It's the Simple Things

After I got home last night J and I decided to make a trip out for sushi.  We got to Sakura on Wickenden around 7 and the place looked more than completely packed.  It was then that I realized I was wearing freshly washed skinny jeans and, of course, the only spots open were on the floor.
Normally I love to cozy up on the floor with my handsome fella and some inari, but the pants were just not going to allow it.  

That's when we were introduced to the super secret squirrel room!  We were seated in a quiet little room toward the back of the restaurant with four tables, but no other people within eyesight.
Sweet.
We settled in for a perfect night- just the two of us. Alone. Heaven.
 

By the time the sushi was on it's way, a group of four was headed to the table next to us.  The four consisted of a man, his teenage daughter and two of her equally teenaged friends.  Loud, giggly, shallow conversations ensued revolving around one of the girls rich-bitch cousins who so unfairly gets every little thing she wants.  This line of discussion was carried out simultaneously with the same girl rattling off the list of expensive things she got recently, along with the longer list of more expensive things she wants.  

J and I were both horrified and engrossed by the loud, vapid chatter that was suffocating our evening.

We downed our sushi and begged for a speedy return of the check, at which point we were offered a peace treaty of sympathetic looks and scroll calendars by the waitress. We made a break for the coffee shop down the street as fast as we could.
 

We sat for a while and talked in a room where we could hear each other easily, despite sharing the space with thirty other coffee drinkers.  As the topic of discussion turned to our dogs we decided a night home with three sleeping pups and the latest episode of American Horror Story was bound to be the epitome of an awesome evening.
 

We got in the car and headed for home.   The ipod played a perfect mix of Johnny Cash (Ring of Fire) into bad Brains (How Low Can a Punk Get) into Public Enemy (Don't Believe the Hype).  A sing-along commenced and oodles of fun was had (...or experienced or whatever. We had a ton of fun).

In some bizarre stroke of motivated insanity, we decided to put together the last two bookshelves of the "wall of books" in the reading room.  J pulled off a pretty perfect continuation of the Public Enemy serenade as he climbed a ladder and measured out the exact location for our middle bookshelf.

Meanwhile, Necco stopped by for a visit as J was doing ladder stuff and I was prepping hardware on the floor.  He jumped up on the sofa and put his head on my shoulder, so of course I had to grab the camera and take a photo. 

Me, looking 12ish in my pajamas with Necco, the Distinguished Gentelman Hound

J set the soundtrack of our project to Fugazi and we built the holy hex out of some bookshelves, while singing along to every last song on their discography.  We still had a little more shelf to build when Fugazi's repertoire was exhausted, so J made the switch to Bad Brains and the happy was almost too much for me to handle.

We got the shelves up and the songs sung (or sang, I'm really not into proper grammar today), and marveled at our burst of music-accompanied productivity.

Funnest night ever?
(I wasn't kidding about my lack of interest in linguistic accuracy today) 
That might be a bit overstated, but it certainly felt like it at the time.



 

Angry (Dog)Boy

As I type this, J is in the basement with his old band practicing in preparation for the NYE show at the HoB.  It's their fist time playing together in ten years.  I think they sound great despite the decade, but then again I can't really be sure -

BECAUSE OLLIE WILL NOT STOP BARKING AT THE FLOOR!!!

Poor pup.  He really does not like this.  From what I can tell he vehemently hates 1965 GTO most of all, and I'm somewhat fearful for Jack's well-being if he brings his bass upstairs when this is over.  It's pretty obvious that Ollie is not a bass guy.

My once playful, sweet and goofy pup has turned into a screaming, slobbering demon.

Ollie and Necco- before the transformation.

Ollie -tongue flailing, eyes glowing as he unleashes his frenzied verbal assault upon the basement.
Necco watches on with concern.

Lucy -couldn't care less

***********************************

SITUATION UPDATE:

Somewhere around the start of the second hour he discovered that everything is better when snuggled.  Now he's mostly sleeping, with his head on my lap, the sound of soothed pup snores occasionally punctuated by a growl of fleeting auditory annoyance.

Ollie is calm.

All is right with the world.

Post-Thanksgiving Thankful

I was met by a glass of wine and a roaring fire upon my return home from work.  I'm sitting with the pups, soaking up the warmth of the fire (and checking email for the last time before turning off my phone for the night).  

J is cooking up something and the smell of garlic is wafting in from the kitchen.

I am so happy to be home.

I am so happy to see J after a long day at work (the first one after 6 days off).

I am the happiest girl in the world.  I cant imagine it's possible for anyone to be happier.

I am so very thankful for everything and everyone I have in my life.

I still have to pinch myself daily to make sure this isn't all some cruelly wonderful dream.

