Wishing you a disgruntled Halloween

Current favorite lunch

Thin-sliced whole wheat sourdough, toasted to melt a slice of havarti, with shaved pastrami and a Vlasic bread and butter "sandwich stacker" (pickle). My lunch companion is looking on imploringly, but I'm not sharing.

It's not a cookie.

Ohmygod!

I held down the fort at my work/study gig today while the staff met with the board for some strategic planning. When I finally got a break about 3pm, I went to Duane Reade for some Skin Shield to treat a tiny stab wound on the tip of my left thumb.

And I ended up buying a box of Fig Newtons.

And eating an entire row as I walked around the block.

Hey knitters...

I'm completely in love with this smock-like sweater. Except that it's multi-colored metallic. Can I pay someone to make this for me in a more wearable colorway?

Ooooh, check out the cute shoulder and side buttons (hidden under the mannequin arm)!


I would wear this with a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans and cute flats!

How liberal is NYC?

So liberal, our mini-storage ads take swipes at Sarah Palin.

Having trouble reading that?

I sooooo can't wait for this to be over.

Synecdoche

We saw Synecdoche, New York last night with friends. What a lovely thing to do! I don't know what to say about it except that I loved it. And that it's wonderful to see a movie and not feel indicted by the characters or situations, or overwhelmed by the emotional content. Which is how I felt before the meds, watching anything of substance, like Sex and the City, for instance.

Which is not to say that it's all sunshine and daisies chez Panique. On my home tonight, spaced out from vinyasa and meditation, I stepped out when the elevator stopped on the third floor to let someone else on. I hopped back in, and the douchebag looked at the still-lit button for my floor and said, I shit you not,

"Not even close."

I wish I'd had a snappy comeback, but I was a little to overcome by the snark to respond. I wish I'd just given him what we here at Casa Panique refer to as a nut punch.

Which is exactly what it sounds like.

More seasonality

We brunched here today, then retreated through the drizzle back to Maison Panique for an afternoon of Texas football (hook 'em!) and crafting. Okay, obviously M. Panique wasn't crafting, but I was. Halloween is almost here and — wonder of wonders — thanks to the meds I feel like a bit of costuming. M. Panique is not so sure, but I think we will come to some sort of agreement.

A Harvest Wonderland

Everything for the Fall festivities, down to the mini hay bales.

I worked on Stumpy's limbs today to little success, but I have a plan for tomorrow.

Stumpy McStumpersons

Don't worry; head, hands and feet coming soon. Possibly also clothes.

J'ai besoin d'un chapeau.

Oui, bien sur.

I need a hat. It's freezing here! What happened? And how will I survive the next five months? At least our apartment is getting afternoon sun again, for which I and the sundrenched kitties could not be more thankful.

Mai, je n'ai pas besoin de chaussures.

I just ordered six pairs of shoes. I expect I will return most of them, but I simply cannot face a trip to Macy's and it's too cold now for my comfy sandals.

Wah wah wah. Too much time today sniffing around foundation websites, too little time on the sofa beading.

Today's petite victoire is that I managed to order some decent Chinese delivery. Crab rangoon, kung pao chicken, and house special lo mein, all a reasonable facsimile of the so-so Chinese I grew up eating. Comfort food on a cold night.

Fringe-ish

It continues to develop.



Leave me a comment and it could be yours!

Whoa whoa whoa!

It grew some appendages.



But no one has left a comment to win it. Boo.

Maybe you're the same as me...

Incredibly productive day, at least on the personal enrichment front. M. Panique and I rose with the birds to exercise, grabbed breakfast and some neighborhood sass at the diner down the street, then headed to the LES. Almost as amazing as the re-fucking-markable Elizabeth Peyton show is the panoramic view from the seventh floor terrace. And someone is either giving the graffiti finger to the New Museum, or this building got tagged with Sigur Rós lyrics.



Later, M. Panique went to work and I made my way back to Tenth Avenue, where I found the same folks who hosted the procession last month, but failed to find the vendor of my beloved chilenitos. So I ate half a tub of meringue cookies, pfaffed about for a while and went to yoga. M. Panique worked hard all day and was rewarded with leftovers and a Red Sox loss. Boo hoo.

Hide and seek

A certain bonny lass and I volunteered for New York Cares Day with the New York Texas Exes and ended up spending this morning and afternoon at a high school in the Bronx.

Outside.

In a garden.

Yep, we totally scored on the assignment, though I imagine that our backs and hamstrings will be begging to differ tomorrow. We weeded and weeded and weeded. We weeded the berry patch, which was lovely because there were a few late raspberries still to be found. We weeded a few overgrown flower boxes, which was pretty straightforward. Then we moved on to a larger area that was pretty much all weeds. We tried to clear the area around some shrubs so that the school's environmental club could mulch later if they wanted.

That's where I found the dude pictured above. Still not sure how I managed to spot him, except that he was almost as long as my hand. Usually bugs kind of creep me out, but I was sad when I went back to look for him later and he was gone.

Objet d'art, I think

It's a large flat glass "gem" and I made a bezel around it in peyote stitch with size 08 clear glass seed beads and fluorescent yellow embroidery floss. Because I have a little time on my hands. It fits well in my palm and has a nice heft. There are a number of useful tutorials out there for beaded cabochons.

