On the Eve of Epiphany...

So here we are in 2015. ::looks around:: Seems okay thus far.  2014 left something to be desired for me, which is definitely reflected in my lack of blog entries for the year. My plan for 2015 is to get back into blogging so I am setting a personal goal of 30 posts for the year, a little over 2 posts a month. That isn't a lot. (Actually, it's a little lame, but the frequency of my posts for last year was so pathetic that 30 actually is a reach target.)

2014 in Review: 
On the downside, my health was pretty rotten. My friend MEM had made up this joke about me being her "Sickliest Friend" (which sounds like the title of a song written by either The Smiths or They Might Be Giants), because I kept getting colds, which turned out to be an allergic reaction to winter! But this year, starting just before Memorial Day, I came out with an (as yet) unidentified serious digestive ailment. It ruined my vacation planned in June and spoiled my summer. [I have had a string of tests with no conclusive results, although the big diseases have been ruled out, which is good.](Sorry if that was a bit of an over share. It does explain A LOT about last year though.)

On the upside, I made a new friend (which seems sort of silly to get excited about, but it's difficult making friends outside of work when you are over 35, single, and childless - this isn't just my opinion; it was in the New York Times), and not one, but two, new nephews joined my extended family. [Both boys are cute, but only one is smooshy. The other is a solid little nugget. Henceforth, he will be know as the "Nugget". I don't know what I will call the smooshy one yet; he is the younger brother of the "Sweetpea" so maybe he could be the "Sprout". Need to think on that.]

Big Purchase:
I bought a snow blower, which is new for me as a relatively new house owner. Back in Boston, the condo association handled the snow removal. My first year in Connecticut, I shoveled my own drive and walk. Then we had 4' of snow dumped on us in one storm; if I hadn't laughed about it, I would have cried. Last year, I hired a service plow my driveway and snow blow the walk, but I'd find myself waiting quite a while for them to get to my house and would end up shoveling a lot of the time anyway. So now I have an Ariens' snow blower for this year. I was given a demo by the man who delivered it, but probably should read the manual before the Alberta Clipper scheduled for tonight and tomorrow comes through.

Luckily, the snow we have had up until now hasn't really amounted to much. But it was still pretty to look at.

Seven Things Making Me Smile

It is hard to believe it, but it has been nearly two years since I did a Seven Things Making Me Smile update! And, honestly, there have been more things of late that I have caused me to frown instead of smile  (ice dams wreck havoc inside my house, basically having a severe allergic reaction to winter...I kid you not), but I still have a lot to be grateful for, and it is always good to make a list of the positives when feeling overwhelmed by the negatives. 

1. Breville Smart Oven Convection Toaster Oven: This was one of the best purchases I made since moving into my house. America's Test Kitchen voted this the best toaster oven you could buy; that was good enough endorsement for me. And, boy, were they right. Not only does this make perfect toast, but it is great for baking, broiling, and reheating meals. In the past, I have complained about how annoying it can be cooking for one, but this makes it less of a drama. (I have been making delicious, crispy meatloaf in this little guy.) And it made hosting Christmas easy too, because I was able to roast the root vegetables in the toaster oven while the roast beef cooked in the main oven. It isn't cheap (retailing around $250), but I got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond and was able to use a coupon towards it. I found out my friend MEM had one too, and she loves hers just as much as I love mine.  (I have had only one disappointment with the oven. I baked a cake in it because I didn't want to heat up my whole kitchen, and the cake was harder than I would have liked. The cake wasn't dry, just the top was hard, making it difficult to cut. Next time, I would wait and bake the cake in the full size oven. But that's my only complaint.)

