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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 ( 7:25 PM ) teahouse  Wifely DutiesIn the several weeks that I've been married, I've been trying to be more domestic. This has included cooking dinner as much as I can, so that the Husband and I can save money and enjoy at least one meal together every night after a long day of work. This has been difficult, as cooking does not come naturally to me. It's in my genes. My parents have told me that neither of my grandmothers was a particularly good cook. And as for my dad, my mom says the following: "I'm lucky he's not a very picky eater." The Husband is a much better cook than I am, and insists that he doesn't care if I ever cook. But I look upon this as a personal mission - I want to improve my cooking. And as long as he's willing to be my guinea pig, I'll keep trying. So far my success has been mixed. One the one hand, I've made some great dishes. On the other hand, every time I start puttering around in the kitchen, he gets up like Pavlov's dog, and opens the living room windows. He knows that as long as the air is circulating, I won't set off the smoke alarm and inadvertently summon the Fire Department. We're already working well as a team.
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Monday, May 12, 2008 ( 11:04 PM ) teahouse Different Points of View While upstate 2 weeks ago, I picked up and read a copy of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It was an account of the 1996 Everest disaster, in which several people died while returning from the summit of Mount Everest. I immediately became fascinated by the story. I'm now reading The Climb, by Anatoli Boukreev, which offers an account of the events that differs significantly from that of Krakauer. In his book, Krakauer was extremely critical of Boukreev's actions on the mountain. Boukreev's book is in part a response to Krakauer's allegations. I confess that reading both books, I find Boukreev to be a lot more (and I mean a HELLUVA lot more) believable. And the more I read, the more disgusted I am with Jon Krakauer. He's accusatory, judgmental, arrogant and doesn't check his facts. And the popularity of his book basically helped him to destroy Boukreev's reputation. For no reason. I have now resolved not to read any more of Jon Krakauer's books. Including that one about the guy who dies in the bus in the wilderness. On Tuesday night, Frontline is doing a 2-hour special on the events leading up to the Everest disaster. I'm interested to see how they're going to present these differing accounts. Boukreev is no longer here to defend himself; he died in an avalanche in 1997. I hope Frontline presents a balanced view. If not, I'm immediately withdrawing my financial support of PBS and diverting it to the Anatoli Boukreev Memorial Fund. # Sunday, May 04, 2008 ( 7:16 PM ) teahouse After Effects I didn't mean to go this long between posts. It's just that our internet connection went down last week, and we've just managed to get it back up with the use of a screwdriver, some duct tape, some twine and a piece of chewing gum. On top of that, my computer keeps crashing. I believe the poor machine may be on its last legs. So for now, I'm still connected, but very tenuously. Also, the dishwasher chose the week after our wedding to crap out on us. A foot-deep river of suds all over the kitchen floor! Did I also mention that I have about 200 thank-you cards to write? Yeah, I'll be back in a bit. # Tuesday, April 29, 2008 ( 12:29 AM ) teahouse All Around the Town So here is a photo from my wedding day. After the ceremony, we drove around New York City and had the photographer take "renegade" photos of us in popular spots. One of them was Times Square! Here we are. You can see a curious crowd of onlookers forming as they see us approaching!  Sunday, April 27, 2008 ( 3:41 PM ) teahouse Back to Life, Back to Reality I'm back! My wedding was really terrific. Many agreed that things went amazingly smoothly, and there were no mishaps - either major or minor. One of my friends said she'd never seen a bride so calm on her wedding day. Another said she'd never seen a bride and groom have so much fun at their own wedding, with no stress in sight. Others told us that ours was the best food they'd ever had at a wedding! So during our reception, we were announced as "Mr. and Mrs. THB!!" All of our friends got a really huge laugh out of that. I'm still getting photos back in dribs and drabs, but for now, here's one of our cake:  Just to the left of it, you can see the special kosher-for-Passover cake we got, for those of our friends who couldn't eat leavened desserts. It's a napoleon made up of matzoh soaked in cognac, and it says "Mazel Tov" across the top. Both cakes were a huge hit, and there was no cake left over. That's right - I didn't get any cake at my own wedding!! Well, unless you count the tiny little piece the Husband ever so carefully fed me during our cake cutting ceremony...
