Tina and I were at Target when she spotted a whole display of Peeps merchandise. Can't find any reference to them online, but there they were in all their peepy glory. Peeps pens, pencils, purses. The best were little super soft Peeps bean bags. I wanted to fill a pit with them and jump in.

This evening we had the Oscar Party at Tina's house, since she has a bigger living room. We had movie inspired food such as Ray Charles Chips, Aviator wings, Sideways wine and cheese, Finding Neverland Peter Pan peanut butter cookies, Million Dollar Baby Punch and Maggie Fitzgerald's white trash mix.

Tina and Joel tied for the most winners right but Tina let Joel take home the popcorn bowl prize. Everyone else took home Oscar statue cutout cookies. Oscar spent the whole evening thinking the party was for him.

For anyone here in Rochester, I have to recommend The Ravioli Shop. They make fresh raviolis, sauces, breads and fruit tarts. There is no eating space... it is just for pick up. You take it home and boil it. It is so fast and soooo good.

I was reading about Rochester's new ultra lounge, Metro37, and something in the report on it made me go... hmmm.

"Rochester has its first ultra lounge — an entertainment concept already hot in metropolitan cities nationwide. An ultra lounge is not a bar or a restaurant or a dance club but a hybrid of them all, celebrating the swank lifestyle (the bar counter is Corian, for goodness sake) with intimate seating, top-notch food and cocktails, costumed dancers and techno music that gets louder as the night wears on."

Since when does Corian equal swanky?! Corian to me equals suburban sprawl. (not that there is anything wrong with that... I would love Corian counters in my kitchen)

I'm not saying Corian isn't expensive or a wonderful material for a counter. But wouldn't a hip stylish bar be made of poured concrete or stainless steel or glowing plexiglass? Now my kitchen... it would look swanky in my kitchen.

I have found a new use for my cell phone camera.

While I am out shopping with Tina, I can send pictures with a text message to Aaron of things I have my eye on.

"hey A - check out these cute hot pink chuck taylors! they have my size! my birthday is coming up!- luv J"

Three cheers for technology.

Big Bunny... so wrong... it's right.

It was only a matter of time. I have been thinking about getting a Blythe doll for awhile now. It was Amy who had correctly guessed which doll I had my eye on and then pointed out a very good eBay auction featuring one. (Amy found this article explaining more about Blythe.)

So I bid and won a Velvet Minuet Blythe. I knew she was the one for me... she is a Korean anniversary doll, long brown hair and lots of bunny accessories. Aaron said he was a little spooked, claiming she looks like me.

Hah! I wish I looked that good with bangs. And could change my eyes to green.

I posted a few pictures of her here.

Now that I have distributed them to my fellow Sit&Knitters, I can unveil the felt Valentine hearts I made last week.

I wanted to make a little somethin' somethin' for everyone and these were quick and fun. I kept coming up with more and more designs. It was a big felty mess when I was done.

The project page for the hearts is here.

Being of German descent, before Lent my grandmother and great aunts make a huge batch of fausnaughts (doughnuts) on Fausnaught Day (Fat Tuesday). Since I couldn't talk her into FedEx-ing me a dozen this year, Aaron and I went to Donuts Delite.

Going to Donuts Delite is like a step back in time. Some things have never changed there since the day they opened. The sign, the antique cash register, the dutch girl floor design. And the doughnuts... MMMMmmmm! Pictures of us mowing down on doughnuts.

These are the flowers Aaron got me for Valentines Day. I rearrange them everytime they need more water.

I wonder if there are any flower arranging classes in town?

It was my own fault. I was the one who sent Aaron to the Jeep Hurricane concept car web page. I was the one who called him to the tv to see the news story showing how it could make zero degree turns.

Now his plain ol' Cherokee doesn't seem to cut the mustard. We make a wrong turn and he mentions how he could spin around the other way if he had a Hurricane. He parks too close to a snow bank... and what a shame, 'cause a Hurricane could just spin around and I could get out on dry pavement. *sigh* My own fault.

Tina has used Netflix and talked highly of it for quite some time now. While I recognized that it was convenient, I still wasn't sold. Today, I tried the two week free trial and after ten minutes I was hooked. I told Aaron to cancel our HBO on Demand.

It isn't just the easiness of having DVDs dropped in your mail box, or the time you can waste trolling through movies rating them (HATE it, LOVE it), or being able to queue up movies you wouldn't normally think about (Solient Green, Clockwork Orange)... it was the new "Friends" functionality that got me. I invited Joel and Tina to be "friends" and now I can see what they have viewed, what is up next for them and how they have rated movies. This has spurred some back and forth jabbing... "When did YOU see West Side Story?!" (Joel), "You gave Scary Movie FIVE STARS?!" (Tina) I also enjoy recommending films... "Jenny recommends What About Bob... she says it is Cinematic Genius" (Joel hates that movie... heh heh)

I gave Aaron a queue in my account but he only gets 1 DVD to my 2. I have controlling interest.

I got an email from my dad today, subject line: "Who's the DOG!!!" I saw it coming. He is referring to the Best in Show winner of the Westminster Dog Show. The winner is a German Shorthair Pointer named Carlee. Just like their dog, Wally.

Aaron and I actually found Wally for them this summer and kept him for a week as a surprise for my sister. He was a cute, roly poly puppy then. Today, he is 80 pounds of slobbering, gangly limbed puppy. And now he is going to be paraded around like a king.

Oscar is not pleased.

Ecoist makes one of a kind bags from old snack bags, soda labels and candy wrappers. They are cool looking and a great idea.

I am so glad there is someone else out there doing this. As in not me. All I can think of is the endless folding... folding... hurty fingertips. fold. fold. fold. Oh and "Ooops! I need one more snickers wrapper to finish this clutch... *chomp, chomp* I'd gain weight fast.

When we were at the dairy we also picked up this interesting bottle of soda. Turns out it is made here in Rochester. I love the retro look of it.

I think the glass bottle of chocolate milk made our breakfast taste better.

Aaron and I stopped by our local Pittsford Farms Dairy and bought some whole milk and chocolate milk. I love the bottles! And their logo is "Fresh from the moo to you."

I found this uber-cute fabric at JoAnn's. Too cute to be ignored, it was bought and made into a Valentine's Day tablecloth.

Aaron has been gingerly eating his meals on placemats in order to avoid the certain wrath if he dribbles something on the cuteness.

Uh huh!

Aaron and I are going through London food withdrawl. I got really excited when I found scone mix and clotted cream at Wegmans.

We are having Chuck and Tina over for Welsh Rarebit and scones with clotted cream. Welsh Rarebit is a small piece of genius. Cheese sauce broiled on toast... what's not to like?

Aaron and I had a great time in London. It was so good to see Kristen and meet Bobby. Some other highlights included going to the theatre, visiting the British Museum, finding Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, cheering on the Fulham Football Club and lots more.

Here are pictures from the trip...

Neither of us knew who was playing in the Super Bowl but that didn't stop us from going to our friends Super Bowl party. It was complete with munchies, the game projected on a wall and a beer mug contest. I was there for the commercials.

We're back! I am working on the pictures.

Piglet at Picadilly Square... night and day.

Here you can see how Piglet measures up in the UK.

Piglet at Buckingham Palace. He likes to watch the changing of the guard.

Piglet at the Tower Bridge and the Tate Modern.