tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-217343672024-03-07T23:00:17.902-05:00Love and Cyanide.The high-seas adventures of two sisters and a homosexual stuffed Bear.missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.comBlogger455125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-56556122682486476072009-12-29T01:06:00.001-05:002009-12-29T01:07:08.049-05:00happy happy.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">oh dear. i truly had grand plans to stop slacking in the writing dept over here throughout the month of december. and yet i've been gone so long i didn't even know that they added helvetica as a font option (YAY!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">but i'm back just in time for my requisite end-of-year post. while i am scarily still in a similar boat to the one i was in last year at this time, i can safely say that this time i won't be reflecting on all the crying i did during the past year. PROGRESS! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">so i tend to sum up this year as all crappy, but in reflecting on it as of late, it wasn't a total waste. mainly a waste - yes - but some great things managed to sneak in within the past twelve months, and more importantly, i have a feeling i will someday look back and see that this year was more of a transitional one than a flat-out terrible one. i used to go around saying "when i get my old life back"....and then it hit me one day that i wasn't, ever, going to get back the life i had been leading since i've been out of college. and then it hit me that i'm actually ok with that. in which case 2009 <i>had</i> to turn out this way as it's laying the foundation for a new path for me. and there's nothing wrong with new paths, right? there can be oodles of exciting new places along it to explore. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">so this (possibly delusional) outlook is what's getting me through the end of this year, and more importantly, end of this decade. as i watch 2009 limp away from me with it's tail between its mangy little legs, i say bring on the 10's, and - good lord - my 30's. i can't wait to see what's in store. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">happy, happy new year, dear readers ~ wishing you all all the best for this shiny new decade. </span><br />
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</span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-71174734030842078502009-12-01T00:33:00.000-05:002009-12-01T00:33:09.963-05:00am i smarter than a fifth grader? most definitely not.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">for reasons that shall go nameless at the moment, i have to re-learn my fractions this week. i mean old-school, mastered-when-i-was-nine-years-old-and-haven't-thought-of-since fractions. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">i always used to laugh about the people who went on those silly 'are you smarter than an elementary-schooler?' type shows, but now that i'm actually re-attempting math from 20 (jeez!) years ago, i realize just how freaking hard this stuff is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">after being completely bewildered by phrases like "greatest common denominator" a few hours ago, i'm starting to make strides. things are coming back to me, and i'm currently maintaining a passing grade of 77 (fine. <i>barely passing.</i>) on a website game for adding fractions. BUT i'm positively excelling when it comes to dividing fractions, with a 93% and a gold smiley-faced star. a fact that i am entirely too proud of -- i'm ready to print out the page and hang it on the refrigerator. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-83114898641352511762009-11-28T01:24:00.003-05:002009-11-28T01:28:54.074-05:00greetings, cards, and greeting cards.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">a quickie roundup of the past 10 days, since i've been being a slacker again (but an otherwise very busy slacker!): </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">- to all who our dear readers who celebrated this week, happy thanksgiving! we hope you are all happily sated from fun family times and copious amounts of food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">- do you know how good it feels to have a library card again? i spent an awesome hour back in the old place the other day, and i can't wait to tear through the stack of books i took out and go back to get some more. i guess since i worked around books every day i didn't realize how much i missed the actual library. something about seeing tattered old books again - all my shiny new hardcovers from the past few years in publishing had gotten me spoiled, i think. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">the moment when i realized <i>just</i> how long it had been from the last time i was in a library was when my cell phone started buzzing and a librarian shot me a dirty look. it hadn't even occurred to me to silence the thing since the last time i was in one i didn't tote a cell around with me. eons must have passed! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">- i've mentioned side projects that missy and i have been up to a few times before -- <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/ralphsgrocery">this</a> is our most recent, and biggest, to date, and one that we will hopefully continue for many years to come. i won't shamelessly self-promote too much over here (that's what facebook and twitter are for! in-between learning about what that random acquaintance from middle school ate for breakfast, of course), but we'd love and greatly appreciate if you had a moment and clicked over there and checked out the new shop. </span><br />
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</span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-87250827291656264832009-11-17T15:00:00.000-05:002009-11-17T15:00:19.203-05:00i'd like to meet his tailor.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">i'm not into the whole <i>twilight</i> hoopla, but i do love <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-powers-and-ritch-duncan/werewolves-the-recessions_b_360580.html">this</a> piece </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">from <i>the huffington post, </i>which </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">equates it to the recession</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">i am a werewolf. hear my anguished howl! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">**while on the subject of wolfie noises, i spent a most entertaining 40 minutes in the car on halloween, driving to sissy's place, with warren zevon's <i>werewolves of london </i>on repeat, enthusiastically AWHOOOOOO-ing alongside with the chorus. traffic is so much more tolerable when you can howl through it. </span><br />
