Last one of the group to post this, LOL!

1. Any vacations planned this summer, if so when/where?

A long weekend in NC with our friends S & W and no-longer-baby O.
A weekend in Williamsburg for J’s birthday.
A long weekend in NJ visiting friends.
Hoping to squeeze in a trip to Chicago.
My cousin’s wedding in CT over Labor Day.

Not summer…but possibly Spain in October…hmmm….

Glad to not be traveling as much this year!

2. Any home improvement/landscaping projects planned for this summer, if so what?

We have SO many things we’d like to do, and the list keeps growing. Landscaping is done, but now we’re eyeing windows, and new counters has all of  a sudden become gutting the kitchen, and doing our master bath, replacing the two remaining old toilets, putting in an attic fan. Replacing shutters. Painting the living room and hallway, probably our bedroom.
I don’t think our pocketbook is big enough, so I’m sure something will give.

3. Did you purchase flowers to plant yet? Or is that not your thing?

I don’t have any flowers, really, but we did plant the container garden and a couple of weeks back, J ripped out a ton of ivy and we put in some new shrubs.

4. Do you plan on hitting the beach this summer?

Probably not. I’ve never been a big beach person in the summer.

5. Have you got any new summer wardrobe items? If so what?

A bunch of capris. I don’t do shorts (rarely, anyway).

6. Flip flops or wedges?

Flip flops. A large quantity of Old Navy flip flops. Of which, I’ll probably mostly wear my white ones or my black Reef ones.

7. Do you tan or burn?

I tan - except my legs. They don’t tan at all. But, I’m pretty constantly wearing sunscreen, so while I do end up getting a little color through it anyway, I hope to avoid burning for sure! I know too many people who have had skin cancers.

8. Any good summer reads you care to share?

Not really reading anything - I’m a magazine girl in the summer. Usually junk like People.

9. Favorite summer beverage (alcohoic or non)

Non-alcoholic - Iced tea
Alcoholic - Mojitos or Corona with lime

10. Do you enjoy any summer sports or activities, if so what?

It’s nice to just be able to be outside - I walk outside a lot.

11. Any goals you’re working towards this summer?

Taking off those winter few pounds, continuing to improve my marriage, keeping on track to our finances being in better shape. Being nicer to my moody stomach.

12. Favorite summertime food?

Anything grilled.

13. Favorite summertime fruit?

I’m allergic to a lot of fruits, but I do love watermelon, peaches on the grill, and cherries (which make me break out in hives, but I eat them anyway).

14. Favorite summertime song/music?

To be determined.  Every summer ends up having “a song” or “an album” - but we’ll see what it ends up being after summer’s over!

15. Plans for any summer lovin’ ?

Um, I should hope so!

This has really turned into a blog of snippets - some food here, some knitting there, some randomness elsewhere. It seems when there are bad/stressful things going on, I’m really encouraged to work through them in writing, and when things are status quo or just plain happy, silence is the rule. So, the best way to interpret my non-posting is probably that things are, generally, going well. In catching up on my blog reading, I saw both RoseAnn and Nancy had posted these and thought a general update wouldn’t be such a bad thing….

1. What’s going on in your professional life? How are you liking your job/school? What’s new, what’s good what’s bad, what’s the story?

I don’t talk about work much around here - mostly because I don’t want to deal with the ramifications of it. I live in DC. You can guess who I work for, roughly. Jason works at the same place I do. Frankly, I like my job right now. It’s not my dream job, but it pays well and has good hours (40 on the nose), and I work hard (mostly) and then go home and just be at home. I learn new things. I’m not constantly mentally challenged - but I am constantly challenged by my work environment and by some of the people who work here. I think the biggest thing I can say is that my life is my own now, and my current job enables that. While it’s not perfect and I don’t want to work here forever, it is SUCH a huge blessing. As is having any job at all.

2. What’s going on with your romantic life and or family if you’re married and/or have kids? If you’re married, how are you and your husband getting along? What’s up with him and his life? If you have kids, how are they doing? If you’re in a relationship, how’s that going? If you’re dating, tell us about it!!

