Heat = melted brain July 21, 2008 ~ 11:02 am
Posted by Julie in : Rants, Urban Family, photo safari , 8commentsWith the summer’s second official heat wave, we have reached the point where it’s too hot for Julie to want to do much of anything. I spent Saturday and Sunday entombed in my house, where the a/c was on energy saver at 82*. It was that high (1) because Con Ed owns my soul and (2) because there were power outages in every neighborhood around mine, and I wasn’t sure that mine was going to be the exception forever. I resent Con Ed very much these days. I have a geriatric kitteh, Con Ed, so the a/c stays on. And you bill me more every month for unreliable service. NOT COOL.
I promised you a post about Boston, but I can’t keep my mind on any one thing long enough to write coherently about it. So you will get snippets of Boston. I like it very much - I could totally picture myself living there. And the fact that I got to hang out with Aimee and Sloth all the time while I was there? Made it even better. We packed a fair amount of stuff into the five days that I was there, and there was so much more that we didn’t get a chance to do. I’ll definitely be going back. I do have some great memories of the trip, though: eating chowder with Aimee at Quincy Market, the Benjamin Franklin walking tour I took, walking past the Green Dragon Tavern (where the Sons of Liberty met and planned revolution), seeing Craig Ferguson recite the Pledge of Allegiance on the 4th of July, the party in Dorchester where I discovered that champagne goes with everything, dinner at Sloth’s house…the list goes on and on. I was going to put pictures into the post, but apparently my happy Flickr plugin isn’t playing nicely with the blog today. So instead, I will give you the entire Boston Photoset. Have fun.
Coming soon, fiber progress. Because there has been a fair amount of it despite the heat. You all can thank Plurk for that - since I hang out (virtually) with knitters all day, I knit and spin and stuff now. 
Just lucky, I guess November 27, 2007 ~ 3:31 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Rants, photo safari , comments closedThird time’s a charm, right? And bad things happen in threes? That should mean that after today, my debit card number is off the plate. Today, my debit card number got stolen for the third time. I’m starting to wonder if some brainiac out there sits around coming up with random combinations of numbers, slaps them on cards, and sees if they’ll work to pay for stuff. Because I can’t think of another reason why my card number would be stolen. I only buy online from secure sites. I always make sure that my transaction is over when I leave an ATM, and I make sure to take my receipt with me. I do not get cash from shady ATMs, only my bank and the ATM that’s in the same building as my office, which is surrounded by offices and has security cameras on it. And each of the three times the damn number has been stolen (three different numbers, mind you, twice with HSBC, once with WaMu), the friggin’ card itself has been sitting in my wallet. I just do not get it. Good thing I took money out of the ATM last night. Also a good thing that I bought some wine with it. I need a drink.
I decorated the small tree that I have left over from my college days last night, and while I was hanging decorations, I could see the wheels turning in Freddie’s head. “Oooh! Toys! Toys to swat at!” And every time I would tell him “No, this is not to play with,” he would give me a very confused look. When I thought about it from his point of view, I can’t blame him. He’s a little street cat who has never had an indoor Christmas, and I have spent the past 6 months encouraging him to swat at toys. He doesn’t understand that the Christmas tree is not a toy, only that it’s shiny and dangly. Poor little street cat. At least that’s what I thought until he took a swat at my icicle lights and knocked out the middle of the strand. Then I thought “stupid fucking cat.”
Pictures, as promised:
The most hideous ornament ever. Yes, that’s a crab painted on it. Don’t ask. I love it for its kitsch value.
LED lights are bright.
For example, that green light throws this blinding beam of light two feet away to this curtain.
Do not fuck with the Frosty Friends or they will have you jumping through hoops, too.
Just for Rick, an shot looking up from under the tree. We like to look at the tree this way.
Twice October 29, 2007 ~ 9:19 am
Posted by Julie in : About a Julz, Urban Family, photo safari , comments closed
It is a good day to be a member of the Red Sox nation, especially in New York City, surrounded by disgruntled Yankees fans. I’m celebrating by wearing my beat-up Sox cap, bought right after they won the 2004 World Series (do not slight me as a bandwagon fan, if you live in NYC you know that they were impossible to find here before then). I think it may be time to buy another one in celebration.
Also, my man Terry Francona? Vindicated. And yes, he is my man. We grew up in the same hometown and I went to school with his nephew.
