Had a great time at the Renaissance Festival with denis77, cmshaw, ellen_fremedon, and uschickens.

I had never been to one before, even though we've lived here for five years. It was really lovely. Three of us got there around noon? We shopped, threw some axes, and ate some fried things. ellen_fremedon spent some time choosing a fantastic new hat that is very her. Then uschickens joined us. We listened to the Rogues perform (awesome). There was more shopping (earrings! necklaces! herby things!), and three of us spent a lot of time trying on costumes (guess which three). After waiting patiently for a while D. and C. went off to listen to some more music. There were more food breaks. We tried on tiaras (again mostly three of us did this although we all admired the dragon items). We saw a jousting tournament (awesome! one guy was unhorsed), and three of us took an elephant ride! It was a fantastic day. Great friends, incredible people-watching (codpiece with sparkly man-thong?), fun activities, a good Sunday afternoon.

Pictures here

D. heard a story on NPR about Julie & Julia and bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking (we haven't seen the movie yet). Last week he made chicken with butter and mushrooms that was really good. This weekend he spent hours on a second dish. (What did he expect? My general assumptions about French cooking is that it involves lots of butter, is a pain in the ass, but tastes really good).

He made moussaka, which was billed as a fancy way to use up your leftover lamb. You're supposed to put in in a charlotte and then flip it, but we just used corningware. I've never made any sort of upsidedown meat casserole before, but with the eggplant skins on the outside it is kind of pretty. The tomato sauce is key, not just for color, but the acidity lends a lot to the dish. Anyway it's tasty and I was very impressed so picture after the cut.

( example of Denis's impressive cooking skills )

Denis is here! He arrived last night after taking a 4-hour later flight that resulted in his bags being stuck in Munich and a $250 euro travel voucher that is helping us destress after the Orbitz fiasco. We also had an anticlimatic initial attempt to pick him up at the airport, but it all worked out.

Thursday Slavica and I spent a ridiculous amount of time on public transportation. (So you're supposed to buy bus and tram tickets, but most people do so on their cellphones, so you don't see a lot of people using the punch things.) When I asked her about this she said "they check rarely" so because I'm not sure exactly where to buy a paper ticket (not with the driver) I'm riding public transportation illegally (like Denis did when he was a teenager). This makes me somewhat nervous, but apparently not enough to go buy tickets.

Anyway the time spent was good because we went and saw my SIL at work at the bakery and she gave us lots of tasty baked goods and then we went swimming at the lake. Amazing how good swimming and lying on the beach (in the shade on chairs!) is for your soul. We also actually swam across the little man-made lake and back which was more cardio exercise than I've had in a while. It's been really hot here. (The heat has been in the front page of the papers, I think it's been around 37 degrees C. which is in the high 90s). So the air was hot and dry and the water was cool and wet and that worked out just fine.

Of course Denis came and last night it cooled right down and today is cloudy and breezy and some temperature where you could wear jeans out and not die. The only bad thing about Denis being here is that I don't sleep half as well with the snoring (and he sleeps better when someone isn't waking him up multiple times a night telling him to stop snoring). But it is so nice to see him again!

A picture from last weekend Taffy posted in her blog. Her caption reads:
Patrick and Denis chat. Patrick really likes Denis even though we don't get to see him very often. Oh yeah- Andrea [Patrick's babydoll] went to hang on the swing too but she must have fallen off.

( guys on the swing )

D. is in NYC with durdge and jem this weekend doing fun ravenchase activities. I'm home working, blech.

A lesson in hubris:
1. Just because a lovely English woman on the internet gives a makeup tutorial does not mean that you will be able to recreate the same look on your own.
2. She has over 100+ tutorials up on youtube, she has more experience with things like liquid eyeliner.
3. Even if you spent (too much) money on fun makeup colors today. Yes, we've had the conversation about how paying more for quality eyeshadow is a good idea. Maybe you should have tried the colors on?
4. Even though it's a pretty color in the container does not mean it will look good on your face. Note how it resembles a healing bruise.
5. Really if it's more than 4 steps you should just abandon all hope.
6. Remember how you were a sucky MaryKay consultant all those years ago?
7. No, you will never find that favorite lip gloss.
8. Yes, I see you bought a similar color, oh it sucks and makes you look like a mannequin. Yeah.
9. Shouldn't we have covered this phase in junior high?
10. Here are some responses you can expect from your "in-house makeup consultant" (ie D.)

