Thanks Gwyneth! (Also: Abstract Painting is Hard!)

So as you know, I have a girl crush on Ms. Paltrow. I don't normally watch television, but I made an exception for my girl Gwyneth on her guest appearance on glee. That's when I saw it in the background:

There it is! Behind Gwyneth's head is the perfect painting for our hallway! Thanks Gwyn!

So, out came the oil pastels. However, anyone who says abstract painting is easy never tried it. I liked the simple cleaness of the painting, but it also has a bit of shimmer. I didn't quite get there:

Of course, I have to stop at the art store to get a bit more supplies and varnish to finish it, but making something look professionally abstract is actually quite difficult!

Matt now has a "boy" room...

When we bought our house, there was a little girl in Matt's room, and they had set it up like this:

Which is perfectly sweet for a little girl, but now that it's been a year and Matt is a full fledged toddler we decided to go ahead and change it. So with the help of my in-laws, Ger painted it blue...

I had a hard time picking the color, but since I knew Ger only had one coat in him, I decided to go with a darker blue.

We were finally able to roll out his rug, that we bought during our honeymoon in India. Ger remarked at the time, that it would be a good rug for a kid's room. I agreed, and we bought it and saved it.

It feels good to finally get the go-ahead to start doing some beautification projects, as I have so many ideas. So much of our work up to this point has been functional and not visual impact. With the recent painting spruce up Ger and his dad did, we are hoping to change that!

We weren't doing anything...

Okay Mom's not looking...

Women Don't Ask

... I just finished reading a book called "Women Don't Ask" researched and written by two women who were involved in running a PhD program. When confronted by female PhD students about why the guys were given more classes to teach, they looked into it and found that the guys had ASKED to teach class and even suggested new classes to teach, while the women basically waited to be assigned classes to teach.

This was pretty eye opening, and I agreed with everything in the book. Some stats:

When looking at starting salaries for Master Degrees, the men negotiated themselves 4K more on average than women. Only 7% of women attempted to negotiate, but 57% of the men did.

NOT negotiating salaries can cost up to 568K over the course of a career.

Women, when asked to work on a task "till they feel they've earned their pay" will work up to 22% (on average) longer than a male and with 32% higher accuracy. If they are observed, they will work up to 50% longer. Being observed makes no difference in the length of time the men worked.

When asked to do a simple task and told to "pay yourself what you think it is worth" the men paid themselves up to 63% more, on average.

Women are in a catch-22 because if they do ask, then they run the risk of being perceived as "unlikeable". Being perceived as "unlikeable" had more implications for the women in the study. Asking for things did not change the men's "likeability".

Women on average find negotiating very stressful.

Blast from the Past - Wedding Table Quotes

As our parents continue to send us their basement holdings, Ger and I are faced with some hard decisions about what stays and what goes.

One of those things is the table markers from our wedding. Normally, people have "Table 1" and "Table 2" but we had literary quotes to identify each table. It made people walk around a bit to find their table, but I really liked sharing some of my favorite quotes.

Here they are, so I can come and read them from time to time, while not having the actual table markers take up space in our basement. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.

The Robert Bridges Table:
"Love can tell and love alone,
Whence the million stars are strewn,
Why each atom knows it own,
How, in spite of woe and death
Gay is life and sweet is breath."

The Victor Hugo Table:
"And remember, as it was written... to love another person is to see the face of God."

The Christopher Marlowe Table:
"The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love."

The Elizabeth Barrett Browning Table:
"I love thee with the breath, smiles and tears of all my life!
and if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death."

The William Shakespeare Table:
"For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings"

The William Butler Yeats Table:
"O hurry to the ragged wood, for there
I will drive all those lovers out and cry
O, my share of the world, O auburn hair!
No one has ever loved but you and I."

The Charles Dickens Table:
"So, she leaning on her husband's arm, they turned homeward by a rosy path which the gracious sun struck out for them in its setting. And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death. And O what a bright old song it is, that O 'tis love, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world fo round!"

