art car parade

last weekend my friend elizabeth and i went to the houston art car parade.  people can enter their "art cars" and drive along this parade route.  it was SO. FUN.  there were tons of people out watching, and the end of the parade route was near elizabeth's house, so we didn't have to fight for parking.  we spent the first 45 minutes in the sun (good for photos, but pretty hot), then moved under an overpass (bad for photos, but glorious in comparison).  some of my favorite cars:

rene magritte art car!  (there's a magritte exhibition at a museum in town, so perhaps they were going along with that theme?)

i think this was the houston opera's car!  dude in the mouth was definitely singing some legit opera music.

telephone car!

and my favorite: chicken car!  (isn't this incredible?  so beautiful.)

such a fun atmosphere, and a great thing to do on a saturday afternoon.  i'll definitely be going again next year.

april: 8 & 9

woah, very belated reading update.  in april i read:

unbroken, by laura hillenbrand (another audiobook, which i LOVED.  seriously - read this book immediately!  it's a true story - an amazing true story - made even better by how great a writer hillenbrand is.  i never read her first book, seabiscuit, because i assumed that i didn't care about a story about a horse.  but this woman could tell me a story about anything and i would love it, i'm pretty sure, so seabiscuit is next on my list.)

the orchardist, by amanda coplin (the parent of one of my students gave me a barnes and noble gift card this fall, and this is one of the books i bought.  it's fiction; the premise: two pregnant girls appear at the house of an old man who owns an orchard.  we learn more about his life story and theirs, and travel another 15 years into the future with the characters.  it's set in washington state around the year 1900, and that setting really comes alive in the book.  the pace is a little slow, but not necessarily in a bad way.  i'd definitely recommend this book!)

a Ruby a day

This girl got lots of snuggles and tons of extra treats today, because she turned 1! Happy birthday, Ruby girl! I'm sorry I didn't let you do what you really wanted, which was to chew on my hair at 2am.

super Q

my friend Q just graduated from an EdD program (a PhD in education).  it was three long years of weekend classes, presentations, and tons of papers, but he did it, and i'm so proud of him.  for his graduation present i knitted him a superhero version of himself: super Q.

introducing super Q:

i modified a pattern in one of my knitting books, and was pretty pleased with how it came out.  super Q is wearing black shorts and has a rainbow shirt and cape.  he also has a "Q" charm around his neck, which i don't think i'd put on when i took the picture above.  i tried to mimic real Q's hair, too.

ruby inspected it and found it acceptable.

when i was in charlotte, i gave super Q to real Q.  they posed for a picture together:

and Q took super Q to his graduation!  i was so honored.  apparently super Q even walked across the stage (in real Q's pocket)!

congrats, Q!  we love you and are so proud of you!

trip to charlotte

a few weekends ago i went to charlotte to spend the weekend with my atlanta friends, who are now spread all over.

on the plane i won 2048!  an auspicious sign for the weekend.

i took selfies with my two favorite 9 month olds - ryan, who cooperated nicely:

and emma, who did not (but i like her anyway):

we made a cake to celebrate Q's graduation (two layers, with chopped up reese's peanut butter eggs between the layers and making a "Q" on the top - so. good.):

mike and kelly's neighbors built a bonfire - so fun!

the group (minus anderson, who took the photo), waiting for the kentucky derby to start (note: mint juleps are gross):

this is such an important group of friends for me, and it was WONDERFUL to spend time with them!  i miss them every day!

In Houston, in May, this is what everyone calls a cold front.

And you better believe I'm excited about it! Last week it got to 90 every day and we know more of the same is right around the corner. 

comfort foods

i really enjoyed this piece by mark bittman about comfort foods, which includes this line:

"Every family, every ethnic group and every person can talk about their cravings. The comfort food of others rarely appeals to us; it’s our own that matters."

the comfort foods i grew up on?  my mama's gingerbread cookies, made-from-scratch yeast rolls, fettuccine alfredo (made with angel hair pasta, of course), and a huge block of cheddar cheese sitting on the top shelf of the fridge and carved up bit by bit.  probably nothing special to anyone else, but they scream of home to me.

belated happy mother's day to my mama!  i love you!

a Ruby a day

This is the cutest cat in the universe and no one can tell me otherwise.

a photo a day

Some exotic tropical locale? Nope - taken two blocks from my house after lunch with friends. Houston has palm trees everywhere...which I guess is what you get in a city with (fun fact!) 360 frost-free days a day.

cat lady musings

on tuesday of last week, a little grey cat came up on my porch and talked to ruby through the window.

on sunday the cat said hi to me outside my apartment door.  i reached down to pet her (him?) and felt ribs under the fur.  skinny kitty!  i put a handful of food outside, which she ate up.

yesterday, skinny kitty followed me from the parking lot up to my apartment.  actually - led the way.  she knows where i live.  another handful of food.  how could i not?

today she appeared again.  yet another handful of food.

true or false: i'm in trouble.

