My neighborhood this morning, this afternoon and this evening.

Mop Duck: an introspective

The 2005 Opus One I opened on my 30th birthday.

Opening up.

New Years Dinner: Rib Eye, Grilled Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes and a 2006 Groth.

Champagne Toast

So this year is the year I turn 30. Tomorrow, in fact. Twenty nine has been such an unbelievable year in so many ways. Half way through the year I made a list. I am happy to report that like I said, my birthday is tomorrow, and I have completed 21 of the 30 things on my list. A few of those things can’t or just won’t happen (for reasons I’ll go into detail about later), and some I just couldn’t manage to tackle in my 6 month deadline. Overall, I am very pleased with the goals I hit. I managed to knock off some really important ones (like paying off my car, paying off half of my remaining student loan balance, cut down my cost of living, get more involved in my career – which actually took a completely different turn …)

If the last 6 months of 29 proved anything to me, it’s that 30 – and my 30s in general – are going to be a very exciting time indeed. Over the next week, I will create a whole new list of tasks. I hope you’ll stick around to see what I check off next.

Now a little bit of birthday madness.

Last Friday, I hosted a small cocktail party in my apartment. December is an insane month to attempt to get people together for, so I kept it a super low-key gathering of some city friends and family to have a drink with me and help me complete #27 on my list.

Argos was invited. And was enjoying some water at the time under my tissue paper pom poms.

Stencils I created to “help” with the creative process. Best idea ever – and watching them be incorporated was amazing.

And finally … my finished product:

This picture does this painting no justice. You can’t see the texture incorporated — people painted, and layered more paint, and sharpies, and used stencils to trace, and also to layer and give dimension and texture.

The colors are far more vibrant in person. And I can literally pick out what each person contributed. It’s pretty incredible to see how it went from a blank canvas to something wild and a perfect representation of all my friends and family.

Thank you Mom, Kate, Eric, Meaghan, Bob, Dink, Andy, Matt, Jon, Pia, Jean, Julie, Donny, Lisa, Adam, Andrew, Mike, Matt, Tracy & Greg. <3

Part 2 coming next. It’s a good one.

Did I mention my boyfriend’s parents got …. A PUPPY?!?!??!!?

I can’t even deal with that cuteness. It’s like a teddy bear. That’s alive.

Eric’s birthday was back in October. As one of his gifts, I gave him a mini-trip up north. We sat down and chose the weekend of December 11-13th to go. Can you believe from October THAT was our first available weekend? Well rockstar Eric went on tour with his band in November and I had a couple of obligations in between and …. that weekend was our anniversary ANYWAY, so it all worked out.

We had the most gorgeous drive up, with Argos totally passed out in the backseat (did I mention the resort was pet friendly? Seriously. They had water and milk bone treats waiting for him!).

We checked into our room – which got upgraded to one overlooking the grounds and had a fireplace. SUCH a good addition. Highly recommend it.

I had booked a cooking class for us to take on Saturday night. OH. HOLY. JESUS. The food we made was AMAZING. From the site:

“The Spanish know how to celebrate! This menu will surely kick off any holiday party! Winter Sangria with Apples, Pears, and Orange Zest. Then you will celebrate with some fabulous Tapas. Goat cheese baked in Tomato Sauce with fresh basil. Bacon wrapped Dates with pomegranate molasses. Grilled chicken with Romesco sauce. Learn how to prepare the best Seafood paella with chorizo sausage, scallops, shrimp, and mussels.”

It was a lovely class taught by the most adorable instructor, along side of 3 other lovely couples and then we sat down for dinner and had a lovely meal.

Sunday the Pats were playing at 4:15. Which meant Eric wanted to get to the bar for good seats by 3:00. Which meant we had our first drink in our hand by 3:01.

We made quick friends with our bartender, T, who I now ADORE. Throughout the game we kept receiving snacks from the kitchen (it is a culinary resort and school – so these weren’t your average barfood snacks!). We ordered some dinner later in the evening and T. suggested pairing with a bottle of wine and handed me the wine list.

