Rocks!

We went up to Boston this weekend to play with our friends. Mostly we ate, played board games, watched Doctor Who, and lolled around on the most comfortable couch of all time, but we did go out Saturday to Quincy Quarry so the boys could climb all over rocks while me and Stephanie cross-stitched on a picnic blanket. Gender roles!

Look at Ben climb up that rock like some sort of rock-climbing monkey!

Look at Martí climb up that rock like some sort of shirtless rock-climbing monkey!

A lot of the rocks are covered in graffiti, which looks somewhat cool but apparently makes them harder to climb. Also, we learned that back in the day the quarry was full of water, and people would dump bodies there. So, I guess some vandalism isn't too bad, historically speaking.

We also spent time hanging out in Boston Common, where we randomly ran into a big group of people we went to college with. Then we walked up Newbury Street and ate ice cream at Emack and Bolio's, which was as delicious as I remembered. All in all, a great weekend - the only downside is that now we both really want to move back to Cambridge.

Internet Famous

After I cross-stitched my Community sampler I didn't really know what to do with it, so I donated it to the Regretsy alchemy fund. It was included in their most recent fundraiser, and, believe it or not, someone paid money for it. In fact, on the main site, several people lamented that they didn't see it in time to buy it themselves. I should probably quit my day job and just sell pop culture cross-stitch samplers on etsy.

Also, since Megan Ganz tweeted it, the sampler's imgur album is this close to having a million views. Woah.

Rosenbach

We live a few blocks away from the Rosenbach Museum of rare books, but had never gotten around to going inside - the conditions of it being open, us remembering it exists, and us having time to go just never all aligned. But last month it was featured on the Colbert Report, which finally galvanized us into putting a visit on our calendar for yesterday.

The first thing you see when you walk in is the Maurice Sendak and Stephen Colbert exhibition, which really does feature empty bottles of Bud Light Lime, a crumpled deli receipt, and Colbert's notebook next to a manuscript of Ulysses. It also features items from Colbert's interview with Sendak (including a ziploc bag containing 246 penises and butts excised from In The Night Kitchen), and a sampling of books from the museum's collection that contain poles in them.

Beyond the Colbert exhibit, the museum was bigger than I had expected, and had a much more diverse array of objects than just rare books - including Robert Burns's powder horn, Lord Byron's card case, a variety of ancient Egyptian burial jewelry, and a giant awesome clock with a golden snake whose tongue points to the time. Of course, there were plenty of neat old books too - my favorite was a manuscript of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures Under Ground, which later turned into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I can't show you the beer bottles or the snake-tongue clock. But for those of you who will be coming to Philly for our wedding, why not consider pre-gaming with a museum visit? Nothing to get you in the mood for a wedding like a baggie full of cut-out penises!

Band band band!

This weekend, for the second year in a row, I met up with my high school band friends and headed to Allentown for a drum corps competition. Unlike last year, when it rained pretty much the whole time, this year the weather was perfect. I was too transfixed to take any pictures, but when I got back I found some videos to share the awesomeness.

The crowd favorite was definitely Jersey Surf, specifically their rendition of Party Rock Anthem. Yes, Party Rock Anthem (skip to 11:30 for the relevant part):

It was actually pretty neat in person. This video is from a few weeks ago, but on Saturday they had replaced the whole horn line playing the melody with just a few horns playing it into a mic with some sort of filter-y sound effect thing that made it sound cool. I couldn't find a more recent video, though :(

The Cadets are my perennial favorite, but I was slightly nervous when I heard that their show this year was themed around Christmas. It turned out to still be awesome (this video is from a rehearsal, but it's still pretty impressive):
It's weird to think I am (way) too old to participate in drum corps anymore, since you can't be over 21; even the "all ages" version has a max age of 25. Not that I was ever that good anyway, it's just weird to be too old for something that's not, you know, a ball crawl.

New Orleans, and the best wedding present ever

I spent this past week in New Orleans for a conference, and had a great time eating lots of delicious food and marveling at all the beautiful wrought iron balconies. But, the best thing that happened by far was the wedding gift my colleagues gave me (since this was the last time we'll all be together before I get married):

This gives me a whole new idea about how to wear my hair on the big day...