petey and henry in the burbspa charlie, grandma cathy, peter and dad grilling meats

sunrise over bmore the morning after 4th of july sloppiness

bob the bear's park sculpture is no more

alice's new favorite spot

atop little round top

people like to rub this guys nose

h-mart

henry up on fed hill

i like these signs

up on the howard st. bridge

lunch by nature yummmm

charles st

artscape on charles st bridge

we liked this band

human foosball

photos @ penn station

kristen @ club charles

as of lately

i actually had a busy week so i feel extra deserving of my celebratory friday drinks.








behind b&0 on the way home from pig town
cute face henry
the view from the driver's seat
waiting from the kinetic sculpture race finishers on fed hill
sunday's farmer's market haul
how we found alice after returning from cinco de mayo drinks
today's breakfast

obligatory mr. t song in honor of mothers day:

sleepy sunday

i am feeling delirious. we just ate cold chicken rico and watched the first two episodes of the wire. i think i saw michael phelps at sip and bite this morning. i also think having your first drink at 4 saturday afternoon ruins any chance at a productive sunday.

here are photos from this weekend of alice-cat, a cute house i want to live in, henry and his new friend, the stadium hid[e]away and some hot and delicious chicken rico.







i am too lazy to elaborate but must note that i:
enjoy pure michigan commercials and the fudgey german chocolate brownies from sweet tooth
just saw my first acid washed denim trench coat walking down arlington
do not intimidate dealers or junkies
recently learned lithuanian hall is home to a monthly hipster dance party ala funk night?
knew my mom was right.. i should call to follow up after sending out my resume + cover letter. i obviously lose
learned on saturday that lady pirates like to show boobs just as much as lady renaissance festival goers
have noticed an increase in graphic design job postings. this is encouraging. i think april is my month. or may.

last weekend

friday we took our first official long-wandering walk in baltimore. we talked about our dream house and watched henry pee all over town. then we ate fajitas and i had chats with rachie. alice climbed our ladder to nowhere.. i realised out apartment is one big cat-style hamster funhouse. [that fragment of a sentence may only make sense to me]

saturday we did lots of goodwill rummaging. peter made a friend while digging through the record bins.. he would hold up a record and ask "have you heard of this." if peter said no he would sing a song from the artist. he was cool. then we ate cheese steaks.

sunday we took another long walk out to have a giant meaty colombian lunch. on the way we saw lots of blooms and some bro strolling around town with a gigantor snake wrapped around his neck. then we got stuck in a downpour. when we got home i admired my first tan of the season and realised my eyes point in slightly different directions.. and one is shaped like a triangle. i am special.

tomorrow i am going to start painting the bathroom.

here is some news:

+ brits love the wire. brits also love opening airplane doors. 1 and 2
+ thank you NYT for writing an article about detroit in the travel section.
+ MSU will play in the ncaa final four. last time this happened it was 2003 and we watched the game at lou & harry's. then the entire town of east lansing was tear gassed.. then peter tried to beat up a fox news anchor.. then johana and i got maced. and so did our taco bell. college rules.

we moved

today is day five in our new home. yesterday the movers brought us all our crap and we finally got to sleep in a real bed again. woo!

the car ride out here went smoothly. alice was mostly silent, even without her kitty tranquilizers. henry slept and occasionally tried to jump out the closed window. we arrived last thursday night ready to unpack the car and inflate the air mattress but it took a good 15 minutes to unlock the front gate. once we got inside alice disappeared and i got a side cramp and minor panic attack all at once.. so peter emptied the car while i paced and tried to find the cat. eventually we realized she was in the drop ceiling. i calmed down and we ate pho, drank beers and went to bed.

in the morning we woke up early and watched the kids walk to school and the sun rise. it was excellent. since then we've gone to five grocery stores and eaten at the following places: [pho at] baltimore pho, [the best tacos at] tortillarilla sinaloa, [perfect pizza and salad with creamy balsamic vinaigrette at] zella's, [coffee and egg sandwiches from] eddie's lunch in hollin's market, [bbq ribs, collard greens, slaw + bbq beans at] andy nelson's, [coffee and egg sandwiches from] chick n' trout, [lake trout, chicken wings, western fries, mac + cheese and sweet potatoes at] chick n' trout AND [sushi and ddeok bok ee at] h-mart. now we have to try and not eat like fatties. here are some photos:




also in the news..
this is yummy
seems as if detroit and baltimore have quite a lot in common
we will [attempting to] attend the bmore whistle stop tour event w. barack
anthony bordain does the rust belt!
MADE IN MICHIGAN.

yay!

today we feasted on this and this and this and some greens with pa charlie. we also celebrated with cava because peter got the job! we're moving to baltimore - the city that i've been borderline-obsessed with since falling into "the wire" abyss.. woo hooo.. hooray.. yippee!

also been drinking far too much and having chats with friends. it has been an excellent week.

saturday we get to visit 30 of my family members and eat a real, meaty thanksgiving supper up north. happy thanksgiving!

booze, books, birthday..

please buy something from my mom on ebay. i have spent the better part of three days cataloging, photographing and listing things for her for a commision. if i made 10$ i will be amazed. i will be listing things for weeks as she is a packrat and i need some dough.

