Put on the Glasses

This piece of art on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, always makes me giggle. Some of the trees along the street have been cut down and only stumps remain. One of them has this sign on it. Can you tell that there are a lot of artists in my neighborhood? I love the estimated value.

Chartreuse is my new drink of choice. I bought it on a lark because our Save the Date cards are chartreuse in color. I thought it would be vile but it is actually really good. It is made with 130 herb from a recipe given to monks in 1605 by the king of France. It is only made in one place and only 3 monks know the recipe. It is also the only liquor that is naturally green and the only liquor that has ad a color named after it. If you see it, I recommend it. I drink it with tonic and lime. It is sort of like a complex ginwith lots of flavors, too many to single out. Delicious.

These were my packages from Brian. We already exchanged presents. I just loved his Metrocard labels and I had to share. Brian got me an opal and sterling necklace and a mini Gorilla tripod for taking pictures. I'm so lucky. :)

Livia does not want us to leave her. She has taken to sitting on top of Brian's luggage. I don't think she knows what it means. She seems to like the fabric for sharpening her claws. Here she is waiting to pounce at me. At this point she was still mad at us for the whole Christmas picture fiasco. This is her "pick me up and I will cut you" look. She's adorable and deadly.

Everyone have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY HOLIDAYS from all of us! This is the best picture that I could get of all three of us. Brian now has a fresh gash in his forehead from a very unhappy cat who did not wish to be photographed against her will. Livia does not know the meaning of Christmas yet.

I did take a better picture of the snow in New York last Friday. This was taken directly in front of my building facing the street. You can see another person with an umbrella. Crazy New Yorkers.

Last Friday it snowed quite a bit in New York. We got about 4-6 inches while I was at work. I took the picture above just outside of the office in Midtown. Everyone here uses umbrellas in the snow. It is weird. I also took this picture right before I did the splits in the lobby of my building, not 5 feet from a wet floor sign. It figures. I guess my pictures didn't really capture the amount of snow that fell. It was just so gross out that I didn't want to ruin my camera. I had to stand under some scaffolding to take this. Here is Livia watching the yard. She keeps an eye on things for us and informs us if there is a cat in the yard by hissing and whining. Here is the snowy tree from her view.

Sometimes Livia thinks she is a person. I walked into the bedroom and saw her sitting up on the bed like this, looking around. She is a goofy cat sometimes.

Brian and I have put up our Christmas decorations for the season. It was a lot of fun. We bought a mini-tree from the florist down the street. It is a dwarf Alberta Spruce and if it survives the holidays I think I am going to put it in the backyard to see how it does. We pulled out all of the candleholders, decorative cookie dishes and the Swarovski ornaments. Brian strung multi-colored lights around the ceiling of the apartment and the tree has made the whole apartment smell like pine. Now I feel like I am truly in the holiday mood. I am ready to shop and sing carols. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Brian built a computer last weekend and I helped. It was loads of fun and I am proud of him. We are now super-geeks, with a Linux operating system and knowledge of every inner component of the computer. He even let me install the processor. Right now, Brian is working on a system to use the computer to stream our music to our laptops. In this way we can access all of our music and save space on our laptops! We are also planning on hooking up a phone to the computer and using Skype to make a home phone for us. It will almost be like having a land line again! More than anything I like having a computer next to the bed. Last night I fell asleep watching the new Futurama movie on our new fancy monitor. It is awesome to be a geek. Now we just need to acquire some robots.

I had no idea that I needed a Google phone until I got one. Before having this wonderful piece of equipment I was silly enough to carry around archaic things like maps and I would have to wait to check my email until I got home. Now I can just hit a button to see where I am on a map. This means I will never get lost in the West Village again (yeah right)! I don't want to sound like I am bragging, I just felt the need to talk about this thing. Until I had it I never thought I would actually use it. But now I find myself Googling restaurants while Brian and I try to find a place to eat while we are walking around. Also, I can check my Google Reader right on my phone so I can stay up to date on all of the news in the blogosphere. I think the best moment with my phone occurred when Nicole was here. We were leaving the Met, it was late and we wanted to go get cookies at Glaser's Bakery. We just weren't sure if they were open. I took out my phone and checked the website ...