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</span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-73963746356815265132009-11-13T11:30:00.000-05:002009-11-13T11:30:42.875-05:00commemorating.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">a day short, but i intend to spend most of tomorrow too hungover to type, but - happy unemployedaversary to me. can you believe it's been a year? i can't. it completely and utterly boggles my mind, although, i had a sneaking suspicion last year at this time (well, last year, 36 hours from now) that i would find myself here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">and one of the things i've pondered most of late is whether that was just my pisces intuition at work or if i subconsciously caused this scenario. would the initial mindset of "oh hey, a little break. no worries." as opposed to "HOLY FREAKING SHIT - I AM NEVER GOING TO WORK AGAIN</span>. <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I AM GOING TO BE POOR AND SAD FOREVER." have gotten me employed again within a neat little two months? does mindset have a hand in destiny? did i think myself to one year later, still no job and living back at my parents? is that possible? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">prescience or self-fulfilling prophecy is the wonderment that has turned my current bedtime into 3am. in my next life i would really, really, really like to become one of those people who thinks just a tad less. maybe 30% less self-awareness and i can go about my merry way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">but besides becoming a tad more neurotic, i think i am doing kind of ok. there's been an awful lot of rough patches, but otherwise life has chugged along kind of normally, and if anything i'd like to believe that the experience of a hardship (</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">for lack of a better word, as i do know that things could definitely be worse, and that there are millions in my current situation + much worse) </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">such as this has helped me to develop some new positive behaviors that i wouldn't have had the insight to properly develop beforehand when nothing was really ever wrong besides the passing every day bs stuff that now i know doesn't matter. well, at least matters less. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">is this growing up? maybe life holding me by the ponytail and spanking me with the reality stick will have its benefits after all. </span><br />
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</span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-69566129268902966672009-11-09T20:31:00.002-05:002009-11-09T20:42:57.154-05:00new ventures!<span style="font-family: verdana;">two posts in one day! do i have a fever?<br /><br /><br />this is more of an announcement than legitimate prose, so i suppose i don't. but missy, bear, and i have started on another online endeavor - <a href="http://theriposisters.tumblr.com/">us, elsewhere</a> - in support of an offline endeavor that we're been working on for quite some time now (and will hopefully be launching soon). i don't intend to abandon darling old loveandcyanide for the new and shiny, so expect to still be able to find me here, dear bloggy friends and readers. but you can now find me there, too.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-52041868057902381652009-11-09T16:40:00.005-05:002009-11-09T20:28:32.347-05:00my worst enemy.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YhmniXhZAnaf9e683uAln0v5d5WUe8Mmvl7uTM2A2x1aTnnxh7tr-jbekxFTNsRnyjslOzJEvCuMUzdOeh7QW8tGkZXSKMW8a5nQi_Idh5t1QIH4Fxu-l5-j_-A9TaFA5mlh/s1600-h/enemy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YhmniXhZAnaf9e683uAln0v5d5WUe8Mmvl7uTM2A2x1aTnnxh7tr-jbekxFTNsRnyjslOzJEvCuMUzdOeh7QW8tGkZXSKMW8a5nQi_Idh5t1QIH4Fxu-l5-j_-A9TaFA5mlh/s320/enemy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402275163954696226" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">this is a flowering pear tree.<br /><br /><br />it is also my latest arch-nemesis.<br /><br /><br />you may be asking yourself how i could possibly be at odds with such a sweet, harmless tree. don't be fooled - similar to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">britney</span>, the flowering pear is not that innocent. it lords over my parking spot with ill-intent. obstructing the curb with its low-hanging branches. depositing its ugly alien berries* all over the hood of my car. shedding an obscene amount of leaves.<br /><br />why my parents opted to plant this thing where did they did is a complete mystery. they claim they had no idea it would grow as massive as it has or that it would make giant berries that would then fall all over the place leaving sticky, purple-y chaos in their wake. clearly they didn't do their research, as in the past 24 hours <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i've</span> </span>learned that the flowering pear grows into a majestic (re: <span style="font-style: italic;">large</span>) pyramid shape and is a lovely addition <span style="font-style: italic;">to your lawn. </span>nowhere is the flowering pear suggested for a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">teensy</span> patch of dirt on the sidewalk next to your driveway in a space that perfectly fits one silver <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">pontiac</span> grand am.<br /><br />the flowering pear better hope that i don't come across an axe in the basement.<br /><br /><br />*'ugly alien berries' do not resemble cute, normal berries, like the straw-, blue-, or rasp- varieties. instead they look like escargot. and when you rather unwisely try to scrape them off your windshield with your windshield wipers, they streak a purple-y brown goo across it that will take many, <span style="font-style: italic;">many</span> paper towels to clean off.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-23009187894667003322009-11-06T00:42:00.002-05:002009-11-06T01:26:36.816-05:00parking lot peeves.<span style="font-family: verdana;">since starting my 'new life' - well, 'newer new life' - two (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">eeeekkkkk</span>!) months ago, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i've</span> had to adjust to some different habits. like driving almost everywhere. which isn't the worst thing on earth - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">i've</span> always been a fan of driving, whether <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">i'm</span> the driver or a passenger. and cars certainly get you places faster. - however, i just cannot get comfortable with driving to the gym. i got so used to having a nice little warm-up during my 10-block walk to my old gym - a very efficient method of getting in that little extra bit to my workout, i always thought - that now i feel like a useless sloth driving to it. but less of a useless sloth than some of my fellow gym-goers.<br /><br />the gym is in a small shopping center, with a main parking lot for a number of stores. i typically park a few aisles over from the gym, where it is less crowded and so i can get an extra 20 seconds of leg movement before getting on the treadmill. so <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">i've</span> noticed during my little jaunts through the lot that there is often a lot of competition for the five or so parking spots that are directly in front of the building. prime real estate - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">i'm</span> waiting for a fight to break out over them. yesterday, a woman waited for at least 3 minutes in her car for a man to get his (slow-moving) self into his vehicle and relinquish the spot to her. i marveled at how lazy people can be, that they are going to workout, but yet they can't walk more than a foot to get into the place where they are going to workout.<br /><br />so imagine my disgust level when i left the gym and, looking down while crossing through one of the empty prime spots, noticed NO PARKING - FIRE LANE painted all along the curb! i hope an exercise bike never spontaneously bursts into flames while <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">i'm</span> working out alongside those lazy lawbreakers. our sweat will have to put the fire out since the firetruck won't be able to get close enough.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-67928736468308151582009-11-04T00:36:00.002-05:002009-11-04T00:50:04.922-05:00united states postal stalkers?<span style="font-family: verdana;">the following exchange took place outside my house this afternoon:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">scene: my father is on our property, fixing our front porch. the mailman shows up. they exchange mundane small talk, and mailman hands my father today's mail.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">mailman:</span> oh, hey, does the garbage in this neighborhood get picked up on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">tuesday</span>?