My Very Own Guitar Hero

Matt has very, very recently been presented with a rather incredible career/business opportunity. I don't know how much I'm at liberty to divulge (probably nothing) so I'm going to be intentionally vague about it. I'll just say that it's an opportunity for him to become a full time musician and be paid fairly for it, which is rarely heard of. His dream in life is to be a full time musician, and while this isn't exactly the glitz and glamor career of a touring rock band, it's still pretty damn good.

My man is great at what he does. He sings, he writes songs and lyrics, he plays the bass, guitar, piano. He's charismatic and charming. Sweet and funny. Audiences like him. My dad likes him. I mean seriously, he's the hardest to impress of all. I'm not just saying this because I'm married to him and I'm biased. (Even though I am.) I'm saying it because it's true. Ask anyone who's met him. He's talented and it's a waste for him to be managing a restaurant and making salsa day in and day out. He deserves to have his dream job. No, no. He has earned his dreams.

It doesn't come without some sacrifice though. Matt is going to have to tour and travel, more than likely for three or four week intervals at a time. Have you ever gone three weeks without seeing your partner? We've gone six before. It's awful. And that was before we were married. I'm sure it's worse when it's a spouse. But that's just the thing, I'm his wife. We're married. This is us, a pair, making decisions that are supposed to better our life together. He is being given a choice that can greatly alter the scape of his employment and satisfy him career wise in a way that he's never had before. I can only see that as a good thing. How can I not support him on this decision? It would be selfish of me, and foolish of him, to pass on it for the single reason of us missing each other.

I've been opposed to him traveling in the past. Maybe for the wrong reasons, maybe not. But it feels different this time... I feel good about it this time. Before it felt like he was being taken advantage of, but now he's being given a clear and straightforward deal and he is going to be an integral part in the processes of what he's doing. Again, it's hard to explain it clearly without the details.

I'm happy that Matt is finally getting his share in life. All the good he's done for everyone else might finally come back around to him. Good old karma. It certainly pays.

Hilarity Ensues

I am an avid fan of snotty movie genres: French and Spanish films, indies, black comedies, the occasional British period piece. But give me a raunchy comedy marketed towards boys 18-24 and I'm pleased as punch. In my opinion, the best movie of 2008 so far has been Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Matt and I are definitely buying it after work. That movie is ridiculous. Turns out that male full-frontal nudity is hilarious. Also, I would pay any amount of money to see a vampire puppet musical. Interestingly enough though, Jonah Hill is my least favorite part of that movie. I'm tired of his schtick.

I never used to like these suspended-adolescence type movies, but some time during my adult life I found the humor in them. There's something very relatable about these adult characters who don't want to grow up and be forced out into the real world. I wonder why... It's like, I never used to like them because I thought the characters were immature and they should just grow the hell up already. But now that I'm reluctantly an adult, I sympathize. I want them to be stupid and lazy. I want them to smoke pot and drink all day. Who cares if you live in your parent's basement. Screw the establishment!

Beerfest, Grandma's Boy, 40 Year Old Virgin, Old School, Knocked Up, Superbad. Yes, please.

And for the record I also love Bridget Jones's Diary (but not the sequel), Sex and the City, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Notting Hill. I do certainly have a soft spot for girly movies too, but my tolerance for them is far less. I'm a little more picky with these. I really love romantic comedies throughout all the comedic scenes, but then when they start to get extra crazy sappy I kinda lose interest. The one newlywed movie... what's it called, Just Married (duh!) with Ashton Kutcher is a good example. The scenes where him and his wife hated each other were hilarious. But then he started crying and it became unbearable to watch.

So in essence, I love snotty movies, I love boy movies, and I love almost all romantic comedies until about the last fifteen minutes when everyone starts crying. Oh, and I really love zombie movies. A lot. More on that later.

It's settled

My next paycheck will be blown entirely on J.Crew pants.

-ALSO-

I finally got around to making my own blog layout!

Monday Morning

Monday mornings are nearly unbearable these days. The excitement of the wedding and honeymoon have passed and there's little to look forward to to help pass the time. So, I am now blogging aimlessly to waste time until lunch.

I got quite a bit of stuff done on my list this weekend, considering I couldn't walk on Sunday. Running a half marathon without training equals massive, massive pain. But oh the glory...

