Amber & Arrived

We're here. And it's wonderful.

Amber & The Storm Before The Calm

1.  Go to Schaubhut to pick up more meds for Pickles.  Check.

2.  Go to Whiskers to get calm drops for travel and gut-pills for barfy Woody.  Check.

3.  Get, but do not eat, a chocolate croissant for Nick's Birthday Breakfast treat.  Check on the getting...

...and we'll see about the eating.

4.  Work.  (In Progress)

5.  Pack up work laptop, stuff at office, including books to read and bike helmet.

6.  Whole Foods for last minute purchases: sunblock, citronella spray, face scrub and shampoo.

7.  Stop by Spoiled Brats to place order to pick up tomorrow on way out of town.  (Rather than lug two cases of food, 35 lbs of litter, and other supplies up the stairs and then back down tomorrow.)

8.  Buy $5 gypsy skirt on the street.

9.  Laundry.

10.  Pack and clean apartment.

11.  Go to River House.

 Breathe.

Amber & Farm Share: Bagged Edition

Fennel, squashes of yellow and green, Italian peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, Juliette tomatoes, white and purple eggplants, cukes, wax beans, white onions, kale and basil.

Amber & Two Day Countdown

Sigh.

And, more sigh.

Amber & Despicable Descriptions

I understand what RUDE HUMOR is, but what on earth is MILD ACTION?  And why would it require parental guidance.  The NY Times review is no more helpful.


“Despicable Me” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has some action scenes that might rattle very young children.

 "Rattle?"

Maybe this is all language you understand if you are a parent?  But what if you are an ALH trying to decide whether or not the movie is for you?

Amber & More Birthday Wishes

I totally almost forgot that this guy says Happy Birthday to Nick, too.

And so does Petey!

You can tell because he is licking the air to taste the excitement.

Amber & Birthday Boys

Happy Birthday to Nick!

Nick has so many great qualities.  He is a fantastic watching programs companion, he is good with kitties (being one of the only three of Pickles's people friends) even when it means selflessly giving up his own pillow for old guys.  Nick is creative, kind, and forgiving when you eat all the sorbet he brought back from Fretta's without him.  He is also extremely brave when it comes to throwing out weird food in the fridge-- he even sometimes postpones doing it so that it is even more challenging.  He also has great taste in eye glasses and has some of the nicest hair I have ever seen.  Also, he is a great director for my interpretive dance.  He is incredibly supportive of all of my talents like that.  Even my newfound belly dance obsession.  Also, he is good at gently warning you if you are about to eat too much salami.

Nick wears a number of professional caps.  His main job is as a trainer for telephone operators.

In this photo, taken by the very talented James, Nick is showing an operator how to plug in the telephone.  You will note his work uniform matches the phones.  He is good at matching.  That is another admirable quality.  He has great socks.

Happy Birthday, Nick!  I am glad you were born.

Amber & What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I took a vacation from blogging this weekend to rest my creative word energies for all of the exciting posts to come when we arrive at the River next weekend.  (Cats!  Cocktails!  Friends!  Happy times in lawn furniture!)  Instead, I used my creative hands energies to sew a bunch of stuff.

First, I made this swell dress/top modeled on Le Sac, which you may remember if you visited me on bed rest.

A few notes about this photo.  First, notice how I match the small decorator pillows on the couch?  Next, have you any idea how hard it is to auto-time a photo of your whole body from your laptop?  A little behind the blog secret?  Sometimes, it doesn't work quite right and quite a few photos are left on the cutting room floor.

(Do you feel closer to me now that I have shared the secrets behind my art?)

And, I made this bolster pillow out of the leg of a pajama that spit at the seams.

I am demonstrating one possible usage to Nick.  Mostly, though, I intend to use it behind my knees.  But, that would have required an even more complicated photography session.  But, you get the general idea.

I also made a bunch of little sacks of cat nip.  But those had to be hidden away as soon as they were made lest they be eaten.

Sew much sewing!  (Get it?  Sew!  Homonyms!)

Amber & My New Nemesis

Illness, I have had it with you.  Although some people have suggested I try not to have new nemeses this year, I am making an exception.  First, you continually pick on some of my dear friends.  Then, you gave me an ailment that no one had ever heard of with the world's silliest name ever.  Then, while I was recuperating from that, you made me get crawly head sensation from nerve problems related to my jaw disorder that persist even after the miracle of the jaw adjustment.

Then, today, you chose the most baby and vulnerable of all targets: Pickles.

Giving my poor pink-nosed, curly little guy another UTI?  I mean, come on.  Although we managed to get to and from the vet without getting clawed or having accidental carrier poops, this is just not fair.  Pickles is already the nervous nelliest of all the cats.  In fact, stress from recent thunder storms and fire crackers (it is still Independence Day in my neighborhood) and contagious me stress (see above referenced other illness infractions) could be the very reason the boy is sickie.

