Up up and away

Cramps must be caused by all the possible children from a month kicking my insides. That's what it feels like, anyhow. This week has been uneventful -- but wait, that's a good thing! I was so exhausted and overworked the past few weeks that it's been nice to work at my leisure, calling people as needed and arguing with lawyers when I feel like it.

Friday night I went to Theresa's bachelorette/bridal shower soirée at Limey's Pub -- great fun, lots of Strongbows. I met several very cool people who subsequently made it onto my MySpace friends list ... as if that's hard ... but I hope to hang out with them again soon -- like at Theresa's wedding reception at the sports cafe near my house! And Christen will be there, so I'll have license to drink as I wish, because really I could walk home if I wanted.

The weekend was slow but fun; Christen and I walked about in downtown St. Pete looking for a cute retro ashtray so that he can ash his cigars in style. We saw a few, but they were far overpriced (everything at the store down there is) but we got a couple ideas. I think we'll probably pick one up at Rick's Picks this weekend; cute and inexpensive is the name of the game this time. At the apartment with Brad I had a nifty square candle holder that we utilized as an ashtray but I don't know what happened to it in the multiple moves since then. Sunday was football, and I lost the pool after the 1 o'clock games, so I retired to play Oblivion in the library for a bit. It was a lazy weekend, all in all.

I'm so looking forward to dinner tonight -- we picked up some she crab soup at the market Monday and haven't had a chance to eat it so tonight's the night! I hope it rocks, but I'm not too sure ... I'll let you know! Shea and Kyle are coming over after dinner to hang out, so maybe a little wine or whine will help the cramps -- sulfites unite!

Puppy Power!

Jazzy came for a sleepover last week and of course, crazy drunk pictures were taken. Aren't they taken at every sleepover?

another week, another dollar

I'm so relieved.

It is 4:26pm. Friday. I have finished everything on my diary for work (I was 2 weeks behind when I started this week). I have filed all my claims and all my mail is up to date and filed (I had to borrow a cart to get all my files from my desk to my cabinets). My desk is clean, my work is done, and I have 59 minutes left to be at work. Life is finally stuffing lemonade down my throat.

It's been an interesting week. Monday I took my mom grocery shopping, and hung around doing nada. Tuesday I wasn't feeling well so I laid around watching my Monday shows on the DVR and feeling ill. Wednesday I went to Shea's with Shell and we went to a sushi place out in Land O Lakes on Collier Parkway ... the sushi was fantastic (I'd say top 4 -- tied with Bonsai, Toki, and Soho sushi) but the service was terrible -- I'd say we were forgotten because it took us an hour to get our food, and we only got half of it because it was on two pages and they forgot the second page. But the sushi was great, so we'll definitely give it another shot. Plus, it's not like we're ever without stuff to talk about. Afterward we walked down to Marble Slab and then I went home ... so late, no sleep but oh well :). Thursday I had to go see the florist, and I figured out she's actually the mother of a friend of mine from high school. Not that I'm getting a discount or anything, but it's funny nonetheless. Suzanne came with me because I hate doing such things on my own and everyone else had previous engagements (haha, I made a funny!). Before and after I had to go see my sister because she was being her usual hormonal-puberty-craziness with my mom, and drama ensued. Everything's cool now, I guess, but it was pretty bad. I'm so glad I'm out of that stage. If my kids start that with me they'll be locked in their rooms until they turn 18. Not dealing with it. I don't know how children live through their teenage years. I was supposed to meet up with Kyle and Christen at the Zone last night, but I didn't end up getting there until 9:30 or so (about the time I had planned on leaving) so I stayed until 11:30 or so. Craziness. Then I got home and couldn't sleep, so I slept in this morning and I'm staying a little late.

Tonight I'm supposed to go to that bridal shower that I tried to go to last week and realized I had the wrong date, so I'm out drinking again tonight! Woohoo!

A Monday Morning Meme

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:30am (should have been earlier)
2. Diamonds or Pearls? mostly diamonds, a smattering of pearls are nice though :)
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Last Kiss
4. What is your favorite TV show? Without a Trace, CSI, My Name is Earl ... whenever I get to catch them.
5. What did you have for breakfast? A Bagel and sweet tea
6. What is your middle name? Lynne
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian, or whatever I'm cooking
8. What foods do you dislike? mayonnaise
9. Your favorite Potato chip? I don't really like chips -- too greasy.
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Jack Johnson's yellow cd (i don't remember the name of it)
11. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Corolla S Type
12. Favorite sandwich? Grilled Cheese
13. What characteristics do you despise? conceit and selfishness
14. What are your favorite clothes? I'm with Stacy -- my heels! And my Loft dresses
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where WOULDN'T you go? anywhere there's a more than likely chance of being killed
16. Favorite brand of clothing? Loft Ann Taylor or NY&Co
17. Where would you want to retire? Charleston or Memphis -- I adore those two cities
18. Favorite time of day? lunchtime and afternoon
19. Where were you born? Good ole Dunedin
20. What is your favorite sport to watch? NFL and hockey
21. Who do you think will not copy and continue this? I don't know, probably everyone
22. Person you expect to send it back first? hehe ... I'd say Stacy, but she's the one who sent it to me ...
23. Pepsi or Coke? Coke
24. Beavers or Ducks? ummm ... sounds like something sexual
25. Are you a morning person or night owl? morning once I drag myself out of bed.
26. Pedicure or Manicure? pedicure. I do my own nails
27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Not really ... same old, same old
28. What did you want to be when you were little? A forensic psychologist ... before that was the "in" thing to be. Then a teacher, then a writer, then an editor. I still want to be the last two, but I'll get there eventually.
29. What is your best childhood memory? taking my brother on the back of my bike to the library, and the antique stores and up to Shoney's for lunch
30. Piercing? Ears and Tongue
31. Ever been to Africa ? Nope
32. Ever been toilet papering? actually, no
33. Been in a car accident? Yep
35. Favorite restaurant? Moe's and Flemings
36. Favorite flower? yellow roses and tulips
37. Favorite ice cream? Monkey Bites from Cold Stone
38. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-fil-a or Evo's
39. How many times did you fail your drivers test? none, but I did lie to the instructor and told her I didn't drive over the cone when I did the parking part ...
40. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Stacy, as per usual :)
41. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Loft Ann Taylor or any shoe store
42. Bedtime? Whenever I get sleepy, unless I want to stay up anyhow. Then I fight it.
43. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Whoever decides to answer it
44. Last person you went to dinner with? Christen and I went for Chinese this weekend
45. What are you listening to right now? my iPod -- Bllue Plate Special is on with "Track 10"
46. What is your favorite color? Blue or Green or Tan
7. How many tattoos do you have? one
48. How many people are you sending this to? just the usual suspects
49. What time did you finish this e-mail? 10:41 am
50. Favorite magazine? People

Dreaming again.

I don't know why, but I've been dragging ever since I got back from lunch. I keep staring at the bottom corner of the computer screen but it doesn't seem to make the time pass any quicker. Why is that? I've finally got 10 minutes left -- hallelujah!

I've been having weird dreams again lately. I had a dream two nights ago that I was abducted by terrorists. Shelley, me and some guy were abducted and shoved into some hotel room, and they hit me and thought I was dead because it knocked me out, but when I came to I just had a broken jaw and a broken arm. Then we escaped and found out that we were in Atlanta so we were trying to find our way home. Then Stacy was there trying to navigate for us and she kept getting us lost and we were mad.

Last night I had another nightmare about my wedding. I dreamt that it was day of and we still hadn't finalized our honeymoon plans (in the dream we were going to Japan) so I'm in my dress trying to do my hair and flipping through these cards at a flea market trying to find a hotel room in Japan. Crazy crazy.

We've got my mom's dog for the weekend -- it's so nice to see Lola having fun without having to be the main source of her fun. It's breaktime :) They patter through the house back and forth and Christen says, "Well, I did only want two kids ..." and I was all "See? They amuse themselves!" Not that it's like that with kids or anything, but still ...

I woke up this morning to what I thought was a hurricane, but evidently was just 5 inches of rain falling in less than 3 hours. Oh joy. I went back to bed to listen to the rain before I had to ship off to work.

Because of my missed days of work last week, I am now up to my eyeballs in work -- I've separated it into piles. There's the "do before anything else" pile, the "do before it's due" pile, the "transferred to me and I don't care" pile and the "where did this come from?" pile. Plus, you know, mail and phone calls and all those other things I'm supposed to take care of. I worked an extra hour yesterday, and I will probably work late all this week to try to get a handle on things. Bah. I wish I was a housewife. But that's Christen's job right now.

