Guest Blogger Through Paraphrase

Yeah, it's been a while since we've had one of these.

This comes from the fabulous flatmate, Gina (who I would refer to as a roommate, but that's kind of untrue, since we each have our own room, you know?). Gina was in a wedding last weekend, and had the following conversation with the groom, henceforth referred to as "F", the night before the wedding:

G: You know, it might not be a bad idea to get her a card or something tomorrow.

F: No! We agreed there would be no presents! No presents!

G: Yeah, but just a card! A card would be nice.

F: Fine. So, uh, do they make "I'm Going to Marry You Today" cards?!

G (muffling laughter): ... ... ... I think a regular "I Love You" one will do the trick.

F (relieved): Cool.

Squish...

Are those cheeks edible or what?

(Baby Daniel, 8 weeks old)

Dire Warnings

I've been rather chuckly lately over the widely varying personal political views that I'm exposed to as a side effect of my life. The consistent theme that intrigues me the most is the need to impart the IMMEDIATE DANGER which I would face should _____ win the election. It comes from both sides in pretty equal amounts. So apparently it doesn't matter who I vote for, since the world's going to end either way.*

*Ha, kidding. I know it matters. But it's none of your business, that's for sure.

And so it begins...

Me: What are you up to in there?
3 year old: Um...good?
Me: I believe the phrase is 'no good.' Nice try though.

Fun Things to Do While on a Conference Call*

*But for me, "Fun Things to Do While Drinking Coffee and Having a Break Between Tasks"...lord knows I don't need anymore spaciness while on the phone.

Anne tagged me for this, and I aim to please. And I really like the idea of a quick break in an otherwise hectic day, so it's an easy sell.

Three Names You Go By
1. Rachel
2. Rach (or as Albert liked to spell it phonetically "Raytch")
3. Ellie

Three Parts of Your Heritage
1. Scottish (one assumes, based on the last name?)
2. German (SO MANY Germans)
3. Um...probably some English in there too, we'll go with that

Three Things That Scare You
1. Large rats (several hang around my workplace...shudder)
2. Heights (specifically those in which there is the slightest possibility I might fall off)
3. Most recently, the bad guys in Serenity (suggest not watching while your roommate is gone and it is very dark and quiet)

Three of Your Everyday Essentials
1. lotion
2. mascara
3. NPR

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Lime green cardigan with white polka dots (today's "preppy" day, didn't you hear?)
2. Brown wedges
3. "Philosykos" by Diptyque (yum!)

Three of Your Favorite Bands or Musical Artists (at the moment)
1. The Weepies (obvious, I know)
2. Coldplay (particularly Viva la Vida)
3. Feist

Three Things You Want in a Relationship (other than Real Love...
was the "Real Love" Anne's addition or in the original?...also, how dorky do I feel answering this one?)
1. Lots of laughing
2. Ability to be myself
3. Terrible, terrible poetry written in my honor (a song would work too, preferably on acoustic guitar, bringing us right back to #1).

Two Truths and a Lie
1. I have never been to Disney World.
2. I can scarf raw oysters by the plate load.
3. I really enjoy sappy love poems.

Things about the Opposite Sex that Appeal to You (again with the dorky teenage angst prompts...)
1. Friendly, open face (smiling helps)
2. Good cologne or smell in general
3. Oy, I don't know...having "the smarts" as Roxie would say...

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Knitting/crochet
2. Dancing
3. Movie watching

Three Things You want to do really badly right now
1. Leave as though it's Friday even though it's Wednesday
2. Find a quiet sunny place with a little breeze to finish my book
3. Eat lunch (tummy is growling)

Three Places You Want to Go
1. Boston (and more of the NE in general...Boston in November for sure though!)
2. Quebec (tentative 30th Birthday plans, who's in?)
3. Tunisia (or any of the other North African/French speaking countries, aka Maghreb)

Three Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Become conversant in a non-Western language
2. Visit the seven natural wonders of the world
3. Drive across the U.S.

