Nef's Babbling

We've been having a busy and awesome month, so much to talk about so it's been overwhelming to think of writing it down. First, Mom, Alex and I all went up to Bar Harbor for a gorgeous weekend. We went sailing on the Margaret Todd and had a sumptuous dinner at the Bar Harbor Inn's Reading Room. We got some tasty pieces of incredible jewelry, looked at pretty rocks and had gourmet ice cream with crazy creative flavors like basil raspberry and pumpkin chai. This was back in September, so I'm a horrible person for not having written about it sooner. But it was fabulous!


After my last post (with the picture of my mask) we traipsed off to Maryland on a long drive down in the middle of the night. We headed down the more direct, but incredibly dense and metropolitan route which is most definitely best taken during the midnight hours. We read Narnia stories (Dawn Treader and Silver Chair) all the way down until we finally reached jengagne 's place.  Both Andy and Jen were incredibly hospitable and very kind to us weary travelers.  We crashed in their guest room, and then spent a fun and lazy day with them and Eliza.  The next day we three headed out to the ren fair, and gallivanted about shopping and seeing shows and acquiring more things to make us even more fabulous.  I think I have a feather addiction.

At the last Moresca open house we got Alex some pieces for a costume to match me, and we actually found a few more pieces/ways for him to coordinate with me.  Now we're getting to the point where there's absolutely no doubt we're a pair, and he makes the perfect accessory!  He's a very good sport, he's not that much of a fan of purple but he's willing to humor me :)  We had a lot of fun on the second day being Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, (not literally), and the amount of pictures taken of us went way up.  Of course, not if we were with Mom, who tends to steal the show of course by swanning around.  After the incredible luck of bumping into Jen (by pure serendipity!) last year, Gracile has almost become a way of fishing for SL'ers who might be familiar with it.

Jen and Andy went to the fair as Steampunk travelers visiting the period.  I guess they took a wrong turn in their time traveling train.  Jen even made a muslin dress for Eliza that turned out beautifully... baby's first ren fair!  Jen had this enormous mechanic's belt that weighed over ten pounds (she weighed it) full of crazy pockets and wrenches and other things a steampunk mad genius might need.  They both had fun spectacles with the multiple lenses on them and they were definitely quite a little trio.

I bumped into an adorable little girl who shared my first name, which is rather rare especially in the specific spelling.  She was energetic and outgoing and had the biggest grin... she was blonde and she actually reminded me a lot of myself when I was that age.  I have to wonder if it's something about the name!

We saw some hilarious and very entertaining shows, including an impressive sword swallower (who's been at that fair for almost 20 years!) and some guys named Hack & Slash, who cracked me and Alex up by leaving a very impromptu message on someone's answering machine using one woman's cell phone.  It was her own fault for giving it to comedians!

We had a marvelous time and I think it'd be safe to say it was the highlight of the year.  We're really looking forward to next year and seeing how our physique and costume styles will change, not to mention seeing Eliza get a bit older!  It's worth the wait

I can officially call myself a mask maker :)

We went to the NY State Renfair on Labor Day weekend, it was lovely!  The weather was perfect for one.  Mom, Alex and I all headed out very early in the morning and made the trek down, though for Alex and I we had the luxury of basically skipping the drive because we passed out.  Poor mom ended up making the journey alone, essentially =/ 

Going to Tuxedo has now become less about seeing shows and shopping.. (okay well yes it's always about shopping) than seeing our friends!  We've been going for seven years now, and we've spoken with so many of the regulars and employees now that seeing them again is one of the major highlights of the trip.  We get to catch up on the gossip and the goings on.  It seems like the fair is hitting a rough spot though, it was pretty clear that they weren't paying the acts as much as they used to, and they were trying to trim out or cull acts they felt were unnecessary.  I think it's just a rough spot though, and hopefully with leaving comments on their website we can save the ones we love.

I actually somewhat behaved, shopping wise.  I couldn't help but get even more feathers for my hat though, now it's quite a glorious display!  I got a beautiful handflower that is all swirly and pretty, and even though it's lapis lazuli I can get it changed next year to amethyst.  I got a little rose clip that I also put on my hat (I was just going crazy with the hat decor) and a couple of little jars of home made lotion (lemongrass and plumeria).  I'm so darned happy with my costume now that there isn't much to get for it.  From the tip of my curly toed boots to my overly feathery hat, I'm covered in black and purple.  Alex and I got quite a few pictures of us taken, we would have had more if we hadn't been horribly upstaged by Mom.

Mom always makes quite the show in Gracile, the swan hat.  Alex and I had to cut her loose a couple of times because she gets mobbed by people wanting to take her picture!  She's actually become something of a minor celebrity after winning 2nd place in the Moresca outfit contest (and so being in their catalogue).  She certainly makes it easy enough to recognize her.



