It's getting all political up in here...

OK...not too political. Here's an interesting op-ed piece on the bail out//investment plan and how it could be used to build up green infrastructure in the US and help make us a "producing" nation again:
Green the Bailout--NY Times Op-Ed


Also, did anyone see Suze Orman yell at Wolf yesterday on CNN? She pretty much accused the media of making people freak out about the bail-out.

Freebies

This weekend was all about the free stuff. Saturday we went to the Museum of Fine Arts (for free!) and saw the coolest exhibit about Assyria. Sunday we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History (for free!) with Nathan's aunt and uncle. AND...we got their tickets from when they went to the MFA so that we can go back next Saturday to see some more exhibits for FREE! Your ticket is valid for 2 days within a 10-day period. Also, the museum is free on Wednesday nights, so we might have to skip club night some Wednesday and go back again.

Other than those fun free events (oh yeah, and we missed FREE Red Sox/Yankees tickets Friday night because we didn't hear our phones), we had a very low-key, rainy weekend.

Blah, blah, blah...

It's raining cats and dogs here in Boston. It's sort of gloomy out. I'm counting down the minutes until I can go home and make a grocery list.

We have no food. No.Food. Wait--I take that back. We have some cheese and leftover pumpkin pie dip. Um...way to go us.

Anyway...we have big plans for the weekend, but I'm not feeling overly excited right now. Right now I just want to go home and sit down on the T and not battle a hundred million Red Sox fans for space to breathe.

I mean, I hope the game isn't rained out. (Who am I kidding? I'm so ready for the season to be over!)

Fall has gone to my head

I have lost my fall-loving mind. Yesterday I cleaned the apartment just so I could make it smell like pumpkin spice. Oh, and Mrs. Guru, the products work great!

I lit pumpkin candles next to vanilla poundcake candles and honest to goodness swirled my hands around to get the smells to mix. When Nathan came home he said it smelled like an explosion.

I set out the cutest fall soap which I think smells fantastic. It smells like wet woods in the fall. Nathan and Miss Marple both think the smell is not so hot. They both did the same shrink back when I made them smell it.

I hung up a Halloween decoration because we're in the home stretch of September.

I had a conversation with Nathan last night about how happy I was that Miss Marple is sort of a fall decoration unto herself. She's such a nice mix of orange, brown and cream.

This morning when the T never showed up (and I had been waiting outside for 30 minutes), I walked over to Coolidge Corner and got a bagel with pumpkin cream cheese before getting on the T there.

I'm offering pumpkin pie dip with fresh cut apples to anyone who lets us come over to watch The Office tomorrow.

Fall has definitely gone to my head.

Bostontacious Weekend

Whoa--I am exhausted from this weekend. Yankee BFF kicked off "House Guest Season 2K8" by coming over this weekend. Speaking of House Guest Season 2K8 (HGS2K8), we have A LOT of people coming to see us in the coming weeks. We've got Nathan's aunt and uncle this weekend, AA and C in a few weeks, Nathan's parents and Grandmother the SAME WEEKEND as AA and C, the Absolute BFFs at the end of October/beginning of November (hopefully!) and then my parents for Thanksgiving and Matt at the beginning of December (hopefully!). Whew--do you feel tired? I feel tired just thinking about HGS2K8. Apparently though this is the only one we get. We've been warned that people come to visit the first year, but sharply decline the second year. Apparently that means there will be no HGS2K9.

Anyway, if it's in Boston, we hit it this weekend. Seriously--Davis, Harvard, all of Newbury Street and the downtown sites all in one day followed by Government Center, Boston Harbor and the North End the next. Suffice to say, my feet are tired!

Here are the fun things I picked up whilst shopping this weekend:
Oh yes, I bought Pumpkin Spice scented cleaning products. They smell divine. Don't you think HGS2K8 justifies such a purchase? I mean, did you hear how many people are coming to visit? Ladies, they also have cleaning products in a fun Christmas-y scent. I'm pumped and ready to pick those up around Thanksgiving.

As a side note, I tried to buy some pumpkin scented hand sanitizer (seriously--ride the T everywhere and you too will sanitize compulsively) but Bath and Body Works didn't have any. What's up with that?


I bought a cup of this pumpkin spice chai in TeaLuxe. Oh yes, it's like a dream come true in a mug.

This button for my knitting bag which is super cute, no?