The Lord Alfred Tennyson Table:
"Heart, are you great enough
For a love that never tires?
O'heart are you great enough for love?"

The James Joyce Table:
"O hurry over the dark lands
And run upon the sea
For seas and land shall not divide us
My love and me."

The Christopher Brennan Table:
"Then seek not, sweet, the "If" and "Why"
I love you now until I die.
For I must love because I live
and life in me is what you give."

The Ralph Waldo Emersen Table:
"The sense of the world is short,
Long and Various the report,
To love ane be loved;
Men and gods have not outlearned it,
and how oft soe'er they've turned it,
'Tis not to be improved."

Madelines - Fall Baking Underway!

It feels good to be back home... where I know everything in the kitchen is! Ha ha! I'm trying to make up for some lost baking time. For some reason, Fall is my favorite time to fire up the gas stove and make some buttery treats. I keep going till New Year's, then switch to yeast breads. I guess it's all about the holidays. :-)

Matt's Halloween - 2010 - First "Trick or Treat"

Matt is Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween!




His first "trick or treat" was our neighbor across the street - a friendly Gryffindor wizard!

Gerry and Matt on the Sun Porch...

Beachy and Breezy New Zealand

Not suprising, we were in the mood for a beachy and breezy vacation, so we kept it low key and explored lots of coves. New Zealand has a done a great job of keeping most of the coast line in the public domain - afterall tourism is a top industry - and so everywhere we drove we were within easy access to a beach!




Matt waves into the wind in Northland...








Driving on the Beach...Bayle's Beach





Matt asleep on Ger's shoulder after walking on the beach.

New Zealand!!!

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled program of posting! I'm trying to be better about having the camera around. We just got back from our month in New Zealand. We stuck to the North Island, and spent most of our time around the Coromandel Penninsula. Below is a picture from the Chalet we stayed in, (I use the term Chalet loosely, as it was definitely budget accomodations).

This is pretty much the view almost anywhere you go in the Coromandel, which may be one of my new favorite places on the planet. I told Ger we have to go back for the seafood festival, as for next to no money we were able to get an ENTIRE TRAY worth of oysters. I had no problem being both walrus and carpenter, and sucking those suckers down.

Erin's E-mail - Blast from the past!

Now that my parents are retired, they are cleaning out the holding pens of "stuff" my brother and I had stored in the basement. I love this old e-mail from Erin, we were still teenagers and working as interns at Prudential.

Matt and Vax

Matt has begun to realize that he can boss, push and generally torment Vax. Vax has, to date, taken what Matthew has dished to him. Photographing the two of them together is a challenge!

Temple Graduation Dinner - Class of 2010

Time Flies! Ger is almost done with his intern year, and we recently celebrated the graduation for the Temple Resident Class of 2010. Here we are at the dinner:



It was nice to be out and about and to see everyone. Though between us friends I snuck out in the middle of the presentations to have a little private tour of the Mutter Musuem, which was hosting the event. I'm not one to pass up a chance to tour a museum privately, especially one with Tsantsa heads! Ha!

Two more years, and the Class of 2012 will graduate!

Summer Sofrito

In addition to household projects, there is the normal summer chores. Namely the very serious business of freezing sofrito and pesto for the fall. The halloween trick or treat bowl is on the only one big enough to hold a batch. One square inch block makes on bowl of "yellow rice" (the big block in the pic I'm cutting will make 16), so I'll need to make several batches. I'll need to hurry too, cause the basil is coming in!

Matthew of course, is oblivious to what the fuss is about - he just wants to eat the rice.

Gwenyth's Kale Juice

Since this is a private blog, I can admit that I have always had a girl-crush on Gwenyth Paltrow. She seems a reliable guide through today's mass media jungle, never seen out late drunk or involved in a scandal. She seems like she probably gives her kids a bath every night, while still trying new things. Her website GOOP is a hilarious contradiction of advice, like opening a can of black beans for dinner while advocating the regular ironing of bed sheets, and I've started to look forward to her posts.