2. Ticonderoga #2 pencils: I don't know what it is about a pencil, but nine times out of ten you will catch me writing with one of these instead of a pen. It isn't to say that I don't have nice pens or that I am not a fan of pens (shout out to the Sharpie pen), but there is something about a Ticonderoga #2 pencil that makes it my "go to" writing implement, especially at the office.  (One thing I am not a fan of though is those clicky refillable mechanical pencils. The nib is too thin, and the point breaks WAY too easily for my liking. They do have pretty good erasers though, but the eraser is only part of the pencil.)
 

image from GoodReads.com

3. Game of Thrones: the books AND the show. Dracarys!! It was so exciting to have the show start up again, which is perfect timing for me because I *just* finished reading A Dance with Dragons, which means that I am completely caught up with all the books. And the tv show has just gotten to the really good part of A Storm of Swords, and I can't wait to see how they interpret it all for the show! Of course, now this means that I am in the same boat as all the old school fans; we have to wait for the release of the next book...in 2015. GAH! I am seriously NOT GOOD at waiting. I have a hard enough time waiting until next Sunday for a new episode of the show. Until then I guess I am just going to have to read fan speculation on how things are going to turn out. (And I totally have a theory about Jon Snow's mother...)

image from Spin.com

4. Neko Case:  Have you ever been totally into something (in my case, music) and then not been really interested in it for a while (or at least you haven't liked anyone new in the last ten years) and then something happens and you are totally into it again? I heard one of Neko Case's songs ("I Wish I Was the Moon") in an episode of "True Blood" (I have spent the last two years watching all the HBO shows I didn't watch because I didn't have HBO when I lived in Boston), downloaded the album the song was on, and was immediately hooked. I have pretty much worn out her newest album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, listening to it in the car.  Her music is totally a "sitting on the porch after work, drinking a beer, having a smoke (if you do that anymore), watching as the sun go down and the light fades away while debating to have another beer or actually make dinner" kind of sound. It's also pretty good soundtrack for Friday nights after work drinking cocktails and eating cheese in front of the fireplace.

image from Vinted.com

5. Infinity scarves: My sisters gave me two of these for my recent birthday and I love them. They bought them from Charming Charlie, which is COMPLETELY different from This Charming Charlie. (Initially I was VERY confused about that.) One of them is red with a pink paisley pattern while the other is covered in little blue whales! (I love whales!! They are so very preppy. And Hartford Whalers-y.) ANYHOO, these scarves are great because you can just throw one over your head, loop it around once, and take your outfit from "meh" to "looking good!" (This is a true story BTW - happened last week at work. Took an outfit from being really plain and simple to professional. And I got LOADS of compliments on the scarf.)

image from Kohls.com

6. New slippers: I had my old pair of slippers for a ridiculously long time and had pretty much worn (and washed) them into a state of "who are we really kidding anymore?" So I junked them around MLK day, and I picked up a new pair of Isotoner microterry/satin slippers on sale at Lord & Taylor (although next time, I am just going to try Kohl's - looks like they have better selection.) They are really soft and warm without being too hot and even give your foot a bit of support. They are super comfortable, which is a good thing when you are barely awake, staggering around your kitchen trying to make coffee or if you decide to spent the whole day in your pajamas, as you do sometimes. Comfy slippers are hard to come by, and I really like these.

image from GoodReads.com

7.  Fannie Flagg books: I love Fannie Flagg's books. All of them. From Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe to Standing in the Rainbow to her newest The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion. I can't decide if it is because her characters tend to be genuinely nice people, or the fact that the stories are all set in the South and I really love reading about the South, or the fact that she can have you laughing, then crying, and then laughing again all in one page. It might also be the nostalgia for a simpler/better time: when communities were close knit and everyone knew their neighbors, when they sat on the front porch listening to the radio and drinking lemonade on a summer night, when kids could ride their bicycles all over town without having to worry about getting hurt or kidnapped or worse. Not saying that the books don't have conflict, because a good book needs conflict, but these novels make you feel really good. Sometimes I really need to take a break from the mysteries, 19th century novels, and fantasy that fills up a large portion of my "to read" pile and just read a simple, feel-good book. And when I do, I read Fannie Flagg.

Speaking of knowing your neighbors, I just want to give a shout out to my next door neighbor: MJB. She will never read this and even if she did, I don't think she'd know I was speaking about her, but honest to God, I don't think that I could have asked for a nicer next-door neighbor if I tried. So despite the ice dams and the other unexpected home-ownership related drama, I really lucked out in the neighbor department, and that totally makes me smile!!!!