Gracile was made by Bonnie Trivizas, an incredibly sweet and lovely lady who takes the greatest care in placing each feather in everything she makes.  She takes special care to not ruffle or damage them, and normally she makes intricate and delicate feather brooches and pins.  A few years back though, she had this glorious creature on display, and Mom asked if she could wear it around the fair.  She became so attached to it (once you name it you can't get rid of it!) that she bought it, and it's now become a whole part of her fair persona.

We punctuated each day with delicious and sumptuous Italian meals.  One at a little spot out in the middle of nowhere, which was a true gem of a find from Google.  It's a little family owned manor house and hotel with a gourmet restaurant.  In fact, the owner got a real kick out of us being all in costume last year, and asked for pictures with us.  This year, we were warmly welcomed back, and then very well stuffed by the time we left.  It's been a little while so I can't remember exactly what I had, but it was a wonderful pasta dish with a light tomato sauce, and an incredibly dark and very rich piece of chocolate cake for dessert.  On the day we headed back up to MA, we visited an old favorite: Cosimo's.  Alex has gotten addicted to lemon sorbet, so he was utterly smitten with being able to have it twice in a row.

We're looking forward to heading down to Maryland this year too, hopefully we'll see Jen again (trying to reach you dearie!  I'm going to try again).  Until then, I'm going to see what I can't do in SL that might give me a bit of spending money :)

I magically managed to dodge a week of jury duty!  We were instructed to confirm the dates of our service via an automated system over the weekend, and it gave me the all clear.  They don't need me!  On one hand, YAY I get to stay home, on the other, booo I'm out some extra cash.

I have lost five pounds o.o 

It doesn't seem like much but that was in just a month, and its "sticking".  As in, it wasn't "ooo I'll weigh myself right after I work out, before I eat/drink and I'll be my lightest!" but it was "hmm, I just woke up, let's see what I weigh" and that was it.  Five pounds lighter.  Woot!  I've been that same weight for... god.  Since I was seventeen?

So obviously we've been using Alex's membership to its fullest :D  It's now been a month so its really nice to have a bit of progress already.  We both want to be a bit more svelt for our ren fairing adventures soon to come!

Don't really have much interesting to say, no grand voyages, only sweatiness and SL related stuff.  I should stop reading other people's blogs, I start feeling a pressure to be interesting.  No!  I should be proud to be as boring as I am!  I have a blissfully uneventful life and it is awesome.

So uh.  we had tacos tonight and they were yummy.  Yep.

Normally I ignore the Writer's Block questions, but I really have to say that this ink blot looks like a vengeful angel of war with big old demon wings, wearing a gauzy chiffon gown with a silver trimmed belt buckle.  Seriously that's what I see.  He's also wondering what happened to his helmet and gesturing to describe it, I guess it doesn't speak English.

A new gym opened up just a fifteen minute walk away, so Alex and I went down to investigate and they're offering memberships with no start up fees at 20 bucks a month.  And the awesome thing?  That's for the both of us, since they have unlimited guest privileges, we just need to go together and effectively we have two memberships :)

So for the past few weeks Alex and I have been going three times a week to go do cardio and muscle stuff and finally get off our asses.  Hurray!  Maybe even be more svelt for ren fair season.

Paxiu was having some health problems, she was getting skinnier and skinnier and having periods of not eating anything at all, and throwing up, as well as drinking and peeing a lot so we took her to get her blood tested.  Thankfully it wasn't anything too serious, she has hyperthyroidism and its incredibly common.  I've been giving her a little smear of topical medication on the inside of her ear and she's been great with it.  No barfing or irregular eating since :)

I've been conscribed to do federal jury duty later this month, going into September.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm going into, but at least I'm going to get paid for it :D  Major crimping on our plans though, we were going to try to do Dragon Con for the first time this year... so scratch that.  However, the NY ren fair is still a go, it's tradition :)

We're planning on going down to the MD fair in October, and hopefully I'll be able to meet up with Jen again! 

I have some leather that I bought a little while ago, I'm still planning on making a real mask out of it yet I have that horrible "empty canvas" dread.  What if I ruin it?  What if it gets wasted?  What if I cut too much and make a mess of it?  What if the cuttings are useless?  Aaaah!  I need to just bite the bullet and convince myself its okay to let a bit of leather go to waste if it all ends up as a disaster.  It's just such nice leather...

Also, I need more money.  Universe, this is a stick up.  Hand it over.

For the most part my life is blissfully monotonous, which basically makes for very boring blog entries.  They replaced the city water pipes leading up into our building, which were apparently over a hundred years old and lead lined O.o  Not a good thing since I must drink close to a gallon of water a day...


But we went out today to meet my dad, he told us about a glass flowers exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and we definitely wanted to go see it.  On our way out, we ran across a yard sale and saw some nice shelves and a book of natural/hand made paper.  The journal was only a buck, so we nabbed it and went our merry way.  We met Dad near the Sackler museum, he brought us nummy bagels and we ate them on the grass in Harvard Square.  While we were sitting and munching, Alex and I got dive bombed by a juvenile red tailed hawk (o.o!)  If we had raised our hand it would have smacked right into it, it was so close.  It swooped majestically up into a tree and then was accosted and harassed by us as we whistled and called and made noises at it and took pictures like dorks.  There's something about a big bird of prey that just makes us all go "ooooo preeeetty"

We headed over to the museum finally and headed up into the exhibition rooms, and in one of the halls there was a taxidermy Argus pheasant on display.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and I've never seen so many Argus feathers in one place!  If you've never seen one, they're absolute wonders of nature, as if someone hand painted each one.