Left to do:

01. Call Cox and get a new cable box, cancel crazy expensive Stars channels
02. Get Matt new tires (awesome car-savvy bro-in-law is helping us with this)
03. Finish hanging the pile of curtains I bought (Involves power tools, a job for my manly husband)
04. Mop the whole house
05. Finish unboxing wedding gifts, find everything a home in the kitchen

I've found that staying in on Friday night is a good way to get things done off of my list, and it frees up Saturday and Sunday for slacking. Bonus points for still getting to drink at home while I do house work! I got laundry done and cleaned up the kitchen. I also baked some awesome cookies and cooked myself some terrible tacos. Even Taco Bell would have been a tastier and more authentic Mexican meal.



I also wanted to stay home Friday night to watch the presidential debate. Then, Matt got off work and we went for a quick drink later on. One thing I don't miss about San Francisco is how expensive drinks are. I think I paid $10 for an Absolute and cranberry in SF. I'm more than happy to be back at our neighborhood bar where a Boulevard and a Grey Goose costs $7.75.

Goodbye, Lady

My parents had to put my childhood dog, Lady, to sleep on Friday. She was sixteen. Lady was the greatest dog. She was a border collie mix and had the thickest, softest fur around her neck. It reminded me of a mane. I would always lay on the floor with her and bury my face in her neck. She loved it. I loved it. My second favorite thing about her was the way the top of her head smelled. I don't know if it was her natural scent or if it was fragrant from everyone touching her, but it always smelled clean and sweet. It was a mystery to me for sixteen years.

A couple months after we got her my parents had a chain-link fence put up around the backyard so we could let her out without a leash. It cost my parents nearly $1000 and her first time out untethered in the yard, she ran right up to the fence, took one head-tilted glance at it, and hooked her paws into the links and climbed right over. It was at once the funniest and most disappointing moment for my parents. She was too smart for her own good sometimes. My mom has a little banner with a bell on the end of it that hangs in the dining room next to the back door. She somehow taught herself to ring the bell when she wanted to go outside. It was sort of the opposite of Pavlov's dogs. She would ring the bell, we would respond.

She would sleep in my parents' shower when it was hot out.

She would play catch until her tongue hung to the ground.

She liked to bury her face in the snow and run around in circles.

She liked to sleep outside on a picnic table in the sun.

The last couple of years really aged her. She slept more, went deaf, didn't play anymore. She was just old. Then, a couple months ago her immune system wore down. Mom and dad took her to the vet every couple of weeks, got her medicine, had tests run. Last week was the beginning of the end. She stopped eating and drinking, wouldn't get up to go outside. My dad sat on the floor and fed her water with a dropper. On Tuesday they took her to the vet and he hooked her up to an IV to see if re-hydrating her would help. But it didn't. On Friday my father, true to form and a testament to his love and compassion, went to the vet and held her as she was put to sleep. He said that he honestly hoped she would have died at home. Just stopped breathing one day. That's the way every dog deserves to die. With their family. At home. It doesn't always work out that way though. Sometimes the most humane decisions are also the hardest ones.

I love you, Lady.

Half-Marathon Results

So, I did something sort of stupid this morning. I ran a 1/2 marathon with my friend Kate... without training for it. I ran a full marathon a year ago and since then I've been pretty casual about my running. "Casual" as in maybe running four miles here and there, maybe not running for a month straight. Her and I went out a few weeks ago and ran seven miles on a Friday night so I knew I could make it at least 1/2 way through the 1/2 marathon with some relative ease.

Cut to this morning when the starting gun goes off. I was having major doubts. The first mile was a nightmare. Then it got a little better and we kind of eased our way through the middle miles. Miles 11-13 were pretty awful. I figured they would be. From past experience I knew that if I could make it through a seven mile run, a ten mile run wouldn't really be that much harder. A 13 mile run though... not good.

Our clocked time ended up being 2:35:58. I was freaking impressed with us. The second I stopped running though, I felt the pain of what I had actually done to my body. Just because my cardiovascular system will allow me to run 13.1 miles without consequence, doesn't mean my legs, hips and knees are going to be as forgiving. My body is stiff from the bellybutton down. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare.

But for today, I am a marathon runner!

Hail! Hail! Rock -n- Slow

This evening started out with me being incredibly excited to go see Chuck Berry.

It ended with me being massively disappointed in him.

