I don't want to tempt fate

...but things are certainly improving. My mysterious stomach thing seems to be pretty much better, though it definitely keeps reminding me of its presence every once in a while. The doctor said I can eat normal food again (minus fresh veggies, for some reason--ideas, anyone?), as long as I'm careful, so I'm back to happiness minus spicy food, fried food, coffee, and alcohol.
I keep hearing weird things about the weather this weekend going from almost 60 (like it is now) to cold with a bunch of snow, but I'm really not sure what's going on. I do know that Erica and I are finally going to get to spend some time together, which hopefully won't involve trips to ERs or walk-in clinics or anything like that. I know we're both looking forward to a quiet night in tonight and an easy weekend.
Tomorrow's the band's first rehearsal since our show on January 31st--between Terryl and I being sick and Clark traveling for business, it's been impossible to get together. I'm psyched to play again, especially because Pete knows one of the ladies who played in Adele's Grammy string section and she (the string player, not Adele) seems interested in playing with us if we ever need her. So that's kind of cool. And I also got together with the re-formed Sunday Morning Boys after school today--we're an acoustic trio that is available for all of St. Patrick's Day-related Irish music needs.
That's a lot going on, but mostly I'm thankful to be feeling mostly human again, and to have a very patient girlfriend who isn't grossed out by what my body's been doing to me for the past week -and-almost-a-half. Really, that's the best thing.

house hunters

...or in our case, apartment hunters! Here's the latest on our move. We've been working with one realtor, JB, who seems to be really nice. We met her at an open house about two weeks ago. She sent me an email with multiple listings, and this was definitely the best one:



It's in a excellent location, and pretty large for the cost. AND, best part? 2 pools..ahhh, awesome. This complex is definitely at the top of my list! Let's just see if we can convince the bearded guy.

Another realtor emailed me the one below. It's newer, and I think a little bit bigger. But also in our price range.

We'll keep you updated! In the meantime, hope you're having a merry Monday!

saturday shopping

Since I was up o so early this morning for my eye doctor's appointment, I figured I would take advantage of the early start to the day and do some shopping. First stop, Marshall's. I got a pair of Hunter Wellies for $29.99, which is beyond amazing considering they sell for over $150. Still trying to decide if I like the yellow, they also came in Nantucket Red (which, as some of you--as in J and my mom--know, I love) They also had a LOT of Vera...which I'm kind of over, but it was such a great deal, that I couldn't pass it up. So I now have a new travel cosmetic bag to go along with vintage seaport navy duffel bag, which is by far my most favoritest pattern she has ever made:
From there, I stopped by EMS for a new Sigg bottle. My other one just got gross after a few months. While I was at the store, I learned that they have tablets you can use to clean out the bottles. Did anyone else know about these? I knew they sold brushes specifically for these type of bottles, but I might try out the tablets down the road.
The next stop was over to the library, where I was picking up One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell. I tried reading it a few months ago, but between grad school and work, I just didn't have the time. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this time around! While I waiting to check out, my eye caught this: The Tomie dePaola Author Library! My first graders are going to love watching it. We spent a few months at the beginning of the school year learning all about Tomie and even writing to him. I can't wait to bring it into school on Monday.
Last stop of the day was food shopping, where I picked up pink gerber daisies for my new tin can flower pitcher. Tonight I'm off to Tiernan's with the old PTPS crew, and waiting patiently for J to get better :)

A few Saturday morning thoughts

• My stomach bug? Not the 24-hour kind, I'm afraid. This is not looking like a good weekend at all. E and I have already cancelled last night's trip to New Haven for Rich's book-release party, today's trip to NYC for ice-skating at the Museum of Natural History, and tomorrow's meet-my-aunt-and-uncle session. I thought I was over this thing yesterday morning, but I was advised to the contrary by lunchtime. Grrr.
• I feel like my bank is really really dumb. It's probably time to switch over to the credit union.
• Has it really been almost 20 years since Paul's Boutique came out? Apparently so. It definitely still holds up, though.
• Since I'm in self-imposed exile this weekend (I'm not spreading this nonsense to ANYBODY), looks like I'll be doing a lot of reading and watching.

