why i love roger ebert: part infinity

the first sentence from r. ebert's review of the twilight saga: new moon [a one star review]:
The characters in this movie should be arrested for loitering with intent to moan.

this man is brilliant.

to remember

love this quote from a.o. scott in today's times online:

"The best new movies carry intimations of permanence along with their novelty and very quickly start to seem as if they had been around all along."

bracelet bliss

i'm not a huge fan of wearing bangle bracelets -- the constant clanging makes me feel a bit like a gypsy or part of a one-person marching band. i like them more in theory: if life were an ad in a fashion magazine [static and unmoving] i'd wear them daily.

i made an exception this morning when i realized that my coral/off-white bracelet was a near-identical match to my new coral shoes.

happiness is...accessories that accidentally match.

[this blog post is dedicated to my sister, who complains that i never post anything anymore. to which i have to say: MANILOW. it's coming. be prepared. i have pictures.]

fun with plates & wayward sprinkles

dear driver

dear driver,

i mean, really? you thought this was an acceptable parking job?



fool.

inventory time

took a quick inventory this morning of my desk area. here are some highlights of what i have cluttering up my work space:

• giant box of oreos, newly acquired [this morning, in fact] from my co-worker suzanne
• nectarine that i failed to eat yesterday, growing a bit mushy
• peanut butter & raspberry jelly sandwich, also from yesterday
• bag of almonds & pecans
  
• mary poppins umbrella
• two vhs tapes, contents unknown
• wind-up dancing bee
• a lot of pens
• two stacks of post-it notes
• two packets of starbucks instant coffee
• a lot of paper
• the stanley thermos
• my to-do list
• pile of my own business cards
• files upon files upon files
• two back issues of vogue [one from 2005, one from 2006]
  

this is really only the tip of an ever expanding iceberg. i wish i could describe my 'wall of fame' that looms large over my desk...essentially 5 years [since we moved to the new office] of pictures, drawings, articles, quotes, notes, etc. that have found their way to my cork strips, magnetic desk and memo board. it's kind of amazing, actually.

mellow yellow cardigan

remember that plan to post while on vacation? yeah. that never happened. too much sun, sand, ocean, fries, lobster, smiling children, books and whatnot to be had. there will be stories at some point. although, i'm beginning to sound like the girl who cried blog posts... anyway. what i can tell you about is this yellow sweater:



i have purchased this sweater three times. three times. i have wanted a yellow cardigan for quite some time, and i watched it diligently, circling the sale rack at old navy, waiting for it to go down to an acceptable [for me] price. it finally did, and i bought it immediately. a few weeks after that, i was in a different old navy, and i saw the same sweater for about three dollars cheaper. i wasn't sure it was worth purchasing this sweater and returning the first one [or hassling over a price adjustment] but i picked up sweater number two anyway, and eventually returned sweater number one.

whilst on vacation in lovely maine, we frequented the kittery outlets [similar to the outlets in waterloo.] i went into old navy on the off chance that they might have something interesting [aside from this/these sweater/s my interest in old navy is waning.] what did they have? this sweater - for three dollars. i bought it, and promptly returned sweater number two upon our return to rochester. so. there you have it. the story of the three dollar cardigan.

i'm almost thirty...i see a lot of cardigans in my future as it is. i may as well spend as little as possible on them.

mainecation

on vacation! finally. of course, i haven't posted anything in over a month, so that was also a vacation [from here, anyway] of sorts. a couple of stories that i need to tell from the past few weeks, which i'll get to later today or tomorrow, but wanted to put up a picture that adequately sums up my vacation plans:



eat fries. lots and lots of fries.

rainy today, so no beach, but plenty of other fun and exciting happenings to keep us occupied and out of trouble.

also, just wanted to say a huge and excited CONGRATULATIONS to katie & ben on their recent engagement. love, love, love. their world is brimming with it. in a year full of maddening, devastating and often confusing events, this news brings some much needed joy. xoxo

my favorite moment from sunday

i don't know why i find this so hilarious.
it makes me laugh every time.

free cone day

sometimes i forget that i have a blog. it's strange.

