In Case You Weren't Sure You Were Buying A Chick Flick

Yikes, is this enough pink?

Vocab Day.

Scrub: What you know you are when you come into work with makeup on your face and your hair styled and the security guards do not know you.

Stress: When you make a point of stopping at the liquor store to buy two bottles of wine and walk the rest of the way home in the rain because the wine is more important than staying dry just then.

Phantasm: When you give the potatoes sitting in your kitchen the stink eye because they're taunting you about having cheese & crackers for dinner instead of actually cooking.

Lightweight: When you drink one glass of wine with dinner and feel tipsy.

Champ: When you drink two more glasses, to spite the potatoes.

Chump: When you wake up the next morning with a hangover.

Tuesday: When you're not sure the bottle and a half you still have will be enough.

Boredom is the Best Motivator

This weekend I was bored. It would be hard for me to properly explain to you how boring this weekend was. Suffice it to say that everyone I know was leading a more interesting existence than I was, and none of their plans involved me. This first led to a ridiculous amount of Sex and the City watching (like, shameful to the point that I watched most of the 2nd half of season 6 online because I did not want to wait for the last three DVDs to reach me, despite having received three non-viewed ones on Saturday, which translates to a total of like 20 episodes watched this weekend or something. Shameful). After watching that much Sex and the City it became necessary for me to switch to some Disney fare in order to maintain some balance and not become skewed by the SATC universe (ps - have you seen that Fergie is doing the theme song for the movie? I listened to it. It's gross, I'm so annoyed).

Round about 11pm on Saturday night I decided that my apartment needed to be cleaned. IMMEDIATELY. So I started going through my living room throwing away as much as possible, took two trips to the dumpster, scrubbed my bathroom AND started a new knitting project (I'm easily distracted, what can I tell you). I finally went to bed around 2am, woke up the next day and the cleaning continued. My apartment is (relatively speaking) completely spotless now. Every now and then I need a weekend like this to make up for all the weekends when I look around and think, "instead of cleaning this place I think I'll take a nap and then go drinking instead." (just kidding, I don't really drink that much. Mostly)

Anyway, it's another Monday here in paradise, and so far it's shaping up to be a 'stop on the way home and get a big bottle of wine' kind of day. Sounds like a good dinner, right?

doing my happy dance

...because Grey's Anatomy is coming back tonight. Yes!

And now a brief moment of lamenting the fact that I don't have a Tivo so I'll have to watch The Office online tomorrow. Stupid putting them on at the same time!

Anyway, yea I really don't have anything more interesting than that today. I slept like crap last night so today I'm in a cloud of tired. Should make for an interesting Thursday.

Word.

Another TV Post

So as it turns out, I'm pretty boring and I watch a lot of TV.

Anyway, one of my very favorite shows on television right now is How I Met Your Mother. This is a highly enjoyable show. Like, really great. And last night's episode was stupendous. I know there are a lot of times when I tell you that you need to go rent something and watch it immediately, or read something really good RIGHT NOW or what have you, so I'm going to do my best to refrain from that this time, but it's not going to be easy. Especially since CBS hasn't quite renewed it for next year and I will be a sad, sad girl if it's gone (and some of the things popping up here and there make it seem like they're gearing up for a big finish this season). But I know that this show has a definite target audience and if you're not in your 20's/early to mid 30's it might kind of miss the mark and not come off as all that funny to you. I will just put out there that you can rent the first two seasons on DVD and I'm pretty sure you can see all of this season's episodes at cbs online. You know, in case you're curious. I don't think you'll be disappointed. And if you are, it probably means you don't have a very good sense of humor and you need to lighten up.

I will send anyone who's interested on a little scavenger hunt for my top 5 episodes (in chronological order, oldest first):

1. The Pineapple Incident
2. Slap Bet
3. Spoiler Alert
4. Slapsgiving
5. Sandcastles in the Sand (last night's episode).

If watching any one of those 5 episodes doesn't make you want to see more, we probably can't be friends. Go check it out and get hooked if for no other reason than I need someone to be able to email after each episode for discussion purposes.

Thankyouverymuch.