I also bought a new pashmina-esque wrap from H&M (thanks for the gift card, Sis-in-law!) and the cutest pint glasses you ever did see at Urban Outfitters. We use pint glasses for everything and collect them. We had yet to get Boston glasses, but I changed all that on Saturday. They say I <3 Boston except instead of a heart there is a picture of a bean. Adorable, I tell you. Want to see? Add yourself to the roster for HGS2K8 and come on over!

A few things I'm loving...

1. Chilly mornings (seriously--I should have at least worn a jacket) with extra hot chai.

2. Bicycle cops giving tickets to bicyclists outside our office for biking through red lights. Bikes abound in Cambridge. While that's awesome, it is not awesome to almost be hit by bikes ALL THE TIME when you are walking anywhere. I'm glad they're being ticketed.

3. One of the partners just realized he and I are the only ones here in the office. We're wondering if we're the only ones that didn't get the memo about the secret day off. By the way, I've been all alone here for an hour--he just showed up!

4. This quote:

“It was one of those perfect English autumnal days
which occur more frequently in memory than in life…”

Author P.D. James

Yeah...I think that sums up today...um...except we're in New England, not England proper.

5. The musician in Park Street Station was playing How Great Thou Art on the guitar this morning and it made me think of my Daddy.

6. My breakfast of choice this week: cinnamon raisin mini-bagel with EggBeaters (love them!), low-fat cheese and veggie bacon. So.Unbelievably.Delicious.

7. Working out. Sing it now: Reunited and it feel so good!

8. These cleaning products from Williams Sonoma. Have I lost my mind if I put cleaning products on my birthday list?

9. Going to a yarn store this weekend!

10. The anticipation of eating at UBurger tonight with Yankee BFF!

Museum Day

Check this out! If you visit this site, you receive two free admissions to a participating museum next Saturday, September 27th! I printed out the voucher for Nathan and I, but we don't yet know what museum to visit. There are so many great choices!

Achy breaky

No...not my heart. It's my thighs, y'all! They feel quite achy breaky. I worked out with a personal trainer on Tuesday and I'm still sore. Most of me is that "oh yeah you worked out don't you love this empowering ever-present reminder of the experience" sore. My thighs however are "oh man you look stupid when you try to walk down stairs because your legs don't bend correctly" sore. Oh well. Here's hoping that it'll pass soon.

The upsides of my personal trainer workout is that now I know for a fact that while my arms are somewhat strong from carrying dishes from the kitchen to the conference rooms, my legs are lacking and need to worked on/out. Also, all of the exercises I did with her were really simple and definitely replicable? Repeatable? Doable? I don't know what word to use. The point is that I can do them again on my own.

So, yeah, I'm loving having a gym membership. Good gracious--when did I become such a grown-up? I have a gym membership, a 401K, a financial adviser and a budget! Truly, this is awesome. Seriously--don't all of those things seem like stuff you only heard grown-ups talk about? A retirement fund! Are you kidding me? I love it!

In not so grown-up news, I also now own black patent leather shoes. Oh yes--like a six year old! Mine are Danskos and are seriously oh-so-cute. Urban life is killing my feet quickly and painfully so I've resorted to wearing Danskos all the time. Seriously--do y'all know any good looking dress shoes that won't make me cry by the end of the day or make my toes go numb? Let me know.

The One Hundredth

Sorry it has taken me so long to get around to drawing a name. Things have been busy around work and home, so here we go. Better late than never, right?

I used a random number generator to pick a comment and it picked....

...drumroll...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

13

Number 13 is Amanda Dee! Email me at
nathanandrachelannATgmailDOTcom
with your address so I can send out your package!

Also, if any of you would like to try out Netflix (something that Nathan and I love--and so much cheaper than cable!) shoot me an email and I can give you a one month free trial!

99

Here we go--my 99th post. Don't forget to stop by the one before this and leave a comment for my fun giveaway! I started putting together a few things for the package this weekend--I'm so excited!

Here's how my weekend shaped up:

Friday was so low-key that it wasn't even funny. Nathan and I finally finished watching The OC and I'm glad we did. I <3 stupid television and this is why we don't have a tv. Seriously. I'm smart enough to watch The OC and The Hills, but I'm not smart enough to withstand having a tv around to indulge in Bravo whenever I choose.

Saturday involved lots of cleaning and reading In Style from my fabulous swap partner, EB. You can read her post about what I sent her AND what she sent me. She doesn't mention that she also sent me a pumpkin-shaped cookie, a candy-corn shaped lollipop, some pumpkin-shaped Peeps, a Jodi Piccoult book AND, most exciting, our first fall decoration! It's a cute little glittery ghost that says Eeek! I can't wait to hang him up.

