May Days of Wine and Roses

...and of garlic, cake, gas guzzling, Star Wars, bbq, and laptops.

*****

Garlic and cake were the watch-foods of the day at work on Friday. A co-worker's going-away party and another colleague's birthday resulted in a four-cake sampler. I contributed a pineapple upside-down cake to the melee, which was delicious, and as a bonus, contained (I typed "containted" first, that's a good word) no cat hair, as far as I know. M didn't like the cake, which is all for the best--like I really need a greater repetoire of sweets for us two to devour in our spare, flabby time. Garlic snacks punctuated the festivities, so in addition to feeling guilty about packing on the extra calories, I had bad breath all day to boot. Woo.

*****

Liz in wicker, as seen by Ella
Originally uploaded by suzipaw.

Saturday was yet another day of hitting the road for wedding shopping. The long-ish trek to Britex, the fabric mecca of SF, was uneventful. A friend and her six-year-old daughter came along for advice and support, and aided by a wonderful salesgal who modeled many styles of trim for me and had several excellent suggestions, I settled on the embellishments to gussy up the gown. I did have a little buyer's remorse (a yard and a half of trim for $50, whee), but the dress will be unique--mine, all mine! I'm actually going to try to apply it myself, too. Wish me luck. We stopped into Crate & Barrel and saw the Eva Zeisel dinnerware we registered for in person--it's truly beautiful! (Thank god.) Then back to the East Bay and another visit to Ikea for some new purchases and returns.

But it all went smoothly. It was an unusual, glorious, warm summer day in the City, and just felt like the world and my life were balanced.

*****

In the 1950s, would the typical suburbanite ever have thought that a couple in the new millennium would be child-free, have 1.5 laptops, 2.5 cars, and be checking email and blogging while barbecuing on a summer's eve? What will the suburban summer past times of the 2050s be like, I wonder?

*****

We saw "Revenge of the Sith" Saturday night. It was a long day for M and me both (work for him, aforementioned wedding errands in the City for me) so I figured a trip to a galaxy far, far away would clear our minds. It did. Lots of satisfying action, but no poetry at all in the dialogue, save for The Emperor. Glad to see that the hippie-pre-grunge spirit of the 1977 original was carried through in the hirsute stylings of Anikin and Obi-wan. Ani...mmm....

*****

Have way too many magazines to devour. Martha and Better Homes are barely cracked, Sunset remains unopened, the Details I picked up from the gym (we have a little informal mag swap in the women's locker room) has been flipped through a bit. Two details of note from Details: broken engagements are rising, and for ever 16 points in higher IQ, a man's chances of getting married increase, and a woman's decrease. Nice, huh?

*****

This one's for you, Paw: Freakonomics--"a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything."