Great Expectations

a real job

2006-06-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

hi there.
it's been over a month since i've blogged. and a crazy month at that. in the meantime, the major thing is that I have pursued and accepted a staff job working at my current company. I'll be working on a different team (fashion) and it will be a huge, exciting move for me. The job change has been more problematic and all-consuming than anyone could have imagined, which has been a factor leading to my online disappearance. Also we have been looking at houses in South Mpls and are very interested in one. SO there are huge things going on. ALSO we need to send out the invites! We sent out save-the-dates a couple of months ago but our destination wedding is now 6 months off, meaning we should start to design/print the real invites. ANd i'm still working on my friend's skincare line. BUSY BUSY BUSY. but good. thanks for not forgetting the Schmark.
Much love.

2006-04-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

ladies! ladiesladiesladies. so sorry for the absence. can't believe it's been a month. it's hard not being able to blog at work, and I am drained of compuer interest after a day spent staring at one. Not to mention that my fiancee is an internet addict and is completely tethered to it while at home.

SO here I am on a friday morning... in Ginger's house back in Norman! Our parents' thirtieth anniversary is on Monday so we planned a little surprise visit. They were COMPLETELY shocked yesterday when we walked in. It was adorable. Mom was in some terrible tank-top/muumuu-dress and had a sink full of bras. Dad came sneaking in the back hall from a nap in his tighty whities. Obviously they weren't expecting company... until my aunt and uncle arrive this afternoon, which WAS a planned visit. It's great to be home and see them; we didn't know when the next time we'd come home was going to be. Also, ginger and her man are gone all summer teaching at music camps together (they get their own cabin with Sterling the kitty) and after that they will likely move to portland or florida, so we won't see them when we come to Norman after this either. Sadness. But for now the trip is going so well we're thinking about making a surprise visit back to Adam's parents in CT (ssshhhhh, Ari!)

in other news since i've written: we went to NYC for a long weekend last month. It went way too fast. I got shitfaced with the Lauder crewe on friday night making saturday a hungover wreck, BUT we got to see adam's parents and sister, and he found a suit for the wedding and I found shoes (all budget at Saks off 5th at woodbury commons) and we ate lots of good NYC fave food. fun but too brief.

I also got 80 save-the-dates printed, cut and put-together myself with NO help from you-know-who, and sent out to well over 100 people! How quickly the list grows, but a lot was relatives who "won't come". I guess they'd really have to want to come to spend the money to be in Playa del Carmen in december, though. If it were a synagogue around the corner we'd have had a million and four! We're hoping for 50 - 70 which would be awesome.

Now I need to focus back on being a gym bunny as I've totally fallen off the wagon and have a 7-month deadline. We're only talking 10 lbs but I'd like to do it "for a lifetime" now and really develop reasonably good habits and stick with them. Why is that so hard? Part of it is that yummy fatty food sounds... yummy. And I get hard-core sweet AND salty cravings. And now that I have lots of work buddies and Mpls is NICE OUT, it's not as appealing to stay in and work out during lunch. I just have to keep focused on 50-70 friends taking bikini bride pictures. and the fact that I feel like a disgusting turd. ahhhh.

what else? so yes, it's finally NICE in minnesota. it makes it really hard to get on the bus when I just want to go sit on a beach and read or go thrift shopping like all of last summer. but I have a job, which pays good money, and that's nice. we've begun to casually look at open houses on sundays and are talking about buying a house. I guess that means we're looking to stay in MSP for at least five years, which is cool. we're still adjusting somewhat and I swear we're going to make it to the seward neighborhood one of these days, but I think we're ready to make a commitment somewhat. Think we'll end up buying in SoMpls. Were looking in Bryn Mawr for a while but there's not enough commerce and it's so cut off. Whatever, we'll see; we're not in any rush right now, especially with a changing real estate market. maybe at the end of the summer when all these sellers get desperate and realize they've got their places 10% over market value. we're seeing a lot of delusional sellers. AND we love zillow.com, where we check the "real" value of a place we like after walking through. We've seen some things priced spot-on, and other places as much as 25% over market value. I don't necessarily think we can get an "awesome deal" anymore in the market, but we don't want to overpay!

anyway, think it's time for a little coffee and pumpkin bread to start the day. love to my girls! Schmarks

and if you feel a little left behind

2006-03-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

we're taking a break from the Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson while adam talks to an old friend. That is One Funny Roast. please, do yourself a favor and put it in the netflix queue. watching courtney love roll around on the couch is like old times at Lynda's apartment in NYC watching a marathon of The Anna Nicole show—you don't know if it's RIGHT to laugh at the mentally challenged, but it can be fun, especially under the influence.
had a late lunch at Bryant Lake Bowl and then went to Tatter's at lake and lyndale. There's a half off sale all weekend on everything so I encourage all you MSP assholes to make your way down there if you need some cowboy boots or the like. I personally bought a fantastic kelly green jackie-o-esque dress with matching jacket for $13. Not bad, eh? We'll probably round out the day with a quiet night watching movies. Pulled some chili from the freezer, it's flank steak and bean chili that was awesome the first time around. Will have with some chardonnay and Annie's Mac and Cheese.
Tomorrow doing some crafting with Holynn and Abby. Trekking to a far-off fabric store and then showing those two how to use their new sewing machines at Abby and Josh's new house. then the guys will join in time for dinner. and then UGH the weekend will be over. Oh and the oscars are tomorrow, right? Hopefully we'll get a bit of that in, too.
finalizing wedding plans. we got our preferred date, Friday Dec 8, pending confirmation that the Justice of the Peace the hotel uses is available. We're doing it at the hotel we posted pictures from, the Riu Palace Mexico. I am so excited. Working on the save-the-date this weekend which we'll be almost ready to send once we get final confirmation and put the deposit. We've tried to keep the guest list smallish but it's already over 100. Would like to think that everyone will come but I hear that only 50% of invitees come to destination weddings. Assuming you know adam's or my full name, our wedding page can be found on theknot.com. dreading registering because we already have too much stuff for apartment dwelling and what we'd really like is the cash towards a down payment. there are options where you can register and then return it all (crate and barrel) but i feel a bit sneaky about that...
feeling like a fatass. the gym-bunny of late fall is nowhere to be found, i'm proably averaging three trips a week but I think this week may end up at two ONLY if I can get motivated tomorrow. sadness. am halfway between where the scale started and where it was pre-christmas. my skin has been clearer than usual lately, though, which helps to compensate. it's been all about proper exfoliation and moisturization, just like the facial lady at litespa said.
lots of good music in the house. adam bought about 15 new cds a couple of weeks ago but i'll let him talk about them all on his blog. i'm especially down with the martha wainwright cd. and i got hooked on a song on thursday on someone else's work itunes: bloc party's song Banquet from Silent Alarm. download that shit. f-yeah, it's like a 4-course meal in a piece of chewing gum ("you're turning violet, Violet!") listen to it really loudly in headphones twice and you will see the light, too. it's hard not to do the hipster chest-popping dance. and the guitar in the background... magical. I think a unicorn is playing it for fukk's sake.
on that note, enjoy the weekend. I'll try to keep in better touch. It's nice to know you guys still care. Love, Mess

2006-03-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

have been somewhat busy. working on a fun freelance logo design project for a friend, and just the normal work stuff. also we will hopefully be sending in the documents reserving our wedding date in mexico tomorrow. WHEW. generally i have been very tired, not sure why. just made plans to visit NYC in mid/late march which will be so nice and long overdue. anyway, more this weekend but wanted to say hello for now.

vacation pictures

2006-02-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

The Riu's lobby:

Looking out the back of the lobby towards the beach:

Downstairs you get a better view of the gazebo, set for a wedding with chairs out. For a fee they'll do some decorating, too:

This is looking backward to the main building. The rooms are on either side of us (can't see them):

The pool looked lovely:

But the beach was better:

Here we are:

here's JOHNNY

2006-02-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

it's a good thing you guys harass me, and the comments are set-up to email, because otherwise I wouldn't think to blog anymore. Somehow blogging fell off my radar. Like this weekend, i've been into cleaning mode: tidying, putting away christmas decorations, and sorting my reciepts etc for tax time. but it's definitely time to sit down and say hello to the ladies...

so the vacation was nice. we stayed at two resorts: first the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar, and secondly the Riu Palace Mexico. both were riviera maya, just south of cancun 30 minutes to an hour. the first resort was OK but rather large. It was part of a complex of three resorts, and they were housed in many small buildings. It made for a huge, sprawling mass. Our room ended up being about a 10 minute walk from the beach... ugh. Also, the Iberostar was fairly close to cancun (30 minutes) so the dense foliage they'd kept on the property was half torn-down and not as appealing as it once must have been. And the food was mediocre to say the least. And the margaritas required an extra side shot of tequila to make them worth our while. So overall the Iberostar maybe got a 5 or 6 out of ten... it wasn't bad, but we're looking for something more special.

Halfway through the week we moved to the Riu, about 30 minutes farther south from Cancun. The Riu was wicked. It was also part of a resort conglomeration, but the hotels were much more separate there, which was nice. The property seemed managable. And the resort itself was beautiful. Adam immediately compared it to Versailles. It was one large U shape, which we preferred to the million individual buildings at the Iberostar. There was lovely landscaped fountains, a pool, and a huge, deep beach of soft white sand, merging with blue-green water. NICE.

The rooms were fantastic, each being a split-level mini-suite with a living room area. Also i was hugely impressed by the bar in the room: over the minifridge that contained mixers and water were four upside-down bottles with shot dispensers: bacardi, smirnoff, cuervo and a brandy. NOT BAD. so nice to mix a drink in the room in that pre-dinner afternoon time. and certainly better than having to order an extra shot with my margarita. call me a lush but that totally tickled my toes.

And the food. I thought the food was really quite good and I can certainly be called a food snob. HOWEVER we both got some stomach sickness while at the Riu. It may have been the bathrom water (non potable) or something we ate (shellfish) but that was a downer. If not for that i'd be absolutely sold. BUT the riu is still in the running. We started talking it out last night to decide if we're doing that or looking more. I'm over looking and think the riu was awesome overall, that people will be happy with the rooms, service, food and facilities, so i'm about ready to jump. Adam's more hesitant. We'll see. If we want to do something nov/dec we need to be booking now so... EEPS.

being back is fine. work is good, and I realized this week how much I love my work buddies. There are three guys in particular I love to have a drink with after work (and we did so THREE times this week). They all go way back to college so I feel lucky they're letting me into their circle. Also i'm working on fun projects so that's good. Hopefully the freelance thing will keep going, that's my only hesitation about my job: stability...

last night we hung out with a work friend of Adam's and his fiancee. Both very nice and we had a fun dinner at a wine bar followed by "good night and good luck" which was good but a bit slow/tiring after 9 on a saturday night. The male was a reality TV star and I heard some of those stories for the first time, which are totally fascinating...

tonight is the super bowl as you guys all know. we don't have any plans, but i bought a shitload of wine and sake yesterday at the Liquor Warehouse by whole foods, and bought stuff to make chili. I miss my butcher in brooklyn who I could have grind meat really coarsely. I think chili should have more substance than hamburger meat. Anyway, so I bought a couple of flank steaks i'll dice up and turn into frito-chili pie. There's enough for at least four so if anyone wants to call and come over, we'll be here.

BYE!!!

2006-01-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

alas, the wrestling mask didn't arrive in time for the vacation. we will have to find other means of excitement. however i'm getting pretty excited now in my jeans and cowboy hat, waiting for the cab that's coming in 12 minutes. HECKYEAH.
Otis tried to kick sweet little Iggy's ass yesterday. TheHo had to pull them apart. Hopefully they'll be buddies by the time we get back, but maybe they will have to live a long quiet lonely week here. It's a lot to ask of Otis to share his house and his mama with two foreign cats for a week. Well, iggy's foreign (UK), nico's just a streetwalker from the Bronx which may be weirder...
Tired...excited... have a good week, peeps!

Did I mention what I bought today?

2006-01-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

Had so much fun wearing shad's mexican wrestling mask at the craft-o-rama that I picked this up on ebay today. YOU ARE SO JEALOUS.

vacation bound

2006-01-19T20:53:00.000-08:00

i just walked in from trying to acclimate Iggy and Nico with HoLynn's little Otis. It was kinda adorable and frustrating, watching them interact. Nico was a bitch, Otis was a monster growler, and Iggy just wanted to be friends and kept trying to sniff Otis or offering his ass to Otis as a peace offering. It was cute. I hope nobody gets torn apart and they end up having lots of fun. In any case it was SO WEIRD just now walking in and not having any kitties running to the door. I was about half an inch from bursting into tears... THE BABIES ARE GONE!!!

So WHY you may ask are my cats at the Ho's?! We leave early saturday morning for a week in Playa Del Carmen, checking out two resorts with the excuse of finding a home for our destination wedding. HECK-Mutha-Effing-YEAH. I am about to be excited, even though it doesn't feel real. It feels a little more real with the cats gone I guess. Also i'm mostly packed, and adam hasn't started... however there was an unanticipated late-night at the office and it's 11:00 and he's STILL THERE... WTF?! He missed out on watching otis freak over catnip and iggy's ass offering and nico being her crazy self. (He probably would have been stressing anyway while the kitties were howling and would have wanted to bring ours home.) Anyway, so we have a direct flight down and then Whoomp There We Are, on the beach. I have been packing vacation books (The Dirt: Motley Crüe, that new-ish book by the woman who wrote The Secret History about a million years ago, etc) and DVDs for evening entertainment as we have the new portable DVD player... though i'll mostly just want to watch Law & Order as you may already know... Good Times.

As I mentioned briefly last week, it's been busy times. Christmas was awesome, but coming back to work, everything exploded into overload. And I was on a shoot in NYC last week, which was fantastic and I think the shots turned out really rockin'. My boss won't see them until tomorrow so hopefully he agrees as it's my first AD gig since starting my job. It would be nice to be sent on shoot more often; i LOVE that part of my job. Also I love my coworkers. I love them to Bits and Pieces. especially a shout-out to Graham and Dave who hopefully will never find this blog. I want to adopt them both as honorary kitties. Or maybe set Graham up with a sweet friend 'cause he's the best but oh-so-sensitive. My manager even rocks too. The one night we overlapped in NYC we stayed out dining and drinking until 2am. The Man Can Still Party, even with 2 kids. My only regret about NYC was how short the trip was. There were so many friends I didn't even tell I was in town; I didn't have the time to see more than a couple. Massive guilt. Oh Well. If you're reading this and you're mad I apologize. :(

Now a few shout-outs since i'm a bad blogger and have been out of touch: Hello to my dear lauren, good luck with all your mulling until we talk again (SOON!) Hello to Leigh Ann and her little girl, I swear i'm taking you for a drink soon. And hi and thanks to Anna for hosting good craft fun at her house. And it was rockin' to see Julie at the craft binge, always a blast! And hi to Sarah and her fantastic sewing machine with 8 million stitches. And of course, big love to the HO for watching my preciouses. And last but not least, love to the sisters, Ging and Ari.

