09.30.09
Fall means TV!
It is with pain and discomfort that I finally admit that it might, possibly, be fall. Last night I had to put a light blanket on the bed. I always love that first cool night of fall when you have to get up and go to the linen closet and get out a blanket, then you snuggle underneath it and fall asleep. I do love fall, however living in the warmth of the south has made me fear the cold. It’s like I’m trying to get as much warm weather as possible before we eventually move back north. It’s still in the 70s during the day here, and this weekend should be in the 80s, so there’s still time left to wear sundresses and flip flops. Although we’ll be in Boston this weekend so it’s not like we’ll get to enjoy it. And the forecast in Boston calls for RAIN! Heh.
It’s TV premiere week again. Last week and this week are the main premiere weeks of the season. The DVR is just brimming with good shows! Unfortuntately it takes us forever to get through them all since we only have time for one show per night and then we’re away last weekend and this coming weekend. I fear the state of the DVR when we return. Might have to take a day off work just to catch up! How’s that for work ethic?
09.29.09
I’m bookish.
Last night I did nothing and it was GLORIOUS. It’s the first night we haven’t had something planned in a week. Well, we did go grocery shopping, but that’s really not a planned event. We got home, took a shower, cooked dinner and watched Jeopardy. GLORIOUS. Then I went to bed and started a new book (Destiny, or The Chief’s Daughter by Susan Ferriers) and read until almost 11:00, at which point I turned off my light and promptly fell asleep and mostly stayed that way until 6:00 am the next morning. What was it? Oh yeah: GLORIOUS.
This book I’m reading is the third and final book by Susan Ferriers, who was a contemporary of Jane Austen but largely unknown. She was a spinster who cared for her widowed father most of her life, but that doesn’t really do her justice. By all accounts, she was a happy, fun-loving lady in the highest echelons of Edinburgh high society. She took care of her father’s house until his death while she was in her 50s, then she lived alone, but she had siblings whom she visited as well as an active social life. Plus, she wrote three books of almost 1,000 pages each. So far I think her novels aren’t groundbreaking, but the plot is sound and the narrative well thought out. Plus, they each depict life in 19th century Scotland, which is usually ignored by the more famous writers of the day. Her Scotland is a lot less polished and infinitely more interesting. It’s such a shame that universities rarely shed any light on the lesser known writers of that time period. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Jane Austen, but does it have to be all Austen, all the time? Let the Gaskells, Ferriers, Burneys and Bruntons have some time in the scholarly spotlight!
09.28.09
So many meals, so little time.
So many food experiences to write about, so little time! I’ll get right to it. Thursday night we had a great little party at 4th and Swift. We started out with two bottles of a delightful champagne and then moved to red wine from there. This is good for me because I can’t drink red wine without becoming as red as a clown’s nose and about as round, so I just had a glass of white and thus didn’t overdo it. I had the crispy flounder special over butter beans and, although the flounder was crispy and well-cooked, the beans were undercooked and not very flavorful. I was extremely disappointed, probably because I’d built up the food so much in my mind. However, we were having such a good time talking and chatting that we still had a magnificent evening. Since it was a school night the dinner ended early for Bob dinner, around 10 or so. Tons of fun!
Friday morning Dice went to work and I did some work from home, went running, went to Target and packed our bags. Dice came home again around 11:00 am and we brought Pixie down to K&M’s where she spent the weekend. We drove to Charleston where we stayed with Ray’s parents on Friday night. We got there in plenty of time to visit for a while before heading to downtown Charleston for pre-birthday dinner with the Commune and most of the female half of the Canadians’ family, who were all visiting from Canada on the occasion of her birthday. We went to Hank’s Seafood Restaurant and I’m sorry to say that our meal wasn’t much better than the previous evening’s dinner. Several people got the crabcakes so I tasted two separate ones and thought they were both mostly filler with very little crab. I had grilled salmon with asparagus which I thought was only okay. Most people got a fried platter of some kind and no one said their’s was great or anything. Usually if the food is good at least one person will say it. That didn’t happen. Disappointing! But again, the company totally made up for the lack of food quality so we had a wonderful time anyway.
Saturday morning I visited with Ray’s parents some more, went running and had lunch. Then we went to check in to our hotel which was very close to the Isle of Palms, which is where the Canadians had rented a large house for their family. We got to the house around mid-afternoon, and it was beautiful: 6 bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms, two decks and a swimming pool. The thermometer said the temperature was around 82, but it was so incredibly humid and sticky that it really felt more like 90, so I changed from my jeans into a sundress and felt much better. Everyone was either watching TV, reading or playing cards, so I got myself a glass of wine and a lounge chair on the deck and read my book for a while, which was heaven. The caterer served the BBQ meal around 6:00 pm, and I have to say, that was the best meal of the entire weekend. Pulled pork, low country boil and chicken, along with mac ‘n’ cheese (not as good as mine, but then it rarely is) and rolls and banana pudding for dessert. Dice ate so much food he had to go to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel. We actually were so exhausted from almost a whole week of being on the go that we were unable to stay much longer after we ate. So we went to the hotel along with M&K who were staying at the same hotel, had a quick drink with them, then went to our room and conked out. I think we were in bed by 9:30. Party animals!
