Since we’ve moved back from California, C.K. has been working with Brian Alvey on his new company Crowd Fusion. It’s a new website publication platform (don’t ask me what that is). They just launched their first website the other day. It’s called Obsessable. Yeah, I know. The name is catchy. It reminds me of other make-believe words that are fun to say. Like Nastical (my own creation), and Ginormous (this one is way too common), and Romantical (a nod to my man Flava FLAV!).

Obsessable focuses on technology – everything from digital cameras and mobile phones to gaming consoles. I really like their product profile pages. Each contains a snippet explaining the product, further details if you want them, and some photos. I think it’s very helpful if you were going to buy a digital phone and couldn’t tell the difference between a Nikon D70 and a LeClic camera. Okay, you could probably tell the difference between those too. (Sidenote: I just got the urge to buy a LeClic on Amazon. Maybe Obsessable would let me write the “Product Profile” page?)

Check out C.K.’s post on 5 Cool Things about Obsessable.

I entered Thatcher in the Good Housekeeping Halloween Costume Contest. You can vote for her here. However, the contest is set up as random battles. I spent like an hour on Monday night voting and looking for the pug with no luck. She’s won over 850 battles though. If she wins the whole contest, Thatcher will be in the magazine and C.K. and I get a trip to Colorado.

Heroes season three premiered last night. It was good. Leaps and bounds better than Heroes second season. The show suffered both the “sophomore slump” and the WGA Strike last year. But those two reasons aside, the writers made the unfortunate decision to add a bunch of new (crappy) characters to the show and follow them around (hello? the mascara twins. puh-lease!).

It’s seems from these first two episodes that the show is returning to its old characters (Claire, Hiro, Peter, Nathan, Matt, HRG, and Sylar). They kept the one mascara twin, presumably because the actress is extremely attractive. Sure the show has some other lookers, but Ali Larter hardly ever gets screen time and Hayden is like twelve. (Sidenote: It’s totally gross that Milo Ventimiglia is dating her. I read that somewhere. “Somewhere” equals Us Weekly or some other high-gloss publication. Extreme sidenote: It’s a little disturbing that Dooney and Burke gave Hayden her own bag. I guess D&B is going for the younger customers now that teenagers carry Coach and Vera Bradley bags.)

And now I’m sidetracked. Heroes was pretty good. It kept my attention.

Interesting development: Dr. Suresh finally has powers. These new capabilities include spidy-sense and an out of control libido.

This is the perfect “prime minister” picture of Thatcher. She looks very aristocratic. She looks like she could run a country, definitely a small country like England (teehee). She might even be able to run Westchester. (The pug looks a little fat in this picture though. She’s really not fat. She’s just lumpy like that when she sits down.)
C.K. even did a drawing of the picture with PhotoShop.

I made this cocktail for a dinner party C.K. and I threw this past Saturday. We had a great bottle of Proseco to start as it was a celebratory dinner. Our close friends Tara and Jay are getting married next September. I’m a bridesmaid and Jay asked C.K. to be the best man. It’s a decision I’m sure he’s already rethinking. Directly after C.K. accepted the honor, he began goading Tara about how he would dye Jay blue for the wedding. Jay wouldn’t look bad as a smurf though.

We also enjoyed this lovely proseco cocktail from Martha Stewart Living. It tastes like a variation of White Sangria. Here’s how to make it.

1 peach, diced

1/2 lb. strawberries, diced

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup of vodka

bunch of basil, chopped up

1 bottle of Proseco, Italian sparkling wine

In the bottom of a pitcher add all the ingredients except the Proseco. With a wooden spoon, mash up the fruit well and leave it in the fridge to marinate. When you’re ready to serve it, add the bottle of Proseco and mix well.

Also on the menu…

Shrimp Cocktail

Salad with carrots, dried cherries, bleu cheese, balsamic vinagrette (Tara made it. I think it had nuts too.)

Filet Mignon with Bernaise sauce

Brussel Sprouts with Pine Nuts

Baked Potatoes

Cupcakes from Lulu in Scarsdale. (Very nice!)

We bought Thatcher a nice dog bed when we got back to New York. Usually I buy the dog several cheaper beds over the course of a year. This time we opted for a nicer, more expensive one. Thatcher has a penchant for ripping up her beds and flinging them around the apartment so it never made sense to buy her something nice. However, now that she’s two years old, I figure it’s time to entrust her with a “big girl bed.”

So we got this great igloo bed. She can climb inside, curl up and take a nap. We showed her how to use it. And for the first few nights she slept inside with no problems. But now, things have changed. I guess she doesn’t like the confinement of the igloo bed because I find her taking the time to squash the roof down and lay on the top of the igloo. Oh well. I think it’s because she puts off so much body heat so it gets too warm in there. Thatcher was a space heater in her previous life.

In the picture above, I made her go inside the bed just for the photo (hence the look of bewilderment on her face).

Okay, so it says that on the sign but Century 21, as you can tell by the packed lot, is no secret to New Yorkers. There’s one in the city, one in Brooklyn, and one on Long Island. Last Friday, my mom and I visited the Long Island store for some “back-to-school” clothes. Century 21 carries all kinds of trendy brands and designer names at half price. Of course, you have to check the sizes and check for any weird sewing errors. The store gets surplus and some awkward stuff. But as long as you’re willing to sift through racks of clothing, you could find some really good buys. In fact, last year I found a Nicole Miller gown for a friend’s wedding here. I paid $40 for it. It’s normal retail was about $400. My friend Kim was shopping with me and agreed that I was losing money if I didn’t buy it. Like my awesome shopping logic?

On Friday, I bought C.K. four polo tops (Izod, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger included in that). I also needed some tops for work at Preston this year. Because schools don’t have air conditioning and September can be warm in New York, I needed a few professional but light, airy tops to wear to work. I got a few things. A nice Da-Nang cotton top with peasant sleeves among them.

Announced yesterday at the superintendent’s meeting to kick off the school: My mom is the 2008 Teacher of the Year for the entire district! Many congratulations to her! After eighteen years of dedication to the art of teaching, commitment to her students, and service to her community, she deserves every accolade with which the district honors her. She’s one of the first people in her district to pilot an inclusive classroom (a class where special needs students are mixed in with regular-Ed students). And with the partnership of her co-teacher, I believe she’s one of the only people to do it right.

I’m so proud of her!

I need a bumper sticker: My Mom was Teacher of the Year (like those “My Kid is an Honor Student” ones).

We’re back at our apartment in Westchester. It feels good to be around the old neighborhood again. I’ve been enjoying walking the dog around the quiet homes with their pretty flowers planted in front. I’ve been loving living right across the street from a market (not a supermarket, a privately-owned local market). Also across the street in our little town are an ice cream shop, nail salon, florist, Italian deli, restaurant, dog groomer, pastry shop, bagel shop, and a few other things. Not that we didn’t have convenience like this in Santa Monica — it’s just that here, we have convenience without the town losing any character or quaintness.

While I’m happy to be back–the place is a complete mess. I guess I should say “was a complete mess.” C.K. and I worked really hard to get everything reorganized and put away. All the clothing had to be put back. We don’t have those huge California closets anymore so this was a challenge. Then I put back the toiletries and linens (a bigger job than you think). The books went everywhere. We have a ton of books. That’s what happens when two people meet in grad school for English. C.K. did a great job organizing his office closets. And he even committed a mortal sin for geeks — throwing out old gadgets and wires. *Gasp*

I didn’t take a picture of these although I should have. They were delicious though. The basil is an interesting twist, I think. Here’s a roundabout approximation sort of kind of recipe. I don’t do real measurements.

2 parts tequila

1 part triple sec

2 parts watermelon juice*

1 punch of basil, chopped up

watermelon “ice cubes”**

lime juice

sugar

In the bottom of each glass (I used double old-fashioned glasses), put some basil and add some sugar. Use the back of a spoon to bruise the herbs and mix in the sugar (like you would if you were making a mojito). Add some watermelon ice cubes to the glasses. In a shaker, combine tequila, watermelon juice, triple sec, and a splash of lime with ice. Shake it up and pour into the glasses. Then stir the drinks so that the basil on the bottom of the glass gets mixed into the whole drink. You can garnish with a sprig of basil or a lime wedge.

*I bought four separate quarters of watermelon to make these drinks. That makes a lot of margaritas. But it was for a party, so I would rather have too much than too little. I suppose you can also buy one very large watermelon. To make the juice, I cut the watermelon into manageable pieces then pureed those pieces in a food processor. Then I took the puree and put it through a collider lined with a cheese cloth. I ended up squeezing out the cheese cloth to get the extra juice. This part of the drink is pretty labor-intensive. But they’re worth it. I swear!

** To make the watermelon ice cubes, take one quarter of the watermelon and use a melon baller to make small watermelon balls. Place the watermelon balls on a baking sheet and freeze. After about an hour in the freezer, cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap. Once the watermelon balls are frozen, you can transfer them to a ziplock bag. These watermelon balls serve as the ice cubes in the drinks. They soak up the tequila and taste great when you’re finish drinking your margarita.