More, for real, after the vacay. Love to all, and good night!

sorry

2006-01-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

i have been so busy. last week at work was out of control, and on Thursday I found out I was going on shoot in NYC Sunday through yesterday. The shoot went well, and i had the chance to see a couple of my old peeps when not chained to the set. however I am now exhausted and contemplating leaving work to go home and pass out... expect a more upbeat blog update in the coming days. miss my ladies. xo schmark.

home in MSP

2005-12-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

had been feeling guilty at not blogging for a week, but just checked and julie and gnomey are also way behind, making me feel like I am only barely a slacker.

oklahoma was nice. the first couple of days, my sister Ginger and her man Brent were in georgia, so it was too quiet then, just us and the folks. their present had arrived a month earlier than amazon's backorder anticipated, so an unwrapped box with a lovely copper chimenea landed on the back porch a couple of days before christmas:
mom and dad loved it, which is great. they told us to not buy them birthday presents in February they loved it so much. Finding them a good gift is so tough; they have everything so half the things I buy them probably never get used. I see the remains of them (pecan praline sauce, etc) in the dusty graveyard of Rock Creek Road. anyway, so it was utterly warm during the days (58-70!) but cool at night, perfect for lighting up on the back porch. the thing really is sweet, and on sale on amazon plus FREE SUPER SAVER SHIPPING, if anyone with a real yard is in the market for a chimenea. i wish i had a yard, i'd have a fire going all the time.

anyway, ginger and brent returned to our great happiness, and we spent lots of time lounging with them. they gave us an iSight, which they already had, so now we can video conference via the internets. very cool. adam is also very pleased with the black silk long underwear from my parents, not to mention the moolah. we also received the deluxe version of the dvd game "Scene it", which we'd played in brooklyn and didn't love... after much debate amongst us, we decided we needed to return it, and ended up with about 7 great dvds instead (watched breakfast club last night as a matter of fact, and found "you and me and everyone we know" used and a copy of "my architect".) so anyway, as you can see the gifting went well and happiness was all around, except for Ginger and Brent's main gift, which shipped priority mail on the 18th and still hasn't arrived, PHOOEY. i did not do the charitable donations and instead got wrapped up in spending more money on more gifts than I intended. however they were relatively well received so I think it turned out fine...

also saw a bit of courtney and dan, which was lovely. courtney was in full form, having seen forty of dan's ex-girlfriends in the four or so days spent in norman. that town is incestuous for the 20-something crowd and i'm glad to have left... i'm surprised everyone doesn't have a katie-holmes-battle-wound on his/her lip region. courtney loved her gift, which i can finally post the photo of:

court, marie and I loved to make monkey sounds when discussing a certain ex of hers, so the monkey is commemorative of him. looks better in person where you can see the pink sequin eyes.
what else? i mostly stuck to the workout regimen at home, with a quick run on christmas and a trip to the gym the two days following. alas, all the junk food at the folks' house was irresistable, and my system got all f'd up anyway, as it always seems to when I travel. and now i have a cold coming on. DANG. will probably head to the gym anyway and keep it light, and adam will likely join today too. have set mental goals for a) our vacation in three weeks and b) the wedding in the fall. am not far from the vacation goal but it's about three pounds further than when I left a week ago. damned brownie bites and german butter cookies!

was nice to get back to minneapolis. felt like coming "home" for the first time since moving here. the kitties are awesome and it was nice to see my new work buddies again. hadn't gottten enough abuse while gone! my left-elbow-neighbor had taped all my shit down with transparent tape: the phone was taped to the cradle, there were tape loops on the receiver ends, tape in my chair, tape on my mouse laser... it was funny. our relationship is like 2nd grade: you harass because you like. but not "like" that. ;)
did a lot of grocery shopping last night and had dinner at Punch Pizza. will make Fish Taco Salad for dinner tonight, and maybe burgers tomorrow, and Pulled Chicken Soft Tacos on monday. anyone want to come over? we'll definitely have plenty of the chicken...
well it's time to rally the troop. i'm restless. happy new year, folks!

merry chrannukah, bitchez.

2005-12-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

the cab to take us to the airport will be here in an hour. i woke up around 8:30 to make time to fit in one last gym session before being in the "land of childhood willpower", ie, the place where eating every disgusting lard-containing grocery store bakery gookie in sight seems like an OK idea. i "made up" this new move that's a combo of two body pump moves and it totally kicks my ass, or rather my entire arms. so i'm feeling pleasantly exhausted and got some Einstein's on the way home. adam's bacon egg and cheese was gross (nuked bacon and soggy nuked bagel) but my bagel with lox was tasty, much better than the Bruegger's nightmare this summer. and their coffee isn't bad either...
totally excited to go home. the downstairs neighbor just came up to ask when we were leaving and if she could use our oven today for the pies, so she obviously hasn't forgotten about catsitting starting today, which is good. my biggest fear is that someone's supposed to catsit and my cats are lonely and half-starved if not fully-starved when we return. kinda like what happened to jolynn a few months ago, which only reinforces my fears and makes them seem less ridiculous. people forget, y'know? but sherri won't so we're cool...
we did our gift exchange last night. you crafters would be jealous: i got the big Ready-Made book! among other things, my favorite might be a remote-transmitting meat thermometer. NO SHIT! you poke it in the meat, wind the cord outside the door and attach the transmitter to the outside, and then carry the receiver with you around the apartment. it digitally shows the temp etc. I LOVE IT. i am a paranoid poultry cooker and end up checking the temp so often that it takes way too long to cook... now i don't have to open the oven to know if it's ready! great quality-of-life gift.
anyway, we're not celebrating christmas until monday night when ginger and brent come back from georgia, but there's a relative's party tonight and then we'll see courtney and dan. tomorrow will be a lazy christmas including cooking a big turkey breast and laying around the house. SWEET.
well, happy holidays to all. may not blog until next friday, as the folks are on the world's slowest modem. XO

ice skating

2005-12-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

we shipped the packages. i am a new woman. it made for a good weekend.

we also bought ice skates at "play it again sports" in minnetonka. i got a sweet used pair that aren't those stupid faux-leather figure skates. they're wider rigid-molded plastic with removable fabric liners AND they were $16. we got home and went across the street and skated. i am so much better than I thought i'd be. it's just not as different from Roller Skating as I remembered. and we definitely did some roller skating in middle school in Oklahoma...

i also made a rockin' dinner last night. roast duckling and cornish hens, green beans with carmelized onions, roasted sweet potatoes and stuffing... i want a sweet potato Right Now. however, we're waiting for Harley the High School Sweetheart to call. he's in town on bid'ness and we're taking him to Bryant Lake Bowl for dinner. lucky devil...

last night's party photos

2005-12-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

sorry there's not a good full-body dress shot but you guys get the picture...

black leggings

2005-12-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

i totally discovered black leggings. they’re my new Best Friend. with them, i can wear dresses to the office in this snowy weather, not to mention that everything looks a little less corporate when layered over black leggings. and they are so much warmer than tights. infinitely so. totally magic.

tonight is adam’s holiday party, featuring his kick-ass patterned prada suit, and my $5 black “Dynasty” puff-shouldered, bow-butted dress. it’s going to be hot. i have to leave early to make sure I have time to paint my toes for the black peep-toed pumps. HECKYEAH. however i’m scared about venturing out in semiformal with these frigid temperatures... maybe black leggings would look great with Dyansty? nah. anyway, have heeded the call for photographic evidence, and the camera is charged and ready.

skipped the gym today in lieu of more shopping at target. also didn’t want to be exhausted this evening, and waking this morning was tough.

have finally wrapped all the presents. now if we could get them mailed by tomorrow i’ll feel like a human again. no cards. doubt i’ll get around to it... i’m only human, after all.

festering slaw of love

2005-12-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

OK so we're finally done with 80% of the christmas shopping. this weekend i went to amazon, electric fetus, Kid robot, sal army, cliche, walker gift shop, SOO gallery, urban outfitters, that kitchen place in Calhoun Square... you get the picture. I still need to pick up a little something extra for mom and dad, and for adam's mom. and get all the gift wrap and send things out to 10 different addresses in the next three days.
is that all?! oy vey.
found a couple of wicked presents at the salvation army yesterday! I know that sounds geto, but I was on the way to the dry cleaners anyway, and they were beautiful vintage finds... one was the kind of dress i'd easily and willingly pay $50 for at Theatre Antiques on Lyndale, and yet it was only $5 plus a good dry clean. it fit me fantastically but I have someone else in mind in NYC who might get more wear out of it and whose belly is that extra 20% flatter...
oh, and took a cute picture for the christmas card... whether I print/cut them all out and adam addresses 30 envelopes is yet to be seen. maybe i'll send an E-card. screw it if the grandmas don't email...
went to the Y both days. adam came with on Saturday and plans to sign up after the 15th (something about an extra free month). his membership will only add $26 to my $46 monthly membership. since he's not in the gym habit AND since he's paying my health insurance, i offered to let him keep the whole $20/month discount we get for being 2 adults at 1 address. I feel like i do a good job of getting my $46 worth, i don't care if i pay $36 or not...
adam's holiday party is friday! excited. I have a fanstastic early-80's black silk cocktail dress with puff cap sleeves i think i'll wear. it's totally insane but fits like a glove and is that perfect balance of appropriate and "that girl is a little whack...But I Like It". gotta keep those minnesotans guessing.
we're in the middle of watching Amadeus now but adam's friend Jesse called, which is why I've taken a break to blog on a sunday night. while watching we had some bbq from Rudolph's, which was OK. my bbq chicken was tasty but slightly overcooked, but adam's slaw was Right On. i'm not a huge slaw fan, except for my dad's, and this was just like his. MMMMMMMMMMM. too bad I now have a crapload (literally?) of cabbage waiting to fester under the covers tonight. NOT TO BE GRAPHIC but I know LA would like that comment unless she really did get all emotional and sensitive and womanly on our asses...
using a lot of ellipses tonight... probably b/c adam's call could end at any moment, pulling me back into the living room... so i'm keepin it LOOSE, you know what i'm saying? this blog entry is getting a little weird, maybe too much white wine mixed with ice cream and cabbage in my tummy. OUTS.

me and you and everyone we know

2005-12-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

it’s bitterly windy-cold here today. i thought it wasn’t going to be bad, as the base temp is a little warmer than it’s been, but the windchill is just NASTY out. ouch.

we watched an amazing movie last night, Me and You and Everyone We Know. it’s probably the best thing i’ve seen all year. delicious. the characters are adorable and there are moments that are just perfect. loved.

work is going well. though it doesn’t expire until late-Jan, my manager told me he just renewed my freelance contract for another few months, which is good. i’m still feeling-out how all that works. i feel like i’m a valauble part of the team already; hopefully i’m not the only one who thinks that!

i haven’t been posting lately. i just don’t have the desire to spend any time on the computer outside of work, now that i’m staring at a screen from 8 to 5. i am going to make an effort to do more when i have a spare moment in the office. like today, it’s a bit slow. may also work on some holiday card ideas, soon it will become late enough in December that i’ll just figure it’s too late and give up.

had been to the gym 4 days in a row as of Wednesday, so took a day off yesterday. wandered to Marshall’s hoping to luck into holiday presents for my parents, which was a terrible idea. i left with new gloves for myself, a throbbing headache and a total dejection about my lack of ideas. those people don’t need much of anything they don’t already have... however I ordered something for adam online today! not sure if it’s “the ultimate gift” but I can return it if something better comes along. I do believe he’d really enjoy it, so i think i’ll keep it. i wish I could say more but i’m afraid he might pop in to the blog and that would ruin it all! ok, a small hint: it’s sweatpants with elastic ankles... wait, did that give it all away?! muahahaha

want to head to the Walker this weekend if possible... they have a Warhol show, and i saw something in iD about a fabulous pre-fab housing exhibit too. and museum gift stores are usually a great place for unexpected, fun, overpriced holiday presents!

adam’s in NY on business next Tuesday night, so i’m looking forward to doing a bit of crafting then. holynn may come over and we can work on some stuff while stuffing our faces. lots of homemades will be under the tree this year.

well, time for this gym addict to hit the ground running.

snowy saturday

2005-12-04T07:40:00.000-08:00

ahhhh the weekend. last week seemed so dang long in the office. and now the weekend is half over. but i'm not going to think about that!

yesterday i got up (as usual) way before adam, so I had time to finally begin working on some holiday presents. yea! ginger's is half-done, courtney's is all-done, marie's is 3/4 done and ari's is 3/4 as well. which is GOOD NEWS since i've been stressing over the holidays. i even have an idea for one part of adam's present (i say "one part" as i'm not sure it's sufficient to be the whole thing.

had spent a long time on friday cruising CharityNavigator.org looking for appropriate charities for various friends, and then read something recommending that people NOT make lots of small donations to different charities, as those are the donors whose names are likely to be sold. rather, choose the charities you most believe in, and make larger donations. Those donors are sought-after and their names will NOT be sold. interesting, eh? nobody can sell your name if you opt-out, but there's no check-box for that on donation forms, OF COURSE. tsk. so I still plan on doing some donations, but maybe to two different charities rather than ten.

anyway, we had a list of things to do yesterday so i brushed off adam's car when i got up so it was ready to roll. but when we got out, the engine wouldn't turn over more than half a "rrr". shittlesticks! tried for a while, and called my dad for advice, which was an engine heater or checking the battery power. this sucks for adam because A) he spent his whole signing bonus on this car and B) he's already sunk another 2g into repairs since may and C) he's convinced it's a lemon any time something happens and wants to cut his losses. anyway, we head to the garage in back and hope my car starts... which it does. i mean, it's cold but not THAT cold, y'know? and my car had been chillin' inside :)

so we head off down Excelsior in the Passat: Panekkoken Haus, and then Half-Price Books next door, and I hit the fabric store in the same strip mall (which by the way is having a huge pattern sale while clearing their stock... vogue patterns are 2/10$. I think it's "dell fabrics" and it's across from the park nicollet hospital on excelsior). we also went on a goose-chase looking for engineheaters, but adam actually already has one installed that's old and the owner didn't use, so we don't know if it works. in any case we got an extension cord to hook it up, and some fun stuff at target including an oil-filled electric radiator c/o my parents. dad called on wednesday and was worried it was frigid up here and offered to reimburse for an electric radiator. HECKYEAH!!! the bedroom doesn't warm up very well being in the back corner and with a missing storm window, so the difference was noticeable last night with it running. cozy! for anyone who wonders, i think it was a great value for $50 and the oil inside is sealed so you don't have to replace it. and it's got a delay timer and auto settings. LOVE.

today will be relaxed, i think. we may get AAA to jump adam's car so we can get it to a battery place, but otherwise i'm going to cook and craft and do laundry. it's nice to stay in when it's beautiful and snow-covered and cold out there. jeez, yesterday was a fat "welcome to minnesnowta" day with the nonstop flurries and adam's car problems.

we might go to the Y too. I haven't been since tuesday downtown (weds was too busy and feeling a cold since) and adam's wanting to check it out since he's been mostly a sedantary critter for some months. and the time is approaching for january bikinis! BTW i've lost a full 10 lbs since august. and certainly haven't been starving myself, but hitting the gym 4x a week and much better eating habits and less snacking. don't get me wrong, i will still NOT wear leggings to the gym! lord knows how much more i'll have to lose to get rid of the love handles and thighs, but I am much stronger and somewhat leaner. i don't even know if i could get rid of the thighs. at this point i'm wondering if it's just body type and i'd have to be a mary-kate to whittle them away... no thanks on that.

well, friends, have a lovely sunday and good luck in the coming week.

