Contisse

My husband, the movie star.

2012-04-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I totally didn't notice when I watched the Hunger Games in the theatre, but my friend Molly kept insisting she couldn't focus whenever Gale showed up due to his resemblance to Chuck. I was like, girl, you crazy.

Molly always has to have the last word, so she sent me some choice movie stills that kind of freaked me out.

I mean, look:

Crazy, right?

I got kind of lazy after that first set, so I didn't spend a ton of time trying to find photos of Chuck with precisely the same expressions as the movie stills. At any rate, the resemblance is still pretty funny.

Chuck lacks that District 12 palor, but the eyebrows are right on (he was carrying a flat screen TV in this photo, hence the intense focus).

Unlike Gale, Chuck is probably contemplating less serious things in this photo. We were in Mexico and he was wondering if it was acceptable to order his fifth tacos al pastor before noon.

Apparently Gale is played by Liam Hemsworth, who in real life is the beau of Ms. Miley Cyrus. This is hilarious because Chuck was kind of obsessed with 'Party in the U.S.A.' a couple of years ago and I was like, 'Sorry Chuck, you're probably not Miley's type.'

Turns out he is!

Um.

2012-03-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

It appears we are now the dazzled and slightly terrified parents of a new puppy. Seriously, she takes our breath away. We named her Maple. We love her so much.

Second day in Florida, and still no alligators.

2012-02-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Hello from Florida, where I will be spending a week pretending to be in one long-ass Golden Girls episode. In other words, this is going to be the best vacation ever.

The climate and plant life here remind me of my childhood in the Philippines, hot and dewy and lush. I appreciate this environment on an intellectual level. On a physical level, I'd describe it as 'uncomfortable' and 'sticky.' On the upside, the plants are awesome. They have beguiling names like Carolina willow, darling plum, wild tamarind and black mangrove.

I'm getting more into plants because my husband has a very green thumb. He's kicking our new garden into shape and it brings him so much joy. He spent a good long time at the Home Depot nursery weighing the pros and cons of different ground covers and shrubs. I pointed at a little pot of rhododendrons and said, "I would like some pink flowers by the front door." And he got it for me. Sweet man.

We're also hunting for nice green plants for inside the house. It's difficult finding plants that will thrive indoors and also won't kill my cat. I have the ASPCA's list of toxic and non-toxic plants for cats on my phone and have to look up every single plant. All the beautiful indoor plants we ended up liking also turned out to be extremely poisonous, like the weeping fig. It took us a while before we found our first cat-safe indoor plant, the Kentia palm. Kinzie immediately fell in love with it and melted my heart.

Well, I better sign off. The goal of this vacation was to detach ourselves from technology and unwind. I'll do better tomorrow.

House.

2012-02-17T00:06:00.000-08:00

So I reviewed the recent activity on this blog and see that my last post, from three months ago, was an ode to my cat. It's going to be hard to top that one.

There are so many recent developments I could possibly write about, but lately I've been thinking that this blog needs focus. And I've decided that the focus is going to be my house. After what seems like forever, we're all moved in to our very own place in the Bay Area, California! For the first time in our newly married lives, we finally feel like the old married couple we've always aspired to be. All settled and content and what have you. We even have a piano, which my friend Jen confirms is a "totally old person thing to have."

I often think back to that brief less-than-a-year we lived in our sweet little condo in downtown Chicago, doing young people things like happily paying an exorbitant condo association fee for the privilege of having someone else clean our damn windows. I do miss that garbage chute though. And our chatty doorperson. Also the Starbucks downstairs.

However, none of that young people stuff compares to what we're experiencing now. Prancing around without worrying about the tenants below us complaining to the condo association triumvirate. For instance.

More soon.

She's home.

2011-11-18T10:24:00.001-08:00

Last November, we adopted a cat from an animal shelter in Sacramento. We named her Kinzie.

Kinzie seemed so grateful to us for giving her a home and a family. She followed us everywhere in the house, and pushed her furry little head and paws close to our bodies as we slept.

Kinzie was about a year old when we adopted her. She had been in the shelter for almost two months at that point. Sometimes I wonder what she lived through during her first year of life. I wonder how she ended up in the shelter. I wonder what she looked like when she was a kitten, how little her meow must have sounded. It wrenches my heart to wonder. I deeply hope she was in a good home, that she was loved.

I often gaze at Kinzie in wonder. She has no idea how much joy she gives us. And she teaches us so much.

I strive every day to give Kinzie the best life possible, the life that she deserves.

Last night we got our offer accepted on the house of our dreams. Kinzie, who has traveled with us from the shelter in Sacramento, to our condo in Chicago, across the country in our Honda back to California, to the home of my doting parents for the past few months while we searched and searched and searched for a house … is now moving with us to her forever home.

It's been a wonderful first year with you, our little moo cat. We love you so much.

A letter to my future home.

2011-11-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Dear future home,

It's taking us a while to find you. We're trying to be patient, because my husband and I are expected by society to have acquired this virtue by now. Unfortunately, Chuck and I are both the youngest in our families, and so are prone to violent tantrums rather than patience when we don't get our way. We also heighten each other's impatience, going to bed every night talking for hours about our wild dreams for the place where we will finally settle and start our family.

