resolutions

I'm trying not to dwell.
Christmas itself was sad without my favorite fuzzball around but was still lovely. I loved spending time with my Mom and showing the Boyfriend Buffalo's culinary delights and Polish traditions. But I'm still sad.



On to the present and future...
My present is absolutely wonderful and I'm very excited about it. I'm using my gorgeous new (but antique!) jewelery box every day.

How about a resolution to paint the bedroom? That sounds good. Perhaps in the spring.

Vacation plans: Prague seems to be out of the running. It's just too expensive to fly. Recession? Shmecession. The airlines are still out to gouge us all. And I'm just not the type of personality that can do a last minute vacation from budget-finding websites because the price is right - and really, what kind of 9-5er is anyway? I need to plan plan plan!

Which brings me to the alternative: the Caribbean. To be more specific, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Yes - the DR, Part II - but this time perhaps at a resort. The spontaneous (well, spontaneous because I didn't do the planning, Tour Guide Boyfriend did), earthy, motoconcho-wheeling trip we last took was amazing but requires a good amount of research - and hutzpah. We have neither the time nor (currently) the inclination for that this time around. And we can get a direct flight from Boston - which is KEY when time is short.

My mom offered up some of our RCI credits so that will be an IMMENSE help in making a vacation happen. Mid to late March a la spring break? Sounds good to Kate...

And New Year's Plans are so far a bust. I would like to stay at home with champagne and make s'mores by the fire. Who knows?

Another note: This story telling is... sadly too perfect. And not just for writers.

gi gi

We had to put Gypsy down on Christmas Eve morning.
I did get to say goodbye, and I'm grateful for that.

Don't want to say much more, just that I'll miss her lots and lots.

oh the weather outside is frightful

Today the two of us are headed to Buffalo - fingers crossed for smooth travels. My mom reports that Gypsy is fading fast - so I'm hoping she hangs in there for a while longer and that I can spend some time telling her what an amazing kitty she's always been. I'm anxious to get home...

Here in Boston, Friday was a snow day - a SNOW DAY! Is that not amazing??? I'm still not over it. Let's review: A day ... of snow. You with me? A SNOW DAY. Okay, I'm done.

Mr. Boyfriend and I had planned to travel to his parents farm in NH that night, but we left first thing in the morning to"beat" the storm. And good thing we got there before it hit - because once it started, it DID NOT STOP. It continued to snow (or at least sleet) until Sunday night - so we drove home through the blizzard in white-out conditions. Fun!

Anyway, the impromptu three-day weekend was spent having wintry farm fun. We slept in the newly finished barn to avoid kitties in the house and stave off allergy-induced asthma attacks, which was a cozy adventure.

We also tramped out into the woods to find some Christmas trees, and found great success. Pictures to follow...some day. We romped in the snow with their new border collie, Jim (I miss Jessie - what a wonderful dog) and the hammy mutt Tripp.

And then I shoveled the roof. Single-handedly. With my BARE HANDS and BRUTE STRENGTH. Just kidding, I used a trowel.

We gave Mr. Boyfriend's Parents homemade fudge and exchanged gifts, and had a very lovely time (except for that drive back).

Happy Holidays all!


more animals

laughing all the way

I'm working with one of my coworkers (working, yeah yeah...but it's not what you think!) to start a bookclub! We've gotten some great responses from Craigslist already - and now we just have to figure out WHAT to read and WHERE to talk about it! (The "when" I'm not too concerned about...)

Perhaps we can use a church community room or something. A cafe or restaurant is possible if and only if the other members agree that it's ok to spend a little something each meeting. I certainly don't want to be the annoying crowd that wanders into a pub every few weeks and sits and gabs without providing much business. Um, I'm getting pushy already. Oops.

I'd be happy with a no-frills outlet where I can intelligently discuss a book I loved (or loathed) with people who care enough to share their own opinions with others. But I'd also be happy to meet some interesting locals, wander across to some shelves I've previously avoided (cough, biographies, cough), and find a good excuse to seek out food and drink.

We're promoting the group as for "recovering liberal arts students" who miss their English departments. I think six people would be great, and I have high hopes. High, nerdy nerdy hopes.

12 Days of Christmas Burnout

Let's play Good Idea, Bad Idea.

