Holy crap! Is anyone watching Mad Men?

So much great stuff last night! It was the night of cool character revelations. Don has roots in PA coal country? Peggy wants to smoke weed? Pete and Judy can Charleston? Joan plays the accordion? I thought I knew these people.

Hey, all of you people who went to Italy with me...

…and even all of those who didn’t, take a look at this. My friend Fran sent me the link. You know how people take those funky pics of themselves looking like they’re holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa? Apparently, when you snap those same pics from a different angle, it looks like a “mass-hallucination tai chi class.”

I wish I had done this when we went.

The red beauty in front is a dahlia

This week's flowers from the Farmer's Market:

Last week's are still looking quite well:

The sweet smell of school

I was jealous of all the kids getting their new notebooks and pencils for back-to-school, so I treated myself to some Mr. Sketch scented markers. The raspberry one is divine, and it's taking me back to my elementary school days.

Of course I will be staying far, far away from the black licorice one.

I have to go to China!

To see this. It's a children's bookstore in Beijing, designed by a Japanese artist. Fabulous. I want to walk through that tunnel of color.

Oh yes, I'm certain this will end well.

The latest TV news:

"In 2010, Showtime will premiere a new ten-part documentary series titled Oliver Stone's Secret History of America, created and executive produced by Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone. The series, two years in the making, will focus on events in our nation's history from the last 60 years that have gone largely unnoticed or were under-reported. Stone and a group of historians traveled to national archives in various countries to research materials used in this series. Topics covered include President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Stone will narrate each of the one-hour episodes."

Oliver Stone. Doing a documentary on history. This would be like me making a documentary on the Canadian sport of curling if, in addition to having no respect for curling or any of its participants, I had made a career out of twisting the sport of curling into an unrecognizable falsehood. And spitting on some Canadians in the process.

Who greenlights this crap?

A wonderful thing happened at my apartment today.

The craft room wall went from this:


...to this:

...to this!

And the kitchen wall. Oh the kitchen wall! It used to look like this:

Then it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

Isn't that magnificent? Hooray for organization! Hooray for fabulous Ikea shelving! Hooray for parents who come to your house and hang your fabulous Ikea shelving so you can get organized!

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Oh yeah, this sounds classy.

"In other A&E news, the network has approved a reality series starring Michael Jackson's brothers, reports THR's Showbiz411 blog. A 60m pilot has been shot which originally was going to feature footage of a reunion with Michael. Following Michael's death, the show will instead relate how the brothers are dealing with his passing. The pilot could air within the next month."

I rescind all my snide Cinderella-related comments

I don't know what's going on today, but I keep falling out of my shoes. I got some new socks and I don't know if they're too big or the fabric is slippery or what, but I cannot seem to keep my shoes on.

I suppose it's only a matter of time until they fly off and I trip over them and face-plant on the floor in front of the color printer. Who's more graceful than me?

Plans for today

1. Sleeping in (check)
2. Swimming (see above)
3. Eating too much (no problem)
4. Being lazy (also no problem)
5. Love being at Aunt Linda's house (always)

It's almost 11 and my sisters are still asleep. My mom just said, "Oh, I should get dressed" and I replied, "Why?"

Also, Julia is doing yoga on the Wii. She's very advanced.

Two quick things

1. I will be drafting first in this year's cousin fantasy league. (Aaand we just lost Linda and Becky.) I drafted dead last last year so I will still be picking two in a row, but I'm feeling the pressure of making the first choice good enough to last me until choice #20. And I think my sweet, darling Drew and I will have to part ways this year.

2. More casting decisions have been made for the Red Dawn remake and changes to the characters are being announced. Between this and John Hughes' untimely death, the 80s are taking a serious beating. It's making me so upset that I'm going to have to cut myself off from any further remake news. I'll just give you this tidbit so you can be as aghast as I am: They're making Erica into the head cheerleader/Matt's girlfriend, and Matt is going to risk everything to free her from an internment camp. Also, Daryl is being played by Tom Cruise's son. There. Go forth and be mortified.