Jason and I are coming up on 6 years, May 31st. Reservations are set for our usual Maggiano’s dinner - although really, I’d rather be in Italy again. Can’t believe it’s been a year since we were there. Things have been calm, mostly. Uneventful. I’m slowly migrating towards a path of acceptance. Or, recognizing that that will be the only way forward. For all of my cognizance that you can’t change a person, that certainly hasn’t stopped me - on a subconscious level - from trying. He’s going to be a workaholic. He’s going to stress and obsess over his job. Constantly. Because he’s always so personally vested in it, he’s always going to find some flaw in it. He’ll never keep the house as clean as I like it, or the yard as I like it, or ANYTHING as I like it and, well, frankly, I can and need to step up if I want something done the way I want it done. He cooks me dinner and cleans up every night. When I’m away, he helps keep the house in order so it’s not a disaster when I get back. Among a billion other things. He does a billion things for work, for us, for me. I’m a lucky girl.

June 10th will be 5 months since he’s had a cigarette. “Proud” doesn’t begin to do it justice.

And kids? What kids? While I admit buying a car with 4 doors is part of the “when” scenario, we’re not there. We don’t talk about it. And I’m back to liking things just the way they are. Liking the concept, but probably not the reality of the permanent upheaval. Settled into my ways, more and more? Entirely possible. I’ve always said that if I haven’t had one by the time I’m 35, Game Off. I’m 32 - and there aren’t a lot of 40 week spans left between here and 35. And even if then, there will likely never be a number two.

The kids we DO have? Albert, at 12.5, is mostly blind, arthritic, and….convinced he’s still a puppy. WE hold HIM back. For his own good. He’ll spend the day following us up and down 3 flights of stairs all day, happily. You can’t tell him that he can’t hop up somewhere, or that a long walk is out of the question. He’s Mommy’s Boy. At the rate he’s going, we have this feeling that he’ll just go and go and then, one day, stop. I dread that day, but when it comes, it will be a perfect doggie life lived. Stewie is easing into middle age, well, about as well as ‘Bert does old age. So much energy. Such a “desire” for cleanliness in the world around him, LOL. (I have never seen a dog so intent on licking EVERYTHING) He had plumped up, but more regular walks with Jason have thankfully thinned him down a bit. And the cats? I have no idea how they all manage to be plump on their diet cat food and constantly scurrying - but they do - and aside from that are all healthy and entertaining. Sydney, my calico, surprised me a couple of weeks back by managing to escape from our fenced in yard. 6 foot solid fence. Gate latched. No front claws. We frequently let the cats out there when we’re home and nearby - just letting them sun themselves. Never a problem until this. I went in to sit and read the paper and have coffee, went out to check, and she was gone. Opened the gate and called after searching the yard in a panic, and she comes trotting around the corner, happy as can be. Best I can tell, she must have hopped on something, up to the top ledge, walked all the way around to the end on the side of our neighbor’s unit, and hopped down to the ground…all 6 feet of it. “Escape Kitty” is no longer allowed outside unless someone stands there watching!

3. What’s going on with your family of origin (parents, siblings, etc) and/or extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc)? Are you close to them? Getting along with them? Feel free to share about in-laws if there’s anything going on there.

Things with my family are pretty quiet. My mom continues to have a clean bill of health from the breast cancer (yay!), my brother is still waiting (over 2 years now) for sentencing for his DUI, and my dad and his wife are semi-settled into their new home - still commuting from the north side of Atlanta to the south side of Atlanta until the housing market picks up and they can sell. Mom and her husband adopted a German Shepherd a few months back - Blitz.  He is a rescue in the truest sense - found, near starved to death, in the woods by some hunters. Too weak to stand, they carried him out to a rescue group, who nursed him mostly back to health. He was just a baby, no more than a year or so old, and seemed to have been out there for awhile. Needless to say, he had some issues. Scary issues. With food and with dominance. In fact, they were ready to give him BACK - I told them that if they did, it would be a death sentence for him. No one wants a dog with known issues who bites! I worked with my ex, Marc’s, wife (who works with a Humane Society) to get them tips, tricks, and advice to get their big “puppy” to a more manageable state. And…slow but steady…..success!  He’s still a giant puppy who doesn’t know his own strength, but he’s also now a mama’s boy. I got to meet him on the way down to Atlanta when I took Oliver down….I couldn’t get down and hug him like I like to do with dogs (still cautious…), but he’s beautiful, and he’s safe and happy in one of the best homes an animal can have. Warms my heart.