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Monday, April 14, 2008 ( 8:45 AM ) teahouse The Countdown Begins Well, the time has come for my to take a break, delete my browsing history and parent-proof my apartment. The parents are arriving from Asia tonight. The countdown to the wedding begins. I won't be around here for the next week or so. I have to put on my bridal hat and get ready for the big day. I'll be back soon, and with some photos. When you see me next, I'll be an old married woman. Bye for now, and see y'all on the other side! # Friday, April 11, 2008 ( 12:12 AM ) teahouse The Little Things The most exciting thing happened to me at work this week! Are you ready for this? I got a wireless mouse!! Like this one:  Well, it's not as nice as this one. Mine was an old one from the storage room, and it was probably the first wireless mouse ever made. It looked more like this:  I can't believe how happy this device has made me. Just for fun, I've been testing to see how far away from the computer I can sit, and still get it to work on my computer screen. I used to do this kind of thing with the garage door opener when I was a kid. Hours of entertainment! #Tuesday, April 08, 2008 ( 12:03 AM ) teahouse Famous By Association The Sister works on Capitol Hill, where she's a staffer to a Venerated and Powerful Congressional Bigwig. The other day she called me at work. "Hey, guess what!" she said, excitedly. "I was on tv today!" Apparently, Venerated and Powerful Congressional Bigwig gave a speech before Congress, and it was broadcasted on CSPAN. She showed me the video rerun. In it, Venerated and Powerful Congressional Bigwig is giving a speech, standing at the podium. And you can clearly see the Sister sitting behind him. Yes, for many people, being on CSPAN hardly qualifies as "being on tv." But to me, she's a movie star!! I'm so proud of her, I'm burning copies for all of our relatives! # Thursday, April 03, 2008 ( 8:55 PM ) teahouse We Love You, Too Actual reasons we've received as to why people can't attend our wedding: "I can't be away from my child (3 year old) for that night." "We don't want to dip into our savings." "We can't leave town while our house is still on the market." "It's right before Holocaust Remembrance Week." "It's right after Income Tax Day." "We're doing in vitro fertilization, and my hormones are set to peak on the day of your wedding." "My mother-in-law died." "My monkey died." # Wednesday, April 02, 2008 ( 8:42 AM ) teahouse Pot Party!! Some of my coworkers and I had a pot party yesterday. No, no that kind of party! One guy had a huge potted plant in his office that he wanted to divide, as it was outgrowing its pot size. So we all brought pots, potting soil, rooting hormone and styrofoam peanuts for root aeration. He cut up branches of his plant, and gave everyone some. We sat around and replanted the pieces and listened to the radio. Now I have a couple of cute new plants for my office. Just doing my little bit to combat global warming. It was totally worth the lost billable time. I'm convinced that since humans are natural agrarians, any angst and depression caused by endless hours in office cubicles in front of computers can be cured by some simple digging around in the dirt. # Monday, March 31, 2008 ( 12:06 AM ) teahouse Silence is Golden I caught a really bad cold earlier this week, and I've completely lost my voice. I can't speak above a whisper. But I've found that refraining from talking often has beneficial effects. I went to Starbucks and ordered a hot chocolate. The girl messed up my order and somehow gave me a honey latte. Instead of complaining, I just frowned and said nothing. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried after an awkward silence. "I missed up your drink, didn't I? Let me redo it for you." I had a document reviewed by a partner at work. "I'm not sure this is what we want to say," he said, pointing at some passages I'd written. Instead of apologizing and hurriedly making the change, I just sat and smiled. "Well," he said, looking at it again. "I guess what you said DOES make sense..ok, we can keep it." I think I've found a new approach to getting what I want in life. # Thursday, March 27, 2008 ( 2:38 PM ) teahouse Farewell, My Drag Queen I had a hair and makeup run-through with a highly recommended makeup artist and hairstylist the other night. "Please don't make me look like a geisha," I begged. They promised they wouldn't. But they LIED. After the session, I met up with the Fiance. He shuddered and ran away. Yeah, I pretty much looked like the cross-dressing dude from Farewell My Concubine.  My hair was dramatically upswept, to the point where I looked like a Conehead:  Dear Mr. Makeup artist and Mr. Hairstylist: I know you're all fancy and you do runway models. But if you're going to pick a character from any of these movies to model, is there any way you could make me look LESS like the drag queen/Conehead, and more like the actual hot Asian woman character?  Thanks in advance for your consideration, THB
