Pierce is Home

We brought the puppy home this afternoon! He is sleeping peacefully in his crate. I don't want this blog to turn into "all doggy all the time" blog. To prevent this, I have created a blog for Pierce (we changed Derby's name). Since he is named after "The Captain and The Truth Paullllllllllllllllllllllll Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeerrce" of the Boston Celtics, his blog is called The Captain and the Truth.

Visit him here for daily posts.

Strange Effects

Earlier this week, Mr. B&B and I went to see the Boston Celtics play the Toronto Raptors. We have been going to the games on a regular basis for almost 8 years, but I never brought my camera with me. This time I did. We sit way up high and I had to use my super zoom, paparazzi style action to get any up close images. A lot of the zoomed images came out clearly, but others took on the quality of a painting. Does anyone know why? Maybe because they were moving? Maybe I was moving? I have no idea. Here are a few.

View from the Seats (no zoom)


Varying degrees of zoom...








...and an abstract because I like abstracts.

Kendrick the Christmas Tree

Yesterday Mr. B&B and I finally went to Russo's to pick out our Christmas Tree and Christmas Tree stand. Mr. B&B found Kendrick and spun him around for me to have a look. We knew Kendrick was the one. After a quick trimming of the trunk, the nice tree man wrapped Kendrick up and secured him tightly to the roof of the Saab for the journey home.

Once home, Mr. B&B removed Kendrick from the roof and brought him inside while I assembled the makeshift snow batting tree skirt and the tree stand. Once Kendrick was securely fastened into the tree stand and given a drink of water, we began considering names for him. I suggested Phil for a boy or Carla for a girl. Mr. B&B pronounced them "awful" suggestions for our tall, strong, green tree. He suggested Kendrick "'cause the tree is just like Kendrick Perkins of the Boston Celtics." I could not deny the tall, strong, and green commonalities. And so it was that our Christmas Tree came to be called Kendrick.

Since I am without camera, I can not provide pictures of our luscious Kendrick the Christmas Tree. Instead I give you a photo of Kendrick Perkins of the 22 and 2, best record in franchise history, best record in the NBA, World Champion, Boston Celtics:



Now just picture Kendrick Perkins bedecked in red and gold LED lights and some gold, silver, green and red ornaments with this...



on his head. Yep, that is about what our tree looks like. What a perfect tree it is!

Happy Halloween!

I must begin by saying that I have never liked Halloween. It is my mother's least favorite holiday and I presume her distaste for it wore off on me. I don't even really remember any specific costumes I wore as a child. The only strong memory of Halloween I have is an embarrassing one. How embarrassing? Let me just say, Halloween Parade, elementary school, blue dress, busted zipper. It's too horrible to relive in complete sentences. I have never liked Halloween, but that changed this year.

This year I was virtually introduced to a blogger who goes by the name of NieNie and is the biggest fan of Halloween I have ever encountered, virtually or otherwise. NieNie finds the magic in every moment and I have begun to do so as well. Right now she is in the hospital recovering from burns over 83% of her body and patiently waiting for skin grafts to help her body heal. So, I decided to give Halloween a second chance and do some celebrating for her. This year I put pumpkins on each of the three steps leading up to my front porch, made and hung black and orange paper chains with ghosties hanging from the links on my front porch, put gourds along the porch railing, and hung tri-colored corncobs on my front door (Mr. B&B helped with that). For the first time since I have lived on my own, I will be welcoming trick-or-treaters onto my front porch and greeting them in my self-made Boston Celtics Cheerleader costume. Yes, Halloween, I am all in.

I am even wearing my self-made Boston Celtics Cheerleader costume to the Boston Celtics Game this evening. Yes, 27 years old and going out in public in sparkly tights, a mini-skirt, a body hugging Celtics shirt, make-up on my face, and all kinds of green ribbons in my super-high ponytail. Maybe not ridiculously original, but it's a step in the right direction.

NieNie, thanks for inspiring me and helping me find and make fun and magic in the every day.

You can read some of NieNie's Halloween posts here, here, here, and here.