I stopped by B&N yesterday to check if they had Paint it Black by Janet Fitch yet. Turns out they do, but it doesn't go 20% off until next week. I can wait until next week. I'm reading Just an Ordinary Day by Shirley Jackson, and it's divine. It's just the type of short fiction that I long to write. Tasty little morsels that leave you intrigued about the characters and always wanting more. Always leave them wanting more ...

After Barnes to the Noble, I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get a friend a bridal shower gift. I have to say, I now understand why no one buys off the registry. You know how hard it is to find those things? I am traumatized from having to stare at the gadget wall (you know what I'm talking about) for a half hour looking for a cheese plane only to find out they're out. First I tried to get some of the dishes she wanted -- those are easy, no? Yeah, they're out. Then the gadget wall -- I figured I'd just get a bunch of gadgets. Very traumatic. But an hour later I was finally done. Hurrah!

Bah

I'm sick. Missed work yesterday, and came in today because I needed to pack up my stuff -- they're moving me to another floor. I'll probably go home after that.

Bah. I'm such a baby.

The Buzz

So have you guys seen this? I do feel bad that her son died, but unfortunately the whole article is overshadowed by this one sentence. “The couple, who met while working together at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Texas, divorced in 1987.” Hehe. That’s all I’ve got on that.

My throat is absolutely killing me, and I don’t know what to do about it. I was sucking on a cough drop, but since I’m not coughing I don’t know how much help it is. It started hurting yesterday at work, and I don’t know if it hurts because of work or it just happened to start hurting while there. It didn’t hurt last night so much, but it hurts now so bad that I’m having a hard time concentrating on anything.

I’m reading John Irving’s Trying to Save Piggy Sneed, and the memoirs part was really good, but I’m trying to power through the short story part to move on to another book. The short stories aren’t bad, or I would just stop reading, but they’re not … compelling. The next book on the roster is John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flats. Hopefully I’ll start that by today at lunch or tomorrow. I haven’t gotten through the amount of books I had proposed as my New Years resolution, but I’d say I’ve read 50-75, so I don’t think I’ve done too bad. And there’s still 3 ½ months left of the year. It’s been a good year for reading, I’d say.

I’m thinking about volunteering at the library on Saturday mornings. A friend of mine does it and it sounds like something I’d really enjoy, so I think I might check out the library around the corner from my house. I think I owe them $10 from a book-on-tape I lost in high school, and I hope that doesn’t keep me from getting the job :)

My dad found a friend of his to do the photography for my wedding. I’m super excited because it’ll make it a lot cheaper, but super-nervous, because I haven’t seen his work yet. I’m going to see if he can do my engagement photos so I can see his current work, because he only works for friends now so he doesn’t keep a portfolio. He has an album from way back, and I guess I’ll check that out to see.

But that’s all that’s happening right now. Back to work – Toodles!

It's been a long time since I've done a meme ...

But I’ve been tagged by NPR Junky!

1) You have been selected as the next super hero in your city. What power will you choose to have? the power to fight all crime through video games!

2) Lemon or Lime? - Lemon with water, Orange with Blue Moon, and nothing with Tea. Nothing's a simple answer

3) How many speeding tickets have you recieved? - I've had a bundle, but none since 2000 -- I've been a good girl! Or I've gotten better glasses, one of those ...

4) It’s last call for alcohol what will you order? - probably a Shiraz or Zinfindel -- I'm stuck on this Bogle Petit Syrah that's fantastic, and their Zinfindel is equally delish.

5) Which video game character would you want to be? I only play one video game religiously, but in that I'm a high elf. I'd love to be a Spriggin, because they're so cute (and deadly for me) or a battlemage ... fun fun!

6) What event do you think has had the most effect on this country?a) every war any president can come up with.

7) What was the street name you lived on the majority of your childhood? For a while I moved once every year or two -- Eastwood, Crest Ave, Falcon Dr., but when I was 12 we moved to Pennsylvania Ave and the fam still lives there.

8) The name of your first pet? - I had a dog named Tippy, but the first one I remember was a German Shepard named Pi that was way bigger than me (I was 3) ... and I still miss that dog.

9) Your first grade teacher’s last name? ... No wait, I'm thinking ... she was older than dirt ... Gerard, I think. I can usually remember, but right now I'm stuck and can only remember to second grade, and then I remember my preschool teacher's name: Ms. Cathy.

And the final one…10) What color are your current undergarments? - Ah ... navy blue panties and a black bra.

And I'll tag VegasGustan, Autumn, Jamie, Random_Speak and Ordinary Girl. Fun fun!

Laborous.

I don't know what to say about my Labor Day weekend that won't offend one person or another. All I know is I'm in a bad mood, and I don't want to be at work. Hope you enjoyed yours!

Sometimes you just need the coffee

I need to start remembering not to drink so much on a school night ... or work night, whatevs. Shea and Kyle came over last night and we did cheese (havarti w/ dill, garlic & herb cheddar, and muenster) and summer sausage and slightly burnt bruschetta (okay, so I kept forgetting it in the oven) for dinner. Christen really wanted to do a wine and cheese night. It was actually pretty good, and we had about 1 1/2 bottles of wine between 3 of us (Kyle had thoe Bacardi fruit drinks). Later we went to The Zone and hung out with my favorite bartender ... I'm going to be so sad when that place finally catches on... I love the hole-in-the-wall bar feel, and it's going to end up being dance club loudness. I understand what they're trying to do, and I don't begrudge them trying to succeed, but I've never found a bar that I would actually go to on a regular basis, and that I would enjoy just hanging out at. It makes me understand some of my Tampa friends that are always going out to some of the small bars. It's so nice! But we had a couple glasses of wine there too -- a "super Tuscan" which was okay, a little weird at the end, and an Argentinian merlot which was fantastic (and I've never had a Merlot that I like)

But it was indeed too much of the drink, and I was a little tipsy, and Shea-Shea was more than pleasantly tipsy ... I had to keep getting her water because she kept getting the hiccups. So fun! But we really need to hold off on weeknights, I'm telling you. We were out until about 11:30, and then Christen and I had a little romp in the hay, so I didn't get to sleep until 1am ... and up at 6:30. Technically I should have been up earlier, but it wasn't happening. I stopped at Starbucks for a raspberry mocha, and dragged my butt into work. I'm fully awake now, but I still don't want to be here :) It's raining, and I want to be cozy in bed watching a movie or reading next to Christen.

Instead I'll be here at work nursing my Starbucks and counting the hours.

A proper blur

This past week has been a bit of a blur, and somehow I haven’t even noticed that it’s been more than a week since I last posted. Don’t feel unilaterally ignored, it has been across the board. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 emails left unread (one is from Manny, and Manny if by chance you read this, yes I got your email and no I haven’t had time to properly respond!) and I go on MS lately just to see if I have any pending messages but other than that it’s equally ignored.

The funny thing is, I haven’t really done anything of note the past week. Christen has been a proper househusband while he’s looking for a job; I haven’t had to wash a dish or do the laundry in two weeks. I’m going to miss him when he finally gets out of the house, but I do hope he finds something he wants soon. I don’t want him to get discouraged. Other than spending time with Christen, I’ve been vaguely playing Oblivion – not to the same degree that I was playing before. Christen and I take turns playing eachother’s games on parts that we have trouble – I pick locks for him (I’m really good at it, even on his character who sucks at it by nature) and he fights the Minotaurs for me, because I can’t seem to get a handle on how to fight without getting my ass beat. I made a tempura batter last night to cook zucchini – just an experiment, but it turned out pretty good. I’ll have to experiment a little more with that – too much water in the batter, I think.

My tire decided to split (I think I ran over something) and started leaking. We couldn’t get the tire off because the lugs were stripped from when they were last changed – about 2 months ago, so we had to make a trip to Tire Kingdom to get the lug off. The guy there went ahead and changed out all the lugs on my rims … as someone who worked in the customer service industry for many years and arguably still does (isn’t every job where you speak to people a CS job?), I was impressed – I went so far as to fill out an online comment thingie this morning, which I rarely do. Christen was able to patch my tire last night so that I can drive! Woohoo!

So we put off our girls’ night until tonight, and we’re going to get the girls fitted for their dresses so when Autumn comes in on Saturday they can just be ordered. I’m so excited! I’ve stopped planning for the wedding for the past month, mostly because I don’t like planning in an unstable environment. But now I really need to start working – I need to book the dj, florist, hair person, cake, and photographer. Stat. I’m getting married in 7 ½ months!!! I finally sent out the save the dates on Sunday – Christen made me do it. I guess I should start working, eh?

She keeps jumping from high places because she's an idiot ...

I'm seeing Oblivion in my sleep now. I hit the snooze and go back to bed to "power up."