(does skinny kitty have a home or not?  does she have a lot of friends who are putting out handfuls of food, or am i the only one?  is this the first fatal step toward becoming skinny kitty's mama?  i certainly don't need skinny kitty, but i can't let her go hungry!)

a cat on a mission

two ruby posts in one day?  when you see this video, you'll understand why you needed another dose of ruby tonight:

a ruby a day

I haven't had a lazy Sunday at home in a while. This afternoon: knitting a new critter now, yoga later. I've missed lazy Sundays, and clearly so has Ruby. Love this girl.

breaking news alert

i love this.

i love that the winner was an american (yay america!), but i love even more that he is an immigrant.  how appropriate - to be reminded that one can be american and be an immigrant, when the accused bombers, too, were american and immigrants.

what i'm listening to right now

i bought sara bareilles' new album, and it is every bit as awesome as i'd hoped it would be.  i love this song - "chasing the sun":

10 year duke reunion!

duke was as gorgeous as ever.  we felt old, but not too old.  we laughed a LOT.  we drank an appropriate amount.  we ate burritos at 2:30am.  we got a noise complaint at the hotel.  we reminisced.  we made new memories.  i am so so lucky to have these friends, to have attended this school.

and i came home to this, which isn't half bad either.

what i'm listening to right now

where "right now" = "in an airport waiting for my flight home from duke reunion weekend and grading papers even though i really don't want to."

"sex on fire," by kings of leon:

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal.”
--Rumi (1207-1273), Persian poet

a ruby a day

ruby supervises me while i make dinner - from a location that is close enough to the action for her liking but not close enough to get yelled at.  good kitty.

a photo a day

last night i made a carrot cake for a coworker's birthday, and this is what the pan looked like after our party/staff meeting today.  no sight could make a baker happier!  it was an awesome recipe and the cake turned out really moist and the frosting the perfect amount of sweet (i used less sugar than was called for, which was a good move).  baking success!

march: 4, 5, 6, & 7

2014 started out as a slow year in books, but i picked up my pace this month!  in march i read:

me before you, by jojo moyes (thomas gave me this book for christmas, and i really liked it.  the basic premise is that a woman gets hired as the personal assistant for a young man who is a paraplegic.  it's one of those books where both of the main characters are changed by their interactions with one another, but the book is well written and not nearly as cheesy as i just made it sound.  it was a quick and interesting read and i'd recommend it!  would be perfect for spring break or a long weekend without work.)

what the dog saw, by malcolm gladwell (okay, so i listened to this audiobook in the car, but i'm counting it because this is my blog and you can't stop me.  people!  this book is awesome.  it's a bunch of essays that gladwell wrote for the new yorker over the years, so the topics are varied and all quite interesting and well-researched, as all of gladwell's stuff is.  my friend jenny LOVES audiobooks, but i haven't had great experiences with them in the past because i don't concentrate well enough on them (while driving) to follow plot lines in fiction books.  but!  turns out non-fiction is the perfect thing to listen to while driving.  i'm midway through another non-fiction audiobook, and loving it, too.  i think i have been converted.)

the maid's version, by daniel woodrell (mama bought this for me for christmas, and it was another great book this month.  the author wrote winter's bone (which became a pre-hunger games jennifer lawrence movie), and this too is a story about the ozark mountains.  his writing style is really different from most of what i read - sort of faulkner-esque, in that you don't exactly know what he's writing about for a while - but as the story came together it was fascinating.  i definitely want to re-read this book at some point, because i imagine the beginning of the story will be more meaningful now that i understand where it's going, but either way, this was a good read.)

the ocean at the end of the lane, by neil gaiman (womp womp.  it was my month to pick books for my book club - when it is "your" month, you pick 5 or so books and the rest of the members vote on which book to read, and this book won.  i had never read any neil gaiman before and, um, i didn't really like this.  i read on amazon.com that this book started out as a short story, and i think it should have stayed that way.  there some some magical realism - not my favorite - and the book just wasn't what i was expecting in general.  i read it, but i wouldn't necessary recommend this to anyone.  neil gaiman seems like a cool author if you are slightly nerdy, though, so i wanted to like this.  it just didn't happen.  sorry to let you down, book club.)