I knew that having high expectations in an 81 year old man's ability to rock would just be a recipe for a let down, but I didn't anticipate it being as bad as it was. Yes, he's 81 years old, but he's also a rock legend who charges $30 a ticket so I'm allowed to upset when the show is a complete and utter disaster. Problem #1: Mr. Berry cannot hear, evidently, and thus cannot play in key. Let me be clear and say that I do not have an ear for pitch. At all. But even I could tell that he was playing in a different key from the rest of his band. Problem #2: Everything slows down when you're in your 80s. Chuck talked slow, "sang" slow, "played" guitar slow. So, in turn his band had to slow everything down. Classic rock and roll tunes turned into unrecognizable ballads. Problem #3: The guitar "playing". It sounded like me up there when I play Guitar Hero. It was a mess of missed notes and string taps.

I really, really like Chuck Berry. I'm so disappointed in the way everything unfolded. I have a huge amount of respect for him and what he did for rock and roll. (Even if he did recycle the same four songs over and over again.) The only good thing that resulted from tonight, is that Matt and I were relived that we didn't take a road trip down to St. Louis to see him play at Blueberry Hill (his hometown regular joint). I'd rather pay $60 to be disappointed at home than travel six hours and pay $60 to be disappointed in another state.

Weekend To-Dos - EDITED!

It feels like it might be time to start a new to-do list. This one is short term. Hopefully I can get most of this done this weekend.

01. Call Cox and get a new cable box, cancel crazy expensive Stars channels.
02. Take the dog to the vet
03. Get Matt a new wheel and tires
04. Finish hanging the pile of curtains I bought, may require a trip to Home Depot
05. Buy a Dyson (Matt is going to have to pry me away from the thing)
06. Mop the whole house
07. Finish unboxing wedding gifts, find everything a home in the kitchen
08. Play MarioKart on Wii, play it some more
09. Do the never ending dance of laundry

I think thats enough for now.

**Oh wait... I forgot one important thing.

10. Run a half-marathon on Sunday. I know. Seriously. I'm out of my mind. It didn't seem like that bad of an idea three months ago when I was supposed to start training. But then I never trained for it. Kate and I ran seven miles a couple weeks ago and my running shoes have hardly seen pavement since. Wish me luck. Luck that I finish, luck that emergency medical services are not needed to carry me away from the course...

Ambivalent Book Review

I read a book last Saturday on the plane and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The book is God Is Dead by Ron Currie Jr. Usually I know right away whether or not I like a book. But I can't seem to make up my mind about this one.

The book is a fictional look at what would happen to the world if God assumed human form and then died. The world doesn't end, rather it keeps on spinning but in a very bleak and tragic way. Everyone knows that God no longer exists so the questions of morality and sin fall by the wayside and all shit breaks loose. It's more of a collection of stories than a novel. I found the idea intriguing, but overall I can't seem to form a solid opinion about the book as a whole. The concept was great. The premises of the stories in the book were all very bizarre and terrifying, in a good way. But I thought the writing style was a little... off? It was sort of like Larry Doyle was ghost writing for Steven King. It just didn't flow right.

I'll admit that I bought the book for the sheer thrill of shopping at City Lights. It would have been way too obvious if I'd walked up to the counter with some Allen Ginsberg so I grabbed something else that looked mildly hip. Thus, God Is Dead. So, in all I guess I'll always have the book as a souvenir if not a literary favorite. If anyone is interested in buying the book and then letting me know what you think so I can steal your opinions about it, it's available on amazon.com for the crazy low price of $4.99. On HARDBACK even! Like everything else in San Francisco, I definitely overpaid for mine.

Incredibly Freaking Genius

Read this story, it's freaking genius. These people are not only ridiculously smart, but they're also doing something really great for a slice of humanity.

Shipping containers could be 'dream' homes for thousands

Food Inspirations

Over the course of the last two years, I've really been leaning towards a new career as a restaurateur. It's always been my "if I had $1 million and didn't have to work a real job" career. Then, a couple of life changing events happened and I realized that a life spent dreaming and not doing is not a life spent well. I enrolled myself in a culinary program for a bakery/pasty degree and I've been working at it (slowly but surely) for the last year or so.

Last week in San Francisco really solidified that dream. The trip was a recharge for my psyche. Being in a city with so much culture and influence was incredible, and the food we ate was a reflection of it. Everything from intricate seafood dishes to simple omelets tasted incredible. The food on the coast is so fresh. We ate a panzanella one night at Bar Bambino that was remarkable. It was little more than tomatoes, olive oil and bread but the sweet acidity of the tomatoes still makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The bread in most restaurants was also fantastic. Wheat bread, sourdough, garlic rolls. It was all wonderful. Most places in Omaha don't serve bread baked in the restaurant. We have large bakeries here like Rotella that services most restaurants. It's just one of those things that takes a meal to the next level.

