Wedding's Worst Dressed

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep

And doesn't know where to find them

Leave them alone, and they'll come home

Wagging their tails behind them

Congratulations, Kerri & Matt!

Happy Bithday, Me!

I think 28 is going to be a good year. It's off to a good start. Last night I went for drinks with the girls and had a blast! I have a teensy bit of a headache this morning, but it was absolutely worth it (although there will be no shots tonight). Before going out we had drinks at a friend's house and they bought me a little cake:

I know white/processed sugar is just empty calories, but empty calories are delicious!

A friend fom high school is getting married today, so drinking and dancing the night away with some of my closest friends from growing up will be a fantastic way to celebrate. Right now, though, I need a nap. Getting older does that to you.

Time for an opinion

So last year for my birthday Mish and Lisa gave me a zappos.com gift certificate (brilliant idea by the way). Somehow I haven't spent it yet. (I'm as stumped as you are). So it's down to the wire - it expires midnight Friday - and I need you help. I've decided to get a watch because a) I need one, and b) my last 3 watches have all been from (ex) boyfriends, and I think it's time to break the pattern. Which one do you like better:








The silver DKNY or the tortoise shell Michael Kors?

Shopping List

Evidently it's been a rough week at the LeClair homestead:

the Cape

It's a New England tradition - take off work early on a Friday in the summer, hope on Rte. 3, and pray to the traffic gods that you make it to your destination before dark. I actually made very good time, despite some slow spots. Rte. 3 is being widened, a good thing, but I might suggest to the Mass Highway Dept that closing the south-bound side to one lane on a summer weekend might not be the best logistic call they've made.

My trip to the Cape was super exciting because I got to see Beth* (of Shenanigans fame) for the first time since college! To make things even better, I got to meet her parents - Sue and Ed. These are my type of people. Conversation was humorous and stimulating. Libations flowed (I was a very good house guest and helped clear out the fridge by drinking an entire bottle of Sauvignon Blanc by myself). The steak was delicious. Ed even bestowed upon me the honor of a nickname - LC. "LC, what are you drinking?" "LC, leaving so soon?" Sue and Ed are good people. Sadly, I missed the rest of the Stefanik gang, but when Sue & Ed go to visit their son Rob in Brooklyn we're all going to the Astoria beer garden, the Donut Plant on the LES, and to some place in Red Hook for won tons (Sue saw it on the Food Network).

All in all, I had a wicked good time. There were so many precious moments in such a short amount of time, but I think my favorite quote came from Beth: "Mary Magdalene? Total beard."

Pictures to come.

*Beth M. is not to be confused with Beth E., pictured in the last post. I went to Providence with both of Beth's. Beth E. became a friend sophomore year, and we lived together senior year. She's very Irish-American, and junior year when I was in Switzerland she was in Galway, Ireland, where I visited her. Beth M. and I were fellow rebel-rousers in honors classes and women's studies seminars (although, as we discussed at length this weekend, the bar was set pretty low to be considered a "liberal", or even worse, gasp!, a "feminist" a PC; basically you just had to believe that women should not only be allowed to vote but also attend the college). Beth M. now lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband.

Providence

Saturday the weather was beautiful, perfect for a trip down to Providence, RI, to meet up with 2 college roommates, Mia and Beth:

We had so much fun! We stayed at the Marriot Renaissance, where the room was comfy, the staff was friendly, and the concierge was smokin' hot! There was a half-ironman competition going on the same weekend, which explained why a) rooms were so expensive and b) there were so few available. Not being supreme athletes ourselves (although both Mia & Beth are training for 1/2 marathons), we did our own multi-sport adventure (lunch-dinner-brunch) and essentially ate our way through the city.

