Amber & Big Ridiculous

Look how big the pills are for face shingles!

Amber & I Love Pooh

And not just Classic Pooh or Pooh from those Taoist books.  I was raised on Sears & Roebuck Disney Pooh with the red half-shirt, and Piglett in the pink-stripe leotard.  And I love that Pooh.  I loved my aforeblogged Talking Viewmaster Viewer with the amazing depth to the images, but I also loved the flatter hand-painted animations.  Like with the Heffalumps and Woozles.

(Yes, that Pooh nightmare gave me nightmares, but it was a growth experience.)

So just imagine my excitement, when Jimmy directed my attention to this.



I cried. That is how excited I am.  Who is in for a midnight screening on the day it opens?  Huh?

Come on, people.  It's Pooh.  And there seems to be a honey dream/dance sequence.

Love.

Amber & Birthday Booty Update

I got this Birthday Text from Kirk.

And, I got this gorilla ecard from Kevin and Diana.

And then this follow-up.

And then Other Kevin and James stopped by and gave me this peach donut.

And then my mom and dad sent me an ecard featuring this elephant singing a birthday song.

I just cannot believe what a bounteous birthday this has been.  And it's not over yet!

Amber & Four Friday Things

1.  I love this song.  I have been singing it all day.  Luckily, I have been alone in the office.



Ohhh ohh.  Ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh, ohhh ohhh.  The beginning is the best ever.  And: "I guess we'll just have to adjust."

2.  What's this little gal doing on the label to my bath salts?

3.  What's not to love about a new coworker when one of the five things on his desk is a Ganesh statue?

I mean, what are the odds?

Two Ganeshes, one office?  ("Probable, yo. The odds is probable.")

4.  Baby capybaras.  (Hat tip, Alison.)

I want to go to there.  And, I love you, Terri Beth.

Amber & Nice Beasts

I know this guy could eat her face and, as Isaac suggested, hock her camera for $50.  But he doesn't.  And that just makes me weepy at the wonder and kindness of animals.



I am kind of mushy about animals.

Amber & Two Unbirthdays

Maybe I wore too much mascara today?

Well, I had to be fancy for this guy's pre-birthday party!

(The one in the pink shirt, not the one in the strawberry.) His real birthday is Friday, but we are observing on a different calendar where we have drinks tonight.

Also, I didn't post about this guy's birthday last week.

You can totally see where I got my nose from.

Amber & Some Things New, A New Thing Old

I feel like I am constantly in a struggle with the Entropy of Clutter in my home.  It's hard to carry out myself and the trash and the recycling--especially since the refuse area is down five flights of stairs, around the corner, and in an alley out behind the building frequented by what I like to think of as sleek-tailed squirrels.  And, I seem to accumulate stuff: direct mail samples, Fresh Direct boxes, books of to-do lists, cat fur, etc.  It's crucial to do a weekly Junk Round Up to make room for new, magical space-occupiers.  For example, I'd much rather have this weird sushi wind up robot that Nick gave me than a stack of Con Ed billson my desk.

(Seen here with Big Nose Felted Guy, another keeper from Nick.)

That's two pieces of inari on the left (my fave) and two pieces of tuna on the right.  And I can't show you because I got my phone before they invented video for iPhones (drat to early adapting), but the two sushis sort of bicycle up and down and round and round when you wind it.  Why?  Because it's amazing.

Gifts are not always keepers, but this new Ganesh statue that Diana brought back for me from India sure is.

(Like the mechanical sushi, Ganesh is not as blurry in real life.)

And that reminds me that my blurry-making phone is actually another place to collect wonderful, and muladhara chakra comforting, things.  Like this Ganesh application.

 (See how the bell is all lit up? You can pick it up and ring it. That is mostly what the app does.)

And, Jimmi referred me to this absolutely essential app where you can gong a mokugyo or the metal gong on the left and induce nagomi ("harmony").

(I won't spoil what "With Cat Mode" is.)

And, speaking of cats, this guy came to live with us a few weeks back.

(He's actually laying on a pile of books to return to other people, on the theme of getting rid of old stuff to make room for the new.)

This new buddy is actually an old artifact from the Boxing Day Heritage Booty.   I molded him from greenware, painted his eyes, paw pads and nose, and then glazed the heck out of him in ceramics class.  Proof?

Every great artist signs her work.  In 1981, I was apparently trying something new with my R's.

Amber & Vetiver

I know it's been the Plant of the Week before, but vetiver is totally my B.P.F.  (Best Plant Forever).

It's in the same family as my other close grass friends, palmarosa and lemongrass, but vetiver and I are so perfectly matched that it earns a special place in my pantheon of plants that yield essential oils.  It's cedary, musky, earthy smell is calming and grounding when mixed with oil and applied to my pulse points-- making it a wonderful match for my issue-laden first chakra.

To quote the folks over at Ananda Apothecary...

Vetiver essential oil is used for emotional grounding and stabilizing the emotions. It is considered relaxing to an overheated, hyperactive mind an nurturing to an insecure self-identity. The oil may then be suited to the type of individual who constantly strives for perfection, but who loses touch with the ability to absorb and replenish, not letting things just be.

I sure let things be on my walk to the 168th Street station this morning.  A normal 10 minute walk mysteriously took me about a half hour.  Oh well, that's just the way it is.  Sigh.

Amber & The Letter E

Some buddies have no e's in their names at all.  Like: black cat.

Some have one, like a cherry atop an e-less sundae (a "sunday" as it were).  See for example, Miss Tiggy Winkle.

Some people have a middling number of e's in their first and last names, like me (two) or my sister (also two).  I call those people "Middle of the E-Roaders."

But some people have an astounding number of e's in their names like Peter.  He has a total of four in his first and last name, and that's not even counting the two more stuck there in his middle name.

So, today, I wish him a totally e-less Happy Birthday.  He has enough e's; he doesn't really need any more.  Not that it's his fault he's hogging up the e's.  On this day at the year of his birth, he didn't name himself.  Why, I bet he was just a squishy little guy, all puffy and what-not, and had no idea what an e even was.

Several years later, he came to my holiday party.  Here he is apparently leaving early, probably because he was bored by the lack of e's.

Happy birthday, Peter.  I'm glad you were born and think you deserve all the e's you have.

Amber & Sure Things

Today is world-famous blogger CRD's birthday. I am so honored to count such a famous journalist and proficient epicurean amongst the joys in my life.

Some little known facts about CRD in honor of his birthday? Sure. For starters, he was born on this day in the wilds of Africa and raised by a pack of elephants.

As a result, he often prefers to roam the desert shirtless, like his in situ family.


Sometimes, his naked elephant nature leads to naked bicycling while painted to remind himself of the African sky.Luckily, for us, Nick found CRD and brought him back to Barcelona civilization with him and his cousins, Kathleen and Grant.


From there, CRD went to London where he got a job as one of those guys who guards the palace, but it didn't last long since he always forgot to wear his uniform.
Nick then talked to his friend Matthew who got CRD a job at The New York Review of Books. Here we are in his cubicle on the day we met!

Some of his positive attributes include, but are not limited to, coming to visit you even when you live in the most godforesaken places.

Listening good when you are telling stories about your cats puking or boring work stuff that makes you angry.
He's a swell friend, as fine a specimen as anyone could ever want, and I love him.


I looooooove you (blink), CRD.