New Years 2012

I always love the start of a New Year. So much promise, anticipation. Excitement. 2011 was amazing - we got married, moved to DC, took lots of trips, and generally settled in to married life. We had several hard losses as well, which I suppose will become a part of life as we get older. 

Sorry the blog has been a bit neglected - lots going on this past fall! Hopefully life will settle down soon.

 

I am looking forward to seeing what 2012 brings. I am ready.

.auld lang syne.

.happy new year, all!.

here, have a cupcake. from magnolia, during our recent visit in to NYC.

and, some requisite couple shots.

.cheers.

.jam.

.i've always been a bread person.

and what goes better with bread than butter and jam? this past winter, i somehow stumbled upon a jam company. welovejam. and let me tell you, they are not just any jam company.

they're based in california and use fresh, local fruits. they put the name of the variety of fruit on their packaging. and don't even get me started on the packaging - they are design geniuses. they don't use pectin or lemon juice. they are pricey, but their jam is just amazing. so good. the blenheim apricot, their specialty, rocks. seriously, it is just so smooth and yummy. and their fleur de sel caramel is great too. i've also had their bleinheim apricot and bing cherry jam, and while it was good, it just can't compare to the standard blenheim. the mariposa plum is good, and i'm looking forward to trying the fukushu kumquat marmelade.

apparently they are also starting to sell their blenheim jam in some williams-sonoma stores, which is exciting.
so yeah. no point to this post other than me gushing about my love affair with jam. and the jam from welovejam rocks.

.cheers.

.sluggish.

.i'm feeling particularly blah today.


and excuse me, but why are those top images coming up vertical? i'm very confused. don't ask me why i put pictures up of a potato and garlic - i haven't the slightest clue. pretend like it's art.

not sure why i'm feeling so blah today - perhaps it's the blasted humidity. i feel like i'm wearing a damp wool blanket right now. stupid east coast.

in other news, i bought a succulent today. it's an echeveria, and beautiful, and i love it. she's keeping bob the orchid company. i'm hoping that the succulent (sally the succulent? kind of has a nice ring to it, right?) will survive. one plant. i need one plant to survive. okay, okay, don't get me wrong, bob the orchid is alive. i think. he has sprouted a ton of new roots that are going crazy - climbing all over the bark, tumbling down the side of the pot. not really sure if i should be doing something about that, or if it's an alien that has invaded our apartment. perhaps i should be worried. regardless, it still has not flowered again. which makes me sad. orchids should flower. and aren't they tropical? it should be loving this humidity that we're having.

i'm hoping that sally the succulent will prosper. i'm also hoping to experiment with making multiple succulents from sally. you can do that, right? maybe not. i thought i heard that somewhere. hens and chicks? anyone? no?

anyway, it's a really pretty succulent; i'll take some pictures when it's not dark out. i had been hoping to incorporate lots of succulents into the wedding, but i'm not sure how feasible that is. we'll see. oh yeah, i'm getting married. weird.

.cheers.

.bob.

.apparently april got away from me.

i was meaning to blog, really. but i had a conference in dc, then i was in seattle for a long weekend, and before i knew it, april is now almost gone. whaa?

spring is sort of starting to emerge here in boston. lilacs are slowly opening up, tulips are emerging from hibernation. we had a week of 70 degree weather, but now it's rainy and coolish again. my allergies are going wild. regular springtime in new england.

today, i want to talk about my brief love affair with bob.

who is bob, you might ask? no, j and i did not break up. rather, bob is my orchid. was?

let's start from the beginning.

for some reason, for the longest time i have had an aversion to orchids. i don't think this was actually based on anything - i just thought they were sort of a generic flower that everyone got excited about. then, went to the isabella stewart gardner museum with c a while back, and discovered that orchids are awesome.

there is a gorgeous enclosed courtyard in the middle of the museum (it is in an old house) with beautiful ferns, and moss, and orchids. lots and lots of orchids. hundreds of orchids, thousands of orchids, millions and billions and trillions of orchids (am i the only person who has read this book?) okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it seemed like it.

there were orchids peeking out from behind foliage everywhere you turned. teensy orchids. massive orchids. white, magenta, green, yellow. all different colors. it was really cool. i liked the garden more than i liked the actual museum (the museum was still pretty cool). the only con was that you can't actually walk in the garden, you just have to admire from the fringes.

anyway, i was inspired to go buy an orchid, so i went to the florist i've been to before in harvard square, and started asking the guy that works there about orchids.
me: are orchids difficult to care for? i don't get much lightguy: oh, orchids are the easiest plant to care for! they don't need a lot of light. in fact, they should only have dappled sunshine.

done.


so i bought an awesome orchid with a big yellow and pink flower, and several other buds, brought it home, replanted it, and named it bob. yes, i realize that i am incredibly bizarre in naming my plants. whatever, i don't have a pet. deal with it.

so i watered it just like the literature said i should, and put it in dappled sunshine just like all of the literature said i should. and watched as one by one, bob's beautiful flowers shriveled and died.

what the heck. can i not keep a living thing alive?? this distresses me, particularly because i want to have a massive garden when i actually have a house.

.i just love bob's little pronged beards.

let me clarify that the actual plant part of bob is fine - very green, beautiful. alive. but the blooms all died.

so now i'm thinking that i have to simply resort to succulents. those are impossible to kill, right??

.cheers.

.sugar.