Okay, so obviously I'm in love with the fare available on the west coast. I haven't given up on the midwest quite yet though. Yesterday was the first day of fall and it's like someone flipped a switch on my perception of it. I saw it in the trees at work. There is nothing like an autumn in Nebraska. It is an inspiration in and of itself. The way it looks; reds, yellows, oranges, browns. The way it smells; crisp, cool, damp, woody. Then, there's the way it tastes. Pumpkin and apple everything, pot roasts, stews, chili. It's warm and filling. It's strong, hearty, midwest comfort food.

As an homage to my love of Nebraska's seasons, I attempted to make stuffed apples last night. They turned out okay. Not exactly what I was hoping for but they were still tasty. I cored two apples and stuffed them with a mixture of butter, brown sugar and fall spices. Then in lieu of granola (since I didn't have any) I topped them off with crumbled French Toast Crunch cereal. (Not good for breakfast but great for snacks and baking.) Like I said, they were okay but not the flavor I was looking for. I'm going to try again this week and make little apple crisps in some ramekins we got in a set of baking dishes. (CorningWare bake set - Love it, need it, don't know how I ever lived without it.) If it works out as planned, I'll post the recipe.

On the menu for tonight is a can't-go-wrong pot roast. Roast, potatoes, carrots and onion. Throw it in the crock pot with some water and let it do it's thing. Matt adds his twist to it by including a super secret seasoner that's so incredibly obvious it's genius, and then serves it over rice. Cut up some French bread to soak the juice up with and you're set.

The Honeymoon is Over... For Reals.

Well, the honeymoon, as well as two weeks off of work, is over. Back to the daily routine.

We got back from San Francisco on Saturday night. I was happy to be back in our home, but I was definitely sad to see California get left behind. I really like it out there. The trip was a huge inspiration to me. It inspired us to redo our living-room, it inspired new foods for us to create, it inspired me to spend wads of cash on new clothes... Seriously. I spent my yearly allowance on clothes in the span of five days. Totally worth it though. I scored a pile of great stuff.

We're still (not patiently) waiting on the wedding photos to come back. So until then, here's some honeymoon photos... The full album is right here on Flickr.

This is the view from our hotel room. We casually mentioned to the front desk lady that we were on our honeymoon and she hooked us up with a mini suite on the 27th floor.



Here's me all dolled up to go see some drag queens...



We walked to the wharfs where we found lots of food, bay water and sea lions. The sea lions reminded me of Ringo. (When you pull his ears back he looks like a little seal pup.) I really wanted to take that little white guy home with me, but disturbing the sea lions (as well as throwing food and harassing them) is prohibited.



Also, on the wharfs: a great view of Alcatraz. It looks really close but it's actually about 1.5 miles out from the shore. The entire bay is much larger than it looks.



Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park... Makes you completely forget you're in the middle of one of the largest cities in the country.



Matt in Haight-Ashbury. This place had a sign on the door explaining that they do not sell pot, they will not help you score pot, they do not know where you can get pot. Hint though: Everyone in the park will try to sell it to you. And the guy in the parking lot of McDonald's has some methamphetamines if that's more your style.



This is the People's Cafe in Haight-Ashbury. It was one of the best meals we had while we were there. Ya. Exactly. Of all the food in California, we loved the omelets at a corner cafe the best. This was one of my biggest food inspirations while we were there. The avocados in my omelet were unbelievable. They tasted incredible and were the brightest green I've ever seen. It also had tomatoes on top that were sweeter and juicier than any you can find in the midwest. And the oranges. My god the oranges.



And of course we wouldn't have been proper tourists if we hadn't gone to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We Got Married!

Well, we got married yesterday. It couldn't have been more perfect. More to come when we get home from the honeymoon...

What to Get a Groomsman?

I had no idea what to get the groomsmen for the wedding. I'd had an idea a while ago to make a Green Day scarf for Eric (one of the groomsmen) for his birthday. It occurred to me that instead of giving it to him for his birthday, I could make it a groomsman gift for him. And thus the idea was born to make the three boys in the wedding scarves within a week of the wedding. So far I have two finished...

