My shoes is party dance!

Three apples up on top! Ryan is amazing. :)

We went apple picking today. It started raining on the way, but we did it anyway, and while it wasn't as pleasant as yesterday's sunny and breezy orchard visit (yes, we are going all out with the apples this week), it was fun.

I took this photo of Peter and Sophie and it is blurry, but I think it communicates something about what is pretty and soft about a rainy apple orchard:



Especially when it is small. :)

Now we are all in pajama pants - actually, I just looked at Sophie and saw she is not wearing any pants...so we are all COZY and it is rainy and dark outside. I am thinking it is a hot cider evening. I also want Pandora to make me a playlist based on "Wild" by Poe, or something similarly atmospheric. Maybe Tori's "Night of Hunters", but I think it's not quite time for that one yet.

Also, we have decided to sign a new contract with AT&T so I can get an iphone 4S, which you'll all be glad to hear about because then the photos I insist on taking and sharing will be better. (Seriously, the camera is the biggest reason I want to ditch my old phone. That and the fact that my old phone second-hand and held together with tape!) Now that I have decided to do this I WANT IT NOW.

Instead, I will make some hot cider. :)

Taken at ECHO, in front of what we call the "big fish" tank. She's pointing out the fish, in case I did not notice. ;)

Yes, it's blurry because of the low light and my avoidance of flash, but I love this photo. She's so earnest and interested!

Oh yes also:



That is my baby. I love her.

:)

If Flickr can keep it together, you should be seeing a photo of the most delightful coffee mug known to man. I got it at the craft fair this weekend - it was bargain binned, can you believe it? ;) Plus, now I can officially throw out my old broken mug that was uncomfortably close to falling apart suddenly. (Why was I still using that, again?)

We attempted to nest this weekend. It was hard without, you know, the necessary baby stuff, but we sorted baby clothes into newborn and bigger sizes and did some inventory, cleaned the car seat we got, and washed some things. After my baby shower this weekend, we're going to Buy More Stuff. As eternal as 2 months seems to me right now in terms of being pregnant, it is not so long in terms of spending money to buy things to get ready for a baby.

Parrot screaming, cannot continue thinking. Must go cover him before I go insane.

This is me last fall - I didn't realize my hair was long that recently. It was kind of pretty, all red and long like that. But I don't miss it, at least not very much.

This is my last hour (or so) of being 26! But it's okay, I've felt more like 27 for a while now. You know how I'm going to spend my last hour of twenty-sixitude? Sleeping, that's how. (Oh hey, I guess it's not technically my last hour of 26. I was born at 6-something in the evening. But y'know, birthdaywise, this is it. :))

PS: my internet is fixed (obvs)! It is now quite fast and shiny! I look forward to trying it out more tomorrow. ;)

* Banned Books week, and the lists of most challenged books and authors from 2007, are upon us. The lists are here. I was vaguely surprised by "Olive's Ocean" being on the list. I thought it was a beautiful book written by an author who seems to have a very strong understanding of the emotional lives of children, but I guess in among all the merits of the book I forgot about the brief mentions of sex. :P

* Dinner last night: brussel sprouts, halved and browned in butter with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Turnips mashed with roasted garlic mustard, salt, and pepper. Tilapia baked with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice, and then topped with arugula wilted with lemon. Followed by Ben and Jerry's and a night-time walk on Church Street. Mmmm. :)

* I read "Living Dead Girl" while sitting in Borders yesterday. It's a novel that I read about on Bookshelves of Doom. I can't say I liked it, but I can say it was well-constructed...if the goal is to make it so you pick up the book and cannot put it down until you're finished, this book completely succeeded. It has to be read in one big inhalation, or else the nightmares are drawn out over several nights instead of just one or two. When I finished it, I sort of wandered around for a little while. I wasn't really sure what I had wanted to do anymore.

*It is grey outside, and I am a little pffffft. Something needs to be done. EDIT: I am going to go to Shawn and Meg's, that is what will be done. :)

* Here is a photo of a angry peacock, at the zoo in Granville or Greenwich or somewhere like that in NY. :)


/randomness

Upon finding myself listening to Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'" on repeat (yes, I know that's probably socially unacceptable or something, but I am shameless!) I started thinking about all the songs with lyrics that might be described as...ridiculous? that I okay honestly really enjoy in a deep, primal-sweet-spot sort of way. ;) And then I made a teeny tiny playlist. Wanna see?

1. Jesse McCartney - "Leavin'" ("Girl that thing you got behind you is amazing" <-- What a classy and vague way of referring to HER ASS Jesse!)

