Dinner

I've been terrible about posting my menus lately. We made a fantastic dinner tonight, entirely made up out of our heads.

Apricot Meatloaf: Ground beef, diced apricots and onions, and all sorts of spices. Cinnamon is amazingly good with meat. We put apricot jam on top and let it bake until it was caramelized. Mmm.

Spiced Orange Sweet Potato: We baked sweet potatoes and mashed them with milk, a teeny bit of butter, orange juice concentrate, cinnamon and a smidgeon of cayenne pepper.

A few days ago we made another amazing dinner, hooray for the discount market in Lansing that has such fantastic meats for incredibly cheap prices.

Scotch Glazed New York Strip Steaks: We seared the steaks with cinnamon, chives, salt, papper, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder, took them out and deglazed the pan with some very nice Scotch and apple cider vinegar. They were perfectly cooked and insanely tender. We had them with really simply done peas and it was just right.

Birthday Dinner

I am having a get together for my birthday. My birthday's on December 18, but I'll be celebrating it on Saturday, December 17th. If you'd like to come, show up at my apartment with a dish for dinner or a bottle of wine. Hope to see you there! If you need directions, or an idea of what to bring, email/call/leave me a comment on here/send me a carrier pigeon, whatever works for you.

Christmas

And once again, I am going to hate the holidays. I am working at Marv's again this year. And I think I'm going to kill myself. The thought of spending one more break up to my elbows in bloody steaks and sticky boxes of ham makes me want to find the nearest bridge. Practically the minute exams are over, I try to cram in a birthday celebration with friends, see "A Christmas Carol" at Meadowbrook Hall for something like the 20th time in my life and then I work. I don't sleep well the week before Christmas, I don't have time to enjoy the tree, or listen to Christmas carols, or leisurely finish making handmade presents. I work. Twelve hour days in a freezing store with under-educated white trash who can't DO any better. I get out of work at 4pm on Christmas Eve, and this year, I'll run home, shower, drive almost 4 hours to Grand Junction to spend time with Anthony and his family, turn around and drive back to Hartland. Getting maybe 4 hours of sleep somewhere in there and opening presents with my parents and Anthony and then going to my grandmother's house to do the same and have dinner. After which I will sleep. But the fun isn't over yet. The 26th will be a "pretend" Christmas Eve because my mother can't bear the thought of not celebrating it with me. Then, the rest of the week until New Years Eve I will work AGAIN. Freezing my ass off while bitchy people complain because THEY ordered the wrong damn crown roast. And this year I don't even have a hilarious middle aged Italian man to get into water fights with and to feed me shrimp. (cries) I'll miss you Vince. New Years Eve I'll get out at six, run home and shower and go to Ann Arbor for Chris's shindig. I will have a drink and then most likely pass out unconscious because I am tired and bitter that I didn't get to enjoy the holidays.

I suppose the logical question is "Well, why the hell do you work then?" Because I feel like I owe it to my parents. Because it's taking me forever to get through my damn degree and they have paid for my housing and living expenses for five years. Because they don't make me work during the year to help, they just ask that I work at Christmas. Is it too much to ask? It shouldn't be, but yes, it definitely is. There are homeless people freezing in the streets, drug addicts fighting to break their addictions, people dying from every conceivable disease out there. And I complain about my job. And I don't feel guilty about it.

Merry Fucking Christmas everyone.

Terrible Person

I am a terrible person. I have had absolutely no inclination to update my journal, in well, forever. Despite the fact that there are all sorts of things happening that I could be talking about.

Bad Luck Continued

So things keep getting worse. I left my camera with my dad, because I noticed that half of the flash is darkened. I wasn't sure if the bulb in it burned out, or what. Apparently it's more serious than that. It has a problem with the wiring in it. Apparently something in the circuit is going screwy it and making it over-fire. So it'll cost 25 dollars for the to look at it, probably 70 to fix it, and it'll be gone for 3-4 weeks. Fan-fucking-tastic. The money isn't a huge issue, my parents will pay for it, but I can't have it gone for that long. (sighs) I love my camera, and I feel completely lost without it. Plus, it's one of the few things that makes me money, I don't want it gone! I think I'll wait until after the holidays to take it in. I can use my external flash instead, and cross my fingers it doesn't fuck that up. They aren't really sure if it will or not. (grumbles)

I don't care who I have to bribe/coerce/threaten/sleep with to get my luck to turn around, but damn it, I am sick of this shit!

