ceebeegee: (St. Patrick's Day)
I had such an awesome St. Patrick's Day weekend (crappy weather notwithstanding) I forgot to post yesterday! So here goes:

Green-Chicago-River-for-St-Patricks-Day2

♣ Happy, happy St. Patrick's Day ♣ Revel in the green, listen to some beautiful Irish music, wear a kilt, drink a Guinness or a Harp! Spring is almost here!

So Tim had his annual par-tay overlooking the parade route at the Peninsula. Cold and crappy as it was Snowy Parade

I still had an absolute blast. Dermot Henry, the singer who performs there every year, was awesome as always--I kept bringing him coffee to keep him warm. He was outside--under an umbrella but still. I myself stayed parked under the outdoor heaters unless I was venturing forth to take pictures.

Overlooking the Parade Route 2013

At one point Tim was pushing me to sing, so I got up and sang "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" and "The Wearing of the Green." These went over quite well so Dermot urged me to sing something else--I shrugged and said "Danny Boy?" (At this point it had been sung at LEAST 5 times!) Afterward Dermot was *raving* about my voice----every time I passed him he would say in his Irish accent "looveleh voice, just an absoluteleh looveleh voice." Tim said he thought that was the best I'd ever sounded.

Tim and I 2013
Brr!


As things were winding down, Tim told me "don't go anywhere." I ended up sitting with him and Chuck Sullivan (Tim's friend who owns pretty much everything--he either used to be or still is a part-owner of the Celtics and the Patriots) while they hashed out what to pay the bar owner. I felt quite the power player by proxy--the waiters were comping us drinks and everything! Then Tim and I joined some of his friends who were waiting downstairs--there was a lot of Who Shot John but in the end Tim and I went uptown to Dresner's and they eventually joined us. I did an Irish Car Bomb and had to explain very carefully to the waitress how to make one. Mmmm, car bombs...so delicious!

Then yesterday I joined a new meetup group that gets together on Sunday mornings to play flag football. The woman who runs the group was very interested to hear about my soccer playing--she has a team and wanted to know if I was interested in ever subbing. Uh, yes! So I played my first game of flag football and we had a blast. I caught 4 passes (dropped one) and spiked 1-2 passes on defense. After that I ran home, changed and went downtown to have brunch with my soccer team.

Dolphman St. Patrick's Day Brunch

How cute are we?! We ate at a place in the Village called West 3rd Common and after we had closed out the check, I looked at their cocktail menu and pointed to one called Banana Booze--Jack Daniel's infused with bananas and brown sugar. I said the Southerner in me wants to try that as it sounds like a cocktail version of Bananas Foster--the waitress told me that was the inspiration! OMG SO GOOD. Afterward we went to a place nearby that had beer floats! Banana beer with ice cream in the middle--SO yum. A yummy weekend, altogether!
ceebeegee: (Spring!)

Lots going on right now!  A little too much actually--


  • A project for Tim's friend who is a playwright

  • Taxes (MUST force myself to get up early tomorrow to go to the tax prep's office, they've been ready to go for weeks)

  • Must take NYC tour guide test so I can become a tour guide for Amada

  • Have to get registered as a federal vendor (a huge pain in the ass--I first registered in OCTOBER and I'm still not showing up in the system)

  • I HAVE to write something in Cliopolitan but whennnn?

  • And a big, BIG thing which I'm not quite ready to announce at large just yet but which is very exciting (!).

So yeah, lots going on!  Now that spring is approaching I am looking forward to visiting DC to see the cherry blossoms--I'm going to stay with my brother and spend some time with the monsters.  I told Stuart I wanted to take the kids to some shows--specifically I'd like to start getting little William interested in Shakespeare, since we had such a lovely chat about it last Thanksgiving.  I looked around what would be playing in DC the weekend I'm planning to visit--so far I found a Voodoo Macbeth, a non-spoken-word, watery production of The Tempest and a puppet version of Peter Pan.  As I think a 7 year old is a *little* young for the violent nihilism of Macbeth (maybe when he's 10 ;) I am very tempted to take him to Tempest--its spectacle might be right up his alley, and they have a "Splash Zone" where we'll get wet :)  But the tickets aren't cheap :/ Luckily my SIL snagged a couple of tickets for my niece and me for Prokofiev's Cinderella at the Washington Ballet, which should be a blast!  Annika is a little tomboy but so was I at that age and I still loved ballet.  I can't wait. Things to look forward to:


  • St. Patrick's Day is in 2 weeks

  • I'm going to visit my brother's family in 3 weeks

  • Easter is in a month (and Game of Thrones!)