Blitz - One Lucky Dog

4. What’s going on with your social life? How are you getting along with your friends? Any news on that front you want to share?

My social life….quiet. Cassandra was down for MD Sheep and Wool and came with me to get my tattoo a couple of weeks back….grilled out with our neighbors this weekend….we finally made it up to Bowie after FAR too long to see Pam and Kris for (what used to be) the monthly beer release at DuClaw….I was sweetly asked by a dear friend to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next summer….and the occasional sewing class and semi-regular Wednesday knit night at Knit Happens provide me with just about all the social outlets I need for now. The rest of my friends are spread cross-country and are mostly kept up with via email and Facebook.

Hopefully it grows. Period. Alive, not dead. Perhaps bearing veggies? The event dubbed “Garden Party ‘09″ is on - will they grow? Will we manage to kill them? Stay tuned!

The back two large pots have one tomato, one pepper, and one squash each. A tomato, pepper, and fingerling eggplant await planting on a tray in front. The tomato is a unique breed created to grow in smaller containers on “balconies” and the squash is pattypan. Because of this, I’m optimistic about our pot-sharing scheme, but really - we’ll see.
The oregano we “inherited” from my IL’s is going for it in the terracotta pot, and on the other side of it in the same pot is basil and mint. The sun hits that side, so we’ll see who “wins.” The long box is parsley, cilantro, dill, and some happy rosemary. Still to come: a box of spring, then summer, lettuce blends.

Those two “random” logs? Actually, they’ve been inoculated with mushrooms. One is Shitake, the other is….? No idea. Those were J’s creative entries.

Place your bets!

Coming to you, ::LIVE:: from Charlotte! In a very short while, I will be expected to answer questions intelligently on subject matter I know precious little about! Nervous? Who, me?

I’m ready to go home!

Before my little adventure here, you may recall there were some things planned for the weekend.  A little of this, a little of that. Cassandra came down from B’more, and we spent a day basking in yarny, sheepy goodness at MD Sheep & Wool. In the rain. I didn’t take any pictures, and frankly, I only bought a little bit of yarn - for a Hanami stole for my cousin’s wedding. I saw some people - not nearly as much as I’d like, but there’s only so much you can do. I met others completely unexpectedly. You can read more about our weekend here, if you’re terribly curious. But, that’s not what you’re here for, is it? You’re wondering “whatever happened to that bare wrist she posted about last week,” aren’t you?

I was expecting the outline to be the hardest part…

I was wrong.

I don’t like needles, and I don’t like them near me. Really. I couldn’t watch. At all.

Cassandra did a great job of just talking about anything to keep me occupied. Jason, I think, didn’t really exactly comprehend my request for babble, or know what to say. Bill-the-Awesome-Tattoo-Guy (I dub thee “BadAssBill”) talked our ears off, and he was hil-arious. Bonus.

Did it hurt? Yes. It felt like getting stabbed with a needle a lot of times, really quickly. Similar to what I remembered from all of those years ago, but probably slightly worse because of the location and the fact that he had to start and stop rather than just keep going because of the lines.

Would I do it again?

(Not the psychological definition)

This is my wrist.

I’ve been planning a tattoo for it for 3…almost 4…years now. Nothing big. Nothing fancy. The goal was my 30th birthday, at the place where I got my first one. The day was busy, and it didn’t happen. That was two years ago.

But today? Today is the day.

I have much more of a concept of permanence with this than I did when I got my others. This will be there for the rest of my existence. It will be part of who I am, not just a pretty little thing that I can take off when I want.
That’s kind of a scary thing.
I want it. I’m in. But it’s a lot to wrap my brain around. Even for a silly little tattoo.

