a.night.on.the.town.with.us.kids.

Boy oh boy did we have fun tonight. It was our siblings night out, something we started last year, and is now a tradition. Kevin's 21 now, so we were able to go to a bar. Since i'm not the world's best bar picker, i put et#1 up to the task of picking where we should go. She decided that cleary's would be perfect, so we started the night off there. Actually, i should start at the beginning. Here goes....


We walked down to the bus stop, but missed both 9:30 buses by seconds. I'm still not quite sure why they didn't wait for us since we were standing there. We had to wait almost a half hour for the next one, so kevin and brian walked across the street and picked up some beers which they drank out of brown paper bags like hobos.




At cleary's, we got some drinks and some food. Brian couldn't figure out how to eat nachos with the toppings on the chips. Look what he did to the table.






What a cute sister i have! It's officially her birthday in this picture. We sang happy birthday to her really loudly. I think some guy smiled at us too.






Here's all of us. I was tempted to take a picture of us standing to put on my blog, but i didn't. The reason was because i was wearing heels which made me the exact same height as my sister, so i wouldn't appear to be so short. Next time.



Once cleary's started to clear out (ha!), we walked over to the beehive. I liked this place, and am planning on returning to sit around and people watch. Once we secured our corner table, we started talking about the people who were hanging around. In particular, "tall guy" and "short guys." I presented the question of whether kevin was taller than "tall guy" (a tall guy standing at the bar) and after taking bets, sent kevin on a mission to see if he was indeed taller than tall guy. He was. Kevin's 6'5", and our best guess is that "tall guy's" 6'3". Then the topic turned to how tall "tall guy's" friends were. They looked pretty short. Since i'm the shortest of us kids (at 5'9"), i volunteered to walk up and see if they were shorter than me. Since i was wearing high heels which would confound our data, i offered to remove my shoes for a free drink. I walked up to the bar in my stocking feet, and was indeed taller than at least one of the short guys.

Brian was hungry again, and got a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. It was fabulous. It also came with unbelievably good fries with fried sage. Mmmmmmmmm..........







I still can't believe i got this shot of brian squirting ketchup in julie's mouth. She'd just mentioned how much she love ketchup and that she'd eat it with a spoon if she could. They he sprayed some directly into her mouth. Crazy!







Finally home (after a hilarious cab ride) we ate some cupcakes i'd made for julie's birthday. Here is a picture.

Alright. That's it. I'm leaving tomorrow for a five day trip to nj. Have a good new year everyone!

magic.hat.cap.quote.

"Gus loves it."

magic.hat.cap.quote.

"Come to the Night... of the Living Dead"
"Enjoy a 9 when you Dine"
"Don't Piddle where you Fiddle"

and our personal favorite...

"How did You get like This?"

yay!

Here's a picture of julie and me, and another one of our bowling score tonight. Notice the names under each score. I'm the top one, then kevin, then julie. Can you guess who filled the names in?












I love christmas time. I get so excited to see my family and spend time doing the fun stuff that we don't get to do together most of the year. In fact, when i talked et#1 into coming to my place for christmas, i told her she'd get to meet my family, and brian. "...because brian isn't part of your family?" she questioned. Not exactly, but he's somewhat elusive, and most of my boston friends have never met him. I only get to see him once a year, unless there's some special event that he makes it to. I'm also happy to see other friends who're back in the area for the holidays. Especially this year. I spent three days with my 2nd family- slept over and everything. As much as i miss them, it's really nice to go and visit without being the mean one. Everyone's happy to see me, and i get extra attention from all. From there i went to my parents' house, and i'm only home for a day before i leave to spend 5 days with my london friends at some huge house they rented in nj. Not sure what the new year plans are, but there'll be a bunch of us, so i'm sure it'll be great. The only downside to all this quality time is the letdown once it's over. I'm going to practice trying to be happy about the time i got to spend with people i love instead of being sad that it's over.

i.want.rock.band.

Christmas was great. We followed our usual schedule- wake up, open presents, play video games for a ridiculous amount of time, clean (both the house and ourselves), greet guests, visit for a bit, play video games, eat dinner, clean up, play video games, and go to bed. Today we were lucky enough to have the company of et#1 who was without her family for the holiday. I warned her of our excessive video game usage, but she wasn't swayed, and even did a great job of participating despite her lack of prior experience. Last night we played some guitar hero 3 which kevin got for his birthday back in october, but that was old news once he opened rock band, our game of choice for this christmas season. I can't decide if i prefer the drums or guitar. Here's a picture of julie (vocals), brian (on drums) and kevin (rocking the guitar) during one of our later night performances. I'd estimate we killed about 6 hours playing this. At least.

merry.christmas!

Cookies and milk for santa.

cookies.

