Amber & How We Met

I sure have had a hellish week.  All of the crazy work that kept me from blogging, getting home in time to vacuum, and remembering my hat until I got outside in the cold culminated yesterday with me wearing this shirt with a ridiculous bow on it to distract from the data on my Keynote slides.

Clever, right?  And check out Kevin in his dress shirt.  Fancy times.  ("Is that chart showing the price of a New York pizza slice over time..? Wait, look how fancy the New York staff is dressed.  What's going on with that bow on Amber's shirt?"  Etc.)

But, tonight, I am seeing some Lang at Film Forum with Kevin, then I am having Twin Times with Amy Bee (to be blogged and explained later, blexplained?) and then meeting Nick for a pub crawl and fancy dinner.  To celebrate our seven years of friendship, I wore the shoes that spurred our first non-work conversation.

That went something like this:

A: Here is that budget variance report I mentioned earlier.
N: Thank you.  Those are great shoes.
A: Thank you.  They are this kind called Fluevogs.
N: Oh, I know.  [shows shoes he is wearing, also Fluevogs]
A: Oh!  You are now my best friend ever.  Let's go to River House together!

Something like that.

Amber & FAQ

Q. Do the boys still snuggle?

A.  Yes.

P.S. Ginger's haunches are a little damp there from laying in the tub after my shower to absorb warmth.

Amber & Fleeting Glimpse

I was watching this because Castle only lasts about 44 minutes and, as I have professed, I love Jimmy Fallon's singing skits.

And then lo!

I swear to you, in the looped footage at the beginning, Kevin rides by on his bike.

Come on! That is Kevin!  I am like 99.8% positive.

See?

Now, he's gotten a new helmet.  And he's wearing khakis in the video.  And I think either that blue pullover or maybe even his puff coat?

But that is so totally him!

Amber & New Year, New Waffles

2011 is already off to a fabulous start.  Yesterday, there was plenty of petting kitties, then La Palapa brunch with friends, and then cider at DBA.  And, there was the acquisition of what may prove to be the most life-changing piece of technology introduced to my household since the Swiffer Sweeper:

a waffle iron.

Making waffles is a process, and it will take several batches before I get them toasty enough and spread all the way to the edges.  But, that's reinforcement of key life lessons.  Everything is a process.  We are constantly changing.... and breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

And, just like life, investment in your foundations can reap buoyant, soul-lifting rewards: you can make lots of waffles in advance and freeze them and then enjoy them for quick toaster breakfasts during the work week.

2011, I already love you.

Amber & Best of 2010

I know everyone is doing Best Of lists, wrapping up the year that was.  But there are a few significant and overlooked categories that I would like to address.

Like: Best Stickie Note Exchange of 2010

It's literary, involves tomatoes, and all happened on a stickie note. (Thanks to Kevin for the set-up and the blogging suggestion.)

Also, Best Ampersand Pair Received by Email.

2010, you weren't so bad after all.

Amber & Happy Monkeys

I am still pretty sick, but I managed to venture out today and experienced the Snowpocalypse Aftermath first hand.  Mostly, it meant climbing some street corner snow banks, and trudging through slush.

To prepare for this dangerous adventure, I armed myself with three items of prime safety: my ridiculous big snow boots, my super soft hoody (no, really, have you felt how soft it is?) and a novelty-t.

This novelty t is from the Short-Haired Lady Coffee Place near Nick.  Nick goes there almost every day to work, but I like to go there because they have coffee.  And because I fit in good with my increasingly short hairstyle.  And now that I own this shirt, I like to go there even more because they support monkey happiness.

Close up:

Not all monkeys going into space were happy.  But this one sure is.  He must like coffee, too.  Or short-haired ladies.

Thank you for the nice shirt, Nick.

Amber & Multitasking

How do I do it, you ask?

Work full time for Mother Goose Inc. (and pretty darn well if my department's contribution to the bottom line is any evidence)?

Stay in touch with both my friends and pop culture (my BFF)?

Maintain compelling web content meant to maximize audience engagement on this blog, a go-to source for serious journalism on topics as broad reaching as Hat Hair, Kitties, and Television?

And, all the while, manage to kick the behind of my own Sudoku score?

I have an amazing muse, darling reader.

Muses, even.

Amber & Festive Times

Kevin and I are having "nog time."

I love this time of year.

Amber & Tree Trimming

Fellowship, fir and festive music.

Amber & Something's Fishy

This time of year, I start to crave Fish House Punch.

We were friends for many years, FHP and I, and many holiday parties were well and festively spent together.  (Although there are stories out there about people who had too much of a good thing and then woke up with the Abominable Snowman stomping around their heads.)

Wikipedia tells us the root story of my favorite winter punch might just commemorate ladies being allowed into the Schuykill Fishing Club for the first time and that it was concocted to "please the ladies' palate but get them livelier than is their usual wont."  Exactly: being a lady I can say that it is indeed both palate-pleasing and lively-making.

Plus, every cocktail should have its own song.

There's a little place just out of town,
Where, if you go to lunch,
They'll make you forget your mother-in-law
With a drink called Fish-House Punch.

Amber & Geography Lessons

I bet that when you think of what lies to the north of you, if you are in the U.S. (and Google Analytics tells us many of you are not-- Hello, one person in Thailand!), you think of Canada.  And then maybe your imagination stops there, reflecting on the value of the loonie and how they still read up there.  But, maybe you are forgetting that even further north than Canada is The Arctic!  And maybe they have great brunch places there.  On what's left of the ice.

Likewise, even farther north than where I live is Inwood.

(On that map, I am way way down below the bridge.  Sooo far south.)