Last night was an uneventful night. I found a copy cat recipe for Macaroni Grill's pasta Milano, so I made that for dinner -- it was fabulous; I brought the rest of it for lunch today with an orange. The rest of the night was time for Oblivion. I'm unhealthily obsessed. Christen and I have made a deal where I can play until bedtime and then he'll play when I go to bed, because he stays up a lot later than I and that way we both get our time in. Although we're playing probably far too much, it is cheap entertainment, because he likes watching me play, and I just get other things done while he's playing (or sleep ... hehe). I'm up to about 24 hours in 3 days ...

The job hunt is going slowly for Christen. He gets emails from people offering jobs he doesn't want anything to do with, but none from the people he'd really like to work for. Yesterday he was pretty depressed (also because he didn't eat all day, and he has a big problem with that -- I think he's hypoglycemic), but he applied to a few more while I was playing the game and he seemed happier once I got home. I keep emailing him from work with random job postings -- I think I've emailed him 15 companies in the area looking for people.

Anyhow, back to work! I've been doing good with getting a lot done when I first get here, and then taking a short break to visit my adoring public before shooting back to the many things I have left to do. It's a lovely balancing act, really ... no really, it is all an act ... :) Toodles!

Please remind me ...

Not to order ribs from the cafe at work when wearing a white sweater. Thanks, I'll owe you one.

Strawberry Cheesecake recipe

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 (8-ounce) and 1 (3-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 1/3 cup strawberries, mashed


For the Crust: In a bowl stir together graham cracker crumbs and 2 tablespoons sugar. Mix in melted butter and turn 1/2 into a 9-inch springform pan. Use the remaining crumbs up the side of the pan by about 1 inch. Make sure to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Bake in a 375°F (190°C) oven for 10 minutes. Cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F (150°C).

For the Filling: Beat softened cream cheese in a large mixing bowl on high for at least 20 minutes until cheese itself becomes fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar; beating until fluffy. Add grated lemon peel and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Pour into the shell and bake for 1 hour, or until the center is set. (center may be a little jiggly when done cooking, it will set while it cools. Do not over cook!) Cool then spread with the strawberry glaze. Chill for 3 hours.

For the Strawberry Glaze: Blend 1 cup sugar and cornstarch together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in water and mashed strawberries. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Cool thoroughly before spreading over the cheesecake.

To remove from pan, run knife around outside of pan before unlocking spring form.

Couldn't stay away

I tried to stay away, but it turns out I can’t. I’m like the cat – came back, couldn’t stay away ... knew she a goner, etc. etc. Things are not as bad as I made them out to be – I just had issues that I was dealing with and Tuesday was a rather fragile day for me. I posted before leaving work early. So please disregard – I’m baaaaaack!

This past week was actually pretty nice, other than the mini crises early in the week. Tuesday we went to Shell’s house for couples’ night. It was a picnic dinner of pulled pork pitas (amazing), purple Peruvian potato salad (yummy), baked beans and cheese and fruit. It’s entirely possible that there was other food, but since it’s been a week, I don’t remember. I made a strawberry cheesecake for the occasion, and I dare say I think I outdid myself. The recipe to follow. I think the trick, though, to making the cheesecake so light and airy (quite possible to eat the whole pie) was that I whipped the cream cheese on its own for about ½ hour, and then started adding the sugar and continued to whip it.

Wednesday night all were supposed to come over to our house, but Shell and Richard bailed to have together time … the nerve! Haha. Imagine, married for 3 months and wanting personal time. You don’t get that anymore! But Shea and Kyle came over and we had stuffed green peppers and Bogle Zinfindel and meringue cookies for dessert. We went to The Zone, but between 2 weeks ago and this week it became a dance club. I guess whatever to pay the bills, but it was muy disappointing. Shell & Richard would have hated it, so it's a good thing they didn't end up coming. Kyle liked it because he could do his networking thing for his DJs ... the rest of us were just hoping that the boys had somewhere else to play that we could go listen. Thursday I went with my ex and Shell & Richard to see our friend Manny who lives in Japan. He was in Orlando for the week, so we met up with him at Islands of Adventure. The park was a bit of a bust, because it rained until after 4, so we rode a couple things right before we left and that was about it. But seeing Manny was awesome, and meeting his family and his boyfriend was very cool. The trip started out a little weird, and I kinda felt squeezed out by someone, but by the end it was a lot of fun and I’m very glad I went. We dined at Jungle Jim’s, which is my favorite Orlando burger joint. They have the peanut butter bet (they bet you’ll like it or they’ll get you a new burger), which I had to bring home one to Christen because he would have been very upset if I had dined there and not brought him back one. It’s what I ate as well. Yum!! Jim had the headhunter, which is a ridiculously monstrous burger. Which he, of course, ate the whole thing.

Friday was my off day, and Christen and I went for a stuffed pizza at Old Chicago. We didn’t really have anything in the house, and it’s pretty inexpensive – they have delicious spinach artichoke stuffed pizza there (well, I pick out the artichokes because I don’t like them).
At this time, I would like to bring your attention to the most engrossing game on the face of the earth.

Christen and I played this game for the entire weekend. Less about 7 hours on Saturday night when we went to Shelly’s house for an engagement party for her and Simon, we played this game all friggin’ weekend. It was awesome. Awesome. I’m still way far behind Christen, and I think I played a lot more than he (but he had an additional week of play before I started). It’s so fun! You probably shouldn’t get it – it’s far too engrossing. You’ll start losing weekends left and right.
Shelly and Simon’s party was very fun. The boys (previously from The Zone) were there and set up to jam (Simon joined in on bongo drum) and there was a lot of food and Belgium beer (very tasty) and I got to catch up with Shelly’s family and play with my godbaby Rachel (not really a baby anymore, she’s 7 and a total handful but lots of fun). Shelly was toasted by about 8:30, but I think she had a good time too. :)
And now I'm back at work and I've gotten a lot done, so I think I'm going to go downstairs and get breakfast before starting up again!

temporary hiatus

Hey. So some things happened last night that I don't want to get into, but I won't be around much for a little bit. Might be a week, might be longer -- I'm not sure right now. I'm fine, everything's fine -- don't worry about it. Just wanted to explain if you stop by wondering where I am -- I'll be around.

Rosebud ... wasn't that the sled?

I don’t understand the prospect of coming to work on Monday more tired than when you left on Friday. I had a great weekend, but really I think I should have gotten some sleep sometime … right? Friday I had planned on a quiet night of laundry and hanging out with Lola, but Stacy ended up coming over for pesto pasta with asparagus and wine instead. We had a great time, just hanging out and drinking and talking. Saturday, Christen and I did some shopping and just basically hung out being silly and not doing much of anything. I bought a shirt and a dress on clearance at The Loft Ann Taylor, and a couple shirts on clearance at NY & Co, both of which are a couple of my very favorite stores. I was looking for a birthday gift for a friend of mine and made the trek down to Baywalk because I knew The Buzz would have what I wanted but alas, everything I liked had chips in it or was otherwise not acceptable. Still looking for that birthday gift … I made steaks in a red wine sauce that night (left over Bogle Petit Syrah, a fantastic wine) and fresh green beans. Sunday I woke up to Christen making banana pancakes (if only it were raining I’d start quoting Jack Johnson again). I wasn’t really in a breakfast mood – I can’t eat right when I wake up – and we went out again, this time for a larger trashcan and to get my pearls cleaned at Jared’s and to see if they could fix a ring of mine, but it turns out they can’t … and I got to try on some necklaces to see if there was anything I couldn’t live without. Hehe. Not that I could have gotten anything, but it’s nice to look. I think he’s pretty intent on getting me a necklace for the wedding, which I’m psyched about. I love jewelry. I never knew I was such a girl, and now I’m so into shoes and purses and jewelry … if I wasn’t so spastic about my books you wouldn’t know I’m the nerd that I am. Well, maybe you would know, but whatever. :)

Sunday night Shea and Kyle came over for shrimp and rice pilaf and more wine (sensing a trend? Thought so) and we all hung out and acted stupid. I made peaches flambé! for dessert (I thought the dessert needed an exclamation point) although I think it needed more brandy -- there was just a little blue flame -- I was hoping for something a little more sensational. All tasted good though, and that's important. Shea and I looked at invitations for the wedding and the boys went outside and smoked their cigars … it was a pretty typical Saturday night – except that it was Sunday. They didn’t stay real late, but I still didn’t get much sleep last night and I think I consumed more than 3 bottles of wine by myself over the weekend. I do know the wine refrigerator is mighty light right now. I might take a trip over to the wine store for replacement … :) There’s a wine store in Tampa that is really very inexpensive – the Bogle there is $8.49, but it’s $9.99 at Ed’s Fine Wines (my usual wine store) and $11.99 at Kash ‘n’ Karry. So it’s great, I just have to know what I want. The people there seem helpful, but I don’t know that I trust them for good recommendations just yet. It’s just cheap, and I appreciate that. But this morning I woke up still recovering from this weekend. Never with a hangover, but I do feel like crap, I know that. Hopefully my water will help.