I heart the office

Okay, seriously? That was a great episode of The Office last night. How adorable was Jim with that ring he bought a week after they started dating? It's so cute I can't stand it. All I'll say is she better say yes and no I don't think it's a problem that I get this involved with fictional characters, why do you ask?


Toni came over to watch with me last night and we made cookies! Yummy, delicious cookies! As it was the first time I've ever made cookies in my oven, they didn't turn out perfectly, but they were still edible and people at work seem to like them, considering 4 of the 12 I brought were gone before 9:30 this morning.


As an added bonus, I didn't even burn myself! And I only mildly set fire to my hot pad with no real harm done. Not too shabby!

Unbelievable

Dane Cook (despite being fairly annoying in general, is actually a pretty funny comedian. They should just stop letting him do movies, give interviews, appear at awards shows, etc) has this bit where he talks about the difference between men and women when they get angry. I don't remember the exact wording now, but he says that when men get angry about something, they tend to get a certain look on their face, shake their heads and mutter "unbeLIEVable..." under their breath. I can't say if this is true for mankind as a whole, but it's definitely true of every man in my family so for now we'll say he's right. I'm willing to bet that right now in your head you can see at least one of the men in your life (or yourself, if you are a man) doing this.

That brings me to this morning, when I was trying to get to work. It was a total fiasco, the result of which is that I've never before heard that many people doing the "unbelievable" utter at the same time in my life. Men and women, young and old, in English and I'm pretty sure in Spanish, Russian, Italian, etc. (I don't speak Spanish, Russian or Italian, but this is a kind of frustration that transcends language)

I knew there was a problem as soon as I got off the bus this morning. The sheer number of people standing on the platform with a train in the station was a clear indication that this would not be a good morning. The official word was there was a power problem at Aquarium station. An announcement said they were running trains to the airport and then busing people in to Government Center from there.

In reality, the trains were barely running to Airport, the shuttle bus situation was a joke, and people as far as the eye could see were calling their places of business to say they'd be late. I had to let two trains go by before there was one I could even get on, and then it took about 20 minutes to get the TWO stops to Airport. Once there, it was a fight with a ridiculous crowd of people to try and get to the other side of the platform and get on the bus. Only to find that what I originally thought was a ridiculous crowd of people was nothing compared to what I was in store for. Here is a picture I took this morning while waiting for the shuttle buses.

This many people waiting, and three little buses showed up. In the mass confusion, we learned that there were no shuttle buses running to Maverick, so if anyone had to go there, they had a nice walk to look forward to. The buses to the airport terminals were still trying to run their regular routes but people were so insane at this point they were trying to get on any kind of vehicle that pulled up, so the T employees were basically herding us like cattle. Eventually someone got smart and started routing Silver Line buses to us, because the Silver Line Runs from the airport to South Station and this way people could at least get into the city and get public transportation from there. So, my commute this morning ended up being Orient Heights to Airport to South Station to Park Street to Boylston. Blue to Silver to Red to Green. I got to work a full two hours after I left my apartment.

Unbelievable was really the only way to describe it.

Sunday, glorious Sunday

Sundays, as a rule, are bittersweet, obviously. It's a weekend day, you get to sleep in, but you know you have to go to work the next day.

Here is my recipe for a glorious Sunday:

1. Brunch with your friends. When I was little, brunch was a terrible thing. I didn't like breakfast food, more often than not I wanted a salad or cereal for breakfast and my family always went to my grandpa's Elks club so they never had what I wanted, I always had to be dressed up, and most of the people were really old (at least, that's how they seemed to me at age 8). Not fun. Now, however, brunch is a magical time full of delicious breakfastyness, yummy lunch items, and even dessert! Very few things are better than brunch.

2. Spontaneous shopping trip. After brunch I went shopping with Alisa to help her buy some gifts she needed. My role was solely to help her get ready for an upcoming trip but I ended up with these:

Macy's was having a big shoe sale, I found these on the clearance rack and an additional amount was taken off at the register, so you know what's better than cute shoes? Discounted cute shoes!

and these:

A nice summer dress to wear to at least one of the weddings I'm attending in July (the red) and this nice white top which I'm sure will get lots of use this summer.

3. Get home, pour a glass of this:

and enjoy while you sit on the couch and relax.

mmmm, good Sunday.