gorgeous aerial photos from around the world - such a cool new perspective!

my cable box stopped working on friday, so AT&T is shipping me a new one.  i went online to track the shipment and found this:

no amount of explaining can make this make sense, but at least the cable box is in texas (again).

a ruby a day

While trying to find a new hiding spot for treats in my small apartment, I might have gotten a little too ambitious. Never fear: nothing can stop a Ruby on a mission.

i've started to do this thing - which the vet tech recommended a long time ago, actually - which is designed to alleviate boredom for ruby and has the added bonus of entertaining me.  the game: i hide four treats around the apartment and wait for ruby to happen upon them and get excited.  or at least that's how it worked on the first day.  now ruby goes hunting for them!  there are only a handful of good hiding locations in my apartment - on the stairs up to the loft, on top of the refrigerator, on various window sills.  she just found one treat that i hid a few minutes ago and now is ON THE PROWL to all the usual hiding spots in the apartment to see if more treats are there.  it's pretty adorable.

cats: not smart enough to know you are hiding the treats, but smart enough to find them later.

insert obligatory cute ruby photo here.

("those papers you graded?  they're mine now.")

what i'm listening to right now

people, coming back from spring break hit me like a ton of bricks.  monday was a teacher workday, but anyone who works in schools knows that it was jam packed with meetings.  i had research papers to finish grading,  a week of lesson planning to finalize, some things that had to be done in preparation for AP exams (i am the AP coordinator for my school, which is a scary job because if i forget to do something and we have problems on exam day it is a VERY VERY BAD THING), and we started meeting with rising 9th grade families this week to plan their kid's schedule for next year.  eek!  on monday i was drowning, but i'm back on top (for now).  and this song is a good one for calming myself down.

"i choose you," by sara bareilles:


what a fantastic voice.  i thought i had more of her music, but i only own a couple songs.  i'm about to correct that on itunes!

more genius from jimmy fallon - this time with billy joel!

30 vegetables update

30 vegetables challenge is on a temporary hiatus while i am a little sick (i feel okay, just not great, so don't you worry too much about me).  i am eating relatively boring foods, but i did get one new veggie in:

day #16: dinner was half an amy's frozen pizza (my favorite frozen pizza brand - the crust is un-cardboard-like, which one cannot say about all frozen pizzas) with mushrooms, red peppers, and 23. artichokes on it.

also: while waiting for a doctor's appointment today, i discovered this game - 2048 - which is very fun and totally additive.  you should be playing it!  like, NOW.

a ruby a day

remember back in december when ruby learned how to open cabinet doors?  well a couple weeks ago she learned how to open the cabinet doors above the kitchen counter, too…because i was hiding her treats in there and ruby will stop at nothing to get a treat.  i was initially putting the treats on the bottom shelf, but when she learned how to open the cabinet door (and thus eat those treats), i moved them up a shelf. tonight ruby took her exploring for treats to a new level.


needless to say, the treats have been moved into the pantry, where there is a door that shuts.  if she starts to open actual doors we will be in real trouble.

(seriously folks: this video is proof that i have the cutest and smartest kitty everrrrrr.)

what i'm listening to right now

this was going to be a post where i told you that i'm listening to "let it go," by idina menzel on youtube a lot…but then it won the oscar for best song and now everybody knows how awesome it is.  and the songwriter became an EGOT winner!*  so instead, i will give you this version from the jimmy fallon show (but you should listen to the original version first if you haven't heard it yet!):




*which makes me think of tracy jordan EGOTing on 30 rock and thus makes me giggle...

buzzfeed, you are spot on (and thus hilarious): things cats do that would be creepy if you did them

a photo a day

rivalry!

my department chair's daughter goes to syracuse, and we've had an ongoing fun rivalry this year.  i teach in his classroom, so we switch places for two hours a day - he sits in my office and does work while i'm in his classroom.  on monday i had printed out the ACC tournament schedule and it was lying on my desk.  i came back after class and he had vandalized it!

except, because he is the nicest guy ever, he made a copy before he vandalized it, so i still have an unadulterated version for following the tournament.  (can i just say - leaving the syracuse bracket on my desk was awesome, and not ruining my one copy was even more awesome.)

go duke!!