Even though we lack patience, we are even worse at compromising. Or settling. No, compromising. We know, future home, that you won't be perfect. We're not asking for perfection. We're just asking for an arbitrary combination of qualities that we're convinced we can't live without.

We need:

A master bedroom that will comfortably fit a king-sized bed. This is non-negotiable. I flail when I sleep, and so does my husband, and so does our cat.
The house needs to back into nature, not neighbors. This is possibly negotiable. But we want to see trees, or maybe a creek, or something nature-y like that, instead of someone else's house. Neighbors on either side of us is fine, just not behind us. I don't care if you think that's weird.
We need to hear crickets. This is more a Chuck requirement, but I'm going with it because I excel at marriage. We can't have road noise or anything that reminds us of a city. This is probably fatigue from that time we owned a place in the middle of downtown Chicago (um that was a few months ago), where most of our time outdoors was accompanied by honking cabs, tourists, and the smell of cigarette and car smoke. Actually we still own that place, and we still love it, but we refer to that as our 'young people' place. We are now looking for an 'old people' place, which needs to be a lot more quiet.
Our cat must love the house. That's just the way it is.

Is that too much to ask? Do you exist? We know you do. We just haven't found you yet. Please come to us. We can't wait to meet you.

Love,
Chuck, Erica & Kinzie

The ones who do.

2011-10-05T23:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday mornings at the BBC.

2011-09-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

When I was single, I used to go to the BBC to have after-dinner drinks with a date. Now that I'm married, I go there with Chuck on Sunday mornings to watch the Green Bay Packers play. I rag on football all the time, but I'd take this over dating any day.

Rose Garden.

2011-09-10T23:22:00.001-07:00

At the Sacramento Capitol grounds.

Sweetness.

2011-09-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

Dairy Queen in Monroe, WI

Leatherby's Family Creamery in Sacramento

CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!

2011-09-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, Sacramento traffic. Our family is completely exhausted. Did you know we've driven over 2,000 miles in 30 hours over the last three days? This is the first time we've seen so many cars on the road in a while. Usually it was just our little Honda hanging out with semi trucks that were also out for the long haul on 80.

We're back! And we're thrilled. A special thank you to Labor Day and time zone changes (we gained two hours going from Central > Mountain > Pacific time) for cutting us a break today and giving us time to rest and recoup.

Nevada.

2011-09-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

Trees! Haven't seen these in a while.

Pit Stop at Winnemucca.

Mexican food run at Mariscos El Ray.

Fuel.

Utah.

2011-09-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Beautiful red mountains.

Chinese takeout at Golden Pearl,
Salt Lake City.

Speeding by the Great Salt Lake.

Wyoming.

2011-09-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

Best traveler ever.

2011-09-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

More Nebraska.

2011-09-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

Cozy Microtel.
Highly recommend for non-fussy road trips!

How much coffee do you need for 11 hours of driving?
A lot.

Nebraska.

2011-09-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

@ San Pedro Mexican Restaurant,
Kearney, Nebraska.

Iowa.

2011-09-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Really? The largest? Seems dubious.

First leg.

Hi, Iowa.

Kinzie and the Great Mississippi River.

Things I will miss about Chicago: High-rise living

2011-09-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

Our building had a room you could use to host parties, play billiards, and host meetings. It made me feel groovy and fancy-like.

Things I will miss about Chicago: Our favorite grocery store

2011-09-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

Fox & Obel

401 East Illinois Street

Chicago, IL 60611-4319

Some cute things my cat does.

2011-08-31T19:49:00.000-07:00

She lets you know when she's not pleased.

She throws the cutest tantrums.

She sleeps on the windowsill.

She helps us pack.

She zonks out in her carrier.

She plops on my laptop when she wants me to stop working.

Given a choice between a shoebox and her bed, she chooses the shoebox.

Donuts + Cake Stand = Love

2011-08-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Whenever we had guests over at our place in Chicago, I'd go to the Dunkin Donuts next door and buy a dozen donuts. Then I'd arrange them on this classy cake stand. Then our guests would have a sugar rush and be giddy the rest of the morning. These are the things they teach you in hosting school.

Bye Bye, Chicago!

2011-08-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

We loved you, Chi-town. We absolutely adored you. We will miss you. Don't worry, though. We are keeping the awesomest crib in town. So we will be back to visit again and again.

California here we come (back), baby!

Book Review Schmook Review: Lake Edition

2011-07-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

My husband and I recently spent a few days vacationing at his family's lake home in Northern Wisconsin. Oh, it was glorious to bask in the sun, sip ice cold drinks, do some fishing and canoeing, and eat my weight in cheese snacks. Oh, and read books!

