Potatoes in the Mist

I got sick of the beach...I had to keep applying sunscreen...so I came inside to read blogs and saw Bdogg 's high school meme. Of course I have to do it. FYI, tomorrow is my last full day in Miami. Here it is: Year: Graduated from high school in 1993 1. Who was your best friend? Gale. 2. What sports did you play? None. 3. What kind of car did you drive? 1987 Toyota Corolla (my mom's car at the time). 4. It's Friday night, where are you at? Hanging out with friends or studying (yeah, I was like that). 5. Were you a party animal? Not then. A little bit in college. 6. Were you in the "In Crowd"? Football crowd? No. 7. Ever skip school? Occasionally. 8. Ever smoke a cigarette? Not in high school. 9. Were you a nerd? Yup - got all A's except for trigonometry (89). 10. Did you ever get suspended/expelled? Nope. 11. Can you sing the Alma Mater? Did my high school have one? 12. Who was your favorite teacher? Mrs. Corkery. 13. Favorite class? English 14. What was you...

We finally saw the monkey movie. D really liked it. I thought it was cute but silly. The monkey was very cute but the plot was paper-thin. I suppose it doesn't matter. It was a very family-friendly theater, with many fathers bringing their kids. I've only seen one model in Miami this time; she was coming out of the bathroom. You can always pick them out because they are 5'11" and 110 lbs. This one had long dark hair. My hair is curlier here than at home. I felt bad for Drew Barrymore in this movie. She only had about 7 lines. At dinner I had some Riesling, my favorite wine; I'd forgotten how good it is. I'm having a nice time here but I'm basically ready for New York, even though I have about 3 yoga teacher auditions when I get back and it will be a little nerve-rattling. My chiropractor knows one of the people I'll be auditioning for and said she is a "strong woman". Hmm. We'll see. P.S. I met a cockapoo named Cappuccino tonight. It was a...

Despite my best efforts, I am slightly burned. Not really visible to the eye, but everything is tender. I made the classic mistake of using SPF 15 instead of 30 yesterday. It was cloudy, but no matter. My skin can stand up to New England/New York sun without burning, but it's just no match for Miami sun. A couple nights ago it rained like nobody's business. Just curtains of water falling down. We were trapped at the restaurant for a while and then made a run for it. We got 2 garbage bags from a waiter, poked holes in them for air, and set off. It felt a bit Darth Vader-y so we hummed the Imperial March. At one point D said, "Look at the fish!" and I thought there was one swimming in the lake on the sidewalk! You know, the water we were wading through. But he was talking about an orange-and-white stuffed fish in a Sprint cell phone store window display. Oh well. I went to the hip-hop cowgirl class yesterday. It was a little bit of a disappointment. It was split into 3 ...

We spent most of the day at the beach today, and I listened to about 56 songs on my iPod. Some dark clouds started coming in. I think there may be showers on Sunday. "Highs only in the 70s," the TV at the gym cautioned. Speaking of the gym, I went to an abs class there yesterday. I figured it would be a good proxy for Pilates, which is supposed to help your back. My back has been good lately, but I figure, why not help it out? This class happened to be a lot more intense than Pilates at home. As the tattooed, shaved-head instructor hollered at us, "PUT YOUR HAND ON YOUR OBLIQUES TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE WORKING! IT'S GOING TO BE BIKINI SEASON SOON!", I remembered how a girl on a train told me most of the instructors at this gym are ex-cons. I thought: Maybe he is . My neck still hurts a bit. I do like their classes, though. Maybe I will check them out at home and switch gyms. Tonight we're going to Nexxt, a restaurant that has really good sesame tofu, and th...

Hi y'all, I'm in Miami. Sunny, warm, the whole Florida shtick. It's all good. One sad thing: the hotel used to have an orange motif, and now it doesn't. No orange juicer in the room, no bowls of oranges in the room or the lobby. :( It will probably be a pretty lazy week...that's what vacation is for, right? On the agenda: Curious George (D is dying to see it), the beach, a few Crunch classes. One of them is called "Hip Hop Urban Cowgirl." I figured there will never be an opportunity to take such a class again. On the flight, D and I got aisle seats. I didn't want to be stuck in the middle again. I sat next to a woman and her (probably) 3-year-old son. The woman was very friendly and introduced herself and her son. He kept making accurate observations: "It's going fast!" (the plane) and "He needs to speak up!" (about the pilot, whose messages were garbled). I had an odd conversation with the flight attendant: FA: You wanna turkey...