  • And in April beginneth The Tales of Caunterbury oops, I mean warm sunny weather and my big, BIG thing which I'm not quite ready to announce just yet.  (Oh, and Mickey's wedding!)

ceebeegee: (Family)
Stuart deep-fried the turkey which should've tasted better but as he admitted, the turkey itself wasn't too good.  As he said "Next year will be a Butterball!"  Stuart's wife had two uncles there, Ken and David--I've met David before, when my niece was born, but never Ken--he and his wife brought crazy amounts of side dishes, including a delicious candied yams.  Not that I really got to enjoy it--I piled my plate high with everything but after a few bites I felt something crack in my mouth.  YUP.  Another fucking crown broke off.  I went to the bathroom and looked at the damage--just as before the crown didn't pop off, the post broke as well.  Very luckily this was a different tooth, it was on the left and further back so it wasn't nearly as noticeable.  Still couldn't eat much though!  Gosh, my dental adventures are exciting--nothing like life on the edge, amirite?  Can someone please explain why these things ALWAYS have to happen at the worst times--in the middle of a show, during my dentist's vacation, on Thanksgiving, in Spain while working on a cruise ship?? O universe, u so crazy, if I didn't laugh I'd have to scream at your perverse sense of humor.

I made it through the rest of the weekend without smiling too widely or laughing too much and went to the dentist on Tuesday.  I have a new dentist, BTW--after years of going to the old one, I started to feel as though I were being...shall we say, pushed a little too much.  Every single time I went, the hygienist pushed me--really pushed me--into getting the Arestin, which is an antibiotic shot for your gums.  She would say "it's up to you," but whenever I demurred, she would really lean on me.  "No, I really think you should get it."  Here's the deal--each shot is $125.  Not covered by insurance, either.  I almost never got out of my visits there without dropping bank like that, even when I didn't have cavities.  The problem two years ago with the crown snapping was another red flag--YOU put that crown in, you obviously used crappy materials, why don't you take responsibility for that?  You know I grind my teeth--you should've used a thicker post.  The thing about dentists is they're like plumbers or mechanics or even funeral directors--you usually consult them in a time of great need, you're often upset, and they're experts in something you know nothing about.  They can easily screw you over.  So I thought about it, and researched them and other dentists on Yelp, and finally settled on another dentist whom I trust and who has very high ratings on Yelp.  He seems great so far and what little I've had done so far is MUCH less expensive than the other dentist.

Until Tuesday--he looked at the crown and tooth and showed me the X-rays.  He can't redrill and put another post in because there's not that much tooth left.  He's going to have to pull the whole thing and then we're looking at two options--a bridge or an implant.  As I emailed to my family, it's really only one option--a bridge, because implants are so unbelievably expensive, even with coverage.  I don't think my stepmother quite grasped the situation--she emailed me:

Yup, implants are expensive, but they are permanent, won't fall out, or scream IMPLANT like some bridge work.

I have an implant and am glad I went that route. A baby tooth that had been with me for 60 odd years, finally fell apart a couple of years back, so I went the implant route. If you decide to go implant, perhaps your dentist would work out a payment plan? Does your dental insur. pay for any of the work? Even if it pays for the extraction......The implant draw back is not having the new & improved "tooth" for several months. At least that was the deal several years ago, maybe that's not true now.


I replied:

Dental insurance pays for very little of the implant work, not least because there is a cap of something like $1500 per calendar year.  Maybe when I really AM independently wealthy I can look at that option again but right now it's just not responsible--the price they quoted me was more than $8000, you can believe it.

My stepmother's response:

OMG!!!!! $8,000.00!!!!!!! That is RIDICULOUS! I think I paid about $3,000.00 and can't remember if any was insur. reimbursable and I thought that was AWFUL. Bridge sounds like a plan, for sure.

The bridge option is "only" about $1200, so not as bad, although still a chunk of change.  This is all more complicated because my dental coverage is changing in January and I don't know if they'll let me treat what is essentially a pre-existing condition.  And making a bridge takes months.  Well, at any rate I can smile again--my dentist recemented the old crown, but I still can't chew on that side. O universe, you so funny!
ceebeegee: (Massachusetts foliage)
Just had to post that I am REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Right now.  I can almost taste the stuffing!

That is all :)
ceebeegee: (Ireland)
♣ Happy, happy St. Patrick's Day! ♣ Spring is almost here! Have a Guinness and enjoy the parade and all that glorious green!

ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Happy Mardi Gras!


Everybody say a little prayer for that beautiful city on the river with its unique, crumbling beauty and charm and culture. And I expect to see y'all at Chez Green tonight for hurricanes, beads and King Cake!

...It's that time again: that wonderful, crazy, colorful, crowded, happy, mixed-up but glorious time when all New Orleans forgets itself for a day, lets its hair down, puts on a rubber nose, a funny hat, and walks around laughing at the silly people in their crazy costumes...

Mardi Gras is fun and laughter, vulgarity and coarseness, color and light, and at the end, quiet.

Mardi Gras is a state of mind, an attitude, a pose, an opinion. But at its most basic…and perhaps satisfying of all, Mardi Gras is the one day in the entire year when New Orleans can tell the world:

"We're going to have fun!" And we do.


Throw me somethin', Mister!

Potpourri

Jan. 6th, 2012 04:28 pm
ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Hungry and very tired.

I'm meeting up with Lori later tonight to exchange Christmas gifts--I'd rather wait until Sunday or so but Kevin is taking down the tree tomorrow and it wouldn't be kosher, so to speak, to exchange Christmas gifts after January 6.  Although I suppose we could call them Epiphany gifts?  Hey, they do that in Spain.  I am giving her some homemade peppermint bark and one of the holiday soaps I bought from Holly.

Speaking of Epiphany--Happy 12th Day of Christmas! Today kicks off the season of Epiphany which means you know what is coming up: Mardi Gras!  Mark yo' calendars for February 21 and get ready to laissez les bons temps roulez!  I think i'm going to have it back at my place this year--last year was convenient but not that many people showed up anyway (although I did get out the invitations late) and I just think it's probably easier.  But looking forward to it!  Hurricanes and jumbalaya and King Cake and The Big Easy playing in the background...

I used to hate January because it was so cold and crappy.  Still not crazy about the dark and the weather but it's a nice change from December which was a little crazy this year.  It's always that second and third week that kills me--my birthday is ALWAYS the same week as my work party and then someone's always visiting from out of town and there's a performance of Christmas Carol or something.  Lots and lots of high-profile events that I can't miss.  This year too I was working on a project for a friend of mine--she commissioned me to knit a Christmas stocking for her step-daughter.  What made it tricky was that I didn't have a pattern--she wanted me to replicate a stocking knit by her granmother.  With no pattern, I had to reverse-engineer it, which was actually kind of cool and fun.  And I learned a couple of new skills, including the kitchener stitch which is a way to remove the seam from a sock so that it looks seamless.  It's pretty cool and makes me want to knit some socks now!  But I still (STILL!) have to finish up the purse I've been making for years now...almost done, I should finish it this week and then I just have to felt it.

Aaaaaand speaking of which...Drunken Knitting is coming up!  Lori and I will decide on a date tonight and then we'll let y'all know. I want to do two dates this year, one in January and one in February.  Ladies, sharpen your needles!  (And rev your blenders for all those drinks :)

Since I've been having so much fun with softball (and spurred on by a FB ad pimping out an indoor soccer league at Chelsea Piers), I joined a Meetup group that plays soccer every week.  They play at different locations all over the city but it seems the ones that meet my schedule best are in Long Island City at Queens West Sportsfield.  I played my first game last Saturday--the format is 3 30 minute games, among four teams, played on a field that's about 3/4 the size of a full-size field.  Generally speaking, the smaller the field, the more running.  In a normal, regulation game, you can rest more because the ball can actually be away from you, whereas in indoor soccer, you are CONSTANTLY running.  When they were assigning positions, I said sure, put me at wing (which is where I spent the majority of my soccer career).  Oh my God.  That 1st game was BRUTAL.  Nonstop runningrunningrunning.  I was in agony after the first game and I couldn't stop coughing.  The second and third games went a little better.  Or maybe my system was in so much shock, I just couldn't feel anything!  As soon as I got home (which was difficult enough, my thighs kept buckling whenever I had to go up stairs) I drew the hottest bath I could stand and soaked as long as I could.  This didn't stop me from spending the next two days pretty much on the couch anyway, but if I hadn't, I would've been literally bedridden.