Three Ways that you are stereotypically a Chick/Guy
1. Rarely leave the house without some form of makeup on
2. Scarily good at shopping
3. Can talk on the phone with other girls for HOURS about very little

Three people I would like to see take this quiz
1. Ebony (I'm totally going to guess at your answers ahead of time and see how many I get right)
2. Joi (because you tag me for everything, and turnabout is fair play :)
3. Stephanie (you haven't updated in a while...good excuse!)

Adventures in Cooking

I decided about a month ago to get a wine subscription from wine.com. The idea was that I would have an opportunity to learn a little something about wine selection, what I like/don't like, what goes well with certain food, etc. I've only had two shipments so far (so 4 bottles of wine), and have only managed to drink one bottle, so I can't really give you any updates as to my budding career as a oenologist.

But each of the little sheets that come with the wine do have a list of food that would be a good match. In my first box, I got a bottle of pinot grigio that was recommended to go with fresh tomatoes or seafood. I immediately thought of a dish my dad makes that is excellent - shrimp with goatcheese on top of pasta and tomato coulis. I have yet to reach the stage in cooking where I can create a recipe, but I at least have excellent memory recall and my dad's phone number.

So the first step in this process was to buy shrimp that were large enough to butterfly. I was thwarted on several grocery store attempts due to my night-owl tendencies (did you know they empty the seafood counters after 9 pm or so?), but yesterday finally made it to the grocery store near work during my lunch hour. The only shrimp available where still fully shrimp - little alien looking buggers with the heads still on them and everything. But as shrimps go, they were quite large and on sale. We have a winner!

Last night I got them home and began the cleaning process. I was supposed to get help from the internet, but plans to google "how to clean whole shrimp" were thrown off by our wireless going on the fritz. Here they are, still intact and all:

(take me to your leader...)

I've spared you the photo details of what transpired next, but basically I had to remove their heads. And I was unclear where the body ended and the head started, and this innard stuff squished out and I had to do the "ewwwwwwwww" dance around the kitchen for a minute.

So here they are now, all nice and headless, though not totally clean just yet. I'm pretty meticulous about getting out all of the little black veins, because those sort of gross me out too. As I was sitting there with my paring knife, I thought about the interesting conversation possibilities this presented: "What did you do last night?" "I disemboweled some shrimp. You?"

All nice and butterflied and ready for the filling and the oven:

And ta-da! The final dish, with one shot of the wine as well:

I was pretty hungry by the time I was finished, so I'm not sure I fully appreciated the mix of the wine and the chosen meal...but I still have 6 more shrimp left, and now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, I'm going to give it another try tonight.

Happy

You know those little moments that make you want to stretch out and sigh with content? These are mine lately:

1. Fresh, clean sheets on my bed.
2. Oscillating fans.

3. A growing pile of completed "to make" projects.

4. Fruit-infused herbal tea.
5. Pictures of Ginger's baby.

Foodie Post

A few days ago, on the way back from a co-worker going away party, a few of us stopped in a nearby Belgian chocolate cafe, Locolat. We really only wanted some iced coffee and had been drawn in by the sign outside, but I had also been wanting to check it out for a while. Not only was the coffee yummy and just the perfect way to counteract two glasses of sangria at lunch, the shop itself was full of gorgeous little chocolate candies. We had just STUFFED ourselves with pseudo-Mexican food, so sampling was not really going to happen, but I vowed to come back and play later on.

Fast forward to a few days later, when I'm off to get a little something for a friend for her birthday, and thought hmm, wouldn't a little box of Belgian chocolates be just lovely? I also needed to get some lunch, and was planning to wander around afterwards in the neighborhood to find something. But no need, as they had savory waffles on the menu, covered in all sorts of goodies. Behold, the waffle:

What you see above is prosciutto, parmesan, and arugula on top of a parsley and spinach waffle, drizzled with some sort of mayo/herb/dressing concoction. It was really good - not too heavy, perfect little lunch, and reasonably priced. I didn't get a sweet waffle (that filled me up just fine), but chances are good I'll be back.