You found it okay?

So here I am in my new space on the web.  It looks an awful lot like the old space, I know, but the most important part is the name: BBCAmericanGirl.  That is me on Twitter and Flickr and is now me on Blogger.

Thanks for making the change, or if you're a new reader, thanks for stopping by!  Lots of new entries are being planned and should be making their debuts soon.  In the meantime, the back log from Diet Coke Addict is here for your reading pleasure!!

New Year's Goals - FAIL!

A couple of years ago, I decided to give up on making New Year's resolutions. It seemed to me that it was all too arbitrary and forced, and I never ended up keeping the resolutions anyhow.

At the start of last year, I decided I was going to set some goals for the new year: I was going to try more new things (eating oysters was a big one - yum!), not allow myself to go into hermit mode (making plans with friends for Saturdays), and blog more (in an attempt to get readership up and make some online connections). End of the year review of set goals:

Trying new things - check
Anti-hermit mode - check
Blog more - check

The goals made were actually accomplished! And I was pleased.

So I set myself a new round of goals for 2011. The first two were the same, trying new things and doing more things with friends (albeit this year I want to do more in downtown Boston, in particular). The new third goal was to be more healthy in both diet and behavior so that stupid little colds didn't turn into walking pneumonia and the like. I started the new year by going over RECK's house for NYE. Then on New Year's Day, I went for a 45 minute walk outside in the fresh air and made plans with JR to go to the movies the next day. Checks all around.

Then the second of January, I woke up with a stuffy head, sore throat, and a cough. All of which, eight days later, I still have. (I finally called the doctor today.) And because of this cold, I had to cancel my plans with JR to go to the movies, AND my "Twelfth Night" plans for this past weekend, and stayed home from work a couple of days last week.

So basically, I have turned into a hermit with a cold that has turned into a big hullabaloo, and I haven't even blogged yet this year. This is the opposite of the New Year's goals!

I hope this is just a temporary set-back, and, by next weekend, I will be back in good form and will be able to tackle my goals as intended. As I keep trying to remind myself, that start date of January 1 is completely arbitrary; every day has the potential to be the start date for positive life goals.

"The Doctor, doctor, fun." *

I can't believe how much joy I am getting out of this whole TARDIS at MIT hack. In a rather unexpected turn of events, after sharing my photos on the Universal Hub group pool, my photos of the hack went viral.

Seriously.

Well, viral in a whole "British scifi nerdy TV" kind of way. They are on Wired and Io9 and other techy blogs, not to mention Twitter. (I tweeted my photo to Neil Gaiman; his response, "brilliant". SQUEE!) The day after I put the photos on Flickr, I received a call from the editor of Boston.com, who had tracked me down at work and was trying to get permission to use the photos on their website. (I called them back too late, they had already sent a photographer, but my answer was going to be "no" anyhow. And now I have some privacy concerns that I didn't have before, although I am hoping for the best.)

For five original photos of the TARDIS at MIT, I have now gotten 19,759 views. The most I ever got of any one photo was something like 32, and now I have one photo that has gotten over 11,000 hits. At first, I was extremely freaked out by this (the aforementioned privacy issues), but, now, I am kinda loving it. I just hope this isn't my 15 minutes of fame, because if it is... it isn't what I was hoping for. On the other hand, as my friend L said, "Well, the beauty of the internet is that you can get lots of 15 minutes."

And as of yesterday, the TARDIS is back, only this time on the iconic Great Dome, which is where it should have been in the first place, in my opinion.






* Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars:
Adelaide Brooke: "State your name, rank and intention."
The Doctor: "The Doctor, doctor, fun."

No, no, no! Darcy is the OTHER handsome brooding fellow!

Back on August 12, 2005, I posted the following:

My friend Mem often talks about how she thinks Jane Austen novels makes young girls crave unhealthy relationships for unattainable/emotionally distant men. Not that that has ever happened to me. < /irony>
Personally, I like Mr. Darcy better than Mr. Bingley. All that uptight repression could have transformed itself to something very interesting in the bedroom. Behind closed doors. Under the covers. With the lights off.
On the other hand, I totally am of the opinion that the Brontes were masochists. Rochester and Heathcliff are total sadists; all they needed were restraints and riding crops. And I bet that they probably had them somewhere too. Like in the attic with the kinky maniac.