Sunday morning the fire alarm in the hotel went off TWICE around 8:00 am! So that woke us up. Just false alarms, but they sure were loud! So we got up and met M&K down in the breakfast area for breakfast. I had a bagel toasted with butter and peanut butter, and yes, I really was in heaven. Then we checked out and both left for Atlanta around 10:00 am. Dice and I got home around 2:00 and picked up Pixie, who was SO HAPPY to see us that now I’m pretty sure she has separation anxiety and am afraid we’re damaging our dog by going out of town. Heh. Anyway, the weather was so perfect in the afternoon that we took Pixie over to Midway and sat on the patio and had drinks. We were having such a good time that we didn’t want to leave so we stayed too long. Here I am on the patio:
Yay for cute doggie! Anyway, eventually we tore ourselves away and went home. Got a pizza for dinner and watched TV until I collapsed at 9:00 pm into bed. Seriously, nothing makes me think I’m old more than the fact that I can’t even stay awake until 10:00 pm anymore! I’m actually glad to be back at work and, hopefully, a routine that will allow be to get more rest than last week did.
09.24.09
Pacing myself for the weekend.
Moving right along. Yesterday was a day of errands and things to do. This weekend is the female half of the Canadians’ birthday, and it’s a milestone birthday ifyaknowwhatImean. So they’re throwing a big party for close friends and family in Charleston. The Commune decided that the best gift we could give her was booze! What else does any self-respecting Canadian need? Since we all know that booze is an integral part of any party, and usually pretty pricey. So we went to Green’s last night and purchased mass quantities of beer and wine to bring with us. Then we went to Publix, then home. By the time I showered and flopped on the couch it was 9:00 pm and I was too tired to do anything other than watch a TV show and go to bed.
Tonight we’re going for Bob dinner at 4th and Swift. The female half of the Canadians and I went to 4th and Swift a couple of months ago before a show at the Fox Theatre, and we were totally blown away by the food. I’m hoping that the food is just as good. I also remember having a pretty spectacular glass of wine, too, which is always necessary at Bob dinners. Who am I kidding? A pretty spectacular CASE of wine is necessary at Bob dinners! I need to keep myself in check tonight, considering all the craziness that shall happen this weekend.
Tomorrow we leave for Charleston for good times and one of us getting older. We plan to stay with Ray’s parents one night, which will be nice. Hoepfully the weather will be fine enough to go swimming, although the forecast calls for rain and cooler temperatures. I’m sorry, but 82 is not warm enough for me to go in the water.
I won’t update the blog tomorrow because I’ll be too busy departing on my delightful weekend adventure. Have a nice weekend, y’all!
09.23.09
Making it up as we go along.
And the week progresses. We decided that we’d better go out last night instead of tonight, which was cemented when we got a text from the Canadians saying they were going to the Glenwood for dinner. So we went to the Glenwood and actually sat out on the patio! No rain all day yesterday, no rain expected today! Although, it will probably rain over the weekend. We’re all just happy for the brief respite. Anyway, I had a delicious burger and a glass of wine. Yes, I enjoyed it. Yes, I felt a little guilty, but I enjoyed it more than I felt guilty. Which is a good thing! And I’ll make up for it by being very good today.
The Clinton Global Initiative is going on again! Again and again I’m surprised and inspired by the work that former President Clinton has been doing since he left office. And I’m glad that we have a current President who recognizes that work and validates it by giving a speech of support.
It’s premiere week on TV this week! We missed the first 15 minutes of the 2-hour premiere of House on Monday due to the cable being out because of the thunderstorm. This is annoying and means we’ll have to watch it online when it becomes available on the Fox website. Next week. Bastards! Otherwise we haven’t had a chance to watch anything because of our aforementioned busy and dramatic week. Hopefully we’ll knock some out this evening, which will be our last chance before going out of town. Dire circumstances!
09.22.09
Busy and dramatic!
This week is shaping up to be busy and dramatic. If only I could stop feeling guilty about the eating and drinking long enough to enjoy it! I just need to be better during the down weeks so that when I have a busy and dramatic week, I can enjoy it. Alas, such is not the case.