But I gotta say, I didn't do too badly considering I haven't played for 15 years.  I assisted on a couple of goals and got all up in the faces of a few of the guy players :)  And I overheard a couple of admiring "hey, she's not too bad." I just love how brutally physical soccer is.  They always pigeonhole me as some small player that's easily intimidated and I ALWAYS prove them wrong.  Especially the big players :D  Some of these players have amazing ball skills--it's like playing against Pele out there.  Although as I said I played wing for most of my career, I was never an amazing ball handler--I was on the front line because I was very fast and had very quick reflexes, so I was able to score a lot.  (And I did :)  I was the lead scorer on my team--my coach used to call me Green, Green, the Scoring Machine.  Isn't that adorbs?)  Anyway until I get my wind back and can handle all that running, I need to upgrade my ball skills, maybe do some practicing out in Inwood Hill Park or something.  I'm playing my next game tomorrow--hopefully I'll be slightly less physically devastated afterwards!

Hurrah!

Jul. 1st, 2011 01:43 pm
ceebeegee: (Fourth of July)
Work is a ghost town today, almost no one is here. Hurrah! Summer in New York City is so much fun--so many free fun things to do, the weather is great, I can't wait for the weekends.

I'm going home tomorrow for the Fourth, coming back to see fireworks on Monday. Mom and I are gonna grill burgers and drink mojitos on the deck tomorrow night. I loveloveLOVE Mom's deck--so adorbs, I can sit outside and enjoy that delicious humidity and breathe in the mint-scented air (Mom has LOTS of mint growing around the house).

I just love this holiday--the Fourth is such uncomplicated fun, so colorful and dazzling and loud! I see fireworks, I see the pageant and pomp and parade, I hear the bells ringing out, I hear the cannons roar, I see Americans, all Americans, free forevermore!
ceebeegee: (Ireland)
♣ Happy, happy St. Patrick's Day! ♣ The best holiday of the year, the kickoff to glorious spring, a toast to the Irish! Have a Guinness (or three) and get out and enjoy the parade :)



Just look at that adorable green Chicago river!

Céad míle fáilte!
ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Remember to keep free Mardi Gras, which is coming up (March 8, a week from Tuesday).

I may be co-hosting it with my friend Charles this year. Further details as we hammer them out. But try to keep it free--sorry for the lateness.
ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Today is January 6, and y'all know what that means--Carnival Season has begun! Mark your calendars for March 8, Mardi Gras 2011! Laissez les bons temps roulez and see y'all here on the 8th!

ceebeegee: (Xmas Tree)
Merry Christmas!

Meme

Dec. 17th, 2010 11:32 am
ceebeegee: (CAWFEE)


You Are a Gingerbread Latte



You are love anything classic, especially if it comes with an interesting modern twist.

You look forward to the holidays more than anyone you know. You're always excited to revisit memories and make new ones.



You believe in the importance of connection. You always take time for the important people in your life, including yourself.

You are lighthearted and carefree, and you're definitely not boring. You like to spice things up!


ceebeegee: (St. Patrick's Day)
So it was a few days ago but I don't want to forget to post about St. Patrick's Day and Tim's annual party. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS, with perfect sunny skies and no chill whatsoever. A glorious day! I got there around noon and everyone had a blast. I even got to sing a bit ("Danny Boy," "The Wearin' of the Green" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"). In the evening, after I lfet work, I joined Tim and some of his friends and we went to a place on the way Upper east side. I had Guinness and fish and chips and was stuffted afterwards.



Love the colors in these banners. I got a lot of pictures of them, they're so pretty with the light coming through them.



How lucky are these people, to have an apartment that overlooks Fifth Avenue...



I have to agree. That goes for Scotland as well.



The Tricolour!



Tim, Chuck Sullivan and me atop the Peninsula. As I always say, Tim is one of those people who knows everyone, and Chuck is Someone to Know. He co-owns the Patriots and used to co-own the Celtics, or maybe the other way around. He used to double-date with Tim and me, really nice guy. Love the guy on the left, "Uh, Central Casting called, needed an Irishman in the background?" Except that he has a glass of wine and not a beer.

And finally, I shot some video with my little Canon and edited together a tiny film--pretty cheesy but I don't care! I wanted people who don't live in the city to be able to enjoy a little St. Patrick's Day fun. (I apologize for the wonky volume--I'm still no expert on Windows Movie Maker, although I've gotten better, and volume adjustment with different audio tracks is still confusing to me.)

ceebeegee: (Ireland)
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rains fall soft upon your fields,
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.



