Advanced Aesthetics, Part 1

Oh, my light-up Virgin Mary, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1) You light up
2) You are a Virigin Mary

This thing is amazing. I went to a show recently that was all like cheapo discount Dollar Store stuff. And walking by a booth, I saw this beauty and had to have her. Her blinking lights called to me from across the aisle (or maybe it was an epileptic fit). Her holographic-like ridges mesmerized me. I was saved. Hallelujah!

And then I asked the man working the booth if he would sell me the sample at the end of the show. Sure no problem. Come by on the last day. But I went by every day. I took my coworkers to look at it and admire its beauty and induce jealousy that I would own it and not them. I would point to it from afar and smile beatifically. Maybe it was Mary's saintly influence. Finally the man working the booth said, Look if you want to pay me now, I'll make sure that you get it at the end of the show. Oh, yes, please, I said. Let me pay for it now. I need to know it's mine. (Or something to that effect.) How much do I owe you? The man working the booth said, Three fifty. In my mind, I did some quick math. Yes, absolutely. Did I have three hundred and fifty dollars to spare? Yes, certainly. Would I hand over three hundred and fifty dollars to have my coveted holographic light up Virgin Mary in my possession? Yes, gladly. The man working the booth looked into my eyes, saw the hamster at work, and said: Three dollars and fifty cents, lady. Of course. That's all it's worth to you, man working the booth. To me it is priceless. And now she is mine.

Woah!

Man, keeping up a blog is hard. Here's why:

So I was away at a show in Charlotte from Monday through Friday. Industrial Fabrics, yay!

Bennett and I have been volunteering for the Obama campaign on the weekends. Canvassing, phone banking, hauling things around for a Get Out the Vote Event. (More on that in a later post.) Phew.

We've also discovered a couple of new restaurants (to us, at least). And been to some old ones. (Yes, more on that later.)

On top of that, we're going to France on Wednesday so that Bennett can take some language tests that INSEAD requires, and we're also going to check out apartments. So I've been going back and forth with potential future french landlords trying to make appointments. (Yep, more later.)

Oh and by the way, this is my To Do list so far:

Get birth certificate translated/certified/notarized as part of getting our marriage recognized so I can get a long stay visa
Get my car title sent to me so I can donate my car when its time to move
Get passport size photos taken
Back up my pics and files from my computer (whatever, it's not really for moving but it's got to be done)
Call to cancel our various utilities
Make storage arrangements for B's car?
Go through personal items to be thrown out/given away - clothing, jewelry, beauty products, etc
Do craiglist listing for any items to be sold?
Buy boxes
Arrange for donation of car
Arrange for donation food, clothes, furniture etc
Make packing list and buy luggage
Make arrangements for moving and storage
Make arrangements for shipping of any items to France
Arrange for use of elevator in building on moving day

And, oh, a few dozen other small things. All of which does not include B's separate list. Or the list of things we need To Do together - like get our International Drivers Licenses. Or things To Do in France, like purchasing toiletries and and groceries and getting our utilities in order.

Blah. Lot's to do. Been hibernating a bit due to feeling overwhelmed. Henceforth and therefore: keeping up a blog is hard.

Columbus Day Breakfast

In honor of the invasion and tyranny of the white man and the raping and pillaging of multitudes, not to mention the forced conversions, forced marches and biological warfare, B has the day off from work.

So we had a special breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, veggie sausage patties, french bread and fancy condiments.

Next up, Thanksgiving another splendid meal to celebrate more of the same.

Yesterday / Obama-bop!

After brunch yesterday, B and I decided to be good citizens and did some volunteering for the Obama campaign. We went to the North Beach campaign office (comment/contact me if you want to know more about volunteering) and they gave us a list of houses in Surfside to canvass. Our job was to ask people who they were going to vote for, encourage them to vote early and give out some information. It was amazing.

We knocked on 28 doors. Most people answered. Most people were really polite, really nice. Most people were voting or leaning Obama. Yay! Some observations:

People in Surfside know each other. Dads and sons toss around the football on the street. Some people don't like to answer the door for strangers. Some people REALLY don't like to answer the door when they're watching a Dolphins game. Some parents have tons of outdoor equipment for their kids hung up outside their front door or on their front yard. Usually these parents are pretty nice and chill and outgoing and they have nice, chill, outgoing kids. Some parents are all uptight about naps vis-a-vis ringing doorbells. These parents should chillax. Especially since they seem like the kind of parents who don't work, have nannies and "do" lunch as opposed to eat it. Some pool-partying dudes with beers in their hands and gold chains around their necks have really sophisticated and nuanced financial reasons why they are voting for McCain. Can't win em all!