Because I've started using Google Analytics, I know a few people are stumbling across this blog, though many arrive after searching for an antonym for disappointment or the world's smallest dog. Who else is reading? I think I'll give this petit trésor away: leave a comment on any post in the next week, and next Saturday I'll pick a name out of a hat. I'm not sure this objet is quite finished yet, so watch this space for photos of its progress.

I actually made something today

I've been wanting to do something with these blown glass beads since they first started showing up in the Sixth Avenue shops last year. I finally bought some earlier this week. Yesterday I found the right solid-colored beads. They're light and swingy and happy.

Best belt ever

Oh, you were expecting a photo of my midriff, perhaps?

No, I'm just going to give props where props are due: The Rainbow Connection's Suspender and Tie Workshop.

This totally retro belt does a better job than I could possibly have expected of closing that little gap in the back of my pants. It probably wouldn't keep a pair of crazily over-sized jeans from slipping down around my ankles, but with thighs like mine, that's never really been my problem. My two favorite things about this belt? First, the buckle stays absolutely flat under my untucked t-shirts. Second, it doesn't cut my stomach in half when I sit down.

Love!

Tragic kingdom

Google Reader has taken to offering me a startling number of "recommendations" that fall into the "tragic young mother" genre. That is to say, Google Reader thinks I take a morbid interest in blogs updated by the friends and family of young women who find themselves incapacitated by accident or disease. This is probably because I am already subscribed to two of these.

Two is enough. Just.

PdPd whatever the heck this is

46th Street between Eighth and Broadway.

Not the vessel I was on

No, I wasn't on this lovely ship, with Governors Island in the background, but I was on the water. I took the free water taxi to IKEA in Red Hook and it was so gorgeous I could have just ridden back and forth all day. And I managed to come back with only some marzipan and two bottles of elderflower cordial. Victory!

I got together this morning for a long chat with one of my elementary school gifted teachers. What a treat! I'm so glad she got in touch, and at 71, married for 47 years, she has a really special perspective on life's twists and turns.

Here's hoping to a few more gorgeous days like this, before fall turns decidedly chilly and the holiday crazy sets in.

A hug I didn't need

Argh.

Today was, on balance, a winner. Gorgeous weather: check. Successful, on-time mailing of carefully wrapped birthday present with handmade card: check. Mindful eating: check. OU sucks: check.

Where is the fly in the ointment, you ask? The canker in the rose of this otherwise awesome day?

My yoga teacher made us talk to a partner about our feelings, and then mine wanted to hug me.

Dammit.

Superior

Superior Sewing, 25th Street between Sixth and Broadway

A lovely day: errand-ing about town with a new haircut and slightly baggy leggings, looking for the utterly mundane craft supply I need to start a little project I have in my head. I never found it, but thanks to the interwebs, an excessive amount of large clear flat marbles are on their way to me.

Tonight I learned M. Panique doesn't know how to tie an overhand knot, or was at the very least unwilling to help me tie a random piece of string around my wrist.

Mid-rise haiku

In the gray stairwell,



a pink sploosh: someone has been



eating blackberries.

Leaving a breadcrumb trail in the urban forest

There's something chicly fairy tale about these outfits in the window of H&M. If I had the height to pull off these proportions, I would fill my closet with these pieces. Unfortunately, I look ridiculous in chunky knits and full skirts, but I'll be looking to these photos for inspiration when it comes to colors, details and whack hats.

Ghost of a gourd

Okay, not a gourd, but a gourd-like squash. It went out yesterday to someone in the viewing audience who sent me something out of the blue... er... green. That's a hint.

PdP Summer Concert Series, Pt.8*: Okkervil River

Will Sheff's rock star poses make me hot.

Okay, first I should acknowledge the openers.



Black Joe Lewis was groovy. Big Kitty, I think you would dig him and his "Honeybears." They performed a song called "Bitch, I Love You." They would be good party music, hint hint.



This is Crooked Fingers. Pro: Girls in the band! Con: Sort of bland, which is not what I was expecting from the songs M. Panique had played for me. I got the feeling Eric Bachmann's voice was a little strained; maybe he's sharing my ragweed situation.

Okay, back to the rawkin' sexiness of Okkervil River. You know what I love? When a band invites members of another band back out on stage for a few collaborative songs. Will brought out a few Honeybears.



You know what else I love? The bridge and last verse of "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe."



*Again, I know summer is long over. This was just for the sake of coherence, and we've worked our way through all our concert tickets now, anyway.

Best. haircut. ever.

Julia Stiles whacks off her hair and dyes it black after she and Matt Damon escape a would-be assassin in The Bourne Ultimatum. From front, side, or back, this style rocks.

Grrrrowl!

I was in a cab on my way to the work/study gig this morning (to convert some work into study) and passed this insanity.



I didn't get a look at the tail end, but I'm pretty much assuming trucknuts.

You should know: I'm an atheist

I am, however, praying that the American people show some sense on November 4. Things are scary, but letting The Winker anywhere near the White House would be a heckuva lot scarier.

I DID NOT BUY THIS AT STEW LEONARD'S

But that doesn't mean I didn't think about it.

A Trip to the Country

Big Kitty took me out of Manhattan in her car today. I only barely restrained myself from rolling down the window and sticking my head out like a happy puppy! We hit Target, Costco, and Fairway, but the plus awesome stop was Stew Leonard's. I think these pictures say it all, except THANK YOU BIG KITTY!