Good ol' boys

So, you know how much I love this guy, and I would love for all who read this post to come celebrate his birthday one day late. Daniella's Cantina! I think it's on Fairbanks Street! Framingham! 7:30 Sat night (which is probably tonight, if you read this at a normal time, such as the morning)! Yay!

What's today?

I've lost track of what day it is... but at least this is going to be a short work week! (Do those two things have anything to do with each other?)

So Cuddy just came over to show me and Jay a digitally-remastered version of a DVD she made back in college for a friend who moved to London. It was a silly DVD, and she did a good job of re-editing it. Then we bought steak. Mmmm... I love steak. We also bought veggies, and we grilled up the veggies and made a salad out of them, and we grilled the steak too. Mmmm... grilled steak. Mmmmm... grilled veggies. Now it's naptime.

Jay and I have been watching Olympic curling, the women's. It's kind of fun. As I sit here and type, I can hear the scary Brits screaming, "PULL!!!!!" I actually don't know if that's what they're saying, but it sounds like that. Now to go watch more curling!

Hi there, again

So I made Jay two kinds of mac and cheese (the one pictured has asparagus and caramelized shallots; but he liked the other one, with roasted poblano and tomato-cilantro salsa, better), and Jay got me a fresh, juicy steak straight from John Stone's in Ashland for Valentine's Day. I also got him his Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, and he got me Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter. Is it strange that we get each other food and beer for Valentine's Day? Jay had various women asking him if he was going to get me Beanie Babies or stuffed animals for Valentine's Day. No, thanks; I'd rather have a rare steak with a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus. MMMmmMMMmm!! But I think if he actually told them that, they might be a little frightened. ::shrug::

Well, it's finally back to work tomorrow, after a whole 8 days of being out. It's going to be strange, but I'll be glad to be out of the house. Although it was fun hanging out with Abe all day. But it'll be a good transition because I have Monday off, so it'll be a little taste of the old grind, then a long weekend.

That's about all! Jay's birthday is coming up. I'm not really sure what we're doing, if anything. I was thinking maybe about meeting up for drinks (and steak?? oh, not for Jay...) at John Stone's on the 25th (not this Sat., but next). We'll see what transpires.

Happy Valentine's Day

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but that's only because I haven't really been in the mood. But here's two pics inspired by Dennis, who has been busy with his photoblog. Yeah, they're both the same, but different... ooooo.

So I'm again recovering from a nasty cold sore that made it so I couldn't form the sounds of "B," "F," "M," "V," "P," and "W." I didn't mean the M V and P to go together like that. I think I've been absorbing too much basketball info from Jay... Anyway. I missed work all last week and for yesterday, today, and tomorrow of this week. I got a new doctor, and my first appointment with him is tomorrow, so hopefully he'll give me magic medicine that makes me better. But we'll see.

On a side note, I went to another dermotologist last week who seemed very concerned about my purple legs. (I have blotchy, purple-y, veiny legs. They used to call me Roadmap in elementary school.) She did blood work to see if I was ill. But then she called to tell me everything was normal and that I was just naturally purple. Thanks, Doc!

So yeah, it's Valentine's Day. Days like this kind of freak me out, because I can think of lots of nice things to do for the one I love (that's you, Jay), but then I get absolutely overwhelmed with ALL the possibilities, and then I try to figure out how to implement any one of those plans, and I sort of shut down. So sorry, Jay, I ain't doing anything, but I thought of some nice stuff! Kidding. I'll think of something... it might not be that great. But it'll be something.

That's about all... have a happy Valentine's Day and whatnot.

Gettin' lazy with those posts!

I'm lazy. I haven't posted a pic in a long time, I haven't really been keeping this updated... I think it's lost some of its novelty. Le sigh...

I lost all my data in my PDA last week. It was like the last two years just ::poof:: disappeared. I wasn't so upset about losing phone numbers, work info, etc., but mostly about all the stupid things I kept track of, such as what I made for dinner on January 18th, 2004, or some silly remark Jay made about mopeds, or whatnot. I'm over it now, though - now I'm getting mad I lost some work stuff.