a. In response to the question "do I look like I got punched in the face?" A: "a little"
b. Various other reasons quickly cited for an affirmative response to question a:
1. "you're standing with the light behind you"
2. "it's funny that you're wearing makeup at all"
3. "it's funny that you're wearing makeup with curling clothes"
c. Based on the response to question a it was good you omitted the question about looking like a pirate whore
d. What if I asked about looking like a sexy pirate whore?
e. Um no, you will probably get something along the lines of abused pirate whore.
d. Just because the name of the makeup look includes the word "sexy" it does not mean that *your* application of the makeup will make you look sexy (remember that you're still wearing curling clothes)
e. If I took off the clothes would that help?
f. No, then you would smear the make up.
g. In response to the question "could I wear this outside?" A: "it's an evening look, right?"
h. Yes, probably only on a very, very dark evening.
i. It's your own fault for asking another question.

Since I'm going out of town this weekend and wouldn't be able to enjoy cut flowers D. bought me chocolate-dipped strawberries :) They are very pretty and super yummy. A perfect compliment to seeing Avenue Q on Wednesday.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

The show was great! Very entertaining, we especially enjoyed the choreography and the actress that played Anita. It was neat that a lot of the Shark's conversation and two of the songs, including "I Am Pretty", were in Spanish. We don't understand Spanish, but you could easily figure out what was going on (and they had the lyrics translated in the program, not that you really needed it for either one). After we got there we realized that Riff was played by the guy we saw on tv last summer on Step It Up and Dance. On the show he was portrayed as kind of a jerk, but ended up winning (I wanted the girl to win). Anyway, he was good as Riff, and the dancing was great. Highly recommended, I think the show runs until Jan. 15th.

It's been a roller-coaster day for me emotionally. High point: I got a massage (they had a summer special at the campus health center), and then I met with my adviser which was good, but led to some stressful stuff that I don't want to get into, and then I engaged in some moderate-self-destructive behavior, and anyway.

I think I have something of an emotional hangover from spending so much money on Sunday. The social part was great but spending money sometimes makes me irritable and guilty and sad. Or it could just be hormones. Or that I'm overwhelmed by classes starting. Or the icecream I had for dinner. Yeah, I don't know.

This was capped off when I discovered that my computer is no longer supported by puzzle pirates :( (yes, I cried). It will still work at D.'s computer but if you know how our apartment is set up that is sub-optimal. D.'s solution is to get a new computer. My laptop is three years old and I have been stressed by it's lack of memory, processing stuff, whatever-I-don't-really-know for about a year and a half. But spending more money isn't going to make me feel better. But puzzle pirates. So I don't know.

Dealing with the technology stuff is one area that I have completed delegated in my marriage. It's not that I'm not smart enough it's just that it doesn't seem worth remembering because D. can always deal with it more efficiently, and is working from a greater knowledge base, so he can be is the expert in that area.

But if D. ever dies then I am going to look like such an idiot. Hopefully that won't happen until after singularity (I'm not completely sure I'm using that word correctly) or whatever. Anyway, whenever we get chips in our heads, but then still I know we'll be 60 85 102 and having this conversation:

A: Which chip do I have in my head again?
D: Seriously, you're seriously asking me what chip you have in your head. Seriously. (makes that face, you know the one I mean).
A: I think it's the green one, because you know I had the blue one and it wouldn't do the thingy the way I like it to do the thingy so you bought me the other one for my birthday, it was green right? or maybe red? If I turn around can you check for me.
D: (silence)
A: Are you listening to me at all? Are you still playing that game?
D: I can't believe you don't know what kind of chip you have in your head. (sigh) It's the green one with the red upgrade which is 500 mega-trilion-dino-hurtz
[I can't even come up with convincing tech-speak, so sad.]

