30 September 2008

Current Addictions

I've been tagged again...

RULES:

* Post at least five current addictions (with some details, please).
* Mention the person who started this meme (Being Brazen) and also the person who just tagged you - Emily.
* Type your post with the heading “Current addictions”.
* Tag at least two people and pass on the above rules.

So, here are my current addictions:

1. Shopping. No, duh right? It's an addiction that has lived near and dear to my heart for many, many years now. I should qualify this by saying I like shopping for clothes, shoes, make-up and books. I can live without shopping for furniture or groceries or any other practical things. I do enjoy a good turn through CVS though. In this current economic climate shopping will probably be my downfall. There are major bargains out there!

2. Buying Books. I guess this is related to the above, but it is more than that. I have an enormous pile (several shelves worth actuall) of unread books -- my TBR pile as its called. And that pile makes me happy because when I am ready for a new book I have my own private selection to choose from just waiting there for me. I love going to the bookstore to discover books, I love ordering books from Amazon that I've read about. I love my books and I just keep on getting more.

3. LibraryThing. This one is related to the above. I have become obsessed with not only cataloging my books, but also with recording when I acquired the book, when I started reading it, and when I completed reading it. I try to never look at the ratings or reviews for a book until after I've read it because it is so much fun to compare my thoughts after.

4. Twitter. I just love it. It is great to see the thoughts of multiple friends and persons of interest. It is fun to post my own thoughts for many to see at once. And it was so fun to watch the posts on debate night. It is like blogging, but it is short and sweet and to the point and it gives you that false sense of connection to others that only the internet can give.

5. Mike and Ikes. They are my current favorite candies. I eat some just about every day. They are just so chewy and good. But too many do make me feel a little ill so I only eat a handful.

6. Diet Sunkist. When we were in Italy in June I drank a few Fantas and they were sooo good. Especially in the heat. It was 100 degrees almost everyday we were there. The U.S. version of Fanta is not as good (just like the Italian version of Diet Coke is not as good) so I decided to try Diet Sunkist one day and it tasted just like the Italian Fanta. I've been hooked ever since. However, I do not like to have Diet Sunkist and Mike and Ikes at the same time.

These are my addictions, I tag Tracie and Noble Savage.

28 September 2008

Aging Meme

I was tagged by Becky to do my own meme. Imagine that!

So, here goes...

The Aging Meme
all you have to do is fill in the blanks...

At a certain age women should not wear very long hair. At a certain point I think around shoulder length is really long enough.

At a certain age men should not date/marry/or make children with women in their 20s.

When I was a kid I thought I would become an artist.

Now that I am older I wish I spent more time thinking things through when I was younger.

You know you are too old to wear a miniskirt when you wonder if you're too old to be wearing it.

You know you are too young to wear make-up when you still have gorgeous kid skin.

When I was in high school I listened to the music of The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, R.E.M.

Nowadays I find I like the music of whatever they're playing on The Spectrum on Sirius Sattelite radio. It's a great mix of new and old including R.E.M., Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Lucinda Williams, Tom Petty, and Jakob Dylan.

On my last birthday I turned 37 and celebrated as described here.

On my next birthday I want to go skiing.

The best birthday present I ever got was the timing of my birthday. My birthday is January 15 which was Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and because his birthday is treated as a national holiday I not only get to share my day with a great man, I get a long weekend. Don't get me wrong, I've gotten lots of wonderful presents, but that day off is so nice.

The first time I felt grown up was the first time I had to stay up all night with Zoe when she was sick.

The last time I felt like a kid was 5 minutes ago as I enjoyed the movie Wall-E.

When I read Bridge to Terabithia it changed my life. I read that book sometime in elementary school and that's when I discovered how wonderful reading is.

Last year was filled with ups and downs.

Next year I hope not to repeat some of the downs from last year.

26 September 2008

What does my inbox say about me?

Here are the first 6 emails in my personal email inbox right now.

23 September 2008

Aging

It seems like there has been a real lack of memes out in the blogosphere lately. I went searching for one the other day and the best I could come up with was not very good. So, I was inspired to create my own and here it is.

