g.h.

While i may not be as popular as certain celebrities, my stock has certainly gone up in the ten year old boy category. The mere fact that i could play guitar hero was shocking enough- the fact that i could beat it on hard was enough to create a cult following. So, while i should have been home working, i spent much of this morning playing the aerosmith version of one of my favorite games, and in doing so, transformed myself from the fun thirty year old to the cool thirty year old.

me.on.piano.

Here's another one for my grandmother. This one's galante by enrique granados. It's a bit disappointing- you really can't tell the huge differences in volume which (to me) is what makes this piece special. Parts are pp and other ff, but neither really come across through the record option on my very sophisticated camera! Regardless, here it is.

new.blog!

I just added a link to my friend portia's new blog. She already has a bunch of fancy pictures up there, so go check it out! Click here for now, and the sidebar next time.

how.andrea.and.i.were.almost.killed.by.the.mob.

It was early saturday morning, and we were enjoying a latte (me) and cappuccino with apple tart (andrea) at mike's pastry before heading over to haymarket. We'd picked out a nice table by the window. I had a perfect view of the street, while andrea had a perfect view of me. As i sat there, a car backed up, and just as i thought "he's going to hit that car," he did just that. In his attempt to double park, he scraped up against the drivers side of a parked car. He straightened out his car, and got out to check on the other one. This guy couldn't have looked more mafia if he'd tried. Thick gold chain, some sort of wife beater with a bright blue unzipped jacket with Italia written across the chest in red white and green. I alerted andrea to the goings on, and as we looked to see what he'd do, he looked directly at us and motioned to the car. Doh! We shook our heads and quickly looked away- no way did we want to get involved with this. The next thing we knew, he was heading into mike's. We diverted our eyes, and tried to look busy, worrying that he wanted to see how much we'd witnessed. We must not have seemed worth it, because he left us alone and went for some coffee instead. Phew! What a narrow escape!

cauliflower.and.pears.

I started a new blog http://cauliflowerandpears.blogspot.com/. It's purpose? To act as an online food and exercise diary in hopes of keeping me on track. This is how it'll work. Everyday, i'll keep track of what i eat and what exercise i do. At the end of the day, i'll post it (or maybe just update it throughout the day- not sure what will be best yet) along with the amount of weight i'm down by (which likely won't be significant on a day to day basis). Just the act of keeping track of this stuff is usually enough to keep me going, but i'd also love it if anyone who reads it could give me a hard time if i start to slack- even just by not posting for a day or something. Any suggestions you have would also be great. I somehow managed to gain 4 lbs over the past few weeks (what a surprise!), but i'm still down more than 10 from when evil and i started our last challenge. This is good. I'm starting with a time frame of twelve weeks, so hopefully i'll be more successful than the last three month challenge. The current end date is january 6th, but that doesn't mean i quit then; i just do better breaking things down into specific time periods.

cauliflower.pears.sage.

I made this dish last night for dinner and couldn't have been happier. I won't write the recipe here since it's from a magazine, but it pretty much consists of cauliflower, sage, pears, pine nuts, butter, and a few other spices. I made a half recipe since it's technically a side for thanksgiving, and ate close to the whole thing. I was hungry. Since i don't have the easiest time coming up with names for blogs (not that i have a ton), i picked my new one based on this dish. Delicious.

work.

The front of the house was a little sad looking. Originally, it had mass quantities of overgrown bushes, but i chopped all those down years ago. We threw some grass seed down to cover the bald spots, and that was it. No garden, no trees, no plants...just grass. While i'm great with deconstructing, i'm not the best at gardening. So today i called in the best gardener i know- my mom. She showed up with my brother in tow and the three of us dug a whole new garden and planted about 80 bulbs along with some irises, some kind of sage, and some tall grasses my mom dug out of her garden. It already looks so much better- i can't wait until the spring when things actually start to bloom.
After three hours of digging and planting, they took off and i went down to the basement to start cleaning out the room with the treadmill. It once was an exercise room, but has since been filled with tools, costco purchases, wine, and other random junk. Since i'm recommitting myself to exercise (oh yes, after that pathetic no-win challenge with evil, i'm now up on the horse with a full cardio/weights schedule thanks to my recent visitor), i needed to make sure i had a good place to do it. Four hours later i emerged, grungy and tired, but with a well organized place to work out in. So while i didn't technically exercise today (aside from some brief ab work), i spent 7 hours gardening and cleaning. That's acceptable for now. Tomorrow i'll start my regular routine.

k...

I've been busy. My favorite houseguest is still here (but leaves saturday morning- boo) and we've been hitting the town regularly. Friday night was upstairs on the square and then over to the beehive, saturday was the foundation lounge (fantastic!) at the hotel commonwealth. Two other dinners last week, and sunday we stayed in- cooking dinner and watching a movie in front of the fire. So romantic! Too bad she's a girl. Since i've forgotten how to prioritize, i was finishing my first real research paper last minute, but managed to get it done. Maybe not my best work ever, but not bad. Now i have a little breathing room since classes are canceled for monday, and i have no readings for next thursday. I'm kind of excited. I'm planning to go to the fabric store so i can make new cushions for the kitchen table benches. All of that sitting on them recently (while typing my paper) has made me realize they're not so comfortable anymore.

pack.rat.

E's a pack rat. A huge one. She collects everything from q-tips to old erasers to pieces of paper she's taped together. Not only does she collect this stuff, but she stores it all over the place. You may open a hallway drawer looking for a book and come across a pile of rocks instead. Or find the long missing minivan keys at the bottom of a can of markers. It got to the point where a. needed to draw the line, and instead of making her throw everything away, a decent size tupperware bucket was decorated with her name and placed by the door. Anything e. wanted to save needed to fit in that box. This was quite effective as it allowed her to control what she was going to throw away and what precious pieces of scraps lived in the box.
Recently, i was cleaning out the basement and decided to wash all the coats/snowpants/backpacks that were hanging out down there. Then when i put them away for a while, i know they're all clean. Knowing e. as well as i do, i went through every pocket, zipper pouch, and hood area with a fine tooth comb. In l. and m.'s stuff i found a few tissues. Here's what i found in e.'s:

My personal favorite? The bundle of long q-tips in the bottom right hand corner- tied together with string and a feather, each with their own color of makeup on the tip. Lord. What are they in for when she's a teenager.

company.

I have my first official (more than one night) guest staying with me at my "bunk-n-brew." A friend who moved out of the country is back taking care of some stuff and is staying here for a few weeks. I love it!! Now when i come home from school or work, there's someone to keep me company. It's only been two nights so far, but they've both been great. Last night we went to dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants, and friday we're going out in cambridge. If only i had a rotating group of guests, i'd do this all the time!