saturday was free cone day at friendly's. i have never, nor will i ever, passed up free ice cream. or non-free ice cream. ice cream and i go way back. there used to be an ice cream shop [ye olde ice cream shoppe? no -- it was called the emporium.] a few blocks from my house and, when i was a kid, my mom and i used to walk there during the summer for ice cream cones. the emporium was wonderful for three reasons: the giant, perry's ice cream sign [you know the one -- in the shape of a giant ice cream cone] that signaled its presence; the red, padded stools at the counter; the ice cream. i'm a perry's kid, through and through. yes, i will eat just about any brand of ice cream [and obviously i have a strong connection to abbotts, being from rochester] but i think perry's is my favorite of the store-boughts. my mom and i would always order strawberry in a cone -- there was never any contemplation necessary. i don't remember when the emporium closed, but to this day its absence makes me sad.

anyway. free cone day.

butter crunch [exclusive to friendly's! actually, that might not be true. but whatever.] is one of my all-time favorite flavors, and generally what i order when i go to friendly's, so it was a natural choice for free cone day.

here's the cone:



and here is my happiness after finishing said cone:


bliss!

also: i would be remiss if i didn't tell you that i went to friendly's on sunday, too, with my mom and my sister. we split one strawberry cone and one butter crunch cone. best of both worlds.

[um, ok. i also had ice cream from cold stone creamery with joni & melissa on friday. thankfully the above picture hides my cone-created chins.]

new addition...

y'all, i have been wanting a thermos for a long time now. i love my travel mug, but some days [most days...] it doesn't hold quite enough coffee to get me through the day [or morning.] i could, conceivably, make coffee at work, but i drink decaf [or at least a split of decaf and regular] and i'm pretty sure my co-workers would notice [...and riot.] for about two months i'd been using a sleek, stainless-steel coffee thermos from home, but it held just barely more than my regular coffee mug [confession: i would take both the thermos AND my travel mug to work. like a bag lady, with mugs.]

all that has changed.

my lovely sister kept promising me that she had an old thermos in the basement [i'm really hoping said thermos did not come with the house. although, really, who am i kidding: i'd use it anyway.] for weeks upon weeks she taunted me with dreams of the stanley thermos, in its green, steel-sided glory...complete with handle.



greeting me this morning as i left for work [in addition to the adorableness that is my neice and nephew, having breakfast in their pajamas] was none other than the thermos. filled with coffee. so shiny. so beautiful. i felt prepared to conquer the world...or at least remain upright at my desk for more than two consecutive hours.

thank you, foo foo. you've made my friday bearable.
xoxox

snax

it's nice of mrs. freshley to offer up a snack with only 100 calories.
those of us who still eat food appropriate for third-graders are most appreciative.



i do, however, think she has an awful lot of faith in the consumer, seeing as how it's 100 calories, per roll, but two rolls come packaged together.




she is sneaky, that mrs. freshley.
sneaky indeed.

[yes. i ate them both.]

follow that...

oh, lordy.

so. i don't particularly care for birds. they tend to make me a little nervous. and uncomfortable. thankfully, i don't live in an area overpopulated by birds [i.e. near the beach.] although, maybe i'd be used to them a bit more of they were around more [note: i do not actually believe this, nor do i wish to test this theory.]

this morning, a bird [pigeon, i would guess] flew into my office window. twice. he has since decided to camp out on the ledge of said window. he's just chilling out. hanging around. WATCHING ME. blinking.



birds blink a lot.

i. am. not. pleased.
in fact, i'm feeling a wee bit queasy.

i'm a little worried that he's injured [although, i did look at him through the window and found no visible sign of blood, etc.] which will result in about 247853 of his bird friends coming to his bird aid to help him out. unless he's a loner. which sort of makes me sad. although, i'd prefer it to having an army of birds camped out on the ledge, nursing him back to health.

if ever there was a moment where i've felt my life has become a hitchcock movie, this would certainly be it.

