mipmup.

youth.

youth.

friday favorites.

here are my friday favorites: the travel edition! can you guess where we are? (don't google until you're done!)

• liguria bakery's focaccia bread. this is one of our first stops whenever we travel to this city. the focaccia is (to use an overused phrase) amazing. with less than a half a dozen choices, try one of each! our favorite is the pizza. it's not a fancy place; in fact, it's pretty sparse. it sort of looks like the store in "little shop of horrors" before it became successful. but then again, they don't have to do anything fancy. their specialty speaks for itself. the only bad part? we wish the specialty would speak a little louder because the staff is fairly rude. $3.50 each (i think).

• molinari's deli. there's nothing like an authentic, old school italian deli, especially when they speak italian. i just love that. their sandwiches are to die for and my better half's favorite is their sopressata salami.

• new favorite chai tea. i know, i thought it was impossible too seeing as i have a borderline obsession with peet's masala chai. my sis-in-law took me to this little place called caffe divino and i had an almost revolutionary chai experience. my favorite part was that it wasn't sweet, but spicy. i didn't peek to see if it was pre-mixed or not. i would probably be crushed if i found out it was, but whatever. it was fantastic. i made her take me there again just to try it. she likes how they shave chocolate on top of their coffee beverages. a great way to warm up. and perusing their menu and their little deli case, it looks like this place serves up great chow, too.

• hiking in tennessee valley. ok. it was a teensy bit crowded, but it was a sunny day in a place where sunny days are much appreciated, so i could understand. the views are breathtaking: green hills, ocean, breakers, even a peek of the city. can't wait to go back and do this again.

• tadich grill. if you want excellent seafood served with great service, go here. think dark wood booths, white table cloths, a long bar, old fashioned service. the crab is fresh and their recipes are so good that my better half was even given their cookbook. i guess they know what they're doing since it opened in 1849. their manhattan chowder? fantastic. try the crab salad for lunch. and this is no small serving of crab: it's super generous and the price isn't that hefty. i would recommend going there on an expense account though so you can "indulge" (i mean, do business and make a good impression, thus landing that big account.) this is the one place for which i may go back to eating seafood!

blog envy.

i have it. (wah.)

is 50% good enough?

i'm wondering how parents and soon-to-be parents resolve their differences (and don't get excited. we're not expecting nor do we plan to at this point). my better half is having a "big" birthday soon and so we've been tossing around our family planning thoughts. and it seems like family plans just aren't adding up.

i don't want to baptize. he does.

i don't want the kidlinks to eat meat. he does.

i want a midwife with the least traditional doctor involvement as possible. he doesn't.

is this a phase or are we just tuned into different stations?

we used to pity our former landlord who died, while we were tenants, alone. his wife had passed away a year or so before we moved in and they had no children, instead deciding to travel the world. it sounds awfully romantic, but this person was extremely cantankerous and i could never imagine him having a good time embracing all the continents. he passed away in the company of a paid caregiver. his estate, worth millions just because of the land on which his little homes sat, went to his wife's destitute niece, who promptly booted us out and sold the joints. i always wondered about that. why didn't they help her when they were alive?

i don't want to be that guy, but i don't want to have children who will grow up in a divided household. i used to think we had a united front, but i think it's me that has changed and it's hard to deal with that. should i change back? should he change? i don't know if meeeting 50% on these issues is enough.

well, at least we both hate bush. that's one difference we don't have to resolve.

nerd alert.

if you're a firefox user (and you should be!) on broadband, try this. it works! (thanks, better half!)

art credit: mozilla.

lonely church.

i took this photo several years ago when we were on a trip to the central coast of california to scout out wedding locations (ah, those were the days). this church seemed to be in the middle of nowhere as we wound our way through the "country." it seemed so lonely out there. it was hot that day and strangely quiet. the graveyard next to the church didn't help it to feel more welcoming. needless to say, we passed on it for a wedding site.

friday favorites.

here are my favorites for this week:

• tweezerman point tweezers. isn't "tweezer" a weird word? i love these and my love affair is long and strong. i've been using these for several years and my brows couldn't be happier. i'm one of those gals that can't resist a pluck between waxing, so these are perfect for me. i can really get those little tiny buggers that drive me nuts. i've used their lifetime guarantee (repair or replace for free!) a few times, too without any glitches. it was always that the implement became dull, not that it was defective. well worth the $20.

• fur bar pet shampoo bar. this little (all handmade!) wonder from splash bath and body has made haley's perma-flaky skin so much better. the scent is beautiful and includes essential oils of eucalyptus, rosemary and lavender. tea tree oil is added as well. and a little goes a long way. just three rubs on top, three rubs on bottom produces sudsy goodness. the owner says we can get 20-40 uses out of one bar. she said to just make sure that we dry out the bar thoroughly between uses. between baths, i've just been rubbing it on haley's fur to make her presentable. $6.95.