Here's the photo meme from KitKat . I didn't answer all the questions. A girl needs to keep some mystery ;) Who am I? Who knows me best? I always carry... Something I always do... My eyes are... My favorite material possession... To relax, I like to... The town I live in is... My guilty pleasure... When I look at someone, the first thing I see is... I think...is beautiful. One thing I can live without. D promises he will get rid of it soon. It's currently rolled up. Want a rug? My life is...

I am going to share my orange and green lunch with you. Not literally ;) Also, I went to the Strand today. I thought I might be the only person book-dorky enough to go there on President's Day, but I was wrong. Pros of the Strand: You can get brand-new hardcover books for $11.50. Paperbacks range from $3.95 to $6.47. Cons of the Strand: Poor organization. One of the guys who worked there, who looked like a model, said vaguely, "They're mixed in here somewhere," when I asked him where a certain book was. I saw online that they had 27 copies. Another guy, not as striking but more knowledgeable, told me they were downstairs. He was right. Also, the aisles are very narrow and cluttered up with ladders. When I first saw them, as a lawyer, I thought, "This is a lawsuit waiting to happen." But no one seems to fall off. Anyway, here is the orange and green lunch. The orange part: Microwave 2 sweet potatoes, about 22 minutes. Cut them in half through the middle, sc...

So I had one of those dreams last night that forced me to wake myself up. Do you know what I mean? It's just so horrific, you jerk yourself awake. It's funny, I was lying there awake for a couple of minutes, in those moments before night and dawn, and thought, "I should remember this dream and blog about it." However, now I don't remember too much. In the dream, I was walking somewhere (probably a mall) and dropped my pocketbook. It was just a few seconds before I picked it up, but that was apparently enough. A woman who looked a bit like Barbra Streisand said, "You're going to jail," and whisked me off. Her name was Susan Sontag (even though she wasn't Susan Sontag). Jail was awful. That's all I remember. :( In other news, I like the photo meme idea on KitKat 's blog. Maybe I'll do it in Miami, if my camera cooperates.

Went to brunch this morning with TN. It was quite yummy. We went to Le Gamin, which has been reborn as La Grenaille. They have the best French toast in town, light and delicate, with shredded almonds and little potatoes and fruit on the side. Since it's French, the portions are not overwhelming, which I like. Then we saw Date Movie. Eeek! Although we laughed through much of the movie, we also grimaced through some of it. High grossness factor!!! At night we went to Little Frankie's with DG. Their website features a baby clutching a baseball bat. I got their beet and goat cheese salad and butternut squash as my entree. Then we saw RFK, a play in the East Village. It turned out to be a monologue. The actor had enough energy and charisma to carry it off, and it was a nice antidote to Date Movie...more cerebral by half ;) It's official...I'm addicted to Death Cab for Cutie's Plans . I'm in that listening-every-day phase. The next movie for TN and me will be Failure ...

Of course I couldn't resist doing this, although it will be difficult. I got this from Lisa 's margarita-tinged blog. 1) Name five of your favorite books. Of course I had to over-think this - books I love? Books I stand in awe of? Books that are re-readable? I'll just dive in. Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh. There are so many things I love about this book, I don't know where to start. One of my favorite characters is Harrison Withers, who has something like 50 cats and named them all after literary figures and other famous people (Rasputin, Mickey Mantle, etc.) The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler. The first Tyler I read; hooked for life. The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella. I love pretty much anything Kinsella writes, but I related to this especially - maybe because the main character was a beleaguered lawyer (although she had the wisdom to leave). Rosie Dunne - Cecilia Ahern. The hot chocolate of books. (I passed a restaurant today with the words "choc...

D and I are going to Miami from Feb. 22-28. He loves getting away from NY in the winter. I always kind of dread going on vacation. Unless it's to Austin ;) I know I'll miss cooking and I'll miss New York. It's a good match for me. A fortune teller at an Indian resto told me I should live in Boston or New York. He told my college roommate she should live in San Fran or New Jersey (she didn't like the latter). Saturday, I'm going to brunch and a movie with TN. We'll probably go to Bright Food Shop and get our usual fabulous, buttery strawberry pecan pancakes, though we'll prudently get a short stack. We were planning to see "Failure to Launch," with SJP and Matthew McConnaughey, but it's not out yet. So maybe it will be "Date Movie", a spoof on romantic comedies starring Alyson Hannigan. I will keep you posted. I used chestnut henna instead of dark brown henna today. I like it better. In other news, my novel is coming along well. I...