Hopefully this thing'll work itself out sooner rather than later and I'll be back to normal. Until then, wish me luck, amigos...

Giveaway

I love reading blogs. I especially love reading blogs that belong in the "Preppy Underground" (as J calls it). I just came across this amazing giveaway that Tale of A Southern Belle is giving away. Um, hellooo? A free vacation to the Bahamas?! Jeffrey Charles...you BEST be entering this as well!

Enjoy this beautiful, sunny day!

Stamford's Claim to Fame

Y'know what's not so awesome? This story about Travis, the chimp. First off, who names a chimpanzee Travis? Anywho---this story has been all over the news. At first, I was like, ok that's really sad/weird...but c'mon, let's move on. Instead, everywhere I go, it's chimp this, chimp that. For example:

1. Yesterday I was at TJ Maxx (being shamelessly shoportunistic) and this woman was on her cell, talking louder than needed and discussing the whole shabang with a friend (?) for about 20 minutes. No joke.

2. Woke up to more chimpanzee-ness and the 911 call on all the morning TV shows.

3. In the car with one of our first grade moms on our way to the Maritime Aquarium field trip. Take one guess what was brought up. And then talked about by 4 six year olds. All the way there.

4. The final straw? Just turned on The Insider (CBS) for some juicy celeb gossip, hoping to hear some great commentary of the Aniston/Mayer vs. Jolie/Pitt run-in at the Oscars. And my buddy shows up once again:


I'm going bananas! (no pun intended)

Fran(co/kenstein)

So something you need to know about me, if you're reading this blog, is that I'm a huge music nerd. I've written about this before, on my other blog. I find a band or artist I like, then find out about other similar artists, then spend a lot of time listening to music, searching for more, reading about it, etc.

My fascination with African pop music is a great example of this. I've been listening, this afternoon, to a collection of Franco's Congolese rhumba tunes which I got from the local library (I had it on hold for a couple of months--it's way more popular than you'd imagine). And how, you might ask, did a suburban American Jewish guy in his early 30s wind up with a two CD set of a fairly obscure singer from the Congo?

Simple: Paul Simon. I grew up on Simon & Garfunkel, and when I was in 4th grade, my uncle Jesse, who worked for Time Warner, gave me a tape of Graceland, which immediately became my favorite music ever. I wore out the tape a few years ago and replaced it with a CD, and I still listen to it a lot. Something about the South African rhythms stuck with me, and now I find myself loving Afropop and Afrobeat. My iTunes library has four or five albums by Oliver Mtukudzi,

a lot of Fela Kuti,

some Cheikh Lo,

and now Franco.

And, of course, my Tinariwen tickets came in today's mail. VERY excited.

So what do I do while I'm listening to all this music? Well, I'm rereading Frankenstein for my grad class. I read it in high school (sophomore or junior year) and remember loving it, and the reread isn't disappointing so far. There's something really mysterious about Mary Shelley's language that I absolutely love. More on it later, probably, but I need to get back to reading (dinnertime's over--yep, I post while I eat, which is kind of gross, but whatever, I don't have a table anymore) so I can spend a little quality time with a Very Important Person.

Real Housewives of NYC

I'm so, so, so excited about the season premiere of Real Housewives: New York. I watched LOTS of episodes (and their reruns) last year when I was home with mono. What can I say? I heart reality television, and I'm not afraid to admit it :)

Tuesday!

There is something really great about starting your week off on a Tuesday. For some reason, it made it much easier to get up this morning, and I was up and into the shower (my daily dose of caffeine) even before my alarm went off. This past 3 day weekend was really great. Actually, I should probably recap from last week first:

-Brett Dennen show in the city...very fun. Right up in front, J and I pretended to be as young as the sea of NYU freshmen we were surrounded by. I love Brett Dennen's music, just not too fond of his stage presence. I really felt like he was just trying too hard, and just needed to CHILL.

-Found out that roommate #4 is leaving in April, but luckily S and G are so great that we decided we'll split rent 3 ways for the extra month. May 30th is moving day for 865...bittersweet b/c I really do love my apartment, but can't wait to move in with roommate J!

