Boxing Day 2006!!!

When I moved in with MB, I also moved in with 3 cats... yeah, I know. I hate cats.
Funny, my screenname here is Catwalker - but it has nothing to do with walking on cats - it's the in reference to the catwalk in a fashion show, of course.

Early in the dating, sometime close to xMas, MB gave me a Christmas present - a really nice box of Kiehls stuff - when I protested because I thought it was too early in our relationship to exchange gifts, he countered with 'the cats had saved all their pennies in a sock and told him to go get me the Kiehls.

Little did I know that was only the beginning.

So yeah, the years have passed and I've learned that cats don't actually celebrate Christmas... they honor it, for their feeders. (not owners, NO!)
(a.k.a. TOWT - The Ones With Thumbs) So each Christmas we save our boxes for Boxing Day, the Cat Holiday!! Then the next day we give the
guys their gifts - the process basically is comprised of putting their cat toys and treats in an empty box and sprinkling some catnip on and around the
box and watching the magic unfold.

This year was no exception - so in honor of that, I'll share with you some photos of S.W. on boxing day and my nod to Justin when he hosted the recent SNL Christmas episode...

for your consideration -

Cat in a Box


Hey man got somethin' real important to give you
So just sit down and listen
you know we've been together such a long long time (such a long time)
And now I'm ready to lay it on the line
(Wooow) You know it's Boxing Day and my heart is open wide
Gonna give you something so you know what's on my mind
A gift real special, so grab the Fancy Feast
Take a look inside -- it's the cat in a box

not gonna get you a scratching post
not gonna get you a kitty treeeeeee
its a cat in a box!
it's a cat in a boooox....

Not gonna get you a diamond ring
That sort of gift don't mean anything
Not gonna get you a fancy car
Boy ya gotta know you're the litter box dude
Not gonna get you a house in the hills
A boy like you needs somethin' real
Wanna get you somethin' from the heart
Somethin' special boy
It's the cat in a box, the cat in a box babe
It's the cat a box, your cat in a box boy
See I'm wise enough to know when a gift needs givin' (yeah)
And I got just the one, somethin' to show ya that you are second to none
To all the peeps out there with dudes to impress
It's easy to do just follow these steps

1: empty out the box
2: Put catnip in that box
3: The cat goes in the box

And that's the way you do it
It's the cat in a box... the cat in a box babe
It's the cat in a box, the cat in a box boy...

After Christmas; its a cat in a box
Comes Boxing Day; yes a cat in a box
It's not everyday; a cat in a box
But on the cat's holiday the cat's in a box

me le ka mi ki ma ka

nothing new under the sun?? I beg to differ my friend... Christmas and Chinatown - WOW! Who knew that there was a whole other world where nothing changes on Christmas... All the shops and restaurants are open, all of the pushy old ladies with the hunched shoulders and pink plastic bags full of stinky animal and dried herbs and mushroomy goodness are hogging the sidewalks, the buses are running and holding up traffic like any other day of the year!!

We went and had deem sum at a very popular large scale Chinese restaurant and dared each other to eat the chicken feet that the white-people hating cart pushing dim sum ladies kept offering us with a snicker...

The crazy Chinese treat eating session ended abruptly just after deciding that Spot the Cat would love the char-shu-bao if it had Sliced 'Tuna Feast' in Gravy inside instead of the BBQ pork and right about the moment that the steamed cart lady said... "no MO har gau!!!" and kept on truckin'

so we took our stamped card and paid our bill just as the Jewish comedians were coming in to set up for another random yearly tradition that came into focus for me this year - Jewish people LOVE chinese food on Christmas day... I could hypothesize on that for days .. probably in an unflattering un-PC way!

we rushed home to make Merry Christmas phone calls, and open the best presents ever (tm.) before new years kicked us in the ass.. and decanted our way into a warm, cozy, tasty, post Christmas bliss...

halfway through assembling gifts, cleaning up mounds of wrapping paper and eating dinner comprised of what was available in the house (due to bad planning for the Christian/Catholic neighborhood grocery store situation) and are about ready to snuggle down and for me to get up to go to 'work' in the morning...

What a great end to a random holiday season... Thank you notes are coming out tomorrow...

Whole lotta shakin going on

enough! with the earthquakes already....

this morning around 9:21ish there was a 3.5... this is following a 3.7 that happened last night at 10:49ish and one on Wednesday that was also 3.7 at 7:12ish.

I am paranoid of earthquakes! maybe because I was born on April 18th? Maybe because of 1989? Not sure... but I get the sickest pit in my stomach and it feels, oh I don't know, Armageddon-y. I am the sorta geek that has multiple earthquake maps and logs bookmarked on my work and home computers. But surprisingly, don't have an earthquake kit! Maybe I'll go buy a flat or two of bottled water while I'm out today and a pack or 6 of extra batts... just for kicks... eek.