Also, look what I actually finished! I rock :)

sotto voce

I am, to use a phrase from back in the day, on struggle today. Yesterday I had a bit of a sore throat and was feeling under the weather in the morning, but it got better as the day went on. Last night I noticed the sore throat seemed to have come back but I just went to bed early, because that's pretty much my cure-all. Only to wake up in the morning without the ability to speak. I was sitting in on a phone call earlier and had to shout in order to make myself heard at all. I hate losing my voice. And because I'm about 7+ years younger than everyone else I work with, they automatically assume I've been out partying too much. So not the case.

Anyway.

Tonight is the return of The Office! Hooray! Is everyone as excited as I am? Because you should be. :)

- one more thing, the Tigers finally won yesterday! Hooray! I can't tell you how happy it makes me that they snapped the losing streak against the Red Sox. It gives that warm, fuzzy feeling.

please make me stop!

Yea. So.

About a year ago (holy crap that means my subscription is coming up again) I decided to take the plunge and sign up for Amazon Prime. I thought, hey I live far away from everyone now and I don't have a car so it would be smart to get free two day shipping on books and movies and gifts for people. Well, as you can imagine this has led to a shocking increase in the number of books and movies (etc) that I'm buying. And they have that little one-click feature where you just click a button and it automatically charges your card and sends your items in two days. Or you can preorder. And they learn what you like and suggest more things you probably want. It's kind of a problem. Particularly because I went there today thinking, "I wonder when the movie Penelope comes out on DVD, that was a great movie and one that I surely must own." I was just going to check. I swear.

And then Amazon Prime sidled up to me and said, 'oh hey did you know? 27 Dresses is coming out April 29 and Juno is coming out April 15!'

To which I replied, "Why no, Amazon, I DIDN'T know that, and thank you for convincing me without any persuasion at all that I needed to spend $30ish to own both of those as soon as they come out!" (30 total, not each, don't worry) Also, the release date for Penelope has not been set yet or you can pretty much bet that I would have also preordered that one.

Seriously, it all happened so fast! I had just been thinking to myself earlier in the day how I was going to be so good about saving money and rely on netflix for my movie watching needs (well, until they didn't get the movies I returned Monday back until today, putting me a day behind....unreliable $^#$#@) and buy my groceries and actually cook and blah blah blah blah blah. Yea. Anyway. Because you know, it's not like I have three weddings to go to in Michigan this year or anything. :) Alas, my resolve fails me so quickly.

At least I finished the socks I was knitting yesterday (but obviusly didn't take any pictures yet, because that would have been smart) so I have at least a residual sense of accomplishment to make me feel better about having absolutely no self control with the online shopping.

* given this post, doesn't it seem like the smart thing for me to do would be just not renew my amazon prime subscription? Yes, yes it does. And yet, the chances of that happening are slim to none. I NEED it. ha

Nothing in Particular

First, I would like to say Happy Anniversary to my parents, who are celebrating 36 years of wedded bliss today... probably while sitting by the pool sipping delicious umbrella drinks or something, because they're on vacation. I am insanely jealous of the whole concept of a "vacation". I vaguely remember what that is, and I hold out hope that someday I will get to experience the wonder of going to a completely random place and doing nothing for a week.

I'm sorry to tell you that today I'm feeling so uninteresting that I was actually looking up ideas for things to post about. The fact that I found several websites devoted to that particular problem was a little disconcerting. And they were full of helpful suggestions like, "review something. Make a list of something. Talk about something. Be funny." Thank you websites, that's very helpful. I don't know why I couldn't come up with that myself!

OK, yes, sorry for the bad attitude. It's a Tuesday, it's sunny outside and I'm at work, the Tigers are 0-6 and currently playing at Fenway so I'm watching gamecast on my computer all the while wishing it was 5:00 (surprisingly no one at work has taunted me yet about the Tigers, but I think that's because it's a one season at a time kind of thing and the Celtics are good so they're focused on that). Then I was trying to think of something to do after work only I realized that I had to go straight home to wait for my groceries to be delivered so that won't work either. Alas. The good news for today is that when I get home there's half a bottle of wine and some leftover cake waiting for me. :)

Also, maybe I should try and actually finish knitting something so there's stuff to take pictures of or something. Now there's a thought.

