10Jun 2009

Watson Wednesday

By 10 Jun 2009 0 Kitten , Permalink 0

Watson: Don't Fall!

Watson is growing up! Every single day it seems as though he’s bigger. CK and I think he grows in his sleep. I swear that you can practically see his tail increasing in size while you watch him play. It’s a little disturbing and a tad sad. I feel a bit nostalgic for the tiny ball of fluff that arrived just a few short weeks ago.

Watson's 2nd Bath

He’s already had his second bath.

Baby Watson
But he still likes to be cuddled. Especially if he’s tucked into CK’s shirt. What a weirdo…

It's OK Buddy.
I’d like to think that this image is illustrating Watson’s sensitive side as he comforts CK after a hard run but in reality it’s Watson attacking him.

Watson in a Box
And this is where I found the Master of Brilliance yesterday. Happily playing inside an empty Propel box. To each his own.

08Jun 2009

Watson Disappears and Reappears

By 08 Jun 2009 0 Kitten , , Permalink 0

Perhaps I should rename my personal blog to XoXo, Watson instead of XoXo, Erin? This site is quickly turning into an ode to all things kitten, but I just can’t help myself. As you may recall over the last few weeks I’ve mentioned having some Watson related frustrations. Well I’ve seriously chilled about Mr. Kitten. Unfortunately the catalyst of my new found calm and serenity was that I thought he was dead.

Last Wednesday was my birthday and I spent the day with my cousin Amanda sitting by her pool and burning my chest into a lovely shade of pink. The central air in our apartment was on the fritz so the maintenance supervisor called a technician to come over and take a look at it while both Chris and I were away.

When I got home that afternoon I couldn’t find Watson anywhere. Usually as soon as we open the door he’s tangled up in our feet purring and tripping us in excitement. I wandered around the house calling his name and still he didn’t appear. I looked under the couch, the beds, in cupboards and closets but Watson was no where to be found. I started to freak out at this point. I was convinced that the technician must have let the kitten out accidentally. I frantically tried to call CK, but it went straight to voicemail. I decided that I had to go find the maintenance man to see if he remembered telling the tech that we had a kitten, and just as I got my shoes back on guess who appeared out of nowhere in the door of our bedroom yawning and stretching?

I was so shocked and relieved that I sat down on the floor and cried. I’m not even kidding. I really did think he was lost, or dead and all I could think about was how much I had complained about him over the last week and how much of a bad person I was and on and on.

After I got myself back together I started to wonder where on earth Watson had been sleeping. I seriously tore the house apart looking for him so where had he been hiding? Well on Saturday the kitten disappeared again. This time CK and I knew he was in the house somewhere so after searching high and low I decided to station CK in one area of the apartment and I stood in the hallway outside our bedroom, then I banged on Watson’s food dish with a fork.

At first nothing happened, but then I saw a rustling on our bed. The comforter rose up and a small form moved underneath the bedding and out popped Watson. Apparently Watson has taken to sleeping not only on our bed but in it too. So now we have to be extra careful not to inadvertently sit on the kitten in case he’s decided to take up residence in his new hiding space again. That’s our kitty…

By the way, the video above is Watson’s reaction to my talking Kipper stuffed toy. I wish I had captured his original encounter with Kipper because he hissed at it, puffed his tail, and ran away, but it’s still cute to see him bat at the English doggy’s nose.

04Jun 2009

Zombie Birthday Invasion

By 04 Jun 2009 0 Bookshelf, Family , , , , Permalink 0

Zombies

My Aunt Beth cracks me up. This is the book she sent me for my birthday. In case you can’t see the card it reads, “Happy Birthday Erin! Let’s survive the imminent zombie invasion together.”

Here’s the thing. I’m a little obsessed with zombies. Unfortunately, they scare the hell out of me and I have zombie nightmares all of the time, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to read about them or watch movies where they shuffle around in hordes eating humanity. Yup…that’s me…princess movies and zombies. Perhaps someone needs to combine the two and Anne Hathaway could star? Actually, now that I think about it, that would be pretty fantastic!

