Last Day!

Of NaBloPoMo!!!!! This was my first time participating and I truly had fun posting every day! Now onto December! I just convinced a guy I work with to go and pick up a pizza for me so I know it's definately going to be a great Friday!

Way Back....Back Into Time

Wouldn't you know my December is filling up faster than any of my other months this year, while November is still boringly plugging along. So today I give you pics of a sushi making night Danny and I had a while back. The lesson of the night was less is more as we put too much rice, fish AND cream cheese in these babies. Still very very tasty!

Blurbs

Here's what I did today:
• Woke up on the couch with Meatball with no alarm set. Thankfully I wasn't late! I was a little panicked when I saw it was light outside.

• Ate a Fizzix fizzy yogurt snack that I bought on a whim while grocery shopping at 10 pm. It's like a Go-Gurt without being horribly sweet, although you only feel the fizz in the first bite or slurp or whatever.

• Started reading a new book on my lunch break, Running With Scissors. So far it has been a fast read which is good when you only have 30 minutes.

• Watched ANTM. A part of me was really hoping Heather could manage her go-sees, but in reality she just couldn't do them. Hey, I would flip out if I had to find places in China, too! I don't even want to watch anymore that Heather's off, it's either going to be a stereotypical blond or black girl who wins. Hopefully she'll get some modeling gigs out of the exposure of being on ANTM.

London Ink

I tried to like this new tattoo spin-off that aired tonight on TLC. There's just no comparison to Miami Ink and LA Ink regarding quality of tattoos and personal stories of the customers. The narrator is dull and pronounces it "tut-oo". Louis Molloy is shop owner and famous for the huge backpiece on David Beckham of an angel with his head bowed. Along with him is grafitti style artist Dan Gold, japanese style New Zealander Nikole Lowe, and New Yorker Phil Kyle. After watching the premiere episode, I really like Dan Gold. He has had some hardships in the tattoo industry and his personal life and is striving to get better which I admire. He's somewhat of a ladies man, managing to tattoo a koi fish on a hot Britsh model. He's pretty cute with his glasses, spade neck tattoo and matching spade earring. Just disregard the teeth!

Blog Hunt

Here is my Swap-bot blog hunt. I had to find a blog that deals with:

Health issues - About.com:Women's Health

Children - Here in the Bonny Glen, blog by Melissa Wiley, author of The Martha Years books about Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother, Martha Morse Tucker, and The Charlotte Years books, about Laura's grandmother, Charlotte Tucker Quiner.

Spiritual issues - Roman Catholic Blog 12 years of Catholic school, baby.

Food (recipes, diets etc...) - Quarter Life Crisis One of my favorite blogs. It's not necessarily a food blog but she does post about food often and takes great pictures of food porn!

Free stuff - Mommy Saves Big I heart free samples!

Links to swappers:

Tamiknits Adventures in Crafting
Helenkosings's Weblog
Simone's Butterfly

Paws with Clause

Tonight I came up with the brillant idea to bring my crazy dog, Meatball, to have pictures taken with Santa. At the mall. With tons of other dogs. I ended up really enjoying the experience! It was a long wait (an hour) but they gave us numbers and called the number rather than waiting in line with a bunch of dogs sniffing each other's butts. Meatball was so cute slipping on the smooth tile floors and smelling all the other dogs. This event drew some hardcore pet owners because we saw a Great Dane, a lady with three Weimaraners, cats, and a little girl riding a PONY! Danny said what else can the girl ask Santa for? She already has a pony! So $20 later, we got 2 5x7's of Santa, Danny, me, and Meatball with his huge pink tongue hanging out. :)

Woot! Woot!

I stumbled across Woot! after seeing it on a couple different blogs. The concept is they offer one electronics/gadget/cool item every day at 12 am and when it sells out, it sells out. The items are deeply discounted and some are supposedly exclusive to woot.com. The site is cleverly written and they have a corresponding blog showcasing the items as well as a message board where people can post about the items they bought. Much like a grab bag, "random crap" is sold occasionally for a $1 plus $5 shipping and people post about what they got or how they got shut out of buying after all the random crap was sold out. Fun for nerds everywhere!