© Jenny Ross

We headed up and then caught site of the "mineral room", and being the rock lover that I am I made a bee line for it.  There was a sixteen hundred pound cathedral amethyst, and a gypsum formation that must have been five feet tall.  We also saw the most enormous chunk of aquamarine that must have been worth a fortune, and a 150+ carat piece of tanzanite with gorgeous color.  If I ever pull off a heist, I know where I'm going... 

*whistles innocently*

We finally did get around to seeing the glass flowers, but only after investigating every single rock and case of rocks there was in the room.  At that point, we didn't have any time to really let it sink in, but they were simply unreal.  Basically, the botany department at Harvard ordered some teaching models of flowers and plants and various plant parts at a larger scale for teaching uses in the 1800's.  They hired a pair of ninth generation Venetian glass blowers to create the artificial flowers, and when they completed the project, a private donor paid to hire them for the next fifty years to create a collection of North American flora.  The result is just... seriously unreal.  On most of the models its just hard to believe they didn't grow from the ground, and on others you really have to look hard in order to see how it could possibly be glass.

Yes this is glass

They booted us out of the museum before we got to see it all, so we're hoping to get back in there to see some of the other exhibits.  So we introduced Dad to one of our favorite Harvard Sq restaurants, Grafton Street, and then went for ice cream cone afterwards.  We parted ways, happy and well fed and with cameras full of silly pictures and started to head home.  However, as we passed the house where the yard sale was, we decided to just ask about the shelves we had been thinking about.  The girl had said that the shelves had been sold to a sort of odd/creepy guy, but that he couldn't pick them up.  But apparently money had never been exchanged, so we decided to try and outbid him XD

We knocked on their door, and we ended up paying just ten dollars for a lovely set of collapsing/folding shelves (very cool!) which we took triumphantly home, and now will be cleaning and putting somewhere.  The best part about them is that even if we can't find a spot right now, no biggie because we can just tuck them away.  Collapsible ftw.

It's mah biiirthdaaaay!  And in honor of it, Mom took us out for dinner and a food shopping trip of pantry filling delight.  Seeing how I have pretty much no money at the moment, and if I even buy a pizza it will put me in the red, I couldn't have asked for a better gift than fresh refridgerables.  We had dinner at Zoe's, which was simply wonderful.  We almost always got take out, since their dining area used to be small and cramped, but in their new building it has lovely ambiance and everything really is so much better fresh.  Mom didn't get a chance to make me her Triple Chocolate Hershey cake of legend and birthdays past, and so we bought a Shaw's cake in chocolate with blue frosting roses. 

She took it into the kitchen with my explanation that cake decorating/brownie making supplies were on a top shelf to the left, and then I proceeded to put things away, letting what she was doing be a surprise.  Even though I knew what the cake looked like, I figured she could still decorate it creatively.  I heard her muttering and grumbling to herself about how uncooperative the gel she was using was, and she seemed to be getting more and more frustrated.  I ended up looking over to see what she was doing... and she was using a little gel tube with the markings of "blue" on it which happened to be... food coloring.  Not icing.  Her frustration and botched attempts now made perfect sense, as did her now stained fingers and tongue :p  That certainly explained why it went all goopy as soon as she tried to form lettering!

Ok it might not sound that funny now but we had a good giggle over it!  She's feeling blue, and will have to avoid sticking her tongue out at her coworkers for a week (truly hard to resist!).

It all turned out well in the end though, she even put a little mask on there :)  And the cake was delicious and didn't make our tongues turn blue.

Life has been pretty uneventful, but things picked up recently. We found out that our favorite local Chinese restaurant didn't actually close, they moved across the street and have been renovating for the past few months and have reopened with a new beautiful dining area and a much classier facade. Wonderful news! Alex and I also met up with a friend of mine from SL, who makes skins and jewelry and I was expecting things to be a little awkward, but actually it was tough to stop talking! We had a lot of fun talking about games, business strategies, customer service war stories and plans for the future of our respective businesses. She's local so hopefully this is the beginning of a good (actual real life omg in person) friendship :)

What prompted me to post especially today though was that wolf mum took us to a concert at the Boston Opera House tonight, wooooow.... But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We had a wonderful dinner at Bertucci's, but we were worried to hear that they're shuffling their menu, and neither mom nor I can get our paninis for dinner anymore :(  Apparently they'll only be served for lunch now... guess I'll have to go earlier to get that polpette panini!  They served us a chocolate cake with a ring of whipped cream and twelve cherries... (jealous?  my apologies for now making you want to go off your diet).

