I have been totally MIA this week. It was so crazy with finishing up things at work and a project (that I can’t tell you about right now) going on at home.

Today was my last day at work today, as I said before, and I feel… pretty good. I am not freaking out yet. Well, maybe just a little.

Maybe I just feel great because I got to meet Carolynn (of knitted thong fame) and Christopher’s little one tonight. I am going to borrow a picture from Chris because I don’t have the one he got of me holding Walter tonight.

Awwwwww!

Walter was born on the 1st- he is a whole 4 days old! I have never held a baby that tiny before and was so honored to get to meet him. C & C are just great parents already… it just makes me happy to be around them.

I don’t know why it just hit me but it is such a miracle- he is his own little person!

Okay, yes, I am tired and sappy.

Oh! You know what this means… cute knitted items!

I have to bring my plants home from the office because my last day is friday.(ah-freaking out!)

Unfortunately, I brought all those plants to work because my apartment doesn’t get much light and they were dying at home. Now I don’t really have a choice, obviously, and am worrying about how I am going to keep them alive.

Is there a type of lamp that you can buy that will provide more light to plants indoors?

Look what I asked my father to do!

He could have gotten arrested driving with that thing in his car!

What is it the freaking enormous box, you ask?

Oh… just this beautiful loveliness:

(First part in a series of post-wedding entries)

I feel like there aren’t many resources out there for people looking for concrete information about wedding vendors. I mean, there is the the knot and other places but often those sites have so much stuff on them, there is no way to find what you are looking for in your area. (or maybe I get over-stimulated easier than others…dunno!)

Anyway, for MA/ NH area people who are looking for wedding rings, I would recommend Barmakian Jewelers (locations in Boston, Framingham and Nashua, NH).

We originally went there because we heard good stories from two of our friends… that they treated you with respect and they were pleased with their jewelry. Casey actually got my engagement ring there and I, of course, love it.

We are also very happy with our wedding rings- in particular, Casey’s. It is a platinum band with a ring of textured platinum in the middle… It is a very classy ring and looks great on his finger:

I decided to go with one of those eternity band things because when I tried on the plain platinum band, it just looked like a lot of platinum. I also have really long, skinny fingers (everyone always says I should play piano! yes, yes, I haven’t heard that a million times… haha) and I chose a very delicate band, with small diamonds.

I really like the combination now but I wasn’t really sure at the time I bought it because my engagement ring is slightly taller in the middle and I was worried it would look strange with a straight band. It doesn’t, or at least I don’t think it does!

The other really nice thing is that you can go in anytime with jewelry you have bought there and they will clean, buff and polish them for you. I stopped in to pick up our wedding rings before our big day and they polished my engagement ring and it looked lovely when they were done. Like brand new!

So, that is it… I guess Casey could comment with anything he would like to say about our jewelry shopping experience…

Tuesday night my brother, his lovely girlfriend Erica, Casey and I went to see Hamlet on Boston Common.

It was a modern adaptation and Casey and I really liked it. I think Erica and Kyle had more of a lukewarm reaction…

It is one of my favorite things about Boston, the annual Shakespeare performances in the Common. It was hot and sticky but there was something nice about sitting in the dark, on the grass, under the lights of the city, surrounded by hundreds of other Bostonians…

Casey and I have been married for one whole month!

Awwwww, I know… we are just too much…

I still love it though.

Number of Hot Tamales eaten: about a thousand



Time it will take to get tongue tasting properly again: at least 3 days

Cheese dishes eaten: 2, mac and cheese (lunch at 4:00) and pizza (dinner at 9pm)

Number of wedding thank-you cards written: 20ish

Hours of Eukanuba Tournament of Champions watched: too many, lost track at 3

Movies watched, because too lazy to change channel: 2

Times Casey looked at me, waiting for movement of any kind: countless

BBC self-improvement programs watched: 2

Knitting projects worked on: 2, Julie’s wedding shawl (finally fixed those messy stiches at the beginning) and the neverending Orangina tank

Hours sitting on ass in living room: at least 10

hmmm. Not impressive. Not at all. No wonder I feel sick to my stomach.

Case and I went to see the Australian folk/ country/ rock band, The Waifs on Thursday night at the Paradise. We caught them at the same venue in November and I think they put on an even better show this time.