Sense and Nonsense: Part 2

Ugh. Hated it. I can't even go into it beyond that.

The Den of Laziness

Yesterday I had this whole list of things I was going to accomplish when I got home from work:

Do the dishes, finish up a project for a friend, email a recipe, prepare for the weekend, upload some photos to myspace, straighten up, do some vacuuming, etc.

Not one of the things on this list actually happened. What did happen is I got home, changed out of my work clothes, sat down on my couch to eat dinner and proceeded instead to watch three episodes of Sex and the City followed by an hour of Miss Guided and an hour of The Office. And then I went to sleep. I did manage to do some knitting on the socks I'm currently working on, but I didn't even do too much of that. It's a little bit shameful, to be perfectly honest.

I think my apartment is some kind of crazy alternate universe which sucks all the energy and motivation out of me as soon as I walk through the door. It's possible that the sounds of the ocean right outside my window (I know, you hate me) are just so soothing that all they make me want to do is sleep and I don't realize it when it's happening. I need to figure out how to counteract it these effects. Stuff must get done! Alas.

On a completely separate topic, in preparation for the awesomeness that is going to be the Sex and the City movie (May 30, 2008) I decided to watch the entire series in order through the glory of Netflix. I'm up to season 3 so far and I have to tell you that the difference of perspective that comes from having watched these the first time from the ages of 16-22 or so and watching them again at 26 is enormous. (I know, a lot of you don't think there's a huge difference between 22 and 26. There is. I promise) When I first saw this show (at 16-17) I would think to myself, "man, these ladies are so awesome, I hope I'm that cool at that age!" Now I watch it and I think to myself, "Man, you are one crazy bitch, no wonder he's running for his life!" along with (and this may just be my sheltered Midwestern upbringing) sheer wonder at the number of guys these chicks managed to sleep with. Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying these episodes and I'm still excited for the movie to come out, I just didn't realize the level of ridiculous reached by some of the things these characters in their mid-30's (and later) were doing. Although, ask me again when I'm in my mid 30's and still single and I'll let you know if I've changed my mind. :)

The other show I've been reliving on DVD is Moonlighting. I remembered liking it a lot when I was younger, and I'll be honest it's probably where I first fell in love with Bruce Willis, but I didn't really REMEMBER remember it. Last weekend I watched the first three episodes and I can tell you it's still a fantastic show. Bruce is the man. Was, is, will continue to be.

Tonight Toni is having a show opening, which we will all be attending the reception for. I'm looking forward to it, as I know I've previously stated she's ridiculously talented and who doesn't love a function that includes free wine? I can't think of anyone.

A smidge of randomness.

1. Yesterday I decided to brave it and went back to DD in my building and ordered my usual mutligrain bagel with butter. The guy saw me standing there and handed off my bagel to be given to me by another member of the staff. Whatever it was I did to this guy, he's holding a grudge. Yikes. I haven't been back.

2. While riding the train yesterday I saw 4 people I know. Let's be clear, I know approximately 10 total people in Massachusetts so to see 4 of them on the train was quite something. And to show you what a zone I'm in on the train, the first pair had to wave and say my name for me to notice them and I was standing right next to them while the second pair had to actually poke me in the back because I stepped right in front of them. And usually I'm so aware of my surroundings.

3. While saying my goodbyes to couple #2 on the train yesterday I was suddenly and inexplicably thrown backward and off the train much quicker than I had planned (and with far less of a handle on my balance). Turns out this was due to my sweater getting caught on a man's umbrella and when he walked out, I went with him. At an alarming speed (he was tall). It took me several steps to get his attention called to the fact that I was attached to him.

4. Somehow I have tricked everyone I work with into thinking that I'm a fantastic cook. I started them off slowly around Christmas 2006 when I brought in puppy chow. Apparently people in New England are completely unfamiliar with this and therefore don't know how easy it is to make, they just know it's delicious and new to them and therefore amazing. Next I made some calzone bread in the spring, also quite easy but definitely a crowd pleasah. I sealed the deal by making a big batch of the Stornant family tomato sauce in the fall/winter and now they all think I'm spectacular. So much so that today when I was eating leftover chicken marsala takeout from a few nights ago someone stopped in and said "oh that smells so good! Is it homemade?" and was actually surprised when I said it wasn't. Ha! Though this does make me want to try and make chicken marsala now.