On our way we went to Toppers, the delightful hat-centric store on Tremont St where we always have fun trying on various hats and their personalities and characters. I found a wonderful small brimmed kloche which was absolutely gorgeous and fit me like a dream, but it was $125 O.O So... yeah, that one will have to wait. Mom found some really fabulous ones that suited her very well, she bought an enormous purple flower pin to put on one of her summer hats. Alex tried on quite a few, and even ended up inadvertently selling a fedora to a guy who came in by thrusting it at him and saying "here, try this" and he ended up wearing it out! Alex found one by the New York Hat Company that he fell in love with though, and mom was kind enough to buy it for him (he just looks so good in it). So now we finally all three have hats, as mom and I tend to have matching hats in our colors. She also gave me a lovely purple silk scarf for my hat which was exactly what it needed, in exchange for another scarf which I found at a consignment shop and was having trouble parting with.

So anyway the opera house! We went to see Pink Martini, a very diverse cocktail style band of about twelve that cover jazz and cultural classics. Mom introduced me to them a few years back and some of their songs are incredibly catchy re-imaginings of ubiquitous lounge music. You've probably heard their rendition of Que Sera Sera, which was played in Dead Like Me's pilot. They definitely had the presence to fill such a beautiful and lucious venue. We had an extra extra special treat though, we had bought six seats all together for mom, me, Alex, and three of mom's friends, but for some reason one seat was assigned on the other side of the theater! The show was sold out, but when she had bought them seats were available. So we made a bit of a fuss that we did want seats together, at least the three of us, and the usher mentioned that there were a few free seats..... in The Box. So we got seated.... in The Box. Yeah. You know that spot where you look up and go "wow, who gets to sit there?"



That was us. In the opera house. Major, major win.

Although that did mean that we couldn't really shake our booties to the snappier latin numbers without being a spectacle, but when has that stopped us?

They played all of our favorites, as well as some new pieces from their new albums.  I also captured a few recordings of the performances, 'cause I really don't want to forget it any time soon :)  I sang along to all the songs that I knew, and we were all incredibly impressed at the sound quality for being live.  The balancing and acoustics were all studio quality, so big kudos to the sound techs who worked on it.

Something that really impressed us was the virtuosity of each of the performers.  You kind of assume that in a band, what you hear is what they're capable of, but through the night they seemed to make an effort to showcase each of the performers in a solo or a duet and wow... fleet fingers of fiery fury! Each of them got a chance to show their considerable abilities which was definitely beyond modest accompaniment.  It definitely ended too soon, even though it went about thirty minutes longer than we were expecting.

Afterwards we made our way home, and mom was kind enough to gift us with something I've been wanting ever since I heard about it... a Soda Stream water carbonator for soda.  Alex's soda addiction is beyond curing, but now we can actually make our own with real sugar and no artificial flavors, and save a ton of money doing it.  Thank you Mom!!!

Mmmm exploring turned up another goodie.  Alex and I spontaneously strolled down the Inman Sq since it was such a gorgeous day.  We were going to see if we couldn't pick up some tax forms from the post office, since I was balking at paying the Turbotax fee for e-filing.  Apparently if you're a small business, or anyone at all who doesn't have a 1040-EZ you have to pay, and so my golden days of entering info from a W-2 and being done with it are over.  Ah well, working when I want to, sleeping in every day and doing something I love has to have a catch somewhere. 

Anyway, back to the walking, the post office was closed and we were both hungry, so we decided to be all adventurous and try some new food.  We went down the street pretty far and found a place called the Midwestern Grill... which of course sounds like it'd be steaks and such from Ohio or something but it was actually a place that did Brazilian Barbeque.  Apparently Brazilian barbeque is one of those special things like a Tapas restaurant where there's a set menu and way of doing things, but it's frickin' delicious.  After convincing Alex that pizza could wait until tomorrow, we went in and got a table and were approached by waiter after waiter with skewer after skewer of delicious MEAT.  Basically, you sit there, and waiters grab enormous skewers of meat or bread or fruit from the barbeque and come by and offer you cuts from it.  So I had delicious pork loin, beef sirloin, chicken sausage, pineapple, etc, along with whatever you wanted from the buffet.  I wish I had gone there starving because it's all you can eat and everything is so good.  The place was packed when we left, and now we know why!

The weather has been so beautiful recently.  Slightly overcast, just barely cold enough to wrap yourself in something fuzzy.  We've been spending time out on the porch reading or eating lunch and enjoying it while we can.  Seems like the summer heat comes on too fast if you're not paying attention to it.

I was sorting books around, and one of the books that "floats" (never gets properly sorted and so is set on top of others or set randomly with paperbacks) is my very first diary.  I've had it since I think 1992 (I was six).  I probably still have the key to it somewhere but my curiosity has never driven me to pick it.  Tonight I was feeling spon-tan-yoo-us so I molested a paperclip and popped the lock.  What I remembered of that diary was that I never wrote in it, except to share random announcements of the date or something I was proud of.  Stuff I felt was really important, since my day to day things as a kid seemed too boring to put in a diary.