Not any cooking, that’s for sure! We successfully resisted the urge to turn on the A/C (aside from in our bedroom) - and of course, the Spring heat wave has ended with rain, wind, and chillier weather, as expected. On Monday, though, after two days of the heat, we decided a cold soup was in order:

This one is a favorite that we don’t have very often - it’s a lot of chopping, and J’s not a huge fan of avocado. The summer I lived in Boston, we had lunch at (and I went to alone a couple of more times) The Elephant Walk, a fantastic French/Cambodian restaurant a mere block from my door. As an appetizer, they had this lovely fruit/vegetable dish - Avocado Citrus Soup. I seriously just about licked the bowl clean. When I got home, I figured there was no harm in emailing the restaurant/chef to ask if maybe, possibly, they wouldn’t mind sharing the recipe?

Imagine my surprise when they DID let me have it! I spent a good part of that fall snacking on it, but I think have only made it one other time since. It was perfect for this weather - nice and cold, refreshing and filling. Paired with a mixed lettuce salad with a little EVOO and balsamic, topped with a few shrimp tossed on the grill by J while he was having a beer and a little lemon, it was the perfect (almost) Summer meal. And it looked darn pretty, too.

(Not posting the recipe since it’s not mine, nor is it online or served at the restaurant anymore, so if anyone is curious or interested, let me know and I’ll be happy to email it to you!)

Well, they’re done. Over on Rav, I joined a Knit-A-Long back in…oh, December. Starting in January. I had until March to finish them - it was the sock of the first quarter. January, February, March came and went. Others posted beautiful, complete socks. Frankly, I knit on these once a week for a couple of hours…that was about the size of it. Not really feeling like knitting. Finally, though - they’re DONE. And I love them. But - I think that overwhelming need to knit socks has passed.

Now what?

Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Tide Pooling from Rockin Sock Club 2008
Pattern: Leyburn Socks
Needles: US 1.5
Started: 7 January 2009
Finished: 21 April 2009

Notes:
My normal number of stitches to cast on is around 64 - but the consensus was that the floats make these tight. So, I cast on the specified 72 sts. They are looser than my usual sock, but not really big by any means. I also did these cuff down - my personal preference. The pattern was technically reversed because I didn’t change it from the toe-up version. I mean, really, they’re socks. I did adjust the pattern down to 64 sts for the foot - it was pretty easy to reduce the pattern gradually at the gusset to accomplish this.

It’s too bad it’s now 90 degrees out - these have already gone into my drawer, ready for Fall!

I had every intention of posting this on Friday - but the day got away from me. And then, the weekend here was beautiful - gorgeous weather, lots of time outside! I went to Pilates like a “good girl” early on Saturday morning, and J and I went down to the shore for the first crabs of the season.

They were SO worth it.

We won’t talk about my first speeding ticket in 15 years, or how it was a total trap because he was sitting in the few hundred yard window where the speed limit went from 55 to 45 before going back up to 55. Honestly, I am a speedy driver, so my number was up.

ANYWAY - I mentioned last weekend that we had reverse engineered a recipe…and we call it a success! Are the originals still better? Of course! But they’re not the easiest thing to come by, and my poor, sensitive stomach took days to recover from them, so I’m quite happy with this substitute. A couple of weeks back, we checked out a new (to us)  music venue called The Birchmere, which has almost a “dinner theater” kind of setup, to listen to Juliana Hatfield (Bonus! Remember her?) and Bob Mould rock out on the night of the launch of his new CD. It was an awesome show, and the food was great. We wondered what “chicken sliders” could possibly be, and upon reading that there was BBQ’d pulled chicken involved, we were all in.

They were AMAZING. Open faced, tangy/spicy pulled BBQ chicken on garlic bread, topped with mozzarella. To die for. And easy enough to make our own version, right?

Well - sort of. We tossed the chicken into the crockpot with some BBQ sauce on the way out the door to the museum and came home to…well…a bit of a mess. Not enough sauce. While my Dad dug in and salvaged as much as he could of the chicken breast, I ran out to the store to get a container of the ol’ standby Lloyd’s.  In the end, we mixed them together and it was just perfect.

