Shopping at Home

All my friends are using on line shopping services these days.  You answer a lot of questions about your size and style and once a month you get a curated package of goodies to try on at home for a small monthly fee.  Buy what you like (applying the fee to the cost of goods) and send back what you don't.  Call me a lemming but I decided that I needed to try it too.

My first month wasn't very successful.

But when I opened the box at first it was full of promise!!  Something about the tissue paper and the message that the clothes were selected especially for me made me think that this was going to be the moment that I became really fashionable.

First let me explain that real models do not smile.  Open any Vogue or Elle magazine and you'll see that the models pout or look like they just just had a lobotomy.  I decided to go with the lobotomy look for this fashion shoot.

In what universe is this t-shirt a size small? Maternity wear?

This top fit, but I wasn't crazy about the zip front or the harsh geometric pattern.  But the color was good.

This top was super comfy. The material was so soft I wanted to curl up in a ball and hibernate in it.  The color was also a really nice blue but you can't get that at all from the photo.

But it was big - and not just because of the dolman sleeves.  Bill said I looked like a bat and rejected it immediately.  I said it was a legitimate style but he was not convinced.

This was clearly a sale item left over from summer.  Which I guess is ok but when you only get 5 curated items you want to be able to wear them right now.  Of course there were other problems -it looked like a bathrobe.  It was sheer and I think a teenage with other funky clothing could pull it off but it just reminded me of one of Nana's housecoats.

The really winner was the brown wool belted sweater jacket.  Worn loose it was…ok….but belted I looked like Obi Wan Kanobi trying to negotiate with the Jawas on Tatooine.

Goodbye fashionable (?) box of clothes.  I've already gotten an email that they are hand picking my November selection.  Stay tuned for next month's surprise package.

Jen and Di go to Room

I saw Diane (and Stacey) last night and she asked why she hadn't been on the blog yet.  My reasoning was that I would take a picture of the three of us to add to this post since this was a bit light…but then I forgot to actually take that picture.

Diane and I went to a free sneak preview of the movie Room last week in Harvard Square.  It was part of the Boston Lit Fest so the author of the book was there - turns out she also wrote the screenplay.  For me, this was one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book. It's very true to the original story - especially in the first half of the book - but she stripped away a bunch of extra characters and plot lines that seemed to muddle the second half.  The movie is really good and I recommend it.

This is a picture of me and Di before the lady in front of us shushed us….which she did just as the lights were going down which I think is bad form.  Give us a chance to actually talk DURING the movie before tell us to be quiet.  (Which of course we would not do because we are well aware of movie etiquette!!)  

The way to improve Florida? Bring in the Brits

The week in Orlando was a long one.  We had a great Sales Kickoff, even if it was in Florida :)

This year was extra cool because I got to see the Sales guys I used to work with AND see many of the International team.  

You can tell we've spent the week together.  The pictures are becoming more unprofessional.

 The set up for the final dinner was like a wedding.  Except they added mini golf, cornhole (always makes me smile), karaoke and having your portrait drawn.

Cute picture of Ceri.  She's like Malikai.  It's rare to get a picture of Ceri not clowning around.

 As I wrote this up I realized that I was hanging with three Brits and an Italian.

I like the fact that the night wasn't spent talking about the difference between Britain and the U.S., which is a default conversation for those not as worldly as me.

Instead, we made wise ass cracks at each other all night.  (except for the Italian, who was too drunk to understand what she was saying).

Safe travel back home, my friends.  Jen and I will be back soon.

Old Geeks at Twin Peaks

I spent last week in Florida at our company's sales kick off meeting.  My work chums dragged me to a place called Twin Peaks.  It was described as Hooters with better food.  I was not psyched.  I 50 something year old guy in a place with 21 year old nearly-nude women is creepy.

 It didn't bother my mates, all except Peter in my same age range.

Well, she IS wearing a Patriots shirt.  I shouldn't be too hasty in my resistance of Twin Peaks.

 The food was pretty gross, but I seem to have loosened up.

 It was a good time.  The best part was making fun of each other as we tried to talk to the waitresses as if we were twenty years younger.  The verdict is that none of us has 'game' and we should rush home to our wives.

