life and other complications

what to expect when you're expecting

for instance, if you were pregnant and had registered for lots of wonderful baby things, you might expect the above the email.

thing is, i'm *not*. so why is Amazon sending Thurston emails claiming that i have psychotically delusionally prematurely registered? no clue. but i can tell you this-- after the last store with a registry tried to blow me up similarly. (See Bloomingdales Wedding Registry T and i a box of wrapped-in-white glasses off of our registry from a then-very-not-yet-engaged *me*).

i may be crazy (just a bit), but i say now for all the world four people who may or may not still read this since my posting has been, shall we say, sporadic:

i have never registered for anything before the said thing was in the works.

of course, a few days later, we did receive an "oops" email from Amazon, explaining that the Baby Registry email was a technical glitch. but for those few moments after T received that "someone bought you a gift off your baby registry" email, i could tell that the theme from Psycho was playing in his head. (it's not like i have been walking around speaking in a British accent or anything. sheesh!)

internet registries, why are you trying to make me look insane?

this is simply crazy

i mean, CUH-razy, crazy.

Toys linked to date-rape drug recalled: Chinese-made beads for children metabolize into GHB when ingested

Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful “date rape” drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. [via MSNBC]

ok, *how* is this even possible? are we sure that this toy company is not simply the second coming of Jesus? because, really, the beads *turn into* GHB?!? is this not insane??

yeah, it took a messianic intervention to draw me back to the blog. i have been swamped lately. with happy fun things, thankfully. wedding dress shopping with Lil' E (yay!); cooking retro-gourmet meals for the brother-in-law and fiancée, highlights included from-scratch pineapple upside down cake, vegetable tian w/ purple potatoes (my slightly altered version of this)and individual tex-mex turkey meatloaf:

apple-picking; pseudo-apple-picking (our 2nd scheduled apple-picking trip fell on one of those random 85-degree October Saturdays, so we were all about the CT bbq instead!); hitting up the Borscht Belt (oh, would that i were joking); attending black-tie benefits (mais oui, darling); planning the gut renovation of our new digs; moving back home to our-soon-to-be-someone-else's digs; getting fondue with the Cubans; fostering my Scrabulous addiction; going on failed "couples" costume-finding missions to *shady* parts o' the Bronx (i.e. the wall outside the store had graffiti, which Thurston was able to make out as "CRACK"); and who even knows what else. add this to my general laziness and you've got no blogs.

but i am going to be better! i am the total opposite of Lola and Joles, who are blogging up a storm (L every day even), so maybe i will get energy by proxy and get to typing. with our one-year anniversary rapidly (Sunday Sunday SUNDAYYYYYYYYY) approaching and construction drama on the horizon, i ought to have plenty to talk about. try to be excited!

a to lovey to z

tagged by Jolie and with nothin' but time on my hands...

A- available or single?
(aren't these the same?) i am available to Thurston but everyone else is out of luck.

B- best friend? Jill "the bean" and Liz the CaliSister

C- cake or pie? cake--vanilla with mocha frosting, please!

D- drink of choice? i've been wanting Grasshoppers constantly

 

E- essential item I use every day: No More Tangles (knots are for suckers)

 

F- favorite color? aqua

G- gummy bears or gummy worms? neither. i'd rather have a Chunky bar

H- hometown? Merrick, N.Y.

I- indulgence? shoes and bags and bling

J- january or february? February (gotta love the government holidays)

K- kids and names: i'm not telling but ask Magnolia--she probably will know ahead of time. (she gets emails from the future).

L- life is incomplete without? DVR.

M- marriage date: 11/11

N- number of siblings: two. CaliSister and Brian, the neighbor

O- oranges or apples? i'm allergic to all fresh fruit. pity me.

P- phobias or fears? claustrophobia and haphephobia

Q- favorite quote? “i defer to you, sweetheart" (classic Thurston).

R- reasons to smile? i work 2.5 days a week.

S- season? Spring (home of my birthday)

T- tag: Kit and Mel

U- unknown fact about me: i used to be a good athlete (and not lazy), to the extent that when there were an uneven number of boys in gym class, and they had to choose girls to even out the squads, i was often the first chosen (Amanda Stein and Lauren Shulman also got picked a lot).

V- vegetable you don't like: snap peas

W- worst habit: leaving my shoes all around the living room.

Y- your favorite food? it's probably been eight years, but the memory of the Whopper with Cheese still holds the #1 slot in my heart.

Z- zodiac? Gemini

this takes the edge off wedding stress

this is an oldie but a goodie and makes all my vendor worries disappear. (for the moment!)

didn't we almost have it all?

if these two crazy* kids can't make it, what hope is there for the rest of us?