OK deep breath, there's some Christmas Miracles to be pulled of and my boss' Christmas Party to attend later this evening... which would be nice to do on solid ground.

how to fold a shirt. IN JAPAN!!!

this is what I really want for Christmas - no... not the grey t-shirt... the magic ability to flip my tshirts into submission - this easily....

the most (?!) wonderful time of the year...

really?

well on nights like tonight, when they fall in december near the end of the month....

Mere and I met up and the randomness rallied and followed as it often does... from the stuttering waiter to the Nick LaShay dance a-like that invaded our new favorite hipster nook-of-a-bar... we were delighted at every turn.

So much fun to be had nibbling at italian food, catching up, trading presents and giggling over memories (good and bad) shared.

I was able to admit that I was pretty into the holiday this year, if for no other reason the sheer joy at how often the right presents for people had found me.

There's also the "Christmas" spirit(s) that have helped me along this holiday season.. of which I hope don't stop flowing in total abundance... (hic) ;)

Happiest Christmas!!!!

w.w.l.d.

I keep reading about the recent death of Leslie Harpold. She didn't factor into my daily life, I mean, I didn't intentionally read her work even though I didn't know her, the way I do someone like Dooce, Halcyon, The Smitten, Tremble, or The Mighty. And I never got to actually meet her or see her in person as I have SK or Evany, and wasn't close friends with her as I am with Mere. Her name seems really familiar and her work is exactly the type of writing I enjoy.

However, the thing I am finding quite amazing is how large her personal web-community and circle of friends is (was?)... The recounts people are publishing and the memories they are sharing are all really consistent and sentimental yet they don't make her out to be a fluffy, sugary nice for the sake of being nice/pc/friendly kind of lady. Which, oddly i just truly love. It says to me that she was genuine, honest with herself and truly loved her friends and colleagues without being fakey, or shining them on.

As I've been reading more about her, and subsequently intentionally reading her work and viewing her various internet real-estate, I'm becoming a fan. Which sorta makes me feel like people who discovered Nirvana only after Kurt Kobain died for some reason....

I wonder if she knew how deeply she affected these people - even during her life, and that she would ever be missed this much - and so publicly... It definitely makes for asking What Would Leslie Do...

Wishes of peace to the hearts of those who so deeply feel her loss. Thank you all for sharing what you remember best about a clearly amazing person.

How will people remember you after you're gone?

"counting, counting counting..." or "the square root of 1225"

I looked down at a paper with lab results while waiting for my turn at the eye doc yesterday... looked down to see my name, that i was a female and that i was 35.... !!!

35.

I don't feel 35, people say i don't look 35, I certainly don't act 35. How does that all work...


What does your age mean? Of course it's the length of time you have lived here. Maybe, though, as technology has amped things up and time seems to fly faster and faster, it seems like we are getting older than we can even keep track of. It's like the thing that is hard to keep track of.

And as much as we all say that it's not the number - of years old you are it's how old you feel
-not the number of pounds on the scale but how your clothes fit and how healthy you are
-not how much money you make, but how happy and fulfilling your life is...

we all know that we are creatures of quantity...
think about how much happier a kid is with more halloween candy than less
how much more fun and racous it is to have lots and lots of friends than just one or two trying to fill out the room at a party...

so why is getting old more often negative than positive...why are more years not better than less years?
or maybe they are.

Everything counts in large amounts....

At different points today there were so many things to write about... at this point in the night, seems to be none. Some of the ideas that have come and gone at different points of the day... yes'm I'm reaching... no sir, I don't care...

and the elipsis is my worst grammatical habit!!!

I have a craving to own trousers that cost $1000.....

I am coming to a close on the xMas gifts - thankfully....

There is a Tempur bed in my future!

My check book is balanced...

Nigella really does have *it*.... that she makes a cooking show very sexy...

I'm less than 24 hours away from a party....


anyone know where I can find a teeny cocotte by Staub here in SF or overnight shipping away?

beauty sleep is a my most coveted fashion accessory - and it seems I'm jones'n for it....

RainyDays and Wednesdays always....

So as I got ready to leave the house today and saw that 'Yes Virginia', there is more rain today, I remember at some point last night I had popped the 'vent' feature of the moon/sun roof open to help defrost the car as I headed home from my BBB extravaganza... which b.t.w. is apparently exactly where and what and how I'm supposed to be acting this week... (week 3! more than y'all needed to know... but what a great site, girls!)

