Little things lately

I chopped my hair! I now feel about a thousand times lighter. As I captioned on Instagram, "I just went from 'Game of Thrones' extra to "quirky best friend" in a rom-com." Adios to eight dead inches. I was admittedly hesitant to cut it given my super-sexy postpartum hair loss (I'm sorry, even if you know what's happening, seeing handfuls of your own hair in the shower is horrifying), but I also knew what was left wasn't worth saving. Short and sassy for summer it is! Thanks for pressing the issue, hormones. I'm glad I bit the bullet.

Speaking of bullets... (okay no, that segue is never going to work). Life has been a little challenging lately on the baby front. I'm in a low milk rut again, and Miss H officially has two teeth all the way through the skin. We were hoping that would mean our former star sleeper would get back to her old ways. Instead, we're still coaxing her back to sleep every hour she's in her crib, then giving up and bringing her into our bed. As long as she's on me, she'll sleep. Sigh. But so hard to complain, you know?

The fitful sleeping scene was in full swing Saturday night when we had some of our favorites over for dinner. Kudos to B and L for rolling with the host running upstairs every 45 minutes, and for welcoming the little one when I finally gave in and just let her join the fun waaaaay after her bedtime. At least she's cute, right?

Our first Mother's Day together was pretty awesome. Love this girl, and really love the guy she's resembling more and more, too.

Vacation begins on Saturday! Somebody better start packing...

PS: Over the weekend I stumbled upon Bobbi Brown's Tinted Lip Balm, in hopes of replacing my discontinued fave. While she's missing the sheer red that is my perennial fave color, I scooped a Pink Raspberry and will report back!

Isn't that always the way? (Vanity edition)

Remember that time I wrote about my favorite tinted lip balm being discontinued, and how crushing that was to my delicate, chapped-lip psyche, but how I finally found a replacement? It's been over three happy years since that post, and I now have Laura Mercier Hydratints in Berry and Crimson stashed in bags and drawers everywhere. Chances are any photo taken of me since that post involves me wearing one of those two colors.

A few key tubes - my work bag and desk drawer versions - were getting low, so I popped online to buy more and....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my god. No really. Seriously. NO!

Hydratints are now discontinued, too.

I was way late on this news, apparently - I can't find stragglers anywhere. And to be honest, I can't really wrap my head around why I'm the only one who seems to love sheer lip color in chapstick-style tubes. You can apply them without looking in a mirror and know you look fine, and apply them in the middle of a work meeting full of men without feeling prissy. DONE.

Are there any replacement suggestions out there? Ugh, so annoyed. Excuse me while I shed a tear adding to my Discontinued Hall of Fame List:

• Laura Mercier Hydratint line
• Frederic Fekkai Luscious Curl line
• Chanel Aqualumiere in Porto Rodondo
• Neutrogena Moistureshine Tinted Lip Balm line
• Kiehl's Ultra Moisturizing Buffing Cream with Scrub Particles
• Laura Mercier Just Lips
• Origins Shedonism line

Friday I'm in Love

This was a week of milestones: My dad is back in the country after three long months in Saudi Arabia and Miss H's first tooth poked through to say hi. Before I head offline for a weekend of gardening and parental visits, here are some fun picks for the week. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wooden Volkswagen Beetle

 

This is kinda the coolest thing ever made. A Bosnian man spent two years covering a Volkswagen Beetle in wood - 50,000 separate pieces of oak, to be exact. Holy awesome.

 

 

Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs: The Opera

 

This will only resonate for any planning nerds who may happen to be reading, but if you're out there, HOLY CRAP A ROBERT MOSES AND JANE JACOBS OPERA. I am there. Do you think the cast will sign my dusty graduate school thesis?

 

 

Black Jade Pencil

 

I recently lost one of my two favorite eye pencils. Grrrrr. I'd had it for years and had plenty left for another couple of years, too, so it was a no-brainer replacement. Green-eyed gals, get your hands on this standby for me: Chanel Le Crayon Kohl in Black Jade. It's pricey but as I said, lasts forever and makes eyes like mine pop like no one's business.

