Darkly Dreaming DVD Nights

We're full-on addicted to Dexter now.

I'd been wanting to introduce J to the show for the last two years.  Winter is prime time for hibernating and soaking in the warm glow of the television with friends and family and good food and warm fires.  We don't mess around when it comes to fun winters (despite abhorring the frigid temps), and Netflix streaming, Amazon, and Hulu have been wonderful. 

Way back when I was living at my house in Providence, six years ago ...maybe seven, a friend loaned me the first season of Dexter to watch on the same night a big snowstorm blew in.  I went home, gathered my pups on the sofa with me, lit a fire in the fireplace and put the first disk in.  This was somewhere around 10 that night.  I kept telling myself "just one more episode" until somewhere around noon the next day.  I watched the whole thing! (and then slept the snowy day away)

   

With a desire to further avoid my end of school big final paper, it seemed a perfect plan for a snowy weekend to tackle a whole season of something.  I was on a mission to find the first season.  After several strike-outs I had an epiphany - Newberry's used DVDs!  They had it, I bought it, we went home and I tied J to the sofa.

Six episodes in we realized it had gotten late and despite our wanting to power through the season, we needed to be responsible adults and get some sleep.

We finished the season over the next two days, cramming in as much as we had time for after work.  I ordered season 2 on Amazon (because there is nothing cooler than finding what you want, clicking a button, and having show up on your doorstep in a day or two).

We killed season two over the weekend, and Saturday night I was back on Amazon for the next two seasons.  We should work our way through season 6 by the time we leave for Florida.

Then what?

I need to get on compiling a list of recommendations for our next winter hibernation television view-fest!   

Pancake Socials and Too Much Pad Thai

The weekend was a perfect mix of complete hibernation, and socializing with a large group of people we love ...with pancakes.  It doesn't really get much better.

Friday night we had a Dexter party, just us, the pups, Casserta's (a small no cheese for me), and a steady flurry of snow throughout the evening.

Saturday was errand day.  We stopped at Wildflour for coffees and split a chocolate chip cookie, ran into an old friend, bought a new hairdryer (I discovered that it's not good when it starts sparking as you're using it), detoured to H&M for a joint shopping fest, then hit Wholefoods for the weekly fridge and pantry replenishing.  Back home I broke out an old recipe I've talked about many times but haven't made since 1990-something: baked chickpea cutlets.  Holy wow they were good.  J whipped up a tahini-based "gravy" for the cutlets and the delicious mound of mashed red potatoes he made.  Then he also made some green beans with garlic, red peppers and walnuts and before too long a perfect meal was before us.  Kitchen magic. Yay!

More Dexter, full bellies, snoring pups, warm blankets, up late.

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Sunday morning I fed the pups and jumped in the shower as J prepped batter and packed a crate full of pancake making supplies (cast iron skillet, jar of wet ingredients, tin foil tent for holding area, spatula for flipping, coconut, banana, chocolate chips for the second batch of "special" pancakes ... he had everything packed in that crate).  We headed over to a friend's place to participate in the first of what, if the success of this event dictates the future, should be many vegan pancake socials to come.

It was fascinating to watch six people cooking six different things on a four burner stove.  It was a well choreographed process.  As the pancakes started making their way to the kitchen table, people started spilling in from the cold outside.  At one point I counted twenty people, and luckily I didn't attempt to count the pancakes.  There was plenty for everyone; pumpkin, classic flax, vegan buttermilk, sweet potato latke, savory kim chi and chive, and banana-coconut-chocolate chip.  There was enough vegan sausage to go 'round (the gimme lean stuff still rules their game), lots of fresh chopped fruit, maple syrup and fresh fruit compote (strawberries, black berries, blueberries, boiled down with some lemon juice and raw sugar), and coffee, lots of coffee.

Friends milled about with plates full of delicious food and mugs full of coffee or oj.  The hosts created a cartoon "tent" out of a room completely curtained in with cozy chairs and sofas, a warm faux-fire, and an endless stream of Looney Tunes.

We contributed (my massive contribution consisted mostly of chopping bananas, tenting pancakes and drinking lots of coffee), we ate lots of good food, we hung out with friends and watched Bugs trick everyone.  It was a really sweet Sunday.

We got a few things done around the house when we got home, but then decided finishing off season two of Dexter in time to watch some Downton Abbey was the best plan for the rest of our weekend.