This video amused me this morning. I feel that way about cookie dough. I used to wonder why anyone bothered baking it. :)

Finally, I am complying with Stacey's demand for more pictures of Livia. I captured these pictures of her the other day while she was sitting in her favorite spot on the bed stand. Why does she like this spot? Well, first she can look out the window and watch feral cats, birds, construction workers and rats in the backyard. Second, it is right next to where I sleep. She likes to perch herself there and wait for me to wake up because that is when she gets fed in the morning. This morning, for instance, I awoke to her nose almost touching mine as she glared at me. She looked as though she wanted to say, "Get up! It is time for me to eat, you weakling! I am already up! Get out of bed or I will scratch you!" Yes, she has scratched me to get her food in the morning. Also, sometimes she scratches me in the middle of the night because she thinks my wiggling toes are mice under the covers. This is thanks to Brian tricking her into thinking there was a mouse in the bed ...

This picture does not do my turkey justice. This is the picture of it when it came out of the oven, fresh and crispy. Inquiring minds want to know how the brining went. It went perfectly. I brined it overnight in a plastic box from The Container Store and then roasted it. It was juicy and full of flavor. I didn't have to baste it and the aromatics (apple, onion and cinnamon) that I stuffed it with made the apartment smell delicious. I recommend it. It was easier than I thought it would be and definitely worth it. Proof that the turkey was great: there are no leftovers remaining and I am upset. I already miss the turkey sandwiches. One thing that bothered Brian and I was using Alton Brown's roasting method. He recommends 30 minutes at 500 degrees and then cook it at 350 until the turkey breast reaches 161 degrees with a thermometer. During that 30 minute period, because Brian and I lack a hood over our oven, the apartment filled with smoke. My eyes watered, Brian sat ...

Giant Turkey with Pilgrims on it is so kitsch that I love it. SESAME STREET!!! Seeing this float took me right back to my childhood with my mom surprising me with tickets to see Sesame Street Live. All of the the stars were on the float, including Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Grover and Snuffy. This was the best picture I got because I was obnoxiously yelling, "Look, Brian! It's Grover! It's Big Bird! That is so awesome!" I was more excited than the kids int he vicinity. I have no idea what this float is of but I love it. I think it is a cartoon that I have not seen because I lack cable. All I know is that I would love this cartoon. There were many more elaborate floats. It was hard to get good pictures of them. They were elaborate, spinning, colorful floats. As I said to Brian at the parade, "These floats are what all other floats aspire to be." It was awesome to see.

I love anything having to do with Pixar, including Buzz Lightyear. Spongebob! And, finally, Kermit! It ain't easy being green or a giant balloon. :)

I loved the Smurfs when I was little. Snoopy! Raichu is cooler but I will settle for Pikachu. Also, I will have you know that I spelled both of those names correctly on the first try. I am proud of my random knowledge of a cultural phenomenon that occurred after my time.

I took so many pictures at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (over 100 which is odd for me) that I am going to break the pictures down into separate posts. This post consists of the pictures of Brian and myself at the parade. We were armed with coffee and warm coats while we leaned against a store at Times Square watching the parade. We had a good time!

Nicole recently graced us with her presence and we did many fun things together. Here is a list of some of the wonderful shenanigans we partook in: Spamalot on Broadway: it had Clay Aiken pooping in his pants and all of the good jokes from Monty Python's original movie. I think Brian didn't even mind the singing so much. Shopping in Chinatown: Nicole and I bought scarves and Brian ate duck feet and conch (yes, as in the stuff inside of the shell). He will never live that down and he says he will never have it again. The White Horse Tavern: this bar is now becoming a tradition when Nicole visits. It is an old bar in the West Village where Dylan Thomas, the poet, drank 25 shots of whisky and died. Now that is a drinker. The Spotted Pig: the "gnudi" (like gnoochi) was sublime. I was in heaven with scallops and their deviled eggs need to be available to me at all times, like in a vending machine. I don't know how the restaurant makes such delicious food. It...