2005-12-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

was thanksgiving just last weekend? it seems like eons ago. really.

brief recap of the week: adam was in LA tues-thurs on business, leaving me home to watch lots of Top Model, eat sushi with Jolynn and prep for the Craft conspiracy meeting. The gals came over last night, and it was a good turnout. Just enough to feel like a success, but not too crazy. Anna’s cousin even brought her college girlfriends over and they talked about dorm food...surreal! The turtle doves stuffed ornaments were mostly a success, and the wassail was a huge hit. the lucky attendees left with the recipe, i might add. poor adam got home from the red-eye only to be shoved in the bedroom away from the ladies.

no plans for the weekend, for now. hopefully relaxing and get some christmas gifts off the list...

thanksgiving

2005-11-27T20:14:00.000-08:00

had a lovely weekend home in connecticut. adam's grandma and uncles were there, which made it super-special. we woke up on thursday morning to find a beautiful coating of snow. of course, like a nerd from Oklahoma I was too excited to go back to sleep once I saw that. we had shitloads of delicious food...turkey, duck, sweet potatoes, stuffing, all the obvious can't-miss-hits of thanksgiving. and a few of adam's dad's "concoctions" as we like to call them, as we pass them by... besides playing some Rummy-O and making Wassail, did lots of relaxing with adam's sister and eating, eating and more eating. it was good times.

this week is busy. adam leaves tuesday on bid'ness in LA and returns thursday... i host CC on thursday but work will be busy in the meantime. and of course, back to the gym during lunches. actually went on Saturday with adam's mom, which was really fun. everyone in CT seemed to notice a weight loss, which I can't see, but maybe since it's been gradual? cool in any case, and now that we have a late january vacation booked i've got a reason to be "bikini ready in 8 weeks" like all those terrible april magazine covers say... at least i'm halfway there this time.
the kitties missed us. they're being terribly cute. adam actually went to bed at 7 with a pounding headache, so nico's been trying to sit on my lap all night while i tried making the stuffed turtle dove ornament. it's cute but not quite there...

dreading work a bit tomorrow. knowing it's going to be busy AND adam's going to be gone AND i feel like i could use a day of rest after the holiday is a bummer. however, I realized he's gone for tuesday's ANTM rerun from last week (we were traveling so i missed that Top Model) and the new episode on wednesday. i am fully prepared to admit how much i love that show... i am not ashamed! so Tyra will get me through a quiet night or two alone. I shouldn't complain when adam's gone once a month; anna's husband moved out on her weeks ago and she still thinks he's off at the go-kart track. ha!

getting excited about holiday presents. have been collecting information on different non-profits that will make appropriate gifts for different people. and i have a crafty project for my sister once I get around to it... now for adam... Ugh?! what to do?!
well, time for bed. miss you guys. Messie

hi

2005-11-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

i am feeling so much better. thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes.
finally got my act together and sent out the Craft Conspiracy evite tonight, which i've been meaning to do for weeks. I'm hosting the Dec 1 conspiracy, which will be much fun. Anticipate that it will be a busy week at work (gasp!) so I'll probably try to pick up supplies while we're in connecticut this weekend. Leaving with the rest of the country tomorrow after work (well, 3pm-ish for a 6pm-ish flight). Dreading the switch from commuter-train to flight over this most dreaded of holiday weekends. can't wait to see adam's family, though, especially Grandma Rose, who turned 80 this week! Rock On, Rosie!
Work is going pretty well, feeling like i'm getting my bearings as to the people I have to work with. Looking forward to my manager being back in the office starting next week, as he's been on shoot in NYC most of the last three weeks.
got a facial after work today. the woman declared I didn't have "acne" per se, and that I just needed to exfoliate and stay better moisturized. oh, and wash the face post-gym. sounds easy enough. had a coupon for 40% off the services at litespa downtown, but somehow the products i got sold added up. DANG. nice to feel pampered leading into a busy weekend, though!
happy turkeys to all my friends! The Mess.

2005-11-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

so i had a piece of toast with american cheese melted on it (a childhood fave) and have been drinking some water today, but where is my energy? and can i just tell you, pedialyte is GROSS. i'm only drinking it because i couldn't keep a teaspoon of water down yeterday and obviously i'm dehydrated to the max. my game plan earlier may have been a farce. I can't seem to be out of the bed for more than 15 minutes without feeling like i'm going to keel over, and i just got up from a two hour nap. does it count as a nap if i was only up for 20 minutes prior?
i was having a dream just now where I was making stencilled holiday bags! by the way, i've decided to follow my instinct and do small presents along with charitable donations. thought i'd try to find charities that seem appropriate for each person. for instance: my mom always wanted a llama to have in our 10-acre yard, so I might "buy" my parents a llama from heifer. i've donated to heifer in the past and love that the company is so obvious. it's easy for someone to understand "i bought a cow for a family in your name" rather than "I donated to a place that buys medicine and birthing kits and digs wells". Don't get me wrong, that stuff is way important, but it's a lot to put on a christmas card.
i am babbling. maybe my 15 minutes is up...

sickie

2005-11-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

hi there,
i know it's been a long time. i don't know what my excuse is. but today, i have nothing but time. staying home sick. came down with a stomach flu or something similar yesterday morning, and only this morning am I able to once again hold down water, etc. rather weak at this point, and a bit lightheaded. may try to eat and drink, take a nap to let it settle in, and then have the time at home to do all the things I didn't get around to yesterday (clean house a bit, laundry, etc). adam was a doll and took good care of me.
before this weekend went all pukey on me, we took a trip to Cabela's to find adam some snow boots. that place is crazy. we did the shooting gallery, and looked at meat grinders and camo everything, and came out with some boots and a lot of warm socks.
ok, too tired to sit up for now. maybe more later?

holiday sneer

2005-11-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

there aren’t enough hours in the week to get everything done, including posting. i think i spend too much time on the couch after work. true, we don’t watch much TV, but the fact that we watch a movie most nights is almost as bad. yes, we’re intentionally choosing what we watch, not getting sucked into Wife Swap, however, it’s 2 precious hours of every evening. my to-do list isn’t getting any shorter. i’m thinking movie night every night may be a habit worth (re)considering... of course, tonight is Top Model, the one thing that i’m sure not to miss if possible...

have spent a bit of today trying to plan our “wedding recon-mission” vacation, probably late january. it seems the mayan riviera fared way better than cancun, so we’re ready to book something. it’s kinda pricey high-season, but would be much better when if we get married next november... you know, late hurricane season.

thanksgiving is next week. WTF? when did THAT happen?!

feeling vaguely threatened by the approach of christmas. have done no shopping, have no desire to. feeling vaguely non-consumer these days. shopping is a pain. i don’t want to do it in the evenings after work or my weekends, i’m tired then. usually I would do it at lunch, but I go to the gym at lunch about 4 days a week. honestly i’m very VERY seriously considering making a substantial charitable donation and telling my loved ones that their combined present was 1/50 a new healthcare clinic for the displaced sudanese in chad. does that make me a grinch? part of it is avoiding shopping for a million $20 presents, but another part of me thinks those presents are so superfluous anyway, why not do something better with them?

game plan

2005-11-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

must be done today:
sweep & mop kitchen
sort/remove recycling and trash
11:15 to 12:15 "Chisel!" @ Y
grocery shopping & drugstore
liquor store
the Hub/Michael's for crafty stuff
maybe Hub/Marshall's too
tidy up apartment
lots of cooking
lots of SHAVING!

longer term (tomorrow?):
eyes checked & new lenses
begin holiday shopping
RX cat food
change out summer, winter clothes
fix closet problem
call landlord re: cabinet
remove other A/C, both to basement
start a softie!!!

grandma

2005-11-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

i miss my grandma. she died 3+ years ago now, but more and more she's in my dreams. it's tough when I wake up and realize she's gone. my dream last night seemed so real, we were going through her jewelry box mostly. jeez, i've been awake a half hour but i keep crying about it. a sad start to the day. i didn't used to dream about her...but in a way it's nice. it makes me miss her but it's nice to "see" her once in a while. i wish she'd gotten to meet adam. I think she would have loved him.

2005-11-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

sweet, it's friday, i'm home early, i love it. made it to body pump at lunch! my manager trusts me to get my stuff done without harassment and I think the job is going to work out just fine. not a lot of plans for this weekend, but that's good since last weekend was so busy with The Summit. excited for dinner guests on saturday; i'm making chicken enchiladas with beautiful red chili sauce! mmmmmmm. feeling super-sweet all around. happy weekend!

swooshswooshHappy

2005-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

at lunch today, i decided i would take a second day of no-YWCA with recent blood donation as my excuse. and the gym shoes i have at work have almost no traction left, which means I skid across the floor during certain body pump moves. AND when i got on the scale this morning it had finally moved again, a pound or two, after about a month of stagnancy. i have been feeling stronger and less flabby, so i knew my frequent workouts weren't in vain, but it was nice to be vindicated, and have a third excuse to go SHOPPING during lunch! and just after I told adam how cheap doing the gym at lunch ends up being, otherwise it's so easy to go shop for an hour. oh well.

so, not wanting to venture into Marshall Field's for a first time (so big and scary) I sped on to Marshall's, looking for some running shoes. i found a $30 pair, perfect to keep in the office. i keep the good ones at home, since I mostly run uptown... and continuing through the store, I found a cute pair of Express pants that look totally fantastic. and did i mention that i took back the 8 and 10, and the 8 fit perfectly? gotta love it. and my final find at marshalls...a little weird...SNOWPANTS!!! made by columbia and only $30 instead of $90!!! i flipping love them. they're black, cozy and actually kinda cute too, in a marshmallow way. can i wear them to work on casual fridays?! pleaseplease? so the swooshswoosh sound that's scaring the cats is me, walking around with my thighs happily swooshing each other. buying fun winter clothes is a good way to get over my fear of minnesnowta winters!

i got to the register, and was pleased that my finds were only $75 until... WhereTF is my credit card? aggggggggh. i pay with the debit and begin speedwalking back towards work... and finally remember the last use was at Target on tuesday, at the service counter, making an exchange. I pop in, and a girl tells me she CUT IT UP yesterday since it was left for more than a few hours. oh well, at least it wasn't Really lost. and i got to keep the number (which i'd only just memorized after the First Ave Wallet Fiasco a couple of months ago). so i have no card in hand for about a week, but that's not a big deal. My thighs and waist are shrinking, AND i have cozy snowpants! Gotta keep life in perspective!

and now, left work a little early as my entire team was in NY or out, and I was left with nothing more I could work on. Think we're doing JP's bistro for dinner, which should be fun. and tomorrow is friday, which means casual and a return to the gym for lunchtime body pump. now that i've confirmed results i feel even more pumped to keep it moving. would love to have lost a total of 11 lbs (was up to 6 before this morning) when we go on february vacation, if we ever book that. having impending beach wedding plans is keeping me motivated, and giving myself milestone goals feels good too.

2005-11-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

lord have mercy. the hour between four and five is like death. it’s just one hour TOO LONG to be creative. but otherwise, work is good. getting a lot done with my manager out, and got a really nice phone call from the shoot. he called to let me know how fantastic the comps turned out, which was good. was nervous after “vouching” for the company. also the other art director on the shoot said how fantastic my layouts were, and so easy to replicate and shoot quickly. sha-Booya! so that has me feelin’ good.

went to the gym yesterday at lunch, and then tried to go today but was completely exhausted after giving blood last night. got all set up and did the warmup and squats part of body pump, and then gave in and put my crap up about 35 minutes early. i was afraid i’d fall over or pass out. the instructor said that giving blood burns 600 calories, so i had no reason to be there today!

anyway, i can’t think any more. i need to get out of this place.

monday blues

2005-11-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

so after the folks left last night, we had time to hang out and watch a movie before the Jeff Tweedy show would start (10-ish). however, about 8:30, adam announced he was not going. we were both exhausted from the entertaining, and his week promises to be jam-packed at work. we called Josh to try and give the tickets away, but he didn’t want them either. Oh well. I heard it was a great show (“like a big campfire sing-along”).

work feels slow today. i need to buy headphones to keep here. the pair i have is uncomfortable and tethers me too close to the computer. made it to the gym at lunch, MTC (muscle training concepts). it was sooooo tough. slow, slow reps with heavy weights. my shoulders are KILLING now. finished off the lunch hour at Chipotle, with a burrito bowl. could have easily crammed the whole thing down my pie-hole if i wasn’t paying attention, instead i’ll finish it off tomorrow.

so ready to go home. but i did get my first paycheck on Friday, that makes it all somewhat better...

fun with the folks

2005-11-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

today is the last day of parents' weekend. so far we've had a great time. yesterday was spent near our apartment: first at Sunny Side Up Cafe for brunch, then an antique car store, a bit of the Walker sculpture garden (until it started raining), and then a long-ass and sometimes too competitive game of dominoes, followed by dinner at Barbette. much fun. eventually we took the old folks back to their hotel, and adam and I chilled and watched Fever Pitch. i just love romantic comedies. they make me happy; what can i say?!

this morning adam is in charge of picking up the folks, which gave me time to hit the gym for some much-needed exercise. after taking friday and saturday off, and eating lots of delicious unhealthy food with the folks, i needed a little burst of energy and self-esteem. now i'm feeling strong and ready for the day! once adam and the big kids arrive, we'll do brunch somewhere, and play for a few hours, and then off to the airport. afterward, we have Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) tickets to finish off the jam-packed weekend. i can already tell I need a weekend to decompress! and I have a blood donation appointment tomorrow... OY VEY!

also, i didn't talk about holynn's craft conspiracy on thursday! it was a bit thinly attended, but i love my marble/bottlecap earrings, they're so cute. adam's mom was so jealous. good thing she doesn't know i made a pair for her too! i just need to get the earring hooks for hers :) thanks for being a lovely hostess, ho'! i'll try to post a picture soon.

and finally, I no longer feel like a mean, selfish art director. I'm glad the other guy is going. I'm sure it's good experience for him, and a nice treat to go to NY, which wouldn't be as big a deal to me. honestly, i wouldn't want to be leaving for NYC tomorrow after this busy weekend. my chagrin passed a few days ago but I still felt guilty about my mean-ish post. PEACE and joy to the world!

and PS, is anyone else who posts in Safari having a problem with posts erasing as you publish? it's making me crazy; i keep having to use firefox. Which is fine, but all my bookmarks are in safari. grrrrr.

jackassinine

2005-11-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

due to strangers' comments starting a PR war on an old post, i have disabled anonymous comments. Sorry, friends who are not registered! you can always register and not blog. i'm hoping this avoids any more legal pseudoProblems!

the weekend is going well. after we picked the folks up, we came back to the apartment and then went to bryant lake bowl for some lunch. then some bowling (2 games) and at the end of the first game, i got a turkey on the 10th frame...3 strikes in a row! it was magical. i will never recreate that dance. anyway, then we hung out here for a few hours, and then went to Broders' for dinner. delish. and then took them downtown and watched some Undeclared.

and now off to the shower.