So before heading to BART I popped downstairs to assess if I needed to dry out my car, and I had apparently remembered to close it (phew!) but I paused long enough to decide against rushing off to squeeze in with other drenched commuters in a 'wet dog' smelling BART train and shuffle off to work, and just hop in the MINI and cruise on downtown...

I was rewarded for my choice when I flipped on Pirate Cat radio and heard a killer mix of a song that was not only majorly appropriate and mood-setting, but so nostalgic, I teared up a little... (week 3! ^-^)

"Oh God, it's raining
But I'm not complaining
It's filling me up
With new life"

yep - trite and perfect, actually... But Not Tonite from Depeche Mode's Black Celebration album - my first, but actually their 5th album... who knew that the staples I'd come to know them by were so far into their career, I still remember being enchanted over and over by them with each discovery of previous albums. They were my first concert and frankly my first 'love' of modern rock...

sadly all of this good mood, sentimentality came to a screeching halt as I found my little cozy corner parking spot in the garage, and had to go face bad umbrella etiquette on my way into the office...

why? blogger.com, why?

test. Blogger, why won't you let me comment on blogspot blogs, but let me post on my own blog?????????????? I don't want to become a google-maniac. hmmmm.....

BBBA

Hi, my name is Catwalker and I'm a Bed Bath & Beyond Addict.

....or so I realized tonight. I stopped in after work to buy MB a spill proof commuter mug (as a 'carwarming' gift for his brand new Galaxy Grey Miata that replaced the old white Miata that had driven the distance of a one way trip to the moon before becoming #3 in my recent trifecta of death..)

So many useful products, shiny slick kitchen gadgets, nice fluffy towels and smooth soft sheets... candles, organizational tools, cleaning products and toys. Heaven!! Not to mention all the Infomercial products and the useless but fantastic magpie bait that stores tend to have at the holidays....

I felt proud (and fortunate) that I was able to exit the store having spent less than $100! I've been trying to practice a new form of Zen which is comprised of going into a store and when I'm tempted by an item that doesn't have instantaneous usefullness; or that would function as a replacement for a soon to be obsolete version of itself due to wear and tear or drastically diminished vitality, I spend some time realizing that I've gotten along without it for this long, that I can go home and think about it, and know EXACTLY where to return to if the purchase is necessary.

...only once I got home again, I realized that I had about 14 of those awesome 20% off coupons sitting on my desk! Guess I will have to go back now, won't I?!

so many drafts - so little time!

I am having one of those phases where life seems to be flying by... feels the same as riding in the car as a kid and looking forward and seeing things spread out before you, but if you turned to look out the window they would just rush by in a windy, blurry, flashy, tornado-y sorta way...

I wish I felt I had the time to have a "Martha-esque" life full of 'good things' and perfectly made beds and home-made christmas treats. Time to cook something cozy, delicious and beautiful each week. Time to handwrite notes to friends and family, time to listen to radio shows when I'm not in the car, possibly while drinking tea and looking out the window at the wintry bare trees and cool blue-grey sky...

I love the internet and technology and all that it has to offer - but I also cannot get over how much more sped up and immediate it makes things too!!

I think I need to start taking up meditation to take advantage of calming and quieting my mind on a more regular basis...

actually I think I'll start drafting a version of new year's resolution and see if I can start getting them going before the year ends...

take more walks
do yoga regularly
stretch
spend 1 solid hour reading nightly
write 1 letter a month
work out 3 nights a week
practice japanese more frequently
sign back up for more japanese lessons (Spring)

maybe *some* of these things will calm me enough to see more space and time in my life for everything I want to do...

new fun friends indeed....

I posted about the computer 'splash' during the workday yesterday as there was no way to know if I'd have a chance to get online once I got home. ...got home from a very fun book signing/reading/shopping party at the Candystore in the mission last night. I saw that an author, who has a blog that i keep up on, was going to promote her book there on Wed. night. Shortly after - the event was announced on Daily Candy. I was very excited. I couldn't find any of the girls free to head over with me, so I went alone - with plans to purchase the book, and maybe gather up the guts to ask her to sign it. I didn't realize that I would also have the opportunity to have an "unfortunate event" involving the misunderstanding of a leather obi belt.

The thing is...I didn't realize how akward it might be to walk up to someone who I read about on a regular basis and know all the things she is willing to share with the internets - but she doesn't have a clue about me. Makes ya feel like a bit of a stalker... even if she was totally gracious about signing my book, and turned out to be so sweet and friendly, genuine and cute - like a comic book character walking off the pages into real life.

She mentioned meeting me in her blog today - suprising and very sweet and not *just* because of that, I think that you should all go and get her book, but because it's cute and fun, and clever, and it will give you something to think about each night before you fall asleep!

