#97 Paint the shutters

Done. Man, I was smokin' this weekend!

Before:


After:

In Bed by 2:00

Yesterday, despite the release of the new Harry Potter, the dude and I went to Philadelphia to play tourist in our adopted hometown. We headed off to Rick's for cheesesteaks; it was supposed to be a farewell, but there has been a reprieve.

We headed over to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the first art museum in the country. They currently have The Gross Clinic, and I have now seen it twice as often as I ever saw it when it was hanging just two blocks from my office... We said we were going to start there and work our way to the door of the old building, but we got totally distracted by the wallpaper in a room filled with black lights. Virgil Marti's psychedelic "Morris-esque" wallpaper was too intriguing. Even the women who asked about the Gross Clinic, clearly having only come to see that and the special exhibit Warp Trance (um, hey, we're part of the art), got sidetracked by that room. Although the whole gallery smelled faintly of urine, (the dude assures me it was age and possibly mildew) the building itself (Furness) and the collection were incredibly interesting. We popped over to the contemporary wing--why does viewing contemporary art always make me feel like I'm going shopping?--for a bit. On our way out, we were accosted by a docent who brought us into the sculpture wing and gave us a little tour.

We then walked over to DiBruno Brothers to spend the dude's birthday gift certificate. We ended up with a cheddar, an aged gouda, and a washed rind cheese--the stinkiest ever. Our fridge currently stinks of old socks mixed with poo. Yum! The stinky cheese is Drunk Monk, just in case that description was too much for you to resist.

We arrived home at 4:00 to find my copy of Deathly Hallows sticking out of the mailbox. When I only had just over 150 pages to read at 11:30, I determined to stay up and finish. And I did.

But I only read it so quickly because I read it before. Must be. Pblllllllllllllllllllllllt. Unlike the New York Times, I'm not talking.

#14 Half-blood Prince

Done. I had forgotten a lot of this one. Now, I am ready for Saturday.

I really wasn't sure I was going to manage this, but I have read the whole series in 23 days.

#52 Lose 50 pounds

I have been going to Weight Watchers, though I don't talk about it much. Last Saturday, I lost three pounds (I had gained the week before, so some of that was "fake" weight loss). That brought my total to over ten pounds. In celebration, I made a ticker. I know I can stick with this, but we'll see if I remember to update the ticker. I weigh on Saturdays.

#19 Go to Camden Yards

Here is the photographic evidence of my recent visit to Camden Yards. Thanks to brave astronaut, who knows my list better than I do and is perhaps more dedicated to it, I have attended a baseball game in Baltimore (and had a delightful anniversary dinner. Thanks again, brave astronaut and best pal!). The Orioles won in extra innings--the home team has won every game I have attended this season. I should rent myself out.

As we were driving down to Baltimore, I was telling the dude that we should take a vacation to visit ballparks one year. We first thought we could have some significant fun in two weeks driving around the midwest. Then we decided fuck two weeks, when we retire, we are going to go to every park in one summer. It will be the summer of baseball.

#14 870 Pages Down

...652 to go. Finished Order of the Phoenix tonight. Maybe I'll go stitch a little as a reward.

#14 More Potter

I finished Goblet of Fire last night after the Di Bruno Brothers cheese tasting we went to for the dude's upcoming birthday. It was English beer and cheese night. Mmmmmmmm cheese.

I have plenty of time to read the Order of the Phoenix before the movie is released.

I have been made aware that I am the topic of lunchroom conversation. That feels pretty weird, but I'll cope. I told the dude of brave astronaut's complaint about the rereading (see comments below), and he agrees. The discussion devolved into how great he is because he has read loads of books--at least one every two weeks--on our commute. (He was kidding.) He does read incredibly widely: authors of classics (The Defense), international Nobel Prize winners (Master of Go and Thousand Cranes), nonfiction (Where I was From), contemporary British fiction (Brick Lane)...just in the past few months alone. But for me, the point was to get back into reading, which I had pretty much stopped all together after grad school. I was nearing illiteracy...which is pathetic for a PhD in English lit. Plus which I have this hobby which you can't do while reading, and competes for the same time in my day.

The heavy load of nonfiction is the effort to stretch myself (and you will note, I'm not making nearly the progress on that). I will turn to it soon...say, the end of July.

# 66 Visit Newport, RI

I just got word from my boss--the president said we should go!

