a more finished den

We had visitors today, and in an effort to seem civilized we (mostly Christopher) arranged our den. We hung a shelf, some paintings, wall lamps. In a fit of brilliance we put the sofa under the windows. At the moment it bumps up against our enormous radiator, but we'd like to replace the radiator with a smaller one and turn it towards the corner, and then the sofa will fit.

So, here are some preliminary photos. Clearly we still need to do some organizing, but it's coming along rather nicely, I think. It's cozy, relaxed, less of a dump room and more of a place to hang. Even Dinah has taken a shine to it.

a tag

Here's a quick one, since it's late and I have to do my other blog for work.

I have just discovered that an old acquaintance from college has a blog as well. (Interestingly, we have a similar layout.) We didn't get to catch up so much at reunion, but we did say hello and I met her amazing little girl. In any case, I have decided to tag her for that "7 Things About Me" thread from a few weeks back (the one where I didn't know anyone with a blog to hand it off to).

So here it is. Tag number one: Mango Bounce

The rules are simple: You must list 7 random things about you and then pass it on to 7 other blogs, linking to the blogs in your own blog and also telling them about it on their blog.

back to school

So I now have a job for three weeks that requires me to blog. What do you think of that? We're supposed to blog when we get home at night and send our entries to the blogmaster, who will eventually organize it all and post it on the main site. It's not a public blog, just a site for everyone on the project to see once we're done. Cathartic but a little dangerous, in my opinion.

We went to my college reunion last weekend. It was not as exciting as I was expecting, mostly because it rained the whole time and so the major events (alumnae parade and the campus illuminated by lanterns) were cancelled. I was really looking forward to showing Christopher that crazy female energy, the pep rally that these events can be, but it didn't work out. The parade was moved to the gym, and instead of us walking in it, the class officers walked. LAME.

It was also very cold and so I changed out of my white outfit as soon as possible after we bailed from the dumb speeches.

We went to a very interesting lecture on geology and wine, which included a wine tasting. We sat with an old friend of mine and her fiance, and we all got extremely drunk. Another woman started passing out baby pictures, and somehow our table was dubbed the "happy table" by the professor. Oops.

(If you're familiar with wine tastings, usually you spit out the wine you don't drink, but there weren't any spit tubs, so everyone there just drank the wine in their glasses.)

We stayed with old family friends in Amherst, which was very low-key and fun. They just opened an ice cream store in Greenfield, so we got to see that and taste their goods (highly recommended) and visit with them a little.

On Sunday morning we went to the Smith graduation, just to hear the speaker: Gloria Steinem. I thought she was incredibly inspiring and energizing, but Christopher was offended that she referred to the "patriarchy." I told him that the speech wasn't really meant for him, it was aimed at the graduating (female) seniors, and that made him even more miffed. He doesn't like being excluded.

our green den

We have decided to ignore the problems with the wall, or avoid them, for now. My father said he'd come up this week to help replaster the rotten parts (there's now another huge hole on the opposite wall) and so we're painting whatever doesn't need to be patched, including the woodwork.



Our woodwork is disgusting. It seems that many years ago, when they skim-coated the walls, they also skim-coated all of the molding. This means that all detail has been lost on the woodwork, it's sort of amorphous and globby, covered with shiny, dirty white paint. In every other room we have simply skipped painting the woodwork, not sure what to do with it, but with our den we thought we'd try painting it the same as the walls. So far we like it, though perhaps at some point we'll repaint it with a slightly glossier version of the same paint.

Our painting has made chaos of our entire apartment and I came home tonight wishing it were neat again. The feng shui is definitely off, but it's not worth correcting until we're done with this project. I'm beginning to find it all completely overwhelming (perhaps it's the project I start tomorrow?) and I told Christopher that I'd sew curtains for the den tonight. All I want to do is sleep...

continuing renovations

With my schedule becoming busy very soon, and Christopher now on summer break, we've decided it's time to reattack our apartment renovations. Today we moved the furniture and boxes out of our "den" and are prepping it to paint. Hopefully by tomorrow night it will be Prescott Green.