Apparently, these important and awe inspiring announcements contained statements like "Today is a Saturday" but with worse spelling.  Each day is marked by a page, and when something would happen on that day I'd flip to that page and write a blurb.  So on one page I felt it immensely important to share that I had ridden my bike all the way to a certain road in pencil and legible (recognizably) English spellings, and on the next it says "today is estr" with a drawing of a bunny with a star for a nose.

Here's the best part though:

No less than 80% of the diary entries included or entirely consisted of...








You ready for it?








"I lost a tooth".

Flipping through blank pages and more blank pages Alex and I kept stumbling upon a single line penciled meticulously at the top, near the date, that said "I lost a tooth."  And every now and then I switched it up just to keep you guessing by saying something like "Courtney lost a tooth".  Seriously.  This was what I thought was groundbreakingly important :)~

So you know what?  I'm getting my wisdom teeth out probably some time in April or May and GUESS WHAT!  I'm going to go ahead and jot that down when it happens and keep the revolutionary tidbits coming :D

I decided to make this another post since it's completely unrelated to my dreams (below).  Yesterday we kidnapped Katy and went gallavanting off to Pickity, where we lavished her with wearable gifts and ate delicious and wonderful food and were regaled with hilarious stories of her outdoorsy life.  No potatoes were necessary in the coordination of this meeting.  We went to Coraline again after, and this time we saw it in 3D, and wow.  I've never seen a 3D movie where it... you know... actually worked.  It added a whole new dimension to the art of it and gave us such a sense of space and scale.  There were a few moments where you really felt like you could just walk forward into the movie.  Afterwards, we traipsed off to have munchies and ice cream at Friendly's, where we played brain teaser games and Katy brandished a spicy shrimp at me (nyer!!).  It was absolutely mahvelous to see you again, dearie, and I'm so thrilled that we'll hopefully see more of you come your glorious graduation :)


When we got home, though, I had such a horrible scare.  Sable had gotten out of the bathroom where we keep him when Paxiu is out, and they absolutely hate each other.  I came into the kitchen looking for her and saw clumps of hair all over the floor, and for a terrifying moment I thought we would find her dead.  I was so incredibly relieved to find her hiding in her litterbox, looking the worse for wear and very hungry and thirsty, but thankfully alright... just terrified.  I brought her into the bedroom and cleaned her up a bit, fed her the good stuff and gave her water, and she seems to have recovered a bit.  She's still shy about coming out of the bedroom but at least she's okay.
We're probably going to have to do something about the bathroom door, he's figured out how to open it and we'll probably need to take an extra precaution when he's in there.  We've also been wondering what would happen if we did just leave them out together... now we know.  No, there would not be a moment where Sable just got tired of harassing her and no, Paxiu would not just be able to deal with his attention.  We don't know how long he had her holed up in there, but I seriously doubt anything but one of them getting severely injured would have happened.

I had the most amazing pair of dreams last night.

Ok, well, one of them was less on the amazing side and more on the funny side.  Hey Chris... you got PUNKED!  Lol, in my dream you sent Alex and Mom and I a T-shirt with a picture of you, making a really shocked and horrified face and the tag-line said "I got Punk'd".  Apparently you got the attention of Ashton Kutcher by being in the background during some celebrity's punking, and having been very smarmy and smart-assy.  So a few months later they decided to Punk you.  I'm a little hazy on what exactly they did, I can't quite remember, but it was something about your being responsible for a small fuel related repair on your helicopter, and when they started it up to see if you had fixed the problem, it exploded.  Your face was horrified and that was the snapshot they put on the T-shirt O.o.  If I could have taken a picture in the dream, believe me I would have.  



