Thanks Dad!

Yeah, so since we are splitting up for Thanksgiving - Mom and Dad with Lex and Me and Ray with Sash and E (Elizabeth and Lexi's birthdays fell on Thanksgiving this year and cousins are visiting on Saturday for the big family dinner so it's okay), we invited The 'Rents over for Thanksgiving Breakfast - to be a tradition from here on in - hello. I said we'd have a light breakfast of fruit and cereal so as not to ruin the appetites needed for the later day pig-out. 

Well that idea completely fell through yesterday evening when neither Ray nor I felt like cooking dinner so we ordered Chinese. The steak was already marinating, however, so we decided since the huge meals the next day weren't happening until 3 and 4-ish that we'd go for the steak and eggs in the am.  Well, this prompted my dad to come to the realization that if we were having steak, we needed to have wine, time of day be damned.  

I Like It!

We are pleasantly buzzed (no worries, I've already fed the wee'un) and nicely full. We're doing this again next year for sure - maybe even on Easter too!

Now I just have to figure out how to make the stuffing and dessert for this afternoon without ruining it or my buzz...

It's Fresh It's So Fresh, Exciting...So Exciting And New

Inspired by something I read on Whiskeymarie's latest post about newly sharpened pencils, I'd like to list the things that I find exhilarating when they are brand new/fresh.

- blacktop tarmac
- bed sheets
- newly rolled out paint, of the wall, paper and nail variety
- T-shirts
- mascara wands
- book spines
- kitchen sponges
- vacuumed carpet
- the first squirt of toothpaste
- a box of checks
- a bar of soap
- dollar bills

Definitely not on this list?

- pointe shoes
- jeans
- gloves
- cars (I abhor new car smell - makes me vomity)
- shower liners (again, the plastic-y smell)
- thongs (both foot and booty)

It Was Good...But Maybe Not Worth Missing You All

Top Chef catch up was decent. I think we have a good cast this season - some really talented chefs. Happy to have my Wednesday night show back. Not that I can actually watch it on Wednesday nights...I'm usually unconscious by 8:00 pm.

Little man is all consuming - no new news there. He is stinkin' cute though, I have to give him that. Fat as ever, he is flirting with the idea of turning over from his back to his front (he can already turn from front to back), I mean, he is basically a round ball. The thighs on this child are epic. I guess this will mean more vigilant watching on the change table, etc.

Sash and E are in Costa Rica learning to surf for E's 40th birthday. I am super jealous. Apparently, they are woken every morning by Howler Monkeys charging across the roof of their walless house. Surfing ensues at 7:00 am followed by fishing excursions and perusing the green market in the afternoon. I think they are exploring a waterfall tomorrow. But hey - how can I be jealous? They are considering this their Honeymoon. I mean, c'mon, they've only been married for almost ten years...it's about time for one of those, no?

Mom and Dad are looking after their two sons while they are away for the week. They (the 'Rents) are looking a little bit ragged. We met the four of them for chocolate chip pancakes at Ellie's 50s Diner this morning and Mom turned to me today with a look that said, "We're not as young as we used to be..."

I hear you.

I'm not as young as I used to be either. Or as well rested. Or as groomed (I can't remember the last time I shaved my legs).

Or as stylish. I was watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style today and it made me feel frumpy, worn and out of date. I changed my outfit three times before I left the house. Maybe I should send in an application. Maybe I will cut my hair and go o n a shopping spree once I have dropped these last ten pounds of baby weight. Or will I be waiting forever for that to happen? I finally got back into the 120s three days ago. My jeans fit (but can not be closed yet...I am using a hair elastic to hold the top button together). Jeans and maternity T-shirts. that's pretty much my uniform right now.

An Aside: Don't go into Target on Sunday afternoon at 3-ish. It's mayhem.
*sigh*
'Tis the season.

Did I mention the Coldplay concert? It was crazy good. My calves were wrecked for two days afterwards from standing, dancing, swaying and jumping up and down (oh, and the step class I took that morning didn't help matters much). So versatile, so talented are those four men. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now, if I can catch Peter Gabriel in concert I can die happy.

Sweet heaven! I'm eating a piece of cherry pie. I thought I didn't like pie all that much. I guess I was fooling myself, because this stuff is like crack under a crust! Yum.

Anyone out there watching True Blood? I am both intrigued and annoyed by it. It's kind of like Lost to me. Enough with the questions already, I want some answers.

I'm going to go back to my pie now. I need to look for a spoon so I can cook some up and shoot it into my veins. I wonder what a cherry high is like...?

Decisions, Decisions...

Hmmm, write a quick catch up post or catch up on Top Chef...

Sorry!

Baracktimus Prime

Never have I been so happy to have our baby wake us up in the night. The timing was perfect: he started stirring at a quarter to eleven, just in time for us to turn on the TV and see the most amazing news.

Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States of America.

I am floored, relieved, amazed, privileged, awed, excited, and thrilled to be able to see this day. I feel like a collective weight has been lifted from this country's shoulders. This is the first day. We are going to get the respect back from the rest of the world that has been whittled away these past eight years. And Barack is going to get it for us.