-------------------------------
Update:
I have changed my mind. I have turned the comments back on, after asking a few questions of some friends with more knowledge of the law than I have. I wish I never deleted the post at http://schmarkey.blogspot.com/2005/08/club-wedd.html. Under legal threat, I intended to delete a small portion of the entry, about a funny encounter with a stranger who started a conversation wtih me in the airport, and who had also just gotten engaged. Not the kind of thing that would normally get one into trouble, but it seems there are some unhappy fans out there. Alas, I'm having problems with Safari and the entire post was deleted, and I didn't try to salvage in time. SO, I do not have the original post to re-claim, and re-creating it seems silly. I will let it be. But I will not be intimidated again.

thursday is my friday

2005-11-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

shoving down a little jerk chicken salad before I head to holynn's for this month's craft extravaganza. somehow the week picked up speed and here I am, DONE. mom and dad, and mom and dad chornstar come in tomorrow morning, so i've been doing lots of domestic labors in the evening. not tonight, all play! made some carrot cupcakes and cake last night to contribute, decided not to keep any in the house. did cave to the half-price halloween candy, they had those pretzel/caramel/peanut/peanutbutter/chocolate things (take 8?) that sounded good. and they are, we discovered last night. watched Ghengis Blues, a documentary about this depressed blind blues singer who learns to tuvian throat sing and goes there to compete. it kinda sucked; i think they were first time documentary makers and they made it so long and boring.
hopefully i'll have time to check in over the weekend, otherwise, love to all.

selfish

2005-11-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

so gddamned busy at work today. no time to take lunch, no time AT ALL for the gym. a pleasant change? not like this. had to pull teeth to get what I needed to send shit to NYC to get a comp (fake) compact made in time for our shoot next week. oh wait—not "our" shoot. i don't get to go to NYC this time. I'm new and all, but it pissed me off when i found out at 5 today that another art director, who I understand to be more junior though not under me, will be shooting the stuff i've been laying out for the last two weeks. if it were my manager, that's cool, but a kinda-just-outta-school art director? BWAH?! EEEEGH?! MMMEEEPH?! okay, whatever, i'll just loiter around the office, that's fine. I've only been shooting beauty product for four years. It's their loss. but obviously it made me a little miffed. at least my manager sent an email thanking me for all my work this afternoon...

however, aside, in other news, not to change the subject to better things BUT that roast smells good. now i guess i need to go peel potatoes (today really is punishment, i just realized) to make those mashers. i think i need some drink or schmoke to take today's edge off... ttfn, kids.

sweet charity

2005-11-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

sometimes i just adore the New Yorker. there are definitely weeks that I don’t crack it; it’s so dense and i just don’t have the time, or maybe the feature articles aren’t striking a chord. however, i am entrenched in an article this morning, from the Oct 24 issue. it’s about the Gates Foundation and how Bill and Melinda have the chance to make an incomparable difference in the lives of millions of people. it’s really an inspiring article. the fact that the man made a pile of money and has already donated 29 Billion Dollars to eradicating disease is absolutely rad. just last night i was talking about how i usually do a decent amount of charitable donations throughout the year, and hadn’t been since the whole unemployed stint... it’s nice to feel inspired again. not that i needed the push, but maybe i did. it’s easy to think “well, i should fill my savings out again first,” but is that $100 here or there REALLY going to make my savings grow that much more slowly? Go, gates foundation.

speaking of charitable feelings, found a cool organization yesterday: Bolder Options. it was in the citypages Best Of, and seems awesome. basically, it’s like big brothers/big sisters, but where the mentor meets with her kid twice a week and together they either train for three 5k runs or three cycling rides. I like that there are goals to achieve, and a built in activity structure. I was a big sis for a while in highschool but they assigned me a much more high-risk kid than realized, so it got weird (ie, i had to go see her at a juvie-type place). I haven’t volunteered regularly since cleaning the cat room at the humane society in college, and I feel like it’s time. Maybe I could start at the turn of the year...

planning on heading to the downtown Y for some heart-thumpin’ and freestyle weight-lifting at lunch, so i had a delicious breakfast from downstairs: one egg over easy, and a piece of oatbran toast. tasty, satisfying, and should keep my energy up until I get back from the gym. and with a small coffee, only $2.30. love.

needed a little something special, since I woke up and spent a half-hour preparing dinner for the crock-pot. it was a little weird at 6:30AM to be cooking chopped bacon, and then browning five batches of stew beef cubes, and sauteeing onion and carrots, but not eating ANY of it. it was a lot more prepwork than most crock-pot recipes i’ve made, but hopefully it will be worth it. the picture pulled me in: it was that thick, juicy, opaque maroon sauce, reminiscent of Quercy, our favorite brooklyn bistro. i picked up a huge slow-cooker cookbook with tons of pictures in anticipation for the long cold winter, but too many of them want to cook for 4-5 hours. i can’t run home at lunch to plug the sucka in, and it would be a LITTLE weird to have it going at my desk all day. mmmmm but that smell!

halloween party of 1

2005-10-31T16:28:00.000-08:00

so when I left off yesterday, i went to body pump and it BLEW big chunks. it's funny how organized exercise can either be fun and distracting from the pain, or make it worse where time crawls. i didn't like the bp teachers for the sunday 9am class, and my body was just exhausted, so it was 55 minutes of misery. afterward i did make 2.5 pineapple upside down cakes (two halfsize bundts, and then filled part of a thinnish bowl with the batter that would have overflowed, which became our mini keeper cake). took two cakes and a fiancee to julie's party, which was fun. we just chilled and ate the good food and chatted until adam needed to get his work stuff and get some work done. so we swung by the agency and picked up his computer, and then came back home. i made a whole wheat fettucini which kinda sucked (too al dente, and too much weird wheaty flavor) and we watched some arrested development. adam had enough work to do that i decided to go to bed like a loser at 9:30 because i had a terrible headache and was utterly exhausted from not sleeping in all weekend. a crappy start to the week ;(
so today i went to work in the Oompa Loompa costume. i was nearly the only one celebrating in the office, at least that i saw, which is kinda lame. people liked it, i guess, but it's weird to walk in the common areas and have like 100 women in black pants staring wherever you turn. i'm glad i did it, if only to point out that people shouldn't be so effing adult and should have an effing sense of humor. WHITE EYEBROWS, ORANGE FACE AND ALL. i missed my old work buddies in new york.
my manager left at three and he still didn't give me work today. i had a couple of things to do, but gave up and left at 4 because i had nothing left and had "worked" through lunch. alas, the 4bus didn't come forever so i spent 15 minutes waiting in hand-freezing weather wearing that costume. kinda uncool. got home to pick a recipe for dinner tomorrow night, found a hearty french beef provençal stew and set off to buy the goods. of course, at 5:00 the grocery store is packed, everyone like me trying to get the hell outta that place, practically racing and bumper-carting through the store. i miss the leisurely unemployed stroll of midday grocery shopping! but i was one of the nutsos today. anyway, i did everything i could to prep the meal for tomorrow morning, when i have various steps of searing and sauteeing and combining before leaving the crock pot to work its magic. we're having brett over as a thank-you for watching the kitties over Yom Kippur, so I wanted to make a nice, hearty, it's cold and dark at 4pm kind of meal. will make some mashed potatoes and green salads to go with.
otherwise... no gym today, my body needed a break, but probably back on track tomorrow at lunch downtown. also am getting specialized software training and new projects tomorrow, so my work days should start flying by (please, lord).
got the cutest custom-made halloween card from Tuan's kitties today, which was an awesome treat. Thanks, Tuan! if only iggy would abide a witch costume, and nico a pirate, i might have done that too... but my kitties are assholes. wink ;)

the time change rocks!

2005-10-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

so yesterday was cool. i woke up early-ish, since i fell asleep on the couch at 10 firday night... again. went to the gym, the grocery store, made a long list of the stuff we need to get done before our parents come in friday, and then left for the aveda institute. had an appointment for highlights and a cut with Carina, who i'd had the afternoon of our engagement. i had changed my mind in the meantime and wanted to go all warm/medium brown, but showed and couldn't do that without a patch test... so highlights it was. had a great time chatting, even if i was there forever. she made a little blonde glob just front and center over my forehead, which meant another 45 minutes of fixing, but it all looks great now and it was just $45 plus tip. and she even did cool curls again: not tiny pincurls but some fun loose body-making curls. sweet.

and i came home to find adam had crossed about five things off the list! i can't even tell you how much that rocks. two weekends in a row he's found the list and done his share of the housework. i swear i could cry just talking about it, because a) the thought of doing it all myself while exhausted from work makes me so sad and b) the cleaning situation is the only bone of contention in our household...not a huge one but somewhat important. anyway, adam is a huge stud and i'm so happy he realizes that huge studs can also do housework (or cry... a la big lebowski).

so that inspired me to do some housework too, and then we had teriyaki burgers, and then watched some Undeclared and some Arrested Development on dvd. and eventually at 10:15, we decided it was time to go to the 400 bar for marah. they were great! so excited and played forever (too long for me at 1am, but that's good i guess ;) i came home and crashed like a log, but who knows what adam did until 4. lucky for him, and me, there was a time change! i was SO AWAKE at 7 but stayed in bed until 8. and i can even make the 9am body pump, no sweat (well, hopefully much sweat there). don't plan on doing the gym tomorrow in my ooompa loompa makeup, so today's the day... also have a fun afternoon party to go to, SO EXCITED, may make a cake to take as we have all this fresh cut pineapple and what's better than pineapple upside down? NOTHING!!! got two cute mini cake pans (like halfsize bundts with no hole) so maybe i can take one and keep one... not that a cake fits into the household weightloss plan but live a little?
okay off to the Y, love to my peeps and happy halloween tomorrow!!!

skinny jeans

2005-10-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

i love Friday. i love that i can wear jeans to work and it feels like the weekend is near. and today is a huge, huge deal as far as jeans go. it must have been four years ago I found what I considered to be the Perfect Jeans at the levi’s store in midtown. i loved them so much that I bought two pairs, in case one got worn out and they’d discontinued the cut (that seems to happen a lot). alas, well before they wore out, i grew out, and had no jeans that fit for about a year. last winter rather than continue the self-punishment, I gave in and bought a new pair of jeans. i must have liked them at the time, but they have spandex in them and now when I put them on, i feel like a lardo. which basically has meant back to No Jeans.

until... today. yesterday i pulled the old Perfect Jeans out and i can wear them again. they’re snug, but have definitely loosened from the “but if i sit down they might rip or hinder breathing” state they were in when i tried them on a month ago. how cool is that? especially since the scale hasn’t moved for a few weeks. still toning, if in small increments. they could still be a little looser, but hopefully that’s to come.

alas, i will never look like a thighless model in my skinny jeans, but they do make me happy nonetheless. TGI-effinF!

Gym mcMuffin

2005-10-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

reminded today of that “Triumph the insult comic dog” sketch where Triumph harasses the goons waiting for a Star Wars opening, specifically the “I am a storm trooper/ You are a huge nerd” exchange. because I am a huge nerd, of course. a huge gym nerd. coming back from the Y at lunch today i was glowing with happiness that my new job is only One Measley Block from the downtown annex of the Y. and since staying at my desk all flippin day is unacceptable, and yet eating in the cafeteria is also lame, getting the gym done mid-day is perfect. this way I can leave at five with a clean conscience. yes, i am hugely excited that continuing the healthy habits i’ve started will not be too difficult. I am a huge nerd.

however in my excitement over today’s workout at the Y, i forgot all about the farmers’ market that lines Nicollet on Thursdays. oh well. maybe next week? with my lunch hour I also took a hike to the Utrecht art supply for foam brushes and acrylic, so I can make more cool stenciled clothes a la craft conspiracy. that was one sweet craft, julie! so maybe this weekend i’ll start making some christmas presents and be way ahead of the curve.

the honey says work is gonna be busy for him for a while. so lame. don’t they know I try to keep him on a 5’oclock leash? DANG.

had the corporate version of an eggMcMuffin from the cafeteria this morning. it was totally delicious, but way, way too big. i noticed they use “sandwich size” Thomas english muffins, which means basically a 2fer1 sized breakfast sandwich. i’d almost finished the blasted thing when I realized it remained tasty but I was on the verge of exploding, and threw the rest away. ALL THAT for 1.75. Go corporate subsidy!!!!

and PS who’s excited about halloween? I AM!!!!!

good things

2005-10-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

there’s popcorn downstairs. sometimes, like now, caramel corn too. YUMMERS, i love that. what a delish afternoon snack.

beginning to make friends. since there’s nobody sitting near me, realizing I have to make an effort: plop myself down in someone’s cube and start talking. i’m cool with that. it’s a fun change being surrounded by handsome young men, which is very different from my last job. of course they’re all married, reinforcing the “minneapolis is a great place to live, if you’re not single” saying we kept hearing. thankfully I adore my sweetheart, so the guys aren’t even distracting.

HUUUUUH! did body pump at lunch. last week we didn’t do biceps or triceps, so I took it upon myself to spend 15 minutes pre-class getting my heart rate up on the bosu, and then cranking on my arms. of course, we did biceps and triceps this week so my arms should be Mean and Lean when they stop shaking. this week i’m using heavier weight, so hopefully that will make up for the fact I don’t anticipate going to the gym more than 4x week now (certainly not the 6x i was, pre-employment).

can’t keep my hand out of the caramel-corn bag. aaaaaaagh. who cares; my lunch was a pitiful (but delish) 220 cal of lean cuisine. today was “octoberfest observed” in the luncheteria, which meant everything was knockwurst or worse. yummy, but I that sounded puke-inducing after an hour of exercise, so I brought something.

waiting on my project manager to send more info and get product in. feel like i’m having to chase stuff down, even more so than at my last job. it’s hard when i don’t know who to chase...

happy last Wednesday to jolynn! lucky devil, you. maybe when you’re not travelling you can come meet me and anna and summra for kinda-employed-ladies’-lunch downtown?? or better yet, lunchtime body pump on Wednesdays. heckYEAH.

thinking i should host the december Craft Conspiracy, but it’s hard to think of any good (cheap/easy/non-messy/few materials) crafts. there should be a plethora of holiday ones, so I just need to do some research. what about those beautiful decorated and shellacked eggs? that could be fun.

i miss the gnome’s posts. i hope she’s doing well. the blog circle isn’t the same without her.

are we there yet?

news of note

2005-10-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

an interesting morning in the NYT. i love that right after wal-mart announced a new health plan to cover more employees, an internal memo surfaces with ways to keep the workforce healthier (discourage unhealthy job applicants, etc). wal-mart blows.

finally, mcDonalds is putting nutrition facts on their packaging. the nutrition facts brochures were supposedly available, but when i pop in twice a year for my cheeseburger fix, i’ve noticed they weren’t always stocked. it will be interesting to see if people will change their eating habits when they find out their chicken selects have 110% of a daily fat allowance. probably not, but i think it is a good move. the company is probably just trying to avoid more lawsuits, but anything that is more transparent to consumers about the lack of nutrition, i applaud.

i streamlined my morning routine to 20 minutes today, so i’d have time to make it to the post office to pick up a package. lauren sent a lovely garlic-roaster and cute hat. can’t wait to roast some garlic. my breath will never be the same. sweet.

went to bed before 10 last night. i miss my evenings, even if it makes the day better. we ate at edina grill, and everything was rather disappointing. especially the chicken enchiladas. i’d rather eat freezer-burned enchiladas from Budget Gourmet. ugh.

8:47, still nobody in my row. what is the DEAL with the hours in my office?!

time to get these off the desktop

2005-10-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

i'm a posting maniac! that extra sleep last night saved me from my destiny of a sleepyhead. anyway, these pictures have been languishing on the desktop for weeks and I've been meaning to post them...
this is lauren, my dear alaskan!

anna, this is my Imaginary fiancee. hopefully he's free for hire for sunday. nice shirt, eh?

this hot SeaMonkeyMating adventure is from that new york pervert Tuan. too bad one of them has to DIE to reproduce!

midday hello

2005-10-25T12:17:00.000-07:00

so today’s going well. the day has been moving more quickly, possibly due to the fact i got a crapload of sleep last night. i didn’t sleep through iggy gorging and then puking, but i did sleep most of the night. and i think that’s what’s helping the day fly along. that and i have more stuff to work on. not a lot, but it’s great to not faux-work for hours. and i reviewed the layouts i’d been doing with my manager, and he loved them. voila! to top it off, had a fun lunch with anna. her school is practically next door to my office, which is über-convenient. we listened to Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of NY, speak government regulation of corporations, etc. actually quite interesting.

just realized why my neck hurts: stupid Chisel! the teacher told me to take weights “considerably heavierer than used in body pump” and it turned into a weight-bearing NIGHTMARE. i will know better next week. grrrrr. now i don’t feel bad at all for having that pizza at lunch :)

testing

2005-10-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

can you hear me now? if so I can blog all the times!

alright alright

2005-10-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

somehow I didn't check email to see that i'd gotten all sorts of harassment about not updating. I plan on updating more. today I blogged and emailed it to myself, which i just posted now. maybe i'll figure out how to email-to-blogger, i remember that being a function, and then I can post at work. i just don't feel comfortable logging in to blatantly blog at a place that doesn't want me emailing...
and i'm sure my energy will get back once i'm used to working and gymming and when this pesky cold goes away. don't despair; i'm not! i just need to find some balance for now and go to sleep when the mood strikes... LIKE NOW! i swear, it's 9:30 and i'm off to bed.