It is wonderful to see the room, which has become a dumping place, nearly empty. Suddenly I begin to imagine where we should put that table or some shelves on the wall. It needs to be more efficient and better kept. And we need to get rid of the cat odor.

Before Christopher started sanding we went around with putty knives and pulled off any paint or plaster that seemed loose. Of course, this includes large chunks of the wall, and now we're left with bumpy holes that need better attention than I am qualified to give. It seems that the entire wall behind the radiator/below the windows just needs to be replaced, as it fell of with barely any scraping. Oh dear. I get the sense that at some point the windows were really leaky, as in addition to the crappy walls the windows are newer in that room than in the rest of the apartment.


Since we've already had an ant infestation, I'm now having visions of some horrible thing coming through that hole. Maybe I need to stuff something in there for the time being... Also, for those of you who are thinking "oh, that paint texture is sort of cool! Why will they paint/patch over it?" think this: that stuff is so toxic! I am 100% sure that it's lead paint and we do not need to be flaking around here!

7 things about me

There is a sort of chain letter circulating among blogs. When someone is "tagged," they must post 7 random things about themselves and then choose 7 other blogs who must then do the same. I have recently been tagged by boodely, who is someone I have actually met in real life. I can even say she inspired me to start this blog.

So, here goes.

1. I once played Francis Flute in a children's version of A Midsummer's Night Dream. I was about 10 and I took acting classes with my friend Emily (that's her with the knee socks). Though it was a severely cut version, I still played Thisbe with enormous fake eyelashes and had to fall over "dead" onto a boy (Pyramus/Bottom) who was much larger than me. I found the whole romance part of the plot extremely embarassing.
Somehow I also managed to chew gum through the first half of the show. I thought I was very good at hiding it, but my parents (who I visited at intermission) made me spit it out for the second half.



2. I have never dyed my hair or plucked my eyebrows. I actually could care less about either, and was surprised in grad school when a rather queeny costume designer admitted that he thought I plucked my eyebrows. (I'm not totally sure, but I think that's a good thing.)

3. I was a horrible sleeper until about age 16. It always took me several agonizing hours to get to sleep until I was in summer camp and shared a cabin with 7 other girls. One night when we were going to sleep/gossiping, I admitted that I was afraid of the dark, and one girl told me that they were all there for me, that the darkness was a warm, friendly darkness and somehow that was enough to reassure me. I now fall asleep at the drop of the hat.

4. I did horribly in science in high school (I once scored a 16/100 on an ecology test) but I am fascinated by the chemistry of food. I know very little about it, but it is amazing that I can make mayonnaise and salad dressing. Favorite cooking term: emulsify!

5. In another life I would have had a sheep farm and spent my days spinning wool and knitting it. I actually know very little about sheep and farming, but the idea of this captivates me. :)

6. I am happiest when I am busy creating something, whether that's writing, drawing, knitting, or planning what our den is going to look like. Much as I try to deny it, I need a creative outlet.

7. I'm not a big chocolate fan. I mean, it's ok, but I don't understand the whole chocoholics thing or why people are so gaga over it. If I were to choose how to eat my chocolate, I would say I prefer a bar of very good quality dark chocolate, maybe with some nuts in it. The bitterness is good. I like those deep, complex flavors. But chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake, I can do without.

I've been hesitant to write these seven things because I actually don't know anyone with a blog besides Boodely, and I can't very well tag her back with this chain letter thing. I will be searching for blogs... If any of you have one that you're hiding from me, now is the time to fess up! :)

together time

I love being married and having a partner in life.

In some ways I feel very old fashioned, since we only moved in together three weeks before our wedding. (hello stress!) We knew each other pretty well and were sure of what we were getting into, but I also feel like -rather than going through an adjustment period- we've been mellowing into our companionship since then.


