Pat and Fran

What a weekend!

We had a really nice weekend, and I am exhausted and can't wait to go to bed (No, I'm not watching the Super Bowl. Shocking, I know.), so I'll keep this short.

Saturday, Pat and Greta had some nice daddy-daughter time while I went out to have afternoon tea with my friend Dottie. This friend is a sort of new friend who is so ridiculously nice. When we were buying our house, she insisted she wanted to come over and help me clean. It boggled my mind. She not only brought her kick-ass cleaning skills, she also brought her Dyson, wine, and cracker-and-cheese goodness. She helped me clean the entire house, and having her company for that first big clean was priceless. As a thank you, I got her "tea for two" and Hicks & McCarthy. I swear I wasn't fishing for and invite, but she insisted I join her. So we finally got around to doing that this weekend. She is such a fun person, and she reminds me that there is a lot of good in the world.

Today, we got together with some new friends and some old friends. First, we met up with one of Greta's newish day care pals (and her family) at the museum. We had such a good time with them. We seem to have a lot in common, including parenting style. I have never met people through a kid connection who I've clicked with more. I really, really like the mom, and, frankly, I think I have a little bit of a friend-crush on her. I hope she likes me! And, probably more importantly, I really like their little girl. She is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful three year olds I've ever met.

The girls were so cute together. They were holding hands and just very obviously enjoyed being together.

Amigas.

I think Greta might have a friend-crush too.

After the museum, we went over to our little friend Nathan's birthday party. Frank and Joyce are always such good hosts. It was such a nice party. I will say I was stumped as to what to buy him for his birthday. (Girls are so much easier than boys, sez I.) I was walking around Toys R Us last night in a daze, and finally I settled on this big wooden dinosaur play thing and container of plastic dinosaurs. I was thinking, Uh, do the kids like dinosaurs these days?? And when we walked in and saw that there was a dinosaur theme, I was all, YES! I am awesome. I have no pictures of the event because I was too busy stuffing my face with food and playing with dinos.

What else? I was kind of a lazy cook this weekend, but we were running around a lot. I did make a healthy(ish) French onion soup. It was my first-ever attempt at FOS. It absolutely killed my eyes, and when I woke up this morning I had lovely bloodshot eyes. It was far from the best FOS I've ever had, too. Given how painful it was to make the soup and the lackluster results, I think FOS is something I will leave to the professionals in the future. Here's the recipe in case you want mediocre soup that will make you cry and wake up with red eyes.

The only downside to having such a fun weekend is that it went by in a flash and now I'm really super especially not looking forward to work tomorrow. Blerg.

Time for bed!

Fran

 
I took a half day yesterday, and Taryn and I met up to celebrate her birthday. She came to town so we could hit up some Rochester food/shopping. I hadn't been to Black & Blue yet, but I had heard good things, so I suggested we go to lunch there. There were so many tasty-looking items on the menu that I had trouble deciding, and so I did what I sometimes do when I'm being indecisive: I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. I figure, why not? If it all looks good, why not go with the cheapest? It was their signature burger. It cost what an average burger costs at Fridays/Applebees/RubyTuesdays/Chilis/Whatevers (it was actually less than $8), but it was perfection on a perfect bun. It had bacon and blue cheese, and it was seasoned and cooked perfectly. Did I mention it was perfect? Oh, and it came with shoestring French fries. Perfect. Taryn and I also both got desserts. They were not perfect because they were too big. I ate so much I actually had a cramp for half an hour (and I wasn't even swimming after the meal).
 
After lunch we did some shopping at Eastview. As I mentioned previously, we recently got an Anthropologie. Taryn and I both came to the conclusion that it's nice to look, but it's too expensive to buy. Even their sale stuff is really expensive. Also, their clothes look like how I would *like* to dress, but it's just not how I dress. I feel like I would buy a dress and then covet it in my closet and then never actually wear it. And that would be sad. I'm glad we have an Anthropologie, and I plan to stop by their sale section and visually enjoy the regularly priced eye candy when I can, but I don't think I will be getting a new wardrobe there anytime soon. I did get two sweaters at Banana Republic for a combined grand total under $35 and a magical pair of boots on super-sale at Macy's. And Taryn found some good stuff too. It was a great afternoon - one that I totally needed. I felt like it was my birthday!
 
So, amigos, my friend Alex IM'd me the other day to tell me that our former home-away-from-home Mex is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend. Can you believe it has been 10 years?? Alex said, "It's been almost 10 years since you kicked someone out of a bar." It has actually been 7 and a half years since I kicked someone out of a bar, but who's counting? 10 years...time flies. I might need to have a gin and tonic this weekend (at New Mex = my living room) to celebrate.
 
