We’ve been sort of busy…
But I’m super sorry for the lapse in time.
More soon, promise!
Posted in love life, maryland, the dad dude, uncategorized, wedding
Greetings from the other side of impending doom (good one, www.theweatherchannel.com)!
After forecasters offered us fun words like “POUNDED” and “SLAMMED,” here we are. Not homeless, pounded or slammed. We were so lucky. Aside from some window leakage in the grub’s room, we moonwalked away from hurricane Irene cooler than Matthew McConaughey. The air outside smells like the boardwalk. The trees look fashionably slender. Creepy gross mushrooms grew in our yard overnight and the wheelbarrow left in our yard by a neglectful maintenance man is now full of mud water, mosquitos, centipedes and – well, who cares after centipedes? Nothing is worse than those guys.
I say we came out on top since we didn’t lose power. It did flicker to remind me to be grateful. I am.
We had fun yesterday. I made brownies and coconut-bourbon almond crusted tilapia. We watched Suckerpunch (boo). We took pictures! I drank wine while Kevin fell asleep on the couch… then I kept talking to him like he was awake because I was two glasses deep and needed to share my thoughts on the movie, twitter, wedding stuff, french bulldogs, skin care regimens, how much I weigh… you know, stuff guys like to talk about. I’m pretty considerate.
(And mark my (his) words – he said we could have a French Bulldog as long as he chose her name.)
Right now it’s close to 3am and if I don’t get to bed, I’ll probably be in a world of trouble tomorrow. So, pictures!
We took the trash out and got soaked together.

Later it was couch/party/attack time.


Finally, time to go upstairs for bath/bed. Tilapia & wine time for everyone in the house who pays taxes!

Okay, goodnight. I hope you’re all reading this on a brightly lit, fully charged screen in a brightly lit room with a tv on nearby just for background noise. Having your power on is a wonderful thing.
Posted in booze, elsa pearl, family, maryland, the dad dude, the weather
What a ridiculous week.
Earthquake? Here?! Okay.
A few paintings. Minor heart attack. No big deal.
Hurricane? Ugh c’mon. Really?
Hopefully, this isn’t as bad as expected. We have some friends on the Eastern Shore too stubborn to evacuate when ordered to do so.
So we’re waiting. Any minute the power may go out. The grub will wake up from her nap. A tree may fall (please no please no please no).
And if we’re in one piece and the venue is still standing, we will be married one week from this very minute.
I hope everyone is safe and dry! I’m tired of my Twitter feed being dedicated to disasters (including the Kardashian wedding).
Posted in family, maryland, rants, seriously?!, wedding
I’ve never had a knack for determining which items would make great keepsakes. I have a perfume box in my dresser of notes, ticket stubs and maybe some cards and stickers. It’s not even the size of a shoebox. I wouldn’t describe myself as a minimalist by any means, I just don’t care for clutter or the extra responsibilities associated with making space for things and preserving them. Elsa’s baby book is a mess. I really need to get on that.
Tonight I’m thinking that saved memories shouldn’t be a wedding favor in a hope chest or a dead flower carefully pressed in a book. That’s silly. Keepsakes should be sneaky. They should catch you off guard and make you remember without deciding to dig through a box to see them.
The key to our old house that hangs from the light switch over our dryer.
Elsa’s impossibly tiny newborn socks mixed up in my top drawer.
A friend emailed this to me tonight -
I immediately remembered going to the city to see our friends. Pregnant. Eating at that diner. Accidentally realizing that there was a skinny drawer in the table right where I was sitting. Finding all the little notes from other people who had made the same discovery. Leaving our mark and leaving it as I’d found it.
And this guy just happened to sit in the same chair and make the same clumsy discovery only to find a note from a friend… and a boston terrier mermaid. I know, it’s far from amazing – but still pretty funny. It has made my night a little happier.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned that Kevin is a collector of all things science fiction or that we moved in January.
It’s true. He’s a self proclaimed nerd and has spent enough money on eBay to prove it.
We left Annapolis for a smaller/newer house. I couldn’t take another summer of stink bugs and the like hauling segmented, winged or antennaed ass into our house through old windows and ac units. There was also no way we could baby proof that big 1950′s house with all of its charming and drafty old windows, splintering wood floors and high potential for lead paint. Elsa was an early crawler and keeping her on the one area rug in our house was more challenging than I’d expected. Things started breaking. Ceilings started leaking. The landlord was lazy and preferred not to be bothered.
It was fine when it was just us, but our childless days are over. No more nights spent drinking and staring at each other, talking about feelings and ignoring shit breaking around us.
Aside from our obnoxious neighbors (she screams “dude!” every minute or so when she drinks and we hear it all through the thin walls) and their unleashed pooping dog, we’re very happy with the new place. It’s much smaller – we thought we might need a storage unit. We managed to pack it all in and everything just fits if we utilize every possible space.
It’s a lot to take in if you aren’t used to it, I guess…
I didn’t even know it was going to snow today. Aside from our freezing kitchen, flickering power and knowing that I’ll have to dig my car out tomorrow I’m pretty glad it did. We all caught up on sleep, laundry and dishes. Elsa took a short break from punishing the world for her teething pain.
We baked sugar cookies…
And later I made the most wonderful, low fat soup in less than 15 minutes – oh, of course I’ll share…
Shrimp Potsticker Soup
Heat it all up on the stove on med-low for about 10 minutes and you have two servings of spicy excellence.
*If you’re following Weight Watchers, this is just 5 points per serving and you can still draw it out with an extra cup of broth and more vegetables for no extra points if you’re left wanting more. Suck on that, Jennifer Hudson.
I’m enjoying this view from the warm safety of my house for now – but tomorrow I’ll actually have to drive in it… eww.