Yesterday / Ham & Eggs

Mmmm. Cote Gourmet is the greatest restaurant in Miami? Michy's - pfft. Red Light - eh. Yakko San - so what? Cote gourmet is amazing. We went twice this weekend. On Friday nite B & I had dinner there with Michael. Menus: Escargots for everyone! Yay! As Michael said, "Only this place could make escargots oil that doesn't taste oily." He's right. Sooo yummy. Fresh bread baked on premises, broken up into little crusts and dipped in garlic-y, parsely, non-oily goodness. For entrees, Michael had sweetbreads (sweetbreads! as an entree! this place is so crazy French!), B had flounder and I had lambchops. All of it was incredible. Every sauce was out of this world. We consumed a lot of bread, what with all the dipping and sopping. And still, we had dessert! Are we not men? We are not little girls. We will not be intimidated by your courses and your menus and your accents. Michael: lemon tart, B: apple tart (non, eet eez not a tarte tatin), E: chocolate cakelet. Praise be.

Then yesterday we went again for brunch. Mindblowing. Menus: Eira: pea soup (spelled on the bill pee soup!), daily special burger, Michael: salmon omelet (trying to prove that you can have a salmon omelet where the salmon does not dry out in the cooking. fail.) B: mushroom onion omelet, Andy:

"I'd like the club sandwich."
"Sorree, zee special zan-wish today iz zee burger."
"Oh, ok. Let me look at the menu again."
"Non, non. I will make you a zan-wish. You like some bacon, eh?"
"It's okay, I'll just look at the menu again."
"Non! I vill make you a very special club zanwish!"
"Alright, dude. Do what you gotta do."

The the pea soup was so lovely and green, and I can't even remember it anymore because that burger was the weirdest yummiest burger ever. Picture it: triple-decker. Except instead of buns, it was sliced multi-grain bread. Woah. Ok. This is weird. On the first floor your typical mayo, tomato, lettuce combo. On the second floor -- burger, provolone-ish cheese, grilled onions AND thinly sliced grilled eggplant and zucchini. Um, what? Dude, you just blew my mind! I don't get it. It was awesome though.




photos courtesy of my lovely husband

My Other Love

Ah, Jenny. What can I say about you? You have the greatest clothes magic in the world. I don't care what you say. You are a big neurotic scaredy cat just like me. You are a long tall Sally. A beautiful beanpole. You love fiercely, which I love. You are strong and athletic and steadfastly devoted to trapeze. You have the deepest integrity of anyone I know. You are like a mother, a sister, an alter-ego, a best friend and a role model. I love you.

Isn't it Romantic?

As previously mentioned, I have a total fixation about the hows why's and wherefores of getting onto the front page of etsy. In my first attempt to pander to etsy curator tastes, I ended up making this necklace some time last week. I kind of really, totally ended up loving it. It's made with these vintage beads - the rectangular ones are called blue goldstone and they are like deep navy/violet and have this kind of sparkle that comes from within; they're just spectacular. And then the round ones have this kind of silvery, eerie, almost holographic glimmer to them. Very cool. So I decided that in order to test the waters, I would wear this necklace (I made a matching bracelet too) to the wedding last weekend. It was a hit. Now to post it on my etsy shop and see if the hipster treasury curators over there think so.

B's Lovely Friends, Wedding Weekend Pt 2

The lovely couple. (Blurry!)



Ahh, romance was in the air. Young lovers without a care in the world!



B's lovely friends, who are now my lovely friends. We had a table all to ourselves. And stole some wine.





Ahh, Love!

Brown, Dinner Pt 2

Last night's dinner was soooo yum! I don't like monochromatic food presentations, and last night's was pretty brown. Even though there were some brussels sprouts involved. Still, it was terrific. I didn't get any pics, so these below are just metaphorical representations that I snagged from epicurious.



We had steak, just plain with salt and pepper, olive oil and butter, in a pan. (Okay not just any pan, a mustard yellow Le Creuset pan. Yay!) Except these bone-in steaks were like brontosaurus steaks, man! They were so yummy though, that B did a perfect Fred Flintstone impersonation and gobbled up all of his. The key is getting a good, crispy, chary outside.

In the same pan that I made the steak (after letting some of the fat go down the drain) I cooked half a chopped onion and some sliced baby bellas (that were going to go bad) in some chicken stock and red wine and let it reduce. Oh my goodness, that was a revelation. A piece of crusty french bread straight from the oven, a slice of steak and a bit of my mushrooms and onions: the worlds perfect morsel. It's the simplest things that are the yummiest.

Okay, so B doesn't like Brussels sprouts. He still insists on that even though he loves my usual brussels sprouts recipe (it calls for a lot of garlic). Tonight I made them a bit different and he loved them again. He said, "Ok, that's two types of brussels sprouts I now like. But that doesn't mean I like brussels sprouts." Hm.



Brussels Sprouts Recipe:

1 pkg fresh brussels sprouts
1/2 onion, medium dice
1 small tin anchovies - favorite kind
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup chick stock
splash lemon juice
(lemon zest, if the juice is fresh)
splash of olive oil
1 tbsp butter
red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste
(no salt is needed since the anchovies have plenty)

Cook sprouts in boiling water for about 5 minutes and then blanche in a bowl of icewater. Trim and cut in half lengthwise. Meanwhile, brown onions in a pan with olive oil and butter. Add anchovies, breaking them up so they disappear into the onions and fat. Add sprouts open side down so they make contact with the pan and brown. Add remaining ingredients, and let lemon juice and stock evaporate. Brown some more. Serve. Feed to anyone who says they don't like Brussels sprouts.