I'm reading a crazy book for book club right now. It's Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and it's kicking my @ss! It has 6 different sections, and I have gotten into each one eventually, but it takes time. I really need to think about what I'm reading as I read and sort of translate the meaning as I go. If I don't, I sometimes have to go back 10 or 20 pages and reread a section. I have NEVER had to do that - ever. I feel like a pansy because other reviews I've read of the book were all so positive and people claim they loved it from page 1, but I'm struggling. I blame both my job and modern technology for giving me adult-onset ADD. Having a kid who craves constant attention doesn't help much either. It also doesn't help that there are some crazy dilects. I read a paragraph of one of the sections out loud to Pat, and I think his response was, "Oh, f*** that." I like the book, but I'll be sort of glad when it's done.
 
What did you do today?
 
Fran
 

My friend Sarah and I went to see Avatar in 3D tonight for free (because we're high rollers and things like this fall into the laps of people like us), and we documented the experience.

The big-glasses-over-little-glasses look will be huge in France next year. Just wait. We laughed a lot. We also enjoyed the movie.

Fran

I didn't take a single picture today. I could have taken a picture of Greta eating a wild berry Edy's Fruit Bar, where the purple popsicle was smudged around her lips like clown makeup on Heath Ledger as the Joker. But I didn't; you're welcome.
 
Fran

To preface, I took no pictures today, so you get this...

Has anyone tried this Popcorn Salt? I got some in my stocking for Christmas (yes, I still get a stocking, even though I'm 33), and even though popcorn is one of my favorite snacks, I thought it seemed like a pretty pointless gimmick. But then I tried it. You only need a tiny bit, and it really does seem to "penetrate every kernel." Hehe.

Fran

Phil and Becky came to town for see our (not-so) new house and have lunch. We always have a great time when we get together with them, and we always eat and drink well. The highlights were a warm goat cheese salad (basically this one, but I use fresh cherries because I love the combination of the savory goat cheese, tangy Dijon dressing, and tart cherries) and a nice bottle of wine we busted open (courtesy of Dave McCarthy) that went perfectly with the salad and pasta dish. The lowlight was the hazelnut torte with chocolate glaze I made for dessert. It sounded good in theory but was just not very tasty. Shocking, right?

Sadly, I forgot to take many pictures. I got one of the salad, but the only goat cheese round I had left by the time I thought to take a picture was the one that was the least toasty. It was still delish.

And now I'm going to drink the last bit of wine that's left and call it a night.

Fran

Yesterday I found out about the passing of JD Salinger. Like many people over the last 60 or so years, Catcher in the Rye had a profound effect on me. I always enjoyed reading and pretty much liked everything every English teacher put in front of me, but Catcher in the Rye was the first book I remember really connecting with and thinking, Wow, writing can do this? It is such a common reaction to a book that it is almost cliché, except for the fact that the book is just so darned cool it is cliché-proof.

I wish I had something profound to say, but unfortunately I don't. RIP JD Salinger, and thank you.

Fran

So, at work right now we're having a Wii Bowling tournament. Without me knowing it and against my wishes, one of my coworkers signed me up for the tournament. Before the start of the tournament, I hadn't played a video game since maybe 1986, and I really wasn't looking forward to looking like an ass in front of my coworkers. But then I played a game or two and realized that Wii Bowling is at least mildly awesome. Possibly my favorite part of the tournament so far has been creating my Mii.

My Mii looks like me! Look, see? (That was like modern-day Dr. Seuss prose.)

The bad news is I'm really not very good at playing WB. The good news is I'm not the worst. That and if there are any superlatives at the end of the tournament that don't have anything to do with skill (eg, Person Whose Mii Looks Most Like Him/Her) I might have a shot at actually winning something.

Off topic but not completely unrelated, Greta came home with a piece of paper (paper that wasn't a scrap or leftover dot matrix paper!!) that was rolled up and tied, like some kind of fancy certificate. Greta claimed it was a present for Pat and me. Pat untied the bow, and we excitedly unrolled the paper to find this.

Pat asked Greta what it was, and she said to him, "It's you - from the time you turned into a monster head." Is that a Satanic figure in the upper-left corner? Like my Mii, the resemblance is uncanny, don't you think?

Fran

Love 'em or hate 'em, this is one of my favorite pairs of shoes.

Greta made me take a picture of her favorite pair of shoes too. It's an action shot, of course, because she never stops moving.

Fran

I shot this picture with my "car phone," so excuse the poor quality, but I had to share this recent gem that Greta brought home from day care.

I love it so much. I love how spindly we are, I love that the mom mermaid's head looks like an alien's, I love the frowny faces, and I love the horizontal scales. Is there anything I don't love? Maybe the fact that it's on some dot matrix printer paper, but I'm pretty sure even that adds to the je nais sais quoi.

Fran