The other dream was beyond surreal... I dreamt that Alex and I, along with a pretty large crew of people had pulled off some epic Ocean's Eleven style heist and had gotten away with it completely.  But, a year or two later we found we were under surveillance and we had to make a run for it.  Alex and I had acquired a vintage Rolls Royce, because we have taste.  It was black and silver and beautiful, it looked something like this.  So we were driving and trying to figure out where we could go to be in hiding, because if They had found us there, They could find us anywhere.  Here's where it gets surreal...  The sun god came down to us and said he would trade us sanctuary in exchange for the car.  He was like the classic image of a far eastern god, if you imagine the Dragon Emperor from Forgotten Kingdom in armor that was pretty much what he looked like.  So of course we said yes, and he took the wheel from Alex and made the Rolls fly up into the sky (wee!), up to the most amazing palace.  This is where I actually had a moment of lucid dreaming, and why I'm able to remember it, because I suddenly realized I was in a dream and that I was seeing this awe inspiring piece of architecture and that "damnit, I'm going to forget all of this when I wake up!  I wish I could take pictures in dreams!".  So thankfully my lamenting seemed to have cemented it, if only for this morning, in my mind.  
     It was like a far eastern city, built up on a floating rock, with spires and pavilions and plazas and winding paths from tower to tower, in the warmest darkest sandstone with roofs of copper and gold and black tile.  And tacked awkwardly to the side was a plaza with what looked like a garage, where the Sun God was actually collecting vintage Rolls Royces.  He welcomed us to his palace and took us through some of the rooms, and we could see across the way another similar palace, smaller, but all in blues and purples and silvers.  Of course we had to ask about it.  He took it as a compliment though, and told us that it was the Palace of the Moon, which he had built himself but rented out to the Moon.  We asked if we could possibly talk to the Moon about staying with her, and he summoned her to him.  She was a sort of flighty woman, she wasn't how you'd imagine a moon goddess because she seemed so nervous and absent minded.  She was dressed in a beautiful furisode which was midnight blue and had white clouds around the bottom with a silver embroidered moon on the back, but it seemed like she had forgotten to put it on properly and she didn't have an obi, so she looked all out of sorts.  She was really happy though, and all too eager to show us her palace.  She then explained that she had had the Sun God give her celestial land that she could build on, since even though she hadn't made her own palace she loved to build buildings and she provided housing for other celestials or mortals who needed sanctuary.  This sounded perfect for Alex and me, so she took us on a cloud down to another place I wished I could take pictures of. 
    This time, there was actual land, instead of a rock floating in the air, and it was a cliff following the Moon's River (hehe), which was covered with these tealy blue leaved trees with incredibly dark bark.  Everything looked like it was being seen through a blue filter, except the light off the water which was golden from the Sun's palace in the distance.  She had a sprawling city, all built into the cliffs, of odd shaped towers with octagons or trapezoids or fins coming from the supports, so that each piece looked like it had been carved without any individual stones being needed.  The walls were all a soft lilac purple with white or dark blue accents, and there were carved shells and carapace shapes anywhere there was a corner in order to soften it all.  The Moon took us along the river, and as she did, the city slowly became less dense and there was more boulevard than buildings until we came to a small estuary, which had a modest country style manor house in the same style as the city but more isolated.  We asked if we could stay there and she said yes!  I remember us dropping down to the ground and looking back at the view of the Moon's city, another moment of picture longingness...  And then I woke up.


Now I really feel like I need to go work on my sim design!!

Iy yi yi.  I just spent fourteen hours working on the same damn thing... I'm sick of looking at it.  Unfortunately I didn't leave it at a good spot and now I doubt I'll pick it up again for a month.


We haven't really gone out, our sleep schedules have been beyond bizarre and we've been having trouble getting them fixed.  Today, Alex and I are staying up for the rest of the day (since we woke up at 6pm yesterday) and going out to IHOP and in general getting out before we lie down and perpetuate our vampirism.  We need some retroactive pancake action in honor of pancake Tuesday.



When I've been getting the chance I've been sitting over in the bay windows and reading Sandman II and sipping nice warm tea, I've been trying to go slow on it to make it last.  I want to make sure I take in the art on each page and read the dialogue carefully.  It's like reading a truffle.  Thank you so much again, Chris.


I forgot to mention we saw Coraline, which was a wonderful story of very Grimm-esque feel.  The visuals were pure eyecandy, and Mum wants to take us to see it again in 3D for an extra boost of sweetness, woot!  We really liked it, it's another one we'll have to pick up when it comes out on DVD.


Sable has been getting sweeter and sweeter, and has actually started spending a minute or so in my lap when I grab him and hold him.  For such an active kitty who doesn't like being held, it's real progress and since he's so affectionate, holding him is a real treat.  He'll get right up in your face with his cold nose and whiskers and nibble on your eyebrows (or in Alex's case, beard).  He also adores cheek scritches and will actually grab onto your hand with his paws and stop you from moving your hand away.  Unfortunately he stresses out Paxiu to the point where she stops eating and pees on our bed, so everything comes at a price...


Our very favorite local Chinese restaurant closed, completely without warning, which just really hit me and Alex hard.  We haven't been really effected by the recession yet, but that definitely got us, especially when our cravings for deliciously crisp sesame chicken and scallion pancakes and teriyaki beef can no longer be answered by a quick phone call and fourty five minutes :(  RIP Zoe's, our favorite hole in the wall.

So yesterday Alex and I both felt like we should do something to honor the day. But we already have delicious chocolate truffles (from Mrs. Nelson's in Chelmsford, thank you Mom!), we already had mutual snugglability... the only thing really to do was have a yummy dinner!

We walked to Harvard square, and as we were walking, a man walking briskly cut ahead of us from a side street. Alex and I both were watching him and he said suddenly "I like him". Well, that's not the sort of thing that I can really say out of the blue, but I had just been thinking that he had a cool coat and a cool hat and that he seemed like just a cool guy.  He also smelled nice >.> (was leaving a nice trail of a fresh smelling cologne behind him).  So having had the joint decision that this person was a cool guy, we sped up a bit to catch up to him.  As we caught up, we both complimented his style, and most especially his jaunty and stylish hat, and sure enough, he was a cool guy!  We talked with him the rest of the way to Harvard, and he told us he was a Harvard grad who was on his way to a rather posh party he wasn't sure he'd be comfortable at, and I told him that I was an artist on SL, and we exchanged names and Alex gave him his facebook page.  It'd be really fun to get together and just have lunch and get to know each other, so we'll see how that goes :D  (If he's reading this, hope you had fun at the party!)