On Saturday I had an appointment with a personal trainer. My legs hurt bad. So I'm going to this personal trainer for one week, hoping to learn how to do a good exercise routine at home so I don't have to commit to joining a gym every year for the rest of my life. I go tonight, tomorrow, Thur., and Sat., and then hopefully I'll be more edumacated regarding fitness. We shall see...

Another Winterfest is coming up... Feb. 10. Not sure what's going on, but I bet it'll be cold.

I made veggie pot pie last night. It was good.

Mmmm... that's about it for now. Oh, and I'm sure everyone heard that Ricky Davis got traded... Jay's a little better now, although it was very shocking and quite emotional. Tonight's the Celtics' first game against the team they traded him to. I hope Ricky doesn't do crazy defense on us. That'd hurt.

Paint and hot sauce

Seeing as how this blog was originally started because we had moved into a new house and wanted to talk all about what was going on with it, I figure that I'd post about our new paint color in the living room. However, I'm much too lazy right now to actually go get the digital camera and upload pictures, so I'll do that later. Okay, maybe I won't. But anyway, we painted the living room a tannish-green color and the fireplace a dark brown. It looks great with the new couch, and is a nice change from white all around.

Yesterday we went for a walk (okay, this isn't house-related stuff), seeing as how it was so nice out. We went to Hopkinton State Park. We didn't explore too much, as it was getting super windy and the forecast called for rain. (It never rained, by the way.) Abe was super hyper. He was running around all crazy, leaping over rocks and downed trees, and eventually decided to try to jump over a little creek. He didn't make it. But he did jump over three more similar creeks... and never really quite made it.

We then went grocery shopping, and Jay decided to try to make some hot sauce. He loooves hot sauce. I'm kind of scared of hot sauce, because hell, it burns. Mouth pain is not so much fun. Anyway, we picked some poblano peppers (no, not a peck; just three), some jalepenos, some red ones and some yellow ones (we didn't know what they were), some anchos, and some dried habaneros, the hottest chile pepper known to man. Jay grilled them up on the grill (you know, even grilling hot peppers smells super good!), skinned them, and pureed the up in the food processor. He did some other stuff to it, added some things, and now he has what he likes to call "Anti-Vampire Snot Sauce." It has a garlicky taste and is green.

And today, well, who knows what we're doing? I have to go do some laundry, which I know is super exciting...

Some TV reviews from Jay and Erin

Jay and I have been watching a lot of Discovery Channel lately, mainly Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters. Both are good shows. We enjoy Dirty Jobs because the host, Mike Rowe, is a funny, funny man. He's kind of a jerk, and some of his jokes are a little cutting, but that's what makes it so funny. (Tough to describe - you have to see it.) I learned that he actually studied history, philosophy, music, and other neat things, and was an opera singer in Baltimore. He said once, while during an intermission in a Puccini opera, he went with his buddy across the street to grab a beer, because it's fun to drink while singing Puccini. And Mythbusters is just fun because they do cool things and Adam always gets hurt.

But last night we watched Country Boys, a PBS documentary about the perils of growing up in Appalachia. Now, PBS is good stuff, right? I mean, public television, educational and ground-breaking, right? We heard commercials for Country Boys on WBUR, Boston's NPR news station. So we both were interested in seeing it. Well, it wasn't very good... and I don't know if it's one of those "message is in the medium" things where the actual documentary was slow-going and meandering and pointless to show that life for these boys is slow-going and meandering and pointless. That's Jay's theory. I just think it was poorly put together and not very well thought out. So we turned to the dog show.

While watching the dog show, I was extremely pleased to see a commercial for the Puppy Bowl, a fantastic show where they just show a bunch of puppies in a playpen. You're supposed to either watch it instead of the Superbowl or flip channels to it during the half-time show. It's just a great idea, isn't it??