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Sunday, March 23, 2008 ( 10:44 PM ) teahouse Seasons Eatings Wow..what a long Easter weekend. It seems that I've done nothing but EAT for the past 72 hours. On Friday, the Sister came up and we had a crawfish boil. We ate 30 pounds of those little critters! On Saturday, we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, Then we had a fancy afternoon tea with my bridesmaids and friends. Lots of sandwiches and scones and pastries! This morning, we got up and had eggs for breakfast. Then we went to Easter Sunday mass, and then came home and had barbecue ribs, grilled salmon, green beans and corn on the cob. After the Sister headed home, I went out for dinner and had pasta. I'm really lucky my wedding dress is open in the back and has a lace ribbon that can be adjusted for size. # Tuesday, March 18, 2008 ( 8:27 PM ) teahouse Stop and Smell the Roses Thanks everyone for your support! We've solved our problem, for the most part. And in terms of being stressed out about wedding planning, I've gotten over it and moved on. Things will never be perfect, but I'm doing what I need to do and trying not to let it affect my peace of mind. I hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's Day. I had a prime view of the parade from my office. I even work in one of those old buildings in Manhattan whose windows actually open! It was great - my coworkers and I had bottles of Guinness, sat in the windowsill and chilled. For just a moment, time stood still, the sun was shining, and life was perfect. And a sea of green provided an oasis of calm in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle. # Saturday, March 15, 2008 ( 4:41 PM ) teahouse Extreme Anger Like most engaged couples do, we booked a block of hotel rooms at a discounted rate for our out-of-town guests who are coming into New York City for our wedding. We were excited about this place - it's small and very affordable. Several people emailed me last week to tell me they'd tried to book, but were told the hotel was full. Curious, the Fiance called the hotel manager yesterday to ask. It turns out that some RANDOM woman from California called earlier this week, pretending to be part of our wedding, and booked up 10 of the 15 rooms we'd reserved. It's very shady. Sounds like she's a travel agent who's going around buying up blocks of rooms. What's more, the hotel manager wouldn't help us out. "It's too late," he said. "Those are her rooms." "What part of she-stole-those-rooms-under-false-pretenses-and-you-have-to-call-her-back-and-say-she-can't-have-them don't you understand?" I asked him. The Fiance said that in the almost 4 years of knowing me, he had never seen me so angry. In the end, the manager said, very reluctantly, that he'll call this woman and ask her to give them back. Even though she STOLE them from us. Even though she TRICKED the hotel into thinking she was with our party, and got our discounted rate. I told the Fiance that we need to start looking for another hotel; I can't even deal with these horrible people anymore. And you'd better believe I'm calling the Better Business Bureau, and I'm going to post something on TripAdvisor, Wedding Bee, The Knot, New York Citysearch and Hotels.com about this piece-of-shit hotel. This is NOT a way to run a business. My guests are screwed. They can't afford to pay $300 a night for a hotel room elsewhere in Manhattan. They're all going to be staying with us in our 650-square-foot apartment. I haven't been this angry in several years. # Friday, March 14, 2008 ( 12:09 AM ) teahouse Historic Occasion Tonight when I got home from work, I was greeted by a surprise. It was a large cardboard box that had been delivered by UPS, sitting in the entryway of my apartment. It contained our very first wedding present! $250 worth of bath towels! Hooray! I'm really looking forward to this part of the wedding planning. Oooh, maybe it will be like Christmas every day! # Wednesday, March 12, 2008 ( 12:23 AM ) teahouse Dear Eliot