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">father:</span> yes. <span style="font-style: italic;">(probably makes strange face at strange question)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">mailman:</span> oh <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ok</span>. thanks - i know you're retired from the sanitation department, so i figured you would know. <span style="font-style: italic;">(turns to exit through gate) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">father:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">(pauses. thinks.) </span>hey. how did you remember i worked for sanitation? i don't remember us talking about it, and if we did it had to have been awhile ago.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">mailman:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">oh, i deliver your mail. i know everything about everyone!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span>what a creep!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-90502709965884556832009-10-01T23:56:00.005-04:002009-10-02T01:42:01.710-04:00buy my crap!<span style="font-family:verdana;">in the spirit of fully embracing this new suburban life that i'm leading i hosted a yard sale (garage sale, stoop sale, rummage sale, moving sale - whatever you'd like to call it) a few weekends ago, a necessary event given the amount of tired old crap </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">that missy and i didn't want anymore that </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">i dragged back here with me from my apartment. and adding that to the tired old crap my parents already had, plus the tired old crap i'd been depositing here the past six years while i acquired shiny new crap in queens...and, well, you get the picture. that's a lot of junk. it was actually a whole room full of junk, as my mother starting stashing it all in our spare bedroom and within weeks the room was packed to the gills.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">so we put a notice in the local paper*, made some bright yellow "YARD SALE ----->" signs, and set up shop one sunny september saturday morning. business was brisk, and as with any situation where you'd interact with a volume of customers, our yard was home to quite a cast of characters that day, from the annoying to the surprising (a fossil of an old woman, who hobbled into the yard on the arm of an elderly friend. we almost collapsed in giggles as she passed by the table of knickknacks, making a beeline for the tool section. she left with a bag containing a giant wrench, a screwdriver, and a wood sander. i really wanted to follow her home to see what on earth she did with them).<br /><br />but the most entertaining moment of the </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">day came from a pair of young neighbors across the street. about 2/3 through our sale we noticed the little boys hanging a sign on a pole right beneath our yard sale sign.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kXCT-YvKu977XkjTP_jlGl25_wU5u78bWi76xT3lznKTr8KVZ-Qo9G8O_fVtEQo33D99noqAzg5YBbrXsONW5eN0SDTPYIvIhsc27KafVdNEia0KCElNPJH79tT_WN37jZQf/s1600-h/IMG_3886.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kXCT-YvKu977XkjTP_jlGl25_wU5u78bWi76xT3lznKTr8KVZ-Qo9G8O_fVtEQo33D99noqAzg5YBbrXsONW5eN0SDTPYIvIhsc27KafVdNEia0KCElNPJH79tT_WN37jZQf/s320/IMG_3886.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387872605404870210" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >competition!</span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />as i crossed the street to inspect it, we realized it was a sign for <span style="font-style: italic;">their</span> yard sale - and looking over to their lawn, we noticed them dragging toys and clothes out of the house and laying them all over the lawn. it was cutely hilarious. but our rivalry was short-lived, as about 15 minutes later they came over to our yard, complaining that they weren't getting any business. a quick lesson in yard sale 101 ensued.<br /><br />in the end, after crushing our elementary-school competition and selling off more than half of all the stuff we had out, it turned out to be a rather successful day. if only there was a market for yard sale consultants, i'd totally be in business.<br /><br /><br />*while initially discussing plans for the sale, i suggested to my parents that we should have snacks for shoppers. i even offered to bake my famous brownies. ever the cynics - "snacks?? who has snacks?!" they scoffed - they quickly shot down the idea. lo and behold, when i checked out my ad in the paper - one of the loveliest ads that weekend, i might add - a neighboring ad boasted, in bold, imposing newsprint, <span style="font-weight: bold;">FREE COOKIES!</span><br /><br />i guarantee the 'free cookies' yard sale had record crowds.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-70035340787732993592009-09-28T09:49:00.000-04:002009-09-28T10:25:51.233-04:00cryptic text messages from my father, and other stories from the homestead.<span style="font-family:verdana;">as you may or may not know, i recently moved back in with my parents. while i still slightly shudder when telling this to people,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>the adjustment, in general, is chugging along somewhat more smoothly than i had thought. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">i'm</span> not saying this is at all ideal, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">and after three weeks i still wake up every morning thinking <span style="font-style: italic;">what the hell has happened to me, </span>but if you had to choose a set of parents to live with, mine most definitely are not the worst of the lot. they're actually pretty great - helpful, benevolent, non-obtrusive, little-to-no psychosis - and are turning out to be the most useful roommates* <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i've</span> ever had.<br /><br />there's also the unintentional hilarity that they provide. while no stranger to living in a realm of constant ridiculousness after all the nonsense that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">missy</span>, bear, and i pulled during the past few years, it's gone to a whole new level in dealing everyday with the folks. there are the notes my mother leaves for me every morning when she leaves for work, the shouts of, "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">chris</span>, are you <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ok</span>?!" every single time i drop something (which, as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">i'm</span> learning living in a place where it's acknowledged every time i drop something, is pretty damn often), the regular discussions that start with "you didn't used to do that when you were younger" that have me defending everything from the amount of water i use when i wash dishes to the fact that i shuffle around when i wear slippers and leave windows open when it's raining outside. and then of course there is the rediscovery of the divide between my peers and those of an earlier generation.<br /><br />for instance, my father, an intelligent man but nevertheless from a less technologically advanced era, cannot text message for the life of him. so he's taken to answering my texts with random letters and words, so i "at least know he's received them", and sending them to me when he wants me to call him back. last night i received an "MI" (which, as it turned out, was just an attempt at replying "OK") and, later in the evening (when, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">embarrassingly</span> enough, my bar companions took me checking my phone and smirking, at such a late hour, to mean i had received a booty call) a miscellaneous "MOON". <span style="font-style: italic;">no guys, seriously, it's just my dad sending over his typographical bat signals.