...and now I've said the word "happy" so many times that it's become completely alien to my brain.

Time to go hug the cook and enjoy the evening.

Building a Room to Read

The "Reading Room" (no TVs allowed) has been coming together the last couple weeks.  We finished painting last weekend, a couple days later we moved the million-pound-sofa up from the foyer with some help from the sturdy contractors who are re-shingling the house (and then promptly decided it probably wouldn't stay long), and today we started furnishing the place. 

I am anxiously awaiting the completion of the "wall of books" bookcase as I start the hunt for curtains.  It should only be a matter of days before we can begin to spend copious amounts of spare time (because I'm confident we'll magically find loads of spare time if my daydream goes as planned) lounging around our comfy room while sipping tea and reading an endless quantity of books.

J, constructing an Ikea coffee table first thing in the morning.

J and Ollie relaxing on my pajama'd legs after breakfast.

I return from my shower to find everyone taking a nap.

Pictures of a completed room to follow shortly. 

(Hopefully)

A Snowy Ordeal

The forecasted nor'easter that was supposed to bombard us with winds and rain somehow managed to become a snowstorm around 3:30 today.  Class wasn't cancelled despite my hopes and constant email checking, so I left a few minutes early to beat the bad drivers downtown.

I was on schedule to get to class 45 minutes early until, just a few hundred feet from my destination, everything just stopped.  The traffic light that was about six cars ahead of me was red and after a good four or five minutes of sitting at it, I realized that there was a problem beyond a slow light and some snow traffic.  Our light was stuck on red (despite the cross traffic recieving an occasional 20 seconds of red light of their own) and the two cars at the front of the line appeared to be either terrified of going through the broken light, or completely oblivious to the fact that they'd been sitting there for an ever-increasing, obscenely long time.  After 15 minutes the occassional beeps of the car horns around me began to turn into long, angry blasts.  The front two cars were standing their ground. 
25 minutes now. I could feel the traffic-for-no-good-reason rage building inside me. I looked around for an escape path and the sidewalk was the only way out.  As I pondered it for a few minutes the large suv in front of me veered right and hopped the curb.  As he took a left onto the sidewalk, the Acura in front of him joined.  The car behind me started heading up the curb, so I took the opportunity to get the hell out of there, too.  I have never been so happy to be driving up Broad Street in my life.  I took a quick right to head to the lot and as the car behind me followed and sandwiched me in, I quickly realized what a stupid mistake I'd just made.  To get to the lot I needed to cross a line of unmoving traffic that consisted of cars trying to get into the mess I'd just gotten myself out of.
another 15 minutes and I was able to take a hop over another curb to get myself into the empty lot and avoid being late for class.  Of course, everyone was late for class, so it didn't really matter in the end.
I am eternally thankful for my little car's high clearance and off-roading capabilities.

After class Monika and I met up for dinner at the wonderful little vegan asian restaurant a few blocks away from school.  It was still snowing and the streets were quite empty.  It was a beautiful window view as we talked over our awesome dinners. 

I got home to J shovelling the driveway and walkways to help me get my car parked safely off the street.  I put on tea water and watched the three pups play in the snow with him and felt my heart swell with happiness as I thought about how lucky I am and how thankful I am for the four of them.

After our tea, we headed up to bed.  This is what our nighttime view looks like just past the bed, over in dogtown:

Goodnight, Lucy.

Goodnight, Necco.

Goodnight, Ollie.

xo

Vote - or Don't

This is where I am fortunate enough to cast my ballot:

It's a toasty warm greenhouse in the middle of a beautiful park.  The light at the end of the walkway is where the polls are set up.  There are about 12 of them scattered among the greenery.

It's pretty sweet.

As for vote or don't, I've always been teetering on the brink of falling off the "get out the vote" movement's fence.  I very much feel that if someone doesn't have the motivation to get to know the candidates and make informed decisions, then nobody should be guilting them into going to the poll and checking off some random names.  I'm painfully aware that many people vote based on the soundbites and malarkey they hear on news clips and over-dramatized campaign ads.  The thought that many people who vote haven't got a clue what the candidates they choose really represent just frightens me to death.  If you're not into it, just stay away from the polls today. Please.

Done, Done, and Warm

Much accomplished this weekend.  It's operation cozy home for winter over here and we are almost ready to start furnishing and decorating the library/study/hangout with a cup of tea and just stare at the wall room. 

So now, after a fun and productive weekend, it is time for Boardwalk Empire, Walking Dead, a lovely fire, and snuggling down for the night with J and the pups.

Necco, being cozy and trying to look immovable on the sofa

 Monday, why do you always have to be so punctual every week?

I just want a little extra weekend! (Always)