-Valentine's Day in school + Saturday= mucho amounts of love. The kids were adorable and I got enough boxes of chocolate and cookies to last me until next year. AND a special someone not only bought me the shoes I wanted(see a few posts down), but also took me to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. He's the best :)

-Sunday was spent in NJ and PA. We finally made it to New Hope with the 'rents and we had the most excellent day. Pictures to follow!

xoxo,
e

flashback photo: my favorite puppy in the world....bernie!

Happy Valentine's Day

from my heart...

...to yours!

Life in the 1st grade

So yesterday while I was outside at recess (right before J came to visit for an awesome walk on the sunniest of days), one of my first graders "C" came up to me.

C: Miss H, I made you a special Valentine's Day card.
Miss H: Great, I can't wait to see it!
C: Yeah, it says "Happy Valentine's Day...you rock!"
Miss H: Oh, you mean like I rock n roll? :)
C: No, no, like you rock!
Miss H: Oh, so I'm like a rock...on the ground?
C: No, Miss H...you rock! you rock! like you're totally awesome!

Later in the day I was told by another girl, "E" that she loved me more than her sisters and babysitter. Ah, yes. Self-esteem points from six year olds make my day :)

Awesome cover versions

Obviously, Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" makes any right-thinking person's list, along with Ray Charles's "Ring of Fire" and Aretha's "Satisfaction".

But this has to be up there. It just has to be.

February funemployment

So I'm finally beginning to enjoy my February break--not being sick anymore is a huge help--and figured I'd update you on all the good things that have happened so far:

1) My Very Special Ladyfriend came by on Sunday morning with breakfast (bagels, veggie cream cheese, and juice). This went a long way toward making me feel a lot better.

2) I've gotten back to making a dent in my Netflix queue. I realize that sounds kind of lame, but for a guy who is teaching a Film as Lit class this semester, I've seen very few movies. I will say, thought, that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was great. Looking forward to Duck, You Sucker! tomorrow...

3) I redid the header on the Terryl Lee Band website. This took a while. It was the first web design thing I've ever done that involved actual scissors and tape.

4) Met up with Erica yesterday and went for a walk around GFA. The weather is so much better this week than it's been since, I don't know, November, that I want to spend as much time as possible outside.

Still to come:

1) Doing my taxes tonight. I had fun last year, which was the first time I did them myself. Let's hope tonight's adventure is as exciting.

2) Finishing my presentation for Thursday's class on "Mary Wollstonecraft: The Gender of Genres in Late Eighteenth-Century England". That's gonna RULE.

3) Brett Dennen concert tomorrow night!

4) Jersey (finally) on Sunday.

I'm hoping this doesn't become one of those vacations that just slip away; then again, even if it does, it's been pretty relaxing so far.

Procrastination is awesome

Dear Cupid,

Banana Republic driving moccasins in amaretto = LOVE

xoxo,
Erica

Weekend Recap

What a weekend. I would love to say that everything went as planned, but truth be told, all our plans got totally switched up.
Friday night= J sick; E finishing up Prep (2nd time reading it...and actually enjoying it this time around)
Saturday= J sick; E gets last minute phone call to puppysit (see picture below)
Sunday= J (still) sick; no Jersey (maybe next weekend?) BUT E finds an awesome apartment complex in Stam...could be a winner! Also, saw "He's Just Not That Into You"...typical chick flick, great cast, but I fell asleep for like 5 minutes = wait for it on DVD.

And that brings me to 7pm on Sunday night...no work done, Grammys are on...I don't see productive-ness in my future.

A puppy.

A puppy.
Originally uploaded by One Ping Only

Sick!

Sore throat: check.
Chest congestion: check.
Post-nasal drip: check.

I'm pretty sure my body's telling me I need to slow down (note: if you've seen me run, please, no snide comments, kthanksbye). So I'll listen. After I run out to get my car back from the shop tonight, I'm really not planning on doing much of anything until at least tomorrow night.

Potential drama alert! ;) I'm avoiding Erica until I can at least stop coughing. While I have next week off, she doesn't, and the poor thing's been sick enough since she met me.

