At The Urging of My Fans...

I had every intention of sending out a obligatory holiday blog (F), then a sneaky back-door new year's blog (hoping the readers who happen to inevitably stop by would forget to remember the promise of more blogs), and finally a pitiful sorry-i-haven't-gotten-around-to-blogging blog (F). Failed blogs they all were - each with a witty title and 2 or 3 pithy sentences - each ending in defeat by a forced early bedtime. If you could all only see the 'draft' portion of my post-box you would know how many times I endeavored to write.

So, I will write neither an apology nor an obligatory family newsletter-esc update -- rather I will return to the blogosphere as if my hiatus was only a figment of imagination... gone in the ether.

I just got back from a weekend trip to Los Angeles visiting cousins and best friends and their respective VIPs. It was a rainy trip - not uncommon to L.A. in January - staying inside watching B and cousin-baby-tay-tay jump together and glue shapes while singing Sunday School Song medleys was wonderful. Yeah for husbands playing with babies!

Here are some updated pics of the little Taylor bug:



And, yes... hanging out with tay makes my ovaries ache. (overshare... perhaps)

I got to frequent one of my favorite So Cal establishments - the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Yum. I had a Enlglish Breakfast Tea Latte - it was deeeeelish. And, I'm not sure if you guys know this, but I have spidey sense when it comes to celeb spotting. Seriously, I should be a paparazzo... for real. Anyway, at the CBTL I spotted the actress who plays the middle sister on 7th Heaven (I don't watch the show - not that I'm beneath it, just not my cup of tea).

btw, she didn't look old enough to have a baby in real life.

It was less than thrilling and somewhat awkward. Here's my problem, and it occurs every time I celeb spot - Rob Schneider at a coffee house (super weird, even though I made him laugh), Mom from the O.C. at a concert standing mere feet away, Mandy Moore & Zach Braff next to me at a merch table at a Hem/OTR concert, Robin Williams at a sushi restaurant in Tahoe singing happy birthday to my cousin - I always experience the paralyzing effects of celebrity. I loathe that feeling. It's like High School, standing in line for a cup'o'soup or cheese zombie in complete silence shoulder-to-shoulder with the boy you've had a crush on since kindergarten who never talks to you even though he lives 12 houses away (not that you've counted or anything) - the magnitude of unspoken shared knowledge is so great it's suffocating. I wish I could be like my sister Rocket who last week bumped into one of the Backstreet Boys and said "Hey, you're AJ from the BSB. I love your stuff. My name's Rocket. How've you been?" and proceeds to have a 5+ minute conversation. I, instead, do the not-so-subtle over the shoulder nervous glance punctuated with the occasional louder-than-necessary laugh. Seriously lame = me. Che Sera Sera.

So, I'm glad to be back in Cambridge getting psyched for a weekend of snow, possible Vermont skiing and an inevitable New England Super Bowl Victory!!!

Go Pats!

e

"Poultry in the Big Apple" ... or "the first half of a longer blog"

They say that a rolling stone gathers no moss - well it also gathers little sleep, minimal connection with loved ones and eats a lot of unhealthy food/coffee. This is all in order to say that my new job keeps me movin a bit more than I'd like to be movin . So, in all this craziness the last thing I want to write about it is my past two months of ridiculous therapy. Instead, I will share some pics and stories from a recent weekend in New York with Best-Friend-Holly, South-Africa-Melissa and Fuller-Seminary-Crystal. There were a few celebrity cameos including the actor with dwarfism: Peter Dinklage, in the village as we waited for Magnolia Cupcakes (yum, btw)...


He looked just like this - black leather jacket, intense eyes and all. He had a completely unremarkable dog on a leash as he stood outside a local bookstore probably waiting for a tall buxom blonde to meet him. And as we stood there mouths watering for butter-cream frosting every other person stopped him on the street using his leashed friend as an inroad to an awkward conversation where both people pretend that one of them is not famous. I always enjoy spotting celeb spotters.

However, the most notable cameo of the weekend came by way of the New Jersey Turnpike and over a 13 hour period ate his weight in gummy candies... drumroll please... welcome, the Chicken!!!! In case you, the reader, have not heard of the Chicken - here are the basics: he's a 5 year old who, at a harvest festival 2 years ago, Holly and I spotted running into a bounce house dressed in a chicken costume and flip-flops... we were in love. Since that sighting we have befriended both Liam (Christian name of the Chicken) and his parents Bill and Val. The whole Chicken family met us in the city for a day of good eats and lots of walking. Here is my favorite picture of the Chicken taken at the Apple store.



Very Serious.

Liam picks favorites. FYI: Children who pick favorites are awesome. I cannot stand children who indiscriminately love or despise people at large - no time for them at all! I hope many things for my future children - but an ability to pick favorites is a non-negotiable. Well, Liam picked his favorite - and it was South-Africa-Melissa. See Exhibit A, B and C:




Obviously, South-Africa-Melissa fell in love too.

-- Okay. So, I want to blog more tonight, but it's past 10 o'clock and I need to go to bed since I have two consecutive 12 hour days before flying towards the western skies for Thanksgiving with the fam.

Hopefully this little taste of my New York trip is enough to keep you checking back at Avoiding the Inevitable every couple days for the rest of this post.

Swing It Shake It Move It Make It

just because i'm feeling nostalgic...



delicious.

zigazigah,
erin

pick a pail of pickled peppers. hmmm, or apples as the case may be...

Brett, me, new law friend's Mike & Lauren, and next-door-neighbors Josh, Melissa & Vincent. We picked 20 lbs of Central Mass apples for $20 (plus a hay ride!!!) at Honey-Hill Orchards. I made apple crisp this week... you should know it was seriously kick ass.

Me and B

Josh and Melissa's one year old Vinny - he's wicked fun and loves helicopters.

Hope you enjoyed a quick (like really super brief) bite of our past weekend - we might go back to the Cranberry Bog this weekend... who knows what the future holds.

happy fall from new england.
erin

Stone Eggs in My Heart

These are two videos from my recent trip to California.

Above is my cousins Kristi & Matt's baby girl Taylor with me & my cousin Megan at my Aunt Wendy's (Mimi) house. Taytay is just beyond.

Below is my 'baby' brother Mikey on our way to the city showing me how the kids are dancing in the Bay these days - his coolness factor is astounding, or as a client referred to me this week: he is 'mos def wit the coolness'.




my relatives are funny, i miss them.

hope you had a nice swim in my gene pool,

erin