Super Sad True Night in Harvard Square

Today was so raw and rainy that I convinced myself that I was going to go home and get into pj's right from work but at the last minute I talked myself into going to see Gary Sheyngart (author of Super Sad True Love Story) in Harvard Square.

I can't say that I loved the book but he was very entertaining and his reading had a flair to it that made me appreciate the material more than I did from hearing in my own head.

I capped the night off with a slice of Pinocchio's pizza - quintessential Harvard Square fare. (This was part of the bargaining I did to motivate myself..."Come on, Jen, you can buy a book and even get Pinocchio's for dinner if you go!!" For the record, I bought Master and Commander - the first in the Patrick O'Brian series. )

And, yes, it's still raining!!!

It's not easy going topless in a one piece

I had lunch date with Shelly and Patrick. The three of us like a good gab session but the gossip was a little thin today. (Could our coworkers please start sleeping with each other so we can talk about it?? We haven't had an interoffice affair in a loooooong time!!!) Our hottest story was about Arnold Schwartznegger and his illegitimate ten year old until Shelly started telling us about her vacation in St Barts. As you can probably tell from the blog title - much was revealed!

We've Got Ourselves a Bull!

You may recall in the not too distant past Bill posted that someday we would have a Bull...and now we do! Vicki presented me with a post-festival gift - a painting by a local painter that Bill and I have long admired. This is supposedly a painting of baskets in a field in Long Island but I prefer to think of it as stacks of books...in a field....on Long Island. I mean, neither story makes much sense so why not just go with the festival appropriate book scenario?

Bulls and Manatees

Big night wiped us out. Our big event for the day was lunch at 10 Center Street.

One of the topics we covered was: If you could ride a giraffe, a giant eagle or a manatee, what would you choose? Joey loves manatees so he picked that. The eagle seemed the natural next choice except for those of us who get sick in a hot air balloon. I'd hate to throw up on an American symbol. And I'm rubbish in the water so the manatee was out.

I defaulted to a giraffe.

Behind Pretty Jen is an Alan Bull paining. It's one of our favorites of his. One day we'll own a Bull.

Happy 50th Steve!

Steve turned 50 this week and asked to celebrate "Big Night" style. Turns out many people are not familiar with the 1996 movies starting Cambpell Scott and Stanley Tucci but Bill and I knew it meant Lisa would cook a multi course big italian meal - count us in! (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115678/ )

Of course, you can't throw a 50th birthday party without goofy over the hill jokes...walker and birthday cake hat courtesy of Steve's friend Rich.

So while we were technically there to celebrate Steve, the real star of the evening was the meal. Lisa rented tables and cloths to set up dinner for twelve. We devoured six courses: melon wrapped with prosciutto, asparagus risotto, osso bucco with potatoes and spinach, salad, cheese and gelato.

Steve entertained us by shouting lines from the movie and pounding on the table. Few of us remembered the movie enough to understand the references but it was fun to see Steve cut loose and make a ruckus, tipping over wine glasses with his vigorous table hammering.

Steve shows off his AARP card.

Old Men:

Trophy Wives:

Happy birthday, Steve - can't wait to see what Lisa cooks up for 60th!

Man of his word

Joey went to the junior prom tonight with a friend (made the plans before he started dating a girl he really likes). He's sticking with his commitment for both proms.

It's the right thing to do. Proud of him.

Scotch and Possum

After watching an episode of "Modern Family" (the best show on television), Jennie went upstairs to watch more "Firefly" (pure shit).

I told her I'd watch some of the basketball game, but since I already had my drink on I figured I'd crack open my fantastic bottle of Midleton Irish Whiskey.

While I was posting this a possum family crawled out from our dilapidated garage. First a cute little one, then a monster possum the size of our Yaris. I hustled to take a photo but failed miserably. Wrong setting, no flash, took an unwatchable video and then gave up and drank my scotch.

Ansel Adams dead takes better pictures than I do.

this cat's a real dog

* Blogger was down yesterday. Wasn't our fault, Fletcher.

One of my buddies at work, Peter, had a boring office. I told him I would bring him some art to spruce it up. One day while driving in Ipswich I saw this horrific, wretched yarn art of a cat being thrown away. (the art was thrown away, not the cat)

Bingo!

Since then I've gone out of my way to find cat "art" that I could add to his collection. I give him credit. The worse the art, the more he loves it.

Looking for a new family

I'm questioning my whole existence tonight. First Jennie ditches watching the Celtics game to rewatch Firefly. Firefly! Good God.

Then Joey and I are arguing about who to root for if the Celtics get eliminated tonight and he uttered the sacrilegious sentence "I'm not even that big a Celtics fan".

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!

Trying not to abuse my powers

I

I have become the official photographer of The Book Club of Newburyport.

In past photos I stuck a picture of Oprah in amongst them and made them arm wrestle.

Tonight I got them to play with Beatles finger puppets. (If you look close you'll see the four boys from Liverpool, plus a George Martin puppet. George Martin. They should have gone with Yoko.)

The girls are good sports. They pose however I ask. I'm thinking for the next photo I get them to make a human pyramid. Or maybe I'll do an Anne Geddes pose and have them dress as babies dressed as bees or flowers. I'm working my way up to a Calendar Girls pose.