Archive: February 2008

As part of Citizen of the Month’s Great Interview Experiment, I sent Jen twenty questions for her to ponder with the idea that she would be able to pick and choose if any of them were not to her liking. Jen went all overachiever on me and answered all twenty! Very impressive.

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I just joined 20-Something Bloggers last week, and I feel overwhelmed already. Sending out a barrage of friend requests made me feel like a teeny-bopper on MySpace (or how I imagine that would feel), and I quiver in fear at the idea of message boards, groups, and discussions. Is there a user manual? I think I may be in over my head.

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I can hardly believe it, but I am up against Valerie for a chance to go to the Project Runway Fantasy League finals! Depending on this week’s reunion episode, I might be one of two contestants who will vie for some yet-to-be-determined prize by choosing the season winner when the remaining designers reveal collections at Fashion Week. I am floored. I would have been satisfied to be in second-to-last place the whole way through, but check it out! My obsessive note-taking during the “next time, on Project Runway” segments paid off! If you’re rooting for me, then you want Ricky and Jack to win Fan Favorite, cry buckets of tears, and walk off the set, cursing all the way. Got it? If you’re not rooting for me, well, don’t tell me.

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My subscription to Real Simple is running out, and I am not all that broken up about it. It was a lovely gift for our first anniversary, and occasionally, I dog-ear helpful products or ideas for new uses. However, I am getting tired of product recommendations that are astronomically outside what I perceive to be a reasonable price range. If the best A-line skirt costs $300, I am not interested, people. Even though I prefer books to magazines, I’m considering replacing this subscription for one to The New Yorker. It’s definitely more expensive than Real Simple, but it’s not nearly as much as I had assumed, and I think it would be nice lunchtime reading at work. I hesitate because I don’t know if I could keep up with an issue every week, but then, I won’t always be reading Anna Karenina.

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This semester, we have an intern in the office to help out with spring publications, and today is his first day. I’m sure that he’ll do fine, but I can tell from his stiff posture and awkwardly loud tone of voice that he’s nervous. I’m on the fence as to whether I should tell him that there’s a shiny, plastic Chaps sticker on the back of his collar …

Valentine’s Day has never been a big deal for JG and me. During our first few Valentine’s Days together, we were confined by small college budgets, and we never really outgrew that mentality.

Since we got married, the tradition has been to exchange small presents, have dinner at home on the actual day, and then go out for a fun dinner later, when all of the crowds have died down. It’s a nice combination of a special occasion and our regular routine. This year, because of the placement of Valentine’s Day in the week and some other fun plans, we ended up having a sort of extended Valentine’s weekend, and it was really lovely and relaxing.

Thursday
JG and I exchanged gifts when I get home from work. Because of our low cost stipulation, we have to be creative, and I got him a CD he’d asked for at Christmas but didn’t receive, in addition to a folding frame with four black-and-white photos of him and Ted. JG had mentioned in passing that he didn’t have any pictures of Ted on his desk at school, so I hoped I did a good job picking them out. Much to my relief, JG was really happy with the pictures, but the album did not impress upon first listen. Oh, well. For his part, JG did very well with the purchase of my very own awesomely nerdy Scrabble shirt. Yes! I am so sporting it at the next teacher-friend game night so as to intimidate the competition. True love is geeky paraphernalia, friends.

Since JG is the main cook at our house and I prefer to make desserts, we trade requests on Valentine’s Day. I asked for steak and mashed potatoes for dinner this year, and JG made the unexpected dessert choice of carrot cake, and it was all delicious. We laughed mockingly at those poor saps who were fighting for tables at restaurants that night when we had a perfectly tasty meal from the comfort of home.

Saturday
JG made fluffy pancakes for a late breakfast, and we headed down to campus for my first Delaware basketball game. For whatever reason, I never went to a game while I was in college, despite rumors of free soft pretzels for the students. Lessons learned:

• Basketball is way too fast for me to take decent pictures.
• Lack of natural light makes people look orange.
• I only know to yell, “Come on!” at any given opportunity, which gets kind of redundant.
• I still don’t understand dance teams; I had to avert my eyes from the halftime routine from an overwhelming sense of dirtiness.
• I can’t eat a funnel cake off of my knees without getting covered in confectioner’s sugar.

Game highlights included the aforementioned funnel cake and the Mascot Ball game at halftime. Unfortunately, we lost it in the final seconds. Painful.

Sunday
In an uncharacteristic move, JG and I went out for our “Valentine’s Day, Observed” dinner on Sunday night at a Japanese-Thai restaurant, Teikoku, that has become one of our recent favorites. The atmosphere is really modern and Asian-inspired without being cheesy, and the service and food are both excellent.

I blushingly asked for a drink called the Kama Sutra, and we got sushi to share as a starter, since Teikoku holds the honor of serving JG his first-ever taste of sushi the first time we ate there. JG deliberated over what to order for dinner, and eventually settled on a lobster-shrimp-tempura gorgonzola-fondue contraption he had the last time we were there. He wanted to try something new, but that dish was so good. I went with pan-seared scallops in a saffron cream sauce, with spinach-shiitake orzo on the side, and it did not disappoint. The dinner conversation about anniversary presents and our plans for spring break was punctuated by our sighs over the food.

Despite being ridiculously full after my entrée, I was swayed JG’s choice of the chocolate soufflé and ordered a coconut macadamia nut tart with white chocolate raspberry ice cream for dessert. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I couldn’t eat even half of the tart, even though JG relieved me of all of the ice cream. I just could not hack it that night.