I’m still working through A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain. I only read 3 pages over the weekend, while I was watching War of the Worlds (I know, I know, I’m sorry). But I plan on getting back into the swing of things today, and I’ll probably finish at lunch (I only have 48 pages left). So next will be The Nasty Bits, also by Bourdain. Then I get to start in on my bag of books from Jordan.

Product placement, version 3

these are awesome :)

What's a lost apostrophe between friends?

For some reason if I post to this blog first and then copy it to my MySpace, I lose all the punctuation except periods. Never lose your period.

Went out with the girls last night for sushi at Bonsai sushi -- it was fantabulous! The usual suspects, of course, and a couple specialty rolls like a Rising Sun roll and a Gator Roll (with tempura gator on top) ... yum yum! But no yum yum, because I'm not a fan. We also meandered through the stores and went shopping but we were all pretty good about our spending (for once ... hehe). I stayed later than I meant to at Shelley's, because Christen was going to be home late and I didn't want to be home too long by myself late at night. It turned out he got home about 45 minutes after me, and we stayed up talking until far too late. It was hard to get up for work this morning. To tell you the truth, this whole week has been tough. Hopefully I'll get caught up by tomorrow afternoon and next week will be easier. I don't like not enjoying work.

we can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind

So I’ve been trying to read The Way the Crow Flies, and I just can’t get into it. Technically, I guess I’m into it – I’ve read 56 pages of it. But it’s just not thrilling me. So I bought 15 books from a Jordan, some of which I bought for my brother but all of which I plan on reading and borrowed two Anthony Bourdain books from Brad, so I think I’m going to put this aside. If someone has read it and liked it, please tell me if it gets more intriguing. I don’t want to read all 810 pages thinking as I turn the page, “I don’t want to put this down, because one day it’ll get good” and then it just doesn’t. That happened when I saw Not Another Teen Movie in the theater. I was sick, and wanted to sleep through it, but I kept thinking I was going to fall asleep and miss the one funny part. It turned out I should have just taken the nap. So I brought A Cook’s Tour with me to work, which I’ll probably start reading during lunch. I love food porn.

I’ve decided not to worry about the divorce rate in America anymore. I figure, in my family there’s not nearly as much divorce as I would think: My parents are divorced, and my uncle has been divorced twice, and my aunt has once (she’s been remarried for 10-15 years). But that’s it. So theoretically, my family has a very low divorce rate. And in Christen’s, the rate is even lower – I think two of his uncles have been divorced, and one of them has been remarried for awhile, and his aunt has been divorced and remarried for ages. Plus, I could have gotten married when all my friends from high school got married, but I’d probably be divorced now too. I was just too young; everything about me has changed. The guy I would have married and I are just two completely different people now. Nothing against him, I’m still rather fond of him (although it did take awhile for us to grow up enough to be friends again).

Last night I went over Jordan’s and cooked for him and Brad. I made that veggie pesto pasta with shrimp and a chocolate peanut butter pie, and I must say – all food was fabulous. Hehe. It was a lot of fun though, which I am very happy about. I was starting to worry about some of the friendships there, as it had been a long time since I had seen either of them and a very long time since I had even spoken to one of them. But there was great conversation, lots of laughter, good food, good wine (Jordan got a bottle of wine for us, and it was not bad at all – La Bastarda, or something like that). Very pleased, I was. It must not be that long before we do it again.

Tonight is girl’s night, and I have pledged to make the trek back out to Tampa because I am the only one with air conditioning and they’ve been driving out to see me for the past two or three weeks. I don’t know what we are to do – currently there’s not a lot of wedding issues to iron out, although I do need to get on with a photographer, dj, and florist. I’ve picked out the dj & florist, but I really need to contact them to make sure that they are available for that day. And I have a few prospects for photographers. Man, if you want to make good money, become a wedding photographer. They make money hand over fist, seriously. I wish I made $225-350 an hour. I should get Christen start doing weddings. He’s a really good photographer; he just needs a good digital camera, which he plans on getting for the honeymoon anyhow. So afterward I can start farming him out to different weddings, maybe at a discount price until he gets some experience so he has pictures for his Web site, and hike up the prices to two grand for a 6-hour session. Sound like a plan? I do need to start working out. I put on this dress that I love today and it was a bit tighter than usual – still fits, but not as comfortably as it should. Plus, I ordered my wedding dress, and though I didn’t order a size too small, I did order the tighter size, with the intention of dropping 5-10 lbs to make it more comfortable, which would mean that I wouldn’t need to get the bodice taken in at all (read: cheaper). I want to join a gym close to home, so that when I’m sitting on my butt at home I can just go around the corner to work out. I was working out at the work gym, but my workout partner stopped coming, and then I kept on for a little while longer and then I got waylaid as well. I might just buy some little weights and try to start walking, but I don’t know how much drive I’ll have that way either.

Love & Marriage

Does it ever worry you that so many of our contemporaries are already divorced? I saw a girl I went to school in Target today, and asked her how things were ... asked her what her last name was (haha), whether it was still her maiden or if she had gotten married by now. She said it was, and then it was another and now she's back to first again. And on MySpace I've met up with so many old friends who married and divorced, a few of them more than once by now. And I'm only in my mid-20s! So who's to say that my marriage will work? Why should I be any different?

I know that I feel more for Christen than I've ever felt for anyone. That even after almost 4 years together, a look from him can still make my heart flutter. I've never needed someone so much and yet been capable of having my own life with him in it rather than making him my whole life. He's the straight man to my craziness -- calm and easygoing and quiet. But has the capacity to be the biggest goof I've ever met.

How do I know, though? Didn't they all feel the same way before too?

Books devoured this week

All were beautiful, lovely, and each was finished in less than a day.

Hawtt

I think this woman is hot.



And I hate when they hide her freckles.

Sushi Snob

So I've come to grips with the fact that I am indeed a sushi snob. I realized this when I called Shiki Sushi to order take-out on my way home. "We open at 5. You come at 5?" He said. Of course, it was 4:30, but I said sure thing. So driving there, I realized that I didn't have anything to eat it on. I have my usual plates, but they're these old green flowered plates that my mom got me as a housewarming present in college and they're not the most attractive plates in the world. Mom even said so when she gave them to me. So since I had half an hour to kill I stopped by Super Target and bought really pretty white plates to eat my sushi on. With my little black soy ramikans and my new red chopsticks (Thank you, Shelley) it was the perfect setting for my meal. I got a spider roll, a phillie roll and a dragon roll, but they don't put eel in the dragon roll. However, they do serve it with eel sauce. Very suspicious. I figured out what I'm not fond of with the sushi there: it's too salty. The tempura breading tastes like it was fried in seawater. Not inedible, but not as satisfying as Toki. My final judgement.

Banana Pancakes

I woke up this morning singing Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes".

Can't you see that it's just raining, ain't no need to go outside ... But Baby, You hardly even notice when I try to show you this song is meant to keep ya from doing what you're supposed to waking up too early, Maybe we can sleep in I'll make you banana pancakes, pretend like it's the weekend now ...

I was late to work; I woke up to thunder -- so soothing to go back to sleep. So I did. Then when I finally got up and took a shower to go to work and was almost ready to go, Lola was acting strange and I got worried about her ... her stomach was making weird noises and she wasn't acting like herself. I'm a little worried about her; can't wait to get back home to check on her. Plus Christen was at home and I haven't seen him much so I had to update him on everything. I hate when he works so much like this. I don't sleep well when I'm home alone, so I get to bed very late (he still gets home after I fall asleep) and then I go to work before he gets up in the morning so I really don't get to see him. So being late today I actually got to talk to him for a few precious minutes before hopping off to work. I can't wait until Back To School is over. He told me this morning that they are getting another assistant on Monday, so hopefully that will take some of the strain off because he'll only work every third weekend and hopefully not so many nights. They've decided to build an OD in the old Winn Dixie a quarter mile from our house, so if he stays with them for awhile longer maybe he can transfer out here. It's really bad with all the driving. He spends so much in gas. I get gas once every week to week and a half and it costs about $30. He spends $45-$50 to fill up and has to do it every couple days.

Enough complaining about all that though. Today's Friday, and the next two days are free, so I'll actually be able to spend quality time with ... well, I guess with Lola. Christen is off on Sunday so we have to go to the Club to book it for our reception, and take his parents to see it and the chapel and everything. And it's Scott's birthday so I need to go get something for that (hello, Best Buy gift card). Hurrah! Being a grown-up is hard!