Céad míle fáilte! The best holiday! Happy spring, everyone!
ceebeegee: (Irish!)
So, one of my most favoritest holidays is coming up and thias year it's even more wonderfuller to me. I speak, of course, of St. Patrick's Day, the unofficial harbinger of spring here in New York City. This year it is projected to be sunny with highs in the SIXTIES!!!! Yay! It'll be so wonderful watching the parade from the rooftop of the Peninsula, I cannot wait!

The reason it's even more awesome this year is because--well, this goes back to last July, at my cousin Larson's wedding. Larson is kind of the unofficial genealogist of the family, of my (huge, cousinly) generation anyway. He has software and all sorts of charts about our family background, and he's always finding out new stuff. At some point during the wedding weekend, he and I were hanging out in the driveway at his bride's family's place, eating hotdogs, and he whipped out his laptop and showed me something. We have Irish ancestry. We have two Irish great-great-great- (something like that--several greats in there) grandmothers. This is extremely surprising news, because frankly the WASPs and the Irish did NOT intermarry into really quite recently--seriously, not until the last two generations or so. It simply Was Not Done--my grandmother looked down on the Kennedys, money be damned. They were Nouveau, and she always cringed when people would compare the large (9 kids), wealthy, toothy, glamorous (Irish) Kennedy brood to her large (7 kids, plus my dead aunt Maudie) wealthy, toothy, glamourous (WASP) brood...I love the comparison but I'm of a later generation. And I'm really excited to find out I have Irish blood! So exciting--yet another Celtic nation (I'm also a little bit Cornish on my father's side, as a little bit Breton on my mother's side)! Of course this isn't as big as my Scottish background, about which I've known all my life, and know what clan and where in Scotland and everything. But I love all things Irish and this just makes St. Patrick's Day even more special! And now I'm dying to know the story--as my mother said, "they must have been second wives." Why did my great-great-great (whatever) grandfathers decided to marry Irish women? From what part of Ireland were they? Enquiring minds want to know!
ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Mardi Gras KICKED ASS last night. SO much damn fun. I met Anya at work and ran home, hitting the Mexican grocery store for ice and powdered sugar--I only had a half cup for the frosting on the king cake, and I needed a cup. Weirdly, they did not have the sugar--I'm surprised a Mexican grocery store (a big one) doesn't have that staple. Anyway, so we ran home and I got dressed and hurried around, setting everything up. I'd made the cake and all the non-sweet food the night before since I worked yesterday, so I pulled all that out of the fridge and set it up on the table or the stove--luckily it all seemed to taste fine. I actually did not have that much to drink or eat since I was busy being a busybee hostess.

People started arriving around 8:20 and then it just never stopped. I think in the end we had around 25 people--let's see Duncan, Chris, Tesse, Jason (Specland), my friend Joy and two friends of hers, Katie Stodd, my friend Katie Hall from work, Paul Martinkovic, Ryan, my friend Jennifer, Tim and a friend of his, my friend Jim Denny, Calvin--I know I'm forgetting a few because I counted up to like 22 today. There were fewer than last year because of the weather, and also Lori didn't invite people. I'd set up a table in the living room--not against the wall (like last year) but sticking out for easier access. This was decorated with party favors (geaux cups + beads), food and glittuh, all atop an improvised purple table cloth. The Big Easy was playing on my TV, and my laptop was spewing zydeco, dixieland and blues. Some rowdy times. Lots of little groups here and there, on the lips couch, by the TV, in the kitchen, in the hallway. Yay! Everybody nomnomnomming on red beans and rice, shrimp jumbalaya, crawfish dip, king cake. And washing it all down with disgustingly sweet hurricanes, of course!

The great thing is this--even with fewer people, Tipitina's MADE OUT. We surpassed last year's take (which had many more people). We almost cleared $100--$96! I'm so proud! Thanks so much, guys--can't wait to mail this off to them!
ceebeegee: (Mardi Gras)
Laissez les bons temps roulez!

(Editorial from some New Orleans paper--the Times-Picayune, I think)

...It's that time again: that wonderful, crazy, colorful, crowded, happy, mixed-up but glorious time when all New Orleans forgets itself for a day, lets its hair down, puts on a rubber nose, a funny hat, and walks around laughing at the silly people in their crazy costumes...



Mardi Gras is fun and laughter, vulgarity and coarseness, color and light, and at the end, quiet.



Mardi Gras is a state of mind, an attitude, a pose, an opinion. But at its most basic…and perhaps satisfying of all, Mardi Gras is the one day in the entire year when New Orleans can tell the world:

"We're going to have fun!" And we do.




Hope to see y'all tonight!

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