Black Friday

I avoid Black Friday. I love shopping.....by myself. I hate it when you are looking at a rack and someone starts looking at the same rack and bullies you out of it. I don't need flat screen TVs. So here's what I did today:

• Gave Meatball a bath. He's so furry and soft now!
• Watched Rachel Ray and Ellen which I never do. I could TiVo them but it's hard to know which one is good to tape since they are on every day. On Ellen that lady was out of control! Check out the website when she meets Mariah Carey.
• Saw Dan In Real Life. I was really excited to see this because it stars my two favorite comedians, Steve Carell and Dane Cook, but there were very few laugh out loud moments. It was very heartfelt and the pacing was so slow with so many minute details that I felt like I had just read a book. Which isn't a bad thing.

Happy Thanksgiving, now let me go to sleep.

I have to say, this Thanksgiving Eve night out was one of the craziest ever, in a not so good way. We decided to go to Lux in Akron, which was really nice but I would have been happier if it was not 18 and over. I don't want to get into it, but we saw a fight where someone got punched in the face, had to wait in cold rain for an hour for a cab, and a 100 lb Doberman pooped in the house on the carpet. Needless to say, I got 4 hour of sleep last night and I need to get some more!!!

ANTM China!

In The Girls Go To Shanghai, the contestants are pretty much getting used to China. Another pick on Heather incident where the girls leave Heather out of getting a bed. The prerequisite CoverGirl commercial for CoverGirl Queen and shoot. I'm glad they fed Heather her lines because of her disability, because I know some stars (ahem Jessica Simpson) need that help as well with no disabilities. Very predictably, Lisa choked on her lines and was sent home. Next up, my favorite favorite, GO SEES!

Lemon Bars Version 2.0

OK, here's the second attempt at my lemon bars. I originally had bought Krusteaz Lemon Bar Mix and tried the variation where you use cream cheese to make Amazing Lemon Cheesecake Bars. They came out miserable! I don't know what happened but the crust stuck to the pan, the cream cheese cracked down the middle and the sides browned while the middle stayed jiggly. I was so pissed off I looked up another recipe online from a blog and went to the 24-hour grocery store to get more ingredients. This recipe called for cardamom, so in my midnight stupor I bought a $12 bottle of cardamom to use a 1/4 of a teaspoon. I don't like how these came out either because the crust it too thick, but they're better than the original ones and made from scratch.

Update: I later learned that lemon bars are really hard to make from scratch so I feel a little accomplishment.

I don't like beer, but give me some cider!

It's always a big dilemma when I go out to a bar. What to order? I hate beer. Sometimes I feel funny ordering wine. I have to be in the mood for hard liquor. One night at The Boneyard, I noticed a funny looking beaver on the handle of one of the taps.

I asked the bartender what that was and they told me Woodchuck Draft Cider. I tasted it and was hooked. It tastes like a sparkling wine but looks like a beer. It's fun to go to bars and try the different brands of hard cider they have. So far I have also tried Wyders and Magners and my favorite flavor of Woodchuck is Granny Smith. :)

Shopping for Thanksgiving Eve

Every year we do a big night out on Thanksgiving Eve where we hit up the clubs and dress to the nines. Supposedly this is the biggest going out night of the year because most people have Thursday off and maybe even Friday. Danny told me to buy him a dress shirt because he didn't have time to get one himself. I ended up getting him a shirt that looks like this in a chocolate brown.

The brand is Alfani from Macy's and I must have gotten it on a one day sale because I got it for $19.99 and the website says $29.99. Yay!

