Saturdays

It's Saturday again, and I'm at work. It's ok - I owe it to my company to be here for a number of reasons, and I've got plenty of work to fill my day, but I decided to post a little bit as a break from the paperwork. I've been discovering new photography applications on my iPhone and am using the grainy-quality iPhone camera to snap quick photos and then applying filters in the iPhone - it's like my cheap raw version of having Photoshop and using the Nikon. But I don't care. More, these days, I'm of the mind: if it makes you happy, do it...and so, iPhone hasty photo play gives me the occasional ounce of happy. But this will subside in a few months. It's simply a case of End of Job blues, and I'm in it with a lot of my co-workers, so at least we all have each other, right? Anyway, the image above was snapped this morning when we got out of a cab at 59th and Lex. The 7 train isn't running from Grand Central to Queensboro on weekends right now, so we ate bagels at Bagel Express and cabbed it to the N/W. Turns out, we rode a Q for some reason. The subway. Oh, the subway. I then spent the remainder of the ride toying with the iPhone application called something like fx or photo fx. I used two different layers on this photo, one which made it even grainier than the iPhone camera already yields (I heart my Nikon) and another color gradation one. Then I got to work and slapped on an appropriate lyric from an REM song in the KB Handwriting font my co-worker helped me make a few weeks ago. And there you have it! Recreational graphic design at its most minimal, my happy for the day. I say it's an appropriate lyric because I worry about leaving New York. I worry about it daily, even by the hour I worry over it. I've never felt so at home in my life, not even in Bloomington, where I'd say I felt second most like I was at home. Below, another one from earlier this week.
But, for whatever the reasons may be, leaving New York may happen, and if that event unfolds, I suppose I will search for the right coping mechanisms to handle it. The economy is a mess right now. Companies aren't hiring. Staying here used to be an absolute, but now, we simply must do what it takes to navigate through this financial crisis, even if it means committing to a job transfer. For what it's worth, I've lived here. I mean, not just breathed but lived, loved, laughed, cried (oh, have I done my share of that here), acted smartly, acted stupidly, eaten brilliant foods, learned impressive amounts about cooking, writing, weight loss, construction, elegance, myself...and of course, this is just a brief account of the life I've led here, and I imagine leaving New York will not come easy for me. Alas, I'm at work today and must get back to it, but these small moments for me help to maintain clarity.
Part ii. of my day found me traveling home via the 6 train so that I could make a local stop at 77th Street and browse the skincare/fragrances at Fresh. I've read recently about a sugar lemon (I think) scented body lotion that dooce (I'm a fan) wears, and oftentimes I check her page simply for product suggestions alone. Fresh stores cannot be found everywhere - they are sprinkled throughout the country in elite cities such as mine, so how could I not go into one, at least while I'm here? The store is like a minimalist museum-esque approach to sales, with white-lit shelving lining the perimeter of the store and a simple counter in the center of the store, all walls white, all products lined evenly on the shelves. I love that. And I knew, also, that regardless of whether or not I liked the sugar lemon, I'd want something from here, having traveled to this destination en route from a Saturday work day and, well, just to splurge. So, once again I stimulated the economy by spending far, far too much money on a new eau de parfum. But it blew me away. When I found it, I had collected like 10 of those sniff paper slips in my coat pocket, and my nose was becoming a bit dizzy from me filling it with so many fragrances, but this one spoke to me, immediately. The back story on me with "scents" is that I used to be an avid CK Be girl. CK Be was the gender neutral line that smelled just incredible, and was one of the first things that lured Craig into my wacky web. Well, as all good things come to an end, so did CK Be. Discontinued. So, I threw my hands up in despair and decided that Dove soap would have to suffice. But then, dooce drew me into Escada Into the Blue, which Craig's mom bought for me for Christmas. And I really do love it. But this stuff I bought today at Fresh...I want to wrap a cloak of it around me and bask in the sun or something. With a crisp glass of Sauv Blanc. And tan on my skin, and stars in my eyes. I love love love this fragrance. And the fact that it's called Tobacco and Caramel is the icing on the cake! The tube of mascara shown in the photo is just to further ensure that placing cutely-designed products right by the register will always win me over, and I will buy said product, because I'm that much of an awestricken pushover consumer. I don't even wear mascara!*Craig naps, now home from work, and we had planned to go to a fusion Asian place in the 50's. But we're wiped out, so chances seem more prominent that we might just hit a neighborhood place. I found the fusion place because we each like different kinds of Asian foods better than others (we both like them all, but I can't control my sushi urges where as he can go long spans of time without that, and he longs for Chinese or Thai almost every night!) We're just going to spend a night and tomorrow being sweet kids. Simple, exhausted, brain-numbed yet enthusiastic sweet kids.