30 vegetables update

day #11: i had 18. eggplant curry for dinner at an indian restaurant in austin - delicious!  it was laurie's first time eating indian food, and she loved the samosas and chicken tikka masala that she had.

day #12: lunch in the cafeteria included roasted vegetables: carrots, 19. parsnips (something i would never eat on purpose, so this was a good thing for my challenge), and 20. beets.

day #13: i made pasta with garlicky broccoli rabe for dinner, and i'd never bought 21. broccoli rabe before (it is a leafy green that is also called rapini.  do not be fooled in the grocery store when it is called rapini and you have to google whether those things are the same.).  this recipe is so good!  garlicky and a little spicy and the broccoli rabe is delish in it, though i quasi-halved the recipe and ended up with not enough broccoli rabe for the amount of pasta i made.  so, if anything, up the broccoli rabe.  this will definitely go into my recipe rotation!  love smitten kitchen recipes.

day #14: after work i had a one-woman happy hour on my patio: a beer and a little 22. seaweed salad from kroger.  ruby watched the goings-on and we both enjoyed the 70 degree weather.

it is harder and harder to eat vegetables i haven't yet had this month!  i have some brussels sprouts in my fridge…but after that, i may have to start trying a little harder to get to #30.

a photo a day

this weekend ruby had mixed feelings about her dog friend piper.  she spent portions of the weekend hiding in places where piper couldn't get her, but she could still observe the goings-on:

and portions of the weekend peacefully coexisting.  on the same couch-turned-bed!  without humans to mediate!

they really got along great!  other than the two glasses of water that ruby knocked over in the middle of the night (obviously it was too tempting not to), she was a model guest.  whew.

february: 3

i am delinquent.  the 11th day of the month and i'm just now posting my summary of the book i read in february?  bad claire.

the husband's secret, by liane moriarty (i just read one book this month, and it was for my book club.  i liked it, but wasn't running home to finish reading it.  i would call it one step up from a beach read (where a beach read goes quickly and doesn't require a huge amount of brain power), so if you're looking for a spring break book, this would be a fantastic one.  i'm realizing that this is a relatively luke warm review, and i don't mean for it to be.  i enjoyed reading this book!, but it won't be the best book i read in 2014, i'm sure of that.)

a photo a day

a photo series in which the ladies from this weekend (the dog and cat are both girls, too!) attempt to take a self-portrait that includes all five of us.

think of it as our own little photo booth.

a photo a day

a conundrum i face: when writing a letter to someone in prison, which stamp do i pick to put on the envelope?

by my logic, the only acceptable one is the "equality" one.  or am i over thinking this and no one notices stamps anyway?

i've been following this story for a couple months - SO interesting: early treatment is found to clear HIV in a 2nd baby

laurie

this weekend is the 4th annual reunion of jenny, laurie, and me.  we worked together in atlanta for a few years until jenny moved to idaho and laurie retired and moved to new hampshire.  laurie was a huge mentor to me and jenny, and for the past three years we've gotten together for a weekend (one year in idaho, twice in new hampshire, and now in texas - each with other friends tagging along, but schedules didn't work out for those friends to come this year).  though laurie is at least thirty years older than us, she is a great friend and so easy to spend time with.  she gives incredibly sage advice on our careers in education, saying often throughout our friendship: "when you run your own school…"  we love that - she believes we could run a school one day.

i'm thinking of laurie this week since i know i will see her this weekend, and i realized i've started doing something she does - something i used to consider unthinkable.  laurie said she would always drive to school in the morning in silence - no radio on - just her thoughts to get her ready for her day.  i could never do this, listening to NPR or a podcast or the bits and pieces of music through the talk radio show jabber.  but i've found myself doing it this year - turning the radio off and driving to school in silence once or twice a month, with just the white noise of the car and some time to think.  it's not as bad as i imagined.

a ruby a day

someone likes small spaces!


(don't worry: i saw this coming from a mile away, so there was no danger to miss ruby.)

30 vegetables update

day #4: dinner was vegetable red curry from my neighborhood take out thai restaurant, and included 14. cauliflower, 15. snow peas, and 16. bamboo shoots (i had to google whether that's a vegetable.  it appears to count).

day #5: i went over to a friend's house for her birthday dinner, which was potluck.  people brought such delicious food!  i brought kale salad…there were veggie samosas…two chicken dishes (of which i didn't partake)…and a chickpea and 17. sweet potato curry with naan…then chocolate cupcakes for dessert.  delish!  and great company - it was a fun group of people to spend the evening with.

what i'm listening to right now

"all of me," by john legend:


this is the first song of his in a long time that i've really liked.  gold star, john legend.