One Love

Sending good vibes to Robert Nesta Marley, who would have been 64 today. Too bad it's too late to go to this ...

Stuff White People Like

I got home this afternoon to find a box waiting for me outside my door. My little brother ordered the book "Stuff White People Like" for me. Since I'm procrastinating (as it's clearly too early to start doing my work that's due on Tuesday) I started flipping through it. And that's when I found #95: BEARDS.

"At some point during the early part of the twenty first century, white people discovered that the combination of a beard and thick framed glasses was a solid white look that showed individuality, musical taste, and a rich educational pedigree. Bearded white males have had much social success in recent years as their facial hair says "Look at me. I am manly enough to grow this beard, yet I wear glasses, which shows my intellectual and sensitive side. I wear plaid, which shows I'm down with people, but I also have expensive jeans, which shows that I have taste. I am the perfect male with whom to engage in a one-to-two-year relationship that might include living together."

dedicated to my very own "thick framed glasses, bearded, plaid wearing guy"... xo

brrr.

It's a cold day in Connecticut! I can't WAIT until the weekend. 50+ degrees will definitely put a little pep in my step. Jeff and I are visiting my parents in NJ and taking a trip to New Hope, PA. If you haven't been to New Hope before--you should definitely make plans. It's a cute, funky, little town tucked away right on the NJ/PA line.


Yesterday I was feeling uber-run down and just out of it. I guess it doesn't help that I spend most of my day with 15 little germ infested kiddos...it's a good thing they're adorable and hilarious. Some boy cheered me up by bringing these over. Tulips are -hands down- my favorite flower. They remind me of spring and the warmer days to come! So, my, snowed in, cold, over-winter, friends...pick up some pretty, colorful flowers...they might just make spring come a little bit faster.

My favorite poem

"I Love You Sweatheart"
Thomas Lux

A man risked his life to write the words.
A man hung upside down (an idiot friend
holding his legs?) with spray paint
to write the words on a girder fifty feet above
a highway. And his beloved,
the next morning driving to work...?
His words are not (meant to be) so unique.
Does she recognize his handwriting?
Did he hint to her at her doorstep the night before
of "something special, darling, tomorrow"?
And did he call her at work
expecting her to faint with delight
at his celebration of her, his passion, his risk?
She will know I love her now,
the world will know my love for her!
A man risked his life to write the world.
Love is like this at the bone, we hope, love
is like this, Sweatheart, all sore and dumb
and dangerous, ignited, blessed--always,
regardless, no exceptions,
always in blazing matters like these: blessed.

Oh well.

Erica
Originally uploaded by One Ping Only

So the apartment hunting trip was pretty unsuccessful--not that we didn't see anything nice, but we didn't see anything awesome. There's a big difference between the two. The unit with more storage space (a must--one of us has a pretty decent amount of clothes and shoes, and the other one of us has a lot of music gear) was right on the Post Road, which kind of sucks. And the other, more updated unit was way too small and had one little closet for the whole place. It obviously was designed for one occupant, not two (and a dog).

The search continues. I'm glad we're starting early; hopefully we won't have to stress too much when the time really comes to make a decision.

Dear early dismissal, I love you mucho..

It's 1pm and I'm home..can I get an amen?

how i will spend my afternoon:
1. reading
2. listening to good tunes
3. watching super awesome, trashy reality tv shows

AND I'm going to be a rebel and skip my grad class tonight..yippee!

Stay warm & cozy,
e

YouTubery

Feb. 14th is just around the corner...

In case there was any confusion about what I'd like...
I'll take this little guy:


Ok, ok, twist my arm....I'd even settle for this one...:)

kthanksbye.

Month of L-O-V-E

Happy February! It is absolutely awesome outside. HOWEVER, I was just given word by one of my first graders that good ol' Puxsutawney Phil DID see his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter? I don't think I can handle it. I've been thinking of taking some time during my two week vacation in March (thank you, private schools) to just go somewhere warm....by myself...because someone can't join (cough, cough) ;) Any suggestions?

Last night we watched the Super Bowl at Jeff's old apartment. My favorite part (besides the fantastic football shaped carvel cake we brought) was....

You can take the girl outta Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey outta the girl!