Crying over spoilt milk

So overnight the milk in my fridge decided to spoil. I know it was overnight because last night we had pie and milk and everything was fine. This morning I poured myself a big glass of milk to take with me to work. I got on the road, I took a giant swig ... and was almost sick. It actually made me ill all day. Sadly, this also made me have to throw away the rest of the pie since it was made with the same milk and it wasn't cooked, so it spoiled too (or at least I wasn't going to take the chance).

The storms are bad bad right now. I had to lock Lola inside because she wouldn't stop going outside and the lightning is very close. It's pretty bad -- it would be nicer if it were morning and I was able to sleep in. But alas, I'm just hanging out at home watching WS of Pop Culture (it's the finals, baby) and soothing the dog.

I played Sims tonight for awhile and got really far ... and then the computer froze. And I had just gotten Shell and Richard to fall in love ... damn it. I'll have to work on that again, I guess. I'm waiting for a non-storm night though.

pink elephants prancing

I’ve written a couple blogs since my last and neglected to post them … lazy, you may say? Yeah, I’ve been lazy. It’s been nice, too. :) Sunday after my crappy day Christen came home and we went for Chinese food, which was a pleasant excursion. The day did get better before he got home though – I watched Shopgirl and The White Countess (liked the first, bored by the latter) and addressed all my Save the Date cards (I keep trying to shorten that, but STD cards doesn’t portray exactly what I wish to portray) with my new caligraphy pen (I bought a cheap-o but it works great). The culmination of the “bad day” part of Sunday was when I started crying because I couldn’t find the Sims cd (Christen put it in this little drawer thing in the computer). I found it, but I think it was just one of those days where you need to go to bed and wake up the next day and forget about the rest of the day. Or maybe if we just had a “reset” button like on Nintendo.

Irony: On the TBT, Sweetbay has an ad that says “Taste the Passion” right under the article about Mel Gibson’s DUI arrest. Hehe. So Monday, Christen had the day off and decided to take me to work and pick me up, and also to take me to lunch. It was a nice day, although I wished I was just home with him instead of at work for him to pick up. We were supposed to take the deposit for the reception hall over, but the lady wasn’t there so we’ve had to reschedule for Sunday. And so we ended up spending the hours after work at Borders looking at wedding magazines and bouquet books. I found a beautiful bouquet that I think might work if I replace some of the flowers with tulips (it had a lot less tulips than I would prefer). Monday we also started working on the Save the Date cards because Christen was home to get the printer working (I don’t understand; it works for him but never for me) and actually got them almost done. I finished them yesterday when I got home. The girls and I had planned on doing them tonight but this is better – we can have a nice night and talk shop but not actually have to do anything, which is the nicest thing. Last night I made a Chocolate Banana Pie for tonight (if it’s any good I’ll post the recipe for you), finished the cards, and played Sims 2 (hurrah! I finally graduated college in the damn thing!). Tonight I’m making dinner for the girls – Chicken Bryan (an altered recipe from one I found online and it’s fantastic) with garlic spinach, croissants or cheese biscuits (I haven’t decided yet) and chocolate banana pie. Woohoo! I think we might mosy on over to The Zone if the boys are playing again tonight. I’m sure it’ll all be fun! Toodles!

Ick.

I'm in a wretched mood today. I wish it would rain again to match my mood, but knowing the weather it'll only rain when I don't want it to -- like every other day. I'm still upset about my hair, which I know I should get over but I'm having trouble doing so.

I tried to print my Save the Dates and the f&@$# printer has decided to not work. It works when Christen uses it, but being that he's never home (damn back-to-school time) I'm stuck not being able to do anything. It's one of those wireless deals, and a friggin' expensive one at that, and it won't friggin' work. I went out and got a USB cable, because in the mess of all those extra cables we have I couldn't find a single USB cable. Still doesn't work.

But I went ahead and bought a caligraphy pen to do the addresses, so I might just do that today and try to get Christen to do the printing if and when he ever gets to come home. Tomorrow is his only day off this week. Don't get me started.

Would you like an orange with them apples?

We dyed my hair today.

I hate it.

I'm hoping at least Christen likes it, because he likes my hair really red, and it's really really red. R.E.D.

Maybe I'll get used to it, and maybe I'll change it, and maybe I'll just wait for it to fade a little bit. Who knows; time will tell.

I spent the day with Mom and the sibs. We got mom in a few Mother of the Bride dresses, and found a very pretty but ridiculously priced one. At least it gives us an idea of what works and what will look nice. The lady says, "Oh this one is moderately priced; it's a good price." Good price, my ass. She should buy the damn thing, then. That thing cost more than half what my wedding dress cost. :) I bought a few things at HomeGoods (I love that place) and a Jack Johnson cd at Target and hung out at the house dying hair and watching Capote, which was an awesome movie. I was a little perturbed that they changed the order of some things from the book ... but theoretically I guess I can see why. Ian says it's to make it more "theatrical". Blah :) But still a great movie.

I think I may start on my Save the Dates tomorrow. I've been putting them off, and I don't know why. Perhaps I'll stop by Michaels and get a caligraphy pen since my fountain pen is on the fritz. I'm so sleepy -- weird dreams last night. And a tummy ache when I woke up. It went away during the day, but it's back again. It might be because I can't get ahold of Christen -- who knows. I'm going to go read in bed though. Toodles!

PS

That pasta below is fantastic cold the next day. Or even later the same night. Fucking fantastic.

we call it inter-species erotica

So last night was a nice night. I made a Rachel Ray recipe that turned out really fucking tasty (see below) and we had some wine. We've been getting this Chardonney called Fish Eye that's not the best, but it's pretty decent for $8.99 and it's always in the fridge part of the store so we can get it last minute. We then proceded to waste time at the bookstore reading wedding books and getting ideas (Some of them were awesome, and not that expensive, like covering the "kids" table with butcher paper and giving them crayons as favors).

Then we went to see Clerks II. I had been on the fence as to whether I wanted to see it. I have adored all Kevin Smith's movies, but I was afraid it was going to be just a rehash of the first movie with a bunch of inside jokes and vulgarity and I'd be bored. I used to love the first one, but now it seems every time I try to watch it I just get bored and change the channel. It has become un-funny to me.

This one was not like that. It was really very funny, and although it may cross the line in some parts, Kevin Smith always crosses lines. The only problem I had with it was the guy sitting behind me -- I think he had the worst laugh I've ever ever heard. Ever. It was loud and annoying and I couldn't hear some parts because of his donkey bray. He should have been in the movie ... you know the part.

But overall, very good -- Two thumbs up. I'm sure I'll get it when it comes out.

*************************************************

Three Vegetable Penne with Tarragon-Basil Pesto

1 pound penne rigate (with lines) pasta
Salt
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed of tough ends
1 small zucchini
1/4 pound, haricots verts (thin green beans) trimmed of stem ends
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup basil, 20 leaves
1/2 cup tarragon leaves from 10 to 12 stems
Handful flat-leaf parsley
1 lemon, zested
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more to pass at table
Coarsely ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it

Heat a large pot of water to boil for pasta. Salt the water and add pasta to cook to al dente or, with a bite to it. Cut asparagus spears into 2-inch pieces on an angle. Cut zucchini into matchstick shapes. Cut haricots verts or green beans into 2-inch pieces on an angle. Add vegetables to pasta after penne has been cooking about 5 minutes. Cook veggies and pasta together 2 minutes.

While pasta cooks, toast pine nuts in a small pan until golden, then cool. Place nuts, basil, tarragon, parsley, lemon zest, garlic, cheese and a little salt and pepper in a food processor. Turn the processor on and stream in the extra-virgin olive oil until thick sauce forms.

Scrape pesto into large, shallow serving dish. Add a ladle of hot, starchy pasta water to the pesto. Drain penne and veggies and add immediately to pesto. Toss to coat pasta and vegetables evenly. Adjust salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with extra grated cheese to pass at table.

B Squared

We forwent the cookout Thursday night for a drier night out, and met up at Bahama Breeze (hereto forth known as B Squared or BB). Kevin is such a cutup; I'm really going to miss him when he moves to Georgia. It was such an amusing dinner. And there was a girl I went to high school with at the next table -- this is the second time I've run into her at BB, as she works at the insurance company across the street. I was home at a decent hour (in time to see the WS of Pop Culture) and even got a good amount of sleep. I'd like to say, though, that I long for not having to get up by the alarm clock; to be able to see my dreams to fruition instead of having to wake up halfway through to get ready for work. The end of today can't come soon enough.