Good idea: work through the weekend to get comp. time for holidays to travel home to family in Buffalo (with boyfriend in tow!)
Bad idea: work 12 days straight to get comp. time for holidays to go home to family for whom I have not yet had time to gift shop (whining to boyfriend all the way!)

Can't...look...at...computer screen...any...longer...


Oh well. At least the weekend work was fun and festive, and I shall see Miss Andrea next week. And 9 days until Christmas!

Fifty is nifty

Welcome to the 50th Peckish Post Extravaganza!!!

So much to cover - where to start?

Saturday
...featured a trip to Providence - namely RISD and the Dale Chihuly Exhibition.
Look at this.



Okay, now pick up a wine goblet, or look at your vision correction lenses. Heck, look through a window. It's the same stuff. YEAH. I know. And Chihuly's visions make it look effortlessly organic.

I was really excited to bring Mr. Boyfriend, since I tend to run my mouth around "aht" and practice Visual Thinking Strategies on him, and all the poor guy wants to do is have his own pointilistic up-too-close moments, a la Cameron and the Seurat. Viewing the Chihuly exhibition is fun like that - you can just have your moment with these wildly awe-inspiring pieces and let it stand at that.

The rest of the RISD museum was a great surprise - a fair amount of 20th century American and European fine art, and entire wings of Ancient Greek and Roman work... It's definitely worth another trip someday. Especially with reciprocity benefits!

We drove back to Boston and, after dinner, finally saw Quantum of Solace. That was a bit of a disappointment, it just lacked a bit of the finesse from Casino Royale, and it was like they didn't even bother to explain the ridiculously convoluted evil multi-national corporation takes some vaguely-defined aggressive action against innocent peoples plot. By the time the chases peaked and Craig pouted his way across a handful of countries (mourning Vespa's loss just briefly enough to shag a fellow Brit), I was jaded and bored, much like Bond.

Oh well, at least the company was excellent.

Sunday

...Mr. Boyfriend woke me up to show me our FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE YEAR: the first snow! The first one that stuck, anyway. We tossed on clothes and dashed to our favorite brunch spot, Zaftig's, where we beat the rush and had a record 2 minute wait. Take that, Brookline. But if we keep going there, I'm gonna look like this:

But in this weather it would probably help to have the extra warmth. After an amazing breakfast of poached eggs over potato pancakes, spinach, and smoked salmon, I bundled up and waddled through the snow downtown, window shopping along Newbury. Around 1:00 I made it to the Bizarre Bazaar - a sort of hipster craft show featuring mostly New England artists - I got some great holiday shopping done and bought myself a cool headband. Definitely worth the block-long line to wait in the snow. Though, who am I kidding, I loved every minute of it. Yay New England!

Then I came home, we made soup, and curled up to watch In Bruges. The movie was great, odd, dark, and disturbingly funny, and really showcased the city - well, as much as it could have on Kara's favorite joke: the Tiny TV. But - aha! - we hope to soon to be in possession of a 46" Sony flat screen, so keep your fingers crossed that we'll soon be able to see Colin Farrell's unibrow larger than life in hi-def!

Monday
...was a Monday.

Fun to come...
I hope to give the Tiny TV a proper viking funeral on the Charles.
Or, more likely, donate it.
Also, I'm working Saturday and Sunday to earn some comp. time for the holidays. It'll be a long weekend and not very weekend-y at all, but worth the vacation time.

Even to the clouds, if that's what your heart commands.

New colors. I tidied my cube yesterday, so why not my blog today? Ha.

I'm off to Davis and Tufts to see Urinetown with Dave, one of Mr. Boyfriend's old roommates and an all around awesome dude who wears a beard quite well. I hope the show rocks, but not too much to make me jealous that we never did it while I was there.

I'm such a sweetie.

Let's not talk about real life

Thanksgiving had its ups and downs. I wish my mom lived in Boston. And Gypsy was - is? - very sick and spent the whole weekend at the vet's office. She's about 15 years old and the best cat ever.

And today I should have stayed in bed. The same goes for yesterday.

I should probably mention that to cheer myself up last night, I read and read for hours and had Saint Agur while nursing a Chouffe Houblon IPA Triple.

But if I told you I had beer and bleu cheese for dinner while reading Anne Rice, you might judge me.