Menu Four

It's been quite a while since I've done any of these, so here's hoping I remember how they turned out.

Apple and Horseradish Glazed Salmon with Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage: The salmon was amazing. It was so easy to make and incredibly yummy. The sweet and sour cabbage was not as fantastic. The idea is great, I've had it before. But apparently this wasn't the recipe for it. It wasn't zingy enough. Plus, I think we sliced the cabbage too thick. It never got wilted enough. So, I'll make the salmon again and find a new recipe for the cabbage.

Crustless Broccoli Cheddar Quiche: Unfortunately, this was very blah. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't have much flavor. For some reason the egg taste neutralized all of the cheddar and broccoli flavor, and all of the seasonings we put in. I might try working with this recipe, adding more herbs and salt and pepper but if I find a recipe that looks more interesting, I'll try it instead.

Cornbread and Bean Skillet: This was fantastic. It was kind of dreary out, and I was having a crummy day and this was such good comfort food. Amazingly enough, it was incredibly healthy too. Basically, I dumped a bunch of spicy beans into a pan and made Jiffy cornbread with cheddar cheese. The raw dough was put on top of the beans and then simmered over the stove until it cooked through. It was warm, and the mix of spice with the cornbread was delicious. I might put in one can of regular tomatoes in place of one of the two cans of tomatoes with green chilis. It was a little overwhelming. This also made great leftovers.

Warm Spinach-Pear Salad: So good, and so simple. We made it with a bowl of leftover squash soup. Mmm. The salad was fairly substantial and with the soup was plenty for a meal. I love hot dressing salads. For once, I found one that doesn't involve using bacon grease as part of the dressing, so that was exciting also. I will definitely make it again.

Chicken with Tomatoes and Mushrooms: This was very good too. It needed some time to cook, but the actual preparation was simple. It didn't call for very many ingredients either, which was nice. I was pretty much guaranteed to like this recipe though, anything that calls for two pounds of mushrooms is fine by me.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili: This recipe didn't taste exactly how I thought it would, but it was amazing. It had a very mexican flavor, which I don't normally associate with sweet potato. It also had a garnish of a little bit of sour cream mixed with cilantro. I added lime juice, and it was even better. I'll certainly make this again.

Feta, Olive and Spicy Sausage Pizza: Using pre-made crust, we brushed olive oil on it and sprinkled garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary on the crust. We baked that for a few minutes and topped it with feta, black olives, spicy sausage, tomatoes and mushrooms. We baked that for a little bit longer and it turned out AMAZING. Really quick and incredibly good.

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup: I roasted a chicken, fairly early in the day. I stuffed it with fresh basil and rosemary and put carrots, onions, celery and garlic around it. After it was done roasting, I put the whole thing in a pot of water with all of the drippings and let it boil for about 5 hours. By the end of the night it had completely fallen apart and the whole apartment smelled good. We strained the liquid, and saved it, picked apart the chicken for the good meat and put it back with the broth. We added more herbs and vegetables and noodles and let it cook for another fifteen minutes or so. It was probably the best soup I've ever had. We made a ridiculously large amount of it, so we've been having leftovers all week, and we even froze some.

Curried Cider-Braised Pork Chops and Horseradish Smashed Potatoes: Both were delicious! The pork chops were simple to make and curry is so yummy with cider. It probably would have been even better with sliced apples. I invented the recipe for the potatoes and they were superb, if I do say so myself. I boiled potatoes and then smushed them up with milk, a little sour cream and butter, rosemary and horseradish. The horseradish added a really interesting flavor to it but it wasn't overwhelming at all. Katie tried them, and she really liked them, which is saying a lot, because she's the pickiest eater I know. Luckily, this time she ate something I made, it didn't make her throat close. Hooray for food allergies. No peach shakes for Katie I guess...

