family, woodworking, photography, K-pop
I was pretty zonked last night and decided to try and get to bed a little earlier than usual (i.e. before 11pm). But then I stayed up for forty minutes lying in bed with N talking about baby names.
After a while the serious suggestions (Beatrice, Ada, Alice, Faith Jr. {N’s idea}, etc…) dissolved into silliness. N’s most memorable suggestion? Faith Condoleezza Rice-a-Roni, JUNIOR.
Maybe you had to be there, but man I love that he makes me laugh everyday.
We had an epic date on Saturday that lasted from just before 5 pm until after midnight. It was great spending so much time with N. His department at work took us to dinner and then to a Real Salt Lake game. I hadn’t ever been to a professional soccer game before but I surprised by how much fun it was. Apparently our team is pretty good–they won 2-0 and it was their 21st home win in a row.
During the game the section we were sitting in won free Whoppers from Burger King and everyone got these pom-poms with coupons on the handles. E has been having fun shaking our around the house. I think E would have enjoyed the game but probably isn’t old enough to last through the whole thing. If we’re still living here in a couple of years it would be fun to take him.
There are several different fan groups that sit in the south end of the stadium. Two of them have drum lines that drum and chant during the ENTIRE GAME. We were sitting a little close so it was kind of loud but I sort of liked it. It made me nostalgic about playing drums in the pep band during high school games. And it definitely added an upbeat feel to the game. Plus I have to admire the endurance of anyone who can drum and cheer for two hours straight.
After the game N and I realized that if we hustled across the street we could make it to a showing of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I was kind of tired by this point but really liked the movie. I liked the graphic novels it’s based on and I think they did a good job adapting it for the screen. I recommend seeing it; it’s a lot of fun.
The weekend went by in a bit of a blur and now today I’m rushing around getting ready to take E and go visit my family in WA. I’m looking forward to catching up on some sleep, playing with my mom’s dog’s litter of Maltese puppies, and eating loads of delicious Korean food.
N recently had a birthday and so E and I made him some egg-free, dairy-free chocolate cupcakes. After feeling rather down about E’s food allergies last week it made me happy to watch E lick the batter bowl clean like a normal kid. (E was also a big fan of said bowl-licking.) And the cupcakes were really quite good.
(I know I know–he’s getting a haircut later this week.)
Happy birthday, N! You are the best.N (fiddling with the cord to the blinds which has somehow gotten wrapped around the handle to the rice cooker): “What’s going on here? How did this even happen?”
Me: I have no idea. I didn’t do it.
N: Then who did it?
Me: …I think it was a poltergeist.
N: That explains so much! When I ran out of clean buttondown shirts for work last week–poltergeist!
Me: (Nods solemnly in agreement)
AND SCENE.
I had a fun weekend. On Saturday I went to the Overstock.com warehouse store with Elaine. It was packed but we both found some shoes that we liked. I found these leather boots by Kenneth Cole priced at $28. They were cute and seemed to be well-made so I decided to get them.
We had to stand in line for half an hour to check out but it was worth it when the cashier informed us that all shoes were actually on sale for 50%. So I got these boots in black for $14(!)
That evening was fun too. We went out on a date that was my belated Valentine’s day present from N: we tried out a nice restaurant, Forage and saw Daniel Tosh perform stand-up. It was great hanging out with N; after all this time together (nine years in May!) he still makes me laugh. Yay for date night!
I thought I’d post a couple of my favorite love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day. I’m posting YouTube videos of them because Google/Blogger has gone all DMCA-enforcer on a bunch of people’s music blogs and has started pulling them down if they host mp3s. (Lame!)
“It’s Only Time” by The Magnetic Fields
I’ve been a fan of Stephin Merrit’s music since I borrowed a mix tape of songs from 69 Love Songs from N back in college. Merrit’s brilliant lyrics and catchy melodies played almost constantly in my car the summer after my sophomore year of college as I drove around wondering where this thing with this boy N was going. This song hadn’t yet come out when we got married and we weren’t really wedding-dance type people, per say, but I can’t think of a better wedding song.
(I have no idea about the picture (?) but this video had the best sound quality I could find.)