November wedding

Today was Danny's cousin's wedding that I had been anticipating so much because this was the first wedding we are able to attend together in two years thanks to his new schedule. I had fun except for the fact of a terrible DJ who played bad songs and we had to leave a little earlier than everyone else. Here's a pic of the lovely fondant cake baked by one of Danny's aunts.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I finally finished this book! I had renewed it from the library FOUR times because I just couldn't find the time to read. Once I hit the halfway point, I finished it in 3 days. There's been tons of press and reviews on this book, but I do want to add that this a love story for people who don't like love stories. Niffenegger gives you the time and date throughout the book so you can keep up with Henry's time traveling, and once you get used to this system it is very easy to understand that he is 40 in the present and uncontrollably traveling back to the 80's to meet up with his future wife as a child. I actually reread the first two chapters after I was done to see all the events that are alluded to in the beginning that you could never understand without reading the whole book. I want to see what happens to Henry's daughter, Alba in her time travels. Maybe a sequel? In the meantime I am anxiously awaiting the movie version starring Rachael McAdams that is supposed to open in '08.

Don't talk to me

Today was a very exhausting day for me that involved driving to downtown Cleveland after work in pouring rain, getting stuck in rush hour traffic both ways and parking in a random downtown lot. I was a little early for my appointment so I stopped into Starbucks to waste time. I ordered the Holiday Gingerbread Cake because I didn't want to be stuck with a cup of coffee that I couldn't finish. I told the "barista" that I wanted the gingerbread cake. She replies "You can have it, but it's not gonna last long, that's how good it is." It took me a whole 5 seconds to understand what all these extra words were. Just give me the cake, I don't need your commentary about it girl!

Edit: Then I find this site which tells me that I just consumed 480 calories and 16g fat by eating that cake. Great!

Come on Heather!

The title of America's Next Top Model this week was called "The Girl Who Starts to Lose Her Cool". Obviously this was geared toward Heather, who screwed up the three sentences she had to say at the student designer fashion show at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. The girls were also picking on her at the house about something silly like using the showers. This led her to take weak pictures at the burning car photoshoot in the desert. Come on Heather, stay in the game! You can do it! I think she's absolutely beautiful and also brave for going on this show and talking about her Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism that impairs social interaction and emotional development. All of the judges love her which is a huge plus in her favor also. I can't wait for next Wednesday to see Heather do a Cover Girl commercial. I have a feeling it's going to be painful to watch!

Martha Stewart The Art of Weddings: Cakes

This show is from 2005 and I had already seen it, but I was sucked into watching it again. Featured is NYC's Sylvia Weinstock, the lady with the huge black round glasses, among other amazing cake designers.

The Office Present Dilemma

Last year was my first Christmas at my work. I didn't know how they worked the present situation on the last day of work before Christmas so I just bought presents for my two female managers. Well my desk filled up pretty quickly with presents from EVERYONE. I felt like an ass because I didn't have presents for all 8 people, but I didn't know and nobody told me. Well it's that time of year again and I'm debating how to do this office present thing cheaply this year. I turned to my favorite site, etsy.com and I came up with two options.


1. Gingerbread Body Lotion - Body Wash - Holiday Gift Set from seller aBreathofFrenchair. $6 x 8 people = $48 + Shipping USPS Flat-Rate box for $8.95 =$56.95

2. 15 hour Votive 3 Pack from seller gabrielsaunt. $12.50 x 3 sets = $37.50 + 6.50 shipping = $44 plus I get an extra candle since there is 9!

Option 2 is clearly cheaper but Option 1 doesn't have to be wrapped since it comes in a gingerbread gift basket. I think the price is still going to persuade me to go for option 2 and I will painstakingly wrap all those tiny votives. That's what Christmas is all about, right?

Congrats Chef Michael Symon

on winning the Next Iron Chef!. Finally someone from Cleveland has gained national recognition! I'll be rooting for Chef Symon on future Iron Chef episodes.