 

This and that

This is one of those weeks where I look up and am shocked to discover that it's already Wednesday. So before the week escapes me completely, some tidbits:

Bedroom Progress

On Saturday we painted our bedroom, set up the new furniture, and purged. Let me tell you... that felt pretty awesome. I'm excited about finally getting the room to a good point and sharing it with you. I've even caught myself just hanging out up there, it's getting so clean and pretty. That's pretty major considering it used to be my least favorite place in the house. Putting together a gallery display over the bed is going to take some time, but I think the end result will be great. (By the way, see how the curtains aren't long enough? I've been meaning to fix that problem for over a year.)

TJ at the office

My latest eBay find: one of the Nationals presidential bobbleheads. Those racing presidents are one of my favorite things ever... of course I had to have this.

Oops

Speaking of the Nats, at the ballpark on Sunday I acquired the most awkward sunburn in the history of awkward sunburns. Let's just say that unclothed, I still look like I'm wearing a white v-neck tee. I'm desperately trying to correct the situation with strategically applied self-tanner in advance of our family portrait on July 6. Something tells me white shoulders with a sundress isn't a great look. When will I learn?

HBO, Always

This week it's 100 degrees outside, so I feel less guilty than usual blathering on about television. Tell me - is anyone else despondent that Girls is over? The show completely won me over, due almost entirely to Lena Dunham's writing. I mean, "she wears floral capris like her hymen’s still intact," are you kidding me? That line just kills me. Another television obsession of late that I already miss: Veep. An instant classic, that show. Since I'm already sharing raunchy lines today, how about Veep's spit-out-my-drink analogy of "that's like using a croissant as a fucking dildo." Oh, yes. One facial expression from the man I will always call Buster Bluth and I am done for, completely. And finally... we have entered the land of Game of Thrones, at long last. We're making our way through Season 1 via Netflix, and yep... everyone who told me we'd get hooked on this show, you were correct.

Weekend this and that

Today I'm recovering from the most embarrassing injury in recent memory: a swollen and achy foot due to dropping a large box of cat litter on it. Limping and everything over here. It's a glamorous life I lead, what can I say?

We did lots of home improvement tasks over the weekend, in between checking out the new Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial and cheering for the Caps/enjoying delicious homemade cocktails with Nole and her husband. Here's a little taste of our weekend:


MLK, Jr.
Most art and memorial critics have less-than-friendly things to say about the new MLK memorial, but what struck me most of all during our visit was how much it matters that it exists at all. The site was packed with visitors who really weren't concerned with debates over the sculptor, the site design, how stern MLK appears, or the memorial's use of quotes. In this respect, I think, the public's opinion matters most. And while I'll play the contradiction card by continuing to express disappointment with the execution of the World War II Memorial, I'm going to call our Saturday visit to MLK among hundreds of other visibly touched citizens a success. The kids learning about MLK absolutely made my day.

(Are you on Instagram, by the way? If you are, look me up! I'm @magmaeA and while a late-comer to the app, I've been loving it. You can see some of my recent photos on the left sidebar. Other shots from our morning among the memorials include Thomas Jefferson across the basin and the Korean War memorial.)


"White" v. White Update
You guys are probably sick of hearing it by now, but I just can't get over what a difference repainting our house's "white" interiors WHITE makes. Take a look at my mid-way stopping point with the lower kitchen cabinets, where the frames are done but not the doors. I mean... wow. Mythic Bright White is my new Instant Gratification BFF.

Cats v. Chairs Update
Thanks for all your great suggestions on my original Cats v. Chairs post. We're now in the process of determining whether the cats got the message by unwrapping one chair at a time. The naked chairs will all be re-treated with the anti-cat upholstery spray. So far we've exposed one chair and the cats have ignored it. This afternoon I'll expose another. And if we fail, I'm going with your aluminum foil recommendation. (And yes, I still have a newspaper mockup representing Future Vertical Art on the wall. Sigh.)