I am so pleased to be in NY during this election day. This borough is going absolutely ape-shit. Our apartment building was screaming and howling in delight, then it spilled out into the street, grew onto the block and I can still hear the celebration on what I am assuming is a very full Fulton Street and Flatbush Ave. If I didn't have a sleeping baby in the other room I'd be out there with them.

What a time. What a time. A gay wedding on Friday and an African-American in the White House on Tuesday. We are back on track America. I am pleased to be living in the country again. Thank you for having me.

Mario and Daniel's Big Day

The wedding was a big hit - they were married in the city hall in Oakland and had the reception in their home the next day. It rained hard the entire time but we were not bothered. The cake was lovely and the grooms were in high form hilarity.

A visual for you: I needed to nurse and their joint is tres small. I chose to use their bedroom which was doubling as the coat rack room, and tripling as the pass through to the bathroom (where, if you were a woman, you have to nestle your knees under the bathroom sink - seriously cramped space) (in fact I am now remembering a large woman who joked about resting her large breasts on top of the sink to make herself fit...). Their bed is a la the princess and the pea - super high and pillowy - and is adorned with a crushed green velvet and red raw silk striped duvet cover. I was ensconced in this bed surrounded by matching pillows and pictures of the happy pair in varying states of age, including an Andy Warhol like print of the two of them in black and white. I'm telling you there's nothing like a gay couple's bedroom decor. Anyway, anyone who was in the kitchen (I had a surveying view through the doorway from my perch) or coming into the bedroom for either a coat drop off or a bathroom "drop off" saw me up high looking like the Queen of Sheba, nursing her princely King-to-be. It was a terrific way to say hi to everyone at the party - kind of like a weird receiving line!

Mario and Daniel's Big Day

The wedding was a big hit - they were married in the city hall in Oakland and had the reception in their home the next day. It rained hard the entire time but we were not bothered. The cake was lovely and the grooms were in high form hilarity.

A visual for you: I needed to nurse and their joint is tres small. I chose to use their bedroom which was doubling as the coat rack room, and tripling as the pass through to the bathroom (where, if you were a woman, you have to nestle your knees under the bathroom sink - seriously cramped space) (in fact I am now remembering a large woman who joked about resting her large breasts on top of the sink to make herself fit...). Their bed is a la the princess and the pea - super high and pillowy - and is adorned with a crushed green velvet and red raw silk striped duvet cover. I was ensconced in this bed surrounded by matching pillows and pictures of the happy pair in varying states of age, including an Andy Warhol like print of the two of them in black and white. I'm telling you there's nothing like a gay couple's bedroom decor. Anyway, anyone who was in the kitchen (I had a surveying view through the doorway from my perch) or coming into the bedroom for either a coat drop off or a bathroom "drop off" saw me up high looking like the Queen of Sheba, nursing her princely King-to-be. It was a terrific way to say hi to everyone at the party - kind of like a weird receiving line!

Happy Happy Gay Gay

So we are a part of history and I have in on film.

We flew to San Francisco two days ago to attend the nuptials of my two very best gay friends in the the whole wide. Mario (my old dance partner at OBC) and his life partner Daniel (aka Diva Dan, drag queen extraordinaire) got hitched at the court house in Oakland yesterday, just four days before a decision is to be rendered in California regarding gay marriage. Tied the knot just under the wire! Take that you conservative A-holes. The fact that there can even be a decision pending on whether or not the great state of Cali re-creates two classes systems, the have and have-nots of marriage, is beyond me. I'm hoping that when our son is ten, twenty, or even fifty years old, he can look back at his time here and say, "Yeah, I went to one of the first gay weddings, I was there back when two men or women getting married was controversial. Weird right? I know...it was like slavery or the civil rights movement."

No on Prop 8!!!

So we're off to their reception today. Should be a hoot. These two know how to do it right...their previous house parties have been beyond fabulous so I can't wait to see what they've done with this bash-to-be.

Did I mention that the cutest most coordinated baby of all time rolled over last Tuesday? Well he did and I also have that on film. Did I mention that he is also the fattest baby of all time? Come to think of it, maybe that's why he rolled over...

Grand plans yesterday post wedding included driving to Napa Valley, checking into The Harvest Inn (where we Honeymooned), visiting a few wineries, going to lunch at Auberge du Soliel, having dinner at Mustard's and returning the next morning.

Not so much.

We did in fact make a reservation at Mustard's and we did in fact drive to the valley and we did in fact visit Silver Oak's new facility and Plumpjack's tasting room. However, we did not: eat anywhere, reserve a room at the Inn, or stay any longer than two hours.

We were so beat that there was a collective sigh when we decided to head home and crash at the hotel after eating a fast dinner down in the hotel restaurant. Best decision ever. We were in bed by 8 and up at 11 tending to the Greedy Eater.

Having an easy day today. Need to go on the search for a gay wedding card, you know, "To the happy Groom and Groom." Then we'll eat some lunch and get ready for the par-tay. Packing has to be crushed in there somewhere as we are out of here at 4 am and on a plane to Brooklyn.

More later, with pics if I can get it in a pile!