taking requests

November 16, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

While Gregory thinks its a sin to even mention the C-word before Thanksgiving, I'm taking orders for my semi-annual Christmas mixtape, featuring Leadbelly, the Weepies, Sufjan Stevens, Eartha Kitt, Elvis Presley, the Vince Guaraldi Trio, Frank Sinatra, and more. Let me know if you'd like one.

electrification and root canals

November 03, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

We now have power, heat, and water, although we are limping by without internet. My dentist's office reopened and I got to move my root canal to tomorrow, too. In the meantime, I'm sucking on ice cubes at UMass, taking conference calls in the library telephone booth. There's nothing like the creature comforts. 

Photos of October snow

October 31, 2011 by Greg in Sadie & Greg

While Sadie's posting the details of our fine adventure without power, I thought I might share some photos of what 12" of snow in October looks like.

H2Jo Monday

October 31, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Without power, heat, or water, I wasn't able to have my customary morning latte. Fortunately, Ms. Carly Bruder got us an H2Jo for our wedding. We also got to use our propane backpacking stove and kitchen equipment for the first time.

My first not terrible apple pie

October 11, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I made my first successful apple pie yesterday, which was just as good for breakfast this morning:

Work is going really well. I launched a few big surveys last week, and am enjoying the small lull in furious calls, emails, and editing that precede emailing thousands of people all at once. 

I want to give a shout out to a phenomenal reader from back in the adamandjamie days. She is my heroine for following the radical intellectual dream and is still rocking the face off critical studies at Berkeley. Way to be, Jacqui. 

Stinkin' Birthday

October 02, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Greg and I went to the (Stinkin') Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival and ate out at a fancy farm to table joint for his birthday. The Garlic Festival was just like festivals in Eugene (great food, local crafts, and torrential rain), but it was fun to see the silk rope trapeze act billowed by the wind. At Tabella's, our waitress switched Greg's order and atoned by giving us an evening of free wine, for which we are still nursing hangovers. It was pretty great. Getting excited about this season's apples and pears- I made my first apple pie last week and am going to can brandied pears this afternoon.  

Update:brandied pears (and brandied pear cake) a success. 

The last bit of fall

September 26, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

All we got form the CSA this Saturday were green tomatoes and beets, a sign that summer is through. This picture - a tomato, basil, and potato au gratin- is in honor of all the great tomatoes we ate last month.

I just finished Gwendolyn Brooks' March, a fictional account of the experience of Little Women's Mr. March, who was a Union minister in the Civil War. It was fantastic, and I never read historical fiction- testament to my friend Anna Monas' impeccable taste. She has also passed on When You Reach Me by Rebbecca Stead, which I highly recommend for imaginative and precocious readers in or nearing middle school... and for everyone else who'd like their socks knocked right off and into the washing machine.

We had dinner with friends this weekend, who we haven't seen since mid August. Greg's enjoying classes and I'm loving every minute of True Impact. It's like graduate school with a funnier teacher and a more satisfying purpose. 

Affection/Infection

September 15, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

It was awesome seeing everyone this weekend. We brought much affection and infection home with us; Greg is on antibiotics for a sinus infection and I'm limping by on NyQuil and hot toddies. Greg is prescribing pork chops.

We took a bunch of blurry pictures of the wedding, but at least this one captured a gesture of the celebration of Ana and Lohring at the sweetheart table.

See you soon!

September 08, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

We're looking forward to seeing all of you this weekend for our tiny visit. Here's a dreamy picture my friend Tally took while Seraph and I snuck off for a lay down at the farm. Best nap of my life.

We made it

August 29, 2011 by Greg in Sadie & Greg

Well, we made it through. In the end, we were far enough inland that the storm rained itself out by the afternoon, though the wind kept up. We lost power for about 5 hours, but luckily we were able to forage for nuts and berries in the woods to survive. And now it's a beautiful, sunny, 75° day for the cleanup crews trying to restore everyone else's power. 

