Picture Post: Shocked It Worked Edition

Happy Holidays, Fyfers. I dolled up my wreath with bulbs on Tuesday, and only now get a chance to share the magic. I added the ribbon last year. Do I get to call myself a "Crafter" now?


The view from our window at Casa De Parental Ps. Pretty, no?


Fifth Avenue Episcopalian Church. Too lazy to Google-stalk for name. (Credit: Hubster)

Speaking of google-stalking, I looked up my uncle's college (he's a prof) and called him up about a possible Argentina trip next year. Nearly wet myself, but I pulled through. I'm buying travel books and building castle in the air, people, ARGENTINE CASTLES, BOOYAH. Maybe I'll get me some wander-satisfaction next year. (Oh, and I think I said I'd called them in my last post, but I was GOING to call them, and I can't believe I'm clarifying such an inane detail. MOVING ON!)


Lady Liberty by sunset. (Click to expand if you think I'm making this up.)


NJ view of NY skyline. Sparkly lights. (Credit: Hubster)


Hubster catches the kids in the act. (Credit: Hubster)

Word of the Day: Wanderlust

Okay, Blogger is giving me fits again, so instead of your regularly scheduled photo essay of dubious interest comes a short little essay of indubitable DISinterest on the subject of Erica needing to leave the country STAT. We apologize for the inconvenience and are dutifully looking for someone to strangle or, you know, SOLVE THE FREAKING PROBLEM with Blogger's image uploader. Thank you for your patience.

I've got a real bad case of the PDSDs (Passport Disuse Stress Disorder). I've wandered the INTERWEB looking for destinations willynilly. I've focused on one particular destination and hashed and rehashed financing schemes. I've stared at hotel websites. Yes, you read that right. I am cracking up over here. LOSIN' IT!

Bee and I were discussing this today on the phone, and it made me feel better. She, too, has been making international journeys, even alone in her teens like me, and misses them. Sure, we both came from unmoneyed middle-classers, but we managed to eke out cultural experiences that most kids our age would have avoided had their families been able to afford them in the first place. International cultures, languages, and foods were an everyday part of life and were encouraged, even in her white-bread Indiana family. My family drank and ate weird things all the time, and I grew to realize they were a part of me, not just of my home melee. And now I miss them like all get out.

It seems like so many Americans could not care less about the rest of the world. I cannot sit at home anymore. There are coffees I've never tried in cafes all over the world. There are local greetings I've never witnessed. There's local dress and dance and food and music I've never experienced and it makes me feel . . . well what? Wanderlust is the only term I can conjure - "A very strong or irresistible impulse to travel." It makes me want to dust off my passport and go far, far away.

Of course CharlesPierce handed me The Best American Travel Writing 2000 and 2002 before we left his house a few weeks ago. Remember "Don't feed the bears?" Well, "DON'T FEED THE WANDERLUST!" Now I have to add Cuba, Northern Australia, and Bhutan to the list, thank you very much! And I'm only halfway through the first one, so things are looking good for my Achievable Goals List.

Argentina is chief on the list of Places To Go, and the ache to see it, taste it, hear it, and smell it - oh, that smell - has been a literal ache today. I'm going to look around at real, actual, non-imaginary options for a trip perhaps sometime next year. I've called my genius traveling uncle and aunt for help. I'm trolling the web. I'm going to be put together projected price and itinerary. I'm going to make the ache just as unbearable as possible, and hopefully, I'll finally get to assuage some of that wanderlust before I die of it.

Maybe by then, Blogger will have fixed its image uploader.

Picture Post: Thanksgiving 2006

It's been an entire hour. I've tried to upload pictures for ONE HOUR OF MY LIFE.

I will try this again when I won't have to waste that much time on it because of stupid, stupid Blogger.

Sorry, sports fans. Hasta mañana.

Thanks Given (Oh yes, I went there.)

Though the traffic about killed me, Hubster and I had a fantastic Thanksgiving with his family. We had a good portion of the crew on hand for the festivities. I only managed about 0.75 good conversations for each of the heavies, but it was still great to (partially) catch up. Thursday we lazed about and ate, much like the rest of the citizens of this great nation. Friday the older kids went in to New York City for a little wandering. G-man drove us to Soho for some delicious pizza at Pomodoro with their fantastic vodka pizza sauce. We watched the sunset at Battery Park and snapped ooodles of pictures which I am too lazy to upload at the moment. (And here I've been promising you the rest of the wedding snaps from the weekend before, too. Yeah, I'll get right on those!) We didn't accomplish much, but it was a lovely day in the city. The next day Mumsie-in-Law took both of my sisters-in-law and myself to The Container Store. I still can't believe how fabulous I felt after hitting that place up, but FABULOUS is right. It brought out all the OCD in me, and I LOVED it. I bought some cute stuff including but not limited to a new wine rack and some magnetic spice jars. I got the best coat hooks ever from Mumsie as an early Christmas gift. Check it: "Mr. and Mrs. Hangup" rock! Between that and her back issues of Real Simple magazine and treating me to coffee and whatnot, I told her she's my new dealer. We drove home on Sunday and didn't manage much of anything else, except that I thought about my next trip to the Container Store because seriously, it's a drug.

Today? Was Monday. Nuff said. More later, kiddos. Missed ya.

Linking Wednesday

1. I like to make fun of Lifetime Movies with the best of them (that is, if the best of them ignored them 90% of the time, but hey). This Television Without Pity article does a fantastic job for one of the best named, Mother May I Sleep With Danger?.

2. Go Fug Yourself - so much link fodder it's almost a copout to post them. Good one here. Ooo, and another one here.

3. In the weird and amusing category, "Who's the richest fictional character?," asks Forbes magazine in this news item. The results are good for a few chuckles. Econ/Biz peeps critique at will.

Abbreviated for the purposes of getting out of dodge AGAIN. Not sure if/when I'll be posting. Hope you have better things to do with your holiday than check my website obsessively just to see. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!