Since then, the wonderful Kate Beaton did this:



I think that we are on to something...I feel a new hypothetical PhD thesis coming on.

400, 75, 26, North

This post marks my 400th blog entry! And my 75th post of the year, which is the most I have ever posted in a calendar year in my six years of blogging (and probably why I am only at 400 posts after six years.)

To mark the occasion, I have decided to do my first ever blog give-away! Yay!!

So last Tuesday, my family was visiting Boston, and we went out to dinner at North 26 in Government Center. It was a really fun time, and we had a delicious meal. The restaurant is American cuisine with French influences, although I happened to have a more Asian style meal. It is fairly casual and relaxed, and it seemed to be a quiet night in the restaurant, which was a nice change from our dinner the previous evening at Eastern Standard (also fun and delicious, but LOUD.)

Everything we had to eat was just really fresh. My parents both got the sweet pea and spinach soup to start, and it looked, smelled and tasted like it had been made just for them. Sister K dived into the kettle of muscles, while Sister B sampled the veal sweetbreads. I had an amazing dish of seared scallops over a fresh carrot puree with coconut rice. Again, it was like someone had made everything on my plate just for me. My parents and Sister B had fish entrées, while Sister K had the lamb. I enjoyed the skillet seared natural raised duck with pineapple tamarind ponzu, duck fried rice, and bok choy. This was even more delicious than the scallops. The duck was really moist, and there was a lot of flavor in the ponzu, but it didn't overpower the meat. I don't normally even LIKE bok choy, but I really liked everything on my plate. There were a lot of clean plates at our table.

I was, of course, excited that the restaurant had my beloved St. Germain cocktail on the drink menu, Mom had a G&T, and the sisters enjoyed some wine. The drinks were pretty much in line with most other Boston restaurants (although I usually try to stick to places with $10 cocktails), but the entrées were all priced under $30, which is a bonus. Our server was nice without being overly attentive and made good recommendations (both of my courses were ones he recommended). When we realized that we had been seated right next to the air conditioning vent, the manager was nice to turn it down before Sister B froze!

So we all really like the restaurant, and I hope to go there again soon with my friends. The folks at the restaurant must have liked us too because our server gave each of us a coupon good for 15% off of the entire check for either lunch or dinner! (This is where the blog give away comes in.) Now my family gave me all of their coupons in addition to the one I received so I have FOUR of these discount coupons to give away. SO, the first four people who say they want one by posting a comment on this blog entry will get one of these fancy coupons to North 26. (I have hidden the comments by turning on the moderation so that no one can tell which number commenter they are, because I am tricks-y like that. MWAHAHAHA!) If you have been there before, you know what a great deal you are getting, and, if you are yet to try it, I think that you will be pleased with your experience there.

Thanks to all my friends and readers who have been following along with me on this blog. What started out merely as a way to pass the time really has become an enjoyable part of my life!

Seven Things Making Me Smile

 I turned on the television tonight, and The Big Chill was on. When I realized that the characters in this film are supposed to be the same age that I am now, I had to go pour myself a glass of chardonnay. Yikes! I feel like people in their 30s a generation ago were a lot older than my friends and I who are in our 30s now. And it isn't just that we moisturize more. Gen Xers just seem younger than the Boomer generation; we never are in any rush to be "grown up".

Anyhow, before my train of thought was so rudely interrupted by an extremely dated film (with a kick ass soundtrack), I was going to post seven things making me smile. So back to our regularly scheduled posting and dismissing all thoughts of terrible things like growing up; here is my list.