So Alex and I kept walking after he had gone his seperate way, we were on our way to Grafton Street which is this wonderful combination of high class pub and gourmet food, but they were completely booked.  We wandered around, thinking of our usual haunts, but none of them seemed special enough for V-Day.  So we decided we would try something very new... we swung by three or four different places we thought might have something we would both enjoy (and not break the bank...) and Alex pointed out that across the street at the Charles Hotel there were several restaurants.  There, we found Henrietta's Table, which was pretty much exactly what we were looking for.  He got rotisserie cooked black angus sirloin with red skin mashed potatoes and gravy, and I got maple smoked duck confit with cranberries... mmmmm. 

Afterwards, we walked back home, and on our way, we saw this cute little shiny black car parked in someone's driveway... running with the door open.  Keys in the ignition, engine puttering, no one in sight.  Being the friendly people we are, we thought "wtf?" and stood guard for a few moments because we were worried someone might steal this adorable little machine.  It was obviously European, it looked like an oldschool Beetle at first glance but it was even smaller and more compact.  So we were standing there, wondering why someone would abandon it, when Alex decided to go up and knock on the door of the house to let the owner know the door was open.  But he came out while Alex was still coming over, and we told him we were worried someone would take it.  He said "Don't worry, no one can drive this car but me", and he told us that it was a Cinque Cente from Italy, (Fiat 500), that was manufactured in the 50's, and that he had spent all this time restoring it and giving it TLC to the point where he could drive it now.  He said he was originally from Italy and that he had scoured everywhere to find the little thing, and he loved how people seeing it go by would smile.  And it's true!  It certainly made us smile, it was adorable!  He said that it was his Valentine's Day date, and that he was going to take her out for a spin.  We wished him luck and saw him putter off into the night.

Alex and I went home and had hot cocoa and watched movies :)~  Mumma gave us Madagascar 2 and we had fun being able to rewind and rewatch the King Julian scenes, and I logged on to SL and made a cute stuffed kitty for people to cuddle :)


Paxiu has been eating at least, only the pate mushy stuff though.  She still throws it up and she seems a bit weak, but I'm happy she's been getting food in her and relaxing a little.  I can tell her stress level by where she sleeps, and if she's really terrified she'll sleep behind the computers, if she's more relaxed she'll sleep on the couch.  She's been sleeping in my lap or on the towel next to my computer so that's the in-between spot :)  I still want her to see a vet, but I'm not so worried anymore.

Jen shared this on her blog, and I'm pretty sure most of you have already seen it since it's such a sharable thing. But if you haven't seen it... I'm not willing to take the risk!


It gets stuck in my head and serves as a constant reminder of it.  Misery loves company though :D


The reason I don't update too often is because most of the time my days are very simple and not really worth sharing.  I live a blissfully boring life and that's the way I like it!  But sometimes things do happen, and they're still small so too small to write a journal entry over.

Like on Chinese New Year, Mom and Mom's friend Pat came over and we all went to lunch at Porter, we wandered around for a little and shopped, much to Alex's chagrin (his tummy was hurting).  We also signed both of them up for Second Life accounts, which is going to be fun.  My mother has a very cute desire to make her avatar a purple "business fairy", like a pixie in a suit.  We haven't even gotten her a good pair of wings yet, but she's still adorable!  Pat wants to make her avatar a sort of wise woman, in a flowy white gown and goddess sandals.  And she gets to wear heels, unlike in real life where her sciatica prevents that.

Paxiu's health has been worrying me lately.  She's getting to be about fifteen, so she's getting up there.  She's always been small, but lately she's not been eating any dry food, and she seems to have trouble even chewing wet food.  The other day she kept throwing up, down to dry heaves, and now she refuses to eat the soft pate food I got her.  I've been mushing up the beef and gravy stuff I know she loves, and mixing it with a little whole milk, just to try and get her as much nutrients as I can... but she still won't eat it all.  She seems to have lower energy, but at least she still seems happy and snuggly.  We're going to see if we can't get her to the vet sometime this week or next.  I think she might have kitty diabetes or some tummy bug.  Or it could just be stress or something.

Alex and I went to one of mom's teas on Saturday, which was a lot of fun to sit and stuff our face with deliciousness.  Mom made some wonderfully creamy chicken en croute thingies, and potato and onion soup.  A bunch of people brought desserts, so the dessert ended up being more filling than the rest of the meal!  Mmmm delicious cake/cheesecake/tart/cookies/wafers/chocolate covered strawberries :D  We have half of a lovely purple and blue cake in the fridge right now.  When we saw it, we had to have it!  We also have lasagna from Pizza Hut in the fridge, which really was surprisingly good.  It's very meaty and not too heavy on the ricotta, definitely worth trying if you end up being taken there by younger siblings :)~

God really does bless America today.












