Marathon Man just came on... why does this always happen at 2 am?

Mini Me!

Hi there! We got a new car yesterday!

Thanks to the help of the good folks at Otto's Mini in West Chester, PA we are now the proud owners of a Mini Clubman S... how cool is that?

Alas, the wagon's day had come and now we're all Mini'd up.

I have to send a shout out to the Dad for insisting all those years ago on having my first car be a manual transmission. At the time he bought it (a Jeep Wrangler Sahara) I couldn't drive a manual, but as the Dad noted... once you learn then you'll be able to drive anything! This has been proven many times in the past including: i) when I drove a borrowed 5-speed pick-up truck to pick up a pig for roasting in college, ii) when I drove a rented Penske truck in Chicago when we were working on moving the Husband out of his apartment and iii) when I have driven various European rental cars.... including that one Ford Mondeo that I just happened to scrape the whole side of while trying to park it in Rome.

As for the Mini... we test drove the automatics and while they are convenient, they're not nearly as much fun to drive. So we're off! (Oh, and let's not forget the whole much, much better gas mileage thing, that's pretty cool too... and there's also the fact that it has an integrated iPod system, so I no longer have to have my iPod broadcasting through the radio. It's been three years since I've had static free stereo... woo-hoo!

Earth Day!

BFQ: The Final Product

Here it is! (It needs a good ironing and I have lots of threads that I need to clip...)

Ever Have One of "Those" Days?

Update!

BFQ completed! Photos to follow!! Last night I had finished the top panel, tonight I sewed it together and did top stitching... Woo-hoo! I also did some work on the large batik quilt that I am making for myself. I'm using small squares ( so it is taking a long time) and it is in a rainbow color palette.

In other craft news, I also finally began doing the needlepoint work on a canvas bag (with needlepoint panel) that I've had FOREVER!! The panel has some goofy looking sea grass type print on it, so instead I took a pink sharpie marker and made my own needlepoint design.. Nothing too complex or creative, just my name and a heart ( I have light pink yarn, so I thought the heart was appropriate). I've already finished doing my name, now I just have to fill in the heart and do the background in navy blue. I love tote bags and I love needlepoint, so I'm excited about the final product.

What else did we do today? Watched two episodes of Top Chef Masters (not loving it... Why does it seem more boring than the regular competition?) and then I watched Duplicity. Still not crazy about that movie, but this time around I found the soundtrack less distracting and more enjoyable than it was the first time. I also liked the scene in Rome near the Pantheon, since when we were there we also sat at a cafe at that same spot just like Clive Owen does. The scene really captures the light of Rome.

In other Italian set film news I saw a commercial for Letters to Juliette. As I informed the Husband, it looks like a movie I will have to see, not because of Amanda Seyfried or whoever the young guy is in it, but because Vanessa Redgrave is in it and it's set in Italy. ( Something is telling me I am in a rare demographic) but, A Month by the Lake is one of my favorite movies and the commercial kind of reminded me of it.

Lastly, in dining news, it should be known that the Mom and Dad recently sent me Giada di Laurentiis' newest cookbook and we've been making some of the recipes out of it. I did the Pasta Ponza ( but added little sweet peppers in Addition to the roasted tomatoes), gorgonzola and porcici risotto (but I used prosecco instead of white wine and gorgonzola dolce) ane her sundried tomato turkey meatloaf ( which was great, just as written!)

BFQ

I just finished a really big quilt! At least it is big in realtive terms! It is 10 five inch squares wide by 11five inch squares long! It's in pinks and oranges and features Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line of fabrics plus two solid color quilters batiks.

Big Brother Is Watching... and Helping with Heart Burn...

Yesterday I went to Target at the end of a long day and a string of random errands. It was getting late in the day and I was picking up a frozen pizza for dinner. I was also starving and really didn't want to wait to eat until I got home, so in addition to the pizza I picked up a bottle of soda, a Kit Kat bar (and a bag of Gummi Bears for the Husband).

Do you ever notice how when you buy something at Target, they always give you a coupon for something?

Well, yesterday's coupon was for $1 off of TUMS.

Hmpf.

So Target has developed semi-sentient cash registers that can determine that my overload of junk food will result in a need for antacid? Scary!

Crafts!

Here are some crafts that we've been working on lately....

I just finished another baby quilt! This one was "commissioned" by the mom of a friend of mine!

I also embellished a onesie with a design from one of the quilt blocks... (I saw this idea at my local quilt shop, Pennington Quilt Works)

Yay! I like the patterns that I found for it-- I think they will complement nicely the crib bedding that the recipient has chosen!

I'm also working on a quilt for Miss B. (though the patterns are much more modern... in fact I've used Amy Butler's "Midwest Modern" line of quilt fabrics! Photos to come...