Here's the Green Day scarf modeled by my soon to be legal partner in life, Matt:



And here is a close up of the Foo Fighters scarf, not modeled by Matt because it was taken super early in the morning:

Female McGuigans

Ok, so technically they aren't McGuigans, but close enough. Matt's cousins are the shit. I grew up without cousins. My one and only cousin was born when I was 21. It makes for a boring childhood of family get-togethers when the only two kids in the family are you and your sister.

Cousins Tori and Somer came to Omaha today and it's been a whirlwind of awesomeness and something called "jamercise" since 11:00am. Sweet. They're totally the lost McGuigan sisters except genetically they're not. Close enough for me. I'll take it.

Cheesy, But Fitting

This article is a bit on the cheesy side, but it rings so true to what I've been thinking about the last few days.

CNN.com: Daughter causes mom to ponder 'what if?'

Sometimes you really do have to look around at what you have and the people who love you and think, "This is the only way that it could possibly be. There's no other here-and-now for me besides this one."

Trans-Craft-Inental

My eFriend (or iFriend?) from flickr featured my bouquet on her blog. How awesome. She has a great craft blog that everyone should go check out. Super cute stuff over there. She made a really cute felt flower that makes me feel kind of lame.

Everything is New Again!

Labor Day has come and gone which means that all the quality movies, TV shows and music are coming out for the fall. I already love and/or cannot wait any longer for:

01. Burn After Reading - I am a manic Coen fan. Blame it on my high school BF. He dragged me to O Brother senior year and I was smitten with Joel and Ethan. I even forgave them for Clooney's awful lip synching scene. My love of O Brother also parlayed into a love for Gillian Welch but that's another blog. I am antsy with anticipation for Burn After Reading. Frances McDormand? John Malkovich? Tilda Swinton? Yes, please!!!

(On a side note, if anyone wants to discuss the ending to No Country For Old Men let me know. I almost completely understood the ending and I think it's genius. Kind of a "we're smarter than you'll ever be" middle finger from the bros to all of us viewers.)

02. Entourage - I joined this series at the end of what I think is the third season and I didn't really get it at first. Ya, ok. Boobs, LA, hugging it out. Nice. But then after a few episodes I got hooked on it. The writing is great, the characters are awesome. It's Sex and the City but with boys. And that leads us to...

03. True Blood - I watched this after Entourage and took it with a huge grain of salt... but still enjoyed it greatly. When did vampires become unscary? They're really just sort of gay. But still, this show was pretty cool. I really love horror movies of the monster genre so this was a treat. I only read about the show last week so I didn't have any expectations about it. But, it's from the badasses who created Six Feet Under so it didn't disappoint.

04. Kings Of Leon - Oh. My. God. I really don't know what else to say. Their new album, Only By The Night, doesn't actually come out for another couple of weeks but I got a copy of it from a secret source. Don't give me that look. I'm buying it on vinyl when it comes out. I just listened to it this morning and I was completely blown away by it. It's epic. Like, Queen epic. And it rocks so hard. It feels legendary listening to it. I hope this is the album that does it for them. It's so incredible. Definitely my favorite release of 2008.

Buy it. Listen to it. Love it.

Bachelorettehood Down the Toilet

It's Monday morning... It's raining, cold, I'm probably getting sick, but I'm fully recovered from the monster hangover I had Sunday, so it's all good. I went out Saturday night with a few of my close friends and they got me nice and trashed to celebrate my passing bachelorettehood. I thought the plan was to make the rounds in Dundee but Cat, Shannon, Jeff and Brandon surprised me by renting a gangster limo for a couple of hours. It was pretty sweet. We just drove around drinking in the limo. We stopped at one bar downtown to get a quick drink then went back to cruising like the Gs we are. I ended up drunker than drunk. You'd think I would have learned by now that beer, whiskey, vodka and champagne do not go together. But no. Evidently not. I consumed all of the above then I went home and payed the price by passing out with my head on the toilet. It was so very classy. I haven't thrown up from drinking since I was a rookie, and even then I blame that on some bad pasta (obviously not the Jack).

I had a lot of fun but I'm glad that bachelorette parties are a once in a lifetime occurrence. Thanks to the people that came out and helped make it memorable. Even though I don't remember all of it...