I went to Crocker Park today which is one of those lifestyle center malls which means that it is outdoors. It was raining and I got soaking wet! I had it in my head to go there so I didn't care that it was raining, I was on a mission for a black cartigan sweater to go with my dress. I failed miserably. I don't know what's up with fall fashions, but I hate everything! I went to Banana Republic, White House/Black Market, H&M and Urban Outfitters. If I even found a black cartigan, it was $30 and not exactly what I want. I am hoping to spend $15-$20. Why is this so hard!!!!!!! I am going to try again at some lower end stores. I WILLl triumph over the fall fashions!!!!!!!

Weird

Today I decided to take my dog on the long walk, the one where you come home sweating and need to drink a whole bottle of water to recover. While I was walking back, some guy in a SUV on the other side of the street yells to me, "Where's the high school?" First of all I was wearing headphones, my pajamas and being pulled by a crazy dog. I think it's on Mill Road I told him. Who does that anymore? With mapquest, gps, cell phones, who asks random people for directions? Just thought that was a little weird.

Fabulous Food Show

As a last minute thing I was able to go to this because Danny's restaurant was one of the booths in the Grand Tasting Pavillion and he was helping his chef do demonstrations. All of the food vendors were there giving out samples and while eating a sample of parmesan cheese with truffle oil, a chocolate filled pizzelle and then butternut squash filled ravioli I was thinking that I was going to pay the price later and sure enough, I had a stomach ache after it was all over. I also tasted about 7 different kinds of tomato sauces dipped in bread and had a wine flight of 6 diffrent wines. It was great to experience all that gourmet food in one place, but I wouldn't pay the $30.00 admission fee on my own accord. Rick Bayless was demonstrating last night in "Kitchen Stadium" (Danny and his other chef's nickname for the demo area) but I didn't sit down to watch because that was during my overdose on samples.

The Office: Survivor Man

While watching this episode of The Office, I blocked out the dumb antics Michael was doing in the wilderness and instead focused on Jim's birthday party saga. You have to actually work in an office to appreciate the huge dilemma that Jim was facing. He tried to combine everyone's birthday into one designated day and have one huge party. Everyone agreed because he was in charge, but deep down inside they all wanted their own special party with special cake and recognition. They wanted Michael singing "Happy Birthday" to them in a high pitched voice, no matter how silly it is.

Good times at the Wall

Unlike Dane Cook, I actually had a great experience today at The Wall (Wallgreens). I went in for mascara because mine is so old it's starting to make my vision blurry. The rack of Jane cosmetics caught my eye as they were buy one get one free. As I was looking at them the cosmetics cashier said "Can I help you with anything?" I'm thinking here we go, I'm about to get bothered. I said my usual "No, I'm just looking". She said to go to her to check out when I was ready. Along with the mascara I was deciding between LIpKick Ribbons and Liquid Lip Color because I really wanted a new lip gloss and it was FREE, but it's so hard to pick one from a drug store without trying it on. I opted for the Liquid Lip Color in Touchy because the LipKick Ribbon compact looked too bulky and two of the colors it contained I knew I would never wear. I went up to the cosmetics cashier and told her I was ready to check out. She was the most pleasant person ever, and she gave me FREE SAMPLES! She gave me a sample of Neutrogena Acne Stress Control, and perfume samples of Celine Dion's Belong, Britney Spears' Curious, and Flair by Revlon (which stinks already, I can smell it through the package). I was on a shopping high as I walked out of The Wall! And I paid $5.30 for everything!

Election Day

I voted. I really didn't care about electing the councilmen committee at large or whatever it is I voted for, but I wanted to make sure I was still registered and everything went smoothly. Now I know I'm good to go for the 2008 presidential election next year, which I feel is very important to participate in. Now I'm cold brrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Why is winter coming so fast this year?

Garnier Nutritioniste Nuti-Pure

For the past 2 years, I simply cannot bring myself to wash my face at night. I end up passing out on the couch and only have enough energy to trek to bed. I wear full makeup every day and need to get it off at night so I've resorted to using cleansing towelettes. I've used every brand out there and when I saw that Garnier Nutritioniste Nuti-Pure
was new, and with purchase you got Nuti-Pure Detoxifying Cream Cleanser for free,
I wanted to try them. The towelettes get most of the mascara off which the other brands fail to do. I don't wake up with raccoon eyes! I'm still getting used to the Cream Cleanser. The packaging and smell reminds me of a hair product, which is weird for me. Also, the cleanser leaves a gross soap scum in my sink. I don't think I would buy the Cream Cleanser again but I'm glad I got it for free!