• marleen molenaar sleepwear. i think this line of children's sleepwear is sweet and sort of old fashioned. who doesn't love a lil' pumpkin' in a nightdress or smart pajama set? it's so rockwell.  the downside? not sure how much they cost or where to buy 'em. guess we have to email the designer or donate an e-commerce site.

• from nature with love. remember how i was looking for a source for fig fragrance oil? thanks to gnome g.,  i found it! actually, i found a mecca for almost any crafty skin care item need you may have. oils, essential oils, fragrance oils, containers, herbs! they have it. and they have excellent customer service. what more could i ask for? now i can make my brown sugar fig scrub! reasonable prices.

• monogram, inc. i really want to have a monogram designed for us and this company looks amazing. wouldn't that make a great wedding gift for someone close to you (they have a registry!)? visions of embroidered linens, stationery (my ultimate weakness), hankies dance through my head. as the monograms are all custom, you need to contact them for pricing.

photo/art credits: tweezerman; splash bath and body; marleen molenaar sleepwear; from nature with love; monogram inc.

i'm glossy.

yes, girls and boys, olive oil is no longer just for cooking. based on a little recipe i found in this month's organic style, i decided to get glossy and moisturize my hair. be forewarned: it's messy, but it works. i've modified their recipe because i don't have five kinds of oil in stock here at casa de mipmup. ready? it's really complicated!

4 tbsp. olive oil (for medium-length hair; use less for shorter, more for longer)
1/2 tsp. (or "to smell") lavender essential oil

rub into dry, dirty hair (this is the messy part).

now that you smell like a pan, blow dry on low with medium heat for three to five minutes.

tie back your hair or use a headband and wait 20 minutes.

get in that shower and rinse it off before someone eats your head.

now you're glossy, too.

the shut up award.

did you hear about harvard's super-chump president?

he claims that: "...innate differences between the sexes could help explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers....[and] also questioned how great a role discrimination plays in keeping female scientists and engineers from advancing at elite universities."

and though he refutes any pernicious intent, he won't release the transcript or recording so we can hear him in all his glory.

clearly sexism and misogyny is alive and kicking at our nation's number one college, which by the way, in light of this news, not surprisingly nurtured w. i urge you to write an email and tell him how you feel. he so deserves the "shut up award."

lawrence h. summers, president:
lawrence_summers@harvard.edu

i copied these people:

lydia cummings, ombudsperson:
university_ombuds@harvard.edu

judy fox, director of the ann radcliffe trust in harvard college (the ann radcliffe trust addresses issues of importance to harvard women):
annradtr@fas.harvard.edu

alan stone, vice president for government, community and public affairs:
alan_stone@harvard.edu

ice block mipmup.

having only ice skated (maybe) twice before, i was ready for an adventure with our six-year-old niece, my better half's goddaughter. all she wanted for christmas was a "skate day" with me (see gift cert i made above). which is kinda funny considering my husband is her ninong. she "allowed" him to come along. he's a much better skater than me, so i was relieved. i figured it'd be pretty easy and fun.

it was both of those things and oh so much more. we had been skating for about an hour and i was feeling confident. practicing ma moves, even going backward. we had just picked up our niece for the 25th time and it happened. some kid, who i need to kill later, fell into me while my back was turned and i fell square on my tailbone.

sure, i had fallen skating before. how could i forget that knee problem that still haunts me? but this was absolutely excruciating. i did get up mainly so that i didn't completely embarrass myself, secretly hoping that i would be fine. but i wasn't. my ears starting ringing and the entire ice rink felt like it was way far away in an echo chamber somewhere. i started to get tunnel vision and everything began to go dark. i told my better half that i was going to faint. i felt nauseated. i heard my better half tell me not to faint. he skated away while i stood with my now-traumatized niece and told her i would be ok. he came back with the ice skater helper guy we had made fun of about 10 minutes before this (nice karma).

he pulled me off the ice and i sat down, now extraordinarily hot. i put my head down because i heard that's what you were supposed to do when you were about to faint. things started to come back, but i felt out of breath. it was hard to talk. sat there for maybe five minutes and it passed. got up, took our two complimentary, come-back-don't-be-afraid-of-the-ice-even-though-it-hurts-you-sometimes passes the guy gave us and went to eat.

i figured i either was going to faint or i was in shock from the injury. my tailbone is ok today, but i still walk "like e.t" according to my husband. think i may have sprained my wrist, too, but it seems to be much better today. my new nickname around the house is "ice block mipmup."

so the lesson in all of this? yes, skate days are fun and sometimes, easy. but they can also almost kill you. i think i taught my niece well.