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 & The Tragedy of Winter

I like winter.  At least when it's cold I can bundle up; there's not much you can do during the hottest days of summer and not get arrested, really.  And I like puff coats, and boots, and wool socks, and hand-knit scarves.  It's a good fashion season for me, maybe because it's so covering.

Plus, if you live in New York, as I do, there's not much use in wasting energy hating the seasons.  They come.  And, they go.  Sunrise, sunset.

But, it sure is hard on my hair.

It's mostly a bummer because my hair is just starting to get flippy again, and I know CRD will never get to see it as long as the weather necessitates wearing a hat.  CRD loves flippy almost as much as he loves girl detectives.

Did you ever notice how unsymmetrical my eyes are?  I sure just did.

Amber & "Normal"

I made my biennial man-sock quest to Uniqlo in SoHo over the weekend.

While, there, though, I discovered that they have a basement with all kind of lounge clothing for the ladies.  (This discovery is probably, for many readers, akin to my discovery of sodoku.)  I got a pair of stripey leggings and a couple of stripey tank tops for, well, lounging.  I discovered that I take a size large in Uniqlo, but discovered when I got home that this was not because I am settling like a lovely (but spooky) Victorian mansion but rather because the Japanese are not "normal size."

This tag was on the tank top I am currently wearing.  It says...

Japan Size

This product has been made to

Japanese specifications and is

therefore a little smaller than

normal. We recommend that

you try it on for size.

It strikes me as odd, that use of "normal."

Amber & A Very Special November 5th

Today is a super nice day for two reasons.

First, it's the perfect temperature outside for knee socks.

These are rare fall (and spring days) where there's a breeze, but it's not too chilly.  You can wear a skirt without looking unseasonable and pair it with a long coat and a scarf.  Magic!  The perfect kind of day for patent leather, double-strap Earth Shoes that are so very 2012: near-futuristic.  And knee socks.

The second nice thing is that it's Eddie's birthday.

Eddie was kind enough to come to my Junior Prom with me. He was tolerated being called "Eddie Spaghetti" by my mom, and making punch jokes with my dad.  He was voted class cutie, and, in college, entertained Faith, Jamie and I will his performances in the penthouse of our dorm.  He's a fantastic guy, and he loves pooches.  Happy birthday, Eddie!

Amber & My Inner Barney

Once in the vaguely-late-80s, I saw an episode of Family Ties. I didn't watch the show regularly, but I saw this one episode that made a long term impression on my thinking. In it, the Tina Yothers character, whose name I only learned today, is about to celebrate a birthday. Wikipedia recaps thusly.

Jennifer — bored with her nice but unspectacular friend Beth, and desperately seeking popularity — wants to make some new friends, but has trouble at first. Mallory offers some well-meaning advice to act like a valley girl, which Jennifer takes seriously when she approaches a cool cliqué of snobbish girls, all having trendy clothes and hairstyles. All this takes place as the family prepares to celebrate Jennifer's birthday. As usual, Steven plans a series of kiddie-style birthday activities, at which point Jennifer loses her temper and leaves with her new friends.

Wikipedia, in typical fashion, leaves out the critical detail. The dad's fatal error in planning the birthday festivities is that he does all of the decorations-- streamers, balloons, cake plates-- in purple. This is the Tina Yothers's character's favorite color. I'm not sure if it is her favorite color for just the episode, or for the whole series. Anyway, she normally loves purple. But her "snobbish" friends think purple is for babies.

In 1987, I was devastated. Purple? For babies? I loved purple. Tina Yothers and I had so much in common-- the middle name Louise, a surprise younger sibling, and a love of the color purple (not that musical by Oprah). And purple was uncool?

Of course, this was a two part episode, and I missed the second part. Who knows if Tina ever embraced the purple and accepted her love thereof?

The scars from the episode may have finally healed. Check out this Barney action I'm sporting today.
Purple, I love you.

Amber & Boston Corgis

Boston is different than New York. There are some really nice things here that we don't have in New York.

An example is the nice Corgi named Bunny in the tights and shoe store. [Scroll down for a better picture of Bunny.]


Bunny looks kind of freaky in this photo, but really she was a giant love muffin. Corgis are sheep dogs, but really really small ones. Maybe they have a specialty in small sheeps. I got some nice stripey tights, but I really wanted to take Bunny home with me. Surprise, Woody! You have a new Baby Sister.

Amber & Autumn

It is fall. You can tell because there are leaves on the ground and I have been wearing my brown skirt with the leaves on it, too. Other signs include: acorn squash, the tortilla soup I made for dinner last night, and the fact that I am wearing wool socks today.

I've been bad at blogging not because of fall, but because I've been distracted. Some of the distractions were good and some not so good-- I'll be updating you this week.

In the meantime, enjoy the season.

Amber & Animal Greatness

Yesterday was a big day in animal news, with two stories featuring different looks at animal greatness.

In the first, the horribly named Princess Chunk, whose great mass somehow made her a media darling, started off looking for a home and wound up with spots on the Today Show and Regis and Whatshername.
Although my kitties aren't exactly svelte, I'll take Chunk and rename her "Gigi." A little sock toss or fleece wand might take off a few inches from her chin.

In the second story, everybody's favorite online-only magazine (sorry Salon) asked the question, "Why can't the gibbon get any respect?" The author seems to equate their lesser ape classification with size rather than actual taxonomic criteria. My understanding (and observation) was that gibbons, although significantly more advanced than monkeys, were not quite as advanced as apes. That's not to say that I don't think they deserve respect or should be exempted from Spanish animal testing. I definitely agree that gibbons are great. Additionally, I would ask, "What about respect for the siamangs?"

Amber & High Resolution

I, ALH of Amber &, hereby am resolved.

I will not buy any new clothing for a full year from today.

To be technical, I will still buy things like socks and tights as they need to be replaced, and I will acquire new garments-- by sewing them myself!

Ambitious? Yes. But, even if I don't ever get off my duff and finish last year's holiday gifts, in order to make myself a pillowcase top out of Amy Butler fabric...

I don't really need anything else. And, having just seen WALL-E, I'll feel better about not adding to the mountains of trash that are endangering our planet. Now, I'm going to go buy myself a WALL-E lunchbox and plush toy....

Amber & Freezy Breezes

How chilly is it today? I am wearing a sweater, but neglected to put on socks this morning. I know it's not the heat but rather the humidity that gets you in the summer, but what's the trick with today?

It would have been easy to wear socks today, but I was fooled by the bright sunshine and grandma apartment heat into thinking it was warm.

I found this Flickr Pool which seems to suggest a solution to my problem. Maybe I can find a pattern and whip up a pair with the yarn I was using to make Woody a blanky before I have to go home?