there, so that is something to to work on. it also reminded me of how much I love entertaining. we need a dining room table before it can get more complicated, however.

woo hoo!

they will be at avalon on nov 16th! yay! my day is made!

come on, come on

the minute i saw the JC Penny commercial, i was like, i NEED to know who sings this song. they show the band for like two seconds and i couldnt really tell what the name was on the poster, but i could see it was four skinny white guys and four letters long.

then i am at the gym on a weekend morning watching the VH1 top 20 countdown and i see this hypnotizing video with treadmills. and then the light bulbs go off, it is the same band!

off to iTunes to download the JC Penny song. listened to it while i rocked it on the treadmill. back to iTunes to get the rest of the album. and fell completely in love on the commute this morning. i am officially obsessed.

i think what i like about them so much is that they have this classic rock sound, kind of clash/knack-esque with really cheeky lyrics. and they have so. much. energy. i love it. they are the kind of band that makes me want to be in a band.

and after hearing all of the songs off the new album this morning, i still like the JC Penny song the best.

the great bathroom project of 2006

so here is the progression. josh really did do about 85% of the work, so the credit goes to him. give him a nice round of applause everyone!

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This mirror cabinet was installed when the house was built. in 1883. it is ugly and we hate it. unfortunatly, it is reccessed in the wall, so when we take it out there will be a big hole there. plus, the hole cuts into the pink tile. quite the predicement...


the curtain was mine from hoboken. it matched the yellowing paint quite nicely but made the whole room seem mildew-ey. note the color of the sink (with no vanity, mind you). this pink is also all over the tub and the toilet. it is ugly and we hate it.


yay! new mirror cabinet! josh sanded the hole away to make it bigger and fit this beauty in. in the meantime, the side parts of the hole (where the florescent bulbs went) makes the wall ugly and we hate it. (don't worry, this theme will change soon)


Here the the final product. Sure it doesnt look THAT differnt to you, but there is no peeling paint, no cracks in the walls, no ghetto mirror thingy, no dull shower curtain and no puppy and kitty light switch! hurrah!

the anti mullet - take 2

i didnt take pics of the blown out version last time, so here it is. the shot from the front makes me look like a stoner, so you guys will just get the side look...

oh yeah

and i got a hair cut. the tnedrils are a little shorter than last time (since they grew so fast) so i am not as pleased as last time. but in two weeks (tops) they will be fine and dandy. i'll post a pic for those who havent seen it or those who saw it but it was all grown out and ugly as soon as i get home.

rewind

ugh - has it really been two weeks since my last post. sorry guys. well, at least i am not as bad as some people (ahem - HEATHER!)

much has happened and every time i did something, i was like, this would make a really good blog. so instead of writing about each one in length, i will just give you an overview. less typing for me and you all still get the point.

josh was away last weekend and i spent my first weekend since we moved in home alone. it was hard. as some of you know, i do not sleep well alone. i need someone else in the room or house just as a comforting thought. i try to stay away from scary movies when possible, but the ones i HAVE seen dance through my head the minute i turn off the lights. so thursday night i was up late talking to becca. it was nice to have a solid 2.5 hour convo, but by 12:30 i was feeling my eyelids droop and fell asleep around 1. so friday morning was not fun, but i didn’t spend much time up and scared.