Over the past few years, I have developed a (deeper) love of wine. I decided that on our anniversary weekend we were going to enjoy a nice bottle of red. I showed T. our first pick … and they were out. WAH! But they DID have my second pick. Which he told me he was giving us for an amazing deal.

WEEEE!! (If you’re looking for a really great bottle of cabernet, I highly recommend the pictured the Groth. Depending on the year and liquor store, you can typically find it in the $45 – $65 range now. I stocked up on this because it is delicious now, but definitely one to hold on to with experts raving that “the patience during bottle aging will reward the ‘steward’ with an outstanding bottle over the next 10 to 15 years.” Yum.)

T. ended up allowing me to pick several bottles from the wine list and purchasing them to take home for cost (what the bar pays – which is, lucky for me, significantly less than what they go for in a liquor store). I ended up with a case of wine to add to my collection that I will cherish for YEARS.

I am opening one particular bottle in a few days on my 30th birthday. A bottle that I normally would have no business buying, ever, but thanks to T. I now have to share with my family.

December 2010 has been an incredibly CRAZY month for me. There has been so much going on that I haven’t been here posting — at all. But to be honest, I’ve been so busy with some offline things, that I’m not entirely sure I’ve been able to update half the people in my life about some/any/all of it.

So I’ll update you throughout the week with some stories through the pics that I finally had a chance to pull off my phone.

First fun story: decorating my Dad’s Christmas Tree. This is one of my favorite annual Christmas activities. Me, my sister, my dad and whatever guests we decide to invite. This year we had Eric and Argos join us. They got to witness first hand the clown craziness.

Quick back story — several years ago I happened to tell a family friend how CREEPED OUT I get about clowns. Not just like “clowns are creepy.” Like FREAK OUT.

So when Christmas came that year, I was given a small, beautifully wrapped gift. When I opened it … I found THIS.

So many things are wrong with this. First, IT’S A CLOWN. Second, IT’S A CLOWN WHO IS GRABBING HIMSELF.

WHAT?!

So anyway, over the years I’ve become less sensitive to clowns. Well at least this clown. Somehow we’ve all become so attached to this creepy, pedophile clown. Now it’s not Christmas unless the clown has a photoshoot on Christmas Tree Decorating night. So … now you have to enjoy the photoshoot too.

And fine. A normal one. Of me, my Dad and my sister decorating the tree. Appropriately.

Thanks for snapping that one, E.

So which one of the clown shots is your favorite? Or maybe just offends you?

Happy start to the week!

Playing around in the South End with my new ClassicTOY camera app.

So I bought a bike. And then I bought some stuff to add on to it. This is the part where I tell you what I did. (Yes, “I” did. I actually got on the ground with tools and took things apart and put things together. Myself. At one point with directions only in Japanese. Do you know that I do not speak or read Japanese?)

So the bike, I already told you, is the 2010 Specialized Globe Vienna 3 Step Through. (Now that’s a mouthful. From here on out it will be called “bike”.)

So then I added (ok the man at the bike shop added) fenders. Planet Bike Hybrid Full Fenders to be exact. I got these for two reasons. The first is practical – tires kick up dirt and rocks and water and city gunk. Fenders help with that. The second reason? I love the vintage-y flair they give to my bike.

And tonight I added (yes me this time) a front cargo rack. The Japanese made Gamoh King Carrier Front Cargo Rack (yes that’s an affiliate link). I got this for many reasons. The first being I need to carry things. Things like my laptop, my camera, and most of all groceries. This cargo rack is exactly the right size for my MacBook (in carrying case) and for small grocery runs. You know what else? I love the way this looks too. I scoured the internet for the perfect rack (he he .. rack). I decided I wanted black and wood – again to add to the vintagey feel I’m going for. Plus it lets me live the dream of having a bike with a basket without looking like I’m actually five years old. And … adult approved basket if you will.

So there’s one other thing about this rack that really made me fall in love. And it’s the most ridiculous over the top feature …

The thing has a bottle opener on it.

How convenient.

So there you go. Now you know all the dirty details of my new bike.