So Yesterday

I started off the morning with a little research on adoption in the U.S. - honestly nothing too interesting, mostly just how adoption agencies receive their licenses (still no idea, really). Somehow that led me to foster homes in the U.S., and then to the recent FLDS case in Texas (some of you will know of my ongoing fascination with this, I can't even explain why). Then I jumped to the Southern Poverty Law Center, because apparently they list FLDS as a "hate group," which struck me as sort of odd, not because I am any sort of fan of the FLDS and the underage marriage of vulnerable girls, but they always seem like the sort of folks who keep to themselves, and in my mind, a hate group implies at least some interaction with the hated groups in question.

So then there is a map on the center's page where you can see where the groups they list are located, and of course I have to check out both Texas and Virginia. I get most of the categories, but was baffled by a few before reading (Christian identity? Radical traditionalist Catholic?). I'm also a little surprised by the apparent ideological differentiation in skinhead groups, although sadly not too shocked at the number of them.

Then I had a meeting, in which I found out that in Hot Springs, Arkansas, there's not only a gangster museum, but also a Mid-America Science Museum - a title which also puzzles me a bit. Because they're in the middle (sort of)? Because they present science in a manner to be understood by "middle" Americans?

To round out the day, I read this article, which then led me here, to look at the idea of "feral" children.

Then I got an email from my boss that included a link to a Congressional testimony in which the organization I work for is repeatedly mentioned, and not in a happy way. It's not a big thing really, but it's still a bit odd to be singled out, when normally we just lay low, do the work we do, and generally receive some occasional praise for the attempt to create better understanding between different cultures. We've also apparently been featured in a Robert Ludlum novel that alleges we train spies here along with other illicit activities and clandestine meetings, which while it would be cool, is unfortunately not at all true.

Such an odd day.

**Edit: It occurred to me later that the above wasn't terribly clear in a way: I think the SPLC is pretty awesome and does good work - I even heard one of their people give a speech when I was at a work conference in Huntsville, AL. So any of the confusion related to what exactly denotes a hate group would be my issues, not theirs :).

Vegas: The Portraits

(Ridiculously good-looking, even in a tiny hat)

( Step off my shoes! Don't make me come over there...)

(There's a subtle difference in being danced WITH and being danced ON)

(Lobster paws!)

Vegas Saga Cont'd, Part III

I'm totally finishing the story with this one, I swear. I'm a little over writing about it...

Saturday:

We sleep in again (I think we rolled in around 3 am...4 am...? gah, I forget now) and as this has been designated the day o' shopping, go directly to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Coffee is procured (for me, anyway) and we hit the stores. Hard. After we wander and shop and such for a bit, we find a sports bar, and Ebony finally gets her hot wings (do you also hear the "Hallelujah Chorus" in the background?). We also get really awful other food, like potato skins, jalapeno poppers, and cheese fries. In hindsight, we're lucky we don't die of artery blockage on the spot. Delicious.

Back to shopping some more, and then we call it quits (after a good haul, mind you). As the Eiffel Tower (or "Tire" depending how Texan you're feeling that day) drinks were such a blurry hit last summer, we walk down to the Paris hotel to buy some, only to find they've been out of the drink holders for weeks. Sigh. We still head in and frolic a little in the coffee shop, where the sorbet is plentiful and tasty.

(At Ebony's request, we are being "silly." For instance, Aleta's pretending to drink coffee out of a creamer...)

For this evening, Aleta has elected to go to a Coldplay concert, and Ebony, Gina, and I decide to walk to the Bellagio and see the flowers and fountains. The fountains are so cool that we stay and watch four performances. We also play in the flowers and take lots of photos of the cool glass ceiling, but I can't remember which came first.

(The white fuzzies are the fountains)

We then head to the club at the Bellagio (since we're there already), where we are forced to wait an absurdly long time. To get into a rinky dink, wannabe cool Vegas club. I am super done with the whole thing, apparently standing there with a very peeved look on my face, when the bouncer freakin' finally points to me and hauls the four of us in. I guess the trick is to look like you're going to walk away at ANY MINUTE. And then when we're inside, it's sort of boring. And crowded. The most interesting action comes when a guy is totally passed on a sofa, two stories downstairs from the main entrance (right next to the dance floor). We watch the bouncers try to rouse him for a while, and all of us wonder, "How the heck are they getting him out of here?" He is definitely not going to be walking, and dragging would be a huge pain. Solution: they roll over a wheelchair, throw him in, and head to the elevators. Genius!