Now, back to Saturday's cleaning. I did something that some of y'all may flip out about, but on Saturday I begged Nathan to stop helping me clean. See, he's great and helpful and all, but I'm sort of crazy and, um, particular. He made me so anxious cleaning things "wrong" that I just couldn't stand it. You know how hard it is to tell someone you appreciate them helping, but would really prefer that they stop helping? Anyway, we struck a deal: he can sweep, wash dishes and make less messes and I'll handle everything else.

Yesterday was rainy and sleepy. I'm reading Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston right now and it's fabulous. She is hands-down one of my favorite authors and I've loved this story so far. She takes the Biblical story of Moses as a jumping-off point, but weaves in Moses folk lore from different cultures, including the slave culture of 19th century America. Mmm..so good!

I'm sorry that I forgot to take pictures of Nathan in the sweater this weekend, but I promise that they are coming! He wore it Saturday night baby-sitting and Sunday night double-dating. Highlights of these two experiences?
Saturday: We put the Baby Girls down for bed and Baby Girl #2 starts calling for Nathan. He was in the kitchen so I go to her room and ask her what's up. She says she needs to go pee-pee. I, of course, say "Well, let's go." Her reply? "I want Nathan to go with me." I told her Nathan was in the kitchen, but no one but Nathan would do. He had to take her. Also, she weaseled him into laying in bed and reading with her too. So cute!
Sunday: After used book and movie browsing for forevah, I bought a new planner and I love it. It is a perfect layout, a nice size AND it is Bostontacious. It has maps of Boston in the back and a review of a different T-accessible local joint every week. I'm super jazzed about it and I was really geeky and transferred everything over to it last night while watching a Woody Allen movie with Nathan.

Also in the bookstore last night, I perused a number of self-help books. What's the matter? I really need to figure out what to do with my life. While I was still in college I visited the career center and took literally hours worth of tests. What did I find out? The following:
a. I'd be happy doing any number of things.
b. I have trouble narrowing my focus to one interest.
c. I feel stressed and anxious when I don't have a definite life plan and narrowed career focus.
d. My entrepreneurial levels were off the charts. Literally.
e. I don't like to take a lot of risks.

So how is this shaping up in my real life?
I would love to own a business, but I'm having the time of my life narrowing my focus. Also, I'm not really comfortable putting our finances in jeapordy. I'm not exactly unhappy at my job, but I'm certainly not as happy as I could be. Advice?

So that's that. Comment on the post beneath this for a chance to win an exciting package and I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Let's level

1. I finished the sweater. It was big and floppy (even though I knit according to my gauge with smaller needles AND shortened the sleeves and torso), but soft and warm and finished so I decided to roll with it. Nathan thought it looked so soft that he asked to try it on. It fits him perfectly and now he has a new sweater. Darn it all! Now I need to make myself a sweater. He thinks we should have matching ones.

2. It was downright chilly walking to work this morning. I'm not gonna lie, I purchased a small non-fat extra-hot chai on my way in. Cash is unexpected in our lives and so when we have it then it doesn't really come out of the budget. Did that make sense? Probably not. The point is that I did not feel bad at all about picking one up.

3. One of my swap partners got her package yesterday and sent me the sweetest email. Don't you love knowing that you get people good gifts? Also, I knit her a scarf and made her cookies and both were appreciated which is always nice because handmade is not some people's cup of tea. Anyway, I'm so glad I got to "meet" her through this swap. She lives in NC (very close to where I grew up) and she's getting married next weekend!

4. We are going to be a little busy this weekend and I'm so excited! Baby-sitting, yoga classes, cleaning for Yankee BFF, double dates...hoorah!

5. This is my 98th post and I want to do a fun giveaway to celebrate my 100th post. Also, I want y'all to de-lurk. So...leave a comment on this post and I'll do a drawing, announce it in my 100th post and send you a package! If you don't have a blogger ID, you can email me at nathanandrachelannATgmailDOTcom and I'll enter you as well!

Bostontacious

There are some things that I write about only for myself. September 11th is one of them, so please excuse the fact that I'm not putting anything up here. Grief is personal and this event is no exception.

So, in unrelated to that news, I thought I had coined a new fun word--Bostontacious. You know, over the top Bostonian. I googled it this morning and my only result was this blog. (PS--Bev, I think you'd really like that blog). Anyway, apparently I'm the second person to use the word. That's alright by me--silver better than nothing, right?

Anyway...Bostontacious. For instance, drinking a Dunkin iced coffee and riding the T to a Sox game is Bostontacious.

