thankful for:

food.

lots and lots of delicious food.

two thanksgivings this year left us blissful and satiated.

a large roasted chicken with stuffing and salad and green bean salad and zucchini and broccoli and mashed potatoes and eclairs and cheesecake and coconut custard pie (and i think i forgot a few other sides in there as well).

a goose and lobster and green beans and scallops and jasmine and sticky rice and hot & sour soup and shark fin soup and purple steamed sweet potato buns and cheesecake and papaya and pumpkin pie.

cravings

have i mentioned my insane desire for a canister vacuum?

truly, it boggles the mind. first i wanted a dyson - one of those tiny city vacs. then anthony suggested i actually research them and while they're great, they're tiny and can't hold a lot of dirt - definitely more for a small city apartment than a home. with a little further research, i've heard dysons aren't necessarily *that* great. they're all plastic and how much should i spend when all i have are hardwood and tile floors?

of course, then i remembered my long ago fixation with miele vacuums. how could i have forgotten? they were an obsession of mine in high school. so beautiful, so german-engineered precise, so many toothsome colors... and what? $800?! a pass, albeit with a heavy, heavy sigh.

we're now looking at some electrolux models and hope to check some out at sears sometime soon.

how much more of a housewife can i become?! i can see all these bits of dust and trash on the floors or crumbs on the couch and all i can think is: a canister vacuum will solve all of my housecleaning problems.... when i vacuum (as opposed to when i sweep), i won't have leftover dust bunnies to give me agita! i will be able to clean under things without getting on my knees with the small hand broom only to have my glasses fall off my face!! i can easily suck up the dust on the big ledges of our molding!

rest assured, there'll be an unboxing post when i finally obtain my golden fleece.

what the.........?

really?

oh yes

an outdoor skating rink? in tampa, florida?

YES!!!!

and only $10 for 90 minutes, which includes skate rental. not too shabby.

plans, my friends, are afoot.

i made stuff!!

a coworker and i are taking a bookbinding class at the tampa museum of art!

sadly, the education budget was slashed & burned, so this is the last semester they'll be offering such classes (BOO).

bookbinding (along with, you know, every other craft hobby) is one of those things i've always wanted to learn. i even have waxed linen thread and had tried my hand at it a few times before. FAIL. the books turned out wobby and uneven.

during the heyday of girlfriend sweatshop, we even had a mini "class" (with wine, of course) given by one of the members, but it didn't really stick with me. i can't remember if it actually involved stitching...

in any case, so far i've learned stab binding and the coptic stitch!



so rad, right? 3 classes, 2 books. i'm hoping to also bind the book of photos from italy that i started 10 years ago. about time that thing got finished! it's going to involve sewing pages onto canvas bits to form the signatures/pamphlets and then making a cover out of a hardboard. i'm so stoked!



the bottom one is the stab binding.



and this one is the coptic stitch. it's easier in some ways and feels more "like a book" when you're sewing it. the difficult part lies in keeping the stitches tight (which was my problem when i attempted this on my own).

helloooOOooo holiday gifts! ;)

shaved brussel spouts w/ bacon lardons

what the hell is that and how can i get it served straight into my mouth 24/7?


this place, by the way, is insane:

http://www.datzdeli.com

busy busy... lizard

news:

in december, i'll be moving from the downtown branch to a non-public branch in south tampa; not sure yet how i feel about the move, but change always rejuvenates me. it's a good opportunity (my own title - reporting & receiving librarian!), but i will be sad to leave downtown (and just as i was starting to get really settled, not to mention just as downtown tampa is starting to look alive).

have a few photography jobs lined up in the next few months! i'm working on figuring out how much to set aside for taxes, for new equipment, etc. that $5k camera will still be a long way off. baby steps!

anthony & i are looking for a round-faced feline to add to our brood - today we went to the humane society and cooed over kittens. we're looking for a slightly older cat, one that's slightly more sedate. i'm so excited about this!

st pete sunsets

most likely i'll post a few pictures here and there from the trip - anthony's been working on school work (when we're not engrossed in our veronica mars marathons), so i've had no access to the computer.



here's the fabulous curtain and floor at the front of the lobby; the pattern on the floor faded away the further one got from the wall. totally want to do this on our back alley concrete floor.



the start of the drunkeness and wedding crashing began with wine. then wine and cheese in the room with the door open to watch the reception festivities, then just lots of wine.

it only took a few hours and 2 bottles of wine to end here:



on the floor, half undressed, blissed out and super relaxed. thank goodness for our swedish neighbors throwing their supply of wasa at us. we awoke at 4 am and drank water and munched on dry wasa wafers and thankfully weren't super hung over the next day. meaghan was *totally* fine; i, on the other hand, was slightly groggy and out of it. i am a wimp!