That's right, people who think I live in the Bronx, there is a whole neighborhood above me, complete with another 40 or so blocks of Manhattan.  And an amazing brunch place.

And, somewhat ironically, maybe you learn about this brunch place from your friends who live downtown, because maybe it takes someone from Oklahoma to plan a trip to The Arctic.  For brunch.

And maybe it's an international expedition with a friend from Sweden, a place further north than even Inwood, but so far north that it's like you crossed the north pole and came out on the other side.

And maybe you liked your reuben so much that you will definitely go back sometime soon, but maybe not today because the weather conditions are too severe for an expedition to the north.

I mean, look at those menacing flurries.  And that Feels Like.

Amber & New Winter, New Hat

I love this hat I got with Amy Bee last year.

But with my new shorter hair, it is super itchy on my head.  To the point where, if you are in Boston and it is totally winter, you might still choose to go hatless to avoid the itching.

So, I got this new hat today.

Pretty nondescript and a little like the fuzzy "gorilla hat" I had back when that guy wrapped central park in orange fabric.

(I had such a nice time.  Jimmy, you rule.)

But...

SURPRISE!

There is a (faux) animal on the top of it.

I had planned to cut the animal off, but it's really grown on me.  But, if I change my mind, it will make a great cat enrichment device.

Hats and friends are indispensable in winter.

Amber & Chortling Over Chestnuts

Diana and her mom, Kate, are sure enjoying poking holes in the chestnuts so they don't explode when they roast.

Amber & Pulping the Poms

Mmm. Pomegranate. Dinner at Kevin and Diana's involves the prep of many unusual foods.

Amber & Mysteries of Talent

How is that Jimmy manages to take amazing photos even with his iPhone camera?

And, even more mysteriously, how are those kitty boys so darned adorable.

Amber & So Much Has Happened

If you noticed, I have not been blogging lately.  Soooo much has been happening that it has been hard to find time to blog.

For example, I got this new hair...

But then I didn't like that hair and so I got this other new hair that has a tendency to Alfalfa.

I am also, in that photo, wearing a new and very strange ruffle sweater that I got on a special Outlet Mall Weekend Edition of Awesome Club with these boys in a rental vehicle that we could have removed the seats and camped in.

On that trip, I also got this new jacket which matches my tights that I already owned.

Oh!  And there were all these doilies in the office, mysteriously one Monday.  Kevin thought I brought them in.

Oh!  And then there was the week where I bent to get the soap in the shower and stood up and scraped a giant raspberry into my back.  And then, I stubbed my toe in the office.

Although from hair, we can tell that was before.  Probably around the same time I got these great wall flowers in San Francisco.

Oh!  And I painted my nails!

And alot of stuff happened with the cats, but they can't send their Skype BFF photos, so we don't really have the same level of documentation of their activities.

It sure is lucky I am back to blogging so I can do something with these photos daily rather than save them scattered all over my desktop.

Amber & I'm Not Dead Yet

Photographic proof that I am quite the opposite.

Remember my professional colleague Alison?  She is here as a clue to my whereabouts.  I am, as you can tell, excited to see her.

Amber & Baby Kevin

It was on this day in history that baby Kevin entered the world.  He was very small and probably wrinkly, like babies are, but I imagine he looked something like this.

Only maybe he didn't have glasses then.  But that scarf is from his heritage and so it seems likely they swaddled him in that in the hospital.

Well, today we celebrate that day, long, long and almost six feet tall ago.  Several rotations of the hands of this clock have passed, anyway.

(Photo by Jimmy)

And, now Kevin is my professional colleague in addition to being my morale booster, musical entertainment, life advice coacher, and truly wonderful friend.  He is also a snappy dresser--this jacket is also heritage, so maybe this was what he wore to his Christening?

(Photo by Jimmy)

Kevin is the kind of loyal, heartful friend that you need for your first chakra.  If someone is going to pack up the contents of your life and present them to you in a U-Haul truck, you want it to be Kevin.

(Photo by Jimmy)

 Kevin will present you with the truth (maybe that you are a hoarder) with humor and caring.  Kevin understands that you're just a regular person and he respects you for it.

Thanks, Kevin, for being born, and for being one of the smartest, generous, funniest, most celebratory, best-haired, book-lovingest, tallest, most dedicated, strongest, and kitty-lovingest people I know.  Had we not met sometime in between your birth and now, I would be much, much less and not at all who I am today.

So, Happy Birthday, Baby Kevin.  And Big Kevin, too.

Amber & Thank You, Autumn

Autumn, I appreciate you making it the perfect weather for button-down shirts and cardigans.  And ties with apes on them!

Wait-- did you see that?  It has like gorilla or chimpy buddies on it!  It's hard to tell which because they seem to have chimpy faces, but very gorilla-like developed pectoral muscles.  I love it.

No, really!  My tie is covered in purple apes!  Jimmy tells me that in the 1950s and '60s, an editor at DC had a list of things to put on comic covers to increase sales and that a purple ape was one of them.  My tie is going to sell like hotcakes!  Did you see the apes?

Thank you, fall.  And thank you Nick for the tie.  And thank you YouTube for teaching me how to tie a non-bow-tie on myself.

Amber & Bespoke for Me

This recon from ever-ape-vigilant Jimmy is either the Best Thing Ever, or The Worst.

If somehow the procedes go to help my primate cousins, I am all over this.  If, however, it actually smells anything like gorillas, I may pass.  Or will I?  Only your nose will know.  And the noses of everyone on the A train with me.

I'm not sure how making us smell like them aids the Ape Revolution, but I am sure there is a plan.