Iiiiiiiiii'm dreaming of a Chiiiiiiiii-nese puuuuuurse!

It's sno-o-o-o-o-w-ing!

I wanted to walk to Mass this morning (the Basilica is only four or five blocks away). But as Drew and I are not exactly the most punctual people in the world, we decided instead to clump down the stairs to my car. I'm tugging on a car door handle, Drew's yanking away on the other side. Nothing. The doors are frozen shut. So we walked. Trekking past the Indigo Hotel was especially brutal - when temperatures drop, an especially vicious wind tunnel forms there. It's all good, as I'm willing to suffer a little pain for the beautiful white stuff.

Oh, I had a China-related dream last night. Can you tell we've been at this for way too long? In my dream, Giedre and I are at Minx Boutique downtown and we're eying a dress? Purse? Mmmm, maybe it was a pair of shoes? Something sparkly bluish purple that we both want. It's made in China. Guess who walks out of the store with it? It was only a dream, but I remember being so upset. The item was CUTE, darn it, and I couldn't even buy it in my dream!



I love how expressive people are in candid photos. It's as if each person's inner soul is revealed randomly throughout her lifetime, but only for seconds at a time. A photographer has the capability to capture that second, suspending it in time. These are from a graduation shoot I did with Giedre, Chesnee, and Emily this afternoon.

Michael says...

I’ve decided to round 2010 out with a bang. By this, I mean that I propose to faithfully blog for the next 28 days of December. ALL 28 days (You may be wondering what happened to the first three days of December…they disappeared into a black hole. No joke.). After eleven months, I realized the other day that I only have 50 odd posts to show for it. That is truly sad and pathetic.

So I am correcting my wayward self; bringing it firmly back on track.

I don’t have much to report as far as today’s embargo goes. It’s 5PM on Saturday and we haven’t left the apartment yet. Oh, bliss! It’s one of “those” days - a gray, rainy Saturday, its dreariness accentuated by the skeletal arms of naked trees that lift high towards heaven. I slept in late, then subjected my abs to a grueling workout of P90X, cleaned the apartment in pajamas, and felt irritation when Trix jumped on my freshly vacuumed couch.

On Thursday, however (yep, that black hole day…), I had two China moments: I discovered that my Starbucks holiday-themed paper cup was made in the U.S. Huzzah! Then that evening’s episode of “The Office” was about China, but in a very random sort of way. The episode began with Michael walking up to Pam’s desk, picking up one object after the other,and announcing, “Made in China, made in China, made in China.”

Awesome beginning. Where is this going? I wondered. Michael is upset that America is losing its coveted, “greatest-country-in-the-world” spot to China. He wows everyone with a few (for once) correct facts about China, even stumping the office smart guy, Oscar. The moral of the story: America is still great; in fact, it’s wonderful enough for its citizens to decide whether they want to do something about China or not.

Alas, Office, you disappoint yet again.

Requested: your thoughts, please

I have a question.

Trade places for a minute and pretend you're me. You've given up China for 365 days because you can't stand how many jobs have been outsourced. You want to protest the condition of Chinese factory workers. You're tired of everything you pick up having the "Made in China" stamp. And darn it, China is a run by a dictator...and you're sick of supporting him with every Chinese purchase you've ever made.

You want to support local businesses. But if the a majority of their merchandise is made in China, what do you do? Should you support your neighbor - and China - by making a purchase, or take a walk?

Obviously, it's not the first time I've noticed that local shops carry an awful lot of Chinese games, teapots, dresses, robes, books (yep, BOOKS. Crazy.), picture frames, wine openers, shoes, etc. etc. and etc. But we went into a LOT of shops that day (what can I say? Drew and I were wiling away several enjoyable hours by exploring some really neat stores when this dilemma presented itself to me).


I don't have the answer.

Here and There

There's something about the color blue...

I learned something new today. Don't cross an entire brand off your list just because the brown sneaker you picked up was made in China.

After scouring Discount Shoes and Dillards, Drew and I took off walking towards Tops for Shoes today. I'm on year three of wearing my very awesome (but ready to be retired) purple Rocket Dogs. It was time for some new sneakers. I had tried Discount Shoes because they carry hundreds of name-brand styles for less (They gotta have SOMETHING not made in China, right?) and Dillards because I had found my oh-so-sexy black wedges there (made in Brazil, thank you very much!). Sadly, both stores turned out to be complete successes in in the m.i.c. department (read: I walked out with no sneakers).

Tops is a local store, packed with hundreds of shoes. They should have something, I thought reasonably to myself. Twenty minutes later, I had found one, rather ugly pair that wasn't made in China. Not only was it unattractive, but it was $74 - way more then I had planned on spending. I was trudging out the door, weighed down by yet another failure, when the rack of Converses caught my eye. Again.

"No," I told myself, "Don't even bother. You know they're made in China." I DID know...or at least, thought I did. I had picked up a Converse at least two or three times already, only to see the same little phrase stamped on the tongue of each shoe.

As I was coaching myself, however, Drew was reaching for a sneaker. Fine, I thought. Two can play this game. I'll reach for a sneaker too. Crikey, it was made in Indonesia! "Maybe it's a leftover shoe that's been there for a while," Drew said. "They may all be made in China now." Darn those logical people. He began peeling back the tongues on several other pairs.

"Hey, this one's from Indonesia too," he said, gesturing to a white Converse.

"I guess I'll go upstairs and try the blue one on," I said, my heart pounding fifty miles per minute. Was I actually going to walk out of here with sneakers? Turns out the blue sneakers WERE all made in Indonesia - thank God for miracles! I've never owned a pair of Converses before, but have always wanted to. Double miracle whammy!

Next time you pick something up with the m.i.c. label, CHECK THE OTHER COLORS. While the brown sneaker, unfortunately, is touting the 'ol red and white national colors, the blue one may not be.


;)

Fall Creek

Our spectacular campsite! We pulled in after dark and set up to the bright glare of the Saturn's headlights.


These two pictures are for the day the Saturn goes on sale. Or maybe I just thought the old girl makes a bee-yoo-ti-ful model. Either way, she's strutting her stuff.














Ben - never far from his beloved iPhone. ;)


Apparently the end of October is not a popular time to go camping (did I mention that Friday ushered in terrific gusts of wind and chilly temperatures?), because there was not a single other camper there. In other words, we got our pick of a campsite!

Stephanie

Last Thursday afternoon, I played hooky with my friend Steph. ;) This resulted in a photo shoot!


First, lunch at City Bakery.
























Steph is a true Hufflepuff. See, she even has the scarf!