Pretty

Loving home design as I do, I already have lots of ideas percolating in my head, but I absolutely and completely fell in love with this nursery.

A special project

Some of you may have been wondering where I've been hiding myself. For the past few months, I've been working on a very, very special project: I've been nurturing a little bun in the oven! With the result that this past summer I've been very nauseous and exhausted, and haven't had much energy for a lot of things (including tending to my Etsy shop or blogging). My couch and I have really bonded these past months. Thank you, couch!

Because of all the different chemicals involved in the process, I've temporarily halted all metalsmithing for the duration of my pregnancy, but I'm hoping to get back to my table very soon to work on new pieces with beads and wire. I probably won't be around as much these days but once I start feeling better you'll see more of me, so check back often!

A Monday circus

Today was definitely a Monday morning, no question about it. First, I woke up to rain and gray skies. While feeding the cats, I forgot to close the pantry door all the way, which meant Nomad and Moxie managed to get into their bag of kibble and go to town on it. When I came back downstairs half an hour later they were both smacking their lips and looking at me guiltily. By then I was running late so I couldn't give them a proper scolding. After many false starts, I managed to get myself out the door and at the train station, where I found out that my train was going to be a whole hour late due to a disabled circus train blocking the tracks down south somewhere. A circus train, you say? That's right - a circus train. Somehow the idea of a circus train on what was turning out to be a circus of a Monday was poetic irony. But it's not over yet. I then slog back to my car in the worsening rain, race over to the other train station (which is on a different line) hoping that I could catch the last train there, risk life and limb by sprinting up and then down the numerous staircases, and managing to get on board that train in the nick of time, hyperventilating all the while. Needless to say, I was exhausted and ready for a nap by the time I finally made it in to work.

The ashing of my Wednesday

Today being Ash Wednesday, and me being a good Catholic girl, I went with some work friends to noon mass to get our ashes. Usually for Ash Wednesday the priests give you a sort of halfhearted gray blurry smudge on your forehead that may or may not resemble a cross, which then washes away on its own after a few hours. The priests today, though, were not kidding around. They gave everyone thick, gigantic black crosses. Some people even had their cross ashes span the whole length and width of their foreheads. So there we all were, sporting huge black ash crosses, trying to act like everything was normal as we trekked back to work and gamely attempting to ignore the fact that our foreheads looked like someone branded a hot iron cross onto it. I lasted a few hours before the sixth or seventh funny look I received had me guiltily wiping off my ashes, risking eternal damnation.

I'd forgotten all about the joys of Lent. I hope the next forty days go well for the rest of you Catholics out there.

Things I like

A tag from Protege where I list ten things I like that begin with the letter "P." So here goes...

1. Poop jokes: 'nuff said.
2. Philippines: those lovely, lovely beaches and amazing food and wonderful aunts and cousins.
3. Purses: I think this one speaks for itself.
4. Pumpkin pie: I love my sister's pumpkin pie that she makes from scratch, especially the graham cracker cinnamon crust. Hers is the only pumpkin pie I'll eat.
5. Pancit: I've been craving this quintessential Filipino noodle dish so badly lately that I've begun to smell its aroma everywhere I go.
6. Plantains: if bananas were instant plantains, the world would be a better place.
7. Pickles: especially the sour pickles in Jewish delis.
8. Pho: what more can you ask for than meat, noodles, and soup?
9. Paris: ten years later and I'm still homesick for my city.
10. PerezHilton.com: can't get through the day without it.

Inaugural frenzy

The city is abuzz with all things inauguration, with wall-to-wall coverage on the local news as the preparations reach a fevered pitch this week. It's pretty exciting, the atmosphere here, especially the feeling of being at the center of the action. Everyone's talking about the proposed road and bridge closings, about how workers will have to sleep in their offices overnight, about the massive crowds expected, about the A-list musicians coming to perform (Bono, Springsteen, Beyonce, Jay-Z), about how much the inaugural balls suck in reality, and about how the city quite possibly won't have seen anything of this magnitude ever.

I wanted to go over to the Capitol today to take pictures of all the preparations, but it was so cold that I wimped out. Since they are giving us inauguration day off, I briefly considered joining the crowds for either the swearing-in or the parade, but the dire warnings by local officials of "record crowds" and "bridge and road closures" and "freezing temperatures" made me re-think that plan. Some locals will be escaping the area, but I'll be ensconced at home, warm and toasty on the couch, watching all the excitement on TV.

A vacuum cleaner rhapsody

Oh, Bissell 37604 Lift-Off Revolution Pet Upright Vacuum Cleaner, you are truly a wondrous creation. Not only do you pick up cat hair like nobody's business, but you also light up and make nifty vacuum sounds. Added to your appeal is your high-tech look, much like a droid from Star Wars. Or Wall-E's cousin. And all your various brushes and gadgets and knobs and other accoutrement, magical things to my wondering eyes. Lucky was the day we saw you, waiting for us at the Target shelf, as if we've known you all our lives. It was truly meant to be. Now, more than jewelry, shoes, or cupcakes, you have easily catapulted yourself into my #1 favorite thing in the world.

I love you, new vacuum cleaner.

The sun will come out...

Not this weekend, that's for sure! The weather didn't cooperate with me at all the past two days (except for that one hour we were out running errands), so I didn't get to photograph my new stuff. Luckily enough, I took this picture last weekend so I was able to list a new item at the shop today - the matching Bronwen bracelet. Buy her now and be my instant BFF!

And finally, the one surefire way to tell that you are old: when you get so excited by the idea of buying a new vacuum cleaner, and get even more excited about bringing it home, putting it together, and trying it out.

Wow. I need to get out more.