Tonight, the snow is a steady flurry once again and J and I are holed up in the reading room doing some work.  I am (obviously doing a poor job of) working on the big paper due for my last class.  I have two weeks and I'm trying to be smart by not waiting till the last minute, but it appears that under pressure is how I work best. *sigh*

I picked up Thai on the way home tonight.  Lots of veggie nime chow and some pad thai to prevent any kitchen time distracting us from the tasks at hand tonight.  I fought the little Italian lady in my subconscious who pops up every time I place a take-out order.  It was supposed to be two orders of nime chow, and one pad thai for us to split.  At the last minute I added a second order, just in case I wanted to stuff myself silly.  I did. 
Go me.

Back to writing exciting things about oil spills and crisis management (if I can keep my overstuffed eyes open for another couple hours).
Oy.

Saturday Morning Pup Love

Lucy, getting hugs and a smootch before starting her daily countdown to dinner. 

She's quite focused and persistent (it's around 10:30am when this was taken, her dinner time is 5).

Good morning, sweet Lucy <3

It Didn't Go as Planned

I stopped at the salon to have my nails de-shellac'd yesterday after work.  I had planned to give them a break for a bit, but they seemed perfectly healthy, strong and happy, so I covered them right up again.  This time it's a lovely shade of purpley dark red.  My mani-gal was blown away that after three full weeks I didn't have a single compromised area of nail color (other than my self-inflicted razor chip). 

I'm already planning my color for our Florida trip.  Something nice and bright and summery, of course... and I don't even have to worry about the effects of swimming and fun nights on roller coasters.  No mangled vacation manis for this lady.

This stuff = best stuff ever.

Mani of My Dreams

On Friday, December 28, I got my nails done for New Years.

Today it finally chipped.

This is what they look like now:

 

  Tomorrow it will be three weeks since I had them done (in case you can't tell by the quarter inch of grow-out at the base of my nail).

 

THREE WEEKS!

and I'm pretty sure that "chip"  on the upper left of my thumb nail is actually a nic from my razor. (I had a grip miscalculation in the shower this morning and wound up catching the head of the razor with my fingertips.)

 I'm celebrating by having the Shellac removed tomorrow after work and giving my nails a breather before having them done again.
 

(no actual shellac in the ingredients and the company says no animal testing... just to preemptively answer those two questions)

Why Snow Days Rule

Okay, snow days that involve still having to go to work don't exactly rule, but they are pretty sweet when you get out of the shower and are informed that:

• your car is cleared of snow and moved to the front of the house to avoid the long, narrow driveway back-out
• there is oatmeal with fresh strawberries, a little brown sugar and cinnamon cooking on the stove
• a hot cup of tea is travel mugged and waiting
• the pups are bundeled up and playing happily in the snow
• a good movie and awesome dinner are planned for the evening

A hectic and stressful morning instantly became a pleasant, relaxed start to the day.
My fingers didn't even freeze once!

Cellular Memories

I went through a bunch of old cell phones today. 

 

I had a box of old cell phones that I intended to donate/recycle/throw at people/whatever I needed to do to get rid of them ...as soon as I looked into the best way to do whichever of those options I decided was the best. 

I found info on the cell phones for soldiers program and now all my old phones (and J's) are going to a happy place to do some good. Yay.

 

I decided to clean out the contents of the phones ...it just seemed like what one should do before sending them out into the big world.

Wow.

What a trip down memory lane!

I found tons of old texts.  The majority were boring, some were memory-jogging.  There were silly antics and fun times, and then there were a bunch that reminded me of times I'd forgotten about (most likely on purpose, I'm sure).

Sunday, July 25, 2009.  That was the day I stumbled onto my ex's collection of gal-pals (of course he was not my ex at the time).  It was several months after I found the boobie lunch texts/photos while trying to shut off his alarm.  Despite his insistance that I had it all wrong, 'he wasn't that kind of guy, he'd never do that, yadda, yadda, blah' I was struggling with trusting him.  That Sunday he went out and left his phone home and I fought with myself about whether to look and feel like a jerk if there was nothing there, or know once and for all that I was not imagining things.  I looked.  I was so not imagining things.

 

I had a note I'd saved to my phone with the names and phone numbers of the girls he was flirting with, hanging out with, receiving less than artistic naked selfies from... At first glance it brought it all back.  I thought about it for a moment, and then I deleted the note (and the texts, and everything else on the phone).