Swank in DC, Wedding Weekend Pt 1

This past weekend B and I went to Mara and Karim's wedding. They're a very modern couple - she's a nice American Jewish girl, he's a nice Moroccan Muslim guy. Bodes well for our collective futures. (Not me and B! He's such a free market, laissez faire, capitalist dude. I always tell him that when the revolution comes, I might not be able to protect him.) The wedding itself was in Maryland, but we decided to get our party on and stay in DC. The Helix Hotel is super mod and swanky and has an awesome lounge. That's where we had drinks and waited for YK and Carrie (sp?) to show up from their flight in from the West Coast.




We weren't actually texting the whole time.

Finally, after many drinks on our part and negotiating the rental car GPS on their part, YK and Carrie finally arrived. We went to dinner just down the street at one of the most amazing sushi places ever, Sushi Taro. Mmmm Omakase!




Blurry!

After dinner we went to the 18th Street Lounge which I remember from living in Virginia 10 years ago. The place is still happening, but we, unfortunately, are not. We got there, explored the different rooms, and picked our spot. I went out to have cig or two with YK's girl. When we got back we discovered that B had fallen asleep on the couch, so we called it a night.



The next day's hangover was pretty cute.

Green, Dinner Pt 1

Before

A couple of weekends ago we had our friends Michelle and Andrew over for dinner. Michelle lives in Miami and works for the New World Symphony? Orchestra? Who knows. Actually, I think the official name is Orchestral Academy. Andrew, better known as Hollis - cause that's his last name - used to live in Miami, but moved to NYC to work for some sound mixing/engineering company owned by Peter Gabriel. There, introductions made.

The point is, although dinner was "meh," the table looked impeccable thanks to B's mother's gift of table linens and accessories (our wedding present).

After (try not to focus on the yucky bits of food on the plates.)

Getting Seasonal, Jewelry Pt 2

This week I made a couple of bracelets to post on etsy. I'm really very jealous of the people who get chosen for the front page. It's quite ugly. I'm positively green. It seems the people who curate these selections are really into the monochromatic and really into being seasonal. So everything the gets chosen is either Autumnal, Halloweeny, or Subdued Winter. I want to get on the front page, dammit! These are my attempts at pandering to the tastes of etsy curators. You can buy them here.

Vignettes, Decor Pt 1

I'm really into these little of arrangements of lovely things that I've got on my dresser.


Some shells and coral, milk glass, boxes, random bits.


I like these little collections too.

No Jinx, Jewelry Pt 1

I make jewelry and sell it on etsy. The other day I made some earrings to match an new cute dress I got from anthropologie that has some great colors. I've always been fascinated by the combination of light blue, deep red and cream. Not red, white and blue, thank you very much. For some reason it seams very fairy tale to me, like the colors of princess' dress. Cheesy, I know. The colors are also reminiscent of a sunny, snowy day. All these associations - the (fine!) red white and blue tricolor, fairy tale, princesses, castles, snow, sun... made me think, well, Fontainebleau. I've been naming my earrings on etsy after cities, and I was posting these earrings to my etsy shop the day before B found out he got in to INSEAD. I decided to risk the jinx, and sure enough. B got in. But the earrings haven't sold.

The Beginning, or Action Planning

Oh power red! As I always totally figured, my amazingly handsome, astonishingly brilliant husband called me at 10:00 am this morning to let me know the big news! He got accepted into INSEAD. No it's not some secret superhero society or a futuristic spy agency, although it sounds like it could be either. It is, instead, one hell of an awesome MBA school. But best of all it's located in Fontainebleau. That's France, babies! 

It's a just short train ride outside of Paris, where B's (that's my husband) parents have what we here in red and blue country call a pied a terre. Sweet. That's cause B's father is French and his mother is a total francophile and they still have many family members in France. We wont be living there, though. We're going to try to get a place out on the grounds of some Chateau. Jeez, that's romantic.

So of course by 10:30 am I had an action plan typed into an excel spreadsheet. (I hadn't done it sooner because I didn't want to jinx anything.) Man, is action planning fun or what? The time table is really tight on this one because his classes start this January. Which means we have to accomplish this relocation in about two months. Never fear, though, Action Planner is here!

So, because of this, and many other changes: trying to make and sell jewelry, this horrible economy, our upcoming election, I've decided to start blogging. Then maybe one day, if we all aren't looking quizzically at our laptops and shaking them like etch-a-sketches because the seas rose, the nukes were fired, and we're all back in the middle ages again; well, in that case I'll have a document I can look back to remember these exciting, frightening and lovely times.