“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel
This is the song that N and I tend to think of as “our song.” During the ambiguous friendship stage of our relationship that lasted months and months we sent each other long, long emails almost everyday. N would sometimes include song lyrics in the signature of his emails and one day when I was home for the summer he included these lines:
What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all around the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
When I read those lines I squealed and proceeded to spend entirely too much time trying to analyze N’s meaning. I hadn’t heard the song before but I checked the cd out from the library and listened to it and promptly had my mind blown.
“My, You Look Ravishing Tonight” by Kleenex Girl Wonder
This song is by another artist linked to our courtship days. In college N had this beat-up orange ’74 Volkswagen bug that he drove around. The thing was pretty creaky but N had installed a cd player so he could listen to music as he puttered around. One day (during our ambiguous-friendship days) N offered to give his roommate a ride to the airport to catch a very early flight home and I volunteered to come along and keep him company. We had to leave at some ridiculously hour (I think it was around 5 am) but all I knew was that I would rather tag along so I could spend the hour-ride back to campus chatting in the car with N than sleep in. (And I really like sleeping in so I think I was starting to get the idea that this may serious).
Kleenex Girl Wonder’s album Ponyoak was playing on the drive back and I remember being sleepy but almost giddy with happiness and feeling like the songs fit the occasion perfectly. I love Graham Smith’s music and Ponyoak is still one of my top ten favorite albums ever. While this song isn’t on Ponyoak, it’s my favorite song by Smith.
After having a disappointing dining experience last year on Valentine’s day at one of my favorite steak places (the service was really poor and the food sub par) I vowed not to waste money by going to a fancy place on Valentine’s day again. So instead we’re going to hit up one of our favorite ethnic dives and maybe catch a movie tonight.
Whatever your plans include I hope you have a lovely weekend!
As you may know, N’s really into music. When we were dating he used to make me mix CDs from time to time which I always loved. He hadn’t made me a mix CD in quite a while so I was thrilled to unwrap one on Christmas morning. (To be honest, I was so touched that I started to get a little teary.)
The CD N gave me is a mix of some of my favorite love songs and ends with a surprise. As a gift N arranged with Ezra Furman to have him write a song for me! When we saw Ezra in concert back in October N chatted with him after the show and asked him when his next CD would be out. Ezra said that he had a CD available on his website and that it came with a personalized song so N went ahead and ordered it. (This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this, but it was still a lovely surprise.)
The song’s just a little ditty, but I love it. Every time I listen to it I can’t help grinning from ear-to-ear.
“The Things You’ve Made” by Ezra Furman
N came home from work last night with an hankering to make some soup. He wanted to use of the last of a ham we had to make a bean soup but we didn’t have any beans so he made an Indian red lentil soup with ham instead.
Recipe: N’s Red Lentil Soup
This weekend was somewhat of a mixed bag. I had planned to get together with my friend Erica on Saturday and check out the Overstock.com store and grab some lunch but when I went to get E out of his crib I discovered that he thrown up and wasn’t feeling well. I gave E a bath and he seemed to be feeling better but then he spit up some apple juice he drank. I considered canceling my outing but N assured me that he could handle it so I ended up going.
It was a lot of fun to hang out with Erica and catch up. We were college roommates but don’t get the chance to see each that often. I’m always a little nervous to drag people all the way up to the Overstock store but it was a lot of fun to chat in the car and Erica scored a nice down comforter and a board game.
I found some cute bronze leather Nine West flats and this London Fog trench in red. I’ve always wanted a trench and it was a good deal ($27). My other big find was a copy of Famouz
On the way home I called to check on E who, as it turns out, had thrown up three more times–poor N and poor E! But N was a sweetie and gallantly insisted that Erica and I stop for lunch as planned. When I got home I found E cuddled up with N watching kids’ shows. For the rest of the day E spent most of his time draping himself over us or the couch and whimpering. He woke up at 3:30am on Sunday morning and threw up again so we stayed home from church. E was so wiped out that he lay down on the floor of the family room and fell asleep there. It was pretty pitiful but cute.
I think E’s stomach is feeling better: he ate some animal crackers and drank some juice this morning which so far have not made a second appearance (knock on wood). But he’s still feeling pretty puny so it looks like we’re going to have another stay-at-home day.
The other day a Guitar Center catalog came in the mail and quickly captured the attention of the men of the house. N was flipping through it while E was eating dinner but E quickly became distracted and insisted on looking through it with N. E would point to every guitar on the page one by one and exclaim, “guitar!” and then add some fervent but unintelligible commentary. It cracked us up.
I love my boys.