Recently we've been taking long walks on the weekends, enjoying spring and this wonderful weather. Yesterday we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, where everything is in bloom and the lilacs smell heavenly. We wandered through the garden for about an hour, barely stopping except to record it, and then headed down to an art opening in Park Slope.

I'm not sure how to describe these afternoons together. We don't talk about anything especially interesting, but being together is just glorious. We laugh, we hug, we chatter on about this or that thing on our minds, reconnecting with each other after the work week. I feel so refreshed and whole, relaxed. And it makes me dread the end of the weekend.

-

a side note:
I have recently been informed that it is hard to leave comments on this blog, that sometimes they don't appear. I am not sure why that is, but I hope it doesn't keep you readers from trying!

sprouts

The leaves on the trees seem to have finally unfurled, and my dahlia is growing like crazy. Part of me wonders whether I'd see it grow if I watched hard enough. (can you really see bamboo grow?)

I'm posting some photos that I took of them. I apologize for the inconsistancy of the images.

Here they are on Wednesday evening:


And yesterday (can you see my little photo buddy in the reflection?):


And this morning:


I hope the pot is deep enough!

knitting update

Since we're updating things, I thought I'd post a second time today and let you know how my tank top is coming along.



The truth is, I'm currently avoiding it. It was going great, very quickly, until I pieced it together and knit the neckline. There's something horribly wrong. The pattern told me to pick up a certain number of stitches, and I did. But it's not enough. As you can see, it's very bunchy. And it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be nice and smooth and tailored-looking. As it is I'm not sure my head would even fit through that opening. (It's not very stretchy either.)



So I think I need to rip out the neckline and add more stitches and reknit it. I actually think the neckline is pretty dull anyway, so maybe I can do a little lacey cast off or something. Ideas, anyone?

And since Dinah has made one appearance on the blog today, I thought I'd add in another. She's more or less glued to me today.

Ideas

I recently handed back essays to some students privileged enough to attend what's been named America's Top Dream College*. Concerned that they were nearing the end of their freshman year and that few of them could write an essay with an idea in it, I asked them the obvious question: What's an idea? After trying -- and failing -- to describe the word, one of them ventured, "It's just that the word idea so perfectly captures ... the word idea."

*NYU, for the 4th year in a row, according to a survey by the Princeton Review

photos galore!

Tonight was very productive. We finally have begun framing and hanging photos in our hallway, which we've been planning since Day One. It is going well and I am sure that they will look fantastic.

It's an interesting and fun project, in some ways because it's a reminder that we are combining families and pasts, that in some ways the Christopher's childhood photos are an extension of my childhood photos. I'm not sure how to explain it. I just feel more and more that we are each other's family and that it's less about "me and him" and more about "us."

Unfortunately, we've realized that we don't have a lot of pictures that are larger than 4x6, and we also need more frames. So we're done until our newly ordered prints arrive and we get more frames.

pie time

I made cranberry-apple pie today! It took forever, but I must say that it was worth it. And it's just about the handsomest pie I've ever made.

Oh, oops! It's already half gone!



I also want to note that our daliah now has another sprout and that the part I photographed the other day is already much bigger. Do daliahs usually grow this fast?

spring, where art thou?

These past few weeks have been a big tease with the weather. It was cold and rainy, then it was cold and sunny, then it was hot and sunny. Now we're back to cold and sunny, though tomorrow is supposed to be lukewarm and rainy.

Every year around this time we all get impatient for some warm weather, but I want to point out that there are few signs that spring is on its way.

The flowers are blooming. My nose is running non-stop and I'm sneezing. The trees are showing signs of green, so slowly but surely. And the pigeons are mating.



Before this apartment, I'd never paid too much attention to pigeons. Sure, they are all over the place in New York. Most of the time they are missing a leg and hobble painfully around, begging for crumbs and looking completely pathetic. But we have a pair that sun themselves by our window. And this past week they've been very busy.