I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this. How could you do this to me? I feel like you cheated on me! And all of the other citizens of New York State. I loved you! I told everyone how great you were! When you were Attorney General, I cheered for you when you went after those crooked Wall Street guys. In 2006 I joined "Lawyers for Spitzer" to help elect you governor. I was so happy when you won. You were living proof that someone could rise to prominence in government without pandering to big business. As it turns out, you were pandering to small, locally-owned business, weren't you? I know that there's a lot of debate about whether prostitution should be legalized. And that many politicians are great at their jobs despite flaws in their personal lives. And that your family can probably forgive you and maybe we can all move past this. But for now, I am completely devastated and heartbroken. It's like I never knew you, even after all these years. Right now I'm feeling so vulnerable. So could you just sleep on the couch for a while? I need some time to think about whether we have a future together, and if I can move past this. # Monday, March 10, 2008 ( 8:23 AM ) teahouse Cuddly Soft There are few things more embarrassing than... Being in your martial arts class and diligently practicing your punches, while the aged and venerable Grand Master strolls around the room and watches everyone's form, and then having him call a sudden stop to the class and ask everyone, "Who's uniform smells so good?" while he leans over and starts sniffing at everyone's individual uniforms. And then having to confess, in front of everyone, that it's you, because you have a partiality for using fabric softener when you do your laundry. # Wednesday, March 05, 2008 ( 8:30 AM ) teahouse Dilemma We finally got our wedding invitations back. Contrary to my nightmares, they look lovely and are perfectly printed. I spent the last 2 nights frantically stuffing envelopes with one of my bridesmaids. Why is there so much crap that comes in a wedding invitation? Cardboard and vellum and smudging ink and calligraphy on the front, and a fat envelope stuffed to within an inch of its life. My nails are ragged, jagged, rough and peeling. And my hands are covered in both papercuts AND fountain pen marks. NOTHING will remove fountain pen ink. I can't use nail polish remover, since it will make the papercuts sting. It's a big dilemma. Yesterday I had a client meeting, and I looked down and realized for the first time my how bad my hands looked. I spent the rest of the meeting trying to hide them from view. As I was supposed to be taking notes during the meeting, this proved to be quite difficult and drew some raised eyebrows from the other attorneys. This morning I was putting on my socks when I realized that I also have fountain pen ink on the bottom of my right foot. How on earth did that happen??? # Monday, March 03, 2008 ( 12:04 AM ) teahouse She Works Hard for the Money Because I just started a new job, I've been working really hard and burning the midnight oil as necessary to show my new bosses that I'm eager and a go-to person. I've been taking on a variety of projects - license agreements, legal research, litigation work, and lots of client counseling. In between the long days at work and the busy late nights and weekends with the wedding planning, I've been burning the candle at both ends. We ordered our wedding invitations a couple of weeks ago. It was a painful process - we had to look at several proofs, and there were some changes, and uncertainty on color palettes with the printers. The other night I had a nightmare. In it, I'd gotten my wedding invitations back. There was a huge box with 100 of them. I opened the box and looked at one of them. The first line read, "THB and Fiance cordially invite you to the celebration of their marriage . . ." The second line read, "Licensor and Licensee hereby agree that the royalty to be paid upon delivery of the products listed in Appendix A attached hereto . . ." "Hey, this isn't what we ordered!" I yelled in my dream. "Our wedding guests don't need to know this! And Licensor did not agree to those terms! Arghghghghghghgghghh!!!" I woke up in a cold sweat. Yeah, maybe I've been working too hard. # Thursday, February 28, 2008 ( 8:38 AM ) teahouse Heart-Shaped World I live near a Victoria's Secret, which I pass on my way home from work every night. Apparently the parent company isn't doing so well, so this store is shutting down. Over the past few days, workers have