Kiki has a blog!

Hey look, I still have a blog.
I really do think about posting more, but I haven't been so good at sitting down to the the post machine.
I wanted to post about my trip to The Big Apple, but when I returned from there I was busy working wardrobe for Go Diego, Go! (live & on stage) Mostly I was being paid to do laundry & knit my husband a hat while waiting for the spin cycle to finish, but it was long days with an hour commute tagged on each end. (if I was on top of it I would add a picture of the hat, but I'm not sure where the camera is)

Some highlights of NYC-

• I got to run around & shop while my husband was working!
• I got a $20 fake Prada bag from a guy on the street. It's not even a good knock off, but I liked the bag.
• My M-I-L gave HP & I each $50 gift cards for Macy*s, so I headed for Herald Square & hit the biggest Macy*s there is (I think) during January clearance. Unfortunately, I was dressed for January cold instead of the inside of a HUGE department store filled with zillions of people, so I was hot & overwhelmed by the HUGENESS that is the Miracle on 34th Street. It was over-crowded & over-heated and I didn't buy myself a thing. I fared a little better for HP who got a new sweater, just like an old sweater he loves & a couple flannel shirts.
• I got to eat at Les Halles, a restaurant I loved before I had ever heard of Anthony Bourdain (whom I also love!)
• I went to a club & saw Regina Carter, was a unique (jazz violin? and an accordion???), but great show. I'm glad we went!
• I scooted downtown to Century 21 where I was one of the few Americans looking for bargains. Mostly it was foreign tourists, making the most of our weak dollar. If you aren't familiar with it, Century 21 is kind of like a Loehman's on steroids. I got just one skirt, but it is a skirt that I will wear until it falls apart (sometimes, ya just know!)
  
• I loved this store: Delphinium Home, I didn't buy a thing--too pricey for whims, but I had a lot of fun looking. I took pictures with my husband's phone of things that caught my fancy, but haven't figured out how to retrieve them onto my computer.

It was fun to get out of town & hit the big city, now I'm back to the cold gray January of Reading. It has been a good winter for stews though, last night I made a Moroccan tangine with Chicken & Eggplant. Quite flavory! Last week it was some unbelievable Chicken Paprika's and some black bean soup that warmed the belly. Next I think will be some lasagna!

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Kiki in 2008

Ok, it's been a new year for most of the week, but hey, I'm slow on the uptake.

First some "Super Spies" in their Christmas Jammies, because really, they are too cute to leave out!


Then, on to the new year.

I have spent many years of my life working on New Year's Eve. I have climbed into rafters to release the balloons that stuck in the ceiling for a midnight drop, I have drunk champagne with the Maestro.

One of the few benefits of being a dilettante that I can ring in the new year with those that I love. HP and I had a quiet evening at home after running all over the county in order to make the perfect meal for our final of 2007. We dined on scallops in Champagne sauce with wilted spinach and scalloped potatoes with goat cheese and caramelized onions. The sauce only used a cup of Champagne, so we had most of a bottle to enjoy with dinner. The candles were lit, and so were we. New Year's day was spent lazing about and declaring our resolutions for the new.

As you can tell, devoting more time to my blog was not one of my resolutions. I really do think about the blogosphere, and I think about posting more, but then I think my life is really to dull to write about, so I play another video game or abandon the computer for some clay. (And on the clay front, I am REALLY excited about the piece I'm working on now. It is awaiting its first firing, so I hope it turns out. Maybe I should take pictures in stages--I can fake the first stage, a ball of clay, but I'll have to bypass the stage where I decided to make a lid. That is done, and I can't go back & take pics. who am I kidding, I'm terrible at remember to put pics in anyway. I'll try to do better though really) That was a really unnecessary paragraph, but for now I'll just edit this way.

Kiki's 2008 Resolutions

• Get a Job, those bills aren't going to pay themselves
• Lose Weight. Cliché, but necessary.
• Learn Italian. I started last year, then missed a day or two and then got away from it. Time to return!
• Have more fun with my husband
• Drink more water. Sometimes I forget.
• Make nicer pottery, I'm working on that one!
• Elect a new president. Ok, I'll only do a small part of that and vote, but it sounds like a good resolution, the old one has put in his time, and now it's time for a fresh outlook!
  

I think that is enough for one year, don't you?

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