Sweet Blog o' Mine

I Need Salad

Meat-heavy weekend. Saxon & Parole, noshing in Flushing (pictured above, the spicy and delectable bobo chicken from Spicy and Tasty), Fatty Cue, Davis' chipotle mole chile, and Bo Ssam. Other weekend highlights: PDT, four little dogs in my apartment, Moxie's first trip to the vet, LUPEC meeting at the Beagle, Davis' dinner party fly-by, quality time with LA visitors @LushAngeles and @Allanvkatz, drinks at Booker and Dax, and meeting new folks.  Now pass the kale, please.

PS -- getting rid of my cable tonight. Wish me luck.

Weekend Wrapup

Bartending with @daisy17 and @cocktailspirit at FLICFest, snow day lounging with Moxie, making chicken soup, reading the paper, and watching episodes of 24, a visit to Terroir to see @colintuska and @beerguy1, delectable butterscotch pudding from Puddin' (which paired nicely with a Rob Roy), writing about fried chicken, dog play dates (ack! what have I become!?) with Frazzle, Mochi and Ninja, cozy dinner party with Carrie and @AlcoholOracle, delicious lamb and white bean stew.

Length of A Morning

This morning, I was up and out the door at 7:15, walked with Moxie for an hour, got ready for work, put dinner in the slow cooker (tuscan white bean, kale and sausage soup; just realized I forgot the bay leaf), put Moxie's breakfast in a Kong to distract her when I left, slipped out unnoticed (hallelujah!) after leaving it in her bowl, and somehow managed to get to work earlier than I generally do. It's amazing how much longer the morning feels without 45 minutes of snooze button. That said, I may fall over at some point today.

Moxie!

For those of you who haven't yet figured it out through Facebook or Twitter, I've adopted a dog! Formerly known as Ashley (because she had a sister named Mary-Kate, who I also hope got re-named), I've renamed her Moxie. I adopted her through the folks at Badass Brooklyn Foster Dogs. I highly recommend them if you're at all interested in adopting. They rescue dogs from shelters, mostly in the South, and place them in a network of foster homes throughout the city before helping to find them homes. They've been great at holding my hand, and connecting me with resources I need as I figure this all out. Moxie is sweet and friendly, but has a bit of separation anxiety (as do I given that I had to leave her and go to work today).  Thankfully, the wonderful folks who fostered her through the past five weeks or so put in a great deal of work and had helpful suggestions on how to help her (us) work through it. They also did the hard work of housebreaking her (thank you!!!). She seems to know how to sit, but we're going to work on solidifying sit, come, and down as our first obedience priorities in addition to the separation anxiety stuff.

I never expected to be a purse dog kind of gal, but I feel like Moxie is a big dog in a little body -- she has been comfortable meeting dogs of many sizes as well as people. She even had her first dinner party the other night -- she was incredibly well-behaved.  Her size will also allow me to cart her around the city with me, not to mention she is ok for flying, so she will get to hang out with the other family dogs at some point -- get ready, Lucy, Teddy, and Ivy Brian!! 

I also want to thank Rachel and Jimmy, who are both relatively recent small dog owners, for all of their suggestions and encouragement. Moxie is looking forward to meeting you, Mochi, Ninja, Barley and Hops!  And, by suggestion of @RonDiggity and inspired by @Bayduh, she has her own Twitter feed at @MoxieMutt. Yes, I have become the scary purse dog lady who carries dog treats in her pocket and has a Twitter feed for her dog. And I've only had her since Saturday. Watch out. That said, since I've never owned a small dog before, I'm still treating her more like a big dog than I should, except that she is allowed on the couch.  I haven't taken her out in a bag yet, but I'm sure that'll come soon.

Resolved

I know it's sort of a cop out, but I am falling back to resolutions from prior years. They're still incredibly relevant and I think it's worth a re-commitment on my part.

• Let go (probably the one I need to re-commit to the most).
• Take action.
• Slow down.
• Appreciate what you *do* have instead of focusing on what you don't.

These resolutions will always serve me well.

Clean Slate

(courtesy of Gaping Void)

I am doing my best to start out 2012 with a clean slate. When I set aside time for it, the purging of belongings isn't hard.  It's the other stuff that's not so easy. Leaving unneccessary emotional baggage behind is a truly difficult task, but I'm trying, and luckily I have a strong support network to help. Here's to letting go . . .

Holidaze

Being on the other side of the world in a warm climate for the first two weeks of December has definitely had on impact on me regarding this year's holiday season. Yes, I know it's December 22nd, but it does not feel at all like Christmas to me; it doesn't even feel close. This, of course, has led to my scrambling around like a crazy person trying to get my typical holiday things done; tomorrow night is reserved for building staff tips and toffee-making. Not even sure I'll have time for the granola before Christmas day with my family.

I've also given very little thought to what I'll be doing for my birthday (the day after Christmas) and New Year's Eve. I do know, however, that I'll be eating mac & cheese and watching The Big Lebowski on New Year's Day. That's a tradition not to be messed with.

Mawwiage

As much as I wanted to do that bit from The Princess Bride at my sister's wedding tonight, I am restraining myself. She's much more grown up now, but this is still one of my favorite pictures of her. Congratulations to Katie and Pete! Looking forward to celebrating with you this weekend.

Introspection and Contemplation

During the High Holidays, I tend to get somewhat introspective. As the weather gets cooler, it somehow seems natural to pause and reflect over the past year and contemplate the year to come. According to Jewish faith, this is the week that seals your fate for the next year; you repent for your sins during the past year, and look towards improving your behavior in the upcoming year: What was good or bad about the past year? What changes to I want to make in my life? What are my goals for the upcoming year? How can I be a better person? As I've mentioned to some of you, I am trying (as usual) to slow down some. Conviently, my body is helping me out. I seem to need more sleep than I did a few years ago. Slowing down, to me, also means focusing on and savoring the present moment; less worring about the future or dwelling on the past. I have some lofty goals in place for the year to come; stay tuned. And Shana Tova to all -- Jewish or not!!

Parenthood

Yet another interesting read this week: Parents of a Certain Age, from NY Mag, discussing the fact that advances in reproductive technology has resulted in first-time mothers in their late 40's and early 50's. But the question remains: is this good for the children of those mothers/parents?  I often think about the fact that my brother and sister, who are ten years younger than I, had a somewhat different childhood than I did, one factor being the age that my father was when we were born. My father was in his late 20's when I was born, which likely had some advantages, but he was in a better economic situation by the time they were born, when he was in his late 30's. If I had a child tomorrow, I would be 58 when he/she graduated from high school, and 70 when she/she turns 30.  Scary to consider . . .

Just food for thought. I promise I'm not having a child tomorrow.