1. LL Bean Stretch Double L Polos have become my "go to" shirts for the summer. They are casual enough for hanging out after a day at the beach and yet are suitable enough for summer business casual at work. I have about 8 of them in different shades, mostly pinks and blues.
2. So several months ago, I started watching "Arrested Development" and had a nightmare that George-Michael Bluth was stalking me. Fast forward to today, where I kind of have a little crush on his portrayer, Michael Cera. If he were only ten years older, or if I were ten years younger... Actually, I like the latter scenario better than the former.
3. I had gotten really irritated with my magazine subscriptions and let them run out: Entertainment Weekly had changed their format and was too "Twilight" and "American Idol" focused for my liking; InStyle kept recommending clothes out of my budget and designed for rail thin models; and Martha Stewart was making me feel inferior for not making my own stock, clothes, and growing all my own food. So, I was done with magazines. Until I got a notice for Britain magazine. It is like it was written for me. Great photos and features on different locales; it has already given me some great ideas for my next trip!
4. New favorite sandwich, inspired by a trip to the beach with MMH: Genoa salami, arugula, American cheese, on a roll lightly drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. It is like eating beef carpaccio in a sandwich. (If you want, you can toss the arugula in a little bit of lemon juice beforehand too.) A couple of twists of fresh ground pepper, and you are done. SO GOOD!!
5. Joe Hisaishi's score to Spirited Away. I have loved this film for years now (this and Howl's Moving Castle are two of the most imaginative animated films I have seen in my life), but listening to the score on its own is just beautiful. It is something that I especially like to listen to after work on a summer's day with the windows open and the warm breeze blowing.
6. I have been seeing great results from Crest 3D White Advanced Vivid Toothpaste. Even though the dentist said that my teeth were pretty high on the white spectrum, with everyone and their brother bleaching their teeth, mine still felt kind of yellow. I have noticed a significant whitening from brushing twice a day for two and a half weeks, and, despite the fact that I have super sensitive teeth, I haven't experienced discomfort. I didn't think that I would feel this way, but I do feel more confident about my smile knowing it is whiter. (Oh, dear God, I sound like an infomercial.)
7. Last summer, I read the entirety of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series. As the books are really well written and mainly for a young adult audience, I read all five books in under 10 days. This summer, I am listening to them all on audio book. Four of the five books are read by Alex Jennings, who is best known to me as the Reverend Hutton on "Cranford". I love listening to him read, and he "does" all of the voices really well. (Even though their are several young English boys in the books, each one has a very distinctive voice on the recording.) I find that listening to these books has a much better pacing for the telling of the story than the devouring way in which I read them last summer. (I like to know what is going to HAPPEN.) I definitely have gained a fuller appreciation of Cooper's use of language, as well as getting a chance to enjoy the overarching story all over again.

So these are a few of the things making me feel good. Hopefully you have got some good ones this summer too!

A Little Light Reading

There are several sites on the internet that my friends have told me about recently that I really like. When I come across a really great website, I, of course, want to share them (as opposed to hording their URLs in my dark, damp cave like Gollum *mypreciousIlovesitmyprecious*), so without further ado, here are three websites that you may want to add to your daily rotation. (Well, I've added them to mine.)

1. Hark! a vagrant: So I actually began reading this one back at the start of the year. HILARIOUS historical/literary comics (with a bit of Anglophile slant) by Kate Beaton. It totally appeals to my sense of humor: clever, satirical, and a little bit adult. Some of my favorite ones include: the Brontes, Nicola Tesla, Holmes and Watson, and Victoria and Albert, but I honestly can't think of one that I didn't like. I was given a copy of Ms. Beaton's book Never Learn Anything From History for my birthday, and I lovelovelove it. I put it on my coffee table so that people could see it. (Now I just need to have people over so they can see it.)

2. The next website worth checking out is a JR discovery: THXTHXTHX. Basically, blogger Leah posts a "thank you" note a day (or nearly every day). But they are not to any specific person, just to the cosmos at large. My favorites of late include thank yous to: Piles of Books I Haven’t Read and Restaurant Tap Water that’s Served in a Glass Bottle. It is nice to read that someone else appreciates some of the things that I do, and it can also be a good reminder of how many great things there are in the world.

3. This last site is one that seems to be getting a bit of buzz of late: Hyperbole and a Half. I have seen links to it cropping up on Twitter and on other blogs. I was totally hooked by the entry about growing up and dealing with responsibility. It resonated with me A LOT. ("CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!" "clean all the things??" had me laughing out loud. Not that that has ever happened to me. Okay, maybe once. Or twice.) I can't wait for the next update.

