Those people

Yes, we are the kind of people who throw birthday parties for our cat.

We should have actually done it earlier. The recorded "birthday" for our little guy is March 18, 2009, a year before he was brought into the shelter where we found him, took him home from, and made him ours.

We didn't remember to throw him his 2nd birthday part last week, with St. Patty's Day getting in the way a bit. But I think that's all as well, because we do think he must have been younger than the shelter said he was when we got him, for all the crazy antics he was still up to kitten-style at the time (and up until today). Plus, a birthday based on the day he was put into the shelter is a little depressing...

In order to make up for the delay, we decided the fiesta should be marvelous, complete with food, fun, and costume - at least for the cat.

O loved it all, even the ribbon, which was surprising considering he hates his sweater and seems to shirk off all other garmets. Maybe he knew he was special with his birthday ribbon on, because he had no problem with it and wore it around the house the rest of the day.

We got him fancy cat food - with a real whole shirmp in it (ew!) - and even gave him a cat nip mouse, which is a luxury, because we rarely allow him pyschoactive herbs that encourage his outlandish side...

Happy birthday, little boy O. You've been a joy and a pleasure this past year!

Side-stepper

I got blisters on my inner-arches running way too long today, jamming to Boston and being competitive with all the other men and women at the gym. I am uncoordinated, people, endurance is the only game I've got! I am going to be walking on the outer-edges of my tooties all week.

Boston's a pretty good band to run to. I also really like Green Day's American Idiot album - it's good for a distance run in the city, on the concrete, pounding it out like you're mad at the system or something. I am a little mad at the system sometimes, but anger always gets in the way of love, so I don't dwell on my frustrations.

A good song about system-hating/world-lovin' revelation that made me cry the first time I heard it was "The World I Know," by Collective Soul. I really had a spiritual experience watching MTV that day as an 11 year old.

I really think God crafts our lives in a beautiful web, so that it hangs together in ways we'll never see but in hindsight, looking back on it someday, when we're no longer hanging on every thread. I think that not so much because it necessarily makes the best sense to believe - by some rationale, it'd be more likely that an authority like God builds a life like an architect, not a spider - but because I feel it and I know it, especially when I see it in glimpses of the story behind me.

Have we eyes to see that love is gathering, the music says. This is why it doesn't do to dwell on hate. Love is gathering, that's the fact my soul can't deny, and it isn't so much a theological debate to win with myself, but a picture to open my eyes to.

When I heard that song as a little girl, it's like I was being prepared for that fact that all those little girl emotions don't go away when you get older. In fact, even big boys in a rock band feel them, heh he. But seriously, I was being prompted to keep feeling my feelings, and learning that they weren't so much mine as a part of the human condition, and maybe even the very condition of being period. Being a part of this thing...flora, fauna, foe, or friend.

So that's a bit about why I try, as much as I fail, to side-step fear and hate and disharmony.

So I walk upon high and I step to the edge to see my world below.
And I laugh at myself as the tears roll down, cause it's the world I know.

Except when I'm at the gym. Then, bring on the blisters and get outta my way!

Okay, so technically...

...I suppose this is the first blog post of spring, but you have to understand that I was waiting for over a month to unvail the new lay out, and sometime last night, I just could not wait anymore!

Today we celebrated spring (something I think I will be doing for at least the next month, until I transition to a stage that looks more like pining for summer) by re-discovering our traditional weekend walks in the Blue Hills.

Living here a year and a half now, I have discovered that our ebb and flow of life is intrinsically marked by what we can do in the natural world five minutes away from us, and that this is an excellent thing.

In late fall and summer, there's lots of hiking and jogging. In early winter (and spring), there are leisurely walks aroun Houghton Pond, admiring the uniquely transcendent light of these seasons. In the middle of winter, there's now snowboarding, and in the heat of summer, we're swimming and occassionally hiking our guts out again (it can be brutal when the humidity gets up there).

Today it was chilly and exquisite at the pond. There was still a thick layer of ice working itself out, providing S an ideal opportunity to skip rocks (when he wasn't trying to take pictures of my chest).

We met Kayla, the one-eyed rockweiler and a few other human neighbors as we stayed on the western edge of the pond - it was too cold for a longer walk...

...but we'll be back soon.

First post of spring!!!

In celebration of spring, I have been planning a new lay out. I hope you like it! I wanted something springy, because it is high time for winter to be over and for us all to commemorate that.

I also wanted a spot specifically for poetry on my blog, which will be linked to Twilight spoofy picture on the right. You can check back from time to time to see new poems listed there.

So this first post of spring is a story. A story of what how spring can inspire and excite and motivate…organization.