friday night i went out salsa dancing with some friends from class. i felt VERY weird not going with josh, since this was not a night out of the girls where we all drink and dance with each other. you dance with boys and they have their hands everywhere and it made me uncomfortable. but josh kept insisting so he was ok with it, and so i was like, ok i can sit at home on a friday alone, or i can go out and meet new people and try new things. so i went. and it was an eye opener. first of all, the crowd was older, in their 30's at least. there were a few younger girls who were VERY much younger. you could tell they just turned 21 and were thrilled to be out. the other thing was you couldn’t dance unless a guy asked you to. also, the people here were not out to meet people and mingle, they were there to salsa dance. SO guys only asked you to dance if they knew you were good. as i had no "street cred" here, only one guy from class asked me to dance (a disaster - i kept getting off beat and laughing and he just gave up on me - bye bye street cred!) and i did some freestyling. other than that i just watched and hung out with people. mimi (the friend with which i went) brought all her friends, who were awesome. funny, gorgeous, great dressers. i felt very intimidated. one was 5 months pregnant, so she didn’t do much dancing. another one pointed out a woman on the dance floor with a tight skirt and short hair tearing it up and said it was her mother. we ran into all her aunts and cousins in the bathroom and it was a family reunion. the sense of community and family was amazing. the "gang" is going back in a few wee, so josh and i are going to head down. then i can dance and not be judged:)

so i got home at 2ish on saturday morning, resulting in a 12am wake up and the next 5 hours spent on the couch. i WAS going to go to home depot and start on the bathroom, but just didnt have the energy. i didn’t drink (since i was driving) but it sure felt like i did. around 4 i threw some veggies in a quiche and that was my breakfast lunch and dinner. then allie and holli came over and it was off to harvard! we had a really good time and got hit on by a nerdy russian who had the WORST pick up lines ever. but we did give him credit for having the nerve to come up to three gorgeous girls and interrupt their conversation.

sunday was spent in the car. went to home dept around 10 and bought everything i needed for the bathroom. i was still feeling the effects of friday (i am SO old) and i was raining so i wasn't gung ho about the museum plans i had with laura, but a quick phone call showed me she was, and that was pretty much all i needed to get me out of the funk. showered and hungry i went to my parent's for some lunch and then thought it would be best to just drive to the MFA (they live on boylston). so i did.

little did i know that northeastern freshmen were MOVING IN THAT DAY. i got stuck with all the non-boston drivers in mini vans and U-Hauls and wanted to kill myself. I went behind the MFA to look for parking, found none (obviously, why did I even try) and then when i tried to get back to mass ave, i got caught in the 9th circle of hell. for an hour. while my brain was expanding out of my eye sockets, laura called me and told me that they exhibit had sold out. so i picked her up at the MFA and went to atrium mall and brought my serotonin levels up with some cheesecake factory. it was awesome and good to have some downtime with laura (hi laura!)

then back to my parents place to wait for josh's flight to come in. what was a two hour wait turned into a 3.5 hour wait bc of the weather and then back into the city to pick up josh. it was fine, except i didn’t make the first right out of the tunnel in south boston (90 is closed, thanks a lot stupid mobsters) and we took the scenic route back to sturrow drive/ mem drive. needless to say, nothing got done in the bathroom.

so monday, bright and early, i turned on the iTunes and started sanding things down. josh came in and tried to hammer the reality of the situation into me. the walls were crumbling. we would need to strip them down if we wanted to spackle and then sand and THEN paint. a simple sand/spackle on the problem areas wouldn't cut it. i was disappointed. this was far more than i had bargained for. i wanted to give up. i hate our bathroom.

do you really hate it?
yes. look at it! we are living like refugees (with pink toilets and running water, but whatever)
and it means a lot to you to make it better?
yes.
ok.

so josh got out the powersander. he sanded, he spackled, he sanded a again. he was amazing.

by 4 the spackle was dry. i steamed some mussels, we had dinner and then i went to work. i cleaned the dust and started painting. i called josh in for the parts i couldn’t reach and he held the ladder for the parts i could. by 8 the second coat was on and i was cleaning up the drops of paint on the floor. our bathroom already looked better and i realized what a patient, giving man i had.

today we are going to get all the pretty things, a new mirror, some shelves, new rugs and mats to complete the transition. the tiles, tub, sink and toilet will still be pink, but now it doesn’t look as bad as it did. i will post pictures as soon as it is all set.

so to recap: home alone, salsa, bathroom, great husband. this past week was another interview with a financial consultant, drinks with friends who moved a street over and house on netflix. sigh - images of hugh laurie. the perfect way to end anything.