I think that's about it. Oh, also I got completely fooled by just about every April Fool's thing that came across me yesterday. A blog I like reading said it was quitting and it never occurred to me that it was probably a joke, gmail said they were starting custom times for email where you could say you sent something like a year or whatever ago and I just thought 'hm, that's weird.'

Hello, I'm Gullible. It's nice to meet you :)

Sense and Nonsense.

*If you haven't watched the PBS version of Sense and Sensibility yet and you're planning to and don't want to know anything about it, don't read this.

So last night I watched the first half of Sense and Sensibility on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. In case you haven't been able to tell by my sidebar noting the books I've been reading or below in my recent DVD/book purchases or from having ever met me, I am what they call a fan of Jane Austen. I blame my mother. She got me started with her video tape of the 1983 PBS Pride and Prejudice miniseries (which is GREAT) when I was young and then I got all into it. I've seen multiple versions of each of the movies (and in a few cases I own multiple versions), I own all of the books, I've watched pretty much the whole series that PBS has shown this winter/spring, and yes I realize that this along with the knitting thing makes me approximately 150 years old.

Whatever, it's glorious I don't care what you say :)

So, back to the point. Sense and Sensibility. I should preface this by saying that I love Emma Thompson's version of this, for which she won an Oscar (best adapted screenplay). This new version was always going to suffer by comparison. Also, I am completely aware that it is impossible to get every piece of the story in a 3 hour miniseries, it's a long book. Changes will have to be made. And I'm not saying Emma Thompson's version was perfect. But it was pretty darn good.

That being said, I have several issues to raise with the first half of this version:

1. Why why why did Elinor and Marianne keep calling Fanny "Aunt"? She's not their aunt! She is their half-brother's wife! You know what they should call her? Fanny.
2. The guy playing Willoughby doesn't look even remotely like someone anyone would fall in love with. He's kind of slimy and not very nice and the Marianne from the book would never have been fooled by such a phony (because, you know, he didn't fool her, he actually loved her)
3. Even Marianne would know better than to kiss the man when he took her to Allenham. Never happened. Don't put it in the movie, because then you make Marianne silly and easily manipulated instead of just overly romantic and disdainful of hiding her emotions.
4. Starting with the seduction of Beth was weird and a little too sexy for Jane Austen, if you ask me. It's supposed to be this shocking thing to find out about Willoughby in the middle of the story, not presented right up front (especially considering she's not actually a character, just someone they talk about)! What if someone who wasn't familiar with the book was watching? You're already predestined to hate the man, when you're not supposed to hate him until later! (ok, I know it's entirely possible that no one was watching PBS on Sunday night who was not already familiar with the story, but just in case that was an unnecessary spoiler)
5. What was the deal with that little showdown between Brandon and Willoughby at Barton? I'm pretty sure Brandon wasn't even supposed to know about what went down with Beth at that point. He had no reason to think badly of Willoughby other than as the guy who had Marianne's affection.
6. Mrs. Jennings was hardly in the story so far, and she's a pretty major character. I'm just sayin', give the lady her due.
7. This one is a little shallow and I feel bad about that, but the girl playing Elinor should be prettier. Or they could have at least done her hair better or something. Or if not prettier, just make her stand out in SOME way. Obviously she was always going to suffer in comparison with Emma Thompson who was pretty fabulous, but she was definitely missing something. She just sort of fades into the background at the moment, and she's supposed to be the cornerstone of everything. You know, loving sister, pillar of strength, everyone's confidant, economically rational, morally upright, etc. I'm not getting that from this chick. (I know, that's knitpicky, but Elinor is a really great character, and she should be played by someone who can fit that profile)
8. What's the deal with that book Edward gave to Elinor? With the inscription and everything? Way to turn Edward into kind of a shady character instead of a poor guy who made a stupid mistake when he was young that he's paying for. The "real" Edward would never have given a woman something like that which would practically be evidence of feelings that might bring about some expectation from Elinor when he was engaged to someone else.
9. Marianne got along too well with everyone else. She was generally agreeable and spoke to everyone, and only acted badly a little bit (I'm throwing that whole kiss thing out, see above). Ok, Marianne was a COMPLAINER. She couldn't stand being around Sir John or Mrs. Jennings or Col. Brandon (or anyone who wasn't her mother, Elinor or Willoughby), especially after she found out they all wanted her to marry the Colonel. When they first got to Barton she was rude to everyone because she was sad about Norland, then she was rude to everyone because they wanted her to marry Brandon, then she was rude to everyone because she was in love with Willoughby. She didn't ever give anyone the time of day because she thought they were pretty much all stupid or annoying or too old.