We head out after a while (I am limping due to a poor but yet totally awesome leg-enhancing shoe choice), play a few slots since we haven't gambled at all really, and we are in the capital of gambling, and eventually call it a night.

Well sort of a night, since Ebony and Aleta have to leave for the airport at 4 am...we all nap at around 3 am, they leave, and then Gina and I crash for real.

Sunday:
Gina and I decide to go to a Mexican place for lunch, since she's craving it all week, and I really don't have much preference. We decide to go to the few hotels we haven't seen - the Luxor, Excalibur, and a few others. Weirdly enough, it RAINS on us. In the middle of the desert. All of the outdoor escalators immediately stop working, which is bizarre. As we have basically an afternoon to kill before the flight leaves at midnight, we hatch a plan to see a movie. Actually two movies, one in the afternoon, and one after dinner. We see "Wanted" (blah...wants to be cool like "Fight Club," comes not even close), and "Mamma Mia" (hilariously wonderful, but you gotta love some ABBA). We eventually share a cab to the airport with these two stereotypical Canadians (eh?) that may still be a little drunk. They are very entertaining. We debate our options of travel pillows for purchase and then eventually catch the flight home. Just in time for me to grab my suitcase and head to work for an opening (brilliant timing, brilliant...it ruins the rest of my week, no lie).

And that's Vegas! One more part, solely picture oriented, is forthcoming.

The Vegas, Part II

Okay, so where was I...

Friday:
We sleep in for real this day, although really we just give it the old college try and still roll out by 10, because we are 1) on east coast time, and 2) too damn old to be able to sleep until 1 pm our time (ain't it sad?). Ebony had the brilliant plan of renting a cabana by the pool that afternoon, but since we have a few hours to kill until then, we decide the best plan is to head to New York New York for some thick, cheesy pizza. Mmm, breakfast. Well in all honesty, I think I had some sort of coffee first, but maybe we really did just go straight for the pizza and beer. Did I mention we have beers? Yes.

So after that and a little browsing through the shops (Gina and I also pick up some Nathan's Hot Dogs for a later snack), we head to the pool. I of course cover myself in baby sunscreen (SPF 55, what's up!). We order cocktails and ice (water is included in our little mini-fridge, but it's not cold...boo), and generally loaf away the afternoon. Aleta and Gina work in some actually tanning time out in direct sunlight. Ebony also avoids the sun - she doesn't want to get TOO brown, meanwhile were I to join we would all be headed down to the ER later that day for treatment. The shade and the pool and the misters are also very lovely.

We have reservations for dinner at Mesa Grill so eventually we head upstairs to shower and glam up. The meal at the restaurant is completely spectacular. I have the Green Chile Cioppino (I seriously wish, in hindsight, that I'd taken a picture of it. It was beautiful...and delicious). It comes with all sorts of gorgeous seafood, including a huge lobster claw. At some point, Ebony inexplicably refers to it as a lobster "paw" and we continue to refer to it as such for the rest of the trip. Just on the other side of the glass (as we are in a hotel) there's a huge statue of Joe Louis in fighting stance. No less than 20 guys of various ages stop to pose with him - we get in as many of their pictures as possible. Our obliging waiter takes our picture at the end of the night:

Poor man. We are lovely people to wait on (we are charming and like to eat, what's not to love?), but at the end of our meal, a trashy, trashy group is seated at the table next to us. By the time we leave, they have sent back a bottle of wine and a steak (to the tune of ~$150). I'm not sorry to leave them behind us.

So then we head to the bus, after having received detailed instructions earlier in the day about how to take it to the Hard Rock hotel. After riding the bus for about 45 minutes, and the getting dropped in the middle of absolutely nowhere, it becomes apparent that we have been misled. We hail a cab, and after 10 minutes of going in the totally opposite direction of where we originally headed, we arrive.