So I kind of freaked out when I got this in the mail Friday:

Not only was this lovely collection on sale – that $1 off means I can get S a cinnamon bun on the way out of the store, which he lives for – but now that I am trying to save on food and cook more/eat healthier, this was the perfect item to use as an excuse to wander around Ikea for an hour or two, day dreaming and laughing and being drugged by whatever odor-free chemical they must pump through the vents in that place to make us love it so much.

So S knew we were on a mission on Saturday. He even dressed the part. And of course I documented it, seeing as my handsome boyfriend loves for me to take pictures of him all the time. Well okay, 25% of the time. 9% of the time?

The other 91% of the time, he finds me odd and obnoxious, and way too concerned with capturing these important Ikea-bound moments of ours. But he bears it, because he loves me.

We did indeed have a fun time shopping, and when we got home, I was all too excited to break out my new wares and get to cooking.

Soooo many little boxes – all microwave and dishwasher safe.

It took me about an hour, but the end result was this:

3 boxes olives
2 boxes mushrooms
2 boxes Spanish onions
1 box hummus
1 box white/wheat bread
1 box chipotle dip
1 box long grain brown rice
1 box potatoes
1 box collard greens
1 box boiled cabbage
(plus nuggets and sausage for S and 4 vegan sandwiches)

...and there was one, little, lonely extra box left!

Even O the Cat was impressed.

 I am so ready for a yummy spring!

Going green

Did you wear green on St. Patrick's Day?

I did, but barely, when I went to work. I had a pretty important meeting, so I couldn't really just pick my wardrobe for the day based on color. I wore a necklace with big, chunky green beads though, and thought that sufficed.

S did not wear green at all, and he got pinched by one of his co-workers! Serves him right!! Being nontraditional about St. Patty's day in the Boston area is a big mistake.

So to make sure S had truly made up for his lack of holiday cheer earlier, we went out that evening, decked out in more green. We didn't stay long at the lounge, because it got progressively more ridiculous with partiers every ten minutes or so, but we did stay long enough to enjoy the decorations, some delicious junk food, and to feel a part of a local celebration.

I love this picture. The bartender looks so at home, so pleased at the fun everyone's having with the green beer and the funky music playing in the background (Either singing or dancing to every song was pretty much required on a day like this).

So nothing crazy, nothing drunk, but a mighty good time going green this year.

Meaty weekend

S and I are kind of bums on the weekend. We don't stress about making plans every week, and we like to sleep in.

We do like to have a good breakfast, though, since we're normally grabbing granola bars or just some coffee most week day mornings.

There's just a difference between a good breakfast to S and I.

Neuroses

Do you ever spontaneously do anything that is just nuts? Like, in keeping with certain quirky aspects of your character, but not-thought-out, not a habit, just neurotic?

I just put hand sanitizer on my face, close to my mouth and nostrils, after hearing the tenant in the office next door sneeze.

I am responding perhaps to my stubborn nature, which is screaming, "No! You will not be sick when it is almost spring!! You will not ruin more hours of sunlight and the presence of new life with the flu!!!"

I am more than likely responding to my sleepy nature, which after only 2 hours of slumber last night jumps to conclusions like Purell=Snake Oil=Long life and good fortune.

Happy Monday.

Day Zero (Meaing no more days left!!)

So today was the last day of boarding at the Blue Hills. I think that I actually used the word "devastated" to describe how I felt to S as we did our Sunday errands, after my last few runs of the year.

I never expected to like snowboarding as much as I do. There is something very powerful about it - to me, it's unlike skiing. From my little experience with skiing, and maybe I am just bad at it, it is less of a whole body sport. Snowboarding is much more mentally and physically exhilarating to me. It is also much more of a goofy sport too, even though I may be saying this because I am a "goofy" boarder. But I think there is something about a sport, where most of your first few days learning is mostly spent falling, flailing, a lot of butt-landing that helps you take yourself less seriously and just have fun out there.

Here are a few pictures from our last time up on the mountain - they are pretty cruddy pictures, but I think they express something a bit different from our first time around, namely, a lack of mortal fear. We actually took turns snapping shots as we both rode down the hill, laughing, trying to show off, but having the end result being a bunch of lack luster pictures.

From this winter I'll remember the falling, the racing, the first trip down Big Blue, when I was petrified, and the last time when I got down the whole hill without falling. I'll remember the first time we went night boarding, and it flurried against the skyline.

To me, this was the absolute best way to 1) stay active during a grueling winter, 2) challenge ourselves, and 3) de-stress after all the weeks at work and snowed in days of sludge and freezing temperatures. I never thought I would be sad to see the sun out and the temperatures climbing, but I actually am in some ways.

Now if only I could live in a place where one could snowboard and swim outside any day of the year...

You just call...

Congratulations to James Taylor! 

I owe you one for all the beautiful music you've created over the years, out of your own joys and sorrows. 

Yea, Baby James!