last friday we went to the union with a friend of peter's and had some beers. they've added fancy chairs and stools to the MC. there was less spilled beer than usual. afterwards we went back to the house where i had some wine [in addition to the wine i had drank before the union..] then apparently fell asleep on the couch. johans visited and i gave her a fashion show with my sal army finds [or so i'm told] then fell asleep during an episode of bad girls club.

saturday felt poo-ish but had to go to the rents to begin my enterprise with ebay. i also played with lots of kittens and scooped lots of poo. when i got home that night val and timmy were visiting [timmy was sporting some serious 70s beard-face and long hair] and we all ate pizza and had chats. johans and ad joined us later on and we smoked some hookah. once again, i partook in one too many vodka/cranberries [apparently three is too many] and was put to bed early.

sunday i was feeling well beyond my [almost] 26 years. i had unfortenetly over-celebrated and had the hangover from hell all day.. while continuing to catalog ebay items and attempt to make fish stew, cheddar biscuits and a roasted root veggie salad for 12 of my closest family members. luckily by time dinner was over and it was time for cake and ice cream i was miraculously healed. woooo

monday was my for-real birthday.. i woke up feeling [finally] completely un-hungover and finished packaging and posting all ebay items. i packed my car full with boxes from the garage and spent the night looking through middle school yearbooks and high school photo class projects. although i did not do much to celebrate my birth i did eat leftover chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. and had birthday chats with some peeps.

today i spent some quality time with peter and henry. peter played with his facial hair. i cleaned house.

tomororw petey goes to baltimore and i will try not to get too lost while visitng sal army's along telegraph.

lost in leeds

simba, take I and II
petey being attacked by a bee in howarth
fish + chips in leeds
neighborhood near uni. leeds






friday we went to the mackie's for dinner and very entertaining conversions. to get there we took a train to stalybridge then a very nauseating bus ride [winding through some yorkshire moores] to howarth. also on the bus was a middle-aged hiker who had asked the bus driver for some assistance finding his way. no less than three other local passengers took that as their queue to grab the bus schedule he was studying out of his hands and repeatedly advise him of the route they thought he should take. it was entertaining.

upon our arrival we caught up with the summer's events, which included a string of bad luck. thankfully after family dinner and wine the conversation became cheerier. topics included, but were not limited to, conspiracy theories regarding the US and UK government, german robots, england's pub culture, frank zappa, that notorious russian christmas party in clarkston [circa 1976], cuban cat-cuisine and traveling europe as an actual starving artist. we chatted until past bed time then ate cheese and biscuits then fell asleep by the fire place.

in the morning we bonded with the family pets [simba the old rickety persian and mac the henry-lookalike] and ate pie before wandering town a bit and setting off to leeds. i had spend most of friday morning at work making a list of vintage stores to visit. i included detailed directions for each and even found some cheap restaurants. unfortunately i forgot to print it out so we only had a map and my fickle memory to guide us. we did find one decent store from my list, then stumbled upon an excellent and very busy fish + chip shop. but then we wandered north and got lost trying to locate the notorious hyde park and the surrounding shops. we never did find it, but did get to see the ivy-covered neighborhood around uni. leeds and a very sketchy housing estate.

back in manchester we sat in st. ann square while petey recorded the terrible [but very well dressed] cover band and the tail end of an art market. afterwards we picked up some faux gordons gin and ate leftover fish pie [take II was much better than the first attempt] with green beans for dinner.

today we did not leave the apartment. the only thing worth mentioning is the very momoun's-ish lentil soup i made for dinner.

please observe the current 'most popular' page on NYTimes.com:
it seems as if the editorial team as well as the informed public have some concerns over that lady who looks like lemon.

our henry dog..

is one sick puppy. please send him your love.

bar burrito, buxton + balls

it has become clear that our lack of social stimulation has led to an increased interest in food. it is difficult to think of anything to write about except food. not that i am neglecting of our hiatus here, but my time is spent temping at the highways agency, downloading american tv shows and cooking. the first two are just as exciting as they sound.

friday peter met me after work to drink two-for-one margaritas and chips and salsa [that tasted like ragu pasta sauce] at bar burritto. we then picked up wine and headed home to eat pasta, roast a chicken and have more drinks. being the old woman that i am i took a bath then promptly fell asleep on the couch around 10. peter finally put me to bed at 3 a.m.

saturday morning we went to buxton. it was the most scenic train ride yet.. lots of baby lambs trotting along their moms and dads. white lambs and black lambs.. white lambs with black legs and some old gnarly looking grandma and grandpa sheeps too. some of our fellow train passengers with what seemed like severe mental disabilities added to the ambiance by making very loud farm animal noises, so the petting zoo vibe really came to life. anyhow, it was incredibly adorable. it only got better when we arrived. there were so many cute dogs i thought i was going to lose it. the kids were well behaved, not scary mini versions of their track suit wearing parents. even the ducks were too friendly. we bought sandwiches and ate in the park then wandered. the weather and abundance of cuteness put us in a really good mood but by mid afternoon we were back on the train struggling to stay awake. back in manchester we waded through the usual weekend crowds to buy groceries then went home to make some soups.

the matzo ball soup experience ended up going fairly well. they tastes a bit like pretzels, but besides that it was a-ok. eating them caused sever drowsinesses, so we lounged like hobos for the rest of the night. tonight we made mac & cheese with broccoli and cauliflower. we also made a disgustingly buttery pineapple upside down cake. disgusting in the best kind of way. surprisingly we have not yet exploded into fatties.