So these are some reading recs for out there in the wonderful world of the interwebs. Enjoy! (And if you have a website that you think would appeal to me, feel free to recommend it in the comments. Always looking for something new to read at one in the morning when I should be in bed asleep.)

"God save Tudor houses, antique tables, and billiards"*

So back at the end of January, I was invited to write a guest post on the blog Brit Fancy. I ended up writing a explanation of sorts about my love of all things British. At the time, I only posted a link to the entry in this blog, but now I think that it might be nice to have a copy up here too.
(NB.: Brit Fancy is currently on hiatus for the summer, but her readers anticipate that she will be back posting again in the fall.)


Origins of an Anglophile
When Brit Fancy invited me to make this guest post, I immediately knew what my topic was going to be: “origins of an Anglophile”, basically a bit of self analysis about what made me the kind of person who fancies all things British. I am American, and our family doesn’t have any English heritage (in fact, we are Irish) so there isn’t a readily apparent reason that I should be as enamored of England as I am. My dad refers to it as being “Britified”, and, trust me, I am completely Britified. Case in point: instead of going to a Super Bowl party one year, I went to an “Ab Fab” marathon party, where I drank close to an entire bottle of champagne, consumed a significant portion of a Terry’s chocolate orange, and laughed myself silly. (I still have no idea who won that Super Bowl, but I think that our local team, the Patriots, may have been playing. Whoops!)

I was wondering if there was one definitive thing that started me down the path to Anglophilia, and the more I thought about it, I realized that really it all started with Walt Disney. That a uniquely American institution such as Disney turned me into an Anglophile seems preposterous, but listen to my argument. I grew up listening to Disney records: the long playing storybook version of their films, the kind where you could look at drawings from the film and read along with the record. I played those records over and over again; they never lost their charm. My favorites included: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, The Jungle Book, and Mary Poppins. As I grew older, this love transitioned to the actual movies. Thanks to the Wonderful World of Disney and then later the Disney Channel, I fell in love with Winnie the Pooh, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Three Lives of Thomasina, and Treasure Island. And there we have a foundation laid for some major “Britification”. (Thanks, Walt!)

As I grew older and began to inhale books, I was drawn to stories in English books for children. I was right behind Mary Lennox when she opened the door to the secret garden, enjoyed Turkish Delight from the White Witch with Edmund Pevensie, and accompanied the Fossil sisters to their ballet classes. Later on, there were Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie mysteries, “All Things” James Herriott, Jane Eyre and Jane Austen, and, by the end of high school, Dickens and Shakespeare.

I was always passionate about history, and, in college, I was able to fuse my love of literature with my love for the past. Novels became contextualized within time periods, and the worlds in the books became more concrete and understandable. Books were reflective of their particular times, but also influenced their times. Times changed, but the English character (and characters) stayed the same. I spent a lot of time sophomore year with my friend JeGlide watching and rewatching A Room with a View and eating Nice biscuits and Lemon Coolers (which, sadly, no longer exist!), wondering what my chances were of running into a George Emerson at a weekend keg party. (Non-existent.)

Through the books, plays, and films (too numerous to list here), I felt that I was given an inside look into English life, and I found it wonderfully warm, homey, and cosy. A garden party on a Sunday afternoon at the vicarage. A stiff upper lip when faced with disappointment. The pomp and circumstance of the monarchy. A brolly and Wellies to wear in the rain. (The different names for things were exotic and enchanting to me, making things like the “lorry” and the “lift” much more exciting than the plain old “truck” and “elevator” said by Americans.) Driving Mini Coopers on the left hand side of the road. Teas with scones and clotted cream. Trains that ran on time and the Underground to take you around London. This was not my life, but it was what I thought I wanted my life to be. (I grew up having to wear a school uniform so that whole public school thing wasn’t as appealing as the rest.)

I knew that it was only a matter of time before I got to England. The bigger question was posed to me by my favorite professor: would they be able to get me back to America afterwards?