So anyway, I guess the point is that Jay and I watch a lot of TV. But if you're going to watch TV, I highly suggest Dirty Jobs. Avoid Country Boys. And the Puppy Bowl... well, I certainly hope it sticks around for at least 30 more years.

I got the urge to post

I haven't posted in a while, nor have I been in the mood to post, only because I feel like nothing exciting has happened. Which isn't true. Jay recently put together our wedding album, which looks fantastic, and I'm happy to see that we actually have lots of good ones. I thought the photographers didn't do that great of a job, but once you sift through them and take out the subpar ones, the photos look great. Yay Jay!

We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's. (Although if you watched Dick Clark count down to the New Year, it was exciting in a sad way... he skipped like 4 seconds... doh.) I woke up about six minutes before midnight, as I had fallen asleep on the couch about two hours before.

And I've been feeling sorry for myself lately, as I have a nasty-ass cold sore (yeah, it's gross), and it seems to like to not go away. So it's lame, but I took the week off because I have a hard time speaking and eating, and those are two things I like to do (and speaking is part of my job). But I sure do miss eating like a normal person... Jay's been very sweet, though; he got me two kinds of delicious chicken soup the other day, and he even got me my favorite Quizno's sub that he cut up into tiny pieces so I could easily fit them in my mouth.

So I've been to the doctor twice in the past week, and I realize that she's not very perceptive to anything I have to say. Which makes me want to find another PCP (primary care physician). But how is one supposed to find a PCP they like? You can't interview doctors over the phone. You can't go to ratemydoctor.com, as that Web site doesn't exist (unlike ratemyprofessor.com). So ah well. I shall sit this one out, and until I suffer accidental death or mismemberment, I shall settle for my PCP, who is sweet, she just doesn't listen.

Oh, and I brought Abe to the vet today. He had to have his rabies shot. He also got a physical and some sort of lyme disease shot, as well as a distemperment shot. I don't know what the distemperment shot is, or if it even is "distemperment". I might just be saying that because I brought up dismemberment in the last paragraph. ::shrug:: But he was a good boy, and everyone loved him.

Okay, I'm rambling, so I go now!

Wow, it's been about a month?

So yes, I haven't posted in a long time. Sorry for those of you that actually come here. (Sorry in the sense that I haven't had new material; not the fact that I'm sorry you visit me.) We have gotten our new couch - it certainly wasn't as comfy as the one in the showroom, and I was on the verge of returning it (along with the $45 pick-up fee) because it wasn't nearly as comfy as I hoped, but since it's so big and . . . well, big, we decided to keep it. I also got to sit in the Get Bucket Brigade section for two games - which was fun, but I think I took too many pictures and annoyed the Buckets Brigade the first time, and then the second time I was self-conscious and didn't really cheer much, so it was a mixed bag of emotions for me. And now Christmas comes along, and I'd really like to wish everyone I encounter a Merry Christmas, but I don't know if they're Jewish or not or what, so I say happy holidays, and I'm proud of that, but apparently people get mad if you don't say "Merry Christmas," but I say whatever, all the semantics boil down to is well-wishing anyway, so plthhh. So I wish you all well! And I hope everyone gets to see their loved ones this season. It's going to be 44 degrees tomorrow. That's warm for this time of year.

Recap of the weekend

Now that my butt cheeks have healed from sitting on a few too many couches, I thought I'd say that we had a very nice weekend. Of course, Thursday was Thanksgiving. Then Friday we went to Bri and Kerry's for their Thanks Again party - as always, a great time. Friday night saw Jay cheering on Ricky D at the TD Banknorth Gaaahden. Saturday we went out looking at new couches - Jay and I are getting each other furniture for Christmas instead of gifts, 'cuz we sort of need new furniture. Luckily, we have the same taste when it comes to shopping for couches - it has to look decent, but it has to be super squishy and comfy.