Illness, be warned.  I will not abide.

Your days are numbered.  I am Attacking.  Starting now.

Amber & Farm Share Week 7

Pickling cukes, slicing cukes, zucchinis, sweet green peppers, Italian frying peppers, green beans, white onions, beats and greens, kale, lettuce, whole grain loaf, seasonal delicacy m'smen and eggs. Oh and Ginger.

Amber & Emergency Evacuation

My commute was two hours long this morning.  WTF, MTA?  I switched to the F at 49-50th Street only to have it stop in the tunnel.  For 30 minutes.  The automated robot voice kept saying we were stopped "while the train crew is investigating track debris."  But then the real live conductor came on and told us that there was a problem with the emergency brake.  I didn't pull it.  I swear.

Anyway, about 20 minutes into the stall, they announced we could leave the train through the front car and walk along a little ledge onto the platform at 42nd Street.  This was a scenario I had not planned for. I mean, I am ready if the Cloverfield monster comes, but I am not ready to go meet those little bug guys on their turf.

Luckily, after this traumatic experience, which also involved me discovering one of my significantly-located shirt-button-holes was too large and was venting my chest on its own, I had my new Eileen Fisher catalog to comfort me.  It's 72 pages on lovely over-sized paper with close ups of fabric.

Thank you, catalog porn.

Amber & My Gift

So, today is a super big day for me for two reasons.

First, I got a chiropractic jaw adjustment, my first ever.  Dr. Cooper is a miracle worker.

He started off my massaging the inside of my mouth which was not very enjoyable.  And then he did that scary magic thing with the cracking sound.  And now my jaw is in a different place; I am actually biting my tongue a bit and have a lisp, which the doc says will get better as I adjust to the correct position.  He said it moved a whole centimeter.  Crazy stuff.  And, now I am wicked sleepy, likely from the release of all of the tension.  Maybe tonight, I can sleep through dawn?

The second big thing today, maybe even bigger than my jaw miracle, is that maybe I will get my big dancing break tonight.  I mentioned to my chiropractor that I was planning to go see Nick's sister dance tonight.  (Also, I asked to leave postcards in his waiting area.  Seriously, it sounds wonderful and you should go.  It's about the Forest, which is very timely for me--stay tuned.)  Dr. Cooper asked what I had been doing to prepare in the event they asked me to join them on stage.  Why, I have been born to dance, as readers of this blog know.

But, even those with natural gifts sometimes need to use them lest we lose them.  To this end, I have spent the week watching Shakira videos.



See?  Anything I want, anything in the whole wide world.  And what I want?  Is to share my gift.

I only hope the world is ready.  I fear the crowd might yell, "Give us Barabbas!"  And then my dance would be silenced.  Not to use too heavy of a metaphor.  Or to bring to mind my favorite summer reading.

More than anything else in the world the Procurator hated the smell of attar of roses.

Amber & Not Blogged, Now Blogged

Last week's farm share (week 6, although I missed one when I was on bed rest) was particularly scoopy.

My half included squashes of yellow and green, scallions, kale, cukes, broccoli, lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, turnips, cherries and eggs.  I imagine my sharer's share was pretty much the same.  Also, I got Diana & Kevin's flower share sunflowers for the week.

Most of this stuff is gone now.  And it was sure yummy.

Amber & Things I Meant to Blog

About a week ago, Diana and I went to my favorite Restorative Yoga followed by beverages and thrice-fried french fries at the Restorative Breslin.  Proper Diet is one of the five central points of the yogi lifestyle.  And, french fries served with cumin mayo are certainly about the most proper potatoes you could ever meet.

While we were there, Diana became inspired by the beautifully renovated space and its animal-theme.  She created art of her own.

I had her take photos of her art just for the very purpose of blogging them.  But then, I don't know what happened but certainly something did.  And I didn't blog.  I am doing it now, but I can't quite recapture the original spirit.  But maybe there is a new spirit?  Like, a backward-looking nostalgic spirit for the days before Diana went to the River House?

My original post concept had me somehow tying in this song.



I don't remember how I was going to do it.  I'm sure it was smoother than this.  But maybe that's how looking back is?  Bumpy?

Amber & Looking For Trouble

I am currently in love with this song.  Like: I want it to make romance with my ears.



"Seems the longer you live, the more there is to know."  Like how fun it is to play with the focus and depth of field.

Amber & Surprise for Kevin's Cats!

Surprise, kitty boys!

Erl baked you a cake!

But, since you live in New York and your cake is was in San Francisco, and also since you don't eat chocolate cake, she gave it to Alison for her birthday.  (Happy Birthday, Alison!)

