precious little thing

don't know if i announced this to the world of my blog, but my little bro and his lady, the little firecracker, are getting married this summer!

and it's about *bleepin* time.

my nephew jasper is to be the ringbearer for this affair and since i have the line on the latest in children's attire, my mom has put me in charge of outfitting him. no small task, lemme tell you, especially as this is a child who (bless him) has taken to wearing his batman pajamas 99% of the time, or whenever he can get away with it.

exhibit a:





exhibit b:





exhibit c:



actually, i think that he currently has several superhero t-shirts in rotation.

exhibit d:


this is as it should be for an imaginative four and a half year old, and my point being that this is not some precious, impish, little lord fontleroy of a boy we are talking about. this is jasper, and jasper rules.

so with that in mind, i was on the hunt for appropriate, cool, comfortable children's wear. i was thinking semi-casual, because i think the jazzman has a bit of a surfer boy edge to him. high and low i have looked for drawstring linen pants (heck, i would even settle for seersucker at this point), perhaps a raw, loose white tunic and some leather sandals to go with.

what i found astounded me. this, for example, is terrifying:




of course, the wedding will be in wv. maybe jasper would be open to channeling his inner garth brooks?




(that look is described as the "junior cattleman" on the website. puke.)

as a last resort, there is also the option of my mom busting out the old sewing machine and making jasper's attire herself. plus, if a tuxedo weren't going to cut it, he could always go as a revolutionary war boy and walk down the aisle ringing a little bell ("the british are coming!"). i also LOVE the uncle sam option! cute!




of course, i'm just kidding around. i think it'd be fine if we went with a nice --OH DEAR GOD!! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THAT POOR KIDDIE MODEL?!

every day's a holiday

the wolfeinelli's and our entourage of friendly beasts had quite the holiday this year. we embarked for west virginia on december 21, all presents and pet carriers. my sister was in with her husband, the inimitable matt, and my two little peanuts of a niece and nephew.

sadie and the biscuit seemed to carry on quite the love affair; much kissing ensued (after all, le bisquit *is* french).








jasper and i roughhoused. we spoke in robot voices. we acted in all manner of silliness (from jasper: "why did the spider crawl across the computer? he wanted to get to his website!"). i was declared his favorite aunt (take that!).






every family member was accounted for, if only for a day or two or even an hour or two in some cases. as we all create our own families (both chris and jay are recently engaged! woot!) and there is more distance between us, i do not take lightly the opportunities for us to be together. bdub and i did spend a couple of days here and there with our respective families of origin, but save some last minute changes of venue and work schedules, we balanced the tight rope of splitting our time without much ado. here we are listening to my FIL's band at the moose lodge:




(moose prices for a beer, an absolut and soda, a shot of maker's mark and a coca cola: $6 total. i am not kidding.)



we returned home to brooklyn on the 27th. on the 28th, i spent most of my actual birthday with the dean-assaels, where they fixed me a delicious dinner of thankfulness for our friendship (mock turkey, mashed potatoes and deanie's amazing green beans), and we opened our christmas gifts to each other. so fun. i love them dearly.

on the 29th, we convinced bdub's bff keith to come up to ny for the remainder of the holiday festivities. after hardly any arm twisting at all, keith changed his return ticket to L.A. and is currently chillaxin' on my couch. nothing could make me happier, truth be told.

that evening, my birthday party was held at the gutter bar in our 'hood, a bowling alley/bar with some serious old skool charm. rumor has it that the lanes and all bowling accoutrements were imported from an alley in the midwest. we arrived around 5 pm, decorated our little corner with streamers and balloons, laid out the beautiful cake that bdub got for me, and had some jack and gingers. aside from the alcohol, i felt about ten years old and i liked it! we bowled a couple of rounds and then ended our delightful evening with pizza and cake. it was truly the perfect birthday.












and on to new year's eve....we'll see what transpires. bdub's gig was cancelled at the last minute, so we actually have a new year's to do whatever we wish! i am pooped, so being lazy sounds very appealing right about now, but we will probably spend the evening with a couple of friends. my lovely friend, kelli white, has invited us over for what she describes is to be "a very mellow evening of good wine and good rock 'n roll" at her apartment. sounds perfect.

resolutions to come in a later post, but for now i feel only thankfulness for time spent with my family and loved ones, for another year and the wisdom it will (hopefully) bring, and for my love who truly is my most precious gift (so cheesy, so true).

a serious attitude adjustment

this nowlze has had a change of direction since her last blog post. after a day or so of wallowing in self-pity, i have done the following to get back onto the path of self-improvement:

-gone to the gym
-put up the holiday decorations
-put down some new rugs (always a sure-fire mood lifter)
-cleaned up a few piles of mouse poop
-sent out emails to my work peeps hoping to get a bite or two of a good test (test in the sense of "test shoot", or a collaborative photo shoot resulting in a few good prints for my sorely lacking portfolio).
-organized some inspirational makeup and photography looks to refer to at the above-mentioned impending tests.

what else can a nowlzie do?