been dismantling everything in the store and hauling it out onto the street. A junk truck has come and gone several times to take it all away. Last night when I walked by, people were walking by and grabbing some of the stuff that was out on the sidewalk - including lots of furniture - racks for holding the underwear and lingerie, for example. As I walked by, two big burly guys with tight t-shirts and bulging muscles passed in front of me. They both looked like nightclub bouncers, mean and tough. But one was happily carting off a pink, heart-shaped clothing display rack, and the other had part of a mannequin's torso tucked under his arm. "This is perfect for us!" shouted one of them with glee. I wonder what they were using the stuff for? It's been bothering me ever since. # Monday, February 25, 2008 ( 8:28 AM ) teahouse Focusing on the Important Things Last week I met with a really senior partner to go over a new project. I was pretty nervous about the meeting, even though I'd heard through the grapevine that he's a really nice guy. It was just the two of us, in a large conference room. After spending 10 minutes summarizing for him my thoughts on the project, I stopped and waited for him to say something. He didn't say anything for a few moments. Finally, he leaned forward, and said, "Wow, that's an enormous diamond on your engagement ring! I can't stop looking at it; it's blinding me. How many carats is that?" I knew that I was going to like this guy. # Tuesday, February 19, 2008 ( 8:31 AM ) teahouse New Beginnings I've got a new job. A new employer, new responsibilities, a new office, new bosses, new coworkers, new secretary, new commute to work to get used to, new place to get coffee in the morning, the whole thing. It really is true that the older we get, the harder it is to adjust to change. Because right now my head feels like it's going to explode. I do feel pretty good about things overall, though. So far the biggest adjustment so far has been getting one of these. Apparently I'm a person of consequence now, with some high level responsibilities. I guess that means I should start acting more mature! Hahaha, right. Anybody want to go to Central Park with me at lunch today and roll down a hill? # Friday, February 15, 2008 ( 8:16 AM ) teahouse  Valentine HurlSo yesterday was Valentine's Day. A day for flowers, chocolate, and romance. How did I spend it? Crouched on the floor of the bathroom, throwing up every half hour with the stomach flu. The Fiance covered me with a blanket. He ran out to buy me Sprite. He rubbed my tummy and my back. He held my hair back while I puked. He said reassuring and sympathetic things like, "You poor thing! What else can I do for you?" When I muttered that I couldn't feel my legs, he rubbed them for me. Every time I got up in the middle of the night to run to the bathroom, he woke up too and asked me if I was ok.
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It was, in all seriousness, the most romantic Valentine's Day I've ever had. Monday, February 11, 2008 ( 9:02 PM ) teahouse I'll Be Back I was sitting in a neighborhood bar the other night, when the gentleman who had been sitting next to me abruptly got up and walked out the front door. A few moments later, I turned around and looked at the seat where he'd been sitting. Apparently he had saved his spot while he went out to smoke! I had to take a photo of this..it was priceless. It isn't the highest quality photo, since it was taken in the dark surreptitiously and with a cell phone camera. But if you look closely you can see that the bartender had very kindly covered his beer with a napkin, and provided him with this cute little sign:  And it worked. Nobody disturbed his drink or took his seat. He came back 10 minutes later, took the sign off, and continued drinking his beer! # Wednesday, February 06, 2008 ( 4:38 PM ) teahouse Beating a Trail Well, the Fiance is all moved in. We spent 72 hours straight packing up his place. As he's lived there for 7 years, I discovered mold in that apartment that is older than our relationship. Shleppers came yesterday and very expertly and efficiently transferred the entire contents of his apartment across state lines and into mine. Yes, they managed to do it in record time, and with minimal pain to us, despite the fact that we were moving both on Super Tuesday and into Manhattan in the middle of the Giants' ticker tape parade. I highly recommend them if you're moving in New York City. Now there's a pile of boxes almost to the ceiling in my place. I had