---

* emphasis on the "crazy"

all about me(me). again.

i have nothing original to say, hence another meme. Jolie had it on her blog via Brico who had it on his blog and now me!

This is how it works: Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter on your blog, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

Jolie has assigned me the letter "L" (as in Lovey, of course!)

Lazy: this is my middle name. really. i am all about the laziness.

Liar: this is not just an awesome Henry Rollins song. (although it is most definitely that as well). it is often me. lying kicks ass.

Loser: no matter how time goes by, this insult stands its test.

Louche: this word is fun to say. and everything it represents rules. it's the perfect "l"-word for debauchery. which is another great word.

Liver: only when said à la Beavis, like so: "ah, my LIVER. MY LIVER!"

Laissez-faire: this is how i ought to be. alas, it remains but an aspiration...

Loud: this is a great word when it's about volume. but also when it's about outfits.

Logarithm: even though i hate all math of the calculus or pre-calc sort, i always had a soft spot in my heart for a logarithm.

Lambada: if you don't know the "forbidden dance" then you are really missing out. it's not every dance that can save the rainforest. (i mean, what has the foxtrot done for me lately?)

Leitmotif: this one's just fun to say. and pretentious to use. hence my often-as-i-can usage. (if P were my letter, it would be all about the pompous.)

those were the salad days...

ah, high school. where i used to know all kinds of stuff about stuff.
John F. Kennedy High School -- home of the Cougars.

anyway, the Bean just sent me this link: What Do You Remember From School? apparently, i remember a lot, as i got an A+ on the quiz. how well will you do? (and, to some of your chagrin, the quiz does not include extra-curricular subjects like smoking pot in the parking lot or hooking up with shady guys from other towns. sorry!)

reason 1,023 why i would prefer to not be on a diet

Exhibit A:

i am so obsessed with this site. so so so obsessed! i am also now consumed with the idea of a Giant Cadbury Creme Egg. nothing could be more wonderful.

i also wouldn't throw the giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup out of bed for eating crackers. i'm just saying...

how to be a Howell

i now realize that i never actually explained how this blog became The Tales of Lovey and Thurston rather than, let's say, The Story of Emily and Justin.

i've actually never had a nickname.* not one that was anything besides a schoolyard taunt (i.e. "Walking Dictionary"; "Eggilbee"; "Smellily"; etc.), and even those never stuck. my sister got to be Dizzy or Lizard. my brother was Basher or Smasher. even my cat Winston had aliases-- Fatston, Fatty, Fatass, Mr. Pickles (ok, i never said most of them were flattering). i did have computer "handles" when i used to log on to BBSes and chatrooms in the early-to-mid-80s. i was unstoppable** with my 300 baud modem and my Commodore 64 and my awesome handles: "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Alice in Wonderland". (i believe one of the boards i used to go to was called Falken's Maze, but my memories of from when i was 11 are a bit hazy.)

i get to law school and, still, no nickname. but the EvilAlchemist, prime minister of nicknames and my first law school friend (Section 5 FOREVA!) , started calling me by my IM name: JadedEm. another law school classmate followed suit, calling me that or JadedE. and i was thrilled. a nickname that stuck! well, for a while, and at least with those two. later on, EvilA and i end up on the same journal. one of our editors is this seriously uptight guy who has the pretty much exact same voice as Thurston Howell III, so the Alchemist anoints him thusly.

we then graduate law school and forget all about THIII, until... i meet *my* Thurston, who also has a deep and resounding voice, not unlike Thurston Howell. and EvilA hears him speak and, in a post which fortuitously predicted our engagement, EvilA referred to him as such. it was only natural that i would be Lovey to his Thurston, so... a blog was born.

---

* it bears noting that one summer at sleepaway camp, when i was in the midst of my very, very awkward early teen years, a super-mean camper/waiter (a teenage boy, natch) decided to call me "Rocky Dennis" after the horribly deformed character played by Eric Stoltz in Mask. the waiter guy (i think his name was Eric but i blocked most of that summer out) actually called me "RD" for short, more often than not. although i don't think i really fit the elephant man mold, my strawberry blonde perm certainly wasn't helping my case. of course, when i got home from camp i insisted upon plastic surgery to ensure such torture would not happen again. the joy that only a new nose can bring! do you think this qualifies me for some sort of PTSD accommodation?

** i was also *very* underage and reall am convinced that the supposed teenage boys i chatted with online (the phone line, yo) were actually pedophiles. seriously. i have seen all of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" installments and really identify the chat behaviors of these current perps with the ways of the guys i used to make "friends" with. gross!!!!

i wonder if she does weddings...

through Lola, i found Kit's blog and what could perhaps be the single best post in the blogosphere:
here you have the genius of Sondra Prill.