How long can you tread water?

August 28, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

In all this preparedness, we filled the tub with water last night so I can't take a shower. But I can always go outside with a bar of soap. 

It's started to drizzle here...

August 27, 2011 by Greg in Sadie & Greg

It's started to drizzle here in our part of MA, though the weather says it's not really Irene yet. But we've picked up our CSA and are preparing to go to the grocery store next. We're treating this like any other natural disaster around here, carefully adhering to the suggestions of the local French Toast Alert System. http://www.universalhub.com/french-toast 

So we're safe for now and as long as the water holds out. Maybe it's just hubris, but we've already survived a tornado and an earthquake so far this year so a hurricane isn't too scary. We'll get ruined like we're supposed to by a Nor'Easter come this winter I'm sure. But we'll post again in a day or so when the storm has blown through.

Today's the Day!

August 10, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I woke up this morning and realized that this was the day I got to see Seraph. Not to play favorites, but Seraph is like a glowing orb of Awesome tapped from the sweet sweet nectar of the world's only remaining Awesome Spring. She makes me want to build fantastical forest sanctuaries for children so they can someday be a little like Seraph, just for one moment. And honestly, I haven't had a chance to be excited yet. This is the first time. And now it's full-on Christmas morning, pulling apart my stocking and eating oranges to bide my time for the love onslaught.

I also woke up and realized I would need galoshes for the farm, because it's been raining. You may need them, too. 

Piles and Boxes

August 09, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Greg and I are in the final stretch of packing and will drive to Maine tomorrow morning. We were both juggling so many projects in the last month that it will be nice to abandon robots, evaluations, emails, and capstones for a solid week. Mowing, weeding, and stacking are perfect antidotes to July's frantic driving, typing, and organizing.

One of the more interesting things we've done as a newly wed couple is participate in a study on marriage where we fill out a battery of personality tests, are videotaped discussing a conflict, and spit into a half dozen vials over the course of three hours. Even with the resultant dry mouth, I think we both enjoyed ourselves. Remembering my early job at the Oregon Social Learning Center coding couples' converstions for antisocial behavior, I think of it as giving back to a new generation of undergraduate psychology majors.

Baltimore Bound

August 01, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I'm headed to Baltimore today for a week, then Greg and I will be driving back home for three days and getting back in the car to head north. Twelve more days!

One wedding reminder:

Please use the directions on the wedding website instead of a GPS or Google Maps. These directions accomodate for summer road closures and construction and are the most accurate placement of the Walden Bean Farm. Preparing by pinting out directions, contact information, and the weekend schedule will be immensely helpful for us. 

Weekend in Canaan

July 26, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

I spent the weekend in Canaan helping Scott prepare the farm for the August event. I can almost feel my shoulders again after cleaning the barn, mowing the field, pulling garlic, painting solar showers, and generally trying to be useful. It was just another weekend for the farm folks, and boy have they earned their biceps. In the coming weeks, planning will go from distant logistics to putting out fires and ironing out unconsidered details. On top of job searching, volunteering with tornado recovery, and visiting Baltimore for a week, I'm feeling a bit stretched. Hopefully all the task delegation will make the actual three days in August relaxing. And there's always the honeymoon. 

Happiest Birthdays!

July 19, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Adam, I hope you and Duncan have a perfect day!

Wild weeks of traveling

July 17, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

In the last two weeks, I've reunited with Greg at a Providence wedding, spent time in the Northern Berkshires with a five and seven year old, acted like a seven year old at the Boston Museum of Science, and celebrated a friend's 30th birthday party. I got a wicked sunburn and picked up a consulting gig. Greg is doing well in Baltimore, and I'm going to be with him there for a week at the beginning of next month. We've spent half of our 8 weeks of married life apart. Looking forward to remedying that for good in 14 days- a banjo is lonely company to keep.