There were also plenty of meals of leftovers, and dinner at my parents' house, and I was gone for a while and even a night of sushi. Mmm, sushi. So there aren't as many recipes as there would have been otherwise. I might have forgotten something I made too...

Randomness

This past week has not been going well. I wanted to start making and selling greeting cards with my photographs on the front. I bought the cards and envelopes, plastic sleeves to put them in, mounting tape and I picked out photos to use. When I went to order the photos I realized there was a huge problem. York Photo doesn't print 3 by 5 pictures. I assumed it was only that particular company, so I looked on Snapfish, and Shutterfly, and every other online photo processing place. No luck. I went to Meijer, hoping that they could at least print them if I brought in the negatives. I nearly cried when the woman there told me that 3 by 5's are getting discontinued everywhere. Apparently 4 by 6 is now standard. Also, apparently "no one uses 3 by 5's." At that point I was so frustrated I almost screamed "I use them you bitch." But, she was just some lowly photo processing peon. She had no say in it, so I bit my tongue and thanked her for her time. I can use the 4 by 6's on the cards I bought, but they don't look anywhere near as nice. The bigger border was so much better. But I suppose it's asking too much to have things go the way I planned.

I went to Delaware, Ohio this past weekend. My cousin Marthena was having a baptism for her twin babies. While I'm not a particular fan of either the church or babies, it wasn't a bad weekend. Well, sort of. My streak of bad luck did continue. I left half of my stuff at home that I needed, including shampoo and all my styling products. I also somehow managed to leave the gift I had for them in my apartment. I spent MONTHS knitting two baby blankets, and they're sitting here on the floor in their nice gift bag. (grumbles) I also managed to slam my head on the corner of a wall while sitting down. Oh, and I was convinced I'd lost a sock at the hotel, only to find it in one of my bags. Plus, on the way home, I apparently dumped my wallet out of my purse and left it in my parents' car. So I have no money until they either mail it to me, or I go meet them somewhere. Fantastic. Anyone else want to add to my lousy week??

Naked Pillow Fights

Erin and Katie and I decided that we haven't been spending enough time together, just the three of us, so we had a girls' night at Erin's. She kicked Kyle out of their house and I stole Anthony's truck and went up to St. Louis. We spent lots of time talking, eating and drinking. The usual. We also watched "Dead Like Me", a show Erin's been yammering about lately. It's hilarious. Very weird and quirky. I need to hunt down the DVDs, and start it from the beginning. As Katie put it, "What kind of crack do you have to be on to come up with stuff like this??" Sounds like the perfect show for me... We also were incredibly girly and played with makeup. The guys were lucky they weren't around, there's no way they could have made it through the evening without a makeover. (cackles)

Katie slept in the guest bedroom, to avoid having 20 pounds of Boris kitty jumping on her head and licking her. Erin and I stayed in her room, and got tromped on by Boris most of the night. We stayed up talking until about 5 or 6 am, and got up at 9, we haven't done THAT in a while. We also managed to get semi-freaked out because the house was making strange noises. I swear Anthony and Kyle snuck up to the house to freak us out so Erin and I would end up cuddling. (laughs) apparently their secret plot worked, we did sort of end up smushed in the middle of the bed. But I'll let you decide if the three of us ever had the naked pillow fights everyone was so hoping would happen...

Stratford

My parents and I went to Stratford, Ontario last weekend. They picked me up at the apartment friday afternoon, and we drove straight there. We got in around 8pm and checked into our bed and breakfast. Technically it is a guest house, since they don't feed us breakfast. I had a room on the top floor. They aren't wildy exciting rooms, but they are clean and cute and the old lady who rents the house is really nice. We walked around town to find a place to eat. We went to a Chinese Canadian restaurant. That phrase is absolutely hilarious to me...there's something about Chinese Canadian that cracks me up. Maybe it's cause I am used to hearing Chinese American...but I swear there's just something inherently funny about Chinese Canadian food. First of all, what the hell is Canadian food??? Moose? Beer? Anyway, the Chinese part of the menu was fantastic. We had really good soup and egg rolls. None of us were starving, so it was a great dinner. We went for a walk and looked at all of the fantastic old architecture. There are tons of gorgeous brick houses.

