Last night we had game night. I made Highland Fondue and drank a bunch of red wine and was v. silly and v. drunk. I know I’m allergic to sulfas – but am I allergic to sulfites? Am worrying that my red wine consumption is affecting the healing time on my reaction. Ugh.

Got a wonderful letter yesterday from my oldest friend Amanda. She sent me the link to her new site, so I after great deliberation sent her the link to this site. I am always v. cautious before sending anyone thisaway because there are things on this site that I don’t necessarily want getting back to my parents. In this case, I know Amanda because our parents have been friends for many many years, since before both of us were born. I was worried – but in the end I said fuck it and sent it to her anyway. SO, back to the letter: “I have known you for years…but I haven’t truly known you for many years and it makes me a bit, well, a lot sad…and I really want to change that.” And she’s right and though we’ve known each other our entire lives, we’ve never fostered the sort of intimacy you normally see in whole-lifetime friendships. Our moms have that sort of lifetime friendship – and so shall we.

On a lighter note, I just made coffee with the Tim Hortons coffee Sarah gave me for my birthday and it’s marv. N should be up in a few minutes, then we’re going to get breakfast and do to laundry. Exciting times at the House of Winds.

I said Yes; to Alex today. The idea behind this site is really cool – and I really liked her Another Girl at Play. So I filled out my postcard and sent it off. Hopefully it’ll show up. I said yes to things like fresh bread and jumping up and down.

Three years ago I was in Amsterdam. Three years ago I was at Bourbon Street with Jeff and Heidi and Trevor. The time has passed too quickly. Jeff, wherever you are, I miss you.
I had a lovely weekend. Friday night N, Joe, and I went to see The Two Towers – it was amazing. It was so much more than I expected. Saturday I went to a Stampin Up party – then N and I went to a game night at Tim & Rachel’s. Sunday Mom and Jen and I went to Color Me Mine. I painted a rice bowl for Nate, Mom painted this little bean/soup pot, and Jen painted this little blue box. It was a lot of fun. We made a side trip to Dunkin Donuts in Woodstock for 5 dozen Munchkins = hooray!

The Friday Five:
1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn’t have breakfast, why not?
An “everything bagel” and plain cream cheese from Big Apple Bagel. I treated the office to bagels as thank you for doing so well in our referral contest.
2. What’s your favorite cereal?
Special K with red berries if I’m feeling healthy – and Golden Grahams the rest of the time.
3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
A couple of times a week. I wish we ate at home more.
4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
I think we’re going to go out cos it’s payday and we’re going to a movie later. The next recipe I KNOW I’m making is Eva’s fabulous spinach dip, which I’m going to make for game night at Tim and Rachel’s tomorrow night.
5. What’s your favorite restaurant? Why?
Bacchus. Coolest bathroom in the Tri-State area. 🙂

So the cooking site is finally up! I worked all last night on it – and finally it’s up! At some point I do intend to duplicate the cooking part elsewhere, probably on the yet-to-be developed site I’m building for my family, but for now, it’s here and it’s fab. Please let me know what you think – and if you have any recipes you’d like to share, they’re deffo welcome!

I’m going to Color Me Mine on Sunday. My aunt and uncle gave everyone bowls from a similar place for Christmas two years ago – and this weekend, by some terrible tragedy resulting from wet hands, I broke Nate’s. 😦 I decided I’m going to make him a new one for Valentine’s Day. Anyone who knows me knows I am NOT IN THE LEAST artistic (hence the bland layout here!) – but I think I can manage this. I’m thinking about painting fish on the inside and maybe fishermen on the outside. No one says I can’t use stick figures.

I came across this article in regards to the Columbia tragedy. Moby said similar things. The sympathy seems to be the same everywhere. Everyone loves the idea of space. Everyone is grieving.

In the light of all this sadness – iswonderful.net. This site made me smile so much that I sent it to the entire department.

I’m still stunned by the Columbia tragedy. I was checking my email Saturday morning and clicked over to Yahoo for a minute – and they had just announced it. I immediately turned the TV on and watched the news coverage for about three hours straight, crying for the death of astronauts that I didn’t know. What a loss for the country – and for Israel, who lost one of her greatest pilots and heroes. I can’t even imagine it – the pride they must have felt at such a hero being their first astronaut – only to have him die a horrible and unforseen death. My friend Kate lives near Nacogdoches and heard the boom, but didn’t know what was going on until I called her – and then she spent Saturday helping wherever she could.

E and Jeff moved in yesterday – well, started moving in. They filled their cars and drove down – and we had all the boxes unpacked within 20 minutes. Not quite worth the 3 1/2 hour drive. We sat on the floor and knit and talked for hours. We met Canuck for dinner at Bacchus – we drank a 2000 Ravenswood Zinfandel and ate exquisite food. She snuck over this morning and we laid in bed for a couple of hours, laughing and talking and holding each other. She went to church with Jeff, then the two of them came back over for lunch. I made tomato bisque and Jeff made his famous grilled cheese sandwiches (which stand on end) and we watched LOTR. I’m afraid I quite nagged everyone. “Who is that?” “Why isn’t he wearing shoes?” Etc. I can’t wait to see The Two Towers – N and I are hoping to go this weekend.

I finally saw “The Hours” Friday night. It was both better and worse than I expected. When I finished the book, I felt alive – as if all the death and perceived death in the novel reaffirmed life, as Richard and Virginia said it does. When I left the movie, I felt more depressed – like all that was good in me was hollow. Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman were brilliant – I think it was just Meryl Streep that spoiled it for me.

The Friday Five:
1. As a child, who was your favorite superhero/heroine? Why?
Honestly? I didn’t watch cartoons or see many movies, so I can honestly say I didn’t have one.
2. What was one thing you always wanted as a child but never got?
An American Girl doll. I thought they were too expensive so I never asked. Jen asked and got three.
3. What’s the furthest from home you’ve been?
Spain, probably, or the south of France. It’s incredibly liberating – and strange.
4. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t yet?
Loads of things. Latin. German. Spanish. Ballroom dancing.
5. What are your plans for the weekend?
Last night I went to see The Hours by myself – it was nice. Nate and I went to Old Chicago late – I finished my 70th beer and got a stein! Tonight Sarah and Eva and I went to Bacchus – yum! Tomorrow I’m going to make and freeze soup – and sit around and prob work on my knitting.