Yea. So. This all led to a conversation with my mom on whether or not the person who wrote the screenplay has actually ever read the entire book. I'm going with no. She agrees. If you're going to tackle a very famous piece of literature that lots of people love, do your homework and work on at least capturing the true spirit of the story and the characters. People will notice.

To be fair, there were some parts that I really enjoyed. I liked how they had little Henry in there, just munching away and not being all that stellar with his mother fawning all over him while John Dashwood was trying to decide what to do for his sisters; I like the girl playing Margaret (though why do they keep calling her Mag or Meg or whatever? I can't completely distinguish what they're saying); I like the guy playing Colonel Brandon (I'm trying to avoid unfair comparison with Alan Rickman, who is pretty great); and shady book-giving aside, I do like the guy playing Edward.

*sigh. I had such high hopes.

Whatever, you know I'm going to watch the 2nd half when it airs on Sunday, because I want to see how much more there will be to complain about (all the while hoping something happens that will redeem it). :)

***I realized later that "Beth" is actually "Eliza" Oops. Where did I get Beth?

Mr. Creepy

So it turns out it's 2 for 1 day here on Jessie! Enjoy.

This morning as I was walking into work I decided to allow myself a breakfast sandwich from Dunkin' Donuts. Generally speaking I start my day by eating a mutligrain bagel with butter (mmm, birdseed in your bread, delicious...). However, this morning I ordered a ham, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a croissant to change it up a little (aren't you glad to have all these food stories today? Yea, you're welcome).

The first thing you need to know (in case you've never been to Boston) is that Dunkin' Donuts is like a religion out here. It was started in Massachusetts and you can find one approximately every 50 feet on the street. Well, maybe not 50 feet, but you can definitely always find one within a one-block radius of wherever you're standing. And they're always packed. For example, there is a cop stationed at the Dunkin' Donuts on the way out of my town every morning to direct traffic because it's the last one for awhile and people can't handle the possibility of getting into the tunnel without their coffee so someone needs to be there directing people out of the drive thru lane. I'm completely serious.

The second thing you need to know is the DD in my building is a marvel of inefficiency. The setup is not what I would call functional, helpful or ideal. It really can't be described in any kind of positive language. It's a tiny little place where you stand behind a little rope barricade thing to form a line and wait for someone to yell "next!" The problem with this is that there is one person at each cash egister and another person helping the cashier by making the coffee. Now let's say you have someone who doesn't order coffee (like me and surprisingly I am not the only person in Boston who doesn't drink coffee, despite what you may have heard), the helper person will just yell for the next person in line, but you still have to wait for the cashier to be ready for you, and this creates a sub-line. Meanwhile, other people are trying to get to the other cashiers, so you could have up to four lines in there at once. And just in case you didn't catch it the first time, this place is TINY. It's basically a mini hallway about 5 feet across. Not really enough room for the 12,000 people trying to get their coffee/breakfast in the morning. Oh, and if you order something that needs to be toasted (like a bagel or a breakfast sandwich)? You crowd around the door people are trying to walk in and out of to wait for your food to be ready. Really, it's brilliant.

Anyway, I placed my order, paid for my stuff, got down to the food pickup area and was standing patiently waiting for my order to be called. When the guy called "ham-egg-cheese on croissant!" I raised my hand and said, "right here!" (which is standard operating procedure when there are that many people standing around waiting for their food) at which he stopped, put the bag down at his side and stared at me. Stared straight into my eyes. I wasn't sure what was going on so I gave him a "thank you for my breakfast sandwhich, kind sir" smile and sort of inched my hand forward to grab my bag. He did not make a move to hand it to me, he just kept right on staring. It was a weird stare, too. One that contained what I perceived to be disapproval or malice (or like I was a ghost or something). At this point I started looking around to see if there was someone behind me because I really couldn't figure out what the deal was, but he was definitely looking at me. He never said anything, just kept staring. This went on for a full 60 seconds before he finally handed me my bag and I ran away.