Dealing with an opossum part trois

There was an opossum playing dead in my backyard this morning.It's no longer playing dead.I heard Lola growling and barking outside, and that's usually what it is when she sounds like that. So I went outside, but I forgot to put on my glasses. Remember Death of a Squirrel Toy? Without my glasses the little pile of fur in the grass looked like that damn squirrel toy. So I went back in, got my glasses and came back out. I thought it was dead, but then I saw that it was breathing, and then I saw its nasty little claws start to move -- it thought the threat was over. So I went back in and got Christen and we locked Lola inside ... and he took care of it. Thankfully today is garbage day, so it won't have to sit at all. The shovel method seems quite effective.
And you know the CSI episodes where they find a dead fetus in the garbage can? I keep thinking that the garbage men are going to find that garbage bag and call the cops. Fun fun!! It's just a dead opossum, guys! I swear it!

Huzzah for good wine, good friends, good music and good sushi!!

So last night was girl’s night, and this time it was just Shelley and I instead of our usual trio. We went to the sushi place in Boot Ranch that I have been dying to try since I noticed it six months ago. We walked in, ordered drinks, looked at the menu …. paid for our drinks and left. There was nothing good on the menu. I mean nothing. So we drove down the road to the sushi place that opened next to Emerald City comics and ate there – it was fantastic! So glad we skipped out on the other place. We ate way too much and spent about the amount we would have spent at Chili’s, and the rolls were really great. We had crunchy spicy tuna (Shea, you would have loved – a little spicy for me, of course), a Phillie roll, a Mexican Roll and a spider roll. Mmmm … god, I love sushi.

Afterward we went to HomeGoods to wander a little bit and I got a springform pan in which to make cheesecake … and then we went to The Zone in Tarpon to see some friends of mine play. The Zone is this neat little coffeeshop/bar/hookah lounge with comfy couches. The band was great (nods to Ben and Levin) and the company was great. We had a fantastic time. I had a couple glasses of a very good petit syrah and Shell had two Long Beach Ice Teas. We stayed out so late (well, for us anyhow) and had such a good time neither of us wanted to go home (I drove around the block a couple times while we continued to talk). This morning however, I woke up with a horrendous headache. It wasn’t a hangover headache (I do know what that feels like) but I couldn’t move. I had a couple days a few weeks ago the same way. I came in a couple hours late, hoping that the headache would go away. It didn’t, but finally after lunch it faded a bit so now I feel pretty okay. I’ve had plenty to do, so I haven’t really had time to think about it either. My iPod is on its last battery-operated leg today – I forgot to charge it. The battery says empty but it’s puttering along for me, thankfully. If it can just get me through the next 2 ½ hours until I leave, I’ll be happy. I’m going to a cookout at Stacy’s house tonight and I have to go home and get the meat before motoring over to her place. Fun fun! I’ll let you know how it goes … I hope it stops raining!

Much ado about nada

I havent been blogging as of late Im not sure whats wrong with me; I dont even think about blogging. I just sit, really. Saturday went out with Andrew and Theresa and a few of their friends for karaoke. It was a lot of fun and no, I did not sing. Wouldnt want to clear the place out or anything. Listening to a few of the people singing makes me realize Im not as bad a singer as I think though. :) The weekend brought us to Linens n Things and Target to do wedding registries and to his dads house and grandmas house for visits. Monday was a couples night w/ Shea and Kyle, Shelley and Richard and us. It was so much fun! We really need to make them more regular events. I made this fantastic chocolate peanutbutter pie (recipe below), and Shea made tasty lasagna and bruchetta and Shell and Rich brought a yummy salad with MacGyver salad dressing (dressing made from the liquid contents of Sheas fridge). Stayed until far too late and had to drive myself home (blegh). Tuesday night I was home alone and ended up eating too much (cookies that I also made over the weekend also amazing I should put that recipe also) and going to bed too late, but I actually woke feeling rested this morn, which is a change from the norm. I met the girls for lunch at TooJays today, and lunch was also amazing. I had the turkey platter, which was sliced turkey and tabullah, fruit and cottage cheese. It was very filling and I didnt want to come back to work, but of course I did because Im responsible like that.

My next pie is a chocolate banana pie. Im already salavating. God, I love my mixer.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Recipe

(from www.cdkitchen.com)

Ingredients:
1 (9") graham cracker pie crust
8 ounces softened cream cheese, light or regular (1 pkg)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
***TOPPING:***
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons salad oil (veggie oil or canola oil)
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

Whip cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add sugar, peanut butter and butter. In another bowl, whip cream and vanilla until firm. Blend 1/3 of whipped cream into peanut butter mixture. Fold peanut butter mixture into remaining whipped cream until thoroughly incorporated. Fill pie crust, smoothing top. Chill.

Combine chocolate, butter and oil in top of double boiler (I just put them in a bowl in the microwave) until chocolate melts. Cool slightly. Spread chocolate on cooled peanut butter filling. Start at center and work out. Sprinkle top with peanuts, chill pie thoroughly.

hehe ...

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

What was I going to blog about?

So the girls and I are sitting around people watching at International Mall and snacking on Gelato when I said, "you know, I'm probably going to blog about this." The only problem is, I don't remember what I was going to blog about! So here's a lowdown of what we did:

--made Shea squeeze into all these tea length dresses only to decide that the full length one is definitely the one we're going with.
--went for sushi and it was disappointingly not as good as usual.
--wandered around the mall working off our sushi and to make room for gelato (Shea wanted to look at this ring in Tiffany's she's been ogling but the salesman was less than helpful).
--munched on tasty gelato (I got Nutella ... The Bracio was still better, but there's always next time!)
--dropped by DSW for a cute pair of tweedish brown pumps (Thanks Becky! Still lots of $$ left in credit!)
--came home and collapsed.

So while I still don't know what I had planned on saying (was it about the lady with the huge fake hard-as-rox boobs? or Shea's nipple popping out?) Come on, girls ... remind me. Nevertheless, we had a great time ... and I put money down on my dress! I made a decision on it! Ahh, it's real! Pinch Me!

Okay I'm done.



Oh!!!!!!! Update: I remember what I planned on blogging about. So we're in Waldensbooks because Shell wanted to check out their Manga, and Shea and I were looking at wedding books ... and right next to the wedding books are Kama Sutra books ... with giant color photos of these positions! So we're checking it out, and we were laughing so hard that everyone in the store knew exactly what we were looking at and one of the ladies working there comes up and asks if she could help us! It was f$#-ing hilarious! So we told her that we were looking at the wedding books and then had moved on to the honeymoon books :) hehe. She tagged on by saying if that doesn't work, you always have this section, and motioned to the Romance section (by far the biggest section, BTW). hehe ... so funny :)

when comment moderation fails.

So I enabled comment moderation, right? I get home tonight and I have 24 comments waiting in cyberspace to be approved or not. 23 of them are from the lovely "Anonymous" and 1 from NPR Junkie . So I highlight all the spam ones to delete, but I'm reading Becky's, and I approved all those damn spambot ones anyhow. Why do I bother?

Find me this shirt

I want this shirt so bad. I saw it one time when I was on vacation and didn't buy it.
Yes, I'm now kicking myself.
Find me this shirt and I'll love yo u forever. Not that I don't already, but still ...

62

That's how many spam comments I had to receive in three hours to reinstate the comment moderator. I turned it off because I always fail the spelling thingie -- evidently I can't read as well as I thought. But I got home after going to the shoe store (nothing for me this time ...) and to dinner to 62 emails from "anonymous" telling me how great my website is and linking me to someone else. I don't know where the comments are (they aren't on current posts) because I deleted the damn things too quickly. But now consider yourself moderated. I like my comments ... just from people who say real things (not necessarily in my favor either ...)

A Blogging we will go, hi ho the derry oh ...

My system at work decided to freeze momentarily, so I thought I would take these few minutes to let you know I'm not dead. That's always a good thing, right? I have been sick, though with stress or sinus I know not. It's most likely a combination of the two. The problem is, I call out because I feel like crap, and then I feel worse for calling out so I can't even have a decent day, and when it's time to go back to work I still have to drag myself there because I don't want to go back -- it just makes things that much harder. It's also hard that Christen's home and I'm here working, even though he has to do it all the time, going into work when I'm home. He's off today, probably playing his LOTR strategy game that I got him for his birthday. Scratch that, my mom got it for him. He really seems to like it -- score! Except that he's playing instead of going to bed when I go to bed :( But that's okay. I'll put up with it, because I know that it'll only go on for a week or two and then he'll stop playing for a month and then go back to it for a little bit. This is his habit.

I went on Thursday to see The Devil Wears Prada, which I have to say was rather good. I didn't like the book much, and I thought that the movie did a much better job of putting things together without being so name-droppy and with having deeper characters.

Wednesday and Friday I called off from work, not feeling so good and needing some time to regroup. Friday when I finally rolled out of bed, Christen and I looked at some reception sites for the wedding and looked at wedding bands (I'm really getting into that ... hehe) and then Shea and Teddy Bear came over for beer and chinese food.