Plans

bodega storefront in somewhere, manhattan

It's Saturday. I'm home today. It's that simple. I'm supposed to be at work - not, as in, someone mandated it, but as a responsible team member I should really be there alongside everyone else. But I'm tired. I'm no more tired than anyone else, but this week I really caved to quite a few of my panic episodes and yelled at more people - nice people, even! - than I ever would want to do. Plus, our apartment is a total wreck and that isn't likely to amend itself, so I have plans today. First, I will thank myself for going back to sleep at 7 and sleeping until 9.12 [insert: unfortunately, I sleep "in" better alone than with Craig there. He calls me a heat box but he also is a heat box and I think we are both prone to the effects generated off each other's heat, which is often something that gets me out of bed]. Although, in that span of 2 hours 12 minutes I managed to dream that Craig had proposed to me, only, the ring had a baseball stadium on it. I know, right! Ghastly. And I remember in the dream that as I showed it off to friends and family, I loved it as dearly as I'd love it had he proposed offering a crumpled paper sack, but still vaguely wondering why I had imagined his taste might just be a little better than that? So, we were in a house that we shared with our friend Brooke. She had family in town, tons of family, children, each equipped with their own pet of varying species - cats, dogs, a snake even...and Brooke kept assuring me it was just for the day. I was happy about the stadium ring and proposal, but really confused with so much activity. There were carpet stains from the children and animals, clutter was strewn about, and it all just happened like a funnel cloud swirling around me. And there were live musicians in the recreation room at the back of the house - chaos. Anyway, there's more but I want drag it on - I just sort of woke up realizing why I am not blessed to be a lucid dreamer even though in theory, it sounds like it would be cool.*The photos above were enhanced by a stellar iPhone app I found. Enough on that.*So. Plans. I'm going to make a list and I will report back to myself on what gets completed today...

1. Change into Saturday clothes out of jammies.
2. Make bed.
3. Write grocery list for Craig's mom's chili that he is making us tonight.
4. Include on that list a few other stray items, like I Can't Believe it's Not Butter.
5. Go to Key Food for grocery items. First, travel further north on second to Ace for Drano because our shower is at that stage where it's time and the fabric shower liner is beginning to waft scents that smell like stinky feet.
6. Return home. Unload grocery items into various cooled or room temperatured locations in apartment.
7. Begin the fridge cleaning operation, which could be really unfun considering the number of containers containing leftovers from...a while back.
8. Unload dishwasher.
9. Load dishwasher with stray items like the kickass Fat Tire pint glass I'm drinking Diet Coke from right now because going to Dunkin Donuts for iced coffees didn't rank very high this a.m.
10. Clean apartment. Begin in bedroom. Slowly drift through rooms cleaning, all the while washing the bath mat, shower liner, stray bath towels, kitchen towels, etc. across the street at the Ladies'.
11. Listen to music all this time and avoid contact with other iPhone stuff and computer! Principally it will keep me focused.
12. Maybe receive my first installment of Cooking Light today?????? If so, pour over.
13. Contemplate finishing taxes, but maybe think better of that and leave it until Sunday.
14. Eat a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese for lunch! Because I can. Suck it, Weight Watchers.
15. Cease to feel guilty about not going to work because I will have accomplished a lot around here and neglecting home life is wrong, just wrong!

And that, Miss Kristin, is your day. Make it happen. If all is resolved in timely fashion, Arrested Development marathon can take place later this afternoon! Ready, set, GO!

Situations

above: thank goodness for quick and easy sundried tomato pesto recipes with fresh basil, Parm, almonds, garlic, and sundried tomatoes later topped with feta cheese...below, this is the shoe i have yearned to own for almost 4 days or so, since i first spotted it at orva.

then the shoe salesman brought out its partner - look at the tiny star! oh, how these shoes belong to me and fit who i am...i love you, new shoes! it's become time, though, for me to stop stimulating the economy out of my own wallet.
Tonight was okay. I managed to get quite a bit done in little amounts of time. I swung by Orva, made a hasty decision about the Star Shoes, bought them (gulping back my practical protest to myself), then drifted to Food Emporium for a few things. Then I continued to drift home, bags weighing down every arm (er, both) and I managed to quickly and precisely make an amazing dinner for Craig and me. I won't dote on myself too much, but I do do a lot around here (the apartment). Then I spoke to my friend Andrea on the phone for quite some time. She's a genius and an emotional ninja with so much to offer to anyone who meets her, and I physically feel her pain right now. AB, call me! Whenever!*More than anything, it's just time for sleep. I need more sleep now to stay on my game. That's okay, though. Sometime I will find more time to sleep. As will my peers. Cheers, peers. ;)