Nail Update
I've been sporting this great Halloween-y shade on my nails lately... it's OPI's Cayenne Pepper. I think I saw it on my mom a couple of years ago and ran out to buy it the next day. It's yummy. And also... hello LONG! Seeing my nails from the back is entirely new for me. I'm sort of blowing my mind with these things. Even so, I'm far from cured... if the nails don't smell like chemicals, they're still headed straight to my mouth. Gross. But on the bright side, a foolproof way to build my polish collection...

September snippets

Here are some little snippets from my phone's camera that I thought it'd be fun to share:

Downstairs Bathroom Paint

 It's on. Ben Moore's Galapagos Turquoise, that is. Staying true to my island vibe in the kitchen (which is painted BM's Azores), this blue makes me happy, and works wonderfully with pops of red and orange. More to come on this project!

Fall Nails

I'm so into this color for Fall: Essie's In Stiches. This pic can also serve as a nail-biting update. In short, I'm doing okay. It was a rough summer (too much captive-audience driving and not enough nail-painting to deter me), but I'm optimistic that Fall's yummy colors can keep my teeth away!


Oiled Butcher Block Counters

It took me five months in this house to oil our butcher block counters, but it won't take me more than two to do it again. They look fantastic... so rich and warm. I used a bottle of butcher block conditioner that I already had for our cutting boards, and it worked like a charm. I also hear that plain mineral oil will do the job. Our kitchen continues to make me really happy. Sorry for this nighttime shot - I've gotta get out the real camera on a sunny day.


TJ and the Nats

 I don't have a National League team, so it's been really fun to cheer for the Nationals since we moved to DC. At a game last weekend, it occurred to me that besides the fact that we can walk to the ballpark and it's a young team with a lot to root for, the Presidents Race alone makes this a team worth loving. I couldn't be more on board if I was wearing a giant foam head myself.

There's got to be a better title than "Random"

So, ummm... this week flew by. Oops.

Work is busy. Life is busy. We are kicking tail around the house every night, but not in the barely-functioning stressful way we were before. Instead we're staying calm and making incremental progress. It's good. Next week I'll try to take photos. It's really feeling like a home around here, which for me is all about having things on the wall to smile down at me.

We're off to New York for a wedding tomorrow. I get to pit-stop in the city, then spend Friday night at my pal Amy's glass house in the woods of Westchester, then we head up to Poughkeepsie for the wedding Saturday. I've never been to Poughkeepsie. I would ask for tips on what to see and do, but we won't even be there 24 hours, so I'll focus instead on how to magically create a fantastic updo myself, in a hotel room, with minimal supplies, that will hold throughout the wedding and photograph wonderfully.

Here's are some odds and ends for ya. Not much, but it's all I've got:

File this under: Incredibly Annoying. I've been battling my achilles tendon for five weeks now. I tried nursing it for a while, but it became so painful that I had to stop working out for two weeks. I eased back in slowly, but it's still not ready for high impact activity - even with this sexy brace that T bought me. I've been limiting myself to weight-based workouts and floor moves, but the thing is so tender it'll flare up on me walking home from the Metro or over to the park. Not fun at all... and not exactly helping the beach-season cause. Has anyone ever dealt with achilles tendonitis? The pain is something fierce... just entirely different from any other sort of injury I've ever had.

Oops. I didn't mean to buy all this product. But you know, it happens. Much like having a wedding enabled me to justify all sorts of random not-exactly-wedding-related purchases, attending a wedding suddenly renders shimmery Black Jade eyeliner a life-or-death necessity. There is no logic, only consumer lust. The shadows (Lilium) are from Chanel's summer collection and are truly gorgeous, but a certain someone I know picked up the showstopper from the collection during our spree: the gorgeous yellow nail polish Mimosa, apparently this summer's "it" color, and also apparently life-changing. Nole will have to report back to us on that one.