In other quilt news, I've also signed up for a class at the Quilt Works. It's to make the "Fabulous II" quilt from the book Stratavarious Quilts. I have chosen a bunch of Kaffe Fasset Fat Quarters in blues/grays/purples. Some of them were a bit hard to find, but in the process I found a great Etsy shop for quilt supplies: Mountain of the Dragon ... if you like fun fabrics, you should check it out!

In other craft news... here's an idea for easy wall art for your child's room.... do you have any dust jackets from their favorite books? As Miss B. is getting older, we're starting to read more picture books, rather than board books. I find that a lot of them come with very decorative dust jackets... but unfortunately, with little hands, the dust jackets tend to get removed quickly and then folded/torn, etc. In these days of "wrapped" covers, I'm not quite sure why book makers are still making dust jackets for kids books, but since they are let's use that to our advantage! Madeline has become one of our favorite stories, so before the dust jacket got completely destroyed, I removed it from the book and framed it!

(Check out the frame that was all of $3.99 at Michaels!)

Then, to go with it, I also framed a colorful bit of Miss B.'s own art work. (Frame from IKEA). Not bad, if I may say so myself!

Check This Out....

So, sometime last year I was at Filene's up in Hackensack (I know I go to Hackensack way too often)... and I picked up a pair of Stella McCartney jeans. It turns out the jeans I found are the same as the ones shown here. Except, on that website the jeans retail for $230.00. I paid $17.00. How cool is that? Now I just have to shorten them, since clearly they are long enough to fit a 6'5 amazon!

New York Auto Show!

This weekend we visited the New York International Auto Show!

As I told the Husband, I went often to auto shows as a kid with my dad... I especially remember actually visiting the Delorean display at the Auto Show in Ft. Lauderdale that one year that Delorean actually produced cars!


I also remembered the days of neat giveaways, gift bags and all sorts of "swag".... alas, there is limited swag these days... but the folks at Mercedes did actually send me a coupon for $1,000 off the purchase of a new Mercedes, so I guess that's good.

I was really impressed that the show is open until 10:30pm most nights!

There were beautiful cars, including the new Porsche Panamera... their sedan. So what if the top of the line model is $160K? That's in the budget, right?

Miss B. was especially taken by the Fiat display... I guess it's the Italian in her.

BMW!

Gull wing Mercedes...

Who even knew they were still making SAABs let alone displaying them at the auto show???

I think this was a camaro.... but leave it to Chevy to have a bright green car!

All I have to say is...

Gerard Butler on the cover of Architectural Digest? It's like porn, but for women!

Interesting Friday on Television...

I just caught the end of Blade Runner. (Which I did not appreiciate when it was in theaters, but have been wanting to see it again, from the beginning for a while). Doubt I'll like it much more, but love Rutger Hauer!

And, now I'm watching Aida on Great Performances.

Update on Book Sale!!!

Guess what, guess what?? The Husband took us back to the Bryn Mawr book sale today and it was bag and box day. Bags (all you can fill) were $5 and boxes, $10. All in all we had two bags full of books. The Husband got some, Miss B. got some and I scored 32 additional books! (Yes, 32 books!)

The best part? I found two books that I've wanted to read for ever. Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell and The Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. I had seen the BBC television version of Brookner's novel ages ago and had wanted to read the book ever since, but it is out of print.

How cool is that?

Agita.

So, as some of you may know, I've been working on a project lately with the J*unior L*eague. We were tasked with revamping a multi-purpose space at a local children's charity in Trenton.

We have ordered various furniture and other supplies to help outfit the room and we also planned to paint a mural.

Note that there is one large focal wall in this space which is at least 30 feet high-- it's tall and narrow and would have been perfect for a Chagall-esque mural a la the Metropolitan Opera House. Did we do something like that? Not in the slightest.

One of our chairwomen had a contact with a local artist who was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. She was going to do a design, yada, yada, yada. Well, one kiln fire later (she works mostly with tile, apparently) and she couldn't help us. So, one of our other committee folks reached out to a local interior designer who does children's murals (meanwhile, it was basically ignored that I had prepared a design and I can draw... but such is life!)

So, instead of a thirty foot Chagall, we ended up with one short wall and a giraffe. Since the giraffe scene wasn't quite filling up the room, the ladies elected to paint a secondary tree elsewhere in the space. Above is the tree as it was when I arrived this morning.

Below is the tree, after I spent from 11:30am till 4pm painting it.

It still totally looks like something that you'd see in the waiting room of your local pediatric dentist, but what can you do? We're not even going to discuss the giraffe. ;)

Book Sale!!!!!!!!!

This week it was the annual Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale!