I just spent the entire night making christmas cookies. I finally finished frosting them all, and i'm exhausted. Just exhausted.

drinks.with.a.

I dropped m. off at her nutcracker performance tonight. We took the T since it was snowing (again) and after she was safe and sound in the opera house, i walked over to downtown crossing to look for twin sized sheets for our extra bed. A. was supposed to pick m. up around 8:15, but she finished at work earlier, so she met me at tj maxx. She confirmed that the sheets i was considering were too green, and then we went out for drinks to kill the hour we had until it was time to pick up m. We tried ivy first, but the bar was full, so we went across the street to mantra. It was pretty empty, and a. thinks they're having financial issues since they were out of many of the things we tried to order (namely, several champagnes). Still, it made me think back to my birthday several years ago when tish, andrea, mandy and i went there. Everything was delicious, and i still remember it as one of my favorite birthdays despite the stress and tears that preceded actually arriving at the place. The best part of mantra is the bathroom. There are stalls, and the outside of the doors are equipped with mirrors. The catch is that they're one-way mirrors, so when you're inside the stall, you can see out perfectly. It's a little strange to be peeing while you can see everyone washing their hands six feet away. Toward the end of the night, i zipped down for a bathroom break, and while i was sitting there, this woman came up and started fixing her makeup in the mirror of my stall. Knowing that she couldn't see me didn't change the fact that i could see up her nose perfectly. I had to wait until she left to take care of business.

(*I'm not sure that this is a complete entry, but i'm literally falling asleep as i read it, so this is where it ends. Maybe et#1 can add an ending or alternate story line. She's great at tying everything together. Maybe she should have been an editor or proofreader.)

i.had.a.dream.

..last night. It was about horses. We (and by "we" i mean me and a couple of unknown friends) were at a horse ranch, and when we walked in, there was a very large guy riding a rather small horse. I remember looking at them from the back, and wondering how that poor horse could even walk with all that weight on him. Then it was our turn. We all picked out a horse and took a spin. It was a quick ride, and then we came back and had to brush and wash them. We had to wait in line, and then use shampoo to scrub them all down and rinse them off. It was strange, especially because we each rode about eight horses and washed each of them after a five minute ride. Imagine how dry their skin must have been!!

product.review.

For the past three nights, i've been sleeping on a fancy pillow. You know, one of these weird tempur-pedic ones. No, i didn't spend $125 on it. I'm just borrowing it for four nights to see what all the hype is about, plus, i've been having real issues with tension and my shoulder and thought it couldn't hurt.
The good: Despite the fact that it weighs about nineteen pounds (or lbs, which we learned about in an earlier post), it's much softer than i was anticipating. When I'm on my side or back, my neck fits nicely in the cradle area, and the support couldn't be better.
The bad: Unfortunately, I'm a stomach sleeper, so the shape isn't ideal. Plus, my shoulder/back tension is no different than before.
Overall: If you're a side or back sleeper and have money to burn, this is definitely much nicer than the standard stuffed pillow. From what i hear, extended use can make a dramatically positive impact on neck and back pain.
Grade: B

pie.

I made an italian zucchini pie the other night as part of my party menu. I'd never made it before (which is against the proper party planning rules) but was thrilled with how it turned out. It was delicious! I had the last piece for lunch today, in the microwave, and it was still good! That's impressive. I'm not a fan of leftovers to begin with, stick them in the microwave and the chances that I'll like it go down exponentially. Somehow this pie managed to fall in the small percentage of acceptable foods. I'm already anticipating the next one I make. Mmm mmm.

christmas.dinner.party.

Last night was my annual christmas dinner party. There was a smaller crowd (nine total) this year since most of the boys couldn't come, but i'm tempted to say it was the best one yet. Despite the risotto taking longer than i would have liked, everything went smoothly, and the lively conversation took us well into the night. The last guests went home around 1:30am, and i dragged my tired butt into bed around 3. Here's a picture that would be my new favorite if it were in focus:

It's me washing something while ben's rushing to give me bunny ears and jen's poking around the corner. I like that it feels like a frozen moment, complete with expression and motion. Sometimes pictures are too posed and you forget about ones like this. You can see the whole gamut of photos on my flickr page. There's even a little slide show playing for you over there on the right. Go look, and you can see everyone in their fancy clothes.

in.case.you.were.wondering...