Learn it. Love it. Use it.

Everything Y'all Ever Wanted to Know about Nathan

According to Rachel Ann

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Pretty much any Discovery Channel show about stuff's inner workings or blowing things up or crazy animals. In Bulgaria, he watched an obscene amount of British Animal Planet. Truly obscene.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Caesar salad--the only salad that matters in his book.

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
He isn't a fan of whole wheat. He'll eat whole wheat things, but likes to try and sneak white bread into our cart at the store. In his words, "Rachel Ann, not everything has to be whole wheat."

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?
Coke. Just Coke.

5. Where did he go to high school?
Raleigh Charter!

6. What size shoe does he wear?
13/ginormous

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Rubik's cubes. Books about Rubik's cubes. Dune audio books.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?

Ham--gross! Usually he settles for turkey because I don't freak out as much. I also buy the hormone-free turkey which usually gets the same response as whole wheat (ie--why does this matter so much to you). Last week in Trader Joe's he asked me this question and I'm not ashamed that I discussed rather loudly in the middle of the meat department why I thought it was important that the turkey could walk prior to its slaughter. Sue me. I'm not anti-meat, but I am anti-stupid unhealthy meats.

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Chips and really hot salsa. Coke. Jalapeno pizza.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Whatever is on sale. He's a big cereal bargain shopper and so usually buys cereal at CVS. This week he's been eating Smacks.

11. What would he never wear?
Lilly pants.

12. What is his favorite sports team?
No favorite sports team. Really doesn't care about sports at all.

13. Who will he vote for?
At this point, who knows. No, really. I'm not just trying to avoid controversy on the blog. I don't think he knows yet.

14. Who is his best friend?
Matt and Nick. Matt, if you're reading this, Nathan misses you. Oh, and Matt, stop calling our house at 3 in the morning!

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
Always buy whole wheat. :-) Um, and freak out?

16. How many states has he lived in?
Alabama, North Carolina and now Massachusetts. Three.

17. What is his heritage?
I want to say one of his distant relatives was a Scandinavian giant. I know some of his relatives are very much like the people discussed on a Prarie Home Companion. Norwegian, perhaps?

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
Chocolate with chocolate frosting decorated with some sort of chocolate.

19. Did he play sports in high school?
Oh yes--crew team!

20. What could he spend hours doing?
Playing computer games, listening to Audio books, watching British Animal Planet.

Either way

I don't care if you're looking for an Obama-rama or are planning on Raising McCain in November, these buttons are hilarious. Go there and look at them.

I'm so sleepy...

Which is ridiculous considering all we did this weekend was sleep. Seriously. I got next to nothing done.

We went to sleep at a fairly normal hour on Friday night and woke up at 7 am Saturday morning. Since "the hurricane" hadn't hit yet, we decided to get our groceries bright and early. I do love an empty Trader Joe's. Usually that place is a nightmare, but they sell really cheap and local produce and so it's all worth it. Anyway, on the way home our grocery cart broke. Thankfully, we were by a local homegoods store and we picked up a really fancy all-metal pushcart. It was quite the upgrade.

Later that day I made some yummy Crockpot lasagna and we waited for "the hurricane" to come our way, but nothing really happened. Sure, it rained some, but it definitely wasn't "hurricane" material or even leftover "hurricane" material--it felt like regular rain.

Sunday morning we woke up incredibly early too and after going to early service, meeting our neighbors at a post-service breakfast and picking up bagels from our favorite Jewish bakery, we headed home and fell asleep for five more hours. By the time we woke up we just felt sluggish and unmotivated so I worked on seaming up my sweater until Miss Marple decided she wanted to sleep on it. She wouldn't budge, so I just gave up and decided I would finish it today.

Hopefully tonight I will have all kinds of motivation. We're going to join a gym and then I need to do all the cleaning I didn't do this weekend. I'm also hoping to stew some apples in the Crockpot and box up my swap partners' gifts.

And here's a totally random side note, but do y'all run purchases by your friends when you know it is something they already own? I'm looking to buy a new pair of Danskos and I emailed Yankee BFF this morning to see if she would care if I bought them (because she had to special order hers and they are kind of her signature thing). Is this bizarre? I mean, we don't even live in the same state!

Way too early...

That's right--we're up at 6 am on a Sunday for no apparent reason. Apparently we took it a little too easy yesterday and finally caught up on sleep?