But, just pretend, boys, that you got cake when you eat your wet food tonight.  Nom nom nom.

(James photo)

Still: Surprise!

Happy Birthday, Kitty Cousins!

Today is the birthday of the Kevin cats.  They are turning 11 which makes them officially Old Guys.

Good thing this one is already a wise, distinguished gray.

He is so handsome I could die.  Look at that first-class daintiness with the one paw outstretched.

And I am glad to hear this inky one shows no signs from retiring from his career as a super hero, The Silky Torpedo.

Last year on their tenth birthday, they got sardines and the black cat sure got to practice being a torpedo under Kevin's feet.  I wonder if Kevin is repeating the treats, or if he got too torpedoed.

I love these kitties.  It's nice to think of them as part of the extended family.  They are such loving, special beasts.

I know they bring Kevin and Diana lots of joy.  And they do me as well.

All photos are by Cat Photographer, James.  There's an amazing set here.

Amber & End of Yore (I Promise)

Really?  This was my favorite song.

Amber & More Yore

I loved this song, and this version may actually be better than the original in so, so many, many ways.

Amber & Days of Yore

Yesterday, I became Facefriends with my college-freshman-year roommate Jamie.

Sure, this is the thing about Facebook; people from your past come out of the woodwork.  But, it's really kind of amazing.  Jamie and I actually hadn't spoken since we parted on not-great terms at the end of freshman year.  There's this amazingly good feeling that comes from recognizing just how far behind you those differences are and being able to share in those happy, happy, happy memories.

There's also a sense of wonder, both at the outfits that I chose (that is a Banana Republic skirt from back when they were actually safari-style gear and the name sort of made more sense), and at how very young we once were.  I am a baby in these photos!  Waaaa.  But I still have those pillow shams.

Jamie was hugely important to my transition to college which in turn was hugely important to who I am today.  I have so much appreciation for Facebook today, and for Jamie for making the effort to find me so that we could bask in the warm of nostalgia.

P.S.  And how wonderous and lucky is it that I have made the journey from babyhood to where I am now with James as my friend?

Or that he still has those crazy long toes?

Amber & Likenesses

Totally uncanny.

Amber & It's All In There

This weekend, a new kitty environment was added to my household.

This Super Fabulous Kitty House really sums up the weekend.  It was made by my fantastic sister.

Candice is seen here prepping for her trip to the Gulf where she helped out with the oil clean up efforts by wrapping herself in toilet paper and then rolling around on the beach.  See?  She is not only very giving of environments to the kitties, but she also helps out the other Al Gore kind of environment.

In addition to being made by the birthday girl, out of the box which contained an air conditioner present from my parents which made my apartment completely livable again, which they gave me on their visit, and which my dad and Bernard installed, the Super Fabulous Kitty House also reminds me of all the fun games the cats played in it all weekend which reminds me that I had a super fun time watching the World Cup Soccer game on Sunday with Nick and Diana after brunch at La Palapa.  And that reminds me of huevos rancheros con salsa verde.  And that pile of green stew and white creamy stuff on an egg makes me happy.

See?  The Super Fabulous Kitty House is really quite representative of my whole weekend.

Amber & Inspirational

I am back among the vertical today.

It was hard being horizontal for a week, and I might not have made it if it weren't for this song.




Or, the hope that when I got well I could get a cute short hair cut like the girl in that video.

Amber & 3:07 am

It's 3:07 am.

Do you know where your insomnia is?

Amber & Too Hot To Blog

Sigh.

THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES AROUND 100 DEGREES AND GRADUALLY INCREASING HUMIDITY LEVELS WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 100 TO 104 DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON ARE EXPECTED TO REACH IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S... WITH HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 100 TO 104 DEGREES.

Emphasis added at great energy expense.

Amber & Six Things At 6 am

1.  What can possibly happen when you are on bed rest and leave your chewy beast alone with two rolls of paper towels?

Shreddy mayhem.  What are those blurs under the drying rack?  Why that is Ginger and Woody rolling around with crazy head in piles of shreds.

2.  Not being as active as I usualy am, I was thrilled to discover this use of my skills while prone.

I am going to excel at this.  I wonder how to interpret Mrs. Tiggy Winkle while asleep.  I bet Miss Tiggy Winkle can help me.

3.  Why am I craving a chili dog at 6 am?

(Photo of my hertiage food, a Capitol Lunch dog, by Candice)

4.  Who knew some kitties had boggled eyes?

5.  What did we do when we had insomnia before LOLcats?

6.  Remember when we went to the River House last year and Pickles was the bravest and came outside to explore before any of the other cats?  Think he'll be that brave again this year?