We have a major donor who we will feature in the next issue of the alumni magazine because the building that bears her name is opening. So we have to interview her. In person. And it just so happens that she summers (c'mon, she's a major donor and she "summers") in Newport. I am going for an overnight trip for a what, one hour, interview. YAY ME. Total score, I get to do one of the things on the list, and someone else is going to pay for it. I'd never have imagined it when I wrote the list.

I hope she has one of those major houses that I want to see inside of...

#14 Potter, Etc

Finished Prisoner of Azkaban last night. Wasted no time in getting to Goblet of Fire. Things should slow down from here, since the books are doubling in size. Think I'll still be done before July 21?

Fiction: 11

#14 The Potter Books

I finished Chamber of Secrets and dragged the dude to the library so that I could pick up Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. I'll have to slow down eventually--things need to be done around the house!

Fiction: 10

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

I've decided at this late date to reread all the Harry Potters before I read the last one. I started on Tuesday, and I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last night after the ball game. I started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today, but I really have to try to finish my contest entry for Craftzine's Stitch n Pitch thingy by tomorrow night. So I'll try not to read tonight until I've worked on it. And I'm in a race against the clock to get to book 5 before July 11th, well 15th, we wouldn't see the movie before the weekend anyway.

Fiction: 9

#18 Subscribe to the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly

On magazine trends from the Chicago Tribune

INFLUENTIAL EDITORS: One of the most influential editors - and I'm not just saying this because I work for him - is [Rolling Stone founder] Jann Wenner... And secondly, I'm just going to say a name everyone else says: David Remnick. Even if you aren't reading his magazine, the New Yorker is so well-regarded that it's the only magazine where intelligent people feel deep, existential shame if they don't have a subscription.

We gave up the subscription, but I do not feel one iota of existential shame. Maybe it's because I'm not a regular "intelligent person." I'm superhuman in my intelligence. Seriously. The other day my boss introduced me to a consultant as the resident genius. I think I should get paid a whole lot more for that position--I only signed up to be the associate director of alumni and development communications.

The New Yorker didn’t give us time to breathe, to absorb, to fucking read it. Every time I got the mail there was a new one. We’re sticking with the Atlantic. We both like the extensive coverage of one topic and a whole month to look at it. And I greatly prefer Word Fugitives to coming up with captions for the world's worst cartoons.

#5 Visit Elfreth's Alley

The dude and I actually went into the city on a weekend! You'd think we lived 100 miles away instead of 9. But the traffic coming home did convince us that the surface streets--or even public transportation--was a much better way to go.

I forgot my camera, but I do have crappy camera phone evidence:

So, what's the deal with Elfreth's Alley? This National Historic Landmark is the oldest continuously inhabited street in the United States. The houses are, mostly, privately owned (one's a museum and another is a gift shop). Many of people who live there kindly open their homes twice a year, once in the summer and once around Christmas.

I thought it would be cool to see it, and I thought it would be neat to show the (English) dude that we have old stuff too. Of course, when we got to the first house, he says, "I grew up in a house older than this." Which of course could have been brought to my attention when they were still living in the house! Apparently, the kitchen cupboards were even original. I never went into the kitchen in that house. His "divorcing" parents sold it, so I will never get to really poke around in his old house.

But I did get to see some original cabinetry in these old houses. One of the most interesting things about the Alley is that it was originally inhabited by tradespeople, so it is an example of a working class neighborhood. In the late 19th/early 20th century the homes were occupied by immigrants. Now, of course, it's pretty upscale.

#23 Consult a financial advisor

So the dude, Mr I don't need no stinkin' budget, consented to come with me to the appointment with the financial advisor. He has changed his tune, fortunately. We've hired her, and we'll be changing the way money flows around here. I also believe she'll do a lot to help us with #22 (contribute additional $$ to retirement) and #24 (write a will, including all attendant documents).

So, see, #57 has really paid off!

#14 More Fiction

A couple of weeks ago, Cheryl in DC wrote to tell me about Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody by Chelsea Cain. It had been recommended by Nancy Pearl on NPR. Pearl let on that in the book Carolyn Keene had been the real Nancy Drew's roommate at my alma mater, Bryn Mawr, and that clinched it. Plus I was such a huge fan of Nancy Drew when I was a kid (Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo--I still love me a good mystery. And since Scooby Doo is my niece's favorite show, and now that she is reading chapter books, I know just what to get her for Christmas!)

