bridesmaid report

i was in a wedding this weekend. my first time as a bridesmaid*! quite thrilling. i felt very special, getting to be involved in all the action, instead of just sitting out there with the masses.

i got to have my hair professionally styled in a glamorous curl-y updo -- about 50 bobby pins and enough hairspray to make the curls in the back feel like hard plastic:


the dresses were not horrible, the weather was good, the events (especially the softball game!) were all fun, the flower children were adorable, and the happy couple are perfect for each other. a wonderful time was had by all.

*because i've been watching The Tudors every week, i had a revelation that bridesmaids really are holdovers from the monarchical tradition of ladies-in-waiting -- the queen for the day being waited upon by her peers. interesting, no?

secret catfight

there's this would-be boyfriend-stealing girl i hate.

but she hates me more, 'cause i win. :)

ellipses

i just went to the gym in the middle of the workday, for the first time. it was a fun little pick-me-up. i'm thinking of doing that more often. it's hard to find a convenient time to go to the gym. right after work i usually have other things i'd rather be doing. and i can't bear to get up any earlier than i absolutely have to.

i spent 35 minutes on the elliptical machine, which is another first. i'm trying to start doing more "cardio". with my newly sedentary lifestyle -- sitting in one place for eight or nine hours a day, five days a week, eating candy all day to stave off boredom and sleepiness -- i've gained about six pounds since starting this job.

i know, i know. i'm still tiny. i shouldn't be so anorexic. but i feel like this weight gain is definitely not caused by anything healthy. i want to get my metabolism back down to the super-sonic rate i'm used to. that way i can eat all the candy i want.

names

we're trying out daniel stripèd tiger for the blond one and mr. data for the black-and-white one.

kittens!!

guess what i did this weekend: um, only got TWO KITTENS! omg. they are both three months old, and they are the cutest ever. we (me & my sister) had planned to get just one, but we had to get two 'cause the shelter only gives out kittens under four months if you have another cat for them to be friends with. and two is really better, anyway.


they are both boys. they aren't brothers, but they were roommates at the shelter, so they are already friends. they don't have names yet. let me know if you have any ideas!

they are super tiny.

the black one is very shy,

and a little funny looking, with gigantic alien/saucer eyes. (although who am i to judge?)

the orange one is the cutest most perfect archetype of a kitten i've ever seen, and very outgoing. he's definitely the boss. (but the black one is starting to liven up a little as he gets more used to living here.)

after a busy afternoon of playing and posing for the camera, the orange one just curled up on the couch and took a nap:

sigh. i am such a proud mama.

botany

i spent this afternoon at the brooklyn botanic garden, admiring the cherry blossoms and many other lovely specimens. there were so many delicious-smelling flowers, from lilacs to hyacinths to many more i don't know the names of. (i wish my dad could have been there to tell us what everything was. he knows everything about plants.)

me & my friends claimed a spot under the cherry trees and took our shoes and socks off. using coats as improvised blankets, we lay down, part on fabric and part directly on the grass and dirt below it. i put my face on the grass, using my hands under my cheek as a pillow. i haven't been that close to the ground in a very long time.

* * *

follow-up: the next day (today) i bought four bunches of lilacs at a flower shop. now my house smells as nice as the garden!

books

for about a year i've had this credit card that gives amazon.com gift certificates as an incentive for using it. so i pay all my bills etc. with this card, and i've been acquiring lots & lots of these gift certificates. i was just hoarding them all til recently ('cause first i was in school, then studying for the bar, then moved several times). now that i'm more settled i figured it was time to start cashing in.

these are the books i've ordered over the past few weeks:

• Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (edwin g. burrows & mike wallace)
• Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (francine prose)
• 1776 (david mccullough)
• The Year of Magical Thinking (joan didion)
  
• Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (barack obama)
  
• The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles (cook's illustrated)
  
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics (marisha pessl)
  

and all for free! what a world.

p.s. let me know if you have any suggestions for good contemporary fiction. i really love well-written, engaging stories, but i find bad fiction so disappointing that i usually stick to history and other non-fiction 'cause it seems like a less risky bet.