So today, unfortunately, Jay's not feeling too well (much like Pat - hope you're feeling better, Pat!). I just wanted to say that I don't like the recent weather. It seems like the weekends are either rainy or cold, and then the weekdays are nice and sunny and warm. OR the warm days are rainy and the cold days are sunny. For instance:

Weekday: Warm, but rainy!

Weekend: Sunny, but cold!

Couch shopping and its repercussions

Quick post here: today we went looking at couches, and so we sat down in lots and lots of different ones. Now my butt is all chafed, and it literally feels like someone scraped medium-grit sandpaper on my butt for an hour or so. Jay thinks I'm weird. But man does it hurt!!

Post-Thanksgiving post (redundant?)

Hey, I love Thanksgiving, I love the stuffing, I love the turkey, I love the side dishes... but I wouldn't love washing the dishes. Haha, can you tell I just left my mom and dad to clean all these dishes?? Man, I suck!!

How was everyone's Thanksgivin'? We had dinner at my parents' house and got to hang out with my nephew - I'm scared of babies, but he's a cutie and I got to burp him a lot - and then today we went to Bri and Kerry's for Thanks Again, which seemed much more low-key than other Thanks Again parties. If you don't know what Thanks Again is, it's the day after Thanksgiving party where people bring any leftovers they have and Bri fries up some whole turkeys. If you haven't had fried turkey, your arteries haven't lived. So delicious... so crispy... so tender... oh, so fried.... mmmmmm.

Oh, so Thanksgivin's over, it was a bunch o' fun, and now we have to do the holiday shopping. Thankfully, my immediate family is doing the 'Secret Santa' thing where we all pick a person to buy for, instead of trying to buy a gift for all six of them. But we're still going to get the baby a gift, namely some Celtics clothes. Jay noticed that Mason has lots of Red Sox and Patriots baby clothes, and now we want him to represent all the Boston teams. Especially the C's. I said we should get him some New England Revolution gear (shout out to Dennis!), but Jay wasn't very excited about that....

Turkey turkey turkey

Well, here Jay and I are at my parents' house out in the WB (West Brookfield, not the TV station), and it's snowing, and the aroma of roasting turkey is in the air, and I'm in the middle of fixing a veggies and dip platter. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - I hope everyone has a great meal and a great time with whomever you spend it with.

Last night we got to go out to Ye Olde Tavern, the ONLY bar in my hometown, where every townie congregates on the eve of Thanksgiving. I saw a few guys from my high school class (no, none of them were boyfriends; I didn't have boyfriends in high school because I was too interested in marching band), I saw a few people from the class one year behind me, and there was also a girl fight on the dance floor. Woo! It got really crowded and really surreal, so Jay and I got the heck out of there.

And here we are on Thanksgiving morn. I got to set the table. I have to go finish making veggies and dip now. (I get distracted. Look, a turkey!!)

The Publick House

I took Jay out to a place called The Publick House in Brookline last night. We found out about the place on The Phantom Gourmet, which is becoming a source of weekend entertainment for us lately. They said that this restaurant had a great macaroni and cheese, which happens to be Jay's favorite thing in the world. And plus they have like 27 beers on draft and many more I can't count in bottles. So we drove on into Brookline and got to the place at 4:00. I didn't know they don't open the kitchen until 5:00. Not to worry, though - we just sat ourselves down in the corner and got a beer. Jay picked out a throne chair. Seriously. It was this really uncomfortable wooden chair with a very high back that had intricate carvings in it. He loved it. When dinner time came along, Jay ordered the mac and cheese, and asked our server for some add-on advice: should he get asparagus and caramelized onions and add an extra artisanal cheese? Heck, why not?? He ate the whole thing, so I'm assuming he liked it a lot. We had a great time at this place! The workers were friendly, the service was great, the atmosphere was fun - not too loud that you couldn't hear yourself speak, the food was good and the beer was great.

Which brings me to my next suggestion: Jay and I decided that for his birthday in February, we're going to have a mac & cheese cookoff! Everybody you meet has a different recipe for this comfort-food dish, and Jay wants to try them all. No details are set in stone - I just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that this February will be mac & cheese-rific.