OK vs. okay.
I've never been a fan of OK, preferring okay instead. Like most of my preferences, there's no logical reason behind it. (Numbers for example. I don't like odd ones, other than 17. Why? Who knows, though 17 is my birthday, so it's granted an exception.) My best guess is that it has something to do with the nonconformity of the letters- like someone's shouting OK instead of slipping it in among the rest of the words. This isn't to say that I'm all about conformity either- I do appreciate when a little uniqueness is thrown into the mix. Over the past few months, I've really become more aware of the extent to which I dislike OK, and after coming across it again today, decided to check up on its background. Here's what I learned. Okay is a variant of OK. OK was first noted in a boston newspaper in 1839. At that time, they liked to use abbreviations for phrases and work in some crazy sort of humor. The phrase that was being abbreviated was "all correct," and the humor was that neither O nor K started the words, but sounded right- like "oll korrect." Unlike other random abbreviations the newspaper came up with, OK stuck in part because president van buren used it in his reelection campaign in 1840. He was born in kinderhook, ny, and was called "old kinderhook." The campaign talked about making all things O.K. (meaning all correct by reelecting old kinderhook). I guess I'm the one using the abbreviation/variant, but I still like it better than the big flashy capitals.

cooking.night...

..at my house! On the menu? Risotto with fennel and onion, roasted chickpeas with spicy spices, pomegranate and grapefruit salad, and apple and cranberry crisp. Lots of antioxidants. Even though we don't discuss our recipes (much past what course we're in charge of) in advance, they always seem to go together quite well. Since it was at my house, i picked the main course. The tricky part is that nora's a vegetarian. At first i was worried about finding main courses that were meat free, and kind of wished that chicken could be involved. After just three cooking nights, i've realized that it's a good challenge, and i've found many options (besides pasta) that are vegetarian friendly. I can always try out carnivorous meals on my roommates if i want to practice.

no.light.

A strand of tree lights went out. I can't fix it because the tree's starting to dry, so everytime I mess around with it, a bunch of needles fall off. It still has to last another two weeks, so I guess it will just be a little less bright until then.

blah.

Blah. I'm getting fed up with blogs. No new posts, no good comment conversations, nothing exciting at all. Sure it's close to the holiday season and everyone's getting stressed out and busy, but i don't really care. Back in the day, i could count on the hose for new posts, and especially for good conversations in the comment section. Ever since evil left for india, things have gone downhill. There's been no post in over a week, and no replies to comments made. I'm disappointed. For a while there, the new blog- confessions of a yearbook nerd- was looking promising with frequent posts, but that too has tapered down with no new material and a halfhearted effort given to the last couple posts. Word of mouth hasn't been bad- even going for three consecutive days with a new post, but without a following of strong commenters, there's no follow-up. The folks at evil twins have been keeping up with their usual quota, and the last posts from both 1 and 2 were particularly funny, but it's not enough to offset the lackluster performance of everyone else (and not just the blog writers, but you readers too).

Don't take this as a personal attack. The truth is, i haven't been sleeping well and am therefore tired and grumpy. Since i didn't have anything else to write about, this is what you got. Maybe now that i've taken care of it, i'll have some better entries coming up.

open.house.

I went to an open house today to check it out for some friends. It was my practice for when i buy my own house. The place was beautiful- built in the late 1800's, with a lot of the old time charm but with an updated kitchen, etc. If i could afford it, i'd buy it now!

ballet.night.

Last night i went to see the urban nutcracker at the hancock theater. My friend's eleven year old daughter is the lead, clarice (aka- clara in the normal nutcracker), and she had a row of seats, so i tagged along. I was impressed. The concept was great- the typical nutcracker story, but updated to take place in the modern world, along with different styles of the same tunes. Instead of just ballet, there was jazz, tap, swing, and hip hop. It was a much bigger deal than i expected, and everyone did a great job. Yay for diversity!

outcome.

Julie requested a picture of my haircut. Here it is. Not the best picture, i know, but at least you can kind of see it. It might not look too different, but it is. He razored the top part a lot because while it wasn't too long, it was too thick (hopefully this will always be my problem!). So that made the curl easier to control. He also gave the bottom a little more of a blunt cut which makes it look a little stronger. He liked the length though- he said it was "sexy." This particular picture was taken after a long day of being out in the wind with sunglasses shoved up on my head. I think the top part usually looks a little nicer when there haven't been any sunglasses up there.

busy.day.

Jen and i had a nice trip to boston today. We parked under the common, and did some christmas shopping at downtown crossing. I got four gifts! We stopped off at starbucks where jen stole me a hot chocolate, and then we continued on to haymarket. I'm hosting cooking night on tuesday, and i'm also planning to make two soups tomorrow, so we stocked up on ingredients. The total for today was a bit higher- $16.50- but look at all the stuff we got! 4 limes, a pound of beans, 3lbs of bananas, 6 grapefruit, two bunches of cilantro, one bunch of parsley, 5lbs of leeks, one fennel bulb, one huge piece of ginger, 4 carrots, 5lbs of potatoes, 7 spanish onions and one pound of grape tomatoes. Wow! Look at this huge carrot!

I.like.this.a.lot.

stephanie's.day.of.fun.