Then a few years later D. will die and the kid will come for my regularly-scheduled chip upgrade and this will happen.

tech kid: Ma'am, what chip do you have in your head and which upgrade do you want?
A: uh, I don't know I think it might be blue? My husband dealt with the chips (internal wincing from "my husband dealt with...")
tech kid: Um, sorry, ma'am but there are lots of blue chips do you know the make and model?
A: no, and my husband just died and now I'm a widow and how dare you disturb me while I'm mourning and get out of my house (or floating apartment or whatever)
tech kid: sheepishly leaves

Then I'll cry. And then I'll feel really bad about being rude to the poor tech kid. And then I won't be able to play Puzzle Pirates version 3 Million and I'll miss Denis more and cry more and then I'll have to call the tech kid back and it will be socially awkward.

So I better figure out some of the computer stuff. Cause I really hate it when it's socially awkward.

At least that's how it's playing out in my head right now

Here's a picture of scary!Denis and an unimpressed Patrick who was very interested in that ceramic dragon. All weekend Patrick loved to having Denis chase him as he ran around trees, swingsets, people, and then eventually to his mom :) ah the cuteness!

( Under the cut )

To celebrate our anniversary D. surprised me with tickets to the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Antony and Cleopatra! The show was really wonderful, particularly Cleopatra (Antony was an understudy and was good, but not quite as strong as the leading lady). We had a really nice evening out.

I finally got around to working on our anniversary album. When we were married my aunt or cousin gave me a small album with enough room for one picture and some writing on each page. We started with a wedding picture and each year we've taken a picture on (or close to) our anniversary. After some hunting to find the thing I finally affixed the pictures to the pages and wrote down where we were and what we were doing each year.

My gift to D. was an Amazon Kindle. We only played with it a little yesterday but it looks freakin cool. Hopefully it will give D. enough to do on his commute when I end up taking the car every day to teach starting in mid-July.

Just so all of lj knows, Denis is feeling much better. The sharp pain in his back went away after a couple of days although he was very, very sore for a while. Sadly in the middle of last week while his back was healing he got the flu complete with fever, congestion, and sore throat. He took all of last week off and went back to work on Monday although he still has some congestion.

Thanks so much for all of your good wishes!

Sunday was really nice. In the morning I went to catch the last few hours of women's challenge. That night D. and I went to see Jem's Latin Hip Hop performance as part of JOM's winter showcase. The show was great and Jem was fantastic!!!

Today was not so great. D.'s lower back started to hurt at work while he was washing his hands. The pain was so intense he had durdge take him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with a lower back sprain. I bused, metroed, and walked to their work to pick up the car and met them at the pharmacy. (Thanks durdge!)

D. got home and spent some time on the living room floor. It was very, very painful for him to get up and move into the bedroom. Now he's in bed with pillows, ice packs, heat thingies, a variety of prescription pain medication, food, and books. It is some of the worst pain D. has ever experienced and from my view at times his expression looked a lot like the women you see on the discovery channel giving birth. He is hurting a lot and I'm sure would appreciate any signs of support.

Hopefully he will feel significantly better in a day or two although I'm sure full recovery will take a while.

Today is the 10 year anniversary of my first date with Denis. :)

One of the first gifts I gave Denis was a book of Robert Frost poetry. I didn't date it (because I was young and foolish), but I know I gave it to him within the first three or four months of our relationship. I remember that we used to read poems to each other when we lived together for the first time in this horrible apartment above the hardware store the summer after freshman year.

The inscription reads:
"to Denis,
my love, thank you for all the kind words, soft kisses, strong hugs, smiles, backrubs, laughter, and sweet deeds that will keep you forever in my heart
Amelia"

Ten years later it all still applies.
Even despite Denis's favorite poem from that book, Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

D. and I did the Valentine's Day Ravenchase in Philly today. It was the perfect (February) day to race, blue sky, cold but not inappropriately so (30s), and only a little wind. It was a little like our very first Ravenchase together in Baltimore which was also freezing. The major difference being that ellen_fremedon was also on our team then.