Saturday I was by myself all day, so I mostly watched tv and hung out with Lola all day, taking some time out to buy books at Barnes & Noble (woohoo! Saturday by Ian McEwan, Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham, and A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews), groceries, fresh flowers for the dining room and Superman Cap'n Crunch (I'm addicted -- I eat it for dinner). I took my sister and Lola to the beach in late afternoon and it was so much fun -- we let her off the leash and let her play with the other dogs in the area. She was surprisingly good, not wandering off too often. Dinner at my mom's house and then we came home.

Sunday was one of those days where I woke up feeling like not doing anything, so I laid around and did exactly that. Later on I bought some clippers and cut Lola's hair, and it doesn't look too bad at all. It was just getting a little out of hand, and the summer heat and her black fur was all a little much. I was going to bike ride with my sister, but she called in the middle of clipping the hair and I had to decline (really, there was hair everywhere) but we should go sometime this week. Sunday I also checked the mail for the first time in a few days, and had gobs of it -- I detest checking the mail. Anyone I've lived with will tell you that it will go weeks without being checked if I'm the only one to do it. The problem is, I'm almost always the one stuck checking the mail. I regularly get notes on my front door from my mail lady telling me if I don't go out and grab the mail that she's going to start sending it back. :) Whoops!

Anyhow, system back online and I get to go home soon, so I'll post this when I get there! :) Toodles!

Coincidences

So I have a habit of looking up different celebrities on IMDB when I'm interested in who the hell they are. I was looking up the Mac guy from the Apple computer commercials, thanks to Amber and he's in this upcoming movie called One Part Sugar. So I was watching Must Love Dogs and I looked up the Justin Timberlake look-a-like, and found that he is also to be in the same movie. How weird, huh?

Leftovers

So it's been one of those days. I didn't go to work. I tried ... halfheartedly, but I did try. My head hurt so bad when I woke up. First I told them 9am, then 10:30am ... finally I called to say I wasn't coming in. Twelve hours later, I still have a little headache, but not too bad now. I made a key lime pie with a beautiful meringue with my lovely new mixer, and a tasty lasagna. The girls were supposed to come over, but Shell called to say she wasn't feeling well, and I didn't hear from Shea at all. So tonight I am alone watching movies and trying to decide if I'm up to doing laundry. I watched The Man in the Moon and and now I'm on Must Love Dogs, which I've seen before and was sweet and amusing.
But I did have a slice of lasagna and a slice of pie, and I have to tell you all -- you're really missing something with my cooking. Both were delicious. :)

Death and JuJu Beans

Don't ask -- it was just the first thing that popped into my head. wha?

It's been an interesting week. Well, some of it is, so I'll just lie and say the whole darn thing was.

Saturday (yes, my week starts with Saturday -- what about it...) I went dress shopping with Shea and my mom and sister. I found a couple that I really loved, and decided on my bridesmaid dresses -- yay :).

Sunday Shea and I looked at reception sites and chapels. I found one of each that I adored, but Christen and I will have to go again this week to make the decision.

Monday -- not interesting in the least. hehe.

Tuesday -- Luau!!! So fun, and the food was amazine -- thanks Richard! There were great friends there, and fireworks, and a mean game of Trivial Pursuit (you know me) ... the decorations are still up, and may stay up for 6 months -- who knows? Maybe I can come as a hula dancer to my own Halloween party, and I won't ever have to take the decorations down at all!

Wednesday -- my birthday! We had a nice night at home, with Chicken Bryan and garlic spinach. Yum! I got some cool things, and beautiful yellow and pink roses.

Thursday -- yep, not interesting.

Today -- nope, not interesting :)

Rooting for the weekend again! Aren't you glad you wasted time with this blog? I didn't realize I had nothing to say until I got partway through, and by then it was just too late. I'm sure it was the same for you. Thanks for coming!

It's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to!

Now if only I could light a fire under my ass and get to work. I guess that's what the fire pit is for that Shell and Rich got me for my birthday.

More later, I've got wedding crises to blog about!

Death of a Squirrel Toy

So Lola is into destructive chewing. My "parenting" web sites say this is because she is lonely and bored, and possibly stressed (she does have a lot of separation anxiety, so that makes sense). So I've been trying to get her toys so that she has stuff to play with. She has a Kong, and a rope toy (which has also bit the dust as of last night) and occasionally I get her stuffed animals. The problem with stuffed animals is that she tears them up in no time flat. So I bought her this one that was considered "indestructable". MmmHmm ... sure. I wish I had taken a picture of it before, but it took her about 2 hours to render it "destructable". Here are the pictures of it now:

The week

When you tell stories do you start at the beginning and work forward or at the end and work backward? I started to write from today backward but that seems illogical, so instead I’ll go back to Saturday: the engagement. I still don’t have pictures (I guess I’m going to have to email Kyle and ask for them) but here goes anyhow. I generally never make plans on weekends that Christen and I have off together. However, this time my sister called earlier in the week and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her and Mom and I agreed. Then, Thursday I decided I wanted to get my hair cut and made an appointment for Saturday morning. Christen said, “Are you doing everything on Saturday?” but I didn’t think anything of it. I told him we’d have Saturday evening and all of Sunday together. So I got up early on Saturday and got my haircut (it looks way cute, I’ll have to post pictures of that too) and then went shopping with my mom and sister as planned. I bought 4 books and a straw hat – isn’t that the way? So I get home and Christen said that his mom wanted us to go to dinner with them, and I said that was fine, and he said that Kyle wanted pictures of me for the web site … this is a long story, but it did seem plausible, so I got dressed up and we went out for pictures and ended up at the park where we had our first date. We had also been back a few times, so it still made sense that we were there. I sorta had the feeling that was something was going on, but I wasn’t sure – girls just know these things. But Kyle and Shea snuck up behind us and Kyle handed Christen the ring and Shea had the videocamera. It was all very sweet and amazing –Shea’s video was hilarious! So then they tried to trick me and say that we were going back to our house for a drink before going out to dinner and I knew at that point that everyone was going to be at the house, but I played along for that and when we got home everyone was there – all of his family and my mom and sister. It was such a wonderful night! I drank a lot of red wine and ate cheese and hung out with the family. Sunday: we drove all day doing nothing, and went to a craft show in Dunedin that was alright but horridly sweltering. I freaked out a little bit because I was trying to come up with a date and Christen kept playing his computer game, but finally he came out with me and we decided where we wanted to go for a honeymoon and set a date for the wedding. Monday I told everybody at work, and then went home and freaked out about money, because we don’t have any and either does my family. Which, of course, I knew – but who thinks about these things when they’re getting engaged? My mom helps, though, being the rational one who can help me decide about caterers and alcohol and venues … Mom is very good at being rational when others aren’t (namely, when I’m not) just as I’m the rational one when she freaks out. It’s a good balance. Monday and Tuesday night I went to bed early – I think the excitement of all this is getting to me – I get really tired really early. Wednesday Shell came over and we tried a new sushi place (the atmosphere was awesome, the sushi was only so-so) and looked at a couple chapels and talked a lot about weddings. This is my problem: I don’t like being the center of attention. I don’t like making decisions. I get selfconscious and worry about pleasing everyone else. I have a feeling that I am not going to get through this whole wedding thing. My friends are going to have to prop me up here.

So things I have decided: the date, the honeymoon, the colors, the dress (sorta), the bridesmaid dresses. Things I have yet to decide: everything else!

Anyhow, this morning I got to work and the power was off for an hour, so now I have lots to do and less time to do it. Woohoo for work!

The ring :)

Thanks to those who wished us Good Luck! I'm going to need it (all you who know me know how much I hate making decisions; do you know how many decisions I'm going to have to make?)

engaged!

So I was going to hold off and tell everyone on Monday, but y'all know I'm terrible at that.

So. ...



I'm engaged! Christen asked me to marry him tonight, and of course I said yes! Pictures of the ring to follow as soon as I'm sober enough to find the camera, and pictures of the engagement to follow as soon as Kyle's sober enough to email them to me!

I love you all!

Yay!!!! I'm engaged!

Huzzah for new books, coming soon!

So I was killing time at work before I got out, and I was perusing the internet (fancy that, eh?), mostly looking for luau-related recipes and items ... and I ended up on Amazon searching my favorite authors to see if any new books have come out ... and look was I found! I'm so excited! Yay, September! (that's when they both come out)

Thugs

Current mood: scared

So I was almost asleep awhile ago after finishing off Broken for You when Lola started barking. Not a big "there's an apossum afoot" bark but a "there's something amiss" low woof ... followed by a few whisper woofs. She kept pacing and whisper-woofing, so I got up and laid on the spare bed with her to calm her down. I looked outside; nothing seemed off. I wasn't convinced, though, and neither was Lola because she wasn't calming down. So I laid on the bed for a few minutes and I'm drifting off again when she gives a start back at the window and starts her low barking again. I looked out the window just in time to see a guy running across the street in bulky gray sweats and jump in a gray SUV -- maybe a late-'90s Jeep or Pathfinder and tool off around the corner. I waited a few minutes and went outside, mostly to make sure Christen's truck was okay, and the lady from next door was outside too. Her husband had followed the guys, and they had assault rifles. He got a cop to go look into it, but the guys were gone.