And just when you think the day can’t get any better? Cute baby pictures! We took Samang on her first carousel ride this weekend at Prospect Park’s Halloween celebration (thus the costume).
If the child had only been looking at the camera, this would have been a Christmas card. 
With Grandmama:
Still teething. Horsies apparently teethe on their hooves.
Tonight I get to be a mime on stage. I’ve never been on stage, with good reason. I cannot tell you how happy I will be when this is over…
Rhinebeck in pictures October 24, 2007 ~ 11:39 am
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Urban Family, photo safari , comments closedI finally got my act together this morning and uploaded the Rhinebeck pictures! So, without further ado… (pictures behind the cut, clicky for bigger)
Photo safari October 15, 2007 ~ 9:48 am
Posted by Julie in : In Da Hood, photo safari , comments closedMy urban family was all either out of town or busy yesterday, so I did something I haven’t done in years: I wandered around the city. I used to do this all the time when I first moved to New York, picking an area that interested me and then hiking around for hours on end, but that practice dropped off sharply as I got a social life. I think I missed it.
Photo safari behind the cut. If you’re still on dial-up, I’m sorry.
It’s fall, I’m sick. October 2, 2007 ~ 2:09 pm
Posted by Julie in : Coupledom, Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Rick, Urban Family, photo safari , comments closedI blame the baby. She has a cold, and after spending several days around her this past weekend, I think I have a cold. Which resulted in hardcore post-nasal drip, which resulted in…well, in me puking in the wee sma’s this morning. Yuck. So I am home today, recovering. Recovery involves drinking a lot of EmergenC and watching America’s Next Top Model. Hey, whatever works.
But hey, guess what? There’s a picture of me over on Mason-Dixon Knitting. (If you’re a knitter, you’re jealous.) Top picture, left hand side. That’s me in the Steelers cap and aqua hoodie, concentrating very hard on my spinning. The Spin-Out was a lovely way to spend Saturday - I walked up the hill to the fountain, and suddenly, there was a crowd of my people! Even better? There were a bunch of people spinning on Lendrums! We’re a cult! (Check the Ravelry groups if you’re on, we really are a cult now.) I spun for about five hours with a few trips to the bathroom and to get food, made a bunch of new friends, and got a few lessons (and a lovely birthday present) from my friend Jenny. (She is a miracle worker. The superfine merino top that I was spinning up as crap last week? Now looks like real live yarn! Even Rick couldn’t believe the difference!) Kids were spinning, guys were spinning, girls were spinning, and we became quite the tourist attraction. Really…the rickshaws were stopping beside us and pointing us out to tourists. Same with the carriages. I made some wonderful new (look at the picture of me, it makes me laugh) friends who I will see again at Rhinebeck later this month, and I just really enjoyed myself.
Afterwards, Rick and I met up with J and Thabs and Samang for dinner at a German restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. We ended up sitting right next to another table that was celebrating a birthday (Librans are everywhere, I must have run into about twelve people with birthdays on or near mine this year), and so there was a lot of talk back and forth, and a lot of beer.
The next morning, I woke up to…well, continuing proof that Rick is the best boyfriend ever. When I woke up there was a handmade card and a small wrapped package. I unwrapped it and found a memory card that didn’t fit anything I own. I thanked him for it, but said “What do I use this for?” He said “Well, you can always use more memory. Especially if you have this.” and pulled out a Nikon D-40. There will be a steep learning curve, especially as I find myself reaching for the non-existent zoom button, but I love my first SLR very very much.
We then went over to Prospect Park for a little birthday party with some friends. Jordana, Thabiso, and Samang were there of course, and the girls took some time out of their schedules to come out, and Jessie, Andre, and Zula joined us as well, but the person who gets the biggest amount of points for showing up? The Retropolitan, who not only came from his distant Bat Cave, but came out to help celebrate my birthday when the only person he knew there was me. No pictures were taken of Retro, because he is so mysterious that he cannot be captured on camera, but now you are all jealous of me, knitters or not. It was an amazing birthday weekend, and I am just thrilled to have all these wonderful people in my life.
30? It ain’t so bad. Pictures here to prove it.
Gettysburg June 26, 2007 ~ 11:53 am
Posted by Julie in : About a Julz, Fambly, photo safari , comments closedIt’s been a good long time since we had a picture post, so what the hell, right? My uncle Norm has been shooting pictures for as long as I can remember, so it was very cool to be able to discuss shots with him this weekend. (more…)