I also just adore the Candystore* - I bought over a dozen shotglasses there a while back with the chinese characters for 'double happiness' - interestingly enough, when in red, can express good luck at weddings... last night I bought baby sock monkeys - cute! and wanted to buy over a hundred other things... can't wait to go back when there are less people so I can shop shop shop! Local artists rule.

in other *me* news - off to enjoy the company holiday party today - get to eat food by Michael Mina and boss-sponsored drinks after for the whole crew, also planning to stop by the cashmere and champagne shopping extravaganza at Club Monaco tonite - anyone volunteer to hold my credit card???? please???



*touch the man like you "mean it"...funny! click his tatoo...bummer!

bam crash splash....

....was the sound that I heard cringingly from the bedroom last night. Sadly proving to MB's now soppy (and ruined) modem, CPU, possibly printer and definitely reserve battery, that cats and flowers DO.NOT.MIX.

it's a really sad few months around our place...and supposedly Mercury is OUT of retrograde, so how do you account for dead cats, dead cars, and wrecked electronics?


oh 2000se-ven.. where *are* you?


marco....


(polo?)

SUCCESS!!!

Nipsy Day and The Festival of Light was a HUGE success... so many good friends, and good Cava, good music (if I do say so myself), GREAT company and good seafood (and other vegan friendly treats) were had. Surprise guests, special guests and guests who made great efforts to bring themselves (and their crutches) upstairs to the party were so enjoyed and honored us with their presence.

Many fantastic candles were brought, the most AMAZING lights were gifted, and I think an annual tradition was surely born. Long live the Festival of Lights....

MB says that we were releasing the spirit of Nipsy... so next year will be just the Festival and now we have one of our first public annual traditions. As a couple. I think this is a very meaningful and fantastic thing. It's our own special way of kicking off the holiday season. Sharing joy and light and bubbles with our dearest and closest friends. I almost can't wait for next December 5th!!!

light a candle when you read this and appreciate all that you have before you....

drawing a total blank...

Maggie... where are you? (congrats on the NPR dealie btw! so exciting!)



Save the people from the description of the lovely Boudin Chicken Salad with dried cranberries, green apples and walnuts I had for lunch today... it was truly yum, but I need help!!!!!

I ordered my book weeks ago... and the mailroom keeps reporting that I've got NO mail...


bummer.

UPDATE: Later the very next day - the book arrived!!! and oddly I've drawn no blanks since then... but the book is very fun and enlightening. Definitely good to have around for blog emergencies and jolts to the brain! (and especially fun to have it signed by The Mighty!) ^-^

Thank you Mr. Choudhury

For kicking my ass...

i have a million ideas of things to talk about all of which seem like much too much effort to actually formulate... so I'll have to list them for another time when I'm thinking about something to extrapolate on...

culinary lemon trees...

Grama Mary R.I.P.

A guide to elegance

Olympia and Kumamoto Oysters

Hashimoto Syndrome

Turkey Tettrazini in 3 easy steps (and $20 later...)

as it is... my fingers can barely type... sooooo exhausted.

the shopping mojo is back...

I finally got back into shopping mode.

Went to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market today with MB - got some lunch, some coffee and bread. Stopped at Miette for some sweet treats, the farm stand for some fruit. Then we headed out for the real errands.

I got us a new radiant oil heater - it's been COLD COLD!!! 38 - 50 degrees for most of the day... practically glove weather. I also got us a new shower rod, lightbulbs for the building, and a fire extinguisher for the basement.

Then we went to IKEA and I went a little nuts. We got some flutes, candles and other supplies for the Festival of Light on the 5th (flyer below)...

I have a love/hate with IKEA, but tonight... $184 later... definitely a love night.

Banana-riffic!!! (with a baseball bat)

Heather posted this in a link talking about how fun/funny she thought this was ... now I'm addicted... it's also rather coincidental that another Heather posted *this* which also kills me and is banana related...

I have the wierdest relationship to bananas as fruit. Frankly I hate them. Maybe it's a texture thing? What with the strings and the weird consistency of the peels. But I can tell you how much I LOVE banana flavor... FAKE banana flavoring that is... banana laffytaffy, banana frozen yogurt, banana slurpees, banana runts... YUM!

banana bread is one 'walk the line' entry

but banana chips, fresh bananas, bananas in the jamba juice...not so much. It's always creeped me out how if you have a banana in the Jamba and let it sit, it turns dark.... ICK!!!!

Oh wait.. one other 'walk the line' entry is the "Banana Juice" that I drank in Osaka when I visited Mako... which was actually real bananas and milk in the blender - very thin; not quite a smoothie - more like banana milk.. that was pretty yum.

So yeah...beewa-are - ze milky pirate...