2005-10-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

i know, i’m such a bad kid. i never update anymore. it’s not like the weekend was tragically busy, but it wasn’t as relaxing as i’d hoped. the weekend just flies. we need to initiate a four-day workweek! if everyone cut out the goofing and personal stuff they do at work, most of us could get the same amount of work done.

anyway, the weekend was spent mostly cleaning & relaxing. alas, i woke up Saturday feeling like I had too much to do, and didn’t sleep in enough, instead starting in on the large to-do list. after brunch at Sunny Side Up, Adam helped with much of the list (in return for not having to clean the toilet ;) after that we watched “my architect” which is an awesome documentary. we actually watched “mad hot ballroom” on Friday, so it was a weekend of entertaining docs all around. Sunday we took an aimless Ikea venture and ended up finding a cute and Much-Needed desk chair for $40. made a delicious turkey dinner and then we watched Serpico.

so as you can see, there’s really nothing to report here. work is fine, a bit slow as i’ve only got one project thusfar and am at a state where I could use a review so I know what’s next. sadly i’m desperate for another project, the day is just DRAGGING looking at the same document all day. HELP.

found a way around the email situation. a new "friend" i met at the going away party on Friday for my creative director mentioned that Firefox could be downloaded and somehow the email programs weren't blocked on that. so VOILA. plan on checking only occasionally but it's nice to have the option!

tonight hit Chisel! at the Y and it totally kicked my ass. i have a feeling i'm going to hurt EVERYWHERE tomorrow. also YEA get to see Anna for lunch tomorrow, can't wait!

tired-mutha workin' bee

2005-10-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

ahhhhh i know it's been forever. but if you guys miss my gym rants, just think how the kitties feel, with me gone all day and no way to explain it. anyway, i am so effing exhausted at the end of the day now. and I certainly don't feel comfortable blogging at work, when work is a company that a) made me take a drug test today and b) blocks personal email sites from their "internets" access.

work has been fine. the days are so long but that will hopefully be better once my body is used to it, and once I have new friends to waste a good portion of the day talking to (ah, the good old days in NYC!) i did the downtown Y lunchtime "body pump" yesterday and Tonya was happy to see me! Too bad they don't actually do biceps OR triceps in the 10-minutes-shorter class, especially b/c Tonya's "car wash" routine during biceps is the highlight of body pump. obviously i'm left with a huge dilemma on whether to quit my job, or just leave for two hours every midday tuesday so I can participate uptown. decisions, decisions.

fire drill today, walked down 27 flights of stairs with my supervisor. he's nice, and never around, so it gave me a chance to ask a few questions i'd been holding. my thighs are hurtin a bit so I wimped out of the Y after work. mostly it's from the 4:30 headache which i seem to have gotten every damned day this week. maybe I need more caffiene? have been trying to drink only water and lots of it (okay a spot of wine or sake here or there) for weeks in anticipation for today's piss test. not that I have anything to hide but an addiction to kitties and chicken-fried steak.

had a minnesota "hot dish" for the first time last night at abby's fantastic birthday poker party for her boyfriend Josh. we'd had sushi with holynn so I was full, but not too full to try the hotdish (green beans, tater tots, ground beef and something snot-like to hold it together) and then proceed to eat a bizillion Cheezy Poofs and lots of chips in crock-pot-velveeta and some cheese on the side. WTF is wrong with me? adam and I both got the hang of poker and he even made it to the high-rollers table, as did jolynn. alas, none of us won any Moolah but it was a great time. not to mention, my commemorative green visor!

alright you jerks, i need to nap off this headache before our double-date-dinner. was just going to check email until I saw that julie was finally getting rid of those hairyass arms and thought i should stop her. I miss the ladies. maybe I should schedule girls' night over here again. but who am i kidding? i don't even have the energy to water our sad thirsty plants.

hooray for billing 8.5 hours!

2005-10-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

it's been a while. we had a nice weekend in CT despite the torrential-seeming rain and my terrible coughy, runny cold, which still persists. it was great to see Ari and adam's folks, amid lots of eating and relaxing. made a highly productive trip to their travel agent, and we're now in the process of fine-tuning the wedding destination. and it's NOT BOISE! hopefully we can plan a trip to check out the hotel options soon and then we're really on our way. not to mention, what a great excuse for a mid-winter vacation!

in other news, today was my first FULL day of work. alas, still partially sick and had recurring headaches (could that have to do with working 20-some-odd floors in the sky?). however, my computer was finally there and I spent all morning setting up my printers, etc. After meeting the honey for lunch, began working on research for my first project in the afternoon. my boss was out, which made it a low-stress day. actually ran into Adam on the bus home; he'd left early to take his car into the shop. will probably be a quiet night at home, seeing as how I'm still sick and have a debilitating headache. ugh. also found out that hotmail is fo-shizzle blocked on the computers at work...WTF?! was going to send out a mass "new work email address" email, until I realized I didn't have everyone's email addresses since I couldn't access hotmail. what a joke.

bye now

2005-10-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

the cab should be here soon and then it's back to connecticut. did i mention that one of the reasons we were willing to move here was the direct flights to our parents' airports? oh yeah. until NW goes under that is... anyway, a great weekend to all.

dang

2005-10-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

had a sore throat last night that turned into muck overnight. was awake in pain from 3:30 to 5:30. couldn't get a "real" dr appt this morning so had to head to an urgent care clinic. thankfully, came just when the wait was nil, i guess 2.5 hours is pretty standard around there... anyway, strep test was negative for now but may be early, staying home to sleep it off in the meantime. suck a fat lemon.

2005-10-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

worked another halfday today, this time the afternoon. it seemed like a long 3.5 hours. tomorrow i'll be there for the full thing, though I still don't have a computer or my passwords etc set up. worked on someone else's mac today, which was fine. also met the other person i'll be working with regularly, she sits right near me and seems very nice. much older, but that's not surprising. also got a better idea of what i'll be working on, which is more closely related to what I was doing in NYC than I might have imagined. which is awesome to start with: not too intimidating and i won't feel too lost. hopefully will branch out to other projects as this one wraps, etc. like that i'll be involved in more of the "total picture" of design and art direction at this job, rather than picking up other deptartments' packaging and display units. i think it will be good. i'm excited.

made it to body pump at the uptown Y today; was happy to see I could be back in my neighborhood 15 minutes after leaving if I caught the bus just right... will probably try the downtown lunch body pump tomorrow. will be a nice breakup to my first 8-to-5 day (yikes.)

brett is a sweetheart and is taking care of the kitties while we're gone. we dropped by there tonight, and then to Josh and Abby's (the neighborhood friends) and watched some SNL on tivo. they are possibly being Reno 911 characters for halloween, which should be hilarious. of course, i'll be the oompa loompa. adam: who knows?!

bedtime for early-work risers. i may be MIA for a few days while out of town. love to the peeps, Schmark

messy

2005-10-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

utter ridiculousness. left yesterday with the understanding I was to call in and make sure they had me set up before heading in today. left a message on Manager's VM this morning with the home number to call back, but the phone died right at the end. not sure if he got the whole number, I sent an email confirming the phone number. when I woke up at 10, was surprised I hadn't heard back, and when I picked up the phone to call i realized that the cordless had DIED not just run out of battery. the line was total static. so i called BACK and got the voicemail again, left my cell number, and then removed the dead cordless from the wall.
i hope i wasn't supposed to be in at 9. what a mess.
wish he'd call back so I could at least make the 11 body pump if they don't need me today ;)

adam has a planners golf-afternoon and a dinner tonight. LUCKY. i didn't see him last night since he came to bed with a migraine within seconds of hitting the apartment, and only got up for dinner around 12:30 after I was asleep. hope he's better today.

little baby esther

2005-10-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

oh FINALLY! stole this link from UglyJuice's blog: http://www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/esther/esther.htm
Check out lovely Leigh Ann the Gnome with her beautiful new baby girl! Welcome, Miss Esther!

working girl

2005-10-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

ah yes, somebody strike up Carly Simon singing "Let the river run/let all the dreamers wake the nation/come the new jersusalem!" while I take the staten island ferry... err, number 4 bus downtown to work!

i reported in to Work (which now replaces "prospective employer #1") at 10 am to give my manager time to get his day rolling. alas, the computer for me hadn't showed, and the keycard place was closed 'til noon, and the other person on my team was out. (very reminiscent of my first day at my last job... Chris was out on shoot, Pierre was busy, and my computer wasn't set up. I pretended to fill out paperwork for 8 hours. funny.) Anyway, I got a bit of a tour, tried out the salad bar in the cafeteria, took a terrible keycard photo, got to know the freelancer next to me a bit, the like. I even "dropped the kids off" in three different stalls (hello, first-day nervous bowels!) I'm up high in the sky, but not quite like the GM building in NYC. still, not a bad view if you're anywhere near the window. however for now, i'm smooshed between two other perma-lancers at a desk shaped like an old-fashioned phone receiver. my "desk" is the handle part of the desk, practically rubbing elbows with my new buddies. i feel bad for them! apparently the marketing people are moving upstairs soon and that will give us room for expansion on my floor. hopefully I will eventually have at least HALF of my own desk. alas i will NOT be getting a company discount. my tide will be full price. anyway, so around 1:30 my manager told me i could hit the road early as the computer wouldn't be in for a few more hours, and to call in first tomorrow to make sure they were finally ready for me...

so my big 10:00 to 1:30 workday! fine by me. walked down Nicollet to the big Target store and bought a water bottle and thermos for the desk, and a light sweater to leave there. then checked out the downtown YWCA, which is very close to work. should be easy to join Tanya the Favorite Body Pump Instructor for wednesday lunch class. overall that Y sucks compared to uptown, though, and i'd rather just come to ours after work most days. there's no track DT so i did some treadmill/elliptical action and it blew. anyway, now i'm home! since i'm not used to getting up, i'm totally exhausted. we might go to Origami for my job-kickoff dinner, depending on adam's schedule today, but maybe we should save it and have smack-n-cheese in the apartment. sleepy...

anyway, it's a short week here as we head to connecticut on thursday! yea! so excited to see the fam. also Lauren and Paul were in this weekend, when I find the energy later i'll post some photos. had a couple of delish dinners with them, Christo's Greek (i think?) and Barbette last night. the current barbette chicken special is KICK ASS; everyone should go.

think it's time for a shower and a nap. love to my peeps.

crafters rock me like a hurricane!

2005-10-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

so... i think i start monday. i think it's a perma-lance gig. i think that's good!

also I still didn't get the second ticket. i'm convinced they have to give you time to receive the first before you can get another. i mean, if a REAL cop pulled you over, you'd know it and could correct your mistake. hopefully i'm $142 of correct guessing.

had a blast at Julie's craft conspiracy last night. met more lovely ladies, blabbered and drank and ate, and learned a super-cool craft. basically, you use Reynolds Freezer Paper to make stencils. Cut out the stencils, and press them on, waxy side down, with a medium-to-hot iron. then we used acrylic paint and foam brushes to fill in the holes. after the paint is a bit dry, peel off the stencil and voila! apparently the acrylic should be heat-set with the iron to be machine washable.

first I put a skull on the $4 Target sample skirt that I altered earlier this week:

next I put the reverse pieces on a sweater to see how that would go. i paid $1 for the sweater at the thrift store, not realizing there were subtle stains on the back. I think smokey-skull-girl (cigarette idea c/o UglyJuice) will do a fine job disguising the stains:

i also got ideas on how to alter a cool but outdated and large blouse I picked up this week. i love those crafty girls. too bad we only meet once a month! anyway, for more fun photos, check out the craft conspiracy blog via link at right.

in Y news, i tried new classes (bosu strength) last night and today (chisel!). Chisel was hard-core and just used a ball and light weights! Lots of body-resistance stuff, the kind that kills. Between the two, they totally have me left feeling like i got my ass kicked in a bar fight. maybe i need to mix it up more; body pump isn't doing this to me anymore. but if i have a job, i may have to take whatever classes I can... no more gym every day at 11am :(

flippin' finally

2005-10-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

got my 8:58 call back, which clarified... very little. apparently the department i was talkin' to needs freelancers, not staff (which I knew) and i need to just send in the forms and talk to the creative director. not sure if the gig is short term (NOT ok) or perma-lancer (fine by me) so we need to have a serious chat. but at least it's something, whether it's The Something or Something to tide over is to be seen.

craft conspiracy hosted by Julie was a blast. her technique of stenciling on clothes is neat and easy; expect very cool holiday presents this year!! put a skull near the side/hem of the gold brocade skirt I just altered, and a smokin' skull (props to UglyJuice) on a little blue cardigan. pictures to come on both my and the Crafters blogs after I hit 10:30 "chisel!" at the Y. Also julie's kitty "boo" is in hot pursuit for being as cute as Otis. what is it about these midwestern cats? they're great!

adam's being overworked and it's wearing him thin. glad we're off to CT next weekend, wish there was something to be done in the meantime. tonight's Dungen at the 400 bar, but a concert when you're exhausted can even feel like a chore. poor guy.

more later! -the mess

dare to dream

2005-10-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

hmmmmm. so third day of not getting anticipated second right-on-barely-red ticket. could this mean something? nervous for Mr HR to call, don't have a good feeling in my stomach. probably just being an insecure turd but will never know until he calls. blast those people calling in spanish with their wrong numbers, they're making me crazy today.
carrot cupcakes now in the oven. YUM. carroty and delicious, by the batter.

carrot cake

2005-10-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

ahhhhh just got up. too late to try to hit BP today but that's cool. may be heading to the gym later with Abby, maybe she'll want to try the BOSU classes? they're taught on this thing that looks like half a 2' blue ball with a flat bottom. basically you do all this stuff on the BOSU which makes you balance throughout and keeps your core muscles working hard. when I had a trainer for like two days in brooklyn she had me do stuff on the bosu, but they never offered a class there. at the least, it seems like a good class to try and then i'll have a better understanding of how to use it on my own. BTW the good news is I actually weigh what I told them I did at the license bureau two months ago!

in the meantime, i'm going to do some baking. had chosen a carrot cake recipe from Foodnetwork yesterday and just now looked over the reviews. hot diggety dog, people LOVE this recipe! and it's so easy. excited. will make light cream-cheese icing to top. even got some black gel decorator icing to write scary shit on top. the cupcakes are for tonight's halloween Craft Conspiracy, and a great excuse for me to bake my current favorite food. wondering if I should make two batches but that seems like shooting myself in the foot (or stuffing cream cheese in my lovehandles) so the answer should be NO.

shout-out is due to courtney, who is hopefully back in LA today. she spent her 28th birthday in OHIO care of her boyfriend who is there working on a reality show... tell him to bring you to hawaii next birthday, dude!

what else... my gym fleece smells like gym BO. got an email back from Mr. HR saying he's still looking into it, and should have info today. mysterious. so i may be in a celebratory or shitty mood tonight. will keep y'all posted.

message from New York

2005-10-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

just got this in from my buddy Tuan (aka Little Edie) regarding the sea-monkey set I sent back as the new office pets:

I was wondering where the hell you were calling from saturday night. I thought you might have been in my hood looking for "those" kinds of movies... Thanks for the latest tidbits on pit sprays from the UK. Have you received yours yet? Does it work?
Attached is my vidcap of the "kids" I witnessed a pair in the act of "coupling" yesterday. Pandel, Chin, and Yukari were the witnesses. The male attaches itself to the female and they swim around for the whole day. After lunch, the female was dead, but still attached to the male who kept pushing her around. As an act of mercy, I had to use the end of a plactic straw to separate them. There are little babies swimming around, although I don't know how many actually survive.
Bye for now Chesty,

all the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey

2005-10-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

huge storms overnight. adam had a tennis match and left about 2 minutes after the storms started, only to be lost in the western suburbs for two full hours, in flooding conditions and often with no lights on the streets, in the buildings, etc. pitch blackness except for the rain and other headlights. what a guy. he totally got through it, called to check in a couple of times and found his way home to mama. GO TEAM!

it's supposed to storm all day. the leaves have been turning instantaneously, it seems, and it's a dark day with leaves blowing across the windowpane. nico flippin' loves it:

this was yesterday, after nico stopped licking iggy profusely and just settled with snuggling:

have to call that stupid PE#1 HR-man this morning. i hate making these calls. it makes my stummy upset and i feel insecure.