On saturday morning we went to a cafe for breakfast. It's called the York Street Kitchen and it's very fun. It's a tiny hole in the wall place, with bright painted walls, and colanders as lamp shades. I had a sandwich called the H.M.S Pinafore, a bagel, goat cheese and smoked salmon. I get it every year when we go. We spent most of the morning and afternoon walking around town. There are a ton of cute little shops and gorgeous gardens. For dinner we went to an inn. They had amazing duck. (drools) Mmm, duck. We went to see the Shakespearean play "As You Like It". It was a different interpretation, it was set in the 60's, and The Barenaked Ladies composed and arranged the music. They did a fantastic job, and I am tempted to get a cd of the music they did.

We went for a picnic on sunday morning after stopping at the grocery store. We ate along the river and then headed out. It was kind of a long drive back because we stopped in Michigan to look at more bricks. They were making their final decision this week. They're either going with a brick that they can get now, so the bricking will be done this fall, or one that will put it off until the spring. I'm not sure which one they went with. Anyway, it was a good trip and I love going.

Serenity

I loved it! It's taken me a while to get around to posting (yeah, I am slacking again). I saw it last friday...the first showing available. We managed to see it before Anthony had to go to work, and I left for Stratford. (sighs happily) I was so happy with it. They managed to make it hilarious, suspenseful, and incredibly shocking. There are a lot of people complaining about a particular scene in it, but although I didn't like the scene, I thought it was well done and necessary. I'll avoid mentioning what it was in particular, for the people who haven't been able to see it yet. But it brought a different feel to the movie...it created doubt about the ending to the movie, and the possibility of any sequel. Say what you will, but I thought it was well done. I am just so happy it came out and I got to see it. My parents want to borrow the DVDs. My mom caught one or two of the episodes when it was actually on, and she liked it, but it was kicked off the air before she got to watch it more than that. I think it's sort of cute that my parents are getting into "Firefly".

Movies

Anthony and I went to see "Lord of War" last week. I was really surprised by it. Not only did I enjoy it a lot, it was more thought-provoking than I expected. Going into it I expected more of a comedy. It had some hilarious moments, but it also brought up some interesting points. I was impressed that they were able to make a movie about gun running that neither glorified it, nor made it out to be a heinous crime. That opinion was left to the audience to decide. The filming was incredibly well done without being over the top artsy. More than worth seeing.

Erin and Anthony and I watched "Corpse Bride" saturday night. It was every bit as wonderful as I expected. The combination of Johnny Depp (swoons) and Tim Burton is always perfect. It was funny and sweet, and a bit ghoulish all at once. Other than the ridiculously loud audio for the first 20 minutes, it was perfect.

Now I am counting the days until "Serenity". It's driving me insane. I am also going to be very cranky if there isn't a midnight showing on thursday night. Otherwise I'd have to wait until sunday to see it. I am going up to Stratford for my annual trip with my parents. I love the trip but it is quite annoying that it had to be the same weekend as the movie release. If anyone has heard about midnight showings, please let me know.

Menu 3

Man, I really need to come up with a more exciting title than 'Menu 3'...

More recipes...
Greek Rotisserie Chicken Salad - I had half of the rotisserie chicken left, so I added it to a Greek salad. I forgot to get tomatoes, but other than that it was great. Greek dressing is pretty easy to make from scratch so the whole meal went together pretty quickly. Nothing wildly new, but perfect for a simple, healthy dinner.

Spaghetti and Meatballs - We made the meatballs from scratch and clearly this is NOT a recipe I have mastered. The recipe was my mom's and hers are usually fantastic. Mine...not so much. They didn't taste bad, although I think I could have made the recipe a little more exciting. The biggest problem was that they completely fell apart. I need to ask my mom how she does it. Plus, I think we made them a bit large. The faster they cook, the less time they have to crumble. A non stick skillet would have helped too. They tasted pretty good with the spaghetti noodles and sauce. The sauce wasn't homeade, but I added a few spices and a bit of wine and it was really good. Yay Kroger!