Running Buddy

Last night I discovered the awesome power that is a runny buddy. For the first time since she moved to Omaha, Kate and I were finally able to synch up our schedules and go for a run. Last night was beautiful. It was about 60 degrees, cloudy. Ok, so not beautiful, but perfect for running and not wanting to die from the heat and humidity. We set out with no particular goal in mind and when we hit what I thought was three miles, we turned around and ran back to my house. The run seemed a little too easy and I was thinking that I could have been wrong about the milage. Turns out, I was wrong. I thought we ran six miles but we actually ran seven. HUH? Seven miles? And I didn't feel like total hell when we were done? We were both freaking out about running the 1/2 in a few weeks without technically training for it, but I think that we did really well. We paced about 12:00 miles which is really good in my opinion.

We went out for drinks afterwards. Kate is also a good drinking buddy too. :)

Life Quandaries on a Friday Afternoon

This upcoming wedding is making me reflect back on everything I've ever done in my life and think, was it enough? Have I accomplished enough? Have I tried hard enough? What would have happened if I hadn't done so much stuff wrong? I am absolutely in love with Matt and I can't imagine my life without him, now or in the future. I can't wait to get married. I'm talking about things like, what if I had gone to a real college? What if I had chosen a different career? What if I had tried harder and landed that dream job? Would everything have really changed or would I still be the same person I am today? I don't know if I believe in destiny so would I still have found my way to Matt?

I don't know where I'm going with this. I guess I just see this as a new beginning and I'm wondering if the life I'm leaving was lived up to it's full potential. I believe that we are all in complete control of where we take our lives. I want to know how to make the next chapter as full as it could possibly be. I don't want to do anything half assed anymore. In my younger years I just didn't care until it was too late. I didn't care about getting a bachelors degree until I was 23 and already $10,000 in educational debt. I didn't care about interviewing with Ervin and Smith because in my head I had failed before I even walked in the door. I didn't care about losing the old friendships because there was always a newer one. How do I let go of all those things I did wrong and simply vow not to make the same mistake twice? Someone once told me, "You have the talent. You just have to find the passion." How do I finally rectify that and find something that I can feel passionately about?

There's so much left to do while Matt and I are still young and childless. How do we do it all? How do we move to San Francisco but still stay in Omaha with our home and our families? How do we break out of our 9-5 jobs and open two businesses while supporting his musical career? How do we travel the world for a summer but still pay the mortgage?

Maybe I should just go read some Nietzsche and shut the hell up.

Knit and Felt Scarves

It's starting to get chilly here in Nebraska so I've been inspired to get out some cold weather crafts. I started knitting a scarf for Gloria maybe... oh three years ago and I thought now might be a good time to finally finish it. It's a really pretty shade of blue with purple flecks, and it's the softest yarn ever. I seriously started making it for her when I was living downtown and was still dating John. Wow. Really. Three moves and several bachelors later, now I own a house and I'm getting married next week. That's how much time has passed since I first promised this scarf to her. I found it which is a miracle in itself after moving three times and worked on it for roughly 25 minutes before getting distracted my Matt and The Office.

I planned on working on it some more Thursday after work, but I got a brilliant flash and started a new project when I got home. I have a serious case of project-related ADD. This project has a deadline to it though. I want to make scarves for the groomsmen as a thank you gift from me. Ya, that's three scarves in a week. Not a problem for the average craftaholic. (Isn't that actually someone addicted to craftahol?) But for me that's like asking me to... well it's asking a lot. I'm not knitting these though, so that will save a lot of time. I'm making them out of fleece. (Doesn't unravel therefore doesn't require hemming. Score!) Then, I'm duplicating their favorite bands' logos out of felt and stitching them on. I'm also adding some grommets and a couple other small details to spice it up. I started with the hardest one first and I'm about half done with it so I think I might be able to finish them in time for the wedding in 10 days. WHAT!?! Ya, that's right. I would be able to finish them this weekend if I really focused but I have a bach party on Saturday night and an inevitable hangover on Sunday to attend to.

Then Gloria, when all this wedding business is over and done with, I promise I'll finish your scarf. I won't make you go another cold and blistery winter without it. Swear.

America's Next Top Tranny

I watched the first half of the premiere of America's Next Top Model: Cycle 87. That show has been on for-ev-ver. This time around though, they've got themselves a pre-op tranny named Isis. I looooove this. First drag queens on Project Runway, now trannies on Top Model. I'm happy that they're giving Isis a chance on the show. I think it really shows a progression towards making the GLBT community part of the mainstream.

You know what's not cool? How much CW I've been watching the last few days.