UPDATE: stummy upset is just cramparreah (duh) and I left mr. HR a message, which is the preferred communication rather than putting him on the spot if he still doesn't know. YEA.

sewing and the Y

2005-10-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

ok, so today is grey out and the screens remain covered with gnats (a big WTF to that) but generally things are looking up.

made it to body pump at the Y (yes, my life is repetitive) and pushed the weight up a bit—YEAH! also ran a mile afterward. love the tuesday noon teachers for BP, they do cute dances and play the best music. Am gonna miss them if i get a job. (ps no call back yet?!) But one of them teaches the 12-1 wednesday class at the downtown Y, so maybe I can make that my gig if I end up at Prospective Employer #1. I think part of what made yesterday so sucky was that I had a lot of excess energy and was stuck in the house waiting for a package and a call-back, and didn't make it to the gym...

which means I have finally reached the point in the exercise cycle where my body craves the gym! totally weird, and rad. I feel over the "gym hump" for the first time in my non-athletic life. and i have also reached the point where I leave the gym with MORE energy. all those gym ho's always talked about that and I didn't believe them. who knew?! WHO KNEW?!

plan on spending the afternoon tidying up this dump and then am taking in a skirt I picked up yesterday. it's a sample from the new Target Mizzrahi collection, a very cute gold skirt that's just 4 sizes too big. I've pinned the sides so it fits low-slung on my hips yet tight through the ass and thighs—hottie. now going to baste in a bright thread and then follow it with the real-deal sewing machine. it's a fun exercise to sew something the right way. yesterday I was altering some goofy vintage blouses, taking one in on the sides, and putting darts in another, but they were junk and I did it a bit sloppily. this skirt deserves to be done nicely. am wondering if the weird gold-lamé fabric would take ink. i would love to put a skullNcrossbones on it at julie's thursday Craft Conspiracy. just maybe...

oh and BTW i found a winter coat! yes, it will make my eighth black winter coat. okay, for real, fourth: fancy dress coat with green ribbon belt, black boucle fitted double-breast, cashmere mid-thigh and now a 3/4 length black down coat from LL bean. am totally paranoid about minnesota winters and have been looking for something warm and black. i like that the temp comfort range on this baby is 5degrees to -30degrees. sounds toasty. and it was only $150 including shipping on my firey credit card (dang i need an effing job). okay, ttfn.

picture pages, picture pages!

2005-10-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

ok, so i just posted my shell lights on the crafters website, but I can't help but share them here too:

these are the postcards I bought from antique store and doctored with japanese stickers before sending as thank-yous for the interviews at PE#1:

my little napper, Iggy:

Nico all dolled up:

A portrait of my dear friend Tuan in one of his favorite movies:

yesterday sucked.

2005-10-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

let's hope today is better.
so I got that weird email from PE#1's freelancer-partner-company and figured that meant i was getting an offer and someone just forgot to call. well, that is hopefully still the case, but when I got in touch with Mr. HR yesterday afternoon, he had no idea what I was talking about and asked me to forward the email. A little disconcerting. Still waiting to hear back. Grrrr.

So that put a damper on my day, in addition to the barely-running-the-red-to-right-turn fiasco, waiting for ticket #2 in the mail today.

Also adam kindly brought home "Elegant Bride" magazine, and that just stressed me out more. It's for high-maintenance, perfection-obsessed brides, I swear, and made me feel like whatever fun casual thing we do will totally suck and everyone will hate us for making them spend $$$ to get down to whatever beach and then not payoff with a nice wedding. And that's just my paranoia feeding off the shitty day.

So we decide to go out to dinner. First try: emma's on lyndale by the greenway. menu is very short and nothing sounds good, back in the car to French Meadow to try their dinner. Sit outside because it's nice, only to be bit up by effing mosquitos. Also I swear their food is always a disappointment: the flavor is off or something's just too healthy. I had a cobb salad and it didn't have avocados, only an "avocado dressing" that was mildly disgusting. Adam's turkey burger was missing some flava. WTF? so, sionara, French Meadow. you lost us, i think.

we both agree dessert is in order after an un-satisfying dinner. discuss lund's (the usual these days for takeout dessert, i'm obsessed with carrot cake) or zeno but we don't want the crowds. settle on trying the kowalski's by us, which we've never been in. it kinda sucks and is dark and expensive. the carrot muffins are "carrot-raisin" which turns me off and i choose a strawberry muffin with cream cheese icing. adam got muddypaws cheesecake. we were both disappointed. it was just one of those days.

then we come home and I want to show adam the 800 great thrift-store finds from the only time I left the house. nothing like thrift shopping for a quick pick-me-up. anyway, he hates the comfy jeans i got ("not flattering") and the next thing i put on, and then makes a remark about how i won't wear any of it anyway 'cause it's all silly (was definitely in a weird vintage blouse mood). Which really pisses me off. It just came off wrong. I tore off whatever I was showing him and stormed into another room, sans the other 2/3 of my fantastic thrift fashion show. he apologized profusely for being a dick and eventually i moved from the chair across the room to the couch.

we watched Old School to try and salvage some part of the evening, and I had wine and even some of the nutella-onna-spoon that adam had out. not exactly great for the diet but WTF it was that kind of day.

comme ci, comme ca

2005-10-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

some good, some bad.

first the bad: totally caught on tape running the red light to make my right turn at Washington and Broadway on the way to Jolynn's about a week ago. first of two $142 tickets came today (i would assume, i did it two days running before i asked holynn about that weird flash at the stripclub.) the light had JUST TURNED, damnit.

that would seriously damper my day but for an email I got this morning, about fulltime freelance options at PE #1. the odd thing is, it's from a subcontractor and I never actually heard back re: an offer from HR. i know that guy was out of town thursday through today (tried calling this morning) so i guess the normal chain of command went awry somewhere.

so at least I will be able to pay my prospective $300 in moving violation tickets. just called AAA to see if it would affect my rates. the answer was if TWO, maybe, if they check but they don't always. the woman was like "well, i won't ask your name :)" whatever, i guess. i will now stop on red so i did learn my lesson. but WHY did it have to happen twice in two days?! there's something sneaky about the timing of those lights, you're SO CLOSE to making it and why stop at the strip club if you don't have to?!

grey gardens was amazing. weird and surreal and trainwreck and amazing. check out the criterion collection release with girlfriends. adam was slightly horrified and didn't enjoy the experience. wished marie and court were here; they'd have loved it.

2005-10-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

saturday was a beautiful day. like summer again. woke up and bolted to the 9am body pump, then came back and read magazines on the front stoop until Adam got his ass up. then we went to the Grand Bakery and had some crazy oeufs in rammekins that were a little too rich for both of us and required down-time in the apartment. later we headed to a park where adam practiced his tennis moves in anticipaton of a match tuesday, i read and made phone calls. after a home-cooked dinner we decided to check out the local movie store as we're out of netflix right now. ended up very pleased, left with the first season of Entourage and the criterion collection of Grey Gardens. watched about 6 episodes of entourage before putting my foot down at midnight, and terribly excited for G.G. tonight. My friend Tuan would talk about it and I had no idea it was out on DVD.

plan for today: probably ride bikes to the Falls, maybe have some fish there at Sea Salt, hopefully do a bit more research on wedding locations. mostly chill. sadly it looks grey out, as opposed to the perfect, clear skies of yesterday, but I don't see rain in our forecast so i'll keep the fingers crossed.

WOAH, or, The Arcade Fire.

2005-09-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

so the arcade fire was absolutely fantastic live. they had crazy energy, and the crowd did too. they kicked it off with Neighborhood #1 (tunnels) and i swear i almost started bawling three times during the song. it was sick. and they were all so adorable and great. adam will surely post more details in his blog but I wanted to just say... Woah.

39 degrees

2005-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

that's the temp in Minnesota this morning, as NPR blared and adam had to get out of the nice warm bed and go to work. it will eventually get around 65. NICE. why did I want a job again? oh yeah, for spare cash. but cutting out patterns and sewing and maybe the Y sounds like an enticing day. might even treat myself to a bagel for breakfast, at Einstein's i guess, because I saw pics on shaya's blog and they're making me soooooo hungry for one. not to mention my dream just now had NYC all over it. i was going to set out wandering in the village and downtown for the day. but we had like five roommates and strangers in our bathroom and pee outside the front door so I guess that's the bad-dream version of NYC today.

adam stayed home yesterday, which was awesome. he awoke at 2 to check his blackberry and found a nice post-pitch email from another department's boss sent to Many Employees saying that he was a huge stud and was awesome presenting. so proud. glad for him to be finding his stride here, it's been a slow and awkward process. so we watched "The eyes of tammy faye" in bed around 4, and it was interesting and she's such a sympathetic character! she just had so much love for people and yet became a target for bringing down b/c other christians were jealous of their power. ok, maybe her husband was mismanaging donations too but I think she just got swept along. also watched "being julia" which was slow in the middle but had a great ending. and annette bening is a beautiful lady, i must say.

arcade fire tonight at First avenue. whooooo-hooo!

sore. tired. happy.

2005-09-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

ahhhhhhh it's a bit shameful that i've only been awake since 11. however, the party lasted until about 2:00 and i'm a sleepy monkey. it's not like i have a JOB to go to, damnit (i want a callback!) i had a blast, hopefully the guests did too. i was happy with the way dinner turned out, especially the chicken-apricot-phyllo pie. it could have used a bit more moisture (greek yogurt) but was nice and autumn-tasting with the cinnamon and allspice. but it was really great to just sit around and shoot the shit with the ladies for a few hours... and so much wine. i don't know how jolynn got out of bed this morning, since she was up until 2:30 and definitely had more wine than I did. i didn't even hear her sneak out of the house this morning to go to work, what a perfect houseguest...

honey-bunny got home at 7am without having slept a wink on the flight. it's going to be a painful week with his sleep schedule that off. however, he said his pitch in LA went well so that's what really matters. somebody give the man a raise!!! he's sleeping, and probably will be for hours still. maybe i'll watch some Arrested Development in the living room now that the dishes are all done. not sure about gym plans; bp killed my musles and i'm walking like i jumped off a horse this morning ;)

perfect day

2005-09-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

firstly, this just in from ING direct:
"On September 23, 2005 we increased the variable Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on the FDIC-Insured Orange Savings Account to 3.40%. The Orange Savings Account has now increased 1.05% since the beginning of the year, clearly making it the best choice for your hard-earned savings. Login to ingdirect.com to deposit and save more today."
If anyone has a traditional savings account at a bank, I want you to realize you're probably earning 0.5% tops. Everybody should start an ING direct savings account for that cash you need available but still want to get some sweet interest on. too bad all i do is suck money OUT of my savings these days. I need a JOB, mama!

secondly, i just realized: this is the kind of fall day I can't help but associate with Sept 11 in nyc. weird.

just finished body pump and another trip to Kmart. i love the martha stewart collection. and i needed a new sportsbra, with my frequency of workouts, one just isn't cutting it. PEE-UUUUU! also stopped into Isles Bakery and had their coffee-YUM. grabbed a cookie for adam when he rolls in at 6am. he loves his chocolate chip cookies. the puppy-dog-tails (little cinnamon rolls) looked yummy but the 2x i've had them, MUDBUTT!!! something fishy going on there...

saw the Roe Family Singers last night with JL in the nordeast, they're totally great. and Gnome is right, 331 club makes a fantastic grilled cheese. in worse news, found out that the blinding flash at Washington/Bway is a police camera, i think it caught me turning right on red without stopping TWO DAYS in a row. terrified of huge tickets and higher insurance. whateva. wish i'd mentioned it after hanging out on sunday so i wouldn't have done it monday. but really, who wants to loiter at the corner next to the strip club when you can SEE incoming traffic to know if you need to stop on the red? grrrrrrrrFuck.

and now I need to get my ass into the kitchen. also need to shower (ummmm it's been a few days) and do a bit more cleaning before the girls come over. entertaining is such a good excuse to clean this place up; i should have people over every week!!!

palak paneer: yummy in my tummy

2005-09-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

ran errands (well, walked) this morning: to Bill's Imported Foods for lots of greek stuff, and home, and then back to Theatre Antiques, for postcards, and then Rainbow Foods, and now back home. Suddenly it's 1pm and all i've had is yogurt—STARVING. seemed like a good time to try the Amy's Organic Palak Paneer with kidney-bean dal and basmati rice. Who Knew that organic, light, micro-dinner indian could be so good?! and it seems like a heckuva lot of food for about 260 calories. i am exceedingly happy. i want to dance but I might barf spinach cheese if i don't wait a few minutes. if only we had THESE growing up instead of Night Hawk "chopped sirloin" micro entrees! i mean, i loved them at the time, especially the weird coagulating "gravy" that came out of the steak, but I think generally my childhood eating habits are my demise now...

and now I have all the food I need to make my Greek extravaganza for Ladies' Night tomorrow! appetizers will be pita with baba, tsatziki, cucumber-tomato salad, garlic-stuffed olives, and hot sopressata. entree is a chicken-bulgur-apricot phyllo pie, with spinach and feta stuffed portabellas on the side. and i picked up the delicious Pecan Blossoms that Bill's makes. lucky, lucky ladies!

next for today: write thank-yous for the three guys at PE#1 I interviewed with on weds. both as a forget-me-not and to acknowledge their time, etc. that's what the antiques stop was for. I found three random vintage cards, which i'll write on and possibly add weird japanese-character stickers onto the front of before mailing this afternoon.

after that i think i have to do some time in the apartment. i don't know how the recycle fills up so fast, especially the cans. it's not like we have green bean casserole every night. i guess i've been having a diet rootbeer almost daily as an afternoon treat, so it's probably a lot of A/W. no gym for me today, my body is sore and tired so i think that must mean a break is in order! maybe i'll spend a half-hour stretching and then i'll be good to go tomorrow...

Nico: Mama's little terror

2005-09-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Nico about drove me to murder last night. It was after Adam finally came home, and we'd had dinner, and watched The Usual Suspects, and he'd packed. We were getting into bed, and she started doing Every Annoying Thing in her repetoire once the lights flicked off:
Clawing the mattress by me
Jumping onto the nightstand, which has breakables
Clawing the mirror on the bedroom door until she's shut in
Howling incessantly
Racing around the house, wide-eyed and pufftailed
Bringing in her rattle-mouse and playing like crazy
Clawing the wicker hamper
Did I mention howling?