Oh well. Anyway, while checking out our church's website to figure out when exactly the earlier service was (I mean, we're awake anyway) we stumbled across this cool organization that our church supports: A Rocha. As many of you know, Nathan and I are really interested in environmental concerns and it always does my heart good to see Christians involved in a taking care of the planet entrusted to us. Even cooler is that they have an outpost in Bulgaria where they protect endangered populations of a peony that grows in the mountains outside Sofia! How cool is that!

I'm just saying...

If I could plan my last meal, it would definitely involve goat cheese.

If I could be surrounded by two smells for the rest of my life, they would be:
a) homemade chai spice--cardomom, ginger, black pepper, and
b) Revolution's Earl Grey Lavender tea.

I'm not sure I can move in a year. Sure, we'd be closer to work, but I really like Brookline better than Cambridge.

I look super cute today and am quite matchy-matchy.

I miss Swoozie's. Know of any similar stores in Boston?

Thursday morning update

1. Nathan is no longer sick...but...I'm sick now. Ugh. Thankfully, as is my way, I'm not as sick as him. Does anyone else have an immune system like mine? Nathan always gets sick (at least once a year) and I always catch it in its diminutive form. Odd?

2. My sweater is one sleeve away from being seamed up. I have been a crazy knitting machine lately. I just can't stop. I want this sweater to be done so bad that I can taste it. Every free minute I have I am knitting. Next project: mittens!

3. I finally figured out how to ride the T and knit at the same time. The trick is to walk two blocks further and hop on the T at the stop before my stop. There I can always get a seat and then I can knit, knit, knit away for at least 30 minutes. The afternoons are a bit trickier, but if I throw some 'bows I can normally weasel into a seat. Of course, no amount of 'bows can be thrown to get a seat when the Sox are at home. Oh well.

4. Last night Nathan and I went out to eat with one of his co-workers and I had what I can honestly say was one of the best quesadillas of my life. The spinach and mushrooms were fresh, not oily and heavy, and there was just enough cheese to hold everything together instead of the goopy cheese that fills most quesadillas. Also, they served black beans on the side instead of refried. Loved it.

5. After dinner, Nathan's co-worker and I tried a new knitting group in Coolidge Corner. Awesome. I loved it. They are knitters like I am a knitter. Or rather, after I finish this sweater, I aspire to knit like they knit. They were talented, but not pretentious. They introduced themselves and are my friends on Ravelry now and that makes me smile.

6. Before knitting group, I finally got my long-awaited Pumpkin Spice latte. Well, it was definitely disappointing. Nothing at Starbucks is ever hot enough for me and it was just eh. Oh well. That saves about 500 million calories this fall.

7. And in really big news, our free wireless internet is back at home, so hopefully I can start posting pictures again. Also, we've joined Flickr, so if you want to be Flickr friends then let me know.

8. Hope you all have a fabulous Thursday! Our office is super busy today with Board of Director meetings!

Pumpkin Spice Tea

Here's the tea I talked about below. It is oh-so-yummy hot or iced. I think I bought it at Ingles last year. (For all of you not from the mountains of NC and surrounding areas: Ingles is not fancy. It's a step up from Food Lion and a step down from Kroger. Find your corresponding grocery store and look for it there).

Also, it's on the Bigelow website: Pumpkin Spice Autumn Spice Tea.

Things that make me ridiculously happy...

1. Eating cold Chinese food for lunch. Gross? Yes. Delicious? You betcha.

2. Nathan and I's "sick" sweatshirt. I bought it my freshmen year at the big post-Christmas bookstore sale at UNC Asheville for less than $10. It's super plain and is oh-so-comfy. Somehow it became our go-to garment for getting sick. We know the other person is truly sick when they ask for the sweatshirt. Well, Nathan asked for the sweatshirt yesterday and thankfully I remembered where I had unpacked it. He stayed in bed with the sweatshirt all day yesterday. It doesn't make me happy he's sick, but he is pretty cute when he doesn't feel good.

3. Making biscuits yesterday in memory of my grandmother who passed away one year ago today. They turned out to be drop biscuits instead of rolled out, but I think she would have been proud.

4. Knitting all weekend long.

5. Not having any internet for days and being totally un-connected from the outside world.

6. Nathan hanging up shelves for me while wearing the sick sweatshirt. Such a trooper.

7. Smoked salmon on bagels. Thank you, delicious Jewish bakery a few blocks from the apartment.

8. Pumpkin spice tea.

9. Cleaning, nay, scrubbing, our entire apartment from top to bottom.

10. Chocolate chip cookies made with French chocolate with little bits of dried orange rind.