30 vegetables update

day #1: my dinner was a burrito with lots of veggies and beans and 11. corn in it.  roasted corn in a burrito is the best thing ever!

day #2: one new vegetable to add to the list - 12. peas in my mutter paneer for dinner.  i tried a new indian restaurant and found it just okay…the search continues for the perfect indian take out in my neighborhood!

day #3: dinner was pasta salad with feta cheese and veggies in it, including one of my favorites: 13. broccoli.  (i'm omitting tomatoes from this 30 vegetable challenge because maybe they're a fruit, huh?)

30 vegetables in 30 days

on the radio this morning - when NPR switches to local programming for a couple minutes an hour - there was a story about an initiative in houston that is encouraging people to try to eat 30 different kinds of vegetables in 30 days.  this sounds like my kind of challenge!  here i go.

day 1:
today for lunch i had an asian salad from whole foods that had the following in it:
1. red peppers
2. zucchini (this is clutch, because i really don't like zucchini, but it was chopped up super small in this salad and thus it was acceptable)
3. cabbage
4. onions
5. kale
and chickpeas and cilantro, but i don't think those count.  unless - cilantro?  is that a vegetable?  what's the difference between a vegetable and an herb?

also had some veggie spring rolls from whole foods with 6. lettuce & 7. carrots inside (plus tofu and noodles).

i eat a lot of vegetables, but i'm pretty sure i don't have 30 different vegetables in my repertoire.  i guess we have 29 more days to find out!

[updated: i forgot!  i had an omelet this morning with 8. asparagus and 9. spinach in it, with some 10. potatoes on the side.  i am totally counting the potatoes even though they are a pretty starchy and not-good-for-you vegetable.]

kale salad

a woman i work with passed on this kale salad recipe to me and it's so good!  i've been eating pretty badly recently (work meetings that ran from 3-8:30pm two nights in a row with dinner provided meant i had more than my fair share both evenings because i was stuck in a room and kind of bored)…so this was a welcome dinner for me tonight.  she calls this two servings but i definitely ate it all.

As a symbol of how far Ruby and I have come since we got the automatic feeder.

Pre-feeder: Ruby wakes me up at 4am every day and annoys me (by chewing on my hair - very effective!) until I either (a) lock her in the bathroom until I'm ready to get up (with her meowing sadly for a while), or (b) feed her.

This morning: Ruby woke up at 4:30, but did not bite my hair! Instead, she purred a lot and snuggled with me until 5am. The SECOND the kibbles began to fall from the automatic feeder into her bowl at 5am, she bolted from my side, using my face as a lift-off pad, and ate her breakfast. I didn't see her again until 6:30 when my alarm went off. 

The feeder is SO worth it already. And she hasn't broken into it yet. Yesssss. 

Hilariously, she doesn't yet understand that the feeder only magically gives her food once a day. I find her at other times just staring at it hopefully. Oh Ruby. Good try.

cooking fail

Recently I made saag paneer (Indian spinach curry with cheese cubes).  It was bad. I didn't even finish it all...that kind of bad. The spinach didn't get smooth enough in the food processor...and didn't have enough flavor...and the paneer was a bright spot, but overall it couldn't save the dish. Sigh. Throw that recipe away; I'll stick the Trader Joe's frozen saag paneer, which is gourmet by comparison.

The aforementioned homemade saag paneer. I know it looks fine - do not be deceived. 

because i know you're on the edge of your seat

i set up the new automatic feeder and programmed it to feed ruby at 5am.  fingers crossed that it is ruby-proof!

"what was the last lie you told?  why did you tell it?"

when i was returning the automatic feeder that ruby broke into, i might have told the check out woman, when she asked, that it hadn't been used.  but people.  the receipt clearly said that the product you returned had to be in re-sellable condition, and it was.  this is a lie that hurt no one.

am i a bad person, or is this the kind of lie everyone tells?

since i know you want an automatic feeder update, i have now purchased the $80 feeder (see, this whole transaction was really an exchange), and once i buy some D batteries (this feeder is serious business), i will report back on its break-in-ability.  stay tuned.

love,
miss claire the liar

literally one hour later.

back to the drawing board.

ruby & claire attempt to negotiate their differences in preferred wake-up time

me: sarah says i should get an automatic feeder, but i'm worried it's going to be expensive.
jenny: how much would you pay every day not to be woken up at 5am?
me: $1 a day.  no!  $5 a day!
jenny: so this feeder could cost a thousand dollars and you would still buy it.
me: excellent point.