The Kuramitsu Endowed Chair

July 04, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

A little special something for our benevolent benefactor of the triple deluxe toilets.

reunited and it feels so good

July 01, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Greg has returned for the weekend, and I already feel better. We have some paperwork to get through today, but we'll spend tomorrow picking strawberries and playing Cosmic Encounter with our friends Blaise and Lydia. Seraph just sent the second draft dress, which fits like a glove and is exactly the cut I was hoping for. She's such a superhero for moving, transitioning jobs, and designing a wedding dress, all in the same month. 

Saved from the tornados

June 01, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Two tornados touched down in Springfield, where I work, but I missed both. 

Stockbridge sunday

May 15, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

In an hour or two, I'm headed west to Stockbridge to meet Danica for a dress fitting. Anticipating spending a day standing still in my nickers, I wish the sky wasn't so gray. Yesterday, Greg and a friend of ours went for a walk on the Quabbin reservoir through the relocated town of Dana, or what's left of it from the early 1930s, when it was razed to preserve the watershed. Being in a totally green, abandoned yet domesticated space was an antidote to the last few weeks at work, which have been full of humans, paperwork, and not having time for lunch. 

Wedding planning is going well. We have daily RSVPs to our online Google form, which is fun to watch gracefully populate. My bridal shower invites are out for local friends who seemed willing to help with craft projects, and we're going up to Maine next weekend to walk through logistics on the farm. The process is no longer overwhelming, nor am I concerned with the inevitable disasters of planning a three day vacation for eighty people.

The only lingering worry I have is that Greg will be absent for the six weeks before the wedding, working in Baltimore. As you know, his absence last year was why we got engaged in the first place- because who wants to be separated by so many unappealing states? Hopefully we'll have lots of projects to keep us busy, and he won't get stabbed on the bus. 

Sister symmetry

April 23, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Like Seraph, I just finished the perogies, easter bread, and chocolate almond torte. And now for a nap. 

Dressmaking Begins

April 21, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Yesterday, Seraph's mock up of the dress came in the mail. Danica and I are meeting halfway to tailor and style it, then send it back for the final dress. Very cool.

slow crafting progress

March 21, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Our wedding checklist does not have an "in progress" check box, but I feel good about my weekend work even though nothing is close to done. I measured, cut, and sewed 7 white tablecloths, so we now need to beg, borrow, or steal only 3 more 6 footers for a complete (very eclectic) set. I made 40 name buttons for guests, so no one ever calls Seraph Sara on my watch (this does not seem to bother Seraph, and she's a better person for it. But I will go crazy on anyone that drops the part of her name that makes my sister an f-ing angel). This is a terrible picture, but Isa and Seraph have a remnant of a vintage map of northern NM on their buttons. And I recovered from a few career and academic setbacks, mostly through the company of friends and a phenomenal Smith College bulb show.

Post Valentine's Day Thaw

February 17, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

While today was a balmy 8 degrees, it hasn't snowed for a week and our driveway is half thawed. This picture is from our last big storm on the 2nd that had us shovelling three times a day.

We got our third Moosewood cookbook for Christmas and are spending our free time cooking new soups and such. I think that I'm finally registered into all the college systems, after 6 months of borrowing usernames.  I've won over at least two of our five work study students. Having previously considered myself gregarious and easy to work with, this position has been full of new lessons. My most valued skills seem to be web management, software, and design- totally weird. Either I'm becoming a geek or digital literacy is not as commonplace as I thought. I assumed, incorrectly, that folks with a smart phone glued to their thumbs knew how to both consume AND produce digital information, and that I was the digital luddite. Considering I didn't have the internet when I met Greg, I suspect its his influence.

Snow day

January 12, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

We're in the midst of a big blizzard of 10-14 inches, so even grown-ups get the snow day. Greg shoveled all morning. Then we ate pancakes.

Back in the Bay State

January 05, 2011 by Sadie in Sadie & Greg

Thanks to all for keeping and watering us this last two weeks! We're safe and sound at home.