I'm wearing these patent nude pumps to the wedding, and it occurs to me that we should pause for a moment to celebrate the nude pump. I swear they make legs look a mile longer. Magic shoes, they are. I'll need a little magic to distract from the wreckage of Sunday's mosquito massacre, so let's hope these do the trick. I'm wearing them with the emerald green dress from T's birthday dinner last year. I was going to wear this fun dress, but then discovered that the wedding is more formal than I originally thought. And really, I'm dying to wear emerald again. Paired with green-hued eyeliner, of course.

But to the important thing: this couple who's tying the knot in front of us all. I'm so thrilled for them and the way they make each other happy. I've known the groom through some big highs and lows for us both, and seeing him snag this incredibly amazing woman is probably going to make me cry. But in a ridiculously happy way. Better pack my waterproof mascara.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Calendar of Shame, updated

So you might remember my Calendar of Shame that tracked workouts, posted on my front door where I was forced to face it daily. In January and February I successfully tracked three workouts per week, and began March and April with a goal of tracking four workouts per week.

I was awesome in March. April, not so much.

Here's what happened. By the night of the 7th, a nagging wrist injury I'd developed (not the first time this has happened with Jillian, I must admit) exploded into serious pain, so I layed off for a few days. Why didn't I just jump on the treadmill and spare the wrist, you ask? Well, that's also the same time that a little thing called house renovation and moving started. My free time was nonexistent. Those blank weeks in April look like nothing happened on the calendar, but I actually probably sweated more then than during my awesome workout weeks... and I certainly woke up with more muscle fatigue. So while I was sore and tired and killed myself around this house for two weeks, I also never donned worked clothes and got my groove on in a concentrated period of elevated heartrate. Yes, I'm hard on myself, but I admit that the Calendar of Shame makes me feel, well, shameful. To make myself feel better, I annotated the calendar, but this also perpetuates the feeling that I'm just making excuses.

I finally got back to it a bit last week. Working out during lunch and then spending all night painting isn't a bad way to stay active. I've recommitted myself to kicking some major ass in May and June and making the 4x/week goal without excuses. A new calendar will be printed as soon as I can manage to set up my printer. Seriously, my home office looks like a scene from Hoarders right now.

In other possibly related news, I unexpectedly found out that my thyroid is out of whack. I have an appointment next week with an endocrinologist to sort things out and begin taking synthetic thyroid supplements, and the vainer side of me can't help but wonder how this might impact my metabolism. As I told a friend recently, I'm willing to do the work to stay in shape and be fit... I don't have a problem with that. I'd just like the work to pay off a bit more, that's all.

Do any of you have experience with hypothyroidism? Any tips for keeping up a workout regimen in the midst of major life "To Do" lists? As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kenny and Jillian: Great hair, great shoes

You know those human embodiments of guilty pleasure, the crushes we have that are not only irrational, but downright embarrassing? C'mon, we all have them. That man for me is Kenny Powers. I know, I know.

No really, I know.

The man is offensive on every level, enjoys strippers and jet skis, lacks any sort of moral code, and has that hair. But everything that comes out of his mouth makes me weep with laughter. And then after I'm done cackling, I feel bad about the cackling. But by then Kenny is saying something else ridiculous so I'm cackling again. And on it goes.

Those of you who know Kenny know he is all about the celebrity endorsement. Here's his latest triumph: celebrity spokesman for K-Swiss Tubes.

Let's talk about another kind of crush now - perhaps less embarrassing, but definitely more of a cliche: Jillian Michaels. She and I have spent a lot of time together over the years, and she can whip me into shape faster than any other workout guru I've tried. She's certainly more effective than me doing my own thing at a gym for hours at a time with no results. Like Kenny, Jillian also endorses K-Swiss Tubes. Hmmmm.

Here's the thing: I've owned my sneakers for longer than I've known T, and after certain workouts (BFBM, I'm looking at you) my feet ache badly. It's not unreasonable to think it's time for a new pair of shoes. So I did a little shopping. And fell sort of hard for a really fun pair of yellow Tubes.

