Scotch on the docks.

I end up places sometimes, unawares as to possibly how I got invited, or on the list, or found out about it in the first place. The places I end up aren't like FightClub, or like Skull&Bones, but more like watching beans get ground up in a chocolate factory or in the case of Friday night, out past Fort Point Channel, on the old wharves, blending my own Scotch.

I arrived late, waited in line in the bottom of a warehouse space, while an industrial elevator carted folks, a dozen at a time, to an unknown floor.



Pete and I managed to get on one of the last shuttles, whisked into a room to have a Dewars on the rocks, as we stood dangerously close to a sculpture that was made of rusted ground of razor blades, hanging from strings in the ceiling, swinging closer, closer, probably called Tetanus: A Visceral Response as we sipped our drinks with a lot of others who were ready to get Friday night started.

We then were taken into a room and given a lecture and more drinks and test tubes and were able to make our own blends of whiskey (mine too smokey, Pete's too flowery), a sort of Easy Bake Oven tutorial for adults who drink, then given two free whiskey glasses and sent out into the far too cold to not be snowing night.




We had another drink at Drink and caught a taxi at Taxi Stand and at 3am, when I woke up, I could still taste the oak on my tongue but couldn't remember how I'd ended up there in the first place.

The President's Shoes.

"Beneath every great President there is a great designer."
- Micah Whitson, 2009





I had the opportunity to design the shoes for our President. Not the shoes per say, but the trade dress for them: the markings on the insole and the out sole. Johnston & Murphy is one of our clients and they have been making shoes for the Commander in Chief for the past hundred and fifty odd years. And since I'm the designer for J&M, I'm the defacto designer for the Obama kicks.

Since they are J&M, and handmade, you can be assured that Barack is walking on clouds most days, even when he isn't.





Below you can see some of my explorations.

The one logo with the '44' and the stars around it appears on the out sole of the shoe, on the bottom, but nobody got any images of that. Oh well.

Still rolling.

You all remember that awesome bike I got back a year ago? It was old and awesome and heavy and steel and full of heart?

I sold it.

Yeah, this morning.

Cause I saw a new bike that had the heart of my old bike in a store that has been a Boston landmark, and like landmarks all over our fair country, it has declared bankruptcy, and then has had to resort to liquidating its inventory, and that inventory now will get me to my job, until my job goes the same direction as the rest of the economy.

So I have a new ride. And I likes it.

And I'm trying to pay for it sooner than later, so, if you need anything from me on eBay, go check it out. I might be selling it.

Wet blanket.

It's been wet lately.

The wet was snow at a point, but that point that lasted for months became softer and as the temperatures today crept towards the 60s, the rain convinced the snow to turn on itself and become more like the rain, and those two (or now one) flooded gutters and streets and more of the heavens decided to join in the fun and come on down.

Of course, the wettest day of our winter would also be the day that a package, lost for months someplace between St. Petersburg and Worchester, never scanned leaving the central Massachusetts hub, would arrive and would sit, quietly, wet, scared on our porch.

I probably could have predicted that. The surprise had been ruined two weeks earlier.

Ring.

Screen call. Don't answer.

Check voicemail.

Call back.

- Mr. Whitson, have you received one handmade merino wool throw?

- No.

There you have it; declared and insured wedding gifts ruined compliments of UPS.

I called Greg to ask him if this was the secret he'd shipped weeks before. When he mentioned at a Christmas dinner that something was in the mail.

Greg was flummoxed. Avoiding talking with Mollie about it. If Mollie brought it up, Greg feigned choking. Shortness of breath. Memory loss. Fatigue.

Greg didn't lose it. Mollie didn't lose it. But somebody lost the past year and a half of Mollie's life as she made us the best wedding present anyone could ask for.

Or, misplaced it, rather. It wasn't lost. It was here. Maybe all along (no).

But it's soft and I can't get it away from Marianna.

The good news is that I have another 65 years to try.

Not a thing, it seems.

hy, hello there, friends. We didn't see you there. We were busy trying to remember why we haven't posted in quite some time. It seems we haven't been doing much, but just a thousand little things.

It's winter here, and that makes it hard to just leave the house. But leave we have. Every day. Work. Church. Occasional going out. You know, life being lived. But sometimes life being lived isn't the most exciting thing to write about.

But there have been a number of things going on. So I'll catch you up.

I (Micah) took the ski bus to Loon yesterday for a bit of snowboarding. Marianna stayed home and watch UNC lose another basketball game. Another heartbreak.





We met friends out at the super-swank L'Espalier as soon as I returned. L'Espalier calls for for the new three piece woolen suit I found on eBay for $12. It was the first time we've been out for a full night of drinks and friends in quite some time.



Obama was in town today to endorse Martha Coakley who is running for the empty Massachusetts Senate seat against Scott Brown and John Kennedy (no relation). It's turning out to be a humdinger. This seat will keep the Dems with a filibuster-proof majority, and all but assure some change to heath care for the first time since LBJ. Which seems to have motivated the few sleepy Republicans in this state to go out and rally. The polls are close. The ballots will be cast in two days. We'll see if Massachusetts is a blue as we think it is.





Tuesday night I'm going to see a band that I saw a few weeks back called the Freelance Whales. They are pretty dang good.