(woot!)

Yesterday I went to my first ever Craig's List selling meet-up thing.  I found a local woman who had a bunch of listings for Goddess jewelry, and from the ads they looked like Sajen.  She was selling them for very very little, so I thought I was getting a marvelous bargain.  Turns out almost all of them were cheap imitations, but a few were real and there were a few things that weren't costume jewelry.  So we decided to make the most of our day and after we left, we went to Harvard and got lunch at Grafton Street.  Our waiter was very funny, he picked up on our mood pretty quick and made jokes about not giving Alex dessert until he'd finished his food.  Their tomato and squash bisque was perfect for warming us up.  I was a little bummed about not having the amazing bargains I thought I was going to get, so Alex humored me with some window shopping.  When we passed one store, it had a lovely wooly shawl wrap like the ones I always wear, with nice floral designs around the edge.  It was green, but Alex pulled me inside to see if they had them in other colors, because he had a feeling.  Sure enough, they had one in black and purple ♥  Happiness!



I had a crazy dream that I realized would be an amazing premise for a video game, so for the sake of my possibly someday pitching it, I won't share it here.  But it was creepy and very much a nightmare.


Lately I've been almost insatiably hungry, it's a little upsetting because I've tried eating very fulfilling foods like sweet potatoes and whole grain breads, but all of a sudden I'm hungry again.  It's upsetting because I am not that active, and I feel like I'm gaining weight.  So I've been trying to satisfy my hunger with lots of little snacks but I'm getting really sick of apples =/  Maybe it's just the winter urge to carb load and hibernate. 


But anyway, here's a picture of Alex enjoying a tree

Umm...

My default user pic somehow got changed to this:

I can't say it's entirely inappropriate.  I'm blonde, I wear black, sometimes I look very irritated.  But seriously... I know LJ is having problems but where's my mask picture?  Did someone hack my account especially to put this image in?  Was there a weird database crossed wire with oddly fitting results?  Just strange, strange strange.  Who knows, I might change the background to purple and keep it :p

But anyway, enough about icon related confusion.  Katy did a survey on her blog and I'd like to gank it :D  My New Years retrospective!


( Le Survey )

I hope everyone got to see family or friends on Christmas, and got some loverly swag to go along with it. I hope your fridges are stocked with egg nog and that diet has gone on the shelf for a couple of weeks!

It was just Alex, Mum and I this christmas, with a very makeshift dinner which was basically us raiding mom's fridge. I had wanted to do a big Christmas dinner, and I waited exactly too long to go out shopping, and arrived five minutes after they closed . But I'm getting my revenge, I went out and got a turkey today, and we're going to have an encore presentation of Thanksgiving on New Years Eve.

Most of our gifties we already knew about, it was definitely a Moresca christmas for both me and Alex. He has new sufi pants (glorious baggy pants that are all swishy), a neato new vest that matches my outfit, and a yummy washed silk shirt. Meanwhile my big gift was a new Kadijah set (oh the deliciousness!) in glorious black and purple (oh the perfection!), with brocade roses (oh so divine!). That I love. Can you tell? We also got some really nice dragon figurines from my grammy and Aunt Linda, the fabulous personal incarnation that is those boots I posted a little while ago, and a Tibetan matrimonial headdress that's framed in a shadow box (I need some place to hang it O.o) Another big gift is one I'm just going to have to wait for, I'm going to make sure I wake up early for a few days to make absolutely sure I can hear the doorbell ring when UPS gets here. And again... thanks Chris :)

Alex's big gift was another ren fair goodie, that mom brilliantly disguised and utterly fooled us with. She rolled it up into a tin, even kept the little tag oh so pristinely on it, and he was all excited to try some exotic Italian bread before he opened it and found the soft leather tunic we custom ordered for him from Potomac Leather. It's an absolutely beautiful, painstakingly made mid-thigh length tunic with laced in sleeves. Now we really can't wait for ren fair season!

We also got DVD's, which are aaaalways welcome, most notably the Lord of the Rings extended edition (generously passed on to us by mumma), and the Star Trek Motion Picture collection, with the sneaky replacement of Ironman in the place of Insurrection. We'll never miss it.

We had a wonderfully lazy day after the gift giving, we sat around sipping egg nog and nibbling on the delicious holiday cake mom brought, and watched our favorite Christmas movies. The original Miracle on 34th street, with digital color, and an absolute staple: The Muppet Christmas Carol. (We watched NMBC the night before ;). There was something that absolutely delighted us and made us laugh out loud about the Muppet one... we were talking about it on the phone and we were like "oh, yes, that's definitely an excellent christmas movie, except that one song..." "oh, yeah, I hate that song." And funny enough, when we were bracing ourselves to fast forward the "Love is Gone" song... it didn't happen! They CUT IT OUT. They really did bless us, every one, by making a perfect edit for the DVD version. Thanks guys ;)

But yeah... Merry Christmas everyone :) Hope the family dramas were minimal