1 day later: automatic feeder purchased.  cost?  $40 + 1 AA battery.

i guess the theory behind an automatic feeder is that your cat doesn't associate you with getting fed, so she doesn't wake you up in the mornings in order to be fed.  in my dream world, ruby annoys this automatic feeder at 5am instead of me.  my friend sarah tells me that this worked for her and her cat.  fingers crossed, people!

a photo a day

president's day morning: eating brunch and grading quizzes on the patio of a nearby restaurant.  the sun was out and it was 70 degrees.  such a fantastic way to start my day!  i also ran errands and saw monuments men with some friends (DEFINITELY worth seeing, especially if you have an interest in history).

and let us give thanks for february in texas:

a Ruby a day

The ultimate sign that my kitten is becoming a grown up cat? She naps on my lap while I knit. A couple months ago this was not possible, as she attacked the yarn, the needles, my hands...anything moving. Knitting was impossible at home. Now? Ruby thinks that a warm lap on a Saturday afternoon is more important than playing with some silly yarn.

I am quite pleased. 

new york times interactive - can you live on the minimum wage - both interesting and really powerful!

a ruby a day

what i have to entertain me while i'm cooking (aka: ruby is adorable).

roasted eggplant curry

last night i made baingan bharta, which is roasted eggplant curry, and it was AMAZING.  i order this in restaurants sometimes, and i'm telling you: what i made was restaurant-quality.  mark bittman, you did not let me down!

i've been intimidated by making indian food at home because it seems like it requires a lot of spices…but this recipe only requires turmeric (which i bought recently for a different recipe) and garam masala, which whole foods had.  and man - using all the spices makes a difference.  i sometimes just omit one if i don't want to buy it.  do not do that if you make this recipe!

i warn you that this curry never looks good (even in restaurants), because roasted eggplant is grey…but trust me: it was incredible.  add some rice and a piece of naan (thank you, trader joe's frozen foods section) and you have a perfect meal.

a photo a day

First attempt at making homemade paneer for homemade Indian food. Saag paneer and baingan bharta, here I come! (Shout out to Becky for cheese making kit!)

paul simon + sting

last night i went to see paul simon and sting in concert!

reasons this concert gets a GOLD STAR from miss claire:
1. they sold $40 tickets.  there are so many concerts where all the tickets are over $100, and this is not okay.  let the common person (read: me) in!  so this was a totally affordable concert even though it was two huge starts on stage, and i loved that.  our seats were way way far away, but that is what is a-okay with me.  my view:

2. the concert was scheduled to start at 8 and started at 8:15.  i am NOT a fan of concerts that start 45 minutes late.  it makes me think that the artists are super high maintenance, and i do not like that.  be prompt!

3. there was no opening act.  YESSSSS.  i did not go to this concert to see the opening act.  i came to see paul simon (and sting).

4. they played for almost 3 hours.  yes!  do not put on a weenie concert.  put on an awesome concert!

as much as i LOVE paul simon, you can tell his is getting older and he can't hit all the notes that he used to be able to.  sting, however, has an amazing voice.  so i give sting props for his voice and i give paul simon props for his song writing.  the concert was about 1/3 paul on his own, 1/3 sting on his own, and 1/3 them singing together.  when they sang together, most of the songs they sang were simon & garfunkel songs.

this person had much better seats than me.  and their phone didn't run out of battery power 2 minutes into the concert, unlike moi.

my favorite moment (almost got a little teary - i love this song) - an "america"-"message in a bottle" medley:


my new favorite sting song (i didn't know it beforehand) - "fragile":



this was the first city in their many-city tour together over the next months, and you could tell.  there were some kinks to work out - who would sing when, their harmonies (though some harmonies were OUT OF THIS WORLD), and the didn't have a song planned for their second encore (because, yes, there was a second encore.  but i kind of loved that they came out with a second encore and then winged it).  if you get a chance, go see them.  they put on an AWESOME show and have an incredible band.

a Ruby a day

Lying on the couch with Miss Ruby is the best way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Also, can we discuss how social Ruby is? Last night I had 7 people over to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which was really fun and my first little party at my apartment. Yay! I was worried that Ruby would be a weenie and hide under the bed the whole time, which would have been fine but boring. Instead, she wanted to say hi to everyone (especially people who are allergic to cats) and didn't get scared once and snuck bites off plates and snuggled with me a little. She was actually kind of out of control in the opposite way that I had imagined. So I put her on her leash so I could minimize the running around and allow my friends to actually watch the opening ceremonies instead of protecting their plate from Ruby. She is used to wearing the harness/leash for like 15 minutes at a time, but wore it semi-happily for more than an hour last night. She also got many compliments on how pretty she is. (I don't think it went to her head, though.)