<br /></span><span><br />on the flip side, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">i'm</span> also learning that although in their early 50's they are surpassing me in some surprising realms. like fitness, as i discovered the other day when i decided to do my mother's workout video with her. she marched into the room with two sets of weights and informed me that <span style="font-style: italic;">i</span> could use the 1lb weights while <span style="font-style: italic;">she</span> would use the 3lb ones.<br /><br />my arms are still sore. hers, not so much.<br /><br />****<br /><br />i had taken a bit of a siesta from good old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">loveandcyanide</span> because i felt i had lost my muse, and had veered off from our original theme, and i wasn't quite sure what to do with it anymore...but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">i'm</span> thinking living with the parents will provide me with enough fodder for awhile.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-1731322137709147702009-08-05T22:10:00.003-04:002009-08-05T23:04:18.408-04:00things fall apart.<span style="font-family: verdana;">my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ipod</span> (i think) broke earlier today - </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">i say "i think" since you can never be too sure with those things. although since it turned itself off earlier today, when i do turn it on it is making an unnatural whirring noise and the little graphic that comes up is of a little caution sign with a sad-faced <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ipod</span> standing next to it (right, everyone else who i relayed this to told me they never saw such a screen either)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">, so things don't seem very promising - which is wildly distressing because beyond the fact that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">i'm</span> not particularly in the market for new electronic equipment at the moment, i also only possess about a third of the music on it on my current computer.<br /><br />which means if i do have to get a new pod i am going to be spending MANY hours holed up with all my old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CDs</span>. let's hope those apple store workers are actually magicians, not just geniuses.<br /><br />******<br /><br />speaking of genius (or those that fall slightly short), <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">i've</span> been noticing a disturbing new trend during my trips to the beach this summer - pillows. bed pillows, couch pillows - those soft, squishy square things are <span style="font-style: italic;">on the beach. </span>is laying on one's beach towel not cushy enough that people need to tote their bedding along to get comfortable in the sand?? i understand that we lay on blankets on the beach and in parks, but the pillow brings it to a bizarre new level. unless those folks have particular beach pillows...imagine trying to get all that sand out of your bed?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-35240762840260984862009-07-29T22:59:00.002-04:002009-07-29T23:21:15.311-04:00these are a few of our favorite things.<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/07/tasty-de-lit.html">awesome. </a><br /><br />my vote is totally for the <span style="font-style: italic;">gooey decimal system.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-41927836613763742252009-07-26T22:58:00.002-04:002009-07-27T09:51:45.206-04:00dispatches from the beach - belated edition.<span style="font-family:verdana;">we had mentioned awhile back - before the great disappearance of '09 - that we were going on our annual summer shore trip to long beach island. well we did, and as always we had a great time. this year was filled with standard <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">lbi</span> fun - boozing on the beach all day, grilling up a storm at night - and some nice surprises - like discovering a ridiculously good sushi place on an island full of fried fish shacks and ice cream stands - but oddly enough our most interesting tale from the trip is one of horror.<br /><br />*****<br />our very first day in the house that we rented started off rather frantically - as first days often go - as 14 of us showed up at the house around noon, eager to get our vacation on. mass unpacking ensued, and as it was our most crowded night, and we were having a big first night 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">july</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">bbq</span>, you can imagine how much we were all tripping over each other getting the kitchen set up/bedrooms assigned/luggage stowed away etc.<br /><br />what you might not imagine is that during this the kids from the neighboring house were all over our property. brief <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">back story</span>: the home we were renting for the week and the house next door to it were owned by joint families - the family in the house next door had apparently been staying in our house the week before (that didn't make much sense at the time, and still doesn't now), and so for the first hour or two that we were there unpacking, some of the neighbors were still removing their belongings from our yard. they were friendly enough, and were trading beers with us, so at first we didn't care about their kids all too much.<br /><br />however, by the time we were starting up our <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">bbq</span> festivities that evening, we started noticing the two kids still randomly around - in our backyard bushes looking for their toys, attacking one of our trees with a butterfly net, even standing on our front porch telling us the key code to unlock the front door. finding them slightly annoying, and the latter incident more than slightly disturbing, we decided that if they kept hanging around we'd go complain. but thankfully they disappeared, and the next few hours were spent playing lawn games, watching fireworks, and toasting to our nation's independence.<br /><br />fast forward to bedtime, much later that night - five of us are having a slumber party in the living room, sprawled out amongst an air mattress and three couches. after chatting for a bit, we all quiet down and start passing out. suddenly, from across the room one of my friends hisses, "there's someone at our front door!" being on the couch perpendicular to and closest to the door, i open my eyes to see a shadow looming on the wall. a rather short shadow, but a human shape nonetheless.<br /><br />as my friend continued to more loudly and urgently whisper to the rest of us that there is indeed a <span style="font-style: italic;">child </span>at the front door, images of <span style="font-style: italic;">the children of the corn</span> run through my mind. we then hear the screen door open and the front door starts rattling, and the three of us females in the room are now yelping in fright. just as the front door is about to be pushed in, the two guys in the room bound over to it and yank it open, revealing one of the little monsters from earlier in the day.<br /><br />after asking what the hell he was doing trying to enter our house in the middle of the night, we were informed that he had left his stuffed animals in the attic room, and could he go get them? </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the rascal received a resounding NO and a brief lecture about how adults go to sleep at night and you can't just barge into their house to sneak into their rooms and retrieve your toys. the little imp continued to whine about his toys, but the guys firmly told him to come back in the morning, ring the bell like a normal, mannered person would, and he could look for them then. <br /><br />the next day stuffed animals were found in the attic, and so we returned them and tattled on the little brat. suffice to say we didn't see him on our property for the rest of the trip.