The Aging Meme
all you have to do is fill in the blanks...

At a certain age women should _________ .

At a certain age men should ___________ .

When I was a kid I thought I would ___________ .

Now that I am older I wish ___________ .

You know you are too old to ___________ when ___________.

You know you are too young to _____________ when ___________ .

When I was in high school I listened to the music of __________.

Nowadays I find I like the music of _____________.

On my last birthday I ___________ .

On my next birthday I want to ____________ .

The best birthday present I ever got was ___________ .

The first time I felt grown up was _____________ .

The last time I felt like a kid was ______________ .

When I read ___________ it changed my life.

Last year was __________.

Next year I hope _____________ .


Tag, you're it!
In order to get this off on the right foot, I am tagging: Becky, Emily, and Tracie. Anyone else is welcome too.

22 September 2008

A Sentimental look back ... and meatballs

Compared with some I am barely a baseball fan, but I do root for the Yankees and I am waxing nostalgic about the closing of the old stadium. My favorite tribute:

18 September 2008

Made it into a meme

I found this over at Jane Green's blog and as she has it, it isn't quite a meme -- it looks more like a chain email, but it is pretty close to a meme and it feels like it has been soooo long since I've done a meme so I decided to make it into one by changing some of the questions a little bit and omitting just a few as well. So, without further ado...

Getting to know you...in 45 questions

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 AM

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds all the way.

3. What was the last film that you saw at the cinema? Mama Mia and it was just awful. There hasn't been much I've wanted to see since then.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Project Runway

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Special K at home, French Toast when at a restaurant

6. What is your middle name? Jill

7. What food do you dislike? Seafood and mushrooms

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? The mix I made for the car trip to Cape Cod. It has all my latest favorite songs. In general I don't buy CDs anymore. I just download.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, Rocky Mountain Edition, or, as I call her Sandy Wabbit.

10. Favorite sandwich? Peanut butter and jelly -- preferably creamy peanut butter, grape jelly and whole wheat bread.

11. What characteristic do you despise in others? Two-faced-ness

12. Favorite item of clothing? Several pairs of my shoes including the purple Tory Burch ballet flats and the grey suede booties shown here.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? These days I'd really like to go to Barcelona.

14. Where would you retire to? Manhattan.

15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I'm not usually a person to focus on the negative, but my most recent memorable birthday is my 30th when my husband was supposed to book the party room at a particular restaurant for a particular night, but he waited until that last minute to call and it was too late. Yeah, it was a bad time, but that happens.

16. Favorite sport to watch? Tennis.

17. When is your birthday? January 15

18. Are you a morning person or a night? Definitely a morning person despite myself.

19. What is your shoe size? 7.5 It used to be 7 until I got pregnant. I actually had to get rid of almost all my shoes after Zoe was born and I realized my feet were not going to shrink back -- just like certain other parts of me.

20. Pets? Not any more unless I can count Mike...?

21. What did you want to be when you were little? An artist.

22. What is your favorite flower? Gerbera Daisies

23. What is a day on your calendar that you are looking forward to? This Saturday! Big shopping adventure planned for Saturday.

24. What are you listening to right now? Nothing, but I can hear Sponge Bob Square Pants.

25. What was the last thing you ate? A handful of Mike & Ike's.

26. Do you wish on stars? Yes.

27. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Violet blue

28. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister-in-law Joanne

29. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke. I think I am actually partly made of Diet Coke.

30. Last place you ate out Katzenberg's

31. Hair color? Brown with a few persistent strands of grey.

32. What was your favorite toy as a child? Fashion plates

33. Summer or winter? Summer summer summer summer summer summer

34. Hugs or kisses? Both

35. Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla

36. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Tea always makes me think of being sick.

37. Salty or sweet? Sweet...thus the Mike & Ike's

38. What did you do last night? Had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They made pizza on the grill using a pizza stone and it was really good.