.i have been trying to cut back on my sugar intake.

honestly. and i've actually been really good about it! j has awakened me to this primal food kick, and, being the crazy veggie lover that i am, i'm enjoying it.

however, we all know i have a sweet tooth, and it's been hard for me to let go of the yummy sugary goodness of deserts.


so when i found these pictures from this summer, buried away in my files of images, i almost drooled.

these cupcakes are from sweet, a cupcakery fairly new to harvard square. now, they are not quite as good as trophy cupcakes (because, come on, i will always be a trophy lover), but they are pretty darn good. i must say, i consider myself a fairly good judge of cupcakes. i'm quite picky; i hate crappy, cheap frosting, and dry cupcakes make me gag. and sweet is pretty darn good. the frosting is excellent, and the cake isn't too bad either.


too bad i don't eat sugar anymore.

.cheers.

.pom.

.goodbye thanksgiving, hello advent!.

i have been trying to figure out where i can obtain an advent wreath around here - apparently our church does not sell them? sigh. i want to light the candles week by week; it always makes me feel all festive.

j and i have been buying pomegranates at an alarming rate. i know i have documented my love of pomegranates before, but i wanted to do a brief shout-out again.


they're a lot of work for not much fruit, but honestly, they're so good. so. good.


and so pretty! like little pockets of jewels, all shiny and red.


it's funny when you think about how perfectly they are formed, and how much they resemble honeycomb. very cool.


.cheers.

.t is for.

.tomato.

the best part of summer is by far the fabulous array of fresh fruits and veggies. thank god my parents raised me "strangely" compared to many children these days - i rarely was allowed to drink soda, and my snacks were generally fruit or vegetables. c'mon, my favorite food was the lima bean for a very long time. weird, right?

i don't care. now i could eat only fruits and veggies and be perfectly content. a bit anemic, perhaps, but still. happy.

tomatoes especially. i used to eat handfuls of cherry and pear tomatoes at my grandparents' house, plucking them sun-kissed and warm, and eating them like candy. such a little thief.

heirloom tomatoes are the best things ever. i can't wait to have a massive garden with at least 20 different varieties of tomatoes.

mmm. what is your favorite veggie/ fruit?

.cheers.

.heat wave.

.it's been so hot here lately.

not today, necessarily, but this past week or so has just been unbearable. mainly due to the fact that we don't have air-conditioning. so, i have taken to indulging in ice-cold showers, in the hopes of cooling my body's core temperature.

and it works! until i get out of the shower and immediately start sweating again. but let's not get into that.

so, i'm just sighing, and remembering how i complained about the unusually cold summer up until now.


and how i wish it were lovely, cool spring again. until i remember how terrible the winters are here. it makes me want to bottle up this hot steamy weather and keep it in a jar for when it sta

.cheers.

.kiwi.

.my new favorite fruit.


mmm, so good. and so good for you.

i eat one almost every day.

apparently it is technically a berry - it's also known as the chinese gooseberry - who knew? they only changed the name to 'kiwi' as a marketing ploy in the '50s. and, get this, it's originally from china.

learn something new every day.

.cheers.

.fail blog.

.no, i have not started another failblog.

(although it is hilarious and amazing) no, i am simply referring to the fact that i fail at blogging this summer. i will blame my failure to blog on the fact that j has had the only computer that can download my pictures with him in dc all summer. jerk.

anyway, sorry, but it's a short post.

banjo, m's dog. love him.

and some more peony shots.

why are they so amazing?!

i love that they look like frilly girly dresses.

.cheers.

92 - done!

92. grow a plant that actually bears fruit/vegetables

well, i did it. finally. i grew a pea. that's right, i grew a single pea.

why just a solitary pea, you ask? well, when i first planted my peas in may, it was just starting to feel like spring. we had a little bit of nice weather, so a few days after i put the seeds in the soil, the vines came up and went nuts, crawling their way up my windows to the sun.

look at that nice little bud at the top there.

however, we have had an absolutely horrendous june. i am not kidding - it rained for 23 days straight. we had a low average temperature - about 59 degrees. i believe i read somewhere that it is the most rain we've had in boston since about 1915. or something to that effect. basically, it's been nasty, non-summery weather here. as if the boston winters aren't bad enough.

and apparently it has been amazing weather in seattle. sigh.

so, all of my plants died. (well, the tomato is still kicking, but it has some spots on its leaves.) but not before i got my pea!

it has now been sunny and nice for the past few days, although apparently thunderstorms are on their way. great.

not a great summer for growing things. at least i could check this one off my list.

.cheers.

.peony.

.back in business!.

well, i finally got j to download my images from my canon while i was in dc this past weekend. finally.

will blog more soon, but wanted to post something because i have been terrible lately. so, voila.

a peony.


i must admit - i have a weakness. and that weakness: flowers. i would buy flowers every day if i could afford it. there is just something about those beautiful little buds opening into flowers that gets me every time. and peonies just smell amazing, too.

and it is finally starting to feel like summer here.


.cheers.

.dad.

.happy father's day, daddabongo!.

wasn't he a cute little guy? dad is the one on the left, between my grandparents.

and, my amazing grandpas.

mor-phar

i love how my two grandpas have the same pose in these two pictures.

and to all you other fathers out there.

i don't have any of my old photos here, so i couldn't pick out cute ones of grandpa paul and me, or my dad and me, but these will do.


oh, and dad? there is a dead mouse in a trap in my kitchen. please come dispose of it. that's what fathers do, right?

i love you.

.cheers.

.whoops.

.slacking on the blog posts lately.

unfortunately, with j's departure to dc for the summer, he took along my only means of loading my pictures from my 20d onto my laptop. whoops. so now i have all these pictures that need to be loaded (and blogged about) that are stuck in limbo on my card.

oh well.

i went to dc last weekend to visit j, and got to experience some of the memorial day festivities (hello, rolling thunder!). other than that, not too much new here. my peas are a little out of control, and there are actually some peas forming! so i need to blog about that.

this last pea picture was taken with my little point and shoot

and i'll leave you with another lovely blossom shot.

.cheers.