29May 2009

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

By 29 May 2009 0 Bookshelf , , , , Permalink 0

Strange AngelsIt’s Supernatural meets Veronica Mars in Lili St. Crow’s new young adult novel Strange Angels. Straight away our scrappy heroine, Dru Anderson, hears some odd tapping noises at her back door. Surprise! Dad’s been turned into a zombie. Fortunately Dru is channeling bizarre Allison DuBois like psychic abilities and her grandmother and father (before he became reanimated) both schooled her thoroughly in the art of things that go bump in the night. Even so what she has to do in this scenario is every daughter’s worst nightmare.

It goes from bad to worse quickly and unfortunately Dru just can’t catch a break. Her new friend Graves lets her crash in his swinging hidden bachelor pad at the mall but then they get attacked by “wulfen” and Graves is bitten. Thankfully he’s a virgin though so legend has it he wont be turned into a freaky fury fiend.

I’m not entirely sure I understand the difference between “wulfen” and “werewolves” so if someone wants to enlighten me feel free. In the novel vampires are also referred to as “suckers” which feels awfully offensive to me for some reason, but at least the vampires are properly vicious and don’t sparkle.

After some gun wielding, a great escape, and a little research Dru and Graves make contact with a mysterious vampire-not-a-vampire named Christophe, who is appropriately dreamy and well heeled, but is he on their side or just leading them astray? I’ll never tell…

Some parts of this novel felt a bit too much like other popular media in the supernatural category, but it’s well paced for the book to develop into a series. I’m intrigued enough to want to read the next novel, Betrayals, scheduled to be released this Fall (especially since we’re left with a cliffhanger ending) in hopes of unraveling some of the many hanging plot points surrounding Dru’s family and the other mysterious beings who are introduced.

By the way, thanks to that nasty zombie at the beginning of the book, I had three separate zombie nightmares last night. Miss St. Crow I think this means that all in all you did your job.

27May 2009

Watson Wednesday

By 27 May 2009 0 Kitten , , , Permalink 0

Don't Be Fooled. I'm EVIL.

I’m not going to lie. I haven’t liked Watson very much this week. Maybe it’s the constant attacking of my hands and feet? Maybe it’s the incessant meowing while I’m trying to cook? Maybe it’s because he belly flopped onto a plate of palak paneer that I stepped away from for two seconds on the dining room table and splattered green goo all over the floor, the upholstered seat of the chair, and himself? Either way all of these things combined have me avoiding him today. I’ve shut myself in the bedroom and I’m not letting him in no matter how many times he shoves his paws under the door. I will not spend the afternoon fending off his little claws from my MacBook screen while I attempt to write. I will not allow him to scale the leg of my jeans like it’s Mount Kilimanjaro. Nor will I let him jump on my back and start chewing my hair maniacally until I pry him off. Today is a timeout for Watson day.

I'm Cute: You Have to Love Me

Fortunately for kitten in a few moments I will inevitably get over my anger at him because he will do something ridiculously cute like fall into a dead sleep flat on his back while playing with Sammy the Lambie. Or I’ll find him sprawled out somewhere looking like the above image. Granted this was taken last week when the temp was hovering around 90 degrees and our central air decided to break, but you get the idea.

I've Got My Eye On You

If Watson had his way he would be locked in a room with both CK and I, all of his toys, and a stockpile of food for the rest of his life. When he’s awake and doing his roaming kitten thing he has serious separation anxiety whenever he notices that either of us has left the area. He always has his eye on us. He even waits outside the door while I shower. He’s also super vocal. He really does sit at my feet while I’m cooking, look up at me with big sad eyes and meows: Meow! Meow! Meow! Which I assume means STOP CUTTING THAT CARROT AND PAY ATTENTION TO ME NOW HUMAN. I’ll try to get a video.

20May 2009

Watson Wednesday

By 20 May 2009 0 Kitten , , , , Permalink 0

Watson is Wild
Watson likes to party all the time. Party all the time. Party all the time.

Asleep with Lambie
Last time we met Dean Bearchester…well this is Sammy the Lambie.

Watson with Lambie & Bear
Dean and Sammy cuddle with Watson.

Om Nom Lambie

Om Nom Nom Sammy.

Watson the Reader
I am a literary kitty. You like classics or pulp?

Watson the Lounge Lizard

Watson contemplates his tail and the lack of sleeping accomodations.