Yesterday was dramatic in that the weather caused roads to close and electricity to be lost (and then found again). Dice and I left work at our usual time but deemed it prudent to forego the gym and grocery store in light of the dangerous aspect of the roads. So I took ANOTHER rest day and we went home. Yes, three rest days in a row means I’m officially obese. Well, that combined with the mountain of food I ate over the weekend. But that’s neither here nor there.
Today is the only normal day we’re having this week since yesterday’s washout made it a loss. Tomorrow we’re going out for reasons which I cannot disclose in a public forum, but suffice it to say, it’s a drink-your-troubles-away outing as opposed to a life-is-good, let’s-drink! outing. Thursday we’ve got Bob Dinner, which is to say that our friend Bob, who has an expense account and a limitless taste for $400 bottles of wine, is taking us out. Then Friday we head to Charleston for the female half of the Canadians’ birthday weekend extravaganza.
So you can see why it’s a busy and dramatic week in TEOTH-land. I’m going to have to work out twice a day just to make myself feel somewhat normal.
09.21.09
Gettin’ wet!
I’m doing my usual Monday morning self-flagellation due to all the food and drink I had this weekend. The weekend turned out differently from what I had expected, due to rain, but it was still good. Friday turned out warm and sunny, for the first time in many days, and we enjoyed a delightful dinner at Midway with Ray and the dogs. At one point most of the Commune joined us, which was a pleasant surprise. Saturday morning Ray and I got all suited up to go running, but it was POURING non-stop and really unappetizing. Ray decided to go home to Macon where she could go to the gym. I took it as a rest day. It poured all day, so we didn’t go to the East Atlanta Strut although it still happened, just with much lower attendance. We went to Lowe’s to get fencing to close some of the spots in our new fence that are big enough for Pixie to get through, and then we stopped over at Brick Store for drinks. Brick Store is the perfect place to go in bad weather because it’s so cozy inside. After that we did some chores around the house before heading down to M&K’s for dinner. K was out of town so M was lonely. We had a wonderful little dinner party and ate tons of food and drank too much wine. Good times!
Sunday it was still raining. And it rained all day. Dice and I spent the day laying around watching TV. Once it cleared for a little while in the afternoon and we went out and put up the wire over the holes in the fence. During that time I got over 20 mosquito bites! Now that that’s done I don’t plan to go out there again until it’s too cold for mosquitoes to live!
Guess what’s happening today? It’s raining. A lot. In fact, it’s so dark and stormy out there that it looks like night time. And it’s supposed to continue in this manner all week. I like rain, but it’s been pouring for a week and a half now. Craziness!
09.18.09
Go Mets! Er, maybe not.
Successful fence installation! Huzzah! The best money we’ve ever spent on the house! Okay, that’s a lie. Getting central air was the best money we ever spent on the house. But this is the second best! The fence dude didn’t show up until 1:00 pm, and it took him until 8:00 pm, but he worked steadily through some pretty drenching rain showers. In fact, it started raining around 5:00 pm and he worked for the last three hours entirely in the rain. I’m grateful to him for putting in that effort to get it done. And now Pixie can frolic at will! Of course, this morning she didn’t want to go out alone, and just stood at the kitchen door wanting to come back in. So cute! She’ll get over it.
Then Ray arrived from Mac-town and we went to the rain-delayed Mets-Braves game at Turner Field. She had also been delayed in her drive due to the weather, so she showed up at my house just about when the first pitch was thrown at 9:10 pm. Fortunately I live less than 3 miles from the stadium, and even more fortunately since it was a pretty severe rain delay there were no cars in the parking lot, so we just parked right next to the Lexus lot and walked in! And even MORE fortunately there was no one there so we just walked into the field seats on the 3rd base line! They were the best seats I’ve ever had at a major league baseball game. Even though the Mets lost miserably, Ray and I had a fabulous time watching the baseball and enjoying our delightful seats. Here we are in all of our glory:
Yep, the seats were basically empty. It was almost like our own private MLB game! Hee! The only downside is that we didn’t get home until almost midnight and I didn’t get to sleep until really late because I was too wired. I was driving so no alcohol for me, perhaps if I’d had a drink I would have settled faster, but alas. Much coffee this morning.
In other news, it’s now Friday and the weekend awaits. We’re headed to dinner with Ray this evening, hopefully at Midway for some patio action, but with this weather that seems unlikely. Tomorrow morning is the Strut 5K which I’ve decided not to run. Yeah, it’s nice to support my neighborhood and it’s especially nice to run a race that starts 1.5 blocks from my house, but I’m less than thrilled about spending $25 to run 3 frackin’ miles. I’m going to run at least twice that on my own without having to shell out money. Then later we’re going to attend the Strut proper and enjoy the festivities and the parade. In the afternoon Ray will go home and Dice and I will rest and relax. Sunday we will probably do the errands we put off, like cleaning the house and grocery shopping.