All the time adam's sighing and turning in bed. It's after midnight and he needs to be ASLEEP with all this pitch-stuff going down in the next day or two. I keep having to snap at her, call her, go steal/hide her rattle-mouse, everything. It just totally sucked and went on for a half-hour. I feel bad, obviously she just had a lot of energy and didn't want to come to bed yet, but she was really making me insane... I felt like a real jerk when I stole the rattle-mouse but it was going to keep adam up longer and she'd probably wake ME with it three or four times since i'm a light sleeper.

Anyway, daddy's little girl is now curled in my lap as I type, just chillin' like a good kitty. It's like "cuddle all day and run all night". Crazy-maker!

my left foot

2005-09-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

wow, totally a great movie. daniel day lewis is just The Best character actor.

rainy sunday

2005-09-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

mmmmkay.
so I did make it to the gym this morning, tried out the new running shoes (thank you Jesus, so flippin awesome) and did a little rowing machine. now i have little blisters butting up against my left-hand fingers. ugh. but liked the rower for cardio.

after a shower, up to NE for brunch at the Sample Room with jolynn. i had the eggs benedict (good, especially since you can get a beautiful big mixed fruit salad instead of potatoes) and she had malted mini-waffles and homemade sausage patties. all were delish. and the coffee was good, and the waiter brought a 5" square hunk of cornbread coffee cake once we ordered. fANTASTIC. $15 well spent. afterward, I didn't find anything at Everyday People's NE store, which is fine by me. after that JL's dad came in to town and we three sat on the porch with her kitty Otis and enjoyed the light rain and the radio coverage of a Vikings game.

and now, home. was tempted for some weird reason to rent an epic old movie (gone with the wind? doctor zhivago?) but think i'll watch "My Left Foot" if only to get it out of here and keep the netflix queue moving. was thinking of sewing until I started with the afternoon wine; have no desire to stitch through my left thumb at this point. had a nice chat with Lauren (hey girl!) who's coming through in 2wks with her boyfriend, on her way from alaska to her parents' place in St. Lou. will be awesome to see her, has been too long! and she still hasn't met adam!

off to the couch with the kittes for Movie Afternoon.

where were we?!?!!

2005-09-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so we were going to brunch today at Grand Bakery (at 38th) and saw no line at Victor's Cuban, which supposedly has an awesome brunch. dropped in to try, and…what's going ON, why is that place so overrated? adam got some bean-smothered tortilla and eggs thing, and it was kinda flavorless?! i had a cuban sandwich, which was fine. but there must be something we're missing? it's low on the list of brunch places thusfar, actually. but why do they love it so?
confusion...

and then, Mall of America! oh yeah. we got there with another 5million people who decided it would be a great rainy-day destination. jeez. anyway, as I said this morning, I needed good running shoes now that I run on the indoor Y track, and went to famous footwear hoping to spend $40. however there was this pair of asics that fit SO AWESOMELY (i like a good, flexible-soled running shoe; why are so many stiff feeling?!) and they were also an "Editor's Choice" for Runners Magazine, according to a sticker on the box. SO i sprung the $80. my knees are worth it, damnit. also pertaining to my hardcore workout schedule, we popped into the apple store and I finally bought an ipod-arm-band thingie. didn't want to spend $30 but sick of holding my broke-ass case in my hand until it's nearly soaked through with sweat. not to mention that stuffing the whole thing in my sportsbra/tanktop during weightlifting looks totally gay. so i'm Totally Ready for the Y tomorrow. yes, God may have rested on sunday but not me. I am forReal seeing results. 5 pounds and i swear my arms are toning and my love-handles MIGHT be getting smaller. even if they're not, so long as i FEEL they are i'm happy! i haven't felt a positive/sexy body-vibe in so long, now it's infectious.
happiness...

and H&M. it's good. Real Good. (yes, i know the grammar issue there, i just like to say REAL GOOD sometimes. it's got more power.) i actually only shopped in about 1/5 the women's area because a) I got disheartened when the men's section was so tiny and b) i'm trying not to spend money (see Fri entry about Opitz for broken non-spending promises) and c) it was so crowded they had a line to get in when we left. SO adam and I snuck to a corner mirror in the empty kids' section and tried things on there. PS use the NY trick: wear a little tanktop and skirt in, then you can try on ANYTHING (jeans etc) in a corner of the floor and not have to wait 30 min for a dressing room. I almost grabbed a skirt to take off my jeans under and try on these cool pants, but then realized the pants would probably not fit and they were fortybucks so why bother. but i did get a superhot sweater and a belt and earrings.

the sucky parts of MoA: strollers EVERYWHERE, those big ones people rent at the mall to run you down with. it's like a story in the NYT this weekend about SUV strollers in manhattan. also I realized we should stop into Sephora so I could pick up my signature scent before I run out. only to find out that Le Feu d'Issey Light was "discontinued two years ago"?! WTF I was sooooo mad. i have since found it online, probably Macy's sad-ass old stock that's changing scent as we speak, but I don't care. i love that shit. what a bummer.

wow I should wrap this up b/c the thunder outside is getting really nasty.

JP american bistro was great. we sat in the winebar and shared calamari before adam had a pizza and I had a sushi-grade barely seared salmon with grilled avocado. it was all FANTASTIC and since all from the apps menu, rather cheap! i would highly reco to anyone in the 'hood.

anyway, love to my peeps and have a good sunday! hopefully i'll be thrifting with Jolynn after the gym and brunch at the Sample Room in NE. poor adam has to work from 10 through dinner. but his presentation is tuesday in LA (and that's not Leigh Ann the Gnome). so things should be improving once he's back.

notes to flush out later

2005-09-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

god forbid I forget to share any important notes on the Mall of America with you guys. we're about to run off to dinner at JP's American Bistro, but in the meantime, just to get you guys PUMPED, here are talking points to look forward to: MoA: H&M, feu d'Issey, running shoes, ipod case, sexy, strollers. Also brunch at Victor's 1959 cuban cafe. and PS gas prices are going up again! so glad i filled up for 2.39/per yesterday, now it's .30 higher! DAMN.

mall-bound

2005-09-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

it's disgusting out today: cold muggy rainy. was hoping to do bike riding but that was obviously ridiculous after waking up. I actually made it to the Y this morning (so rare on a weekend, any time in my life i've tried to get in shape) and the gym was icky-muggy. it made the elliptical torture. need to buy new running shoes before I pound the track again; i keep feeling shinsplints coming on. which i might just do today (buy shoes that is) once adam's up.

plan for after brunch: Mall of America. oh yes. a few reasons: i hate to pay full price for running shoes and i know there's a famous footwear there. secondly: H&M just opened yesterday and adam's ready to roll. also might get my eyes checked at the "independent optrician" at lenscrafters, with my AAA card I think i get a good discount and my glasses haven't seemed good enough for night driving now that we're back in car culture. and besides, camp snoopy!!!

in jane magazine last night I read about this amazing deodorant spray that works for a week. really. they tested it and said, true enough, the sweat is totally blocked and just gets channeled out of your body somewhere else (kidneys, etc) and isn't harmful to health. and since no moisture, no stinky! AMAZING, right? it's british and can be purchased at www.odaban.com for $14. I should get my shipment in 21 days, so i'll tell you all about my beautiful non-stinky pits when it comes.

mmmmmChili

2005-09-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite things to do is "wing it" in the kitchen. usually this involves half-using a recipe and half making it up as I go along. anyway, we had two leftover hamburgers from last night's dinner and I decided to try and turn them into chili. i will admit that usually when I make chili, i grab one of those spice packets (either the little cellophane-wrapped boxes or the tiny brown bags). however, from making enchilada sauce last month I have a huge tub o' chili powder. so I decided to let loose, see if i could figure it out, and boy did i ever!

in saucepan:
2 small/medium leftover hamburgers, crumbled
6 oz. can tomato paste plus 2 6oz. cans water

(heat until smooth then add:)
1/4 cup chili powder
pinch cumin
fatt dash oregano
regular dash hot paprika
salt and pepper

(try, then add spicy to taste:)
cayenne pepper (i used a hot pepper sauce as I didn't have cayenne, worked fine)

(simmer covered around 15 minutes. should be thick and have lots of spare sauce if you only used two hamburgers. at this point I stirred in a can of black beans, and heated gently until done. if you use more hamburger you don't need the beans.)

AND IT'S SO GOOD! so now the decision is: do we have it with mac/cheese for Chili Mac, or do I make the four-cheese potatoes au gratin I was forced to buy yesterday by the endcap sale? chili mac will blend better, but it could be something special over toasty-baked gratin taters. i'll leave the decision up to adam. and a side salad and a beer will end me for the night! wheeeeee.

bad kitty-mama

2005-09-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

man. just got home from a nice afternoon of fun errands, only to Totally Offend the kitties. apparently they can smell sushi on my hands and are very jealous. i don't even remember touching any fish for god's sake! those little hunters have some serious schnozzes. the sushi was from Lund's, and not bad for a takeout smorgasbord under $10. that was my post-workout treat today and totally solved the craving i'd been having for a couple of days.

then, out to the liquor store. have been craving american rieslings lately (not german, ugh, unless we're talking after dinner) and picked up some sake as well. was tempted to get the "mountain man" but I don't really need the two-gallon bottle open in the fridge, being the only drinker AND trying to cut back.

and then, totally blew my wadd at the opitz/ hooray for flaws outlets on Excelsior. i found some super-awesome stuff. i didn't set out to spend so much ($115-ish isn't great for the unemployed lady) but a couple of things were a fantastic 90% off, so the quality was good and they were fantastically cute. ended up with a snug winter sweater, hot-shit blouse, gay-pride bolero jacket, crocheted skirt, and $3 supersoft fuschia Camp Beverly Hills tshirt. oh and a sheer waffle-weave sweater. so overall i did pretty well even if I went on a little shopping spree. NO MORE SHOPPING until i get a job. unless that's another season and then i'll make more excuses.

screw hooray for flaws, hooray for weekends! i miss my fiancee (i had to erase "boyfriend" bc i'm still not used to this gay term) since he's ALWAYS at work. apparently he's working sunday, and then flying out monday, coming back wednesday on the am red-eye. busy little monkey better come HOME to MAMA from that red-eye; if they expect him to go to the office i'll storm in with UglyJuice's glock!

2005-09-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

i have never been a huge sleeper and have considered myself a morning person for years. so i have no idea why i now sleep in until 10:30 EVERY DAY but it's making me nervous. in addition I have nothing interesting to share this morning.

so yesterday I went to the Y with Abby, new neighbor-friend, and Body Pump killed her. I hadn't done BP in a while so I took it slightly lighter than normal, and honestly, I could have kept going. If Abby weren't there I would have tried the Step class afterward... What a good feeling! I just hope I find a way to keep up the exercising and eating healthily once I get a job... If that ever happens ;)

adam continues to work late all the time, leaving me hours to kill in the early evening. this week i've taken to putting the rabbit ears up and seeing what I can find. Often it's simpsons from 6-7. but i feel a little odd about the TV thing. we haven't watched in so long (i haven't had TV in an apartment for 3 years) that I feel guilty. not that watching netflix is better, but at least it's something you've picked rather than anything you'll settle with. but OH well. not like crappy rabbit-ear TV is going to take over my life, so I don't know what my problem is.

2005-09-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

we ate burgers at home tonight (yum) and watched the newest netflix catch, Wayne's World. It's actually funnier than I remembered. sweet.

pie-hole

2005-09-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

so as anyone in the MSP area knows, some crazy shit went down last night. around 7 adam still wasn't home and i turned on the TV once i noticed in EW that "top model" was on. but they started the interruptions immediately: 50 mph winds, 3/4 inch hail, thunderstorms like hell... i call adam and he's like "come pick me up, but don't leave for 10 minutes." grrrr. then in 5 more minutes, the entire area has a serious tornado watch... and he calls me to tell me, and i decide i don't want him stuck downtown and we probably have 20 minutes before the tornados hit, so I hop in the car and fetch. it was TOTES crazy out. there were lawnchairs in the middle of the street downtown, you could barely see through all the wind and rain, i was getting scared. finally got adam and some other girl from his co. who lives in our 'hood and brought everyone home to safety. i didn't realize they had OKLA weather up here!!! it's like my childhood. crazy.

after the interview yesterday i passed out for two hours and then answered phone calls from marie, mom, jolynn, and ginger asking how it went. It went Well!! Talked to mom for a while, she'd just gone to the doctor who asked her to start walking 15 miles a week to try and lose a bit of weight! yea. i want her to be healthier and around forever too, but it's hard to make those kind of suggestions. we're more the "live and let live" kind of family, not in each others' business if we're not needed. i mean: we're all friends, but nobody's going to give anyone shit for anything. which is why we don't talk politics ;) i mentioned i'd been working out at least three times a week, and eating a little less, maybe she'll pick that up too? in any case i'm down to three pounds lost, total, in not that long. and far from starving myself. it's nice to never feel sick-full. i have lived a life of shoveling food into my pie-hole until now, and am pleased to be changing that habit. i get full so much easier. it's cool.

very few plans for today. the girlie of our new "couple-friends-around-the-corner" is coming over in a half-hour and we're hitting "Body Pump" at the Y. haven't been in a couple of weeks as i've been doing my own thing more (machines and track) so i'm sure i'll feel like a novice too. hopefully the openfaced "Egg OverEasy on Toast" breakfast will settle down 'cause it's hard to imagine doing anything athletic right now...

Adam left this up on the computer about our Prez returning to his alcoholic past!!! Right on.

interview review

2005-09-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

sooooo it went fine. the HR guy was really nice, the other guy i met was really nice and super-into my book, the only one i had a hard time reading was P.Boss#1. which kinda sucks. not exactly sure what he thought of me, didn't feel much of a "connection" with him. his group does a lot of stuff I had no idea about, some of which is interesting. however they apparently keep many people on perma-lance like my last employer, which i would prefer to avoid. but somehow, the freelancers do get insurance? it's all weird, i don't know. another good thing was that the HR guy made it clear there were lots of other departments hiring, and if one of those seemed more appropriate than my contact (PB#1) i could end up there. basically they just want a good fit, which is what i'd want too. when the HR guy and I talked about freelancing I said it would be great to work 4 days/week and he seemed amenable to that. HOW COOL would that be? i wasn't sure where to put my salary requirements, since the market is obviously different than NY. SO i put a freelance rate around 18% higher than i'd been making in NYC, and the salary rate around what I ended up making freelance once you take out all the vacation, sick, holiday days that add up. HR seemed very nonplussed, which is cool. maybe i should have pushed for MORE!!!!!!!

so we left it that the three guys would meet up and talk behind my back and then i'd hear back soonish, for more interviews or different interviews or a short-term freelance gig if i'm willing. we'll see. one good thing seemed to be the hours (out at 5 but in at 8, which could actually help the morning bathroom situation) but it certainly looked corporate, with cubicles and fancy clothes everywhere, blocking the sunlight.

so.....we'll see.

funny things at the rilo kiley/coldplay concert

2005-09-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

* why does everyone dress in their best "heartbreaker ho" outfit to go out in this city?
* coldplay wishes they were U2 or Radiohead. tough break, guys.
* that singer dude sweats a ton and his pants don't fit.
* the girl two rows in front of me had a hair scrunchie on. I SWEAR.
* i think the guy who jumped onstage and grabbed on eventually got tasered. NICE JOB, LOSER.
OK, time for the beauty sleep. btw I don't know if Melissa has a blog, sorry.

why Melissa is a ho

2005-09-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

so REL had the fortune to cross paths with a girl from my art schoool, and asked what I thought of her. Melissa blows just enough that she gets her own blog retrospective. however, seeing that it must be easy for these thigngs to be found (ie, PISSED OFF IN NYC) there's no need to include her name or current status in life.