16May 2009

Watson’s First Bath

By 16 May 2009 0 Kitten , Permalink 0

Watson All Wrapped Up

Watson had the distinct pleasure of experiencing his first bath this morning. CK and I suited up in big ugly yellow kitchen gloves and methodically scrubbed and rinsed the little kitten into shiny submission. He was completely dazed and confused when I finally wrapped him up in a big fluffy beach towel.

[flickrvideo]http://www.flickr.com/photos/girlieerin/3536157306/[/flickrvideo]

Then he promptly ignored us for the next half hour while he meticulously licked himself dry.

Watson Ignores Us

Just FYI. Wet kittens are absolutely not cute, nice, or cuddly at all.

Wet & Ugly Watson

13May 2009

An Old Fashioned Wish List

By 13 May 2009 0 Entertaining Erin, Family, Holidays, Shopaholic , , Permalink 0

Erin's Birthday Wish List

My mother has already started to send me emails asking what I want for my birthday. Usually I just say, “Oh whatever…” but this year I’m going to regress back to a time when I used to be the Queen of Wish Lists. The best way for me to illustrate this would be for me to have you think way back to a day in the Fall when we were all still watching shows like Family Ties and Jem and the Holograms and the mailman would deliver the gigantic Sears Wish Book. In some ways that day was more exciting than Christmas. I’ve heard tell that many families had to share the Wish Book and each child would circle what he or she wanted with a particular marker or crayon color but I was an only child and that coveted Wish Book was mine all mine.

And I didn’t just circle things I wanted. I made charts complete with quantity, description, size, item, and page number. Yes, I was a control freak even at 8 years of age. So just for old times sake I’m going to provide my family with this cute visual list of things that I would love to get for my quickly approaching 29th birthday. According to the calendar June 3rd is only 21 days away. Yikes! I can’t believe I’m only going to be in my twenties for one more year. How did this happen?! Oh well…on with the list:

1. I’m hoping to spend the evening of my birthday with a few close friends at Cuchi Cuchi.

2. I’ve wanted this French Bull Utensil Set for several years now and it’s almost always out of stock, but via some miracle it’s actually available right now. Obviously it would fit right in with my whole pink kitchen theme.

3. So I shrunk my blue Reading is Sexy shirt and can now only wear it as pajamas because it would be scandalous for me to be seen out in public with it on. I’d love to have the new pink ringer version though, preferably in extra large so that when I forget and dry it again it will still fit around me.

4. When I bought that Julia Child prayer candle a few weeks ago the owner of the Etsy shop assured me that she can make any kind of prayer candle that you want. So what I really really really want is a prayer candle with Ina Garten on it.

5. This write-on mug is just awesome. That is all.

6. I can’t make homemade strawberry jam or chicken stock if I don’t have a proper stock pot (in Caribbean please).

7. The new iPhone comes out in June. My iPhone is now two years old and is practically a Mac antique. This one is all CK. No worries Mom.

8. I’d like to read Michael Ruhlman’s new book Ratio so that I can hopefully start to figure out how to compose some of my own recipes.

9. Zombies. Need I say more?

10. I really need a mani/pedi. If someone were to get me a gift certificate that would be outstanding. I don’t care where I just need to go.

xoxo,
Erin

11May 2009

Ladies Who Lunch

By 11 May 2009 0 Friends, Kitten , , , , Permalink 0

Meghan & Emily

My friend Meghan came over on Friday for lunch. When we used to work together we always wished we were the type of women who A. didn’t have to work and B. got to meet-up for lunch every day of the week without a care in the world. While neither of those scenarios has quite come true it was nice to have a leisurely visit and catch-up.

Emily & Watson

It was even more entertaining to watch her daughter Emily’s infatuation with Watson take hold. Every chance she got Emily eagerly crawled toward the kitten.

Scared Watson

Watson unfortunately didn’t harbor the same amount of affection for her. Typical man… so the closer she got the more freaked out he became.

Emily Charms Watson

But Emily’s curiosity was too strong and she simply couldn’t resist trying to tame the wild beast one last time.

Mean Watson
Then of course Watson emphatically rejected her and made her cry crocodile tears. That’s my kitty…absolutely no manners what-so-ever.

Erin & Emily
Thankfully honorary Auntie Erin was there to make it all better. Obviously I also have to work on Watson’s people skills.