Easter Cupcakes

Not much to say about these. Cute, though, aren't they?
I made twelve egg cupcakes and the rest of the batch just got dollops of frosting. When I was doing the dollops, they looked amazingly like little piles of doggie doo. The little hearts and flowers helped reduce the excrement-ness...or made it look like the dog had had a very interesting meal. Your choice.
I've been attempting to improve my photography skills, and this week, I've discovered--gasp--wait for it--how to turn off the flash (work with me here people, I'm a musicologist, we're not so good with technology). It helped, don't you think?

I've also been trying to do that nifty thing where the front item is in focus and the ones behind are progressively fuzzier. This is the closest I got:
I want to eat that front one now, don't you? Now I just have to learn how to remove the cans of cat food from behind the picture before I snap it.

New Year's Resolutions

Even though dates seem awfully arbitrary to me--numbers are imaginary, after all--I welcome the opportunity to set some goals, and the new year is a good excuse. This year I've got a few things in mind. I recently saw an article about how people fail at their resolutions because they make excuses, turning "wants" into "needs" (as in, "I need this candy bar because I've had a crappy day"). People also set goals that are too lofty or ambiguous ("I'm going to get healthy"). So here is my attempt to set attainable goals:

1. Eat sweets only after dinner. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious sweet tooth. In the interest of preserving my teeth and my insulin, I should probably cut back on the candy and cookies. That'll mean a serious overhaul of my breakfast habits, which involve many a donut and danish.

2. Take a class in something I've never done before. Scuba diving and African drumming are at the top of the list.

3. Keep a cleaner house. This one was Jay's idea for both of us. It's true that I am the world's worst housekeeper. I just can't bring myself to care about cleanliness and organization. However, I do care about Jay, and if this makes him happier, it makes me happier too. I wouldn't mind having clean clothes once in a while, either. So my attainable goal is this: clean something every day, whether it's doing a load of laundry or dishes or picking up the clutter in a room. (I can hear my mother now: "Good luck!" with accompanying eye roll.)

Some hopes for the new year, too:

1. Take a trip. Anywhere. Overseas preferred but not required. If we have to stay in the continental US, I pick New Orleans or Mount Rainier.

2. Play more music.

3. Have my family and friends keep their health and happiness.

ETA: I wrote this post on New Years' Day, and unfortunately, one of my hopes has already been dashed. Jay's grandfather had a heart attack on January 3rd--2009, you suck. My Memere also went into the emergency room the same day for something that turned out to be non-life-threatening, thank goodness. So I'd like to amend my #3 hope to say "Renewed health and happiness for my family and friends."

Christmas Part 3

Christmas morning started with Dad's famous pancakes. He makes them with Crisco--mmm, hydrogenated oils!--and chocolate chips, which make them possibly the worst thing you can eat. But they're ridiculously good, golden and crispy. I had a mini to start out with:
After breakfast was gifts at the Caissies'. Jay gave me a pennywhistle and a ukulele, just in case we ever want to have a Leprechaun Luau. Josh gave us the best regift ever--his digital camera. So our blog is back in business (and it is a super camera, too).

After Caissie Christmas, we split up. Jay and I went to his Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda's and the other Caissies went to Auntie Sue's. I was a little out-of-sorts until after dinner--I was so tired. We took a short post-dinner nap and I perked up, but forgot to take pictures. My mom took some at Sue's of the kids:
Jay and I gave Peter this Auto Garage (which I hope lasts more than two days--it wasn't very expensive). Apparently Emmy liked it too and turned it into a ladder for her dolls, saying "up up up up! Down down down down!" over and over.
After both of these gatherings, Jay and the Caissies headed over to cousin Kayla's for a few minutes (Christmas number 3), then Jay and I went back to Mom and Dad Provosts for Provost Christmas. There we did the stocking swap (Dad Provost did an impressive job on mine this year!) and other gifts. Mom and Dad Provost gave me some cake decorating supplies and a book on decorating cupcakes, which I think opened up a door that will result in everyone I know gaining at least ten pound from eating all of my creations. The book is super cool.

I only took one picture there (I was too busy playing my pennywhistle):
After Christmas number 4, Jay and I went back to the Caissies' and crashed.

Christmas Eve--Pie and Rock Band

Christmas Eve we continued our annual Caissie-Provost combo gathering. This year, Dave and Amy stopped by too. We started off the night with a pie extravaganza, provided by Jay and me. We made a french meat pie, which no one can stop talking about, two chicken pot pies, and a veggie shepherd's pie, which was mostly consumed by me but was delicious. The pielicious spread is seen above. The rest of the family were in the picture too, but I cropped them out because, well, they looked like mutants.