Because I watch too much CSI and Law & Order, I sometimes think about what would happen if I ended up dead somewhere, necessitating an autopsy. If the medical examiner had examined my stomach contents Sunday night, here's what s/he would have found:

From lunch @ Cafe Paragon:

• hamburger with tomato and boursin cheese on an onion roll
• paragon fries
• Mediterranean pizza with feta
• sangria

From drinks @ Dave & Buster's, Napa Valley Grille, and Ri Ra's

• 1 strawberry daiquiri
• 1 pineapple-melon martini
• several Sam Adams Light's

From dinner @ Citron

• spinach salad with prosciutto and pine nuts
• stuffed chicken breast with gnocchi
• braised duck in hoisin sauce with cabbage and scallion pancakes
• Gorgonzola tater tots
• chocolate lava cake with espresso ice cream
• 3/4 bottle white wine

from late night after Ri Ra's

• Cheez-Its snack crackers
• Flipz
• Wheat Thins

from brunch @ Caffe Dolce Vita

• the best calamari anyone has ever taste anywhere
• lemon poppy seed pancakes with raspberry butter
• pomegranate mimosa

and, finally, from Pastiche

• iced mocha latte

I cannot believe I went to Pastiche and did not purchase a pastry, but I just couldn't.

Frankly, it's amazing I didn't eat myself to death during that gastronomical orgy. Honestly, every calorie was worth it. Now I just need to stick to a steady diet of carrots this week.

Wise Words

From my friend's dad:

"Whatever happened to Mike?"

"He never called me back."

"Guys are like shoes. You'll find another pair that you like more and that fits better."

Happy 95th Birthday, Grammy!

Helen LeClair, née Aneila Procop, celebrated her 95th birthday today.

Her wish as she blew out the candles?

"Please don't let me live another 95 years!"

The other fabulous quote of the day was,

"They call them your golden years, but they're damn rusty!"

I don't know, Grammy, you two look pretty golden.

Tomorrow better be better

The last 24 hours have really sucked.

Poor little Kayley got hand, foot & mouth disease, which she passed on to her poor mom and her poor Auntie Amy.

I try not to be a total baby when I'm sick, but last night I was beyond miserable. My fever was through the roof, I had aches and chills and sweats, and my body hurt so much I started crying. Hurt as in it-just-hurts-to-lay-there hurt. Today I said to my sister, "I do not understand how you care for a child when you are that sick." "You don't have a choice," she replied. This has made me reconsider my plans for future motherhood.

So I spent the night at my parents' house, letting them worry about me and bring me Tylenol and cold wash clothes. In the morning my fever was down to 102.6, but I still felt miserable and was alternatively sweating through my sheets and shivering.

By 11am I was just over 100 - woo hoo! By 1pm I was almost back to normal. Things were starting to look up. My new Shape magazine came in the mail, so my mom brought it up for me to read before she went out to do some errands.

I was sitting in my bed reading the magazine when a guy opened my door, said, "Oh...hello....", and shut the door again.

At first I wasn't sure this had actually happened. I had had a really high fever - was I hallucinating? Then I thought maybe it was a repairman that my mom had forgot to mention was coming by. This didn't really make sense either. Was someone still in the house? I went downstairs, saw broken glass by the door, grabbed the phone and went back upstairs to call 9-1-1.

At this point I must commend the Wakefield Police Department for their fast, efficient service. They arrived in less than 2 minutes, searched the house, and sent people off patrolling the neighborhood. The guy had punched in the glass on the door, reached through and turned the knob. There were no cars in the driveway, so he obviously thought the house was empty. Apparently I scared him more than he scared me.

Once I calmed down I actually felt kind of sorry for the poor s.o.b. For those of you who have never been in the LeClair household, it's somewhat of a disaster. (For a quick reference, read here.) When I walked into my parents' room with the officer, he looked at me and asked, "Can you tell if anything's been disturbed?" I just looked at him, trying not to laugh, and said, "No, it's always like this." Tonight over dinner even my mother, public enemy #1 on the pack rat list, was able to laugh as we joked that there might be valuables in this house, but you'd never find them!

I feel very lucky nothing happened, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be a much less eventful day. Now where did the Tylenol go?

You know you're sick when

I had a slightly sore throat, but I thought it was just allergies.

I felt achy, but I had worked out really hard the night before (mowed the lawn and did kickboxing).

I kept getting chills, but I was going in and out of stores from the heat to extreme air conditioning.

I couldn't deny it any longer, though, when I felt too crappy to shop.