Squash Soup - The squash soup recipe is originally Kyle's I believe. It is always delicious. I made a retardedly large amount of it, because squash was on sale for 39 cents/pound. I made the basic recipe: sauteed onion, squash, and stock. Only this time it was beef stock, not chicken. Grr on Kroger not having my Better Than bouillon stock base. How rude. Once it was all cooked down Anthony attacked it with his immersion blender until it was smooth. We divided it into two large bowls. One of the bowls I made a sweet soup. I added apple cider, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and a bit of brown sugar. The other was savory with milk, salt, pepper, rosemary and grated Gruyere cheese. They were both amazing. I froze four huge containers of it. Now I can have squash soup whenever my little heart desires. (swoons)

Cherry Glazed Pork with Green Beans and Feta - Another great recipe that is nice and fast. It's a basic sweet and sour sauce made out of cherry jam and red wine vinegar. It took maybe 15 minutes to make and most of that was just letting it simmer. I've been trying to eat a lot of green beans lately because they're really healthy, but there are only so many ways to prepare them. I was excited because I created another one tonight. I sauteed them in a tiny bit of oil with salt and pepper. Just before I took them off of the heat I added a bit of crumbled feta cheese. Mmm, so good. It caramelizes the cheese, and it's a wonderful blend of sweet and salty.

We also went to dinner with Ashley and Kracker, and Erin and Kyle. It's nice to do the dinner party thing again. Ashley made lamb, and mashed potatoes and carrots and Yorkshire puddings. I'd never had them before but they were really good. The lamb was wonderful too. Apparently Al has a slight obsession with gravy, which we teased her unmercifully about. My contribution to dinner was a key lime pie. I've made plenty of them before, but this was a new recipe. It was amazing. Just a few different twists on the standard recipe that made it really outstanding. Since the recipe came from someone online, of course I got harassed. Erin accused me of having secret pie affairs with strange men online. I have to admit, she's right. Luckily my boyfriend doesn't mind if I talk dirty about baking with other people.

Menu 2

More recipe reviews...

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Spinach - This recipe didn't taste how I expected it to, but it was very good. It wasn't too time consuming and made a ton. I was able to put a lot of it in the freezer, and have some for lunch the next day. The only thing I would do differently would be to use chicken stock instead of water, but I was out. I also added rosemary (yeah, I know, I'll put rosemary in anything) to make up for the lack of stock. I think I'll keep rosemary in even if I make it with chicken stock next time. It gives the dish a little more depth. We had the pasta with a really good Chardonnay. It was one I'd had before, and I love it. Kroger has it on sale on a fairly regular basis for around 5 dollars.

Barton et Guestier Chardonnay, France 2002 - A really good chardonnay. Not much of an oak flavor and it's easy to drink. It has a very full flavor, warm and buttery. There's a definitely apple taste. A good white wine for fall.

Rotisserie Chicken and Tuscan Bean and Wilted Arugula Salad - I bought a rotisserie chicken from Kroger because they were having a really good sale. I've been wanting to try this salad for a while. I used spinach instead of arugula, added a tiny bit of vinegar to the dressing (warm olive oil, lemon juice and zest) and cooked the onion instead of leaving it raw. It was phenomenal, and with the pre-cooked chicken it was really quick to make. I haven't enjoyed a salad that much in a long time.

Honey Glazed Pork Loin with Applesauce - I was a bit disappointed in the way this recipe turned out, but I think it had more to do with cooking difficulties than the recipe. I didn't have any aluminum foil, so the edges of the tenderloin got a little crispy. Adding water to the roasting pan helped, but I didn't do it until half way through. The flavor of the honey glaze was wonderful though. I usually prefer to make applesauce with a variety of apples, but this time I only made it with Granny Smith apples. It's definitely better to do the mix, there is a better texture to it. The apples cook at different rates and it makes a much chunkier applesauce. It had cinnamon, ginger, orange zest, apple cider, and honey in it. The flavor was different in a very good way.