Still, you don't get to be 35+ with two kids looking like G.P. without some effort. Trying her kale juice mixture seemed like a small do-able effort in the self-improvement department. The hardest part was trying to find the agave nectar in the local co-op. Before it is strained here is what it looks like. It is kale, lemon, and agave:

Yes, I did drink it, here is proof. (Forgive the early morning pic without brushing my hair or putting on some make-up - it's good this is a private blog and we are all friends).

It was not a bad as I would have thought, but it's no "grassy lemonade". Just when I was debating if it was worth drinking the 50 times necessary to get used to a new taste, what goes and happens but:

Yes, that's Matthew the picky eater, downing kale juice and agave like it's the best thing since sliced bread. I was in shock -he doesn't eat or drink anything green. But he loved Gwenyth's kale juice!!! Looks like I'll be picking up another batch of kale at the farmer's market tomorrow!

Tia Lizz came to visit!

Tia Lizz read a ton of books with Matt. After her car drove away Matt looked up and then burst into tears and started screaming. Tia Lizz you will be missed!

Peekaboo!

Project Update: New England Work Ethic

It's 7:55 a.m. on Ger's Day Off and he is up and out staining wood for the baseboard:



Meanwhile, the squash are also working very hard....

Happy Birthday Steven!

Ger and I went to Steven's Birthday dinner last night. Here is the cake being served:



and here is a rare picture of Ger. :-) He normally runs when I bring out the camera, but he couldn't run away from a seated dinner! :-)

Open Garden Day

Yesterday was open garden day in Philly and my Mom came down so we could be garden voyeurs. Ha ha. The best garden we saw was just a few blocks from us...





These guys had built a little paradise in their backyard; you really felt like you were on a semi-isolated tropical island. It definitely gave us a sense for what was possible!

My Madrinita Came to Visit... Yay!

There are three generations in this picture!

What a difference in 10 years! I floated a project like this for my senior computer science thesis in A.I. - but I couldn't wrap my head around it at the time. Looks like someone is doing it and that is so exciting! I can't wait to read more!

Project Update: Hammock Stand

Ger built a hammock stand for the backyard. The rate of home repair projects may slow down accordingly.

Spring Gardening...

Self-improvement continues with my first year of gardening! Every morning, the first thing Matt wants to do is run outside!

The pansies in the window box have really taken off...


May 15th is the official "no frost date", but I couldn't wait...

Squash from seeds...


and some basil (bought as seedlings)...




Philly is kind-of the unofficial urban gardening captain of sorts. People take their gardens very seriously. It's only May, but I may need to step it up.

Project Update: Window Repair

One of the projects I've started in the house is repairing some of the stained glass windows. They are rather old, and the wood has really taken a beating. With my dad's help, we were able to get at least one square and ready for painting.

It was really exciting to drill for the first time - through 100 year old wood! Talk about jumping into the deep end. After working for the morning, my dad had some play time with Matt.

I'll have to post some pictures of some completed windows and this one when it's up and painted. :-)

Peekaboo

I turned my head from washing dishes to find Matt and Vax "hiding" from me in the hallway. Don't these two look like they were just contemplating trouble? :-)

Continual Self-Improvement

There is a long list of things I'm terrible at and floral arranging is pretty high on that list. (Photography is also on that list, one I'm hoping to rectify by keeping this blog).

These tulips were casualties of me getting into an altercation with some shubbery. At least they lived long enough for me to find the vase. They were really pretty though and a sure sign that spring is in full bloom!

Got Milk?

Fire Pit and Friendly Visitors

Last night we had our second official BBQ of the season. This time with the Fire Pit! Yay! After the fire died down a bit, we saw a racoon in our neighbors yard. Justin was going to set Ewok on him, but I was too fearful for the puppies safety. (Though really between Ewok and Vax it would have probably been the racoon who I should have been worried about).

Luckily, though we had already eaten my strawberry cake:



I'm getting better at making it, the structural integrity is beginning to hold more. Here's an earlier attempt from New Hampshire, over a year ago. You can see it falls a bit flat. Eventually, I will master this cake!