2. Backstreet Boys - "I Want It That Way" (Oh the entire song is completely nonsensical! Really, look up the lyrics, they don't MEAN ANYTHING. I read an interview with the Backstreet Boys at one point that openly acknowledged this. But man it is still shamefully fun to sing along with all alone in your apartment Sample lyrics: "Tell me why/ain't nothin' but a heartache/ain't nothin' but a mistake/tell me why/I never want to hear you say/I want it that way" WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN)

3. Miley Cyrus - See You Again (Does anyone besides us want to sing Corey Hart along with this song? Because Ryan, Kelly and I really, really do.) <-- "The last time I freaked out/I just kept looking down/I stu-stu-stuttered when you ask me what I'm thinkin' 'bout/felt like I couldn't breathe/you ask what's wrong with me/my best friend Leslie said 'Oh she's just bein' Miley" HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT IT'S SO RIDICULOUS

4.Usher - Love In The Club (The part in question is Young Jeezy, though)"It’s going down on aisle 3/ I’ll bag you like some groceries/And every time you think about it you gon’ want some more of me/About to hit the club, make a movie yeah rated R" Okay here is what gets me about that last part - you're going to have sex in a club and the associated movie is only rated R? Do you always have sex with the sheets covering the naughty parts? Come now, Young Jeezy. Think it through! (The Remix Pt. 2 with Beyonce and Lil' Wayne technically makes the list for Lil' Wayne's creepy voice telling me he'll "make it juicy for" me and that is just about the most unappealing way to put it that he possibly could have picked. Yes, I know that line is in his single too, but that does not make it any less creepy-sounding, especially given OMG HIS VOICE.)

5.Nelly - My Place "Sit yourself down and take a seat" comes to mind, as does "I heard your friend told a friend who told a friend of mine that you was thinkin; that we should do it one more time/if this ain't the truth then hopefully it's not a lie/'cause I ain't got no issues with hittin' that another time", and, my personal favorite "'cause you make my life so convenient for me" - how touching! Really, this song is greatness. It has laughable lyrics, set to an oh-so-smooth slow jam. Is Nelly serious? Is he joking? Either way, it kinda wins.

These, of course, are just a few examples, and do not include such extremely laughable but not actually *likeable* lyrics as Fergie's being "up in the gym just working on my fitness/he's my witness" or the unspeakable song we shall not speak of. Things like that song are unspeakable because they are not awesomely bad, as Slate points out, they are just really, truly bad in a bad way. That is not what we're looking for here, ladies and gentlemen. So, what are your favorite awesomely bad songs with awesomely bad lyrics? I kind of want to make a CD with a clever name.

And lest you worry about my health sitting here in front of my computer blogging about lyrics to hippity hoppity, don't fret: Today I consigned some clothing, bought bread at the local bakery, returned books to the library, and in the process biked all over town. Now I am trying to wrestle all of our photos up onto Flickr, for backup, organization, and easier display. It's turning out to be quite a task, so I may be here a while. Those awesomely bad pop/hip-hop songs? Recommend them so I can listen as I wrestle!

I am a social butterfly, dudes. Raina and Rob visited yesterday, then we went to Shawn and Meg's for the evening...then I got up this morning and called Kimberly, and we had brunch. I drove her to work (and out of Burlington for the last time before she left for Sudan today at 4:20), and then called Ms. Meredith aka [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] from outside Kimberly's office. Mer was on the ferry when I called, and I arranged to meet her at 1:15. BOOM BOOM SOCIALIZATION. Here is a poor cell phone photo of our total awesomeness:



We went to Old Gold and it was a party. I think once I have money again I will go there and buy a crinoline petticoat skirt thing and wear it around town. Maybe with striped socks. Don't you think that is a good idea? :)

Olympics: Why are they torturing me by putting gymnastics on at my bedtime? And now interrupting what I expected to be gymnastics with Michael Phelps fangirling? (Michael Phelps is not fangirling. The coverage is fangirling him. Just to be clear, y'all.) I am going to bed. :P (Okay, he's beating world records now. I will wait until he's done. :))

As I just wrote in an email: "Kelly and I are combating winter gloom with wholly unreasonable amounts of hula hooping. It's all fun and games until you have enormous bruises on both hips...oops. :)"





It seems I should be doing my hooping in compression...shirts, or enormous sweaters, or not for an hour at a time. Yes, in addition to that icky bruise, I am developing muscles of steel and a big strong cardiovascular system. Not to mention mad, mad hooping skills. Kelly and I are excited to possess the awesome powers that come with such skills, and hope to take our show on the road. Once our hips heal a bit.

PS - Yes, I am wearing an Outfit in that picture - it was New Year's Eve, see. And double yes, that is my new haircut, but it is my new haircut needing some serious work. I have discovered that it really needs a blow dryer to work properly, since that picture was taken. So, maybe someday you'll get a decent picture, but that day is not today.

We spent the day in Portsmouth yesterday. Now, to put off lesson planning, I bring you a photo post.

First, I bring you the creepiest Santa photo ever:

(please don't prove me wrong, I don't think I can handle more disturbing Santa imagery - though I'm sure the internet would provide far worse)

Phew. To clear your palate of that, I bring you the soothing, adorable imagery of fairy houses. Portsmouth just happened to be having a "fairy house tour" day, and there were materials for kids and their families to build fairy houses with all over the place. It was so cute, some of the houses were really awesome.

(This one was inside a big tunnel-y trellis covered with morning glories. You looked through one end and OH FAIRIES. :)

( more photos oh boy )