Brandon was walking through the orange aisle at SuperTarget yesterday when I- standing about 10 feet away- saw a blonde smile at him. I went up to him to tease him, when he said, "Umm, Nicki? I have a stuffed batman in my hand-held Target basket. He accidentally fell out of the basket in the frozen cookie dough aisle, much to the delight of everyone standing around me!"

I learned yesterday that when choosing between Superman, Spiderman, and Batman, apparently Batman is, apparently, the coolest.

The central alarm system in our apartment went off tonight around 7:00 that made all the pets (and humans) in our dog-friendly apartment go crazy!

In a hurry to get out the door, I grabbed my boyfriend, my dog, my purse, my laptop, and at the last minute, I had to double-check to make sure I had my digital camera. I knew I enjoyed taking photos, but would never have guessed that it would make my top 5 things to grab seeing as my house may be on fire.

We hung out in our courtyard area with 7 other dogs and dog owners while the alarms went off for another 20 minutes. Finally, the firetrucks arrive, and a few minutes later we're all being ushered back inside. False alarm, apparently.

What are your top 5?

The Cube Root of a Dog

Mom: Look at the size of that dog!
Four-year-old son: That's not a dog, it's a chihuahua!

--Washington Sq Park

Overheard by: Kerri

via Overheard in New York, Mar 19, 2007

Every once in awhile I get an urge to go on a shopping spree, and since I actively avoid using credit cards these days, I often satiate this urge by visiting a thrift store where I'll buy $6 worth of lovely crap. Today's goal was to to find jars for my art desk, so Brandon came along with me to peruse the thrift stores and antique shops on Broadway. First of all, let me just say that my boyfriend is wonderful! He's not into antiques, but he will go along with me and pretend to be interested in looking at old cookie jars and lunchboxes, which I find terribly attractive. Sometimes I hit him on the butt and am like, "Oww!" as we're walking in the vintage dishware aisle. No, seriously. Boyfriends who go with their girlfriends to antique shops are Hot.

The reason why he said he'd tag along on my trip to Broadway is because it's a very colorful neighborhood. And by colorful, I mean that we'll pass several blocks of antique shops and high-end furniture stores followed by a block with peep shows, tobacco shops, and adult book stores. Love the city! In any case, I was on a quest for glass jars, so when we spotted the store you see across the street in the photo above, I thought- jackpot! The place was called Hooked On Glass. They carried tons of high-end glass pieces and not the 99 cent old peanut butter jars I was seeking, however, considering some of the shops we saw today, I was quite amused when I downloaded this photograph and zeroed in on the sign. Click the photo to enlarge to see what "Hooked on Glass" morphed into, thanks to the Broadway street sign. Too funny.

Anyway, I really do enjoy life in the city. It's "colorful," yes- but it is a good kind of colorful, too. You never run out of things to see and do, and there are so many neat specialty stores. Even if I never visit 10 % of those stores, I think it's cool that they exisist in my city. For example, I thought of my parents today when we saw a restaurant that specialized in Czech food, then we later passed a store that specializes in supplies for making outdoor ponds. And I found a new lovely shop that sells craft supplies- the good stuff like Sublime Stitching patterns, neat handspun yarn and funky clothing patterns. It's fun to have those types of things at your fingertips.