Rain Day!

Yes! It's raining and miserably cold today. Usually this is a drawback but on a Monday when I'm not scheduled to work the store, rain and cold means a self imposed "REAL" day off.
Real day off involves no driving, no work emails, no shipping or packing items destined for out of state buyers, no telephone calls about work....
Just me, the pups, a good book and a cup of tea. Bliss.

I don't generally get a whole day off, I can put off work for a few hours in the morning and play catch up until late in the evening, but a real, whole day off is rare.

The kids are having fun making mom nuts today.
So far Spencer has chased 4 squirrels in the back yard and jumped in and out of the fireplace to stare up the flue, trailing ashes everywhere! Fergus did his part by finding a random tube of oil paint and quietly gnawing on it while lounging on his favorite Rya rug. Well, at least he chose a matching color... Dogs.

Feb is going to be a busy month, I've got family coming in from around the country, I've got to run down to Miami for the Modernism show, I have a couple industry events I have to attend here and a friend is throwing his annual casino night.

But today is a day off. Which means Jim is coming home to a full dinner. We're design nuts first and foodheads second. We've been addicted to the avocado miso soup at the new sushi place in the Arboretum, it's in the same price range as Uchi but is closer to home for us. We dig going downtown to the drafthouse and to some of the jazz clubs but for the most part we get a kick out of staying at home and cooking or going over to other friend's houses for cocktails.

We're thinking about starting a dinner club. R. is constantly inviting us over for the most fabulous meals and so at the last dinner party we kicked around the idea of everyone taking a turn hosting each month. It's kind of a retro idea.

The neighborhood we've bought into consists of retired IBMers and other older tech folks, the neighborhood was spankin new in the 60s and 70s and all the houses are designed for entertaining.
We haven't had a party yet but we did have some people over for cocktails and our friend R, gave us the best compliment. He said "I love your house, it's like being at a private party at MOMA!" How cool was that?

We'd like to have a party in the spring as soon as the weather levels off, just friends and some good customers. Luckily the backyard is well set up for entertaining.

A. from the store down the street called, they're having a grand re-opening party sat night, can't wait.
Heard it through the grapevine that a vintage store down south is shuttering up next month. That's too bad, but they had only been open for a few years and this market has been a real bugaboo for a lot of new stores. We've heard about a couple others that are on shaky ground but this market is tough. Was it Mad Max with the whole 'two go in, one comes out' mantra? We'll see a few more closures before the fat lady sings.

Ok, so back to food. It's cold and rainy so something hot.. I think Mushroom soup, garlic bread, and blue cheese & endive salad sounds like a plan. Jim cracks me up, he "hates blue cheese" but if you make it fresh and don't use the jar stuff he loves it. He claims he's not a sugar fan, but if I leave a pint of gelatto in the freezer it seems to dwindle in short order.