UPDATE:
he just flew away. i think he sensed that he wasn't wanted.
either that, or he's pissed because i won the staring contest.

a letter

dear ed,

it's really nice to hear that you are no longer in debt. that you owe nothing, at the moment, to anyone. i'm glad that you're going to visit your grandchildren for a month and that, following that trip, you'll be going to north carolina to visit your OTHER grandchildren for a month. it's also heartening, in this day and age rife with divorce and infidelity, to learn that you're taking your wife of 43 years to europe toward the end of the year. i couldn't be happier for you. i mean that sincerely.

but if you don't get off the phone and fix the copier, we're going to have some serious problems.

sincerely,
the cranky lady in the next room

p.s.
kicking the machine doesn't help...

trust me.

close-up

magic

i'm amazed that these...



have the potential to become this:

for my dear katie

hostess party, y'all

hostess was a formidable opponent, but - in the end - no match for us.
behold the carnage.

dear internet,

today i inadvertently dressed like my cartoon doppelganger.
thankfully we're both wearing snappy outfits.

hey, lady

hey, lady. gimme your sandwich.
i am just a poor kitty and i have not eaten for days.

please? just a bite?

om nom nom

no, kitty, you may not have my sandwich.

animal cruelty

buttons

5pple

i [apple] heart you

time, time, time...

...i think the only good thing about daylight savings time [spring edition] is the facility with which one's clock can be changed. other than that: boo, time. we're fighting.

in other news: kate, teale, melissa and i are planning a 'hostess party' to celebrate melissa's new apartment living situation [she will hostess the hostess...eh? eh?] here's the hostess wall from wegmans...so many choices...my teeth are already starting to itch.

better than a groundhog

the first sighting of the season.



oh, yes.
spring is imminent...

contents may vary

snapped a random picture of my "things that belong nowhere else" drawer this morning and decided to chronicle some of its contents. they're not very exciting. also, i have a lot of random crap. just wait until i decipher my corkboard strip...

1. dark chocolate/caramel ghirardelli square, since consumed by office-mate kate in fit of afternoon chocolate craving
2. floppy disk, last used in 2005
3. broken hairband, since thrown out; bobby pin for emergency door unlockings or hair disasters
4. an earring, a screw, and an unclaimed, random bracelet found in a theater after a performance
5. giant pink paperclips
6. tiny post-its, most often adhered to the back of my cell phone to remind me of early morning meetings or grocery needs [i.e. today's reads 'tea']
7. key that unlocks the file cabinet built into my desk [note: probably unwise to keep said key in said desk, as desk can be locked from the outside without use of key]
8. four pens from unknown vendor; they have never been used [by me]
   
9. someone's watch, another treasure likely found during post-performance clean-up
10. "gold" and orange bead necklace [broke during work event in 2007]
11. post-it note with quote, which reads, "if we want to keep this love we've found, we've got to focus on tomorrow instead of right now" [unknown origin, but probably from a song]
12. PROFESSIONAL sharpie; yes, i have a degree in permanent marker usage
13. patriotic nail file
14. half-eaten milk chocolate/caramel bar, purchased by my sister/brother-in-law
15. x-acto knife; press clippings and intruders beware
    

shoes

also, today i'm wearing my brown cons.
i think i bought them prior to going on vacation...last year? two years ago? i can't remember.
but i love them. yay zappos. or maybe i purchased them at marshalls?

yes. it was marshalls. on ridiculous sale.
they complete me. well, my feet anyway.

my brain is tired

i know it's misspelled, but still...COME ON, BRAIN.
[via gchat]

Kendall: i have not loved todya

me: me neither. also, it took me a minute to realize that 'todya' was not the name of some obscure movie i had missed

Kendall: hahahahahahahahaha

me: seriously.

Kendall: oh i believe you

blog, interrupted

sorry for the absence...the universe has taken over in the past month.
as a remedy, below follows a photographic essay of my tuesday nite.

be prepared

today i'm wearing wellies.
bring it on, winter weather.
bring. it. on.

dear driver

dear navy blue ford minivan:

it is clear that you lack the skills to properly back into a parking space, as evidenced by the two foot protrusion into the driving area of the parking garage -- not only today, but yesterday as well.

when you're getting outparked by the hepatitis van, you know it's time to switch to public transportation.

your friend,
the foci

green

i meant to post this yesterday but ran out of time. shut up, 2009.

today [yesterday] i wore my green esprit boots, purchased circa 2005 - online for about $30. who even knew esprit still existed? these boots have held up, moreso than any other shoe i've had since then i would have to say. they're super comfortable, acceptably ugly, and warm. and they have good traction. and they don't make my feet sweat. and they're GREEN, which means they match nearly nothing and i wear them with nearly everything.

long live the green esprit storm-trooper boots!