And then yesterday, while crying through Jillian's latest DVD Ripped in 30, I couldn't help but notice that in workout #2 she wears the exact same shoes I just bought. This should be motivation or something, right?

The truth of the matter is that I am actually more embarrassed to admit being swayed by a celebrity endorsement than I am confessing my baffling love for Kenny Powers. But with those shoes, comes that stomach, right? And I do really love the shoes.

(PSA: Those of you with a similar weakness and a need for new workout shoes: I had to size up with the Tubes.)

March, for girls

Something about the onset of spring makes my girliness come out. I know, I know, we're hardly in the full swing of spring yet (like that catchiness?), but the warm-ish afternoons scattered here and there, the occasional foray outside without wool trappings, the more frequent need for sunglasses... these things all have me buying extra flowers, spraying extra perfume, and putting away my boots. So since it's March, and since I don't indulge my girly side on this blog as often as I could, let's go for it. (Please imagine Anne Hathaway-style "woo hoo"-ing after every segment.)

Skin

Spring to me is all about fresh, clean skin. I've long been an advocate for paying up for skincare now (products + treatments) in order to reap huge benefits down the road. My skin runs dry and sensitive, and while I don't have to worry about breakouts, I do worry about aging (I'm picturing my dad shaking his head right now, remembering the hundreds of times he got annoyed at me for getting sunburned over the years). I use as many products with built-in sunscreen as I can, and I moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. Because I'm so sensitive, I gave up finding a cleanser that worked as well for me as Cetaphil, hitting that sweet spot of cleaning out pores without stripping or irritating my skin. Also, true story: the first time I showered at T's apartment way back when in Albuquerque, I actually said out loud: "Awwww, we use the same cleanser!" So I felt married to Cetaphil, as it were, until two Triple Oxygen Facials ago at Bliss (these facials? my biggest indulgence, alongside Le Creuset and All Clad. Some girls have thousand-dollar handbags; I have good skincare and a well-stocked kitchen.). My esthetician used their Clog-Dissolving Cleansing Milk on me (I add a hyphen because I am a hyphen-Nazi like that, what?), and I loved it. Loved it. I'm finishing my first complete bottle now, and I'm happy to report that not only does this stuff clean like no one's business, it doesn't irritate my skin or dry it out. First thing my esthetician said at my last facial? "What have you been doing differently? Your skin looks so clean and so good!" I've also been urging T to make the switch. After all, the couple that cleanses together, stays together...

Lips

I don't really want to count my lip balm and lip gloss collection; it's a little bit of a freakshow. Nars glosses are my favorite (supplemented by Kiehl's), and I can almost always justify a new shade. I've settled (for now) on my fave tinted lip balm, and my pocket almost always has a Laura Mercier Berry inside. Lipsticks, though, haven't been my thing for a while. Until one night last fall when I ended up poking around a Chanel counter and began a red-hot affair with a tube of their Aqualumiere Lipstick in Porto Rotondo. This product is a torrid collision between my burning passion, lip gloss, and my steady companion, sunscreen, spanked into shape by lipstick. The color looks garish in the tube - a bad '80s sparkle red-fuschia - but on the lips it's beyond lovely, the perfect red-pink with the soft shimmer of a gloss. I  wear it almost every day. You know, while pretending I'm on a spring getaway in Southern France, wearing a blue and white-striped boatneck tee, ballet flats, and tiny yellow shorts that magically look wonderful on me, and carrying a large straw bag filled with fresh produce and the ubiquitous baguette. (Or something like that.)

Clothes

Springtime also makes me want to buy a closet full of new clothes oh so badly. That sort of thing is not in the cards this season budget-wise (helloooo, house hunt!), but please let me fantasize about the following:

 1. Figure-flattering perfection for me (neckline: see my wedding dress, bodice and skirt placement: see my rehearsal dinner dress), and when belted and cardi-d/jacketed, great for work meetings, too.