You Belong in London A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well. What City Do You Belong In? From Bdogg .

Which random phallic object are you? Quiz by Andrea . From Lisa :)

I just did the first handstand I ever enjoyed. Handstand has long been my nemesis pose (we had to pick one on our yoga school application). D, who subluxed his shoulder doing a handstand in the White House (another story for another day), assured me that I would one day like them. Well, due to my mostly-cured back problem, I felt as if an old lady's body had been substituted for mine, and I was "relearning" yoga. Now it is more normal, but I still went into handstand without expectations. I didn't go through my usual "I like headstands better because my head is on the floor" rigmarole. And what do you know, I liked it. Better than a headstand. In other news, this building across the street from us is going to be demolished. Jackhammers, demolition crews, the whole nine. For a month. Pounding away at 7:30 each morning. Um...yay. In better news, my MIL sent me the DVD Love and Death today. I'm not sure why she gave me a present, but it was a nice surprise ...

I don't have *too* much to post today, but I will tell you this: Janeane Garofalo lives in my chiropractor's building. I guess it's mostly a residential building, though he has an office there. (Note: D and I used to debate the pronunciation of her name. I thought Jane-ann; D said Janine.) My chiropractor is such a nice guy. I kind of want to fix him up with somebody, but he's in his late 40s and everyone I know is in their 30s or late 20s. We talked about Grey's Anatomy. "Everything I thought would happen, didn't," he said. He didn't think the bomb would go off, and he thought the pregnant woman's husband would die. I enjoyed the episode, but it was a little too gory and the scene at the end between Dr. Shepherd and Meredith Grey was kind of goofy (though sweet). My personal favorite character on the show is George O'Malley. But you knew that already. Did you know that the guy who plays Alex used to be a model? I read their cast bios.

Thanks to Bdogg, for giving me something to blog about today. I took some pics of the snow, but was feeling altogether too lazy to upload them, and also the batteries for my ornery, diva camera are recharging. Overheard today: Woman: Yeah, I wasn't gonna go today 'cuz there are like 12 inches of snow on the ground. (More like 2.) Man: She said to me, "You make the strangest noises I've ever heard." I also saw a dog named Saturn last night. According to her owner, it was her first snow, and she was very excited. I met a Yorkie today. On to the meme. I may have done this before, but perhaps my answers have changed. Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so. 1) St. Peter's Helpers 2) SFO Mom 3) Minivan Mom 4) Bdogg McGee 5) Bearette Select Five People To Tag: Liz Carolyn Zombieslayer (although he's probably done it already) New Mezger Leah (Lisa was already tagged by ...

Well, I did my first karaoke last night. (Singing in the car doesn't count.) MC and her husband rented out a room in a karaoke bar for her birthday. I gave her a copy of "The Makeup Girl" by Andrea Semple. I warned her that there is one disturbing scene in it, but otherwise I really liked it. At the party, there was a slightly older crowd, which I like. D said nervously, "They're so serious and professional." As he said this, a guy with a shaved head was in a runner's lunge, singing theatrically into the microphone ;) I sang a number of songs, including "Boys Don't Cry" with the shaved-head guy, who complimented me on my voice. There were a couple of girls there with Cameron Diaz voices. Remember "My Best Friend's Wedding"? I'll admit that when I shared a microphone with them, I hoped people could tell it wasn't me. Horrible, I know. The chiro visit went well. I'm going back Monday and he said that should take car...

I had to take this; I was in love with him from 1989-2003. Your Life is Like Serendipity What John Cusack movie are you?

I was emailing a bit with Liz and she asked if my visit to the chiropractor yesterday was a bloggable experience. After some thought, I concluded it was ;) I was having some back pain. I think I overdid backbends . I probably do too much yoga in general, and I kind of pop up into backbends, rather than coming to the top of my head first as Iyengar recommends. Believe me, I'll do it his way in the future. So I went to a chiropractor, who was big, beefy and jolly. It was a small office, and there were no nurses or anything. I thought briefly, "If he rapes me, no one will hear my screams." But he seems like a really nice guy and I trusted him pretty much right off the bat. He does a lot of work with Iron Man athletes and enjoys it. He also said he sees lots of people who do yoga. You can tell he is really extroverted. After some range-of-motion tests he concluded that I had a muscular strain, not a slipped or herniated disc (thank God; much harder to fix). He told me not to ...

