Roses are Red. Violets are Blue.

If you've ever been to Pike's Market in Seattle, than you know about the fabulous fresh cut flowers for bargain prices. I've always loved fresh cut flowers, who doesn't? But they can get pretty pricey. After our trip to Seattle, I was on a mission, fresh flowers in our apartment at a decent rate.

I succeeded on my first try. The bouquet of flowers from Russo's consisted of roses, lilies, and a whole slew of other flowers and fillers that I can't even begin to name. The price, $15.00. And the best part? They lasted 2 weeks!!

I'm an avid follower of Groupon. Groupon is a coupon deal offered by a local vendor. In order for the coupon to actually be available, enough people have to buy it. Once the preset threshold is met, than the "deal is on." A while back, I scored what I thought was an awesome deal. For $85, I receive 3 flower arrangements delivered to my home (full value $258) from Twig, a high end floral shop in Boston. I cashed in my coupon and had my first delivery this month. The remaining two deliveries are scheduled a month apart. Let me just say, I wasn't in awe when I saw my arrangement. My delivery consisted of pink roses, pink/purple calla lilies, purple dendrobium orchids, and a filler. And it was all displayed in a square, black vase. The flowers were delivered on Tuesday, today is Friday. The flowers started wilting yesterday! I'm a bit dissappointed that the flowers aren't even going to make it to a week. I understand that Twig is probably using bottom of the barrel flowers for people that cash in on this deal, but you'd think they'd want to use flowers that aren't so close to expiration in order to draw customers in.

I'll keep you posted on how the next two deliveries go. Perhaps this was just a fluke.

ESL(English as a second language) vs ESF (English as a first language)

Jake: Phone, phone? [while looking for his phone]
Celia: Why do you need your phone?
Jake: So Phil can call me.
Celia: Oh.
Jake: Phil yut ding yew bay ngo [Chinese translation - Phil must give me]
Celia: Huh? What does Phil need to give you?
Jake: No, Phil needs to call me.
Celia: Oh, Phil yew da bay lay. [Phil needs to call you]
Jake: Yea, Phil yew bay ngo. [Phil needs to give me]
Celia: Give you?
Jake: Bay ngo [Give me]
Celia: Give you?
Jake: I know how to say give me! How do I say he needs to call me?!
Celia: Oh. Phil yew call ngo. [Phil needs to call me] Phil yew da din wah bay lay or yew da bay lay. [Phil needs to give you a telephone call]
Jake: OK, that's what I was asking.
Celia: No you weren't, you just kept saying give me.
Jake: No, you were asking me how to say give me. I know how to say give me.

We should have our own sitcom.

Playing house

We moved into a spacious 3 bedroom/2 bath apartment in Waltham a month ago and have finally managed to unpack almost everything (there's a bunch of boxes shoved into closets that we may or may not get to someday). There's still a few things that are works in progress, such as hanging pictures up.

 Entry

Kitchen

The bar

Living room

Dining area (left). My awesome floral arrangement (right).

Master bedroom

Celia's closet and bathroom (left). Functional art: hinged scrapbook frame displaying jewelry (right).

Hallway

Jake's bathroom

Jake's office and walk-in closet.

Guest room