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
★★★½
This wasn't exactly vacation-y reading. It was delightful maybe two thirds of the time, and a little bit of a snoozer a third of the time. History buffs will absolutely love it, but I'm not nearly a history buff. I'm trying to build up to history enthusiast, so I demand a bit more writerly flourish to keep my attention (the style in this autobiography is of the "I did this, and then this, and also this, oh yeah and this" variety). It ends in 1760 and therefore doesn't cover the revolution, because I guess he was busy helping draft the Declaration of Independence and establishing the postal system and discovering electricity (or at the very least inventing the lighting rod) and what have you.

As with Lincoln, I immensely enjoyed reading about BF's young adult life. He broke a printing apprenticeship with his brother as a lad in Boston, and made his way to Philadelphia where dude did all sorts of trailblazing. He led smartypants civic clubs that established basic things that we take for granted in our cities today, like the first lending library, the first hospital, street cleaning services, meeting halls, and fire stations. He grew to be a super successful businessman and politician and made his first fortune by printing stuff for the government and making the first paper currency. The book really opens your eyes to how delightfully ripe those early years in the colonies was for discovery and entrepreneurship. He also found time to do other things like become the governor of Pennsylvania and found the University of Pennsylvania. My favorite thing I learned about BF is how thoroughly he devoted himself to virtue and improvement. He was a vegetarian back when it wasn't exactly trendy, and he created a set of 13 virtues and regularly conducted 13-week programs for himself where each week was devoted to mastering one virtue at a time. What an awesome guy.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
★★★
Holy cow, this was entertaining. This is perfect lakeside reading. The best young adult books have engrossing plots, plenty of style, and not a lot of subtlety. At least not the kind of subtlety that makes you read passages over and over and still not quite understand what the hell the author is getting at (I'm looking at you, James Joyce). YA authors are good at introducing subtlety and then flat out explaining what they mean, to make sure that the young reader is able to follow along fully. I love that. Because who has time to think during vacation? Not me. Anyway, I'm not even going to mention what this book is about. I think it's best read having no idea what it's about (though if you're attuned to popular culture you probably know what it's about anyway). Yes, I do plan to read the rest of the series ... on my next vacation.

This Fine Life: A Novel by Eva Marie Everson
★★★
Okay, stop the train. How did this book get into my Kindle? As I was going through my reading list, I stumbled across this book and couldn't figure out when and where and why I got it. I finally realized that I downloaded it a while back when it was being offered for free on the Kindle as a promotion (I think). I don't regret it. This book flows like honey. I read it in an afternoon and I wish I could've savored it longer. The plot is fairly light, its religion-y bent swooped in just as I was really starting to enjoy it, and the conclusion is pretty infuriating. But I love the writer's style. Maybe I don't read enough books about southern belles. Do they all read like this? It's set in Georgia in the sixties, and is an account of a young woman named Mariette who grows up in a nice family, was bred into a proper woman after four years in boarding school, falls in love and marries a troubled but totally dreamy whippersnapper named Thayne, who then finds his purpose by becoming a preacher. Mariette then has to come to grips with being a preacher's wife, and the story takes some unexpected turns. What I enjoyed most about the book was the way Mariette described her day to day existence, particularly when she finds herself having to adapt to a downsized lifestyle as a newlywed. I wouldn't recommend this book to you if you have a hard time dealing with a female protagonist who comes of age in the sixties yet appears to be completely oblivious that there's a thing called the women's movement happening. If you can overlook this, though, this is some gooood vacation reading.

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins
★★★½
Speaking of the women's movement, this is an excellent page turner on how far women in America have come in the last fifty years. Gail Collins is one of my favorite writers, and while this book doesn't deliver the same snark to fact ratio that her NYT Op Eds do, it is still plenty snarky. I learned a lot of new things about what women did to enable my generation to have all the opportunities I take for granted today. And I tend to think I know a lot, since I went to a women's college and sort of just absorbed this history without even trying. I love how the author tells the story of American women through personal stories punctuated by media headlines and quotable quotes that tried to keep up with history as it happened but were often comically behind in their interpretations.

Philippine Folklore Stories by John Maurice Miller
★★½
Another freebie for the Kindle. It's always fun to read and re-read stories from my native country, but a lot seems lost in translation in this book. In particular, the nuttiness of original Filipino folklore and legends. I'm telling you, that stuff is seriously nutty. Other cultures create myths to explain big unanswered questions (see: the Greeks) and the Filipinos do too, but they also spend an inordinate amount of time spinning elaborate tales to explain things like why Filipinos have "flat noses" (here's a recap of that story since it is sadly not covered in this book). My favorite story in this book involves a god named Harisaboqued who lived on top of a mountain with a bunch of dwarves (don't ask, I don't know why). He was kind enough to allow the local villagers to plant tobacco on his mountain, but they weren't allowed to plant beyond a certain line. One day Harisaboqued and his dwarves announced that they were going on vacation and didn't come back for many years. The villagers eventually succumbed to greed and planted beyond the line. Well. Harisaboqued was pissed and exploded out of the mountain (I guess he was on vacation inside the mountain?). And so ... that's where volcanos come from.

Young Marlon Brando.

2011-07-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

My husband has been stopped before to be informed that he resembles a young Marlon Brando. Now and then I look at him and see it. He just needs to let his hair go wild and be more deliberate with the smoldering gazes.