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one month.

31 days.

how long we have til we fly to london.

and conversely, how long we have to complete our very lengthy to-do list....


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a friend sent along a link to this blog, domestic sluttery ("The home and lifestyle blog for women who have better things to do." their words), and I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon and this morning making my way back through the archives.


I have already come across many many things that, in a perfect world, I'd already own.
a few examples:

periodic table of swearing tea towel

city illustrations

on the road passport cover

this fabulous dress

vintage style corkscrew. ain't it pretty?

I do not see any real, productive work getting down in a long long while...


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it's Bert's birthday.

happy birthday Bert!
thank's for making my childhood television experience amusing.
hope today brings you many many pigeons.

[via]

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I knew I liked that girl for a reason.

[via]

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poor norway...

[via]

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I would like a mojito please

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all can be delivered to me at my desk:
100 Bethany needs a cool refreshing alcoholic beverage with mint in it Lane
Cambridge, MA

much obliged.

[via]

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I am loving my new hair.

it does take some getting used to though.
most of the time I feel like this:

there are things in front of my eyes where before they were no things.

ah, the things one does to stay stylish.

(also buying a hair dryer. apparently those contraptions are necessary to maintain actual real haircuts...)

[awesome scrubs picture via]

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why, oh why, does boston not have one of these???
I'd be there in a heartbeat, costume and all.

[does that make me sound like a dork? that makes me sound like a dork...]

[via]

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bookends of the wizard variety

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last friday ben and I went to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.
(along with what felt like every child aged 10 through 12 in central connecticut. the movie didn't start till 10:40 in the evening. what were those parents thinking. this was the adults's time at the childrens movie. sheesh.)

ben and I have now seen every harry potter movie in the theaters.
every single one.

we went to go see the first one as our first date way back in 2001.
(I didn't know it was a date until we had already been together for about half a year, but that's another story for another time.)

the first movie as our first date (we officially started dating a month afterwards) and the last movie a month after we got married.
harry potter had been with us the entirety of our dating lives. all 10 years of it.

that is both kinda strange and wicked awesome.

so see ya later harry, ron and hermione.
it's been fun.

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these are the two photos I am bringing with me to the hairdresser's this afternoon.

bangs were an interesting (for lack of a better term) experiment when I was 7.

let's see how it goes when I am 27.

[via + via]

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I just geeked out a little bit

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via thephlipside:

 

Star Wars: The BlueprintsThe new tome contains the most comprehensive compilation of working drawings and architectural plans that served as the basis for the ships, space ports, planets, buildings and infrastructure against which the Star Wars films played out. With over 500 photographs and illustrations, the book lays out in detail everything from the workings of Tatooine’s quirky farming machinery or the robotic constitution of R2-D2.

[via]

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anybody up for a little harry potter cocktail party?
cause I know I am.
check it:

The Hermione Granger


Here's what I was thinking when I started thinking about what would go into the Hermione cocktail...Hermione is a strong woman. She's smart, and she's very good at what she does (magic, being a giant deus ex machina), but that doesn't make her any less feminine. The casting agents could hardly have known that Emma Watson would grow from a bushy-haired know-it-all into the beautiful young woman she is today, but it's only appropriate: seventh-year Hermione Granger is both beautiful and intimidatingly smart.  The Hermione cocktail is based on a lot of flavors (sloe gin, pomegranate, grapefruit) that are strong and manage to achieve that perfect sweet-tart balance. Together with champagne (fizzy, delicious, feminine without being weak) they combine to form a lovely cocktail.



Hermione Granger1.5 oz sloe gin (get the Plymoth. usually I'm not a big pusher of top-shelf liquors, but trust me: you need the Plymoth. use the cheap sloe gin and this cocktail will taste like medicine.)
1 oz gin
.75 oz Pama pomegranate liqueur
.5 oz red grapefruit juice (Rio star!)
1.5 oz brut champagne

Combine the ingredients in a pint glass full of ice. Stir lovingly for 30 seconds (or more), and then strain into a cocktail glass.

The Ron Weasley

Ahh, Ron Weasley. A little bit Samwise Gamgee, a little bit everyman. The Ron Weasley started out with the pairing of whiskey (so manly!) and Campari (a bitter, very red Italian liquer). Because Ron is manly, a little bit rough - and a little bit bitter. (I would be, too, if my best friend were the second coming.) The pairing of whiskey and Campari presented me with more than a little bit of trouble, and a lot of drunken, frustrated weekday nights sampling versions of a Ron Weasley that turned out to be absolutley disgusting. I wanted to make my Ron Weasley with Jack Daniels, which is very headstrong young man, but it didn't start to gel until I switched to rye whiskey, which a bit more old-school. But hey - in addition to trying to stay true to the characters, I am also trying to make drinks that taste good. The Ron Weasley owes a little bit to the Old Pal, appropriately, and also a bit to the Blood and Sand - in its essence, it is manly, strong, a bit sweet, and a bit bitter.

Ron Weasley

1.5 oz rye whiskey

.75 oz cherry brandy (I used cherry heering.)

.5 oz campari

.5 oz sweet vermouth

1.0 oz fresh-squeezed orange juice



Directions: same as the Hermione. Make sure you give the ice plenty of time to melt. This one is potent.

The Harry Potter

I will admit that I was completely without direction on the Harry Potter. Harry Potter's friends start off as carricatures and slowly morph into real people, which makes their transition into alcoholic drinks easier, but Harry Potter himself is a bit harder to pin down. It was Rachel who gave me the idea to start Harry off with chocolate - a very familiar, very everyman, very boy-next-door taste. Combine that with butterscotch and you have a sweet, warming cocktail. Add a teeny bit of absinthe and you have something sweet and familiar - with just a hint of something sinister. 