Billed as the "Largest Used Book Sale on the East Coast" (i.e. see, picture), it's always a fun event! This year it began on Wednesday with a "preview" day. The preview day is so popular there is a $20 admission charge and a lottery system for entry (apparently, used and rare book dealers from around New England and the Mid-Atlantic states will line up before opening just to get a good spot!) One day I may brave the first round, but a $20 cover charge to buy books was a bit too rich for my blood. Instead, we went back on Thursday and for the second year in a row we got the *best* parking spot-- right by the front door! Having gotten this spot two years running, I like to think of it as "my space", but I digress.

Last year, some of you may remember, Miss B. didn't quite have the patience level needed for serious book-looking. Indeed, she had quite a bit of a fit somewhere between the Art History section and British History, but not this year!!!

This year we came armed with a) one stuffed bunny, b) sippy cup, c) one bag Annie's Organic Fruity Bunnies, d) one bag Ian's Organic Cookie Buttons, and e) Raisins.

In addition to toys and snack foods, we also had the spectre of the Easter Bunny! Yes, Miss B. knew that if she was patient during the book sale not only would she get to pick out books to take home from the Kids' Section, but she'd also get to visit the Easter Bunny after the sale!

She was super patient and generally wonderful. We spent quite a bit of time checking out all the great selections and then after we scored our initial haul, we hit up the kids' department. In Kids we got seven books including Madeline stories and a great little Lift the Flap book by Rod Campbell.

Here's a list of what else we found:

Allende, Isabel, The Infinite Plan, 1991, First HarperCollins Edition (marked)

Beaumarchais, Oevres Dramatiques I, 1829 Imprimerie de Guiraduet (1829!?!)

Byatt, A.S., Posession, 1990

Carhart, Thad, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, 2001, First Edition (marked)

Cunningham, Michael, A Home at The End of the World, 1990, First Edition (marked)

De Courcel (ed.), Malraux Life & Work, 1976, First American Edition (marked)

Doctorow, E.L., The March, 2005

Gaarder, Jostein, Sophie’s World, 1994, Second Printing (marked)

Gordimer, Get a Life, 2005, First Edition (marked)

Harvey (ed.), Oxford Companion to French Literature, Oxford 1959

Malamud, Bernard, The Tenants, 1971, Second Printing (marked)

Malaraux, A The Voices of Silence, 1953

Maxwell, Donald, The Landscape of Thomas Hardy, 1928

McEwan, Ian, On Chesil Beach, 2007, First US Edition (marked)

McEwan, Ian, Saturday, 2005, First US Edition (marked)

Myers, John Bernard, Tracking the Marvelous, 1983, First Edition (Marked)

Phaidon Press, El Greco, 1938

Roy, Arundhati, The God of Small Things, 1997, First US Edition (marked)

Salinger, J.D., Franny & Zooey, 1961, Sixth Printing (marked)

Sartre, J.P., Saint Genet, 1963, First Printing (marked)

Stein, Gertrude, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, 1933, First Edition (Marked)

Tan, Amy, The Hundred Secret Senses, 1995

Tan, Amy, The Kitchen God’s Wife, 1991

Thoreau, H.D., Cape Cod, 1951

Toesca, Pietro, Storia Dell’Arte Italiana Vol. I Medioevo, 1929

Tyler, Anne, Patchwork Planet, 1998, First Trade Edition (marked)

Updike, John, Marry Me, 1976, First Trade Edition (marked)

Updike, John, Brazil,1994

And yes, we did visit the Easter Bunny!

The Men Who Stare at Goats

We just finished watching it. Other than finding it humorous every time Ewan McGregor had to talk about "Jedi" (mostly, the part where Ewan's character says that he doesn't know what it means to be a "Jedi"), it was pretty lame. I guess it ranks among those movies that you would normally watch at 2am on Starz! or something. (I mean, it was much better than "Ninja" which we watched last night after I mistook it for "Ninja Assasin", but that really isn't saying much).

Compare and Contrast: Big Red versus Big Blue

Will Cornell beat Kentucky on Thursday? Probably not, but it's fun thinking about it. Here's a link to a USA Today article Comparing and Contrasting the two teams.

As always: Go Big Red!

Asks...

would this have happened if a woman was driving?

The other day on Route 1 (just before the evening rush), there was a Garbage Truck stopped in the fast lane. It had run out of gas.

Really? First of all, do we really need to be driving a garbage truck in the fast lane? Then, for it to have run out of gas? (How did I know this, you may ask? Because a tow-truck had been pulled up behind it, the driver of which was using a giant gas can to fill up one of the reserve tanks under the cab of the truck!)

How Do You Know You Have a Toddler?

You find googly eyes in the washing machine.