My first encounter with Melissa was in a color class our Sophomore year. almost everybody else in the class had buddies, but I was a transfer student and didn't really know many people. anyway, i plunked down at a table with three girls. I think i'd met Cheree, who was also a transfer and is a super-awesome girl. (we later lived together in NYC!) And then there were the two Melissas at the table. Anyway, those two chatter about sorority shit and whatnot, and class goes on. Eventually The Melissa pulls a pack of gum out of her purse and proceeds to have a piece, and then offer one to melissa, and then offer one to Cheree. There were only four of us at the table! It was the weirdest, rudest-mannered thing i'd ever seen. You'd think i'd f'd her dad for pete's sake! Anyway, that was just an example of what a classy horse-faced rich sorority girl she was.

The other Melissa story i will share is that she eventually became a photography major, and it seemed like her only subject was nudes... of HERSELF! my god, woman. she had these huge, gross boobs to match the rest of her and they seemed to always be posted in the hallway of the art school. WTF, man? use a cute friend! cover that shit up!

anyway, that rich broad must have used her contacts well because she now has what might be a cool NYC job.

i know i said you wouldn't hear from me

2005-09-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

but some crazy shit is going down. i turned on the feature where new comments get emailed to me, so i would no longer miss anything (party invitations, etc) posted in aging entries. so get this—i got a CRAZY comment just now on an old-ass post. MMMMM, sorry girl! Get'em tiger! That kid is in TROUBLE!!!!!

on fire

2005-09-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

i just went through my portfolio and now i'm feeling GOOD. i CAN talk about this shit like i have a head on my shoulders. tomorrow will be FUN.
you guys may not hear from me until the afternoon, as i should crash after tonight's concert, the interviews start in the morning, and then i have a recap lunch with adam. WISH ME LUCK!

2005-09-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

slept in. again. figure i have to get up early tomorrow for the interviews, and we may be out late tonight at a concert, so i should get as much sleep as possible today. might take a nap after i finish this bowl of Kashi actually. hehe. we got offered tickets to join a guy adam works with and his ladyfriend for the coldplay concert tonight. not a huge coldplay fan, and i already saw them once at Radio City, but it's a good excuse to hang out with a new couple. we will be accompanied by a media rep, who is the provider of the tickets. ahhhh the old media life. i miss all the free shit adam used to bring home.

did a trial run of Interview Outfit this morning down to accessories, and it looks good. now need to choose a handbag to match, down in the tubs in our basement storage. now wonder i never change purses anymore... today i'll go through my book and think about the projects, what i learned, what i would change, what i'm looking for, what my Special Purpose is, all that shit. i've been saying i'd do this for a week and now that it's officially the Last Minute, hello it is. ugh.

a little sore from my workout yesterday. i have fully embraced the running track in favor of cardio machines. i also tried lots of weight machines i'd never done before. i mean—they have instructions for a reason. (reason being: so I can look like a flippin idiot while i stare at the instructions for five mins.) i did this asshole thing though and cut the corner too close on the track and took a big whack at my left elbow with the wall there. it's mmmmmm-more painful than i'd like.

random note for those who have New Yorker access: adam and i both REALLY enjoyed "The Secret of Z" in the sept. 19th issue.

just found out adam is going to be in LA on monday and tuesday nights next week. can anyone say "ladies' night"? watch for an email... ah, CokeLynn already found it and is removing her clothes AT WORK in anticipation. as Paris would say... "Hot."

times select kicks in...WTF?

2005-09-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

screw them. if they think we're gonna pay $50/year for their op-eds and early access to the magazine they've got another thing coming. they already have ads on every single page for fukk's sake.
but anyway, I love bill clinton. You tell that asshole president!

hit me with your best shot

2005-09-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

how am I ever going to get used to getting out of bed for work again? i really didn't mean to sleep late today, but didn't have an alarm set and after being awake for that hour around four, i JUST got up now. it worries me. i was even sleeping through the alarm when it was going off for adam. four months of unemployment is a Long Time.

becoming slightly less excited about weds interviews with PE#1. job sounds more on the Business, less on the Art end than i'm used to, though it's got some combination of both. i can tell my connection doesn't think it would be the right fit. adam's worried that i'm settling too. so why stress? if I get an offer, i'll consider it but i'm not exactly a desperate housewife here... it's nice to realize I have skillz and they can woo ME if they want. i realize i'm just really scared to try something new (ie, agency environment) which i picture being very different from what i'm used to. i spent my first year in NYC as a slave and have no desire to work slave hours for slave pay ever again. i know this is weird, but large corporate life agreed with me, in a way. mild to moderate stress, great pay, 9 to 5ish, rewarded for punctuality and speed. i learned to love coming home at 5:30 and making an amazing dinner and rarely if ever stressing about work once 5pm hit. so basically, i'd like to find the same job again, but with different work, and more responsibility. I'm afraid an agency will never be like that. would i learn to love the work enough to throw myself in for longer hours? maybe! aaaaaa fuckIdon'tknow. i know it's my decision alone and nobody can really help me out here, i'm just trying to puzzle my way through this foreign Job Search thing.

we finally started talking about the wedding last night. we're both getting more excited. found one spot that's super-awesome but quite small (like 36 rooms, most being bungalows on a cliff) so would require serious planning ahead and hyper-early room reservation commitment by friends and family. but it's adorable and cheap and with fairly easy mainland access. mostly it's the first place i've gotten excited about but i'm sure there are tons more cute places. we also started the list which needs serious trimming. which is a painful thing to do when we're talking about our own friends. and HAHA i guess i should eventually start looking at bridesmaid shit... don't worry, your best interests will be in mind. and adam needs to figure out his groomsmen so i have a definite number to match. wow so much to do. i love that with a destination wedding we won't have to or even be able to obsess about every detail. i have no desire to over-art-direct my own wedding. just make it pretty and not like Trista's Horror In Pink!

and not to make this Bridget Jones's Diary, but that slightly-different eating habits thing may be working. I think i lost about a pound and a half in the last week and a half. and with very, very little effort. i even had a huge pile of pasta last night with mushrooms and cream sauce. but the slight movement might inspire me to cut another 100 wine calories a night!!! especially now that i'm starting to imagine being on the beach and everyone else taking pictures of the newlyweds! if that's not incentive I don't know what is!

BOW DOWN i said.

2005-09-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

up with a little indigestion, not to mention my dream just ended with me realizing all that cotton candy i'd been inhaling was asbestos. anyway, so I rolled over, nico jumped up into the bed, moments after we both settled I...ahem... well, let out a bit of gas... JUST as a huge piece o' lightning lit up the sky! Out of Nowhere. there was No Storm before. now nico and I may both be a little convinced that my farts CREATE lightning and thunder. just call me Zeus-Ass. i guess that would make adam Jeez-Ass. SNORT. now back to bed to decide what to do with my newfound powers!

bone thuggz and dinosaurs

2005-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

man. somehow I missed what sounds like a cool party last night. Happy birthday to the birthday boyz. I would have totally been there, even if it took a barfbag, had I actually rec'd the invite. what a bummer. YOU KNOW i love a party.

expertise in self-tanner

2005-09-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

yes, working for a large cosmetics company has its perks. in response to a recent email, i will share my knowledge of self-tanners. the funny thing is, i don't usually use the ones at my old job. they're not bad, just a little pricey. they used to have a weird smell but i think they've been reformulated. so here's the rundown:
my pale friends who are bad at applying self-tanner love the towlettes. Lauder makes a good version for face and for body. They're light, but build realistically according to Cheree.
Personally my favorite is Coppertone Endless Summer. It's in a seafoam two-chambered bottle and the tan begins to show quickly enough that if you're paying attention, you can maneuver any heavy spots before it's too late. this summer i've been using Loreal Sublime Bronze tinted self-tanning lotion, which has sparkly bronzer. that's kinda gay, but it helps to see where you've applied and where you haven't. the tan is nice and realistic, and the medium-deep IS nice and deep. however it's easy to mess up and leave streaks, and since it's dark, that can be a problem. i consider myself a semi-expert in application of self-tanners, but have effed this stuff a few times this summer. nothing like being out with people you don't know that well and looking down to find a huge seam on your shin. COOL.

bruegger's sucks

2005-09-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

ok, i officially understand the NY bagel thing now. i guess i was spoiled and didn't realize that NY bagels are as unique as everybody says they are. after adam left for a tennis date (so cute in that pleated skirt, hon!) i packed the current New Yorker (which is GREAT so far) and headed down lake. there's a point near Lund's where a bagel face-off takes place daily, with Bruegger's on one side, and Einstein's on the other. I was coming from the Bruegger's side, and they had space in the parking lot, so the choice was easy. Besides that I dated the one-time CEO of Einstein's and New World Coffee for a month in New York, and though he's departed the company (with scandal over finances, might i add) I'd rather not go there. Anyway, my bagel at Bruegger's was super-small, weirdly toasted (it looked like one of those people who have huge cysts all over), so un-chewy it was like a roll, and with almost no discernable cream cheese. I almost took it back up to the counter to pull a New York Bitch, but then realized: "hey, maybe this is what midwesterners think bagels are supposed to be like." i finished it in disgust and vowed never, ever to go there again. the next time sveta offers to bring frozen bagels from NYC, I will thank her and accept graciously!

spamBgone

2005-09-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

sorry folks, i'm converting to word verification. spam is just too annoying. and i'd hate for someone to click through and get some nasty porn-launching trojan horse or something.

it is so nice to wake up and feel like a human. nothing like a hangover to remind me how wonderful and fragile my body is. that was a bad one, too. i slept in 'til one and didn't feel right until 6!! WTF?! me body seems to be getting older. and i don't think i'd actually been out until three since I was like 22. bowling was fun. elsie's was a blast, it was all glow-in-the-dark, fun music, just what you'd expect.

anyway, yesterday I did basically nothing. i moped on the couch and ate a taco salad and some leftover ham, even turned the TV on and fiddled with the rabbit ears and watched some bad movie called Jimmy Hollywood. Later in the night we watched Pooty Tang, which wasn't as funny as I might have hoped. Also I was stone-cold-steve-austin, and a little something in my system might have enhanced the Tang. however, was still on the road to recovery.

think adam's got a tennis date today. not sure what i'm up to... maybe start pinning that pattern on my striped fabric. and I need to run through the portfolio with adam in preparation for wednesday morning. otherwise it's hella beautiful so... get out and enjoythe weekend!

back to the couch

2005-09-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

bowling good. beer hangover sucks.

chillin'

2005-09-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

munching on some cold vietnamese leftovers (imperial lemongrass tofu), just back from the gym and some errands. finally went into that recycled clothing store on hennepin, something "people", with a main location in dinkytown. found a pair of jeans/trousers! no way. had almost given up. and under $20. i mean, i already had one pair that fits but i kinda hate them. i get so frustrated that all jeans seem to be made for a 12-year-old-girl body type. and how do i have so many girlfriends who ARE that body type?! and i'm more 27-year-old curvy latina body type. WHERE THE EFF did that come into my genetic makeup?! ARGH. but all's well, i worked out, did some weights, feelin' good. might even shower!!!
bowling double date tonight with new prospective friends. they're the "connection" couple from last tuesday, c/o jolynn. but not bryant lake, thankfully somewhere we haven't been in the nordeast.
my kitties are peering at me from the hallway. cute little stalkers. i love them. it must be really hard for adam to leave in the morning, with me still curled up with two adorable little hairballs (okay, so it's really three hairballs, you may as well include me in that term) while he goes off to work. :( but hopefully i'll soon join him in the un-fun land of unemployment. go team!

supergirl

2005-09-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

why do i hate going to the gym when it's NOT BAD once i'm there?! silly me. did the elliptical until i hated it and then ran on the indoor track for about a mile. i LOVE indoor tracks. my knees don't hurt. and i get to watch boys playing basketball... and today, two cuties boxing! i felt a little guilty, though... they must have been 17, 18. i forget how old I am these days-27! sheesh.

whoooo hooo

2005-09-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

new interview scheduled, midday next wednesday. MUUUUUUCH better.

Misses' Raja Dress

2005-09-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

the worst thing is when you're finishing an entry and it disappears. you'd think you'd get used to it, but that never seems to happen.

missed the window of opportunity for my early-ass interview. by the time i RSVP'd that slot was taken. waiting for another one to be scheduled. rats. i would like to have a job BEFORE halloween as that's my favorite workday of the year. i would like to ALWAYS be in costume, personally.

dinner last night was good. it felt very autumn. nothing like baked ham. and the guiltfree chocoCake turned out pretty good. so glad i finally bought a new saucepan. heats quickly, steam doesn't escape so rice doesn't burn, cleans easily, all that for $15. why did i torture myself for 6 years again?!?

weird dream last night involving Big Time Attic as competitive swimmers. Shad didn't look very different in a swimcap, to my memory. the dream must be linked to a party i heard about through the grapevine. i'm sure they would rather me NOT come, as Shad is astute enough to realize i would get alcoholic on their asses and walk around talking about how comics are for gayrods. but check out their just-finished true science epic, which looks pretty cool...

had better get my arse to the gym today. the only semi-exercise i've had this week is the 20 minutes i spent trying to learn the Napoleon Dynamite dance. between the crowd shots and the extreme speed of ND, that is hard shit and I didn't get very far. i tried to show adam and brett what i'd learned after dinner and it was such a pitiful, embarrasing moment.

don't have fabric for the new patterns, but picked up fabric last week that will be great for a new project. Have been hording the McCalls 1968 pattern for Misses' Raja Dress in Three Lengths including Transfer for Embroidery. Have a great vertically-striped fabric (actually a huge tablecloth sample) that i think i'll make the midlength (short dress) with. No embroidery this time...

daft punk is playing at my house, MY HOUSE!

2005-09-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

feelin' good this morning. took that foreverLong scrubadelic shower yesterday including lots of mowing. eeps i sure needed it. and applied self-tanner, which i must say I do a heck of a job at. so this morning i slept in to discover that i'm a tan little baby seal... well, a slightly larger baby seal, but you get the idea, FeelinGOOD. and it's really sunny and the sky is bright blue and the stucco across the way is LIGHTING UP the entire second bedroom. loverly.

music in my head and itunes and maybe your mix if you're getting one: LCD soundsystem (as mentioned in titile); dungen, ta det lugnt; jay-z, renegade (feat. eminem), thievery corporation, lebanese blonde. you may remember that last one from garden state, the trippy sexy song when they're going into the hotel to give the guy his gas tank and see some raw shit. it's a song that makes me feel like i'm floating into the scene, which around here means lazy kitties and plants that need watering. oh well :)

nice, mundane things planned for today. in a good way. besides some household chores and cleaning, i'm planning an early-fall feast tonight. our friend Brett is coming over, and so far i've got planned: Roast ham with pineapple-brownsugar-mustard sauce, green beans with portabellas, wild rice with dried cranberries and toasted almonds, dinner rolls and that chocolate cake from June F-bible, mentioned monday.

email from PE#1 lackey this morning to set up meeting, late next week from 7:30 to 8:30 am. OUCH. hope that's just 'cause the big dudes are busy, not b/c that's some kind of normal time for meetings. i actually met my last boss from 8:30 to 9:00 so i won't fret. and now i have a week to chill and enjoy the summer... or should i be sending out more resumes? nah.