When I got to my office I pulled out my mirror to make sure I didn't have anything on my face or that my bangs hadn't slipped to form some sort of obscene symbol or something (I didn't and they hadn't). I'm not sure what it was that was so offensive about me today, but it sure must have been something. I might have to stop going into that particular Dunkin' Donuts if Creepy McStaresatyou is going to be there. Which is ok, there's another one on the corner. :)

Garbage Plate

First, FYI I've been trying to get this post up since Monday. Work seems to be totally getting in the way of that. Work and the fact that I didn't sleep essentially all last weekend and I am an old woman who cannot handle things like that and have been a crazy zombie all week. :)

Last weekend in Rochester I was introduced to the wonder of something called the garbage plate. I use the term 'wonder' as loosely as possible. Basically, it's a plate about half covered with pasta salad (or mac salad, to use the lingo), and the other half is covered with french fries. On top of that they layer either two cheeseburger patties or two hot dogs (your choice) which they then smother with, if you so desire, onions, mustard and hot sauce. You can then add a side of bread just in case that's not quite enough for you and of course they provide as much ketchup and steak sauce as you could possibly want. It's hard for me to relate the disgustingness of this concoction in words, so I took a picture.

Right? Nasty. I would also just like to state for the record that this was not my meal. I ordered a grilled cheese and then was somehow forced to turn that into a plate (I blame the fact that I was sitting between two individuals who create what I like to call the Vortex of Bad Judgment) but I only ate the grilled cheese and then dumped the rest of the plate onto someone else's. At any rate, it was an interesting gastro-intestinal experience. Also, there was a rather large LINE of people waiting outside the restaurant to come in and get one of these a heart attacks on a plate. So gross.

And as previously stated I've been like a zombie all week so this is pretty much the best I can do. Happy Friday!

ella ella ella (or why I am completely ridiculous)

Sometimes I'm pretty sure I could just change the title of this whole blog to "Reasons I Am Completely Ridiculous" and it would be pretty fitting for most of what I've been talking about recently. Anyway.

I have this problem with umbrellas. It's actually a three-pronged problem:

1 - I generally don't own an umbrella unless someone sees that I don't own one and, in extreme exasperation, gives or buys me one (this happens more than I care to say)

2 - When I have one I never remember to carry it unless it's definitely not going to rain, despite having the handy kind that fit in your purse (I once bought a purse that came with an umbrella inside it thinking that would solve all my problems, but it didn't work out that way)

3 - If I do have one and I am carrying it, chances are I will either break it, leave it on the bus or simply forget to use it when it's raining.

One other quick thing: I never ever check the weather before I leave my house in the morning. The only time I'm ever prepared for what the weather is going to be like is if someone happens to mention that it's going to rain/snow/be freezing the next day. This explains why on Tuesday I wore a jean jacket and flip flops when it was 30 degrees outside because it was sunny when I woke up so I figured it was like spring outside. Very scientific.

Now then. While HG was staying with me, he was very good about checking the weather and before we left my apartment in the morning he would say, "where is your umbrella!?! It's going to rain today!" and I would grab my umbrella and all would be well. Aside from the fact that my umbrella is apparently not good enough (for him). It's yellow, and it is very tiny (it's cute, my mom sent it to me, and it came with a little bag) and he made fun of it every time I carried it. Well, I brought the yellow umbrella into work a couple of weeks ago when it was raining and then it stopped raining by the end of the day and I forgot to take it home. One umbrella in the office.

In a strange twist of fate I actually had a backup umbrella for probably the first time ever, and yesterday when it was raining I brought it with me. It's kind of broken and so not entirely functional, but it was fine in a pinch. Two umbrellas in the office.