le dub and i are going on a date tonight as well. this always perks me up. we're going to the mermaid inn. it's one of my all-time favorite date spots. i am already thinking about what i'd like to eat: probably some oysters, maybe the lobster chowder or yellowfin tuna tartare, and the grilled mahi mahi or spaghetti with shrimp and scallops. YUM.

i also love that they give you complimentary pudding for dessert (not that i ever leave room) and a fortune telling fish:



maybe mine will provide some insight as to when i will be busy again. natch.

we are also on the hunt for a fun post-dinner activity. there's not much in the way of music happening tonight, aside from the music of bdub's work-friends (fellow musicians), and to be honest, while i love to support bdub's peeps, it can be a lot of pressure and not totally relaxing (can you talk during their set? when is it ok to leave? is this work or is this fun?).

apologies for the most boring blog-post ever. for some better reading, allow me to link to the wonderfully insightful maiden voyage post of my sister's blog! i LOVE that i can keep tabs on my favorite west coast family (and learn a thing or to about not sweatin' it).

cuteness alert

"uncle" bdub recently did a recording session at this spot called frisbie in tribeca. they had the cutest kid's t-shirts and onesies, so of course he had to get a couple for our favorite niece and nephew.

and just look at what was in my inbox!



i think those two need to start a band or something. they already exude such 'tude.

beezie also emailed me this--from sadie's first birthday (and really, what good is birthday cake without a handful of goldfish crackers thrown in?)

ah, time... she flies...


in other news, this weekend was pretty relaxed once i got through my 12 and a half hour day at cstv on saturday (ouch). on sunday, bdub and i went to visit kurly, dyl, and wiles for some halloween festivities at fort greene park. we were a bit late for the activities, but were in the spirit regardless.

the assael's costumes: kurly as bearded lady, dylan as fortune teller (complete with giant 'stache and turban), and wiles as strong man.

i swear, had there been a baby costume contest, that kid would have won first prize. he was dressed in a striped sweater, red knit pants, boots, studded black cuffs, a studded black belt, and, to top it off, his hair was slicked over and he had a penciled-in curly black moustache. he also carried (or, played like a guitar, rather) a big dumbell which dylan made out of a black plastic handle of some sort and two big, black styrofoam balls on the ends with "100" stenciled on them. genius.

i will definitely post pics when i get 'em! i dressed as rosie the riveter (v. easy last minute costume, should you ever need one) and the biscuit went as himself, as he was not digging his dinosaur costume. it so messed with his balance, in fact, that he was falling flat on his face (which is flat enough). here's my last minute rosie:


bdub went as "disgruntled vietnam vet"...which, actually, isn't a costume at all but rather bdub's "uniform" as of late: brown hooded sweatshirt, olive drab army-ish coat, jeans, and brown chukka boots. to get into character, bdub was saying things like, "i gave it all for my country, man! when i came back, they called me a baby killer, man!".

good stuff.

so goodnight moonlight ladies....

i readied my ingredients and got set to chop some onions for lasagna. my ipod shuffled to "sweet baby james" by james taylor...a lullabye that immediately makes me think of my nephew (james "jasper" laster). which makes me think of my sister.

which makes me think of the fact that she lives on the opposite coast. and that i see her but maybe three times a year at best. which makes the lump in my throat grow.

because it makes me think of the decisions we all make...of how when i was a teenager i formulated a life plan that included the eventual purchase of a home with a guest house for my brother jay...because he would have to live with me so we could never be apart (duh). which makes me realize that we, too, are far away from each other (in a couple of ways).

kurly and dyl are going to portland next month to check things out...will they end up across the country? as they told me of their plans, i nodded and was truly excited for them, and i understand, and i know what it means to need to move. but the lump....she grows.

i know that this is what it means to grow up. and this is what happens as we become who we are to become and meet our spouses and figure out what and where we would like to be. sometimes it feels cruel and unfair (i can only imagine how this must sometimes strike our parents, like a sucker punch in the gut when they look around and realize that their babies are gone).

sometimes it feels like an impossibility to strengthen our ties to our families, both those that we were born into and those whom we have chosen. so please, forgive me if i haven't done the best job of this. i fear that i will become worse at it as life changes and grows. that my niece and nephew won't really know me beyond the kooky aunt who sends them weird things in the mail and kind of sounds and looks like their mom.

that eventually as we shape shift into moms and dads and other forms of grownups ourselves we will all morph into other people, letting those threads of home and youth slip from our fingers, take a backseat, turn into a name on the christmas card list. and that makes me sad beyond words.

p.s.

my first "assignment" with arthouse is to compile for them a wishlist of new clients i would like to have...these, of course, are to be catalogs, magazines, clothing companies, and other brands of the childrens/babies/'tween/teen variety.

so far on my wishlist i have:
alloy
baby gap
children's place
cookie mag
delias
gap kids
guess
h&m
hannah andersson
j crew/crewcuts
limited too
nieman marcus
oilily
old navy
PB teen
pottery barn kids
target
teen vogue
ralph lauren

leave me a comment if you think of any more! thanks!

and here's a picture of sadie and jasper for inspiration of the cute kid variety (or really just because i would like to include them in my blog):