Rudolph is our small furry friend, whom I've never seen. He visited the kitchen last night while D was up late. I know this because: 1) A large sonic device is plugged in right in front of the crack between the oven and the wall. The sonic devices in the living room have kept Rudolph away from there, his previous hideaway. Apparently the cracks between appliances and the wall are harder to reach. 2) The mop has been moved from the hall closet to the kitchen closet. This means D tried to capture Rudolph. 3) A turtle magnet I haven't seen in a while is now on the fridge. That means it fell behind the oven and D found it during his interactions with Rudolph. (I am praying hard that Rudolph is a boy, since we don't want to find many small Rudolphs.) What makes me feel better about this whole thing is that mice are apparently everywhere this winter; even my brother has had problems with them. And this little guy seems to stay behind the oven and only appears around 4 am (only D ...

Last night we saw a play on Broadway with my mother and family friend H (they have been friends since high school). My mom informed me ahead of time that this was the non-PC, "adult" version of the play, and I think it may have been too much for her. They were at least even-handed, offending most groups and people ;) A few of my favorite things about the play were: 1) The appearance of Jesus in flowing white robes and a glowing red heart after one of the spellers said, "Jesus, can't you give me a harder word than that?" The speller asked Jesus if he would look down on her if she lost the bee, and he assured her he doesn't really care about such things ;) 2) The speller with a "magic foot" who spelled each word with his foot, was unabashedly geeky and sang out, "Yeah, I know" every time the vice-principal told him he'd spelled a word correctly. 3) The slouching, dreadlocked guy on parole who was the "comfort counselor" for sp...

I wrote a post on Saturday, early in the morning, since I was insomniac that night, but Blogger "swiped" it. Let's hope this one doesn't meet the same fate ;) Friday I went to dinner with D and DG at Chennai, and had their redoubtable onion rava masala dosa...so big and so good. Fortunately, D helped. Then D went home to do some work because a colleague left him with a lot of ground to cover. I went with DG to a party in the West Village. I had a really nice time. There is something romantic and European about the Village, and the apartments (the party was spread out over two) were cute and charming, with many small paintings sprinkled over the walls. There was a black cat in one apartment. I avoided it due to allergies, but it was very pretty and stately. I believe it was in mourning; its friend had just passed away. Last night, D and I had dinner with his sister, A, who is about to break up with her boyfriend. She wouldn't exactly tell us why. She was concerned ...

When I woke up, I told D I had a dream. D: That all men are created equal? Actually, I dreamed that my friend AT couldn't hang out with us on Saturday night. This part is true. Then, in the dream, I decided to go to the restaurant anyway. I went there, and AT was there with a new girlfriend! I talked with them, but they were kind of exclusionary. Then I went to the restroom, and when I came back, they both had their heads on the table. D: Were they asleep? Dead? Bearette: I don't know. So I wended my way to the bar and found Jessica Simpson. She seemed much cooler than in real life, and we became friends. She looked a little less Barbie and seemed intelligent. But, then again, it was a dream. P.S. I am now reading Breakfast at Tiffany's to get the taste of that last book out of my mouth. It's good, but you can tell that the short stories accompanying it are not. After this, I'll read Other Voices, Other Rooms (his first novel). Then I'll stop.

Aargh. I just got a call that made me feel terribly old. It was a girl from my college. First off, she called me Mrs. No one ever calls me Mrs., even though it's technically correct. Then she thanked me for giving to my college "for the past eleven years." I've only been out of college since '97! She must have mixed me up with D, who is 2 years older and went to the same school. I made the sweet potato soup that I posted the recipe for previously. It is now my goal to eat as much of this soup as possible before I die. It's so good and so easy. Had yoga with IM today. She really does yoga right. When Lisa and I went to yoga in Austin, the teacher was very sweet - she hugged us after class and had us hold hands while we sang Om - but it wasn't my idea of a real yoga class, though we had a good time. IM is probably my favorite teacher. She read from Rumi's poem "Two Shops". Her favorite line is, "We are all free-swimming fish," and she...