(Still on the bus)

(Gina and Ebony, too sexy for this bus)

Earlier we had read that they would giving away a ton of Betsey Johnson merchandise at the club, but by the time we arrive, we assume we've missed all that. As we wait in line, a girl walks up to Aleta and hands her a Betsey Johnson card with "6 1/2" written on it. She tells Aleta "Your name is Natalie Vaughn." Sweet. When we get inside, we grab drinks and start dancing. The music is pretty fun - the crowd is rather interesting. At whatever appointed time the shoe giveaway begins, Aleta heads to grab them. She comes back with the PINK platforms featured in my other post, which are sadly too small for her. Apparently several of the girls are going to trade later, so after a bit, we all head that way - Aleta for swapping shoes, and we could all use a little break from shakin' it. As we wait on her, Aleta informs us that they are just passing out the shoes to anyone, so of course we queue up, rattle off our various sizes, and walk away with FOUR pairs of crazy pink platforms. We have to dance with boxes the rest of the night, but it's totally worth it.

Nutty dance shots:

(I love how serious this guy is about his moves...Aleta and me, not so much).

Okay, this got way longer than I thought it would. Saturday and Sunday, coming in Part III!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Check this out. Maybe the most fabulous kitsch, ever.

Don't forget to look at the various room selection options.

Road trip, anyone?

Vegas Trip, Part I

Okay, I can't quite figure out what to write, because so much happened. I'm going to just start with the general itinerary and then go from there.

Wednesday:

We arrive at a late hour at the airport, all of us are starving. Grab a cab to our hotel, check-in takes about two years. Ebony is craving hot wings. We finally get to the room, decide on room service pizza, and make the call only to be informed that on Wednesdays only there is a reduced menu that does not include pizza. Curses. We eat in the greasy diner at the hotel and crash.

Thursday:

We get up early-ish to pick up our rental car for the Hoover Dam trip. We get to the rental car line to find that the guy has no paper on which to print contracts, and he's waiting for it to arrive. I wait in line (with my donut) while the others head to the bar for a little Vegas "breakfast."

Finally we get the car and head out of town. The drive is lovely - full of desert and mountains and blue skies. We get to the much-awaited Hoover Dam! Which is, if nothing else, super impressively huge. Also, we get hats as a part of our tour:

We spend an inordinate amount of time posing with them. We do all the educational touristy things, like watch the little movie, go to the observation deck, and finally take a tour through the dam itself. We also stop at Lake Mead on the way back to town.

We are, once again, starving. Ebony and Aleta still want hot wings. We end up eating in an adorable wine bar in Boulder City (no hot wings on the menu, unfortunately). We then head back to the hotel, all tuckered out from our field trip. Naps all around.

Later that evening, we decide to head to Fremont Street, which is not on the strip, but north (?) and full of older casinos and such. To me it looks much the same, except the buildings are shorter here. There's a huge light display on the roof that plays a cool montage of Queen music, but later in the evening plays a laughably suggestive number full of showgirls in various uniform costumes. Firewomen with hoses are included, if that gives you any idea. More hilarious than sexy in my mind, but that's veering off subject. We head back to the strip and top off in the evening in a piano bar. First full day is finished! More to come...

(Photo credits go to Ebony and Gina...I have some of Hoover Dam and environs, but then my batteries died, and they were both taking so many pictures I didn't see the need to replace them!).

A Preview

I just finished watching "Juno" in an attempt to stay awake and get over lame west coast time jet lag. It did not disappoint, despite all of the hype.

So yeah, I went to Las Vegas for a few days. All in all, it was a pretty rockin' trip. Although my sleep schedule is now totally screwed...there's something about being there that makes you feel obligated to stay up until crazy hours (4 am, for instance), and combine that with three hour time difference (so really 7 am) and my poor inner clock has no freakin' clue what time it is supposed to be. Plus the red eye flight, which didn't help. And anyone that knows me also knows that I am girl that needs her sleep. So that's what I'm working on currently - re-entry.