By the way, the next day I ran across an article about biker gangs who had a gun fight over ... well, whatever gangs fight about.  It was at Twin Peaks!  I might never have gone if I knew the place attracted biker gangs!

I Fetched a Stretch with Fletch

Fletch and I met up for a man date while at our Sales Kickoff meeting in Orlando.

Always great to see Fletch.  

We had lunch....

 We posed with the woman who replaced me when I went to the UK.

And then we posed for professional head shots.  Fletch looks like he's running for student council

It's a good thing they only take torso shots.  My pants look too long.  

Must make a call to the tailor.

I messed up the first day and didn't get my first pictures sent.

So I came back and turned up the volume on my style.

The green jacket was very polarizing.

All the other patterns I threw together weren't so polarizing ... they were mocked.

Whatever.  It was free.

Happy Anniversary, Lisa and Steve!

Sunday night I drove from Albany to Sudbury to visit Lisa and Steve. 

James and Danielle came over and we celebrated 17 years of wedding bliss for L and S.   We got out the wedding album and marveled at how young we all looked.  And we talked about how many times I've worn my bridesmaid's dress again (zero).

Bonne Anniversaire!

Albany Breakfast

No trip to Albany would be complete without breakfast at Gramma's. 

Look at all those happy faces.

Happy until I suggested a game called "Tell us when you were mad at us".

This is mom, angry.

She looks like she is about to stab me with a napkin.

AJ went around the table and told each of us when he was last really mad at them.  He couldn't think of one for me so I had fun.  He couldn't think of one for my Mum either but I think he was just being nice. (Just kidding, Mummy!!!)

Everyone looks disgruntled below but actually, we were all enjoying the game….I think….

When we left, I was the one who was mad.  SNOW?!?!

Happy Birthday, Mummy

Saturday was Mum's birthday so Bill, Miles, and I headed west.

We met up with the family in Lenox for dinner before a show.  Miles and Mum bonded instantly.

The show was a Speak Up Storytelling event at The Mount.  Speak Up is a group put together by our old Booktopian pals Matthew and wife Elysha. Similar to the Moth, people get up and tell 5-10  minutes stories from their lives about a chosen topic.  Tonight was Fish Out of Water although, frankly, I don't really see how many of these stories fit that topic but they were still really good.

  The Mount is Edith Wharton's house in the Berkshires and one of the reasons Mum was excited to go….unfortunately the event was in the barn.  And it was at night so we couldn't even see the house in the darkness.  Oh well, looks like we need to do another road trip to see it during the day.  

Ok enough back story.  Once we got there, we started taking silly pictures.

(Top row:  Mum, Andy, Heather.  Bottom row:  Jen, Bill, Eden)

Elysha was out MC for the night.  She told me she gets nervous to do these shows but she was great.

I was happy to see a whole slew of Booktopians at the event!!  In additional Matt & Elysha, Susan was one of the speakers.  Photos were a must so Bill did the honors, using our old wedding pose (Everyone look at Jen) for the last pic.

Morning in the Port

Sorry this isn't really a post...it's more like filler.  We were away this weekend and then Bill had to go to Florida (where he is seeing Fletch so I'm looking forward to a Fletch post!!) and I had to go into the office so we didn't really have anything ready for today.  But I have this picture from my Friday morning walk.  Everyone likes to see a beautiful sunrise over the water.  We will work on getting back on track tomorrow.

The new and the old

This is what Bret-man would look like if he wore things I wear.  He's got my shirt and my glasses on.

I don't think Zoe would stand for it long.

The newly hitched couple looked good and relaxed after their whirlwind marriage party.

 Meanwhile, the old married couple continues to look happy and relaxed.  

Spy Games

Earle and I were together for a few hours.  That could only mean one thing.

Another upcoming adventure of Earle's Facebook spy story.

We took random pictures and Earle will spin it into something that I'm sure will embarrass me.

Speaking of embarrassing.... 

Everytime I think we are on the same team Earle stages a fight between us.

We only got a dozen odd looks from the Ogunquit tourists as we ran up and down the dock.

I think I was suppose to send these pics to him to create the story.

It might be best if I conveniently forget to.