I am an obnoxious kind of concert-goer in that I never care about the opening act. If we end up being late for a show, all the better! No wasting time shifting your weight from one foot to the other, waiting for that special moment in time when those bozos get the heck off the stage and the real show starts.

(Although, I have a quiet impatience. Nothing pisses me off more than an audience that does not pay attention to someone on stage. Maybe it is my experience doing public speaking in front of perpetually bored college students, but it just pains me to see someone working hard and the audience can’t be bothered to shut the hell up and listen.)

Where was I? Oh! The opening act. I was pleasantly surprised and greatly enjoyed Ben Weaver’s performance. When he first came on, Casey and I perked up and grinned at each other because he immediately brought Tom Waits to mind. Not because of rambling or idiosyncratic songs, but his voice: Raspy and deep. Very nice.

The comparison ended fairly quickly though when I noticed that he has a country/ southern twang in most of his songs. (Casey still thought he was Australian… silly boy.)

But he is married to an Australian… Donna of the Waifs. He told a cute story about looking for a girl who could play a mailbox, because that is who he knew he was going to marry… Who knew a mailbox would so sound so good?

You can download a few mp3s from his website here. (Although I listened to them and he sounded way better live, in my humble opinion…)

Here are some rather blurry shots of The Waifs in action… check out the bellies on those girls! Apparently, both Donna and Vicki are due on the same day…. too cute!

You can get some sample songs, including my favorite Lighthouse, on the band’s website.

I had such a good time, bouncing away in the front row and holding hands with my hubby. Great music, great performance…

Not much can beat it, no siree.

oooh… it rhymed too! (punchy on caffeine warning!)

So it is a very special girl’s birthday today! There have been a lot of special girls’ birthdays lately- so funny!

Speaking of, I missed two birthdays on here because it was the same day as my wedding- sorry about that, Meg and Louise! I was thinking about you before and after but never put it up here… silly me.

Anyways, back to what I was talking about. The birthday today.

I first met Anne Marie when I got a cheerful note from her last june on my very new blog. I knew pretty much right away that I had found a kindred spirit. (enough Anne of GG references for ya?)

Casey and I were so honored that she was able to come up for our wedding a few weeks ago so here are some cute pics of her there (click to make bigger):

(Me and the fabulous AM)

(AM and my brother’s best friend, Dennis… teachin’ her some groovy new moves.)

(AM and my mom. How freaking cute is that picture?! As Carrie said, she truly does have a way of working a room and is really the most fun, friendly and hilarious person that I have ever met. whew… quite a caption!)

Anyway, it is her special day today so swing by and give her some love. She needs it, especially because her dog Petey ate up all her purses! on her birthday!!

XOXO, AM!

(if you have some more time and haven’t read Carrie’s blog today, you should! She wrote a lovely tribute to the birthday girl…)

Casey and I went over to the Taste of Cambridge tonight. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed…

According to the website, “This event features creative and abundant samples of food, beer and wine from the wonderful restaurants found around the city, enhanced by a beautiful outdoor setting, live music and a great crowd.”

Well, sorta.

There were some great restaurants that we love and others that we have been meaning to try. Here is Casey enjoying the Craigie Street Bistrot’s offering. (CSB is one of Casey’s favorites and just happens to be in our neighborhood.)

The problem was that most of the restaurants that have the reputation of being really good had lines that went on forever. We tried to get some yummy cheese from Formaggio Kitchen but the line never moved.

By the time we made it around to all the booths, I still didn’t feel like I had enough food to constitute a dinner. We could have waited in the lines to get something to put in our bellies but Casey’s stomach was bothering him (too many kinds of food at the same time?) and we decided to take off.

I guess it gave me some idea of how many great places there are in our town and I probably will try some of the places whose dishes I enjoyed but most of them only offered an appetizer or something… hard to tell if it was representative of their food or not.

It also cost us $30 apiece and, while I don’t mind donating the money to charity, it doesn’t seem like we got our money’s worth. I suppose that is not a huge deal but they really shouldn’t advertise it as the “best deal culinary event in Boston.”

Anyway, the evening was not a total loss. We did get out on a weeknight (crazy married people! haha) and the weather was nice.