The moral to the story? Premade BBQ chicken = good. Chicken in the crockpot with anything less than about 2 cups of BBQ sauce = bad.

Chicken Sliders

1 lb (-ish) chicken breasts, thawed (or just one package from the store)
1 FULL bottle BBQ sauce of choice

OR

1-2 packages of premade BBQ pulled chicken (Lloyd’s was great)
Gouda cheese, grated, for topping (a little more character than the mozzarella)
Loaf of crusty bread, sliced into 1 - 1.5″ slices
Butter
Garlic powder and/or minced garlic

The morning of, toss the chicken and the BBQ sauce into a crock pot, mix, and set on low for 8 hrs. Go to work. Pray for the best. (If using prepackaged, obviously, skip this step.)
When it’s done, use two forks to shred the chicken. Set aside. Preheat broiler. Spread butter and garlic on one side of each bread slice, broil until lightly toasted. Remove, flip the toast, and do the same to the other side. Add chicken, top with shredded gouda, and broil again to melt the cheese.

Eat in large quantities. Best with beer.

Dad and his wife have been here this weekend - the closest we get to Easter around here is breaking out a Paas kit and feasting on Peeps and Creme Eggs. So, while everyone else spent Sunday at church and at family gatherings, we spent it at the newly-reopened Museum of American History. Two of the exhibits we really wanted to see had lengthy lines, but we were able to see the Star-Spangled Banner and this:

Any ideas?

It’s Julia Child’s kitchen.

I was amazed by how homey and real it is, and at the amazing array of gadgets - the mix of single-use gadgets and the best of the best multitaskers. Her knife collection. The pots and pans on peg boards on the walls. The solid, central kitchen table that could serve as a dinner place, a gathering place, and an extra workspace.

Nothin’ fancy, but heaven conceptually for the home cook.

The exhibit included TV’s playing her old PBS shows - as a New England girl, shows from WGBH-Boston were regular Saturday fodder. This Old House. New Yankee Workshop. Jacques Pepin. Yan Can Cook. And of course, Julia Child - who, by the time I was on the scene, had long ago settled in Cambridge and was filming her show, finished each episode buy sitting down to dinner with a glass of wine. It was actually a mix of water and Gravy Master, I learned today - she didn’t want to be drunk and filming, but did enjoy good wine with her meals - a lesson learned from her time in France at the Cordon Bleu. Forty plus years ago, she was making a point of cooking in season, with locally grown produce. Sound like a familiar “trend?”

“Food should have sense of time and place,” one of her friends said in a video. I wholeheartedly agree.

We came home, newly inspired. We tried a little recipe reverse-engineering for dinner tonight. I think we have a winner - a fun, easy meal. With a sense of time and place - at least, a reminder of it for us…

Even though I haven’t been blogging, I am alive, and life goes on around here. My free time lately has been taken up by a little (?) sewing project: another quilt. I got it in my head to make a quilt for my MIL for Mother’s Day (shhh!), and I found a quilt I liked that was different from my last one, but still easy enough, and even better, a class that was running to keep me on track for an on time delivery. This past Tuesday was the last class, and we had to be ready to add the borders that night. After a semi-busy weekend with Cassandra (more on that in another post), Monday night was homework night - sew, press, rip out because it’s on point, I’m confused, and I sewed backwards, repeat.

At the end of the night, we had success!

It’s another lap sized one, and I was able to get the borders on Tuesday night and send it on its merry way to be quilted by someone who actually knows what they’re doing. Once it’s back in a couple of weeks, time to add the binding and we’ll be ready to surprise Mom #2 with it. These are totally her colors, and I’m hoping, her style.

J was a big help again with this one, helping me assemble the blocks and keep them in order. We’ve been talking about making a quilt for our bed for awhile, and he mentioned that he really liked this pattern. It’s a good thing, because if I’m making a king-sized version of it, he will be helping. A LOT.

In the back of that picture, you can faintly see some little shoots of something - that would be the beginnings of our garden, growing happily along. The squash and cucumbers have really made a run for it. J sneaks in almost every day to look at them - I think he’s excited, and I am, too.

Happy Friday!