goodness gracious

Sun is shining, it's a bee-you-tee-full day.

Guess what I saw on Friday? A trash can on fire. To be more specific, a Metro News recycling bin on fire. Bet you've never seen one of those before. Yup, I was just standing waiting for the T, minding my own business, thinking about camp and s'mores... Well anyway this lady in a striped scarf walked up to me and said, "Hi, this is weird, but, I have a question."

She broke the code! She acknowledged a fellow T commuter! But no worries, being the friendly, charming person I am I said something witty and intelligent like, "What?"

She gestures behind her and says, "Um, do you think I should call that in?" And I notice the bin with the bag with a little fire inside, crackling away.

My Girl Scout training kicked in and I said "Definitely! You should!" and then I told her she was a good citizen or whatever. And next thing we know there are fire trucks pulling up to put out the fire that has now expanded and engulfed the whole plastic bag in the bin, sending out huge clouds of black smoke. Weird, no? What kind of idiot would set a fire like that? And even if it was an "accident" what kind of idiot would put a cigarette out in a BAG FULL OF PAPER? Hoo boy that was the highlight of my day, I can tell you that.

Then on Saturday, the highlight of my day was seeing a lady put her butt on her head. Bet you've never seen that before, either. This, of course, was at an awesome Cirque Mechanics show in Providence, with amazing clowning, juggling, and contortionists.

Tonight is Glee, which is very appropriate because I am in a fantastic mood and could with for nothing better than to see some campy teenage comedy with musical interludes.

On another note, who wants to do all my Christmas shopping for me?

How-to how-to's

When it came time to make our Halloween costumes, I knew what I wanted but I wasn't sure how I'd get there. Mr. Clean was pretty straightforward- bald cap, white clothes, a dab of white paint on the eyebrows (and don't forget a hunky man to pull it off) ... ta da! But a dust bunny? Not so easy.

I knew I wanted gray - and had the dress and tights to take care of that. I also wore silver heels - they are the most amazing shoes I own, so I can't resist working them into a costume (omg they come in purple suede HONEY ARE YOU READING THIS I'M AN 8.5). The bunny part wasn't hard either - I just attacked a set of ears and a tail from a Spirit Halloween store with a can of gray spray paint. FYI Spray paint is kept locked up in art supplies stores these days as a deterrence to a) abusing the substance and b) defacing public property. What a world we live in...

The hardest part was getting the fuzzy look of an actual dust bunny, but thankfully I stumbled across some help on one of my favorite do-it-yourself sites (fashion and crafting advice, if you will) P.S. I Made This. This girl is amazing, and coincidentally she provided a template for a faux fur vest. Easily modified to create a fuzzy bunny, I thought! Alas, a trip to Joann Fabrics did not yield any well-priced gray faux fur. So I ended up with cotton batting (and another chance to use the gray spray paint). I still used the vest template, though, and was pleased with the results.

The crowning touch, haaa, was definitely my Bump-it. Don't judge me, you're just jealous. I had to give a subtle nod to the most ubiquitous of Bunny get-ups, and big hair seemed a tasteful way to achieve that. Their fabulous site, BigHappieHair.com, features hilarious how-to videos and loads of suggestions for adorning your head with the spiky piece of plastic (available in three sizes).

So there you have it: how to create a unique, one of a kind costume pairing that no one will get and leaves you with loads of leftover cotton batting. Quilting bee, anyone?

Advice Advisor

Another crazy week ahead.

One of my obsessions is the ever-entertaining Advice Column. Relationship advice, business advice, crafting advice, cooking advice, etiquette advice... I LOVES IT ALL. Sure, many columns offer reductive rulings on dilemmas that are really subjective, but I adore nothing more than a witty, hardline take on a divisive issue!

One of the best writing assignments I ever had was in high school, writing the faux-advice column for the paper. Not only did I get to dish out advice, I got to write my own questions too! (give me a break, readership was probably only twice that of this blog) Ah the potential for searing social satire! For subtle, yet pointed digs at my vacuous classmates! Actually I was quite tame but I like to pretend I was very daring.

Anywho. Perhaps this is my not-so-subconscious desire to bring order to my hectic life, which is, as usual, in limbo. So one of the things I'd like to do in my blog writing is sharing the stuff I find most helpful. Advice for advice seekers. This will involve a lot of link love, and I'll try to stick to sharing from "qualified" professionals. As in, career advice givers.

Here are two tidbits (one practical, one pragmatic) that I culled from my latest stroll through Slate, my e-life coach. They are exceedingly useful as they are things I commonly fret about.

How to Charge Your Laptop
Apparently my system of running out the battery adhering to a theory of "cycles" just ain't true!

The Happiness Project: How to forgive an accident
Sounds odd, but very helpful to people (like me) who always sweat the small stuff.

delish

Hiho loyal readers - all three of you! This weekend was a delight - live theater, hockey (an admittedly DISMAL Sabres defeat), and home-cooking galore!

My wonderful gastronomically-inclined boyfriend has requested that I detail his kitchen successes because I allegedly have insinuated an imbalance in our cooking skills:

• A fabulous rendition of Mark Bittman's No-Knead Bread plus all sorts of whole grain goodness
• Turkey stock from scratch which turned into...
• Churkey Noodle Stew

For those of you who don't know what churkey is, it is the word one uses to describe a medley of turkey and chicken. Like turducken minus the duck. And I made apple crisp.

My prayers have been answered

I know what everyone's getting for Christmas this year. Chocolate Chip Cheese Balls. Ms. Sedaris would be proud.

Squeaky Clean

Ever wondered what a Dust Bunny would look like if it came to life, and then started an irony-filled relationship with Mr. Clean?



Hm, me neither.

Artist's rendering

This man is amazing. He is an autistic artist that draws massive panoramic drawings - such as the Manhattan skyline - from memory.

On Edge

That line between busy and overwhelmed is so fine... or maybe even dotted.

As Mr. Boyfriend is on his Exciting Business Trip in Chicago, I broke down early and had my first solo weeknight Ice Cream For Dinner last night. Tonight I will compensate by going to the gym and scowling at the BU girls doing Zumba while leaning over an elliptical.

But don't feel sorry for me, because Thursday I'm volunteering at a benefit downtown for the Greater Boston Food Bank, and Friday I'm going to the Donkey Show at the ART for a friend's birthday. Wrap your head around this slice of awesome: a disco interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I wonder if I can tell her I volunteered in her honor for a birthday gift...

Then Saturday it's Bruins vs. Sabres at the Garden and I'll try to keep my head from exploding over the hockey awesomeness. Wanna hear something crazy? These are the first hockey tickets... maybe even sporting event tickets... I've ever bought on my own. Every other time I've been using my parents' seats or received them as a gift. Am I an adult now?

Halloween was great, we saw a drag show at The Theater Offensive with the famous Joey Arias and Sherry Vine. And our costumes were great, especially since I debuted my Bump-It with my Dust Bunny Ears. I'll rustle up a pic one of these days.