Felt Flower Crafts

I am addicted to making these little felt flowers that I saw on Princess Lasertron's blog. Making things is like therapy for me. I find it a relaxing and refreshing break from all of the crap I have to do in real life.



They're so cute and fun! On top of being pretty simple to make, they really perk up a room. So far I have a little bouquet in the living room and the office.

Shamelessly Watched 90210 and Loved It

Matt worked last night so I turned the evening into a single-girl night. I cooked (again) a pasta casserole with whatever we had available. While drinking white wine straight from the bottle. In sweatpants. This time dinner was: hamburger, noodles, peas, mushroom soup, a glob of sour cream, topped off with a sprinkle of cheese. It didn't taste too bad, and it actually looked yummy. Most casseroles look like something you would never actually want to eat unless desperate beyond desperate.



Then, I settled into the couch with a tall diet coke and I watched two hours of the 90210 premiere. Or rather, I watched approximately 67 minutes of the 90210 premiere and 53 minutes of commercials. I will be DVRing it for the rest of the season to avoid having to sit through 10,000 Clearasil commercials. I have to confess that I really did like the show. I am not a fan of the bratty rich kid genre. The Hills, OC, Gossip Girl... I will not, cannot watch those shows. But 90210? It's a different bird baby. Maybe it's just the nostalgia of it, makes me feel like I'm 12 again. It's overacted and cheesy but whatever. I liked it.

My only beefs with the show are: (1) Why are all the female actresses apparently teetering on anorexic except the one who is supposedly a major pill popper. Pill Freak has a refreshingly normal looking body. And by "normal" I mean "normal if normal is still a size 3/5." If she really was eating nothing but pills and champagne shouldn't she be the one in the size 00 Chanel culottes? (2) What's with Chanel Culottes (Naomi) not being able to cry on cue? Shouldn't the girl cast as the emotional-wreck-queen-bee character be able to cry on camera? Her version of "crying" is fluttering her eyelids a bunch and then screwing up her mouth like she's sobbing - but is still oddly dry eyed. Get that girl some acting lessons! And a sandwich while you're at it.

What? My Butt?

I think that day has finally come where my desk job has ruined my butt. John Tesh always warns that sitting at a desk day in and day out will flatten your backside. Well, I think after five years the inevitable has happened. I caught a glimpse of my behind today and it was shocking. Its like I hit 25 and my cheeks dropped four inches. What the hell happened back there? How do I prevent this from getting worse? I think should start doing pilates. Look what it did for Madonna! Well, maybe that's a bad example...

How horrible is it that our faces and our butts are the things we're most insecure about on our bodies, and both are impossible to see with our naked eyes. It takes a mirror and some twisting to see each respectively.

Happiness Is a Warm Griddle

I just want everyone to know that we used the giant electric griddle that Jeff and Brandon gave us as a shower gift. Matt cooked breakfast for my (and soon his too) family on Saturday. He made us eggs and pancakes. The pancakes cooked perfectly on both sides and were delicious. That's one of the reasons I love him. He's sweet and he does things like cook breakfast for me and whoever else happens to be around. I haven't cooked pancakes in over two years because of him.

Really though, he was looking for any excuse to use the griddle. I could have said, "Let's set up a burger stand in the driveway and sell flat-top sliders for a quarter," and he would have said, "Where's the extension cord?"

Haphazard Recipe #2

This one was kind of a collaboration between Matt and me. It was very, very good. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Italian food or what is more than likely pseudo Italian food since I don't think real Italian people would ever eat this.

Italian Sausage Bake

Jar of spaghetti sauce
Garlic
Bell pepper
Onion
Red wine
Italian sausages (we use the spicey variety)
Parmesan cheese
Shredded mozzarella
Mostacholi (or whatever you have)
French's fried onions

Start by cooking the sausages in red wine and garlic in a large saute pan. Throw the chopped onion and green bell pepper into the pan with the sausages so they pick up some of that flavor. When the sausages are done, take them out and toss the red wine and veggies into a large pot with the jarred pasta sauce. Slice up the sausages. While this is going on, cook your pasta. When those three things are ready, mix the noodles and half of the sauce together in a baking dish. Sprinkle with parmesan. Slice the sausages and layer them on top of the noodles. Cover the sausage with shredded cheese and then the French's onions. (We also layered tomato slices from the garden on top for a little extra freshness.) Bake until the cheese is melty and toasted. Then, serve yourself a piece and top it off with a scoop of the extra sauce you saved.

It's soooooo good.