39. What is under your bed? Art supplies, stationery, pens, paper, and computer bits and pieces like spare wires. All neatly packed in plastic bins.

40. How many keys on your ring? 2.

41. How many years at your current job? 3 and a half

42. Favorite day of the week? Thursday.

43. How many towns have you lived in? Rockaway, Stamford, Monroe, Ithaca, Dallas, Westport, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Fairfield

44. Do you make friends easily? I didn't used to, but I find that now I do. Or maybe I've just been really lucky in the last few years.

45. What is the last book you read?
These Three Remain and I am currently reading Vanity Fair.


And now I tag anyone who is longing for a meme like I was.

15 September 2008

More aquatic silliness


This may have been the last swim of the season so it seemed necessary to record it on film.

14 September 2008

Is this normal?



Tonight as Zoë was getting ready to get into the bathtub my husband turned to me and asked, "Do other kids take a bath like this?"

I looked at Zoë and saw her with her goggles on and digging her piece of rubber tubing out of the basket of other bath toys frankly I and wondered the same thing.

12 September 2008

Temptations -- Fall '08

Couldn't sleep so I ended up doing some online browsing (no purchasing). Lots of nice things to look at! Some of my favorites...



11 September 2008

This morning

Every year since 9/11/01 my mother, my husband and I go to the 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island on the morning of 9/11. This year was no exception. Every year there are fewer and fewer people there, but it makes it no less poignant especially when there are people there clearly grieving someone who's name is carved into the memorial.

This morning there was a man there who's face was the absolute picture of grief-stricken. Just looking at his face made me well up with tears and I was once again struck by just how lucky I was that day -- how lucky I am. My mother was in the WTC when it happened and she (obviously) escaped. Every year when I see the mourners at the 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island or on TV at "Ground Zero" I am reminded just how close I was to becoming one of them.

Coincidentally on my way into the office this afternoon I heard a song I've never heard before by a singer I've never heard of before and that song really spoke to me along these same lines. The song is There Is So Much More by Brett Dennen. The particular lyrics that struck me:

In a world with suffering,
Why should I be so blessed?

08 September 2008

If I were athletic

If I were athletic I think I'd like to be like Serena Williams. She's an incredibly talented player who clearly takes her game seriously, but she also knows herself so well. I've watched her play for years now and I can usually tell what kind of match it will be just by looking at her.

Watching her play last night I knew by the second game of the first set that she was going to win. How did I know? you may ask. Well even if you didn't I am going to tell you anyway.

There was this moment right after a somewhat tricky rally that had each player running hard. It was just a tiny, tiny moment. Serena won the point and just after she saw that she won it, she looked down at her hand to check her manicure. It is an unmistakable gesture so I know that is what she was doing. It was as if she wasn't even worried about that last point and she was so relaxed and ready for the next point that she didn't have to worry about that either. She knew she had this.

To be fair Jelena Jankovic played a strong match and Serena did not trample her, but there was never a moment where I felt that Serena thought she wouldn't win. That manicure check moment was just awe-inspiring to me.

04 September 2008

Just can't get enough

Last night, after dinner, dishes, laundry and putting Zoe to bed I sat down to watch some TV. There were a lot of good choices last night including the latest episode of "Project Runway," Serena v. Venus in the U.S. Open Quarter finals, and some sort of convention. My day had ended on a bit of a down note and I really wanted to just sit and not think.

And then it happened.

As I sat there innocently trying to relax a commercial came on which I never would have noticed if it weren't for the song. It was Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough." I loved that song in its day and it still had a place in my heart until I realized just what was happening. Payless Shoes was using the song to advertise their "BOGO" sale (Buy One, Get One half off). To my utter shock I realized that Depeche Mode have sold out!

I have nothing against Payless Shoes. In my more broke days they fulfilled many shoe urgings. However, I do hate hate hate when songs are used in commercials and I especially hate it when it is a song I like! Of course this could be one of those cases when someone else actually owns the music catalog as was done to the Beatles, but it doesn't matter. Those are my teenage memories being exploited for a "BOGO" sale. Oy.