Characters

It's Sunday, a beautiful stay-at-home Sunday which finds Craig and I catching up on stuff. I want to get tons accomplished today: watch all recorded tv shows, jot some recipes down into my fancy recipe book, sort through papers, clean the apartment, and so forth. I completed my taxes so that I know what I owe (I'm a responsible tax paying citizen) and have eaten a bagel, had some coffee, and plan to post pictures later from our Indiana trip (which will be my dedicated post to our trip home, which was quite amazing and memorable). Work is hectic, to say in the least. We're all exhausted and are committing to weekend work to wipe paper off our desks. We went in yesterday and stayed nearly a whole day, then rested up at home before heading to the theater for our Valentine's date. I recall seeing Hedda Gabler in college, but for the life of me I cannot recall who played Hedda. I even checked with Lauren Thursday night at her Creek Creative show, and she was foggy about the memory, as well. But anyway, after dedicating a lot of Weeds viewing time, I've determined Mary Louise Parker is one crush of Craig's I absolutely do not mind him having! She's phenomenal - beautiful, frail, smart, strong and interesting as Nancy Botwin. Well, she won me over as Hedda, as well. Critics have been tearing her apart for weeks since the opening of Hedda Gabler at the Roundabout Theater. I'm pleased with much that I see on stage, anyway, but from my perspective, Hedda's depth was more than displayed by Mary Louise. Craig liked the show, too, and obviously enjoyed being in the same room (albeit a large room) with his other girlfriend for a couple of hours on Valentine's Day! After the show, we headed in a cab to Brick Lane for our 11 o'clock reservations. Our dining experience wasn't quite as good the second time around, but that was more an issue of what we ordered. I braved the vindaloo, which is the spiciest of the curries on their list with the exception of the Phaal (which we now know from Man v. Food requires that the chef wear a gas mask to cook) and man, do they mean business with their vindaloo! And our appetizer was a cold potato salad that we didn't like as much as their cauliflower appetizer. I do love that Brick Lane serves Boddington, as I also love the heavenly scent of the curries that fill the room. We came home after dinner and crashed. I anticipate that the next few weeks will bring plenty of exhaustion, but in the end, it will be worth it.*I'm feeling splendid today. I want to embrace spring soon. This winter has been miserable. Oh, I finally finished New Moon yesterday. I'm taking a hiatus from the teen vampire books because I simply can't continue to torture myself with how poorly they are written. I do need to know the ending, though, and will eventually find out Bella's sappy stupid fate. Happy Sunday!

Economies

above shown: a fraction of the amount of pizza craig consumed when dared to finish what the others couldn't...his friends know better than to say, "we bet you can't!"...craig's stomach was in turmoil for days to follow. below shown: a big delicious mug of beer at fox and hound in indy.

I've been wanting to post for what has felt like weeks and weeks. Much has happened and has distracted me from jumping headlong into the blogosphere, but here I am, with minutes to spare before Craig arrives home and hungers for his Vodka Penne, fresh steamed green beans and garlic wheat bread. So I type in haste!*I've missed out on recording so many things. A co-worker threw his wife a surprise 25th birthday party (ahhh! 25! to think...) and we traveled out to Long Island for that. We kicked it off at a Dave & Buster's, where I salted my food for the first time in what feels like years. I used to heavily salt my food, before I discovered what food is actually supposed to taste like when it's prepared properly (ie., here in NY!) Clearly, chain restaurants are going to have to work hard to win back my affections, if that is my unfortunate fate (to return to that life). Oh! And I forgot that the night prior to the party, Craig and I breezily picked up our iPhones at the Chelsea Apple store. That's part of the distraction that is clogging my extracurricular life pattern right now. Following the retrieval of the handy dandy nifty hand held devices, which means portable Internet, everywhere, we ate at Brick Lane, an Indian restaurant on Curry Row in Manhattan (Brick Lane is named after the Indian district in London, seeing as Indian cuisine is practically the top most ordered cuisine in all of England). We watched an episode of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel which landed our funny host Adam at Brick Lane, where he embarked on the Phaal Challenge (claiming to be the World's Hottest Curry...the chef wears a gas mask to prepare this dish! Bah!) but needless to say, we did not attempt the Phaal Challenge! Instead, we ordered a random lightly fried cauliflower appetizer which blew our minds, followed by semi-spicy curry dishes from their list of 14 curries! We will return to Brick Lane, indeed.*So, then Saturday we were in Long Island, and we not only ate at Dave & Buster's, but we also bowled...real bowling, not just the Wii this time. It was awesome and we had a ton of fun with the co-workers. The following weekend was our trip to Indiana to meet Baby Jake (Kara's newborn) and to catch up with other family/friends. For this explanation, I need a new post when I am not distracted with the task of dinner. The above pictured are teaser photos from our trip, although, I must admit that nearly devoured deep dish pizza and a mug of beer are hardly entertaining teasers. I will be better about posting soon enough. I've got the stress of work, a new iPhone and the damn New Moon book consuming my time. Priority of life elements will soon resume. I can only hope.*PS--the title of this post will not be touched upon in this post. I just want it to be known that it's on my mind.