to beat a trail from the kitchen to the computer in order to write this post. I've been trying to enjoy the time off between jobs. But the day is fast approaching to start my new job, and there is still a long list of things to accomplish and a lot of running around still left to do. Does anybody want an old tv, a used 70s couch, a tv stand with wheels, some old dishes, a recliner with a patch on it, or some old plaid shirts? # Tuesday, January 29, 2008 ( 11:18 PM ) teahouse On the Edge What's the saying? That God doesn't give us more than we can handle? I'm definitely testing that theory these days. In the past couple of weeks I've: 1. Frantically packed up 2 apartments' worth of stuff to put into storage and move from the Fiance's place to mine, and been on the phone with a moving company and the management company of my building and his coordinating the move; 2. Run around town trying to get invitations, book blocks of rooms in hotels and finalize contracts for my wedding, which is less than 3 months away; 3. Been on the phone with my mortgage holder and mailed out tons of forms for my mortgage refinance; and 4. Quit my job. Yeah, it's a pretty hectic winter. I'm hanging on by a thread. # Sunday, January 27, 2008 ( 11:15 PM ) teahouse Worshipping the Gods One night last week I was walking down the street when I passed a brightly-lit neighborhood restaurant that's known as a hangout for Wall Street and other professional types. As expected, I could see through the windows that the restaurant was packed with yuppies in suits. Right by the window where I passed, I saw a waitress set down two steaming plates of food in front of two well-dressed men sitting across from each other. I imagined it was a nice relaxing dinner for two buddies catching up after work. As I watched the waitress move away from the table, the two men bent their heads down in tandem, and clasped their hands to their laps. "Oh, wow.." I thought. "They're praying before their meal. How very beautiful." But as I looked more closely, I realized that both of them had portable wireless Blackberries clasped in their hands, and were actually checking their email messages, their heads hunched forward. When I rounded the corner away from the restaurant, and looked behind me a minute later, they were still suspended in those positions, and still hadn't touched their food. # Wednesday, January 23, 2008 ( 10:17 PM ) teahouse  Down UnderIt's so sad about Heath Ledger. He was such a talented actor on the rise. That he died so suddenly like that must be so devastating for his family. I'm trying not to jump to the media-incited conclusion that it was a drug overdose, just because he was a movie star. The headlines scream "Ledger found dead with a bottle of sleeping pills in his room!" Hell, I have a bottle of sleeping pills in my room. If I turn up dead, I hope people don't assume I overdosed. Thus, I'll refrain from passing judgment in the absence of autopsy results. But in the meantime, in honor of Australia, tonight I watched the Australian Open on tv, and had a glass of Yellow Tail Shiraz. I wanted to make a Vegemite sandwich, but alas, the local Food Emporium doesn't carry Vegemite. So I had to make do with bologna. And I sent an email to a cousin who lives in Sydney. He and his wife just had a baby. I hope that a dingo didn't eat it. I thought about trying to throw a telephone at somebody. But as I'm alone in my apartment tonight, there's really nobody here I can target. Besides, my home phone and cell phone are both pretty small, so I doubt they could do much damage to anyone. I'm sure they'd bounce off the heads of your average tough New Yorker.
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Monday, January 21, 2008 ( 9:06 AM ) teahouse It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times Hey, everyone!! Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I haven't posted in a while, but yes, I'm still alive. It's just that a LOT has been going on. I'll report more details over the next week. Between the moving and the running around, I've barely had time to breathe and process all that's been happening. I have been watching a lot of sports on tv, though. New York has been doing ok for itself this month. The New York Rangers are not doing so well. But the New York Giants are doing quite well - in fact, they're the NFC champions, and now on their way to the Superbowl! Woohoo. See, I'm not a total girl... So what are everyone's plans for the Superbowl? # |
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