In her book, 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff writes that someone once told her that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for, and she says that she would go looking for the England of English literature. In one way or another I have encountered this on each of my trips to England, whether it be strolling down Baker Street past the Sherlock Holmes museum, looking for Platform 9 ¾ (or at least platforms 9 & 10) at King’s Cross Station during rush hour, hunting down Lincoln’s Inn Fields and the old Court of Chancery on a Sunday morning, trapsing through Bloomsbury on a crisp November evening, happening upon an actual Eleanor cross at Charing Cross, or taking the train to Stratford to visit Shakespeare’s birth place and Anne Hathaway’s cottage. These things are real, they have endured, and they have managed to retain their distinctly English character.

I work at a university that is ramping up for its sesquicentennial in 2011. One hundred fifty years seems like a long time in America. (Well, unless you are Harvard, but not everyone can be Harvard, and, honestly, would you really want to be?) That number was put into perspective the other day when we received a piece of mail from Cambridge University. The return address was embossed to commemorate that university’s anniversary this year: the big 800. I looked at the envelope, showed it to my coworker and said, “Kind of puts things in a different perspective, doesn’t it?”

What started out for me as a child’s interest in some stories grew into a love for a country and a way of life on a little island in Europe (smaller than the state of New York). It might be a little island, but it has an accumulated wealth of culture, tradition, history, and character that can be traced back to ancient times. It continues to fascinate and appeal to me, and I expect it will do so for the rest of my life.


Sorry for the repetition, readers. It was nice for me to read this again, especially as I start mentally planning my next trip to the UK. As you can see, in the original post I didn't go into any detail about my love for British music/musicians or for British television. This was mainly because I didn't want to go on for another four paragraphs about all things Britpop (especially Blur vs. Oasis) and BritComs, mysteries and "Doctor Who". I may just save that material for another post in the near future.

* Today's post title comes to us from lyrics by The Kinks.

"A Cup of Tea, a Cookie, and Yoo-hoo"*

Things have been busy, and I haven't had a lot of time for blogging so I am trying to play "catch up" now. About a month ago, I received an unexpected parcel at work. (I usually have my online purchases sent to the office, but this is one I didn't buy for myself.)

There was no indication on the outside of the package where it had come from or who had sent it. I couldn't contain my curiosity until I got home so I opened the box where I found a belated Easter gift from my parents: Royal Albert tea cups!! They were part of a commemorative collection celebrating 100 years of Royal Albert. I got the collection from the 1900s-1950s, and they are positively beautiful.

They came specially packaged in a gift hat box.


I particularly like that they have a pattern on the inside of the cup, and the saucers are beautiful too.


For now, I have put them in my china cupboard, but I am looking forward to using them for company. Hopefully some time soon with scones and cucumber sandwiches!!
*Witch Hazel, Looney Toons

"I'm happy, hope you're happy too."

Lisa from the blog Happily Ever After In Seattle nominated me for a happy award! Wasn't that nice of her? I think so. :) I have actually been making a concerted effort to post upbeat stuff (with the exceptions of that poor child with the unfortunate name, although that was still pretty funny, and my commentary on Her Fearful Symmetry, but that started out happy; it was only the DISAPPOINTMENT that spoiled that one.)

ANYHOW, according to the official rules and regulations of the Happy Award, I now am to list ten things that make me happy. As there are a lot of things that make me happy and it is hard to pick just ten, I thought that I would like ten things that are currently making me happy. (This is going to be fun.)

1. New readers. I am so happy that my blog it isn't sitting out there in cyberspace, with just me and my offline friends reading (because I asked them to and they are nice.) It is great to know that new friends are enjoying this.

2. Starbucks Skinny Cinnamon Dulce lattes. "Mmm, delicious, thank you", as Sister K would say.

3. My Canon Rebel DSLR camera. My photography has improved dramatically, and a huge part of that is having a really great camera to work with. I can't wait to take it to Ireland this fall.

4. Learning to play Carcassone, a fun board game that my friend MEM introduced me to. I bought my own copy so that I could play it with my family on vacation. Board games rule!

