What the Font!!!

Maybe it's a graphic designer thing, but I think fonts are awesome. The font I used up there in my new header is called Carpenter, and I love it because it looks eerily similar to my handwriting. I write really, really small and I make my "D's" exactly like that!

Fonts can also be frustrating when I need to copy a logo or something and have no idea what font was used. I discovered this website that has a feature called What The Font. You scan in a portion of the font that you need and the website instantly finds the closest matches in their database. Pretty cool, huh? If I don't find out the exact font, I usually get led in the right direction by finding close matches. I've used this about 5 or 6 times so far and it's saved me some time and aggravation.

There is one font that I absolutely hate with a passion - Comic Sans. If I see a website, business card or a restaurant menu printed with comic sans, I immediately think less of that person or establishment! It just looks so amateur, like the company just doesn't care about it's image. The name of the font says it all, that it's supposed to be used in comics! I know there are other people who feel the same about this because there's a website called bancomicsans.com!

Blurbs

• This is the first year I did my own taxes. Unfortunately I make less than 54,000 a year so I could do them online for free via the IRS website. From there you can choose whatever program you want so I chose H&R Block and it was pretty easy. Dumb state of Ohio still charged me $30 though!

• Danny and I decided we are going to go to Vegas the first week of March! I'm still in shock that I charged $500 to my credit card for the plane tickets! I've started researching restaurants and things to do online and reading reviews on Yelp, and there's just so many options.


• Turkey Hill Duetto Two Delicious - This is a very good substitute for Rita's. I tried the Lemon Ice with Vanilla ice cream. Don't ask why I'm eating ice cream in the dead of winter.



• Speaking of dead of winter, the gusting winds knocked over my neighbor's trash can sending garbage all over the yard. Of course there were grapes in there and of course Meatball ate some. Grapes are toxic to dogs! Now I'm going to be worried all day that Meatball is going to be sick.

They're finally collecting the RENT

I have a confession to make. I'm a RENThead. I've seen RENT 5 times - once in Columbus, 3 times in Cleveland, and last February I finally got to see it at the Nederlander theatre in New York. Last week I received an email that RENT would be ending June 1, 2008. It had a 12 year run and ticket sales are 50% and below so they decided to close it. I am so sad, I just assumed RENT would go on forever. The worst part is, I definitely can't make it to New York this year, and the tour isn't coming to Cleveland either! At least I was fortunate to see it as many times as I did.

Why do I love RENT so much? Even though there are gay characters, lesbians, a drag queen, characters who have AIDS, a stripper and drug addicts, I somehow relate to them in the fact that they are trying to live life to the fullest and love one other. The play is loosely based off the opera, La bohème. RENT'S most famous song, Seasons of Love, gives me chills every time I hear it because of the meaning and the incredible voices that sing it. All the other songs in the play are more pop than typical broadway songs, too. Every time I've seen RENT there have been different actors and it's cool to see how they interpret the characters, especially Maureen who has a crazy performance artist piece at the end of the first act where she involves the audience.
I have a feeling as popular as RENT is, it's far from over. Thank you Nikki, wherever you are now, for introducing me to RENT in Columbus and everyone else who I dragged with me to go see it.

Make Me a Supermodel

I really tried to like this show as a filler until the next season of America's Next Top Model. It just doesn't compare. Niki Taylor and Tyson Beckford don't have the charisma that Tyra has in terms of coaching and inspiring the models. Both guy and girl models compete against each other and live together causing MTV Real World style temptations and problems. As far as the judging goes, Niki and Tyson don't even have the final say as to who gets kicked off! You have to call in and vote American Idol style. Plus, this show is a spinoff of a British version starring Rachel Hunter! This show has a huge identity crisis, trying to incorporate too many reality TV elements.

Now let's talk about Niki Taylor for a minute. I found out on one of my favorites websites, The Vanishing Tattoo, that she recently got inked with a HUGE tattoo from just above her wrist to the middle of her forearm. I understand that she probably got it for personal reasons since she has had some turmoil in her life including the death of her sister, divorce, addiction to Vicodin and surviving a bad car accident. The thing is, she HIDES it! She is always in long sleeved shirts and dresses. At the beginning of last night's episode, she was wearing a red three-quarter length sweater which would have revealed the tattoo, but she had on a BLACK CUFF to hide it! My theory is, if you're going to get a tattoo that is permanently on your skin, especially in a spot like your arm where everyone can see it, then show it off. That's just my two cents. If you're ever bored at work, check out the celebrity tattoos at Vanishing Tattoo. You'll be suprised at how many celebrities that you would never think have tattoos have them. Angelina Jolie alone has 4 pages!

Sour Cream Raspberry Loaf

I have been trying out recipes since the weekend (Cardamom muffins - gross, Beer Bread - sour!) and my third attempt has given me something good. It's like the lazy man's version of putting butter and jam on some bread. It's all baked right in. I got the recipe from here, but I omitted using walnuts, and grated lemon rind because I didn't have any of either on hand. The recipe is very well written and easy. Yum!

Look Me in the Eye

It's cold here in Cleveland. 10 degrees. No, that's not the wind shield, that's the real thing. Since all I wanted to do was snuggle up with a blanket, I finished the book I was reading, Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison. I became obsessed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism, after watching my favorite model, Heather, on the last season of America's Next Top Model. Robison explains that as an Aspergian, he has huge problems making conversation and interacting with people, but over the years has learned what is "normal" and is happier now than in his childhood before there was a diagnosis. Another characteristic of Asperger's is that they learn as much as possible about a particular subject that interests them, making them an expert in that area. Robison became an expert at electrical engineering which led him to make special effect guitars for KISS and later work on electronic games in the 80's for Milton Bradley. It's interesting to get into the mind of someone who is mildly autistic; his writing is very logical and complete. And how many people can say they toured with KISS?

For more info, here's his blog, where you can see pictures of his family who are characters in the book. I love that he is so open about his life in the quest to help others with Asperger's.

Melt Bar and Grilled

Cleveland has cool little neighborhoods surrounding it and one of these is Lakewood. Melt Bar and Grilled opened in 2006 in Lakewood, and after reading rave reviews in the free magazines and Cleveland.com, Danny and I decided to check it out. Who wouldn't want to go to a place that served all different kinds of grilled cheese? Upon walking in the bar/restaurant, I immediately felt like a hipster. The place was packed with ecclectic people and the servers had piercings and wore their own clothes. Having moonlighted as a server myself, I would be overwhelmed by all those people in there but our server was very nonchalant and calm. On the walls they were hawking pretty handmade purses from crafter syrupskin, who has an etsy site. As casual and cool as the place was, the food was on point! I had the special for January, a homemade meatloaf melt sandwich with spicy chipolte ketchup and muenster cheese. Each slice of bread was about an inch thick and I asked to get their vegetable of the day, sugar snap peas with a spicy coconut sauce, instead of fries. Everything was amazing! Leave it to Danny to get the Parmageddon, a potato and cheese perogi sandwich! On the same thick bread was a huge, stuffed perogi with cheddar cheese. Talk about carb overload! They also offer appetizers and desserts including fried twinkies, but there's no way you have room for anything else since the sandwich portions are so big. Today I'm eating the rest of my sandwich and am back to being a dork. At least I was cool for a couple hours last night eating at Melt!