Incriminating Evidence of my Filth...

This past weekend in Vermont our hosts Brian & Katie took many fun pictures of us cooking, playing, skiing, and being silly... then they posted them on the web, then I looked at them and was horrified. I didn't shower most of the weekend (not unusual for me), nor did I take the time to apply make-up or comb my hair - but I looked especially tore-up even under these conditions. Why, would you ask, did you look like a street urchin the weekend long amongst new friends and strangers? Well,... I have no excuse expect the pure exhaustion of my weekday job. By the time weekend comes I'm a bit - how-do-you-say - trashed. Here's the evidence:


Maybe the worst picture ever taken of me ever. I'm deliciously-ugly while preparing Tortilla Espanola for our Tapas extravaganza. (Brian also pictured - he doesn't look nearly as worn out as me and had been skiing all day while I was lounging...hmm...)


Even after a good meal and 3 cups of Sangria I still look like hell.


I decided to shower only minutes before we took this group picture - I'm looking a little better, but B still seems to be disgusted by me. (btw work-friend-Katie is on Brian's shoulders in pink)

showering plus less stressful job equals prettier erin.

haggardly yours,

e

Oh NO! Oke-MO!

Sad day in Boston as the entire North East goes into an unexpected bout of seasonal depression after yesterday's loss. I am not so excited to see what types of symptoms my clients bring to the table (I'm sure all new diagnosis will be S.A.D. this week). Football, or any pro sport for that matter, hasn't mattered to much to me since the early 90's and Joe Montana's Niners. So, let's remember sweeter days....



Sigh.

In other news... B and I went to the mountains of Vermont this weekend with some new friends. It was wonderful. He skied and I painted my nails while watching Goldie Hawn's Housesitter. The condo we stayed in was what they call 'ski in ski out' - - basically it was right off one of the runs and whenever the skiers were tired or hungry they would just hop in for some light snacking or warmth. It wasn't Tahoe, but Okemo wasn't half bad. The best part was reliving some of my earliest ski memories vicariously through the little SKIwee's (as they are called).



So cute with their little helmets.

May the Pats' season rest in peace,

e

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