Today i had two big mishaps:

1. I broke the toilet seat.


2. I polluted the environment, and put myself and others at risk.

The toilet seat happened before 7am. I was running late, and was multitasking (as usual) by attempting to brush my teeth while going to the bathroom. I leaned over to grab my toothbrush, and heard a crack as a large section of toilet seat broke off and fell in the toilet. (We have one of those U shaped seats, and the upper 1/4 of the U was what broke.) I wasn't sure what to do, but it wasn't going to be usable, so i duct taped it back on for a temporary fix.
The second incident happened almost 18 hours later around 1am. I was driving back home from acton, and stopped at the closest mobil to fill up. My usual habit at the gas pump is to pump it until it clicks off, and then pump a little more to top it off (ie- get it to a rounder number). The pump clicked off, i attempted to top it off, and for a split second i looked at the price/gallon info and wondered why i was able to get so much more after the first shut off (since it usually only allows me to add an extra $0.50 tops). Then I looked back at the hose nozzle, and noticed that there was gasoline pouring out of my tank, down the side of my car, and all over the tire, the ground, and my foot. Luckily i was at a mobil station, so they had paper towels and hand sanitizer at the pumps. I did my best to clean up so i wouldn't spark a fire, and then hopped in my car to drive home. Boy oh boy was that a long trip back. My boot's sitting in the hallway outside our door as i write this.

talk.about.depressing...

Today, during my daily job post review, i came across this entry. Just reading it made me feel sick. I can't imagine having it as a job.

i.<3.david

I got my hair cut! Once I get a picture, i'll post it so you can all see what he decided on- long, short, or in the middle.

bad.news.

My right vein is rejecting needles. It used to be that just the new blood techs would miss the draw, but now it's to the point where everyone does. This was the third time in a row where they picked up scar tissue and had to stop. While trying to reposition the needle in order to get the access pressure up, they started discussing how the vein felt hard, and the theory became that it's been bruised so much that it's never been able to fully heal. It explains why that section of my arm randomly feels sore, even when i haven't donated recently. The vein's angry. Since it's become such a consistent problem, they're going to switch things around next time and look for different veins for the draw and return. I hope it works. It's so important to me, and i'd be really sad if i couldn't donate anymore. Really sad.

delicious.

Today i made chicken stock for the first time. While it was simmering away, i made a couple loaves of banana bread with the bananas i got at haymarket last saturday, and threw some beets in the oven to roast up along side. Quite the feast. Chicken stock, banana bread, and beets.

are.you.my.soul.mate?

According to one of those books that gives you tons of info about you based on your birthday, my soul mate was born on one of these dates; january 6 or 12, february 4 or 10, march 2 or 8, april 6, may 4 and june 2. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the months, but that's where it cut off. If you (or anyone you know) could be my soul mate, please let me know. Thanks.

tree.

Here it is! All pretty and decorated and lit up. I especially like the reflection in the window, and the shadows on the walls and ceiling. It smells good too.

best.day.

Today was perfect. I did things i love with people i love. First was andrea- I met her at 7:30am and we took the T downtown. Since it was early, we stopped at mike's pastry for coffee and cannoli. The bonus of being there before most people were up was there was no line, and we could actually sit at a table. After warming up a little, we ventured across the street to haymarket. Even though i've lived in boston for years and years, i've never technically shopped at haymarket. Sure, i've walked through when i did the freedom trail, and maybe even bought an apple or two, but i never really knew what i was missing until today. I spent $7.50 and left with; two giant bunches of cilantro, six huge beets (since i love beets so much and eat them like candy), four limes, eight tomatoes, and fourteen bananas (i'm planning to make some banana bread soon). I also made out with a full grocery bag full of baby spinach from the $2 monster bag andrea bought. I was ready for everything to be on its last leg, but surprisingly, almost all of it seemed super fresh- the bananas are still a little green! I regreted that i hadn't picked some recipes to try out in advance- i could save a bundle shopping there! This will definitely become part of my regular schedule, so next time i'll be prepared!

Next up was christmas tree shopping with jen and ben. We went to lambert's since i always get my tree there. You have to understand how excited i get about tree shopping and decorating- it's seriously one of my favorite activities. We even splurged on a nice big tree since we're splitting the cost three ways this year. After about an hour, we settled on one, and they gave it a fresh cut before tying it on top of jen's car. We got home, moved some stuff around, set it up in the stand and filled it with water.

Then i bundled up and went to nora's to take a long walk with her and barney. It was freezing but i wore my running hat, neck warmer and gloves, so it wasn't so bad. We got in a little over 3 miles, and then had hot chocolate while flipping through the most recent gourmet magazine looking for ideas for christmas party treats.

I just got home, and hung the lights on the tree. I'm about to put up all my ornaments, and will post a picture of it when it's done. Oh, and i'm listening to christmas music as well. How fitting.