 

2. Are we sure I didn't design this? I might as well have, and would wear it endlessly, like all the other jersey-knit Anthro dresses in my closet that are not in this perfect bright blue.

3. Shirts can be tough. Ladies with a lot going on up top, can you give me an amen? Every year I dream of wispy button-downs as light as a breeze that fit wonderfully, and every year I am reminded that by the time I layer a camisole underneath there is nothing "wispy" about my look at all. (Maybe one day I'll try having a custom shirt made to eliminate my dressing room frustration - until then, camisoles or 2-4 safety pins hidden in the lining it is!) That said, I still plan on trying on this lineup of perfect button-downs at J. Crew. A girl can dream, right? Also loving: the shape of flowy floral tops that are everywhere this year, provided I can find one with enough shape to avoid the dreaded ski slope look that can come from bulky tops, or find one that looks great belted. (My C+ ladies, can we also give an amen to defined waists?)

4. Pretty sure I'm going to need these. I adore Fryes, and these would be so fondly-remembering-grad-school-while-celebrating-the-present of me. Only problem is, deciding between slate or yellow?

5. Have I mentioned that my left shoulder and neck are breaking? No? I'm under strict husband-orders to quit carrying a heavy purse or go through the shoulder surgery he had before we met. This has worked fairly well in the winter because I can use my coat pockets, but come spring I'll be once again itching to carry a wonderbag full of everything I might ever need. As a result, I'm looking at cross-body bags, and would love recommendations if you see any great ones. For the sake of my broken-down shoulder, help!

Whew! That's a lot of spring fever. What is your girly side enjoying or coveting this spring?

Onward, scrambled

I imagine that my brain looks like one of those really delicious yet ugly scrambles you throw together on the stove for breakfast, using everything in the fridge because it's all about to go bad. Or some other metaphor for ugly mishmash. Onward, then.

This is the painting I bought at the Fearrington Folk Art Show with my mom. It's by Jackie Haliburton, who did my favorite piece in the entire show - at a scale and price a tad out of reach for me right now. But this little guy, so fun and bright and happy, he fit the bill.

See all those nice houses? We do not own one of them. Another crash-and-burn offer yesterday, for a place we adored. (It was RED. And had a CLAWFOOT BATHTUB.) You know how some girls carry around the "Always a Bridesmaid" hangup? My new (unintentional) motto: "Always the Back-Up Offer." I mean really, how many times can we come in second? That is no consolation, people. Give us a house already! The details I could share about the market here would shock some of you, I have no doubt...

Anyway, I'm obsessed with tulips this week. Also: acorn squash. 

Hey, remember my Calendar of Shame? I made it through the entire two-month calendar with long workouts at least three times a week. This doesn't earn me a Presidential Fitness medal or anything (remember those? yeah, I never got one then, either) - but after the previous two months of never once breaking a sweat, I feel good about it. Especially given how many weekends I traveled during those two months. I've actually even gotten to the point where I'm working out in order to release pent-up stress, because as you might imagine, I have a lot of it right now. And if you're wondering, having to face this calendar every time I leave my apartment really does work. Try it if you're having motivational issues.

This is all I've got right now that's bloggable. Now if publicly bitching were my thing (you thought this post was bitching? Not even close...), I could write for another hour. But I have a date at Zentan tonight with T, my sister-in-law, and Susur Lee's sushi and Singapore Slaw, so things are looking up. His signature slaw, by the way? Absolutely outrageous. And vegan, if you also have hard-to-feed (but lovable, not bitching!) folks in your life.

This is what it looks like

This is what emotional fuel looks like.

A batch of breakfast burritos made this weekend, as sustenance for Open Houses ahead.

...

This is what thoughts of warmer weather look like.

Because after a weekend freezing your ass off, every springy thought counts.

...

This is what shame looks like.

When months fly by without exercise, nothing quite does the trick like a Workout Calendar of Shame posted on your front door. No more denial.

...

This is what trying to buy a home in DC looks like.