 

I went home after work and told J about my phone cleaning discoveries.

I am immensely grateful for my current situation and I think a big part of that is because of the crap I'd put up with in the past. I appreciate J endlessly and I am so very thankful for him. We talked for a while about our pasts and how much they differ from where we are now, about us and our future together.

 

It felt good to delete the past away. And now I have an empty box I can pack full of the momentos of a happy life filled with love, laughter, and an overabundance of fur.

Win/win <3 

Snuggle Bug

When Lucy wants to snuggle on the sofa with me and J, she will not be stopped, even if there's no room.  Friday night we stayed in and buried ourselves under some blankets and watched a movie (or two).  Miss Lucy wanted to be with us, so she climbed up on the sofa and over our legs and settled in.  As uncomfortable as it looked, she gave her tail a little wag of cozy delight and within minutes she was snoring away.

This is complete happiness.

An Omen of Carb-Laden Proportions

Today I was bit by a piece of crusty bread. 

 

I have a swollen bump on my lower lip that looks like the result of a fight.  Actually, I suppose that's pretty much what happened.

I bit the bread and the bread bit back.

 

I take this as an omen.

Carbs are not my friend.

New Years Ebay

The New year's Eve show was so much fun.

We preppared perfectly, then left late.

We skipped eating, but drank the complimentary champagne.

And from there it was all fun and good times.

We got to the House of Blues around 5 for sound check.  Despite plans to run out and grab something to eat at Beer Works (or anywhere), it didn't quite work out. I subbed my nutritional intake for the day with empty alcohol calories.  But it was New Years Eve, so it was okay.  Thanks to all the running around involved in the events of the evening I stayed remarkably not drunk, despite a purely liquid intake.  The behind-the-stage area was large and expansive with catacombs of doors and hallways and flights of stairs.  It took me three run-throughs before I got my lefts and rights figured out, but the running up and down and back and forth was possibly the best exercise I've had since the cold weather arrived.

The whole night seemed pass by in a blink.  The schedule was no joke.  Every second was managed out and The Crowns went on exactly when they were supposed to.  They are so high-energy and so much fun to see live.  The only complaint was that the set felt a little short at just under an hour, so they were on a restricted schedule.  This meant there was not a lot of time for interaction, which is something J is very good at.  It was just right down to business, and then they were done.

We left HoB a little after 2 and walked back to the hotel with a group of friends.  More champagne, and beer and a wee bit of nurishment provided by the gourmet chocolates left on our pillows.   We were at a friend's room a floor down from us for a small post-show party when we realized how incredibly hungry we were.  J ordered fries; two big orders for the famished occupants of the party suite.  An hour later he called to find out if they were still coming.  He was informed that they had been sent to our room, one floor up, by accident.  We were assured that crisp new fries would be on their way in ten minutes.  Another hour later we abandoned hope and stumbled up to our room.  The smell of greasy potatoes hung dense in the air as we dared to hope that the misguided fries might have been left in our room.  We were wrong.  My belly grumbled angrily at the horrible tease.  It smelled of fries, but there were no fries to be found (I admit to peeking in the shower as I reasoned they might have hoped to contain the fry-smell by locking them behind doors).  It was just after 5am.  We crawled into bed dreaming of our brunch plans.  I was asleep before I could form a clear statement about my disbelief over the great french fry debacle of 2013.

I was awake at 8:30.  This was mostly due to extreme thirst and a too-warm hotel room.  I remembered that I'd set my phone for 9:10 so I could swoop in on an ebay bid for a Betsey Johnson jacket I'd been coveting on ebay.  At this point I didn't care much about anything besides getting back to sleep, but I drank some water, made a bid, and passed out.

I woke around 10:30 to the sounds of J trying to order us some breakfast.  The coat was mine and the oj, fruit plate and scones were on their way!

Have I ever mentioned how incredible my guy is?  He rules THE most.

My new Betsey coat is super cute and so warm.  Yay for ebay! 

I am eternally thankful to him for that breakfast.  After our final roll out of bed, we went to brunch in Boston with some friends, and since it was New Years it took several hours to secure any sort of food.

It was a fun day.  We got back home around 5 and threw some comfy blankets down by the fireplace, after destroying a pint of FoMu, and had a blissfully quiet night together (no pup pick-ups until the 2nd).

New Years Day J - home & relaxed and devouring some Fomu.

Not a bad start to the new year, despite the great french fry debacle of 2013.