Ruby gets a gold star for liking new people and being cute in the process. 

winter in Texas

This morning I woke up to the sound of hail on my windows. Not even enough to coat the ground when all was said and done, but it accumulated in the gutters and on my windshield. The high today was supposed to be 42, which is pretty cold for us - most days it is in the 50s and 60s, though it got to 77 two weeks ago.

So was 39 degrees at lunchtime and I walked outside to go to the cafeteria and I saw this. 

Um, yes. This is a tree that is blooming. Like it is spring. It is February 6th. 

I can officially say that I do not understand Texas winters. 

january: 1 & 2

first books of the new year!  this month i read:

fall of giants, by ken follett (i loved this book!  it's the first in a series of three books, and it chronicles the lives of five fictional people in different european countries during world war one.  it's fast paced and interesting, and much like pillars of the earth, i learned a lot of history in the process of reading the book.  it is a long one - 900 pages - but totally worth it.  i highly recommend it and can't wait to read the second in the series!  another bonus?  this was part of my purchase of history-related books this fall that my school paid for.  free book?  yessss.)

the spectacular now, by tim tharp (um, they made a movie out of this?  the book wasn't my speed.  i found the main character pathetic and his quasi-transformation not terribly interesting.  this book has such a fantastic title and was getting lots of press because of the movie…but i don't think i was its target audience.  and maybe i teach some sutter keelys, and maybe that turns me off to kids like him.  i don't know.  this one didn't do it for me.)

what i'm listening to right now

dar williams, "storm king":


she has such a beautiful voice.  hat tip to abby for posting this song on facebook and thus introducing me to it!

a ruby a day

Reason #1 why Ruby only gets let out of her carrier during rest stops.

what i'm listening to right now

kelly clarkson covers - hat tip to willis for sending me this link!  he is kelly's #1 fan and he knows i think she's pretty awesome, too.  #5 is my fav!

ice day #2

another day with no school!  it sleeted (that looks wrong - is that the correct usage?) all day and didn't get above freezing until 4pm, so it was probably a good decision for us weenie southerners.  we got the call that school was cancelled at 10:30pm last night, so i was able to turn off my alarm and sleep until 9 (minus the half-asleep stumbling to the bathroom to feed ruby at 6:30am).  yippee!  ruby and i watched tv and napped all day, and i finally ventured out at 5pm to buy more yarn for some projects i'm working on (stay tuned*) and to buy some groceries.  i'm about to kick this cold, so it was fantastic to have a day at home to focus on getting better.

*i recently bought these two books on knitting little stuffed animals, and i'm kind of obsessed with trying out some new patterns.  right now i am finishing a rainbow octopus, and then i want to try an elephant wearing a sweater.  because what self-respecting elephant goes around naked all the time?

tooth fairy hilarity.

weekend recap

i hate blogs where people just tell you what they did.  and here i am doing that.  ugh.  but here's what i've been up to!

on school on friday - ice day!  houston, as you might imagine, is not prepared for winter weather, so when there was freezing rain and 28 degree temps all night thursday night, school got cancelled for friday.  yippee!  i did a whole lot of nothing and it was fantastic.  i maintain that every year school should be cancelled for one day for a weather related reason, so i appreciate houston making that dream come true this year.  the joy of a snow day does not wear off, even when you are 31.

saturday - my sister got engaged!

i had been in on the surprise for quite a while and am so so happy for her that she's in on it now, too!

saturday i went to yoga and a coworker's party even though i felt a cold coming on, and both were fantastic.  sometimes i go to yoga and feel really strong and have excellent balance and try advanced moves.  this was one of those classes (yesssss).  (alternatively, sometimes i go to yoga and somehow can't stand on one leg even if my life depended on it and get tired really quickly and have to drag myself through the class. often their is no logical reason.)  then i went to a coworker's party that i almost didn't go to (see: cold coming on), but she texted to make sure she had enough vegetarian food for me, and then i couldn't say no.  the party was so. fun. and i ended up being one of the last people there, playing cranium and laughing a lot.  hooray for new friends!

today the cold attacked with full force, so in between trying to take breaths through my nose i watched a lot of the last season of dexter and then went to the movies to see her with elizabeth.  pretty good movie - it really made me think.  still want to see nebraska and captain phillips before the oscars in march.  i tried a new recipe and made spinach dal for dinner and it was pretty delish.