I try not to get too involved in the life of our pigeons (our cat, Dinah, is much more interested), but there was some definite action over the weekend.

The other good news is that my daliah bulbs, which I (legally) planted over the weekend, seem to be sprouting already. They must be very eager little plants!

buttery comments

I'm never sure whether to respond to comments that people leave, though it's really tempting. I am so excited when I someone writes something, but I've only seen one blog where the blogger responds. Anyway, I've decided to respond right here, in my post.

This week one of my dear Brown cousins (I'm not sure which one, though I have an idea) left a note about butter, and whether I leave it out or put it in the fridge. This is a very interesting question, and one which I might have explored more if I'd had siblings with whom I could gossip about my upbringing.

Interesting fact that I've never evaulated: my parents leave their butter out on the counter.

A few months back I was talking with my Brown cousins and this subject came up. Apparently, they (or one of them) believes that this is a Brown thing, that this is something passed down through the family, like the ability to use power tools or remember family anecdotes (unfortunately I think I got the Scott memory). The Browns leave their butter out.

To answer this question once and for all: I do not leave my butter out.

But I used to. When I was in college, I interned for several summers for a regional opera company and lived in a huge house with 13 other people. One of these people is still a good friend, and she had recently moved to the U.S. from France. She explained to me that butter can go bad, and would routinely throw away anyone's butter that was left out overnight. I had never before considered that butter had a shelf-life, but I think she's right. Fresh butter does taste creamier than counter butter. I actually keep all but one stick in the freezer, to prolong its life.

My other confession: I don't use butter very much. Sometimes I use it to saute or in baking, but for the most part I don't eat it straight up. We did get a fabulous butter dish as wedding present from a family friend who is a potter, however. And I wish I had an excuse to leave it on the counter all the time.

leaky windows

Here's a new one: we have two windows that leak from the top.

I'm not sure what is going on, but they don't seem to be sealed at the top, and with today's torrential downpours we had major puddles to clean up. A call to my handyman (aka Dad) alerted me that this wasn't something that I could patch myself with some silicone.

Being Sunday, we have to wait until tomorrow when the super can look at it, but of course then we'll be at work so this might have to wait till we're home sick or something. This whole situation of course prompted my father to sing me the Arkansas Traveller, fabulously out-of-tune as only a Brown could do. I was very proud of him.

illegal dahlias?

Last week when my father came up, he brought with him a rectangular ceramic planter, dirt and dahlia bulbs, courtesy of my mother. Since then the planter, bulbs and earth- along with the bags they came in and some additional seeds I bought at the Coop- have sat on our kitchen counter waiting for me. It's sort of horrible. I cook a lot and these things take up counter space (yes, I know the counter is already cluttered), plus I'd like to get these bulbs into the "ground" so they can start growing.

So my big plan for this weekend was to plant the bulbs and sneak them onto the fire escape. In New York City we all have fire escapes, but there are laws governing what we may and may not put on them. Really, nothing can go on them. It's a fire hazard. You'd think a little pot wouldn't get in the way if we were evacuating up to the roof as long as I stick it over to the side, but apparently we'll fall and trample each other if the planter is there. It would just be horrible.

Except for the joy of seeing the dahlias grow in the sun and the rain!

I am stuck on this idea of them being outside, perhaps because I am inside all the time and this is my one connection to nature. But is it worth the risk of being fined by the fire department? And we're supposed to get 4" of snow this weekend, which also probably isn't so great for my little bulbs. Argh. What to do...

lighting makes the room

My dad came up for the day today and we worked on improving the apartment. It was just the two of us since Christopher was teaching all day.

He installed a new fan in our living room.


and we (mostly he) put track lights in our hallway. Our plan is to line the hallway with tons of family photos, though we are still figuring out what we want it to look like. Since Christopher already has a bunch of photos in black frames and white mattes (and our wedding certificate is framed similarly), we will probably stick to that style with our new images.