Work has been quite busy. I've got a new creative director and I'm just trying to acclimate to the new work flow. It is going to be great, just need to make some adjustments.

As my blog wrapped up from last year, Marianna has started two different blogs:





You should read them, they're great. They are getting Marianna back in the swing of writing, which she's pretty great at.

And I'm writing for a side project blog, myself:




And I'm burning the chili. So I gotta go stir.

Tonight.

Christmas Time

This year, we spent Christmas in North Carolina. We flew out between snowstorms on the 23rd, arriving that night.


Christmas Eve was spent with my mom and that side of my family. We had everyone over to the house for a few drinks and a large, tasty meal. GM+GP (GrandMa and GrandPa) drove up from Wilmington for the event and Uncle Cy+Aunt Nancy's family (Ben and Susannah of the 4 kids) drove over from Hillsborough. We had some pre-dinner drinks during cocktail hour and talked a bit before the main event. Dinner consisted of honey-baked ham, prime rib, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, yeast rolls (sister schubert's!), pecan pie, chocolate cake and more. I contributed mashed potatoes, one of the few things I can make without a recipe. It was great to see GM+GP; since we live far away now, we don't see them often. They're doing well, especially to be in their late 80's. I aspire to be like them when I'm older - active, social - I'll just have to figure out their secret.





Christmas morning we opened gifts at mom's house before us 4 kids hopped in the car and drove down to Fayetteville to see the other part of the fam.


We headed over to Uncle Dan+Aunt Lula's house where 2 cousins (Daniel and Maggie), YiaYia+Papou (Greek grandparents), Uncle Peter+Mary John, and Dad+Debbie met us. We hung out for a while and caught up and snacked on tasty treats. The meal was awesome, again, and had some of my favorite greek sides - tyropita and spanakopita. There was also an amazing dessert array including Cheesecake Factory variety pack and a tasty chocolate pie. Needless to say, I ate WAY too much (the whole vacation for that matter). Again, it was great to see the grandparents (and other family). We hadn't seen them in about a year. The cousins have gotten so tall - can't believe they're as old as they are. That evening, back in Raleigh, was laid back as we opened gifts at dad's house and relaxed.




The rest of the break was spent with a mix of family and friends:

• We saw The Blind Side with mom and Caroline. SO good. Read the book, too, especially if you're into football. The movie is less football, more narrative.
• We checked out Caroline's super-awesome Parsons portfolio (fashion design). If anyone has connections, she's graduated and looking for a job :) I would describe her designs as classic with a twist, kind of Anthropologie-y.

• We relaxed at my dad's. Chatted. Watched a little TV. A movie - District 9. Really well done. But really weird. At least I thought so.
  
• We went to Greek church with dad and then to the club for their amazing breakfast buffet.
• We played Scattergories with Mom, John, Caroline and William. Pretty fun. Needs to go on my Christmas list next year. You get a list of categories and then a letter is rolled; then you think up the most unique item for each category that starts with that letter in 3 minutes or less. You get a point if no one else guesses the same word.

• We met up with Greg+Mollie at The Pit, a super tasty barbecue place in Raleigh. I think it's particularly cool because it is a nice, sit-down place unlike most barbecue joints around. Love it. Hope to see those guys again this year, maybe at a wedding party.
  
• Monday we headed over to Chapel Hill and met up with one of my best friends, Jenny, for lunch and browsing on Franklin Street. We also headed back to her place to play with her new puppy, Finley, the cutest yellow lab ever. Leslie+CJ showed up, in town for the holidays, and it was great to catch up with them. I knew them in college and keep up not-so-well; they live in Brooklyn now, so we hope to meet up next time we're in town.
• After that we went over to Maari+Mark's to say hello and check out their new-ish house. We hadn't seen it yet, so we were excited. Very cool decor and paint colors. Dinner was at a sushi spot nearby - shockingly cool to be within a strip mall - 2 for 1, can't beat it.
• Then, we headed over to the UNC game at the Dean Dome. Probably the only game we'll see live this year, so we had to take advantage of the family season tix. We went with my brother and were supposed to hang out with our friend Todd, but he got the swine flu. No really, he was sick in Cincinnati. The game was against Rutgers and was way too close for comfort. The final score was more of a spread than what it felt like since we scored something like 10 points at the end with fouls.

• We had lunch at the Village Deli - one of my high school faves - with Dad and William. Amazing sandwiches, soups and salads. And great company, too.
• We played Bananagrams with Dad, Debbie, Caroline and William. It's kind of like speed scrabble. Highly addictive for those who are into crosswords and other word games. Super fun. Played a few times.
• We had lunch with mom, William and one of her colleagues (who has screenwriting experience that was helpful to my brother who has his sights set on that). We ate at a really tasty place in downtown Raleigh, Sitti. It's new, at least to me. Tasty fresh pita bread, sandwiches, a burger, falafel, etc.
  
• We did get to catch up with Todd, of swine flu fame, right before we left. He picked us up and we headed to, of all places, Applebees for a drink before we got on our plane back to Boston. It was great to see him since we hadn't done so in over a year. And he+Rebecca had a kid since then which is awesome. Wish we lived closer by.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!