I like the sound of that rug, sarameg. I always like sisal.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the Beastie Boys concert movie, whose title just makes me love them more: "Awesome; I Fucking Shot That!" They gave 50 audience members cameras. But seriously, people: 80s slang, a semicolon AND profanity???

This is the rug: [link] (egeby from IKEA)

The color is pale on my screen. It's much warmer. And more defined.

Now why flipflops and bathing suits are appearing in the usually-coldest month, after disappearing way back in early early fall, well, I'll blame someone as soon as I can find them.

Jesse already answered this but yeah; the last two years I was freaking dying with the weather and went to Jamaica and Cancun, respectively, and couldn't find swimwear in winter.

msbelle, I have hopes for tonight. At least you were in your own bed.

sarameg, your rug sounds lovely. In fact, all your decorating sounds gorgeous. You should take photos. We just got our Hercules hooks (which rock!) so we were finally able to hang our artwork. It looks much more homey now, though we still have some work to do.

Dana, saying "SUCK IT, PHILLY" is not the bit that makes you not able to be a full-time sports fan. It's the part where saying that is embarrassing to you. Our standard sports vocabulary is quite, erm, colorful.

Montreal has at least two different chains of swimsuit stores, and I can think of at least one (underground to shelter from the cold) mall that had one of each.

Open all year. Which made swimsuit shopping in LA look like way too much of a task.

Whoa. That was a crazy sequence.

Madness, but it works for me, so I'll take it.

There is a swimsuit shop open year round here. I've just never shopped there.

In fact, all your decorating sounds gorgeous. You should take photos.

Thank you! When I put the effort forth, I really enjoy the space. I must admit, it is kind of cluttered for the space I have. But really, I like cluttered "interesting" from different parts of the world and cultures. The two pictures I framed ( a small watercolor from Cuzco, Peru of two women in native dress, and a something of a black cat on white plaster steps against a vibrant blue wall- it's very Mediterranean) are tacked up next to one of red and brilliant yellow tree frogs on a vibrant green (a local to parents acquisition.)

On the adjacent wall are the pictures of my paternal grandparents' wedding and my maternal grandfather at 21 (in 1922) and the red and orange hanukah candles in the v-vase.

I do have some photos, which I'll upload eventually. The ones that leave out the piles of random paper on my table and the litterbox.

I have a sudden and pretty inexplicable longing for Jamaican soda.