5. Croque-monsieurs cooked on my Breville panini press. (And you thought I would never use it, Sister K. HA!)

6. TV. (Perhaps TV makes me a little too happy, especially now that I have DVR, but I don't care. I love you, TV, especially, "Masterpiece", "Doctor Who", "Lost", "Glee", and "Fringe". Miss you, "Torchwood" and "Ashes to Ashes", come back soon!)

7. Twitter. Despite my concerns, it is actually kind of fun!

8. St. Anthony, who finds all my missing stuff. For example, my missing Charlie card. It was lost for a month, but I found it in the pocket of the suit jacket I wore on Monday just in time for Snowmageddon! (Even though I didn't need it in the end.)

9. "This American Life" podcasts. Perfect while driving, cooking, folding laundry... the list goes on.

10. Missing Snowmageddon!!! I am so happy that Boston didn't get hit with all that snow.

I pass this award to all my readers (especially Ellen, Diana, and J, my offline friends who blog) inviting them to make their own lists and nominations. If you do this, be sure to let me know about it in the comments so that I can check out your happy list.

Seven random habits/quirks/facts about myself

1. I like to eat breakfast every day. If I don't have breakfast, I get cranky. Really cranky. Like the Hulk cranky.
2. I tidy up my work area each night before going home. I can't stand coming in to a mess.
3. I usually am reading three to four books concurrently. I don't think that you need to finish one before starting a new one, especially if you vary up the genres.
4. I treat the Pottery Barn catalog like it is porn. When it arrives, I stop everything and read it from cover to cover.
5. I check the locks on the doors twice before going to bed, just to be sure.
6. My favorite kind of cake is homemade yellow cake (from a box) with chocolate frosting (from a jar). I prefer Betty Crocker, but will certainly eat Pillsbury. Sister B once made a coconut cake from scratch, and I didn't like it nearly as much as I like the frozen Pepperidge Farm kind.
7. I have an obsession with high end pocketbooks that are utterly impractical and, yet, are so lovely to look at. Shoes are difficult because sometimes they don't fit right, but I haven't met a pocketbook yet that I didn't like.

Bag Tag, or Show All Your Stuff

My friend Diana tagged me in the Bag Tag meme yesterday. And so I present to you, my pocketbook and its many contents.

My bag is a black Coach leather hobo that I picked up this summer at the Coach outlet. I heart it lots, and even took it to London with my because I could stuff fit my little Totes umbrella in it!






I can fit lots of fun things in my bag because of the pockets on the inside and the overall roomie interior. I have my work ID and keys, my cell phone (in its pink case), Palm Pilot (ditto on the pink case), Vera Bradley Java Blue wallet (I heart this pattern), my iPod (in its little blue sock), eye and sun glasses (both prescription), favorite pen, and four of the new Presidential dollar coins, which were given to me by my coin collecting father. Yesterday, I also stuffed in the new issue of Vanity Fair, the new cds by Editors and the Killers, a hair elastic, and my black leather gloves. I also have a little Coach zip pouch for things like tissues, cough drops, lip gloss and Dramamine.

Don't Get Caught Watching the Paint Dry

My friend Mike Philbrick (and I don't mean "friend", like I read his articles, and we are BFF through the magical powers of the internet. I actually KNOW this man. I went to his wedding in fact...) :-) is a writer for ESPN Page 2.

Recently, he has two really cool articles which I would like to recommend to friends. The first is an interview with Bruce Willis/John MacLean where he asks insightful questions, such as "How does it feel to be Nick Lachey's hero?" and "Who deserves a lower circle in hell -- Internet predators, lawyers or the paparazzi?"

The second article is even better. In fact, it is truly awesome. It is a commencement address given by Rocky Balboa, Norman Dale, Carl Spackler, Roy Hobbs, and the voice from the cornfield in Field of Dreams. How could this happen? Only through the genius of Michael Philbrick, who has written an inspirational commencement address using only lines from sports movies. I HIGHLY recommend that you check this out, especially if you are the kind of person who cried at the end of Rudy. This speech was made for you and me.