So... the whole "we might be homeless in six weeks" thing. It's, you know, a tad bit stressful. We lost out on renting the purple house, which the owners had led us to believe they'd be ready to sell to us in a year. (We also wasted a lot of time chasing this scenario, as you might imagine.) This weekend we found another place we love that's priced below market value, then discovered that it's priced so well because it's being sold closed/silent auction style, where offers will be taken for two weeks then all opened at once - with the highest winning, no questions asked or negotiation offered. Despite this craziness, we were actually feeling optimistic. Then last night, a local agent told us that it will probably go for $70,000 higher than the list price, no contingencies. Which sort of means that even putting in an offer is just an exercise in futility. Yeah. Moving on...


So how 'bout them community-owned, sexual predator-free Packers?

Hockey fan (M), meet blogger (T)

I think I'm still high on happy from this weekend. It was epic. Not in the "party down while shedding leaves" kind of way, but in the "sleeping is the best thing in the world and oh my goodness we just got an extra hour of it for FREE" kind of way. Mellow magic, you might say.

It all started Friday, with my first-ever Caps game. So you know, attending hockey games (much less sort-of knowing what's going on and cheering) is fairly new for me. When I left NC to go off to college in the brrrrrcold Northeast, my home state didn't yet have a professional hockey team. I don't think I'd ever even seen the sport played on television. I went to a few games in college not so much because I was interested, but because our pal Alan got so riled up yelling at the refs from the stands that we basically went in order to laugh at him. But you know, the Beanpot does have a lot of charm, and it's tough not to be at least a little intrigued by the icy rivalries.

Flash-forward to 2006 when I met an ex-goalie and came to realize that our life together would be more fun if I developed at least a passing interest in the sport. Not to mention, by falling for a North Carolinian, T had to surmount his personal hatred of the state that stole his beloved Hartford Whalers, so I felt I owed it to him. There's more: T's former teammate is now married to his sister and playing in Europe, so there really is no escaping hockey in this family. I paid my dues doing things like attending Men's League games in suburban Dallas at 10 pm on a Monday, so these days, watching the Caps is a total treat.

So Hockey Is Fun, what of it? Well, this entire preface is actually a long-winded excuse to brag about T's new blog 50 Mission Caps. See, there was me, Mate of Hockey Guy. And there was T, Mate of Blogger. And in a stunning display of "maybe we like each other a little too much," Girl now enjoys hockey while Guy takes up blogging ... genius!



I introduced T's blog to you by joking that it was a blog perfectly suited to Virgo hockey goalies, which is to say, probably not well-suited to many of you. But I couldn't be prouder that my favorite guy's analytical think pieces about Caps goaltending are getting linked to throughout the Caps and hockey blogosphere. There is an audience for this guy of mine, and it thrills me to no end. (Though you wouldn't know it by comments... links are the currency in his blogging world, it turns out.) We actually have a J&G dinner riding on possible blogging outcomes of the Caps season, so I'm quite invested in his success. I mean seriously, over brunch yesterday I caught myself asking him informed hockey questions about team goalie management. INSANITY.

With any luck, we'll one day become that annoying Blogging Couple who attends blogging conferences together, ignores our children, and burns dinner because we're too busy live-tweeting election returns and the Oscars (me) or the stock market and the NHL draft (him). Who needs real jobs when we could just sit at home and expound instead, right? Heck, maybe we'll just morph into the same person. Pretty soon you'll be asking him for a new cleanser recommendation (Bliss Clog Dissolving Cleansing Milk, even though the product name is incorrectly un-hyphenated) and me what the current ranking of the house college hockey team is (#3 in the country).

By the way, all future Obnoxious Couples Tweeting will be done with this phone, which Blogger is demanding that I display vertically for some reason:

That's right ...  a near-dead Blackberry combined with my previously explained need for keys pushed me toward a Droid 2 this weekend. It only took months of hand-wringing and a 30-minute bout of paralysis inside the store. Maybe I'll even issue a hockey tweet or two on it soon. Time can play funny tricks on a person, after all.