There will be much, much more to come (I've already composed a "best of" portrait section in my head for the four of us that went...it's going to be AWESOME). In the meantime, let me leave you with this:

Now what is this, you may ask? These are free shoes that were given to us in a club. They are very Elle Woods, and they make me about a foot taller. It's a rather ridiculous set up as to how we got them in the first place - honestly I'm still not really sure how it all went down in the end. But very PINK and fun.

So I'll leave you all with that as your tease for further updates...I'm off to bed for my second round of sleep today.

Reunionizing

Whew, I've been away for a while. Sorry about that.

I made it back to Texas for a family get-together. It was a really good time - there were a couple of cousins that have babies that I've never even met before, and I hadn't seen most everyone else (that I had, in fact, met before) in ages. We are a loud, loud bunch, and I was feeling a little hoarse by Sunday, mainly because I'd spent all of Saturday shouting over everyone to join in the conversations. Crazy folks, but they are also good people.

Here we all are, in family portrait style glory.

My brother is still the tallest of the crew...not really sure how he managed that. Some highlights included eating and drinking lots and lots, cuddling with babies (well, really just the one in the red sleeves, the other one is a bit wiggly for cuddling, but still good for playing), and generally enjoying each other. The little guy in his dad's lap on the ground won the award for most injuries, the most spectacular of which was a header to the cement driveway. Luckily, he's three and feels little pain.

We're running into some issues with what the babies should call the older cousins. When I was little, all the adults were Aunt or Uncle So and So, but really I'm not an aunt to any of them, plus three of them already have an Aunt Rachel to confuse matters further. Any suggestions?

All in all, a very fun and worthwhile trip. Hopefully to be repeated next summer!

In my meeting this morning, the interpreter conveyed greetings from an artist I had done a program for last summer. Apparently they met up while she was in China. She said, "Oh yes! He very much remembers you - he said you're the one who looks like Venus in all the Renaissance paintings."

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that one. Hell of a good compliment reminder with which to start my morning, though :).

As seen on the back of my ballet instructor's t-shirt, when she served as a stagehand for a production of Romeo and Juliet:

"If she would hurry up and stab herself, we could all go to the movies."

[S]Oy vey

Do you ever have one of those days, where you've been running errands and then baking stuff for hours, and it's really late at night, and you've got everything put away and the dishwasher running, and you're in pajamas and all ready for bed, and decide that you'd like a glass of water, so you go into the dark kitchen without your glasses, and open up the fridge, and low and behold a jar of potsticker dipping sauce shoots out and explodes all over the floor? And the stuff in the jar is not quite liquid, so it won't absorb into towels, but not quite gooey enough to stay in one place for you to grab up? So you then go through like 20 paper towels and still end up with bits of sauce in every nook and cranny of the kitchen?

No? Hmm. Guess that's just me, then.

I even woke up smelling faintly of soy sauce and garlic, despite having thoroughly washed my hands (and feet...and ankles...).

Some random thoughts

I like online personality quizzes as much (okay, more) as the next person, but I've noticed two on facebook that I absolutely refuse to do: the "Which Jane Austen character are you?" and "Which Green Gables character are you?" I don't think I would ever truly recover if they told me I wasn't Elizabeth Bennet or Anne Shirley. I mean, I could probably engineer them to get the right answers since I've read both those books like 20 times each, but it's not really worth the risk, you know?

Gina watches Iron Chef America a lot. One thing that gets me every time is the beginning "Allez cuisine!" What the hell is he trying to say, exactly? Because "Go cook!" should be "Allez cuisiner!" and "Go the to the kitchens!" would be "Allez aux cuisines!" At least I think so. I have actually spent time looking for answers to this on the internet. If anyone has any help, I'd appreciate it. In other news, I'm still a giant dork, be it in English or French.

Anne and I signed up to take an Intro to Modern Technique class in July. Awesome blogging to come, promise. I'm excited at getting to throw myself around a la Martha Graham.