Harry Potter

1 oz vodka

1 oz dark creme de cacoa

1 oz butterscotch schnapps

1/2 oz heavy cream

1/2 tsp absenthe

Directions: See Hermione.

The Luna Lovegood


Luna Lovegood: a little strange, a little spacey, and infinitely lovable. Unaged corn whiskey (also known as moonshine) seemed like the perfect expression of Luna's particular brand of home-grown wackiness. It was only after I made the drink that Garret pointed out to me that Luna means moon, which makes it even more perfect.


Luna Lovegood
8 mint leaves
1.5 oz unaged corn whiskey (I used Georgia Moon)
1 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
.75 oz simple syrup

Place the mint and simple syrup in your shaker and muddle. Add the lemon juice and moonshine, fill the shaker with ice, and shake and strain into an ice-filled glass.


The Draco Malfoy


I don't know about you, but when I think of a Draco-esque cocktail, I immediately think of a martini. But it couldn't be just a martini: that's boring. One night, while mixing up a test batch of Lunas for the roommate, I had a brilliant idea: pickle juice. I had a jar of pickle juice tucked away in the back of the fridge, hoping that someday at some party I could convince some of my braver friends to do pickleback shots (shot of bacon-infused bourbon, followed by a shot of pickle juice and a chaser of beer. really). Into the mix the pickle juice went, and out came a cocktail that was just like Draco: smooth, sleek, and a little bit nasty.


Draco Malfoy
2 oz gin (or vodka, if you prefer)
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz pickle juice (I used the juice of a jar of Claussen Kosher Dill sandwich slices, which are, in my opinion, the very best pickles.)

Stir (or shake) all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Drink deeply. Think evil thoughts. (Lauren, the roommate, came up with a brilliant idea: rimming the martini glass with salt will really bring out the savory flavors in this drink.)


The Neville Longbottom


Tea-infused gin and Pimm's: a little fussy, quintessentially British, and unexpectedly strong.

Tea-Infused Gin
In an airtight jar, combine 1.5 cups of gin and 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of English Breakfast tea. Seal the jar, shake once, and allow to sit at room temperature for two hours. After two hours, open the jar and strain out the gin.


Neville Longbottom
1.5 oz tea-infused gin
1 oz Pimm's
.75 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
.75 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Shake and strain into an ice-filled glass.


The Severus Snape


Oh, Snape. Snape is by far my favorite character in the Harry Potter series, played to perfection by Alan Rickman, who is by far my favorite actor. Think about it: in the first book, Snape seems like some generic, greasy, throw-away villain, but then you learn that he's actually this hugely important character upon whom the whole series turns. Remember when you were anxiously awaiting the release of the seventh book, because you had to know whether Snape was good or bad? Well, if you haven't read the books and are waiting for the movie, I won't ruin things for you, but I always knew that Alan Rickman would never betray me like that. And the delicious candy center at the middle of all Snape's turncoatery and snarkery turns out to be...unrequited love, which is one of the most romantic things ever. Snape is J.K.'s true masterpiece.

I held off on making a making a Snape cocktail last time, because how could I ever do him justice? And how could I ever make a cocktail that was an accurate reflection of Snape's personality and actually tasted good? Enter...Fernet Branca. Fernet Branca is a highly bitter, very complicated herbal Italian liqueur, and the very first time I tasted it I knew it was exactly what I need for my Snape. Add to that Blackstrap rum (a very deep, dark, molasses-y dark rum), falernum, and a dash of lavender bitters. Why the lavender? I wanted something floral to remind us of someone else with a floral name who Snape never forgot.


Severus Snape
1.5 oz Cruzan Blackstrap Rum
.5 oz falernum
.5 oz Fernet Branca
dash of lavender bitters (I used the Bar Keep Lavender Spice variety.)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass over ice. Stir for thirty seconds, allow to sit for thirty seconds (I'm warning you - this one is strong), and strain into a cocktail glass.

I am very intrigued by The Neville.

tea infused gin?

hello!!

[all images and cocktail recipes from here and here]

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the most logical thing to do after not doing any running in months, not since this race in fact?
why, wake up at 5:30 am to do a 5k, of course.

and then drink free beer.
lots of beer.

easy peasy.

[the expo the day before the race, taking on a bear: 6:15 am, amanda and heidi wide awake, bethany barely functioning: waiting for the race to start, also waaaaay too early in the morning: after our 5k, watching the runners come in on the 15k, beers in hand: all the runners: ben cashing in: free beer makes us smile: hooray brewery!: living it up, utica style. all photos by amanda and shamelessly stolen off her picasa site]

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some pictures of our awesome (and free!) mid-century green velveteen sofa.
(complete with kittens)

it needs to be re-upholstered (although that velveteen ain't looking too bad for 50 or 60 years old), but it's beautifully constructed, solid, extremely comfortable and look at those carved legs!

the woman we got it from told us it was made in north carolina mid-century and used to sit in the waiting room of her father's medical practice in portland, maine.

then she and her husband acquired it and it traveled up and down the east coast, brooklyn, pennsylvania, back to north carolina and then finally to cambridge where, although they love it, they just had a baby and simply didn't have room for it anymore.

enter ben and I.

and balancing it on the back seat/spare tire of our "roller skate" and driving, very carefully, the mile back to our apt while I hold onto whatever I can grab of it and hope there aren't too many potholes.

but we made it back in one piece!

somehow managed to squeeze it into our small room and now are the party center of the apartment!

there may have been some intense yatzee games going on the other night...

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I discovered that npr has a tumblr this morning.
which led me to this which led me to this which led me to this which led me to this: better book titles.

I think the images speak for themselves.

Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights

Roald Dahl: James and the Giant Peach

Ian McEwan: Atonement

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

Beowulf

Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Dr. Seuss: Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

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