The pink tinge from the lights is little odd. Christopher said it reminded him of Christmas lights. Hm.
In any case, we are both blown away every time we enter the hallway and turn on the lights. It's just a completely different experience, sort of like we live in an art gallery or something.

my lace project

I know you've all been anxious to know what I've been knitting, since my red sweater project failed a few weeks back. Here are some photos of my lace tank top, in progress.

I'm knitting it in the round and hope that it actually fits me when it's done. Right now it looks a little large.



I also wasn't considering how big the lacey holes would be, so if I wear it without a lining or camisole my belly will be on display. Christopher seems to think this is normal for me, that I enjoy wearing revealing clothing (I do?) but I'm thinking that a little lining might be a good idea.

peeping tom

From our kitchen I can see several other kitchens, and it fascinates me. When I'm making dinner (or tea or washing the dishes) I often find myself gazing out the window and examining our neighbors. I feel that my interest actually comes from a wish to know them, as our relationship has never gone far beyond wishing each other a nice day.

My report:
Directly across from us is another couple. They look about our age and I think the woman is pregnant. It looks like their kitchen is really big, but I can't tell what they've done with it. Sometimes I am tempted to go over there and knock on their door, to introduce myself. I know that we would be great friends, if only we could meet, though if we did meet I'm not sure what I would say. "Hi, I'm that girl who you see watching you! You know, the one with no curtains who cooks dinner really late? It's SO great to finally meet you! you have a lovely apartment! Where did you get those cool hinged interior shutters?"

Below them are another couple. For awhile their apartment was empty and being renovated. I could see lots of dropcloths around, newly finished floors and the two would appear, admiring their new home. Occasionally a little dog would walk through the view. Now they live there and have put up curtains, which is smart of them because otherwise I could tell you more.

Way down, on the second floor, is a family I saw at the shareowner's meeting last fall. The woman was then very pregnant and she had a little girl with her. Now I can see her making dinner with the baby strapped to her front, which I think is very clever though knowing me I would lean over a pot and burn the baby.

I'm not sure what my point is. I suppose that we all get a thrill out of glimpsing other people's lives (the reality television craze is one example) and living a little vicariously. And I hope that they are more fulfilled than I feel myself.

the ants are marching

We have an ant problem.

I'm not used to ants. Here in New York City, it's much more common to hear stories of cockroach infestations, or rats or even bedbugs. But ants are a little foreign, somewhat wild or rural seeming. But they came with the apartment, our little roommates under the floor boards.

When we first moved in, we noticed them around the cat food. We put out some ant traps. They disappeared.

But after our party a few weeks ago, they seem to be everywhere. Or maybe we're just more aware of them. I've studied them and I know where they come in. I know where to look now if I think they might be gone.

We could put cinnamon around their hole to repel them. The problem is that there are a lot of holes in our floor, so putting a little spice around one hole won't keep them from finding another hole. I'm also tired of watching them drag large crumbs across the floor. The day after we've had a snack on the sofa the ants can be seen picking up our mess. So we've decided to wipe them out.

Being a good environmentalist, and a pet owner, I don't want to do this with real poison. If you search the internet you can see that ants can be killed by a number of common household ingredients. The problem is, we can't tell if it's working since the nest is somewhere under our floor and there seems to be a limitless supply of ants.

We started with a mixture of Borax and sugar. Christopher made it into a paste and put it near their nest. They couldn't have cared less. Then I read that Cream of Wheat works. They eat it and then it expands and they explode. I put some out and the ants were SO excited. They were swarming over the Cream of Wheat and it was gone quickly. I put out more and that was also carried away. I thought we had done it.

Of course, then we had a snack in our living room and shortly thereafter the ants could be seen toting home our crumbs.

So today I tried option number three: bread soaked in a Borax and sugar-water mixture. The ants once again loved it, unti l had doubts that it would kill them and I dribbled some more Borax-sugar-water on the bread. Then they all abandoned the bread and left.

So we'll see. Maybe they are growing fat on what we feed them.