downton abbey + nyquil + 9pm bedtime + ruby had better want to snuggle = what i have planned for the rest of my weekend.  on to monday!

a ruby a day

THERE IS A BIRD OUT THERE!

a ruby a day

Can you spot the acrobat cat?

particularly beautiful photography - russian kids with their pets on their farm.

des hommes et des chatons

my new favorite blog - des hommes et des chatons - male models and kittens in the same poses.  HA.  i laugh just thinking about this blog.  totally safe for work as long as the people around you don't mind seeing half naked men AND WHY WOULD THEY.

long weekend in austin

i went to austin this weekend to visit my friend jenny and had such a great time!  we ate very good food, hung out with her friends (who i really enjoy), hiked enchanted rock, visited the cute little town of fredericksburg, watched downton abbey, and spent a lot of time watching her dog (piper) and ruby get to know each other.  (also, it was 70 degrees the whole weekend.  we kept telling each other: this is why we moved to texas!)

the first time ruby and piper met (this fall) ended with ruby trying frantically to climb a wall of my bedroom…which is to say, it didn't end well.  i figured if it was that bad this time around, ruby would spend the whole weekend in jenny's guest room, which is better than in a cage at the boarding place in houston.  the weekend started with them staring at each other from across the apartment for long periods of time (pictured above), and evolved into piper trying to play with ruby and ruby holding her ground by hissing and batting at piper…but being curious enough by sunday night to prowl around the apartment and interact with piper instead of staying under the bed (where she spent much of saturday).  it was pretty adorable. they did not end up cuddling together on the couch like i wanted, but i think they enjoyed each other.

hooray for a fun weekend with jenny!  back to work in the morning...

"the price of gold"

i was RIVETED by ESPN's "30 for 30" special on the nancy kerrigan / tonya harding scandal of 1994.    if you didn't see it on thursday night, you should absolutely watch it the next time it comes on.  i was 11  years old in 1994 and only remember a sketchy outline of what happened.  hearing more of the details - and listening to interviews with tonya harding today looking back on it - was fascinating.

today i learned that sochi is 10 hours ahead of central time.

i haven't had many people over to my apartment yet because that's a thing close friends do and i'm, you know, new to this city.  newish friends go out to restaurants and bars.  old friends sit on the couch in their pajamas and eat take out food.

but!  i love the olympics, so i am having a party to watch the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics.  i decided this at 3pm and sent out the invitation like 3 hours later.  (apparently i work quickly once i make decisions.)  hopefully some new friends will want to come over and eat and drink and relax and watch the opening ceremonies with me.  a step forward in my new home!  ruby better not hide under the bed the whole time.

cue the obsessive checking of the evite to see if people have replied.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE REPLIED YES!  wooooooo!

a ruby a day

she begrudgingly obeys, even without a treat in sight:


how smart is she?!  love this girl.

(not pictured: when she immediately jumps back up on the counter.)

there is a great moment in the movie philomena, which you should absolutely see, where philomena (played by judi dench) turns to an aging nun who has horribly wronged her and says "i forgive you."

her companion is still angry at the nun, and says to philomena, "what?  just like that?"

philomena replies, "it's not just like that.  it's hard.  it's a hard thing to do.  i don't want to hate people.  look at you.  i don't want to be like you."

--

the dixie chicks song "not ready to make nice" puts it this way - and i sing this line in my head a lot: "forgive, sounds good.  forget, i'm not sure i could."

--

i have been struggling with how to write this post for a long time - even whether i should write the post at all...whether i should share this private part of my world on a public space.  but it has been a part of my life for the past year, and at the end of the day i want to share it.

on december 5th a friend of mine entered a minimum security federal prison to begin a 5 year prison term, after 13 months of house arrest.  the crime that he pled guilty to is one that shocks and horrifies me, one that still makes my stomach hurt when i think about it too much.

i have come a long way in those 13 months.  from "he couldn't possibly have done this" to "he did this."  from "a person who does this is a horrible human being" to "good people do bad things."  from "do i call him?" to where i am today, writing letters with "federal corrections institute" in the address and coordinating an email list of people who want to send him books while he's in prison.  he deserves to be punished, but it doesn't have to be by me.

i didn't feel this way immediately, and i know we will never go back to our friendship as it existed 14 months ago.  but he is my friend.  i will never forget what he did, but i forgive him.

what i'm listening to right now

"the moorings," by andrew duhon:

only in texas

my cashier at the grocery story this afternoon asked me if i was "enjoying the cold weather."

it is currently 48 degrees outside.

discuss.