The Next Iron Chef

With Top Chef over, I got hooked on The Nex Iron Chef on the Food Network to fill the void. One of the main reasons is because local Cleveland chef Michael Symon of Lola and Lolita is on it, and he just might win. Another reason is it was filmed at the Culinary Institute of America, where Danny went to college. He and I went for a vist this past February and I kind of recognize some of the rooms where the challenges were shot. I cannot stand judge Donatella Arpaia. She just reminds me of an ultra rich New York socialite with bad hair and clothes. And her website has this intro that takes forever to load, one of my HUGE pet peeves. Well, only one more week of her and then we find out who is THE NEXT IRON CHEF when Symon and John Besh battle! Ha ha ha my life is consumed by reality TV.

Stinky

Today Danny and I went to the Barley House in Akron to watch the Ohio State game and meet up with his cousins. I never had this happen to me before, but some guy sat next to me and he STUNK! We were all in a row at the bar and it just permeated though me the whole time I was there! Just thought I'd like to share that.

You came in with the breeze.....On Sunday morning

Last night I had rigatoni. But it reminded me of spaghetti. Which led me to think about the music video for No Doubt's Sunday Morning. Apparently my reminiscing about the 90's is still going strong. I revisited the video on YouTube and came to these conclusions:

1. Gwen's outfit is perfect from head to toe. Black quarter length sleeve cartigan sweater, leopard print skirt with black lace trim, leopard print platform shoes. She wore that in 1996, 11 years ago, and it is as stylish today as it was back then.
2. What's up with that guy in the swing? He's creepy.
3. I loved it when they started cooking spaghetti together but I felt a little unnerved when they started spilling it all over the floor and each other.

I might just need to pick up a leopard print skirt or heels now!



Update: I just bought it!!!!! I hope it fits!!!!!!

Sad

I'm kind of in a rut right now in my life. I'm so over my job, which I took as an act of desperation. I can't find a new job that I really like and believe me, I've been on interviews monthly for all of 2007. I think my sadness stems from when my family crumbled to pieces 3 years ago, and I just repressed my emotions instead of dealing with them. I know the whole world gets divorced, but it really hit me hard because I didn't see it coming. My loving family turned into two vicious sides, and I was forced to pick one. I picked my mom's side because I was living with her and my dad was forced out of the house with a restraining order. I couldn't pick my dad's side while living with my mom, there was just no way. My sister tried to do that and it was miserable with daily fights. That was the end of it with my dad and me. He said some of the worst things a father can say to their child. He said I never helped him, I picked my mom's side, and that he wasn't walking me down the aisle. That last bit struck a huge chord with me. I had been seeing my boyfriend for a year and getting to the point where I was imagining what it would be like to be married. To have your father tell you he's not walking you down the aisle!!! He also met this bitch that he moved in with literally one month after this all went down. My parents didn't get divorced until a year later. I remember I had to go to a MOTHER'S DAY breakfast with my dad's side of the family right after he met HER, and he brought HER to it, where we met for the first time. She looked like an uglier, skankier version of my mom. My grandmother defeatedly said "Do you mind if she's here?" I said no, but in my heart I was saying YES! I do mind! He's trying to replace my mom! I felt like I was watching a movie of someone else's life. My mom was to blame too but for some reason I can forgive her. I don't know why, but I feel compassion for her mistakes and the harsh words my father used on me leaves me numb to him. He left me alone for all of last year and recently he's starting to bother me again by calling and leaving messages. I just delete them without listening so I don't know what he wants. I can't let this hold me down and prevent me from making the changes I need in my life to make me happy. I hope something good comes my way soon.