After dinner, we played Rock Band and some of us drank too much. To protect the guilty, we won't say who "some of us" are. This year, Jay and Josh had made avatars for everyone and gave them all funny names. Mom Caissie was "Antsy Metzy", the nickname bestowed on her by a pronounciation-impaired little Emily.

Sarah Casavant was "RedHotSarahPepper" due to her excessive use of the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a vehicle for her vocal prowess. Other name highlights were "Rubber Band Denis", whose catchphrase is certainly, "Just like a rubber band!" His avatar was designed to look like he wasn't wearing pants, the reasons for which were unknown to all except the creators. Uncle Dave was "Ticketless Dave" because of his unfortunate timing in giving up his Red Sox season tickets. And Dad Provost was "Dennis Pukevost" as a tribute to last year's Rock Band night.
I'm not sure what Jay is doing in this picture, but it amuses me.
Josh looks very serious in this one.

Christmas

At Christmas, we went to NH for a few days. Here is my gingerbread house version of the Caissie abode.
More Christmas pictures on the way.

Jay's Birthday Party

Saturday night was Jay's 30th birthday party. It was a rousing success. You know you've thrown a good party when you were having too much fun to take pictures. I managed to snap exactly one:
This is a prime example of why you should never indulge in rum-induced photography. Note that no one's entire head is visible and the focus of the picture seems to be the floor.

Jen managed a few more than I did, including these two pictures of the parents playing Rock Band:
Mom Caissie was a hit on the drums (oh no, she didn't just make that pun!). People kept coming up to me, saying, "your mom rocks at drums!" As you can see in the above photo, rocking at drums takes a lot of concentration. Sadly, only one photo of Jay from his own party has turned up so far, and in it, he is displaying some inappropriately doctored cupcakes, so you won't be seeing that photo here.

The cat made a spectacular appearance late in the evening. Anyone who has ever caught a glimpse of our cat knows that she is extremely skittish around strangers and prefers to hide under the bed rather than socialize. Well, apparently she was behind the couch when guests started arriving, and must have sat there paralyzed with fear for many hours. Around midnight she decided to make a break for it and took off at a full run through the living room and dining room towards the bedroom. Once she hit the linoleum in the kitchen, it was all over. She careened into several cabinets and, in a blind panic, ineffectively pumped her legs like she was on a treadmill gone haywire. That was the last we saw of her that night.

It was a fun time. Lots of people came and we managed to wipe out over a hundred bottles of beer and several bottles each of rum and whiskey. There were many fights over the musical worthiness of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and an embarassing photo of Jay as a child surfaced. Thanks to everyone for coming!

Sign of the Approaching Apocalypse

Oldies 103 has started playing Christmas music allllll day. On November 6th! Excuse me while I attempt to ward off a psychotic break.

Halloween

Friday night we went to the Halloween dance at Boston Swing Central. Our costumes were both hits. Jay was teaching Thriller at the lesson (which turned out really great), so he was obligated to dress as a zombie. He was a very convincing professor zombie, which almost scared me into finishing my dissertation right then and there. Here he is preparing his next meal:

I went as the old game Operation. I stuck cutouts ("broken heart," "water on the knee," etc.) on some flesh-colored clothing with velcro, attached a pair of tweezers and string to my shorts, and wore a blinky red nose. I kept catching people staring at me, then a look of excitement would cross their faces as they figured out what I was. Here is the zombie playing Operation:

July 4th

We went back to the Caissies' for July 4th. Mom, Jay and I started the day off right with King Kone for lunch. Jay had a corn dog, which he immediately regretted.
Peter, Candice, Matt, and some of Josh's friends came up for swimming and barbequeing (creepy picture of Josh in Jen's platform flip-flops omitted here). After dinner, we all went on the boat to watch the fireworks with Mom, Dad, and the Clinghans.


Everyone felt a little friendly after a few beers on the boat:
This would have been a great picture if those two weird guys hadn't gotten in the way:


The night was capped off with sparklers and fireworks from the gas station (not a recommended place to buy fireworks). The night almost came to a fiery end when Jay, feeling his lightning-shaped scar prickle, pointed his sparkler at Josh and yelled, "Stupefy!" sending a burning ember directly into Josh's chest. Everyone survived and made it home safely. Thanks, Mom and Dad--everyone had a great time!