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So maybe our Valentine’s fun wasn’t traditional, but it was just right. Lots of food, conversation, and plain old hanging out — that’s pretty much how we roll, anyway.

In case you haven’t heard, Jen, AKA Operation Pink Herring, is engaged! Her Matt-Damon-look-alike fiancé, Joel, proposed during their recent trip to Barcelona, and I know that I am waiting with bated breath to see how she approaches bridehood. Jen mentioned a little while ago that she told the jeweler about a purported “fake engagement party” so that she could get her resized ring back faster, but we figured that a real, albeit virtual, engagement party made up of fun, congratulatory, wedding/engagement-themed posts would be way more exciting.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s a surprise? That as Jen is reading a whole flurry of posts dedicated to her from the comfort of her feed reader, she had no suspicion that we sent out a massive e-mail invitation?

SURPRISE!

(Oh, Jen, how I wish I could see your face right now.)

Throughout the day, as party posts go live and authors e-mail us, Audrey and I will update a running list of links; mine is after the jump. If we somehow missed you with the invitation and you want to jump in, go ahead! Send along your permalink and join the fun — the more the merrier!

Congratulations, Joel and Jen!

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About five years ago, my sister was the maid of honor for a college friend. I was still in college at the time, and I received a phone call one night:

Sister: So I was talking about the wedding with The Bride, and you will not believe what she wants to do for the bridesmaid dresses.

RA: Shiny? Poofy? Handmade?

Sister: Worse.

RA: I have no idea.

Sister: Rainbow.

What?!

My sister went on to clarify that The Bride imagined one color on each of the five bridesmaids, resulting in a horrifying display of prismatic tackiness. Apparently, The Bride’s mother had done a similar scheme in her wedding, and it was reportedly “really pretty,” according to The Bride.

“Yeah,” I snorted. “It was the seventies.”

“I know!” my sister shrilled. “It’ll be like a terrible prom picture, with girls in all different colored dresses, matched up with guys in tuxes.”

Uh, okay.

“I swear,” she continued, “if I can get her to change her mind on this, I will not ask her for anything else.”

As it turned out, the rainbow fascination was partially a form of homage to The Bride’s mother and partially a result of thoughtful consideration for a wide range of body types and complexions. My sister managed to wrangle out a decision on just one color for dresses — imagine that! — and she happily wore a cornflower-blue, Grecian-type number for the wedding. True to her word, she did not oppose anything else, and there is proof in the form of embarrassing photos of her doing some ritual at the reception involving an apron and money being shoved into it.

The crisis was averted, and my sister is still close friends with The Bride. Phew.

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Enjoy the rest of the engagement party posts!

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Last Saturday morning, JG was pumped up. It was tax time, baby!

When I rolled out of bed (finally!), he passed off Ted to me so that he could finish up the loose ends on Turbo Tax and get us our refund already. I can think of very few things that make JG happier than to thumb through a sheaf of W2s and fill in forms. I don’t understand it, but I appreciate it. I wouldn’t have thought to put “will do my taxes willingly and eagerly” on my list of Attractive Husband Traits, but the universe knew and took care of it for me. Thank you, universe. I took Ted without protestation and proceeded to cuddle up with a warm doggie and watch DVRed episodes of Ace of Cakes and Jamie at Home. Ah, Saturdays.

Then, I heard a cry from the dining table:

“What do you mean, there’s an error?”

Uh oh.

Turbo Tax was telling JG that there was a social security number missing on one of the W2s, but when he followed the directions to refer back to the federal forms, nothing was missing. He tried to do his own troubleshooting, but when he called for help, he had the misfortune of connecting to a representative who is in the running for Worst Customer Service Representative Since Time Began. I do not exaggerate when I say that JG gave our e-mail address, zip code, and spelled his first and last name at least ten times each. This guy made JG re-type the flawed forms twice, then create a new account, and download his previously-entered information, only to realize that he somehow couldn’t access this new account from his end. Two hours went by, and the representative concluded that their “systems must be down.”

Come again?

JG was furious. He asked to speak with a supervisor, but when he was waiting on hold, the easy-listening jazz switched over to an ominous busy signal, and then the line went dead.

I watched and listened with growing incredulity. JG was valiantly fighting for the right to file his own taxes, only to be foiled by a software glitch and raging incompetence. The situation was, for lack of a more refined term, just plain wrong.

Immediately, JG called Turbo Tax again and talked to a more helpful representative, who dished out free things like there was no tomorrow. She couldn’t solve his problem, so she entered it into their online tech help system, and JG got an e-mail early this week that provided a solution to a problem he had not described. At long last, he managed to talk to another person who actually looked at his forms and prescribed the correct remedy. Ultimately, if we discount the irritation and time, JG practically filed our taxes for free, and there is something to be said for that.

All of this is to say: I love my husband very, very, very much. Wouldn’t you?

(Happy Valentine’s Day, JG!)

Oh, right, today is supposed to be about Ted. Well, when I needed to grab a snack that morning, he was kind enough to help JG with the tax situation. It’s a good thing that he doesn’t charge for his consulting services.

Stroll on over to see new-girl Smalls, Rufus, Ben, Gus, and Zapp, and submit your nominations for the first-ever Doggie Bloggie Awards by tomorrow!