----

during my trip to wegmans to procure more items for SOUP, i ran across quite possibly the greatest [or at least best-named] product:



i read a lot of recipes and i've never come across the need for artichoke bottoms. but if/when i do, you can bet i'm going to make it. something about the word BOTTOM is inherently funny.

ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS.
[insert incessant giggling]

at the movies

i'm not doing so well with this here resolution, it seems. i completely forgot to write something yesterday -- although, i wore the same boots again, so in terms of shoes it would have been a wash. and i'm just getting this post in under the wire. lame. and apparently, according to my sister, my first post of 2009 was, "kind of boring." hmm. this year has kind of gotten off to a slow start, i guess. i sent nondate packing back to florida on saturday for a couple of months. that was less than fantastic. i did, however, take olivia to see 'bolt' this past weekend -- so that was a much needed highlight. she's been my movie-going buddy since she was nearly two, and is most definitely the most well-behaved kid i have ever encountered in a movie theater -- hands down. she doesn't yell or cry or whine. she is conscious of the fact that there are other people in the theater and doesn't distract them or look to be distracted. she brings excellent snacks. maybe it's because we scared the pants off of her when we took her to see 'wallace & grommit: curse of the were-rabbit' [the only movie, i am proud to say, we've ever had to leave mid-way through. and mostly because she was not quite two-years-old and covetous of the popcorn she couldn't yet eat.] we've seen countless films together; she has progressed from sitting on the 'silly seats' [actual movie theater seats that flip up/down], to sitting on my lap, and back to sitting on the theater seats. we've seen both pixar films that have been released in her lifetime ['ratatouille' and 'wall-e' -- the latter of which we saw twice], a number of not-bad animated features ['kung fu panda', 'madagascar '] and one classic ['snow white & the seven dwarfs']. i'm trying to teach her to have discerning tastes when it comes to choosing which film to see; that not everything that animated is going to be good. for example, we purposely avoided 'alvin & the chipmunks.' for a number of reasons, most of which involved cartoon rodents eating [literal] crap. we marveled at 'enchanted' -- later a favorite when purchased on dvd. we talk about each film we see both leading up to it and in the car on the way home. we comment on trailers for new films, which ones we plan on seeing and which ones look less than promising. going to the movies with olivia has become one of my favorite activities. i often sneak a glance at her while she's watching the film and am overwhelmed by the sheer joy displayed on her face. it is quite the beautiful sight to behold. we were chatting about 'bolt' on the way home from the theater last week, her telling me about her favorite characters and scenes and after a slight pause she said, "...and i can't WAIT to see 'desperaux'."

--------

i wore my black, patent flats today. super sale at target. the second pair i'm on, actually, of this particular shoe. i often consider buying them in bulk. someday.

happy shoe year

an initial new year's resolution had been to post at least once every day.
seeing as how today is now the 4th and it's the first post of the new year, i think we can abandon that idea.
i did, however, have a grander theme in mind with regard to the individual posts. i wanted to document what shoes i wore each day during 2009, to try and delve a bit deeper as to why i wore which pair on a certain day and how that might have affected my mood, my day, if there was a story behind why i purchased them to begin with...and to just have an excuse to talk about my shoes. i know that i'm late in starting this project, and who's to say that i'll follow though with any sort of regularity, but we'll give it a shot, eh?

it helps that for the first three days of the new year i wore the same pair of shoes:



i bought these on black friday this year, on severe sale. i fought the allure of uggs for a really long time, but when you live in upstate [or western, for those of you who think westchester is upstate] new york and it snows for four months out of the year, and you have to trek to your office through the slushy city streets in negative-degree-temperatures, they're actually a pretty good idea. also, these are technically 'emus', not uggs. thank you, macy's.

in the interest of being thorough, i did step into these this evening for a party hosted by my dear friend jimmy ['paulie bleeker', if you saw the halloween pictures]:



these are an old navy special: they were $7.99, plus an additional 30% off. bliss! i actually returned two pairs of flats that i ordered off the website for $1o apiece and bought these instead. i'm not a fan of toe cleavage, but i do love these shoes...