Flowers from the Farmer's Market

Every Friday during the summer there's a little Farmer's Market along the perimeter of Central Park in J-town. There's a sweet little nun selling fresh produce and a guy with a cheese stand. There are plants and baked goods and all sorts of lovely stuff, but my favorite is the flower stand. A man and his daughter bring fresh flowers from their farm and display them in big buckets. You can choose your own arrangement or let them make one for you, or you can do what I do, which is to tell them the types of colors I'm looking for and then point to pretty things as they're putting the arrangement together and say, "Could you add one of those lovely pink furry things?" The bouquets are always so beautiful and they last for weeks. I took a lovely bunch to Liz's last week and yesteday I got some for myself.


This bouquet was only ten dollars! I told her to please pick out some pinks, purples, and whites, and she threw this together in, like, 90 seconds. I'm enjoying them so much.

Look out. I think Walsingham just shivved Sir Robert Dudley.

So, much of the family is in NYC for the aunts' annual theater trip. They and whoever else take a day trip to the city, see a couple of shows, and eat at John's or Junior's or both. Good times.

Well, Melis and Kris called me from West 44th to tell me that they had just walked out on a play. Mary Stuart. Apparently it was appallingly boring and the man next to them fell asleep 3 minutes after the curtain rose. At one point, there was a soundtrack of applause onstage and he jolted awake and began to clap, thinking it was the end of the first act. That was the most entertaining thing to happen in the Broadhurst Theater this evening.

Kris was also concerned about historical inaccuracies, including costumes such as three-piece suits for the men (keep in mind this is the 16th century) and a polka-dot dress for Queen Elizabeth. They expressed hope that things would improve in the second act for the people they left behind, but that's unlikely since my perusings online show a man in a leather jacket having a switchblade fight in Act 2. That's Act 2 of a play set in the 16th century, in case you weren't paying attention before.

For pity's sake.

I had wanted to see this play, but since I can't take the historical inaccuracies of The Tudors, a show that actually bothers to use jerkins and doublets, I doubt I could have endured this.

Just arrived in the mail...

My SECOND copy of The Secret History. The first one is in tatters from being over-read.

Have you ever loved a book so much you wore it out and had to purchase another copy? Ridiculous. Ridiculous how good this book is.

Cooking and eating and fruit and pottery and games = Weekend of Awesomeness

This is what comes of spending the weekend with people who cook. Now I'm cooking. Friday night Liz made spaghetti. I love how all the aunts have a different take on Grammy's homemade sauce, and all the sauces are great, and their daughters make it like they do. Liz's version is thicker and spicier than my mom's, and it's all delicious. Then Zack made us Polish breakfast. Liz made us tacos and chicken salad and grilled chicken and zucchini and squash. It was one big pig fest. And Becky and Sherry were there talking about the stuff they cook. And then it happened. Kris, being a vegetarian, couldn't eat the tacos, so she whipped up this crazy witchcrafty magical quesadilla thing with mushrooms and cheese and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it! So I made one tonight and let me tell you, it was magnificent.



It all started with the mushrooms.



And then it somehow turned into this. I even broke out an actual plate for this one. I thought it deserved it. Note the ice cold Coke in the background. Perfect. I can't wait to make this again. I wish I was hungry for another one right now.

Other awesomeness from our weekend of fun:

We went to Liz's farm market, where I would shop every day if I lived in Mechanicsburg.













And then we went here:



A place that sells fair trade goods to help artisans in disadvantaged countries sell their work. Look at this amazing necklace from Cambodia. It's a dove made from a bomb casing, with "peace" in English and Kmer engraved on it. So cool.



And we went to Color Me Mine to paint pottery!


Kris examines her color choices.


Becky scrapes the lyrics of a John Mayer song into her "coffee cup of dreams."



And here it is with Liz's polka dot bowl, Kris' Asian plates, and my teapot and Noah's Ark. (Shh! Don't tell Julia!) They're waiting to be glazed and fired and Liz will pick them up this week. Liz and Kris and I have already planned more visits to Color Me Mine.

Also, we played Rock Band and Settlers of Catan, snuggled Weston, and just generally had a great time. Thanks to our hosts for being awesome.