Holiday Gift Idea: Map Totes

I just love these super fun and quirky Map Totes. Of course my favorite tote is Cambridge, but they're all super cute and at $15 reasonably priced as a gift. They're sold locally at Wardmaps, now on Mass Ave, and Passport, a wonderful travel themed store in Harvard Square.

Where's the ...?

Adam's took this week off from work to hang out with Mama and Papa Zakun which is very nice, but I'm realizing one downside, more occasions for Adam to call me when he can't find something at home. I guess when he's at work, he doesn't call me when he can't find something in the office. Other variations include "What is the...?" and "Do I like this?" I guess my role is to fill in the blanks or basically key details.

Q: Where is the Garmin?
A: Downstairs on the china cabinet by the fruit.

Q: Where is the Ketchup?
A: In the fridge, squat bottle, upside down.
Q: It's not in the door, I don't see it.
A: I guess we don't have any.

Q: What is the cheese shop in Seattle?
A: Beecher's.
Q: Oh yeah, it's so good, we can get it here in Boston at that place...what is that place called with the cheese?
A: Pemberton Farms.
Q: Oh yeah!

Q: Where is my scarf?
A: In the closet.

Q: Do I like this?
A: No!
Q: Are you sure?
A: Yes, you tried it last year, you said it wasn't your favorite.

Q: Where are my jeans?
A: You're wearing them.
Ha ha, this one's a joke!

Portland Take 2

Adam's parents are in town so we recreated about 90% of our summer trip to Portland, ME. It was lots of fun. However, we did discover a few more wonderful blog-worthy find this trip.

Rabelais Cookbook Store - A whole store specializing in wonderful new and old cookbooks

Dean's Sweets - Delicious samples, they even offer a "vegan" chocolate made with stout instead of dairy

Friendly Toast - Eclectic menu, delicious food and ginormous pancakes. Waitstaff at 8pm on Monday night is a little scattered so I was relieved the kitchen was prompt

I Heart Kindle

This update is about 10 months overdue, but better late than never especially since I have collected some stats to report. Adam, kindly, graciously, generously bought me a Kindle earlier this year. YEAH! He tried really hard to convince me the Kindle wasn't worth it. He even did a cost benefit analysis and tried to negotiate with me, offering to pick up books for me from library or buy them from Amazon. In the end, Adam generously relented from his strong opinion about the Kindle and got me one.

I'm love my Kindle, it's so great and it makes me so happy. I'm reading a lot more books, I love sampling free chapters and the wireless technology is awesome. I'm getting my Wall Street Journal on it and my recycling pile has gone way down. I've read 16 books so far and I'm in the middle of five right now. I convinced my aunt to get one and I'm in the process of selling plasticmom on it. I highly recommend it, I dare so it's maybe changed my life for the better. At the very least it's dramatically improved my reading habits and I really enjoy reading more now that I'm not lugging around books in my bag.

Kindle - 9 thumbs up

Unfounded Outrage

I'm a mentor for a college prep program for high school juniors and seniors. Last night was a fun field trip to a Celtics game. The following is reconstructed from a conversation I struck up with a student:

plasticann: Hi, we haven't met, I'm [plasticann].
Student: Hi, I'm [student].
plasticann: Where do you go to high school?
Student: Rindge and Latin.
plasticann: Are you a junior?
Student: Why? Do I look like a junior?
plasticann: Umm...I don't know, you're either a junior or a senior so it's a guess.
Student: [not bothering to clarify] Are you in college?
Note: Some mentors are college students
plasticann: No...[clarifying that I'm not a college drop out] I'm no longer in college.
Student: [Incredulously] YOU'RE done with college???
plasticann: Yes, I'm a few years out of college. [huge understatement]

He was potentially all riled up because I thought he was a junior when he might have been a senior. Whereas he was way off pegging me as at least 10 years younger than my actual age. Harumph! I considered driving the point home that he had no cause to be outraged by telling him I was nearly 10 years out of college, but I decided to just let it go. Yeah, how big of me for not getting into it with a kid. I guess when one is 16, the idea of someone thinking you're a year younger or older is a really HUGE deal.

Losing My Interest In Eating

plasticmom has gotten super healthy in the last two years which has been wonderful for her health, but one unintended consequence is that food and eating food has become a lot less interesting to her since she avoids unhealthy foods. I'm experiencing some of the same only after 2.5 weeks on this vegan fast I'm kinda losing my interest in eating food and I'm not as excited to eat and I'm not as hungry. Eating sometimes feels like a chore and it is a lot of work chewing especially when I eat giant salads. I guess in the end, meat and dairy really are much more interesting to me than even the tastiest of vegetables and fruit which is the whole point of giving up something important for a fast.

Snappy Sushi

Adam and I are rounding week 2 of our vegan fast. Things are going well overall, but I'm feeling obsessed with eating desserts which is hard since dairy is off limits. However, today, we enjoyed a delightfully delicious meal at Snappy Sushi where they serve brown rice sushi. I'd been there once before when they first opened and I was not a big fan of the brown rice sushi, a bit too crunchy and dry for me so I've been reluctant to go back. Today, we decided to give it another try and we were surprised. We ordered a bunch of vegetarian rolls and they were all really good. I think they've perfected the brown rice preparation since it was really tasty.

Our order:

Gourd Strap (Kanpyo) Roll

Avocado Roll

Veggie Futomaki Big Roll

Italian Garden

Portabella Roll

Veggie Gyoza

Squiggle Scarf

I'm getting excited for Christmas shopping, but I can't blog about any of my fun finds so I'm reporting on my new scarf today. I got the Squiggle scarf from Anthropologie last month and I've received so many nice compliments about it. It's described as "festive" and I concur with the assessment. It's nice and soft and warm and fun to boot.

Mini Cone $1.59

The weather was gorgeous today so I walked to Harvard Square this afternoon. I popped into Lizzy's on Church Street to check out their Mini Cone. It's about 1/2 scoop for $1.59. Not a bad deal if you just want a small taste of ice cream. When we were in Montreal a few years ago, all the gelato places had these tiny mini cones for $1 which was great if you wanted to try something, but didn't want a whole scoop.

Close Proximity

Living so close to my oral surgeon paid off again this morning when I needed to schedule a quick check up.

8:05 am - Wake and call the office from bed, finagle a last minute appointment for 8:20 am
8:18 am - Dressed, checked email and out the door to the oral surgeon's office one block away
8:25 am - Sitting in the chair
8:30 am - Getting checked out by the dentist
8:37 am - Left the office with a prescription in hand and stitches removed, headed to work

Total time = 32 minutes

I feel like Jack Bauer for getting a lot done in that 32 minutes. Of course the rest of my day is not quite so impressive.