<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-43249481551728814052009-07-23T01:40:00.007-04:002009-07-23T11:37:05.419-04:00dispatches from the park - belated edition.<span style="font-family:verdana;">during the month of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">june</span> i did quite a bit of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">sha</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">kespeare</span> production-watching in parks. by 'quite a bit' i mean two separate performances, but really, how much <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">shakespeare</span> does one watch nowadays anyway? especially within a 10-day period.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />first up was a local effort - a community college production of <span style="font-style: italic;">A Midsummer Night's Dream </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">Romeo + Juliet </span>(double whammy) at our neighborhood beer garden. enjoying some beer and sausages while watching people in homemade fairy costumes flit about the trees around t</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">h</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">e garden was perhaps one of the most surrealistically entertaining <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">thi</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ngs</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">i've</span> done in awhile.<br /><br />we upgraded a bit for the next show, which was the city's 'official' <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">shakespearean</span> show of the season, Central Park's production, which this year was <span style="font-style: italic;">Twelfth Night</span>. which was awesome, especially when night</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> had just fallen, and a giant raccoon lumbered across the stage in the shad</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ows</span>. we love raccoons! (at safe distances)<br /><br />for those of you not familiar with the pr</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ocedure</span>, there's a bit of an ado (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">teehee</span>) about the whole <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">SITP</span> production every year since there are usually a few big names in the cast, the show only runs for a few weeks, and tickets are free. so basically it's like seeing a fancy limited-run <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">broadway</span> show for nothing. although, as i was rem</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">inded</span> that day, nothing is ever truly <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">fre</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">e. instead of spending cash, one spends their time on a line in the park, w</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">aiting</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">patie</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">ntly</span> and hopefully that they are close enough to the front of the line to snag a ticket. about 800 tickets are given out, but usually, especially for weekend productions, thousands of folks queue up. they will get there when the park opens at 5am and wait all day long. craziness.<br /><br />i was one of those folks this year. being i ha</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d a bit of extra time on my hands this year, i told <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">missy</span> that part of her <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">bday</span> present would be seeing <span style="font-style: italic;">twelfth night</span>, since we've always wanted to go see a SIT</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">P production, and our one other attempt a few summers back had us about 200 people beyond where they stopped handing out tickets. this time, we took it much more seriously, and so off i went, that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">wednesday</span> morning, in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">ra</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">in, at 8am, to hang out in line for 5 hours until they started giving out tickets at 1pm.<br /><br />it wasn't as bad as it could have been - i </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">parked myself on a blanket under a nice leafy tree, had some snacks, and completed</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> a depressingly interesting book ab</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">out heroin addiction. it was rather peaceful. at first.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtZ4VSHRh4tOabXAcqPu4tqPjkyw4Ie3H7D71p5Z2-N7FRddmjVaIr6NqeFbhyL44qikI-5kNM7Chf3d9qPiLaYexwjbxOOYTqcbEJVt8jP4OF2BHT9DaSxW7_s9-yWLyynZC/s1600-h/IMG_3554.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtZ4VSHRh4tOabXAcqPu4tqPjkyw4Ie3H7D71p5Z2-N7FRddmjVaIr6NqeFbhyL44qikI-5kNM7Chf3d9qPiLaYexwjbxOOYTqcbEJVt8jP4OF2BHT9DaSxW7_s9-yWLyynZC/s320/IMG_3554.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361659569019662434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">my tree.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFu4aIEvNsmnmFdfvjLt0-2lUtvAxY2GKr6lREHd99sF80ckSfkYLyFe1PJuBWhRdBXbJifPlVO-JVQY2RpLQbeS8Ejb_fefRkVa9GNtKxJcOKuiqijJFjiOrujKUTUQGXX_V5/s1600-h/IMG_3555.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFu4aIEvNsmnmFdfvjLt0-2lUtvAxY2GKr6lREHd99sF80ckSfkYLyFe1PJuBWhRdBXbJifPlVO-JVQY2RpLQbeS8Ejb_fefRkVa9GNtKxJcOKuiqijJFjiOrujKUTUQGXX_V5/s320/IMG_3555.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361660588784022226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">the <s>puddle</s> babbling brook next to my camp. </span><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">but the tranquility was short lived. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">moreso</span> than the ants and the gnats that had taken a liking to me and my blanket, the human interruptions throughout my wait were the most interesting/annoying. it started off with the man on the bike peddling his diverse wares up and down the line: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">starbucks</span> coffee, sandwiches, magazines, hats, menus from local delis and renting lawn chairs. ingenious! if i actually rode a bike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">i'd</span> probably do that for a living as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">i'm</span> sure that man makes more a day than i ever have. he was the most popular person in that section of the park, with line-goers around me calling him over <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">every time</span> he appeared near our section of the queue. i even contemplated renting a chair from him so i could switch off from blanket to chair, but then my bedbug worries got the best of me. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">i'd</span> take my chances with the ants.<br /><br />next to roll down the path was our 'guide' for the day, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">dan</span>, a theater worker who strolled around making announcements, answering questions, and constantly reciting the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">SITP</span> 'rules' of ticket-getting. to not sound too much like a drill <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">sergeant</span> barking orders at us, he also make lame jokes. emphasis on the 'lame' part. after <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">dan</span> appeared the "can i ask you a question" folks swooped in, wielding clipboards and pens and desperately wanting our signatures for whatever stupid issue they were attempting to get on a ballot. i usually run in the opposite direction from those guys, but here i was a sitting duck. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">blessfully</span>, the stupid tourists on the blanket next to me chatted him up for 20 minutes so i had time to put my headphones on, roll over and pretend to take a nap.<br /><br />finally, towards the last hour of my wait i started hearing some distant melodic sounds wafting through the park. <span style="font-style: italic;">how nice</span>, i thought<span style="font-style: italic;">, the theater blasts <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">shakespeare</span>-appropriate instrumental tunes to get us in the spirit for the show this evening. </span>as the music progressively became louder, and i realized i was listening to something from <span style="font-style: italic;">Cats, </span>i looked up the path and spotted this guy:<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb0o7BnxiWOBkWmNZIGGdNWRnezcnZcFJqfbQAM8_dm5Kpa-8FQ0zncznzp1b4C5AauEAmWFvZGhc-eyofshDiVA91uVvKco9ILuQIWRojhHDGvDA62dEhDYgxanPYz7FJs5M/s1600-h/IMG_3556.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb0o7BnxiWOBkWmNZIGGdNWRnezcnZcFJqfbQAM8_dm5Kpa-8FQ0zncznzp1b4C5AauEAmWFvZGhc-eyofshDiVA91uVvKco9ILuQIWRojhHDGvDA62dEhDYgxanPYz7FJs5M/s320/IMG_3556.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361662116821404338" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">i wasn't surprised to see the flute, but i was to see an entire music stand, although at this point i still assumed he was part of the theater's 'waiting in line entertainment'. but no, as he moved closer to my patch of parkland, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">mr</span>. flutist did his spiel about it being a recession and he appreciated any donations. while my heart does go out to others affected by the economic downturn and i did marvel then at the fact that he lugged that stupid music stand through the park, he launched into the 'battle hymn of the republic' and i decided he was a pest. first <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">show tunes</span> and now historical <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">american</span> songs? <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">i'm</span> waiting in line to see <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">shakespeare</span> and you, sir, have a flute....play some lilting Elizabethan stuff!<br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-80442763643025683042009-07-22T00:40:00.003-04:002009-07-22T02:11:56.086-04:00gummy breakfasts, and other revolting stories.<span style="font-family:verdana;">i'm not sure if toddlers usually submit recipes to recipe sites - if so, i'd like to believe that one is responsible for this one:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1916,138179-224203,00.html">ick. </a><br /><br />quite possibly the grossest thing i've read on the internets in awhile.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />so it HAS been awhile. even longer than my typical whiles. beyond my inexplicable inability to post these past few months, we've also been psychotically preoccupied of late after coming home from our vacation. why? well, i'm finally ready for the big reveal....<br /><br />....<br /><br />missy and i are moving. apart! so loveandcyanide will be living separately for the first time in its little existence. please, dear readers, don't fret that things will get even slower around here, since well, they <span style="font-style: italic;">can't</span>, and also we all know that missy has only been here in spirit for some time now so this isn't changing too much. of course she's taking my furry little webmaster with her, so perhaps i'll have to cut back on the photo postings.<br /><br />but i'm happy to report the 'big split' is going fine thus far, although we haven't gotten very deep into the difficult part yet -- divvying up the books and shoes. we share most things, but those two realms are where there is the most overlap. and although we have enough of both books and shoes to enrich/clothe an entire small nation, you know us well enough by now to know that we will still be fighting tooth and nail for some of the same ones. we used to so love playing 'library' when we were children, that i'm hoping we can institute a lending system for all our shared belongings now. i will go so far as to stamp items with a due date.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />so where am i going, you ask? well, due to all the unfortunate circumstances of the past year i am taking a temporary sojourn from paying rent and taking refuge at my parents' for a short while as i continue to try to get my act together. while you gasp in horror i'll admit that while i'm not 1000% thrilled with this, i am kinda proud of myself for attempting to be prudent (for once). also on the plus side is that i'm gaining a car, a pool, two drivers, a cleaning lady, a cook, in-house laundry facilities and a constantly stocked refrigerator. when i put it that way - and ignore absolutely everything else - it sounds downright peachy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-59298373519825415512009-07-02T01:21:00.002-04:002009-07-02T01:56:35.617-04:00summerizing.<span style="font-family:verdana;">as i am certain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">i've</span> mentioned around here before, i tend to find myself on year(s) long hunts for particular items - nude lipsticks, alarm clocks. in the past two weeks <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i've</span> managed to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">successfully</span> put an end to not one but TWO seemingly endless searches of mine - i found the perfect gray bag, something i have been on the lookout for for about three years, and my dream <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ring tone</span> - the 'breakfast theme' from <span style="font-style: italic;">pee-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">wee's</span> big adventure</span>. (it makes for an awesome, if not slightly jarring, alarm ring as well. but feeling like pee-wee every morning compensates for that)<br /><br />it may have rained just about every day last month, but this will go on record as a phenomenal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">june</span> for those two reasons alone.<br /><br />******<br /><br />but, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">erm</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">june</span> has passed. goodness, time flies! and so it's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">july</span>, early <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">july</span>, which means we're heading away for our annual week down the shore for some much needed R&R. i haven't been on more than an overnight trip since <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">october</span> - despicable! - and am therefore beyond thrilled to escape <s>life</s> town for a bit. a week of nothing more than the sun, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">bbq</span>, and giant crab legs should do me some good.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-74860177574858798252009-06-20T00:59:00.006-04:002009-06-20T01:51:51.900-04:00parking hazards.