This photo is actually from last Tuesday, and I left my camera out to upload it from work, but ran out of time and promptly left my camera at the office. Hence no pictures of Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh. But doesn’t the sunset look cool through the building? Maybe they should never put walls in so that I can keep my nice view from my office.

Thanksgiving was great as always. Traffic wasn’t too bad going out there. Got to spend lots of time with my family, especially my cousin’s baby who, at 15 months has changed a lot since last year. Ate deep fried turkey for the first time (yum!). Ate way too much other food as well. Drive back was easy. Even easier since I didn’t drive, as we were driving my parents car that usually lives in MA, which is a stick and I can’t drive stick. And almost as good, we still have the car until it gets returned to MA this weekend, so got to go to Fairway yesterday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Over the weekend, I went shopping with my friend L for a new party dress, being tired of the ones I own and needing to dress up for multiple holiday parties in the next month. There was a huge sample sale going on in Chelsea with a bunch of designers so I figured I'd find something. And while I didn't find a dress (all the cute ones had weird parts that puffed out in odd ways), I did snag a nice looking turtleneck, which was cheap and practical so it seemed worth it.

Which brings me to fashion annoyance #1:
The material is kind of see-thru. Why are women's shirts today made see-thru? Normal, work type shirts, not party/club wear shirts. I had a black bra on and I definitely cannot wear a black bra with this purple shirt. I'm going to try it on with some undershirts and beige and white bras but I don't have too much confidence.

And that brings me to fashion annoyance #2:
Undershirts. Men wear undershirts year round with dress shirts. In the summer they absorb sweat and in the winter they add an extra layer of warmth (and absorb sweat on the overheated subways). However, none of my undershirts really work with my button-down blouses - they all have too high a neck line. And for the see-thru issue, they are often too bulky to wear under a shirt that is at all fitted. So I need a form fitting, low cut undershirt to meet my undershirt needs. And no idea where I will ever find one (or many since I'm stocking up when I find one!).

After striking out at the sample sale, I did manage to find a cute winter-y dress at Urban Outfitters. The model in the store was wearing it with leggings, which I tried on and didn't they didn't fit me at all, but it looked fine without so I bought it anyway. I did see some footless tights which I had been looking at recently and thought it would look even better than leggings anyway, so I bought a couple pairs of them as well.

Which brings me to fashion annoyance #3:
One-size fits all tights should fit all size people. Sure I'm tall and have long legs. But I should be able to get the footless tights over my not so large bum. Which I couldn't because they were so tight in the thigh and short in the bum. Low rise tights are ridiculous. And these are very low rise. Urban Outfitters had better let me return these things.

Seen on Atlantic Avenue, in front of the Dodge Y

Over the weekend I utilized the glory of Craigslist to purchase a sewing machine, since I'm determined to learn how to use one, it was a pretty good price for what looked like (according to Amazon reviews) a pretty decent machine, and it was fairly portable, which means that when I inevitably forget that its in the closet under our stairs, it at least won't take up too much space. While I was picking up the machine, the woman who sold it to me was showing me some fabric samples she'd acquired, and on the bag was a sticker of the company my company sublets space from. Sure enough, she worked for them, and actually used to eat lunch at the table outside our office every day. Did I recognize her? No. Not at all. And for anyone who knows me, that's saying a lot since I always think I recognize people (like last night when I totally recognized someone from the co-op on the platform waiting for the 4 train). But that doesn't change the fact that for a city of 8 million, this city is pretty small some days.

With the Dems in the House, and at least a tie in the Senate, I thought today couldn't get better. Until I saw this. Bye bye Rummy! Hmm, I have an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. What could it be? Oh yeah, the feeling that I might be proud to be an American.

I love living a few blocks from the marathon route.

+ More photos on Flickr

Last weekend was one of those lovely weekends when we didn't leave Brooklyn at all, and only left the neighborhood once. We discovered a lovely new bottle of wine at a wine tasting at our neighborhood wine shop, ate some delicious BBQ at The Smoke Joint on opening night, saw half a rhino, and renewed our love with Choice Market. And we took a walk over to the Broken Angel house to see it before it possibly gets condemned. A very interesting building, but how anyone lived there is beyond me since the whole rear of the building seems to be open to the environment.

Now if I wasn't working (from home at least) the rest of the weekend, it would have been all the more enjoyable....