So now I'm completely freaked out. Anyone for reading me a nice calm bedtime story? No Hans Christian Anderson, please. I need no nightmares.

Oww, my ear!

So last night was a blast -- Shell, Rich, Shea and Kyle all came over and we drank a lot and played Trivial Pursuit and watched Family Business and Big Love ... I drank the better part of 3 bottles of wine (Yellowtail Shiraz Reserve, which I think is worth the extra couple dollars from regular Yellowtail, Kelly's Revenge Chardonney and Goiya South African Shiraz). I woke up this morning and I don't have a hangover, but my ear hurts really bad. I took a shower and went to dry my ears with a q-tip and it hurts to even touch it! I have no idea what happened to my ear last night, but the sucker hurts more than my ear has ever hurt before -- except maybe from the passing ear infection when I was young.


Anyhow, I was going to hang out with Matt but I never heard from him, so I'm going for lunch and antiquing with Shea ... or maybe down to the Ellenton outlet. If my ear doesn't completely put me off. ... I swear, it hurts so bad, there's no way I can even listen to my iPod this weekend, and you know how much I'm addicted to that thing -- I even have dreams about stealing them from dead girls!

Accordion Alive

June is International Accordion Awareness Month!

Spread the word!

(I posted this on my MS blog but never got around to posting it here ... and you know how much I love accordions; I couldn't just let the month pass without saying something!)

Knitting loopholes, and Nostalgia Central

Thank Jesus this week is over.

I don't know exactly what the issue was, but I could not get it together this week. I've late to work everyday. Work was crazy busy with crazy accidents and crazy lawyers to talk to. Wednesday night I went out for sushi with Shelley (this time edemame, a dragon roll, a fresh salmon bagel roll, a spider roll and a rainbow roll, all to share), I got a new pair of shoes at DSW and we worked on the thank you notes some more (we've finished writing them and now we just have to address them). Yesterday I bought some yarn and knitting needles and attempted to begin learning how to knit. The casting row was really easy, but I kept messing up when I went to knit my first line. They kept falling off the needles, no matter how tight or loose the stitches were. Anyone know how to knit that can give me a few pointers?

Tonight Shell, Richard and Shea are coming over for drinks and dessert, which I'm psyched about. I washed the sheets on the spare bed in case anyone gets too tired to drive (that's usually me) and I'm making brownie ala mode :) Kyle can't come because he has to go see Jade at some club called Hot Wax? I don't know; it sounds sketchy ... hehe.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get together with Matt. I never realize how much I miss that boy until I hear from him. Somehow we have the type of friendship where whenever we hang out it's just like no time has passed. I knew this, but it still came as a surprise to me when we were hanging out at the reunion, because I had such a blast with him. I'll miss him being in Miami for 6 years, and then who knows where he'll end up. I'll have to spend as much time as I can with him while he's back for the summer.

There's also Charlie and Katie; I'm looking forward to seeing them when they move back down here. I keep meaning to email them, but I don't know what to say -- hey, had a great time at the reunion with you guys, hope you didn't get too sick! :) Hey, maybe I'll email them today! hehe. And Justin, dear Justin, who needs to come hang out with me when he comes down on leave. And Kristin, who I was going to start biking with on the weekends but I haven't actually gotten around to calling ... Hey Kristin, you want to go for a bike ride or something this weekend?

Well, it looks that I'm getting all nostalgic, so I'm promptly changing the subject.
I finished Church of Dead Girls which was very good, but not very scary until the very end when it turned out just like every other "scary book". So I have to say that the majority of the book was fantastic, and it let me down a little at the end -- but not enough that I wouldn't recommend it to someone. After all, most people aren't as picky as me. It has a very conversational tone, from the voice of a man from the town, but he's a very sympathetic and reliable narrator, although there are a couple times where he's imparting information that he shouldn't know, and that bothers me. I'm onto Broken for You, which I had high hopes for when I bought it last weekend but after reading a couple pages I think that Christen's mom will like it better than I. It just might not be my type of book. I'll give it a shot though -- the one time I sat down with it I wasn't feeling so good and read at the table while eating cereal for dinner. You never know.

Father's Day is Sunday. I need to pick up a card. Dad and I usually go for lunch at Sonny's or something and then perhaps we'll go to the driving range (maybe I can pursuade him to get me some right-handed clubs ... after all, it is Father's Day? :) )

All in all, it promises to be a productive and amusing weekend ... I hope it doesn't let me down! All else fails, I'll just curl up with a book and waste the weekend away. Toodles!

Friendship (a reprint from a MS Bulletin)

Are you tired of all those namby, pamby, girly, sissy "friendship" poems that never come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that really speaks of true friendship:

1. When you are sad - I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you that way.

2. When you are blue - I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile - I will know you've had sex.

4. When you are scared - I will tease the crap out of you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried - I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be to stop your whining.

6. When you are confused - I will use little words.

7. When you are sick - Stay the hell away from me until you are well again, I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall - I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.


Remember: A good friend will help you move. A really good friend will help you move a body!!!

Books galore!

This is why I love my boyfriend: On our day off together he suggests we peruse the used bookstores in the area, even though he doesn't read. I love him.

And etc: I went looking for a cheap copy of The Devil Wore (Wears?) Prada, because I'm curious even though it's not really my type of book. It must be said that a movie sure makes the used copies of a book disappear off the shelves, though. I couldn't find it anywhere, and all the copies in all the libraries in the county are checked out. Game over, I lose.

I did, however, pick up three books that look promising: Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach, Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, and The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns (yes, Autumn, when you come down we can switch Dobyns books). I've already started WR, and it is charming and sincere and makes me yearn for Paris. Forget that I've never been there, I've read so many books about writers in Paris it makes me long for the cafes and streets and bridges.

I found that there's a Tampa Writer's Group that meets twice monthly and I'm thinking of joining. It means I'd have to start writing again, and that I'd have to allow people other than friends read, but I'm really pondering it. I need to get back into the game.

Last night was a lovely night for friends. I spent the early part of the evening enjoying sushi and wine in SoHo with Suz, April and Stacy -- a wonderful time of catching up with good friends. After I navigated backward through the narrow lot of Mercedes and Lexus (an '85 Cabrio decided to park itself directly behind me so I couldn't pull out properly), I picked up Shell and we headed out to Odessa for more wine and dessert at Casa de Shaw ... lots of laughter and girltalk to be had. Christen was the proper gentleman who drove Shell and I home once I started to fall asleep from the indecent amount of imbibing in which I partook. Ahh, good times.

Tonight I shall attempt that earlier recipe for shrimp and crab au gratin -- I'll let you know how it goes!

Hot Summer Night

BOY: On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red
roses?
GIRL: Will he offer me his mouth?
B: Yes.
G: Will he offer me his teeth?
B: Yes.
G: Will he offer me his jaws?
B: Yes.
G: Will he offer me his hunger?
B: Yes.
G: Again, will he offer me his hunger?
B: YES.
G: And will he starve without me?
B: YES.
G: And does he love me?
B: Yes.
G: Yes.
B: On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
G: Yes.
B: I bet you to say that to all the boys.

Hungry and lusting for knowledge

So I've been looking for a recipe for Shrimp & Crab au Gratin that's worth a damn, and I think this may be the one:

Crab and Shrimp au Gratin

1/2 pound crab meat
2 pounds shrimp, steamed, shelled, and deveined
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup medium sharp cheese, grated

Melt butter over low flame. Add flour to form a paste. Slowly
stir in milk to make white sauce. Combine remaining
ingredients, except cheese, shrimp, and crab meat, and add to
white sauce. Fold in shrimp and crab meat. Pour into a
casserole dish, top with cheeseand bake at 350 degrees
for 25 minutes.

It looks the most promising. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know how it goes.

In other news, I'm in the middle of 100 Years of Solitude, and all I can say is, I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Love him love him love him. Too old to marry and bear his children though. Well ... yes, too old. Ick.

Shoes shoes shoes

So I love shoes -- love them. I was cleaning up my closet and reorganizing and decided to take pictures of my shoes. Not pictured: 1 pair Steve Madden white shoes (pictured here though), 4 pairs of tennis shoes (3 Addidas, 1 Reebox), 1 pair spa slippers and about half a dozen flipflops.

Just because you wanted to know my obsessions. Next up: my library.