<span style="font-family:verdana;">i've been keeping my car with me at our </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">apartment pretty frequently these days (you may be wondering why i don't keep it all the time if it's <span style="font-style: italic;">mine</span>. well the car is mine (and missy's) as in we-drive-it-but-do</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">n't-want-to-pay-insurance-for-it-so-it-sits-at-our-parents'), which is nice, because i've gotten to take some fun little jaunts around queens. having somewhat switched teams from neighborhood pedestrian to neighborhood motorist, i've now become privy to lots of stuff around here that i typically don't notice. like no parking signs. "no parking due to tree pruning" signs.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">seriously.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EPVMrzI6v7vVy2ZZGw_AIt0AZhdkxhnSK5S7dJfsOfbNN39eyaCZTKdDuXmamvhCl9e5nCZlG6CVkTeVlapW8AudSE5XS9LwDZSiCIik9By9CMHHnquyqWeVFUdRnEEyo3hg/s1600-h/IMG_3528.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EPVMrzI6v7vVy2ZZGw_AIt0AZhdkxhnSK5S7dJfsOfbNN39eyaCZTKdDuXmamvhCl9e5nCZlG6CVkTeVlapW8AudSE5XS9LwDZSiCIik9By9CMHHnquyqWeVFUdRnEEyo3hg/s320/IMG_3528.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349274105197816146" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">i've been driving around the five boroughs of NYC for 12 years (eek!) now and honestly never saw anything like this before. i thought it was a joke at first. people actually prune the public trees?! in the outer-boroughs, no less?!<br /><br />well, turns out they do. when i returned to move my car the next day, this sight was waiting for me:<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyo_sB6GY1j10Oxzrp7jXNhyphenhyphenM_MHTW4Q8y2WEZEPlfeKeK8rTxU4QKqOnaH1vDTuzEr7FJUiShyphenhyphenkGtwht9u0rFWboWh4Elhrk740lYiK9Tb_HSKdRSti1Dri7zteJ6oQ3Md9b/s1600-h/IMG_3529.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigyo_sB6GY1j10Oxzrp7jXNhyphenhyphenM_MHTW4Q8y2WEZEPlfeKeK8rTxU4QKqOnaH1vDTuzEr7FJUiShyphenhyphenkGtwht9u0rFWboWh4Elhrk740lYiK9Tb_HSKdRSti1Dri7zteJ6oQ3Md9b/s320/IMG_3529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349275391960608818" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">that's some major pruning.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">thank goodness i had taken the sign seriously enough to park across the street.<br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-11831987053196312112009-06-09T16:22:00.004-04:002009-06-09T19:07:52.384-04:00catching up.<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">i'm</span> thinking <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i'm</span> going to stop with the whole day-countdown thing i started. clearly i can't handle the daily photo duties anymore, and its gotten to the point where i avoid even looking at my poor little blog since i don't have a snapshot of the day to contribute. all wrong. plus i have all these weird random shots of nothingness on my camera (that i just never bother to upload) and so when friends are looking through the photos i <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">inevitably</span> hear "um, hey, what is this picture of yogurt for?"<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">embarrassing</span>.<br /><br />and so, a few odds and ends from the past week or so.<br /><br />in the supermarket this weekend i overheard a fellow customer ask for assistance in the produce aisle by shouting "excuse me, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">mr</span>. produce man" to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">shoprite</span> worker stacking tomatoes. i found this wildly amusing.<br /><br />****<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">i've</span> fallen madly in love with archer farm's spinach & artichoke tortilla chips. to the point that i even ate them in bed earlier today and i NEVER eat food in my bed...i imagine i just subconsciously wanted to sleep next to such amazing crumbs. they are ridiculously addicting (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">i'd</span> provide a link or photo, or further information, as to not be a tease to my dear readers, but there's none to be found), although only found at Target, making access to them difficult. vexing!<br /><br />****<br /><br />also wonderful, and blissfully easier to find, is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">ben</span> & <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">jerry's</span> new flavor <a href="http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/2009/03/23/news-ben-jerrys-latest-flavors-causes-sweet-tooths-to-rejoice-and-nut-allergy-sufferers-to-shake-their-fists-in-anger/">"mission to marzipan"</a>. we'd have purchased it for the name alone, but it turns out to be a most awesome addition to the b&j <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">oeuvre</span>.<br /><br />****<br /><br />even more wonderful, although not edible, is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">steve</span> martin's new(<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">ish</span>) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crow-New-Songs-Five-String-Banjo/dp/B0026IZR3E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1244587522&sr=8-1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">cd</span></a> "the crow". although i wouldn't suggest it if you're not a fan of the banjo (but how could anyone hate on a banjo?!).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-28517892249530168532009-06-01T20:03:00.001-04:002009-06-01T20:04:51.966-04:00139, evening brief.<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />after watching just the opening credits of the new show "i'm a celebrity...get me out of here" i am fully convinced that there is no hope for humanity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-62323943795150138672009-06-01T00:14:00.004-04:002009-06-01T01:01:01.020-04:00139.<span style="font-family:verdana;">i've been a poor correspondent.<br /><br />******<br /><br />i had to make a couple of big decisions this week - some horrible, some less so - which basically crippled me from paying attention to poor old loveandcyanide here. it's weird though how quickly everything changes once you make up your mind...even if you're not making your preferred choice, you just feel 1000% times better once you pick something and stick with it. as an indecisive pisces, this is an incredible phenomenon to me, and i imagine life would be at least 30% simpler if i could just make up my mind a teensy bit faster.<br /><br />******<br /><br />i'm sure i've mentioned it in the past here, but i hate yogurt. abhor the stuff. even frozen, masquerading as ice cream, i can't stand it. i'm sure it's psychosomatic, but i'm convinced i can actually feel the live cultures in my mouth whenever i try it, and really, who wants to feel themselves ingesting bacteria? blech.<br /><br />but despite the hatred, every year or so i find myself in the dairy aisle telling myself to give yogurt another shot (this was not one of last week's "big decisions", although for consistency-sake, we'll pretend it was). seriously - i don't know what it is that makes it the one food i shun that i consistently try to make myself like. i would never do that with stinky cheeses. maybe the shape of the container? the portability factor? the brightly colored fruits emblazoned on the packaging? that i'm trying to acknowledge the fact that i am a woman and it's supposed to be beneficial to my health? i don't know. so during my weekly supermarket excursion last week i found myself in my "oh chrissy, go try yogurt" phase and after much deliberation settled on a peach variety and a mixed berry one.<br /><br />and lo and behold, for the first time ever, i was actually able to finish the little container. it probably helped that every time i put the spoon up to my mouth i told myself "this is delicious!!" (i figured if that method can get babies to eat strained peas, it might work on me), but i'd like to believe that maybe my taste buds are maturing.