The race was a nice mix of locations (public buildings, park, plaza, and commercial art gallery, no cemetery woo!), clue types (find the plaque, puzzles--including one monster 4-part clue with a varying backward Cesar shift that took us a bit to solve, dig in the leaves for stuff, and talk to the actor, actually also sing to the actor and then he took our picture in front of the LOVE statue, awesome!), and group types (us, a veteran team that's done almost all the Philly races, some couples, a family, a birthday party, and a monster bachelorette party).

This is the first race that D. and I have done together, just the two of us. I was slightly concerned, but we worked very well together and had a great day.

As an extra-special bonus we came in first!

We solved all of the clues without any hints and were the first to the bar. The race was very well written as all the teams came in around the same time (within a half hour of each other I think). I think we might try to do some more by this couple. They do the northeast so Philly, Princeton, NYC, etc.

On our way out of town we stopped at Jim's and got cheesesteaks. I had never had a cheesesteak before in my life, isn't that strange? Anyway, they were really yummy and set us up well for the drive home.

It's 10:30 Sunday night and Denis wants cake. I don't have any cake. None of the good cake places are open. So we decide to bake at 11:15 at night, using only what we have in the kitchen.

flour: check
sugar: check
butter: *almost* two sticks
oil: n/a unless we use olive, almond, sesame, or peanut
eggs: two little, little ones from our CSA shipment, but since they're from the farm they must be magic super eggs that have double, no triple the binding power of those storebought eggs, right?
baking soda: nowhere to be found, but we have baking powder, the internet confirms that this is almost the same thing but we have to add four times of much and it is pre-mixed with cream of tartar, I don't know what cream of tartar is anyway so 4 times as much can't be that bad right?
add-ins: assorted stuff, not quite enough peanut buttter, no chocolate chips or nuts
other considerations: not enough time for anything that has to be refridgerated
baking knowledge: sure, I've baked, many years ago, I mean I watched my sister bake, I think I bake once or twice a year now. Denis has eaten baked goods.

We decide to make snickerdoodles! Cookies of my childhood! Denis has never had them before. He is skeptical when I tell him he's an American tradition, Joy of Cooking says they are a New England tradition so there.

Cooking equipment we get to use for the first time (at least is recent memory)
-handmixer
-flour sifter (purchased by my mother in law last fall)
-cookie sheet (I can't believe we have *only* one, wait yes I can, at least it's a nice one, wedding shower present I think)
-silpat cookie sheet liner (I don't think we need this, but D. bought it many years ago so we use it)
-cooling rack (I know this was a wedding gift)

Now we are a couple that bakes together (and cleans). D. is skeptical that cleaning is the other half of cooking, but out kitchen is really small and if one person is mixing the other should be washing something (or picking up an entire thing of split sugar off the floor, oops, my bad).

And we're a couple that eats snickerdoodles together after midnight. Guess I can live with that. :)

(Lest you think this is too schmaltzy I have had to takes breaks while writing this entry to roll the last two sheets of cookies solo. D. helped with the first one and then retired to the computer. He's now playing Bioshock, pardon me the Bioshock demo.)

Oh and the cookies came out well. Soft and buttery and covered in cinnamon goodness. Very yummy.

Today is the 9 year anniversary of our first date! Love and hugs for D.!


(There probably should be more to this post, but I have to go to work, and then I'm off to the women's challenge bonspiel--that's a curling competition--in Maine for the weekend.)

The apocalypse may be near.

I've been spending all day at home alone with my sweetie. What have we been doing? Cuddling on the couch and watching romantic moviesbad tv? Sex, sleep, repeat with the occasional bathroom/snack break? Nostalgically looking through old photo albums? Important work? Reading books and sharing with each other? Cleaning the apartment? Laundry? Deep conversation about our relationship and the meaning of life? ( No, no silly people )