Just in case you require further proof of my umbrella issues, I give you the following:

On Tuesday we ran out of fax toner at the office. I ordered more and expected it on Wednesday morning. Clearly it didn't show up so I ran to Staples yesterday afternoon to try and get one. In the rain. I did not take either one of the umbrellas sitting in my office. I knew it was raining, and that it would be unpleasant outside. I just completely forgot about them despite the fact that one is bright yellow and they're sitting right next to my desk. So I got completely soaked (and the Staples by my office didn't even have the toner I needed. They carry the fax machine but not the toner. I hate Staples).

Yesterday evening as I was leaving work I once again left my umbrellas in my office. This time I pretty much did it on purpose because the black one was broken and therefore not much help and the yellow one is a little on the small side plus I was meeting HG for dinner and did not want to be mocked. I had to run to CVS anyway (I spend an amazing amount of time and money in CVS. It's like the poor man's Target) so I decided I'd just pick one up while I was there. You know, a "grownup" umbrella. Not tiny and cute, and not emblazoned with a Lansing Lugnuts logo (and is broken). Though I did opt for periwinkle instead of the typical black or navy. I ask you, who wants a depressing colored umbrella? If you have it with you it's already gray and rainy out, why not carry something brightly colored to counteract it?

Which brings us to today. I now have three umbrellas in my office. However, in what I hope the future will prove to be excellent planning ahead, I threw away the broken one, I have the new one in my purse/giant bag I carry everywhere and I will keep the yellow one in my office in case of an unforeseen weather situation in the future. Good plan, huh?

This weekend I am headed to Rochester, which I'm pretty excited about because it includes taking Friday afternoon off and who doesn't love that?

well rested

Have I told you how much I love a three day weekend? Oh, I have? Several times? You're sick of me rubbing it in? Okay then.

Houseguest moved out this weekend. He left early Saturday afternoon for a boys' day/night out and didn't get home until after I was in bed, then Sunday I left before he was awake to hang out at Alisa's all day. He called about 5:00 and asked what I was doing because Sacha was gonna be there soon. I asked him, "what, are you moving out today or something?" and he said, "well, actually, yea" then told me I should come see his new place around 6. I must say it caught me rather off guard. When I got home Sunday night my apartment felt HUGE. I'll miss having someone around a little, but I love having my space back.

So Sunday night we went to dinner at this little restaurant that I have no clue as to the name of (we just happened upon it) and the food was extremely delicious (Italian. Chicken Marsala. My. Favorite.) but the service was quite possibly the worst I've ever seen. This little man had absolutely no idea what he was doing. There were probably about 10 tables in the whole place, so there was only one waiter. He took kind of a long time to even notice we were sitting there, and he kept running back and forth between his station and each table putting his glasses on and taking them off again (I don't know why he couldn't just leave them on!). He never ever brought our wine, which is kind of ok (I mean not really, but this guy was seriously having issues) except he still put it on the bill. Then he took it off the bill, then he charged the credit card the original amount, then he charged it the correct amount but we do not have confirmation that the original was ever refunded. Now, picture this same scenario going on at every single table in the place. I'm not exagerrating. There was an issue with the bill of every table. It was insane.

Anyway, I did a lot of knitting over my three day weekend, including much work on these:

As well as Amy & Todd's wedding blanket (no pictures taken).

Finally, Thursday night I went to the New England Spring Flower Show and took some lovely pictures, so here are some flowers (and some kissing frogs) to get you thinking spring. :)

I have the hiccups.

Every time I go to take a bite of food. I think this could technically be a choking hazard.

Do you think it's grounds to take the rest of the day off and play outside in the sunshine?

Probably not, but at least I have a three day weekend coming up! That's right, St. Patty's day is a full-blown holiday out here (and ok it's technically called Evacuation Day) but either way you shake it I don't have to work!

And no, I am not planning to go out this year. Last year I drank for 9 hours in South Boston and let's just say it wasn't the prettiest end to an evening I've ever had (cause this girl doesn't drink beer so that's 9 hours of liquor - I'm sorry you had to read that, Mom).

The year before that I was in.... Ferndale? I know I was at B Dub's, I was with Marie and Jenny and there was a lot of tequila involved (again, sorry Mom) but I don't remember the exact location. Either way I'm sitting a year out. You know, unless something comes up.