<br /><br />******<br /><br />a scary-but-true yogurt story (and now that it popped into mind, perhaps a contributor to my (possibly former) hatred of the stuff): when missy and i first relocated to staten island we often played with the other children living on our street. directly across from our house lived a family with four boys, two of whom were around my age, and so they were regulars in our games of tag and board-game sessions and, dare i say it, they taught me how to play dungeons & dragons. (before you fall out of your chairs, i'm no dungeon master. to be quite honest, i was 10 and had no clue about the intense culture of the game and really just liked the pretty various-colored and multi-faceted dice. there was a deep teal one i was particularly fond of.)<br /><br />but i digress. so our little crew of neighborhood kids made the rounds from one house to the next during our summer days of play. as one might expect, our parents' provided the group with snacks depending on which house we were at. as one might not expect, when we were at the boys' house, we weren't given cups to drink our hawaiian punch/juicy juice/kool-aid out of; instead our "cups" were <span style="font-style: italic;">empty yogurt containers. </span>no joke. considering my 10-year-old self was pretty similar to my current self, you can imagine how horrified i was by having to drink out of a vessel that had once held such a filthy product, and in general just aghast at such a lack of proper hostessing skills.<br /><br />i was never thirsty when we hung out at that house.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-1237631444628610782009-05-22T00:40:00.002-04:002009-05-22T00:50:35.990-04:00133.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_OjN2nh0bHodxnmhV8q4szmfRQiCUZwqHkxlqjA87onv-GuljSkV4Yq2GXIbH87AyX4u0BWu4rXrW2Ya3YG8Bdj2vCMwGRQLFsCKwN3O3p4Ce8PwelS4RlSPUqHBLuB9Qjim/s1600-h/IMG_3457.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_OjN2nh0bHodxnmhV8q4szmfRQiCUZwqHkxlqjA87onv-GuljSkV4Yq2GXIbH87AyX4u0BWu4rXrW2Ya3YG8Bdj2vCMwGRQLFsCKwN3O3p4Ce8PwelS4RlSPUqHBLuB9Qjim/s320/IMG_3457.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338505232430427458" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">definitely, my new favorite liquor store.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-28032382085884116612009-05-18T15:43:00.005-04:002009-05-18T16:02:32.051-04:00130.<span style="font-family:verdana;">this past weekend i took a much needed trip out of a town to upstate NY with friends, spending a day at one's lake-side cabin, and another day brunch-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ing</span> and spa-going in a giant old mountain house.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFSoT1TBzs3NGjZDtxjxDw-I1zcOj0f7XwabG8QkgGDnEUSYgMiZW_6zKsaMSLQXqeIm_DRf74wrkfEINSUoEtp608-JMWJpoGvKWj6p4SRp1H7ZodrjSupdbvajLsTNJajC3/s1600-h/IMG_3433.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBFSoT1TBzs3NGjZDtxjxDw-I1zcOj0f7XwabG8QkgGDnEUSYgMiZW_6zKsaMSLQXqeIm_DRf74wrkfEINSUoEtp608-JMWJpoGvKWj6p4SRp1H7ZodrjSupdbvajLsTNJajC3/s320/IMG_3433.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337253106033349970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">lake <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">george</span>. </span><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />it was a lovely weekend of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">road tripping</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">adventur</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">e, good conversation, and fun, but i can safe</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">ly</span> say that the highlight of it was the crumb cake pictured below, which was <span style="font-style: italic;">by far</span> the most <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">fantabulous</span> crumb </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">cake <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">i've</span> ever eaten. and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">i've</span> eaten a lot of crumb cake.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TgrbefH6vi9YwG__va-fW0HXry9DAc9MKrw35xkQ5I9gtmvZ9ua0HJuB9b-YhBn-gxvw_36rttKEFSuE-Xp0gim_Hgjs7pGyPXwe4nGEDe8edvLsL5hnuIws_hMBWVbctTEv/s1600-h/IMG_3447.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9TgrbefH6vi9YwG__va-fW0HXry9DAc9MKrw35xkQ5I9gtmvZ9ua0HJuB9b-YhBn-gxvw_36rttKEFSuE-Xp0gim_Hgjs7pGyPXwe4nGEDe8edvLsL5hnuIws_hMBWVbctTEv/s320/IMG_3447.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337254107320391698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;">greatest breakfast ever. ever!<br /><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">just look at that amazing ratio of crumb to cake! those crumbs were so giant i had to crumble the crumbs just to fit them in my mouth.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">i'm</span> going to dream about that cake every night for the rest of my life.<br /><br /><br /></span></div></div><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-27169415103784048532009-05-14T16:39:00.003-04:002009-05-14T17:28:12.470-04:00untitled (but yellow).<span style="font-family:verdana;">so we sort of fell off there for awhile. we're not quite sure what day we're up to anymore, so we'll leave this untitled until we do the math.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />what we DO know is that today is the 14<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span>, meaning it's my 6-month-as-an- <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">unemployediversary</span>! <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">YAYYYY</span>.<br /><br />honestly, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">i'm</span> not asking for a pity party. i got <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pouty</span> every other 14<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">th</span> thus far, but for some reason <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">i'm</span> in wonderful spirits today.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />maybe it's because of this awesome <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/spongebob">article</a> celebrating <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">spongebob</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">squarepants</span>, who turned 10 this month.<br /><br />we all know of my love of the little yellow guy from a previous <a href="http://loveandcyanide.blogspot.com/2006/11/nautical-nonsense-on-land.html">post</a>, but after reading the article's concluding quote, i now think <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">i'm</span> going to consider <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">sbsp</span> one of my heroes.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">"Trotting along bright-hearted, laughing his spray-on headache of a laugh, he will not succumb to complication. His corner of the world is all levity. Embrace him, drained adult. Where you see his little yellow flag, salute it; it’s a sign of life."</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21734367.post-49408051087579837972009-05-06T18:16:00.003-04:002009-05-06T18:20:32.644-04:00122.<span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span style="font-family: times new roman;">"you are the busiest unemployed person i know!"</span><br /><br />-- direct quote from an email with a friend, which totally made my day, and was probably the nicest thing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">i've</span> heard all month.<br /><br />gone are the days when i used to be flattered to hear stuff like 'you look pretty' or 'good job!' or 'have you lost weight?' - these days just acknowledge the fact that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">i'm</span> keeping myself busy and i will adore you forever.<br /><br /><br /></span>missyandchrissyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10141201903688496110noreply@blogger.com2