One year ago

So I was looking through our digital pictures, and looking at ones from about a year ago revealed that this was about the time we were in the middle of getting the house. It's strange, I feel like for the first time in my life that I actually have stability and can actually remember things like where I lived last year and what was going on. In the past it's been like life moved and changed way too quickly to actually put roots down and have an idea of where you'd be in 6 months. Ah, philosophising...

So yeah. Looking at my trusty PDA, I see that we put an offer down on the house on November 3rd, 2004. We went to a Celtics game on November 5th. We applied for a mortgage on November 16th. I brewed my delightfully clovey gingerbread beer on November 21st (ew, it's a year old! but it certainly has mellowed...). And I also have a note on December 2nd that says my sweater smells like poop. Well, then... Here's some pics from November 13th, 2004, a year ago from last week when we had a 70-degree day:




So anyway, it's strange to look back one year and remember what was going on. I certainly don't remember two years ago or three years ago... I see people in court saying, "Oh, I've been working there for 9 years come this February," and I have no idea how people remember stuff like that! I don't even remember when I started WORKING in court! And it's only like 2 or 3 years ago! Maybe this will be the turning point, who knows.

UPDATE: Regarding the recent post where I had my first roadkill incident (yeah, I killed a racoon with my car), I was reminiscing through the posts over at my old blog, "Erin Talkin', ye-a," and came upon this post from June 17, 2004. Animals should fear me!!

Midweek post

So we're still getting used to Abe having a nice haircut. I swear, he seems like a much more pleasant dog! It's weird. He's all clean and neatly trimmed, and he seems much better behaved. Jay bought him a new octopus toy the day he got his grooming done, and the thing's probably a bit bigger than him and with 6 more legs. Abe was scared of Wally (yes, we name Abe's toys - what?) because Wally was bigger than Abe, but just yesterday he embraced the new toy and started to bring to toy up to our laps and growl at us because we were too close to it. Abe's a weird dog.

Nothing much else going on... my new session in Worcester is going to have lots and lots of crazy trials going on, which is exciting, yet mildly scary seeing as how it's all criminal stuff. Jay's away at the Celtics game now -- well, he's actually on his way home at this point... the C's had a really bad game, unfortunately, but they showed a great shot of the Get Buckets Brigade in the 3rd where Jay was standing on the back of the seat in front of him. Good stuff.

Is everyone excited for Thanksgiving?? I love turkey!

groovy pic

I just killed a racoon!

My first roadkill experience, and wow, it sucked! Well, I guess they'd all suck... but anyway, I was just driving back from the Oriental House with my Chinese food, and right before the Mobil station on the way back, I looked down very quickly to change the station on the radio when I saw something out of the cornerest of corners of my eye, and that something was a flick of movement in front of my car. My front tires, and soon after, my back tires both hit something pretty substantial. Doh!! I turned my car around in the hopes I hadn't just blatantly killed someone's cat or dog... and as I drive my car back and flash my high beams, I see the still-flickering reflection in the eyes of a big racoon laying motionless on its back. I totally killed a big racoon. Thank God it wasn't someone's cat!

On a side note, Jay killed a possum with the same exact car pretty much in the same exact spot not but a week ago... animals should learn to not play in the road near the gas station.

Too much work

So it's silly, but I find it difficult to keep up the whole blogging thing. (A) I have to find something interesting to write about, (B) I have to find pics that correspond, and (C) I just really don't have the attention span to accomplish all that!

So anyway, this past week entailed Jay going to Celtics games (watch him on Fox Sports Net, you'll see the Get Buckets Brigade I guarantee!), me being moved to the Worcester courthouse, and Abe getting a haircut. I am going to focus on Abe getting a haircut.

Before:

after:

Wowsers!! It's two different dogs, pictures taken on the same day!! No kidding, I'm laughing my ass off at how different he looks. Oh, but he's a cutie pie...