It was really funny to watch the meeting of Daisy, Ray’s 130 pound Great Dane, and Pixie, all 6.5 pounds of energy. Daisy is a gentle giant, while Pixie is a tiny ball of crazy, and yet Pixie was so intimidated that she went all submissive. The two sniffed each other out for a long time before Pixie realized that Daisy was never going to chase and play with her. At some point in the future I’m predicting that Pixie will be using Daisy as a daybed, or as a stepping stool in order to see out the window. Heh.
09.16.09
Wed is Prince Spaghetti Day!
It’s a humid and wet week here in the ATL. Temp is still up around 80, but it also keeps raining, which means it’s pretty humid. I don’t even bother to blow dry my hair on days like this, it would be a complete waste of time. Otherwise it’s been a good week so far. I’ve been productive at work and gotten some good workouts in. Last night Dice and I went to the Glenwood for dinner because we hadn’t been out to eat in almost a week and really wanted to go. Although we’re trying to save money for some end of the month shenanigans, you just gotta get out once in a while, you know?
I have a confession to make. I haven’t even looked at my spring training schedule in, like, 2 weeks. Which isn’t really as bad as it sounds, considering it’s pretty much the same every week. The only thing that varies is the length of the long run, up or down, by about 1 mile. Still, I’m not being as dedicated as perhaps I should be. Will try to re-dedicate!
Tomorrow I’m going to work from home so that I can supervise the new fence we’re getting! It’ll be so nice to just throw the dog outside and not have to get all suited up and then stand around while she does her business 14 times a day. Not to mention the mosquitos! Every single time I go in the backyard I get 5 bugbites. And that is NOT an exaggeration. I went out with Pixie before we went to dinner last night, which took me about 2 minutes, and at the table at the pub I showed Dice all 5 of the bites I had gotten during that 120 second outing. It’s so annoying! Hopefully this will help with her excess energy, too, since that dog loves nothing better than running constantly for hours. It’s fun to take walks, but a person can only take so many walks!
09.14.09
All the fun was had this weekend.
What a fabulous weekend I had! With one exception, everything I had planned worked perfectly and I had a fun time to boot. Yay me! Friday evening Dice had to attend a lecture for work, so I went home and went running, after which I stopped over to M&K’s to pick up Pixie and enjoy a glass of wine with the neighbors. The rest of the Commune went to Matador but I really wanted to take advantage of my rare alone time. So I went home and cooked up an obscenely large bowl of pasta and watched Project Runway. Sigh!
Saturday morning I got up early to run. Took Pixie with me and she managed a 3.5 mile loop without any trouble. The dog has tons of energy! Then the Commune went en masse (along with some friends from our F1 group) to the British Car Fayre in Historic Norcross. We walked around looking at all the MGs, Minis, Morris Minors, Morgans and various other historic British cars that don’t begin with M. After which we had a pretty decent lunch at the depot restaurant right there in the square. It’s not called the depot, but it’s an old train depot and it’s name has “depot” in it, I just can’t recall what it is. The service is great there, portions are large and the ambiance is fine. The food is only okay and the AC was on full blast. To the point where R was using her napkin as a blanket! After lunch we stopped in at Taste of Britain and stocked up on all of our favorite British junk food and then went home.
The one thing that didn’t work out was that Ray was supposed to visit and we were going to drink champers in the backyard and then cook dinner together. Unfortunately she had car trouble and was unable to come. Instead I went to Whole Foods and did some shopping. Then Dice and I took the Entertainment Weekly with the Fall TV Preview section to Midway and mapped out our plan of attack for the DVR taping schedule for the 2009-2010 season over drinks. The TV offerings are much lighter than they were last year which, truthfully, is good for us considering we were consistently at 99% last year and had to give up going out with friends in order to watch TV. Hopefully this year we’ll be able to keep it under control. Then we went home and had leftover lasagna from the freezer for dinner.
Sunday morning we got up early to go to the last early morning Formula 1 race of the season! There is one more early morning race, but we’re going to miss it because we’ll be out of town. The race was in Italy and it was very dramatic. Then we went grocery shopping on the way home. Later in the day I made my contribution for Commune Dinner which was whole wheat pasta with pesto which I made from scratch. I had to make it from scratch because the female half of the Canadians is allergic to pine nuts so I substituted pumpkin seeds and it came out beautfully! Then we went to M&K’s for the latest Commune Dinner, which was TONS of fun. Mostly we just chatted and watched all 5 dogs run crazy around the backyard. Nice neighborly evening. The party broke up early because it was a school night. Which was good because I got to bed at a decent hour and slept well. Which means that today is the first Monday in a while I didn’t wake up wanting to kill myself. That’s good, right?