This book was fun and quick. I guess I never realized how annoying those Nancy Drew books were. I loved the chapter where George, now a feminist professor, gathers the heroines of teen mysteries to discuss what kind of role models they were. Some parts of the book are really rather clever. It's entertaining, but never laugh out loud funny. Well worth reading if you read these books as a kid and wondered what happened when Nancy settled down and grew old.

Fiction: 8

#57 Have lunch with coworkers

Some days the only progress on this list I seem to make is that I eat. Today I had lunch with six coworkers. We got a "free" lunch for listening to an investment sales pitch. I am so not the sales pitch kind of girl. I tried really hard, but I had to make a comment.

Some of these people I've already had lunch with and some are so new they're not on the list. (I'm sticking with the original list because the number of people who are being added as we head into a campaign is phenomenal. I'll put them on the next 101 things list.) I'm taking MG and LA off the list because we ate together today. Going over the list, I see I should take NL off the list--we've had squid salad together at the Burmese place in Chinatown, not sure when or if I reported on it. LN was also there. You know, I've had lunch with her more since she left than I ever did while she was here.

I'm taking DG and KM off because I can't even find them on the current phone list, and I can't remember who they are!

I have twenty-one to go. I think I started with 41 or so. BC, BE, CM, DM, HB, FR, JH, JR, KW, KB, LA, LM, MG, MK, NS, PH, PM, PN, SS, SS, TM.

#64 Visit four of the following states overnight

I have been to Texas, and I stayed. The office sent me to a conference in San Antonio. The dude came and we extended our visit so that I could get out of the hotel for a while. We stayed on the Riverwalk, which is fine and totally prevents the downtown from being an armpit, but is of course totally touristy, which is where I belonged because I was the total tourist. I have been to the Alamo. I have been to El Mercado. I have been to the King William historical district, but there's really only so much you can do in a day and a couple of nights.

I did almost plow into Jeff Van Gundy when I was getting off the elevator. We had seen him on Friday night doing an ESPN talking head thing on the river in front of our hotel (the official hotel of the visiting team--I shared space with Steve Nash!). Then on Saturday night, he was planning dinner with some ESPN producers right in front of the elevator. He was pretty humble ("I'm the new guy. I'm a team player," he said as they tried to decide where to go...)

On the way out of town, our taxi driver was telling us how much house we could buy for what we paid for our tiny treasure in the burbs (two words: gated community). We were jokingly thinking about it, but since we don't have jobs in Texas, there's no point. When we got to the airport, there was an advertisement for a job opening for what my husband does.It was like a sign. Except the job was at the University of the Incarnate Word. Oh, it was a sign all right. A sign to go home to Philadelphia.

More Photos:


The ubiquitous river cruise boats.


Day of the Dead figures from El Mercado.


San Fernando Cathedral

#13 Watch AFI 100 Top Movies

I'm watching Modern Times. I am so used to stitching while I watch a movie, but I can't with this, because it's mostly silent. I feel like I'm wasting so much time! Fortunately, they are walking off into the sunset right now. "Buck up"--that's the best they can do? At any rate, I learned where Dick Van Dyke got the idea for tripping over the ottoman and where quarterbacks got the idea for writing plays on their wrist guards. Nevertheless, this felt more like penance than anything else. But then it only came in at #81.

#95 Buy a new front door

Our new front door goes in today. The guy who's putting it in called last night to give us the head's up because he's also bringing over the quarter round that we'll have to paint tonight. So this morning he calls and says, "Where are the locks?" Um...locks? Doesn't that come with the door? Why didn't he tell me this yesterday, when I could have used the information? D'oh. Instead, I am standing in 69th Street Station freaking out about what to do about locks. Fortunately, the dude came up with a plan that didn't involve me taking off the whole day. I went online, found this, and told him to get me something like it. Brushed nickle first, black second. Do not get brass. Spend under $200. Not ideal, but we'll have a new door when we get home tonight! Screen door goes in tomorrow. No more stupid Amish buggies. (We're more than an hour from Lancaster, for goodness sake!)

#89 Shelving for dining room

Okay, so it doesn't look much like shelving, but it does take up much of that wall--we decided we didn't really need to add the storage the shelves would provide. (It was that ubiquitous Pottery Barn hanging bar sort of thing. Very chichi, too expensive.)

This is much more us anyway.

And, just because I can, a gratuitous shot of the $60 chandelier I got from Home Decorator's Outlet.