polly & the piano

gandy gras 2007

ahhh, gandy gras...an otis tradition for five years now! what can i say that hasn't already been said? we came, we saw, we celebrated the fattest tuesday i've seen in a while.

-mardi party beads...check
-jumbalaya and muffaletta sandwichs...check
-rotel and velveeta dip with chips...check
-crab dip...check
-ritz crackers heralding that (in the words of jeff gandy) "comp'ny's comin'"...check
-king cake with "baby"...check
-merriment...check
-insanely long and silly drinking game during which we exhaust the beer supply...check

blood oranges in winter

happy valentine's day.

a sweet valentine's day treat. peach and blackberry french toast sprinkled with cinnamon granola and soaked in vanilla mascarpone cream (devoured at "m. henry" restaurant in our neighborhood). we had the morning off, so b and i trekked out into the drifts to procure a valentine's brunch. it is beautiful out there today and the snowflakes keep a-fallin'...

the snowy day.

when i was small(er), one of my very favorite books was (and continues to be) ezra jack keats's "the snowy day." the colors are vivid, the illustrations look like beautiful pressed paper artwork and the story is simple: a boy and his snowball going out into the "deep, deep snow."

nowadays, i get the opportunity to read this story to little people who i imagine love it just as much as i did. they are magnetized as i read about peter and his many snow adventures, and i always point out my favorite page to them (peter taking a bath in a hot pink bathtub after playing outside in the snow). i'm happy to pass it on.

here is a short moving picture of what is happening outside our kitchen window. snow drifting, wind a-blowin' and nothing but the ever deepening snow...

mary

likes: cassoulet, used book stores, forgiveness

dislikes: sink grime, haters, nails; when i'm biting them.

to procure a bit more of mary, click on the link to the right, or here...

or here.

i heart otis.

...here's the latest from my fellow teammates who are holdin' down the improv fort while i'm away doing a play.

brilliant.

not cool, chicago...not cool.

as if it wasn't bad enough that we lost the super bowl yesterday, this morning i woke to a -9˚ temperature. noooooo! why, chicago!? why's it gotta be like that?! it's been quite frigid here of late as you might've guessed and it's not scheduled to let up until tomorrow, if you call "letting up" 18˚. i can't wait...to feel my toes.

i'd be supremely happy if all i had to do today was stay in my pjs and watch dvds. i would eat a brownie for breakfast, pizza for lunch and sushi for dinner.

a dream day!

ahhh, well...a gal can dream can't she?

oona*

likes: salt, to-do lists, and good theatre

dislikes: aloofness, being cold, and bad theatre





*as part of my ongoing attempt to find inspiration in the everyday (not in a martha stewart kind of way, just in a way that means something to me), i'm going to begin a bit of a project. it's called "likes and dislikes." this is the first installment and i hope to post more just as soon as i can track down (and snap digipix of) more of my friends.