Amber & Bye, Bye Botanicals

The countdown has begun. On February 13, I will leave my position as Chief Gardener at the Bronx Garden of Botanical Delights in order to become Nursery Director at Mother Goose, Inc. CRD thinks I am going to be so good at herding all those kittens with lost mittens. I hope also to expand the diets of both Jack Spratt and his wife.

Bye, Bye, Garden.


Hello, Mother Goose, Inc.

Amber & Catching Up

While I have been waging an inner battle, armed with mucous and coughs, against my arch allergy nemesis American Elm, so, so very much has been happening in the world.  Let me quickly try to recap.

1.  I got this pretty scarf from my favorite broken body person, Nick.

2.  And my hair color changed.  (See above.  It's darker.  One might even call it espresso.)

3.  Some incredibly smart and adorable marketing professionals over at everybody's favorite investigative news source, Mother Jones, launched a fundraising campaign featuring a Boat-o-meter to measure the campaign's success with the tagline "Sink the ship of fools."

Seriously genius--the kind of stuff we should be doing over at Mother Goose, Inc.  (I pronounce it "boat-oh-meter," but Kevin says "boat-om-etter."  Your choice.)

4.  The above fundraising campaign, to which you should give generously in order to help pay for, among other things, their Circulation Director's cat food (especially if you are getting a free sub from me) prompted me to remark that I wouldn't really be considered the captain of the Boat-o-meter but more of the navigator.  This caused a professional colleague to volunteer to be the ship's barkeep.

Completely amazing likeness, right?  Mobile technology is the absolute best.  I would say some boat stuff here, but really I confuse sailors with pirates all the time.  Arrgh!  That ship is yar!

5.  This caused me to hum the theme to my favorite Boat Show ever.

Did you see those guest stars?  Robert Vaughn and that hot reporter's mom?

6.  Lizzie, the best back seat road trip and tent companion ever, started a blog about her new macrobiotic diet.

Today's post is about allergies and diet and acupressure... which brings us back to the whole reason why I had all this saved up stuff to share with you, dear readers.

Damn you, American Elm.  Damn you and your seed, but thank you for your beauty and grandeur.

Amber & Departures

I'm off again. This time I am bound for my old homestead DC for a
Mother Goose gathering of the hens. I wasn't just here at Penn Station
BEFORE Kevin. I was here 20 minutes early. WTF?

Amber & Family Day

Yesterday, I took the day off from Mother Goose, Inc., and blogging for Family Day.

From left to right, that's my dad (although I might not admit it if he keeps telling those bad jokes he told yesterday), my sister, my mom, Aunt Carol and Uncle Larry.  I hadn't seen Carol and Larry in many (many, many) years.  So, I took them to the Natural History Museum to show them dinosaur bones that were even older than the last time I saw them.  Good thinking, right?

Aunt Carol and Uncle Larry are driving back to Maine today.  I wish them much luck with their drive and many rest stops along the way with clean bathrooms.

It was super nice to see everyone.  Including my old friend the whale.

Amber & The View From Here

My new job at Mother Goose, Inc., is different than my old job in many ways. In addition to the big difference of me not taking bus trips with the constituency, there is also a very different look to my new office.

This was the view from my old desk.

Grand and snowy. Actually, it was the view from standing up on top of my old desk. The windows were pretty high up off the floor and I was too short.

This is the view from my new office.

There are still plants, but less, and the windows are still high up, but more relative to the ground and less relative to me. And I still have my blue Garden bottle that will give my babies beards.

One big difference is that I have officemates. You met Sake already, but did you meet this guy?

Look how hard we work! He wasn't even posing for the photo. I swear.

Amber & Professional Colleagues

Today, I am in all day meetings with my Mother Goose Magazine
coworkers. The sure work hard here and have high ceilings.

Amber & Sunday, San Francisco-style

After a delightful flight, we have arrived. Diana is changing for her
wedding in the ladies room, and Kevin is checking for retail
compliance of Mother Goose magazine in the terminal bookshop. Fun times!

Amber & A Turtle in the Bush

Yesterday, I went to a Mother Goose Inc. staff picnic in Golden Gate
Park. I had a hard time finding the picnic area, but it was lovely and
exotic in that West Coast botanical way. And, I made a turtle friend.
He was painted and enjoying the sunshine. Still, I would rather have
happened upon Tiggy sunning herself on a rock on Slowe Lake. A kitty
in the apartment is worth way more to me than a turtle in the bush.

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 & Bizarre Analogies

Also, I am famous today.

(Paragraph six)

I am impressed he even knows that there is such a thing and that Mother Goose has one.

Amber & Pombupani and Frankie

A while back, James made me aware, via this article, that Tabla had a food cart. Now, I love Tabla so much that I was thrilled, rather than envious, to hear that Kevin and Diana were taking Shane there for his birthday dinner. So great is my love of Indian food, and Tabla's particular take on it, that I want to share its bliss with the world.

James and I had a series of scheduling conflicts which prevented us from partaking of the cart together. But yesterday, Kevin and I ventured over there... and I went back again alone today.

I had the delicious lamb frankie and am still enjoying a super yummy pombupani which is a pomegranate limeade drink of deliciousness. It's a perfect drink for a summer afternoon spent checking Mother Goose, Inc., renewal notices for typos.

Don't worry, James, I will be more than willing to go back when you get back from Florida.