Chicken with Pear, Sage and Cheese and French Peas - I am absolutely in love with this! It was so easy to make, and delicious. It was flattened sauteed chicken with Gruyere cheese melted on top and a sauce of pear, sage and cider. I've been so excited about fall arriving, and this was the perfect fall food. The traditional way to make French peas is to steam them in a pan lined with lettuce and seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg. I didn't have the lettuce, but I kept the seasonings the same. Well, less butter, but enough to leave a nice taste. The nutmeg adds the perfect flavor. From start to finish dinner probably was done in less than 15 minutes. Mmm, quickie gourmet. ;)

Disappointed

I am incredibly disappointed that I haven't sold anything on Etsy yet. It's an awesome site and I know some people have been doing really well on it. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. There's a limited market for handmade crafts. Plus, I am trying to sell photography and that really isn't a high demand thing. Fairly soon I am going to make up some photo cards. Nice white cardstock with a photo mounted on the front. I am hoping that will be a little more appealing. I did make some changes to the site, and Stav made me a spiffy banner. I'll give it a little more time and see if the changes have any effect. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I can always use feedback. The link to the site is Drifting Visions Etsy and it's also to the right. Any kind of feedback; on the photos, the prices, shipping, my avatar, the descriptions or even suggestions of what kinds of photos you think people would buy. If I don't have something similar already I'll go out and take the pictures. I also am listing two of my photos on Crafters United to donate the profits of any sales to Hurricane Katrina Relief. The money goes directly to the Red Cross. Sooo, if you've been wanting to donate to it, and get a fantastic photograph, check it out.

Menu

I've been planning on making up a weekly menu for months now. I know it would cheaper, easier and healthier, but this is the first week I've been able to get around to it. It's actually going really well. I even managed to sort of incorporate it into the camping last weekend. It's also a good way to get me to try out new recipes. I have thousands of recipes that I've never tried. Here's a list of what we did this week and a quick review:

Chinese Grilled Pork and Spicy Green Beans- This morphed into grilled chicken because of a small pork disaster. The pork I had bought THE NIGHT BEFORE was green when I pulled it out of the refrigerator. It was from Kroger, and I've never had a problem with them before, so I am just assuming it was a strange fluke. If my food turns weird colors again, they're in trouble though. The Chinese marinade was awesome with chicken and would no doubt be just as good with pork, if not better. I will definitely try to make it again with the proper ingredients. I also broiled it instead of grilling it this time. The Spicy Green Beans were fantastic. Spicy and sweet at the same time and I could probably eat pounds of them in a sitting. Luckily they are quite healthy, so that won't be a problem.

Pesto Chicken Packets - Amazing. We took them camping and everyone loved them. Very simple and healthy too. It was just chicken, tomato, zucchini and a tablespoon or two of pesto. We wrapped it all up in foil and put it on a grill over the fire for 20 minutes or so. Also, halved tomatoes with pesto, salt and pepper in foil on the fire are also incredible.

Cream of Broccoli Soup - Very good. Surprisingly healthy for how good it tasted. It was simple to make, and really inexpensive. The recipe calls for rice to thicken the soup, and then some cream or 2% milk. I usually only buy skim, so instead I added a little bit of cream cheese. No doubt it would have been even nicer with cream, but in the interest of not dying before 25, it seemed like a good compromise. We did add a little too much pepper, but other than that, it was a great recipe. I even have a decent amount of it to put in the freezer.

Curried Chicken with Plums and Ginger and Sweet Potato Wedges - Anthony made the chicken and it was fantastic. It was pretty simple and didn't take long to make. The ginger was supposed to be crystallized ginger, but at $12 a bottle, that wasn't happening. If I can find it in bulk I will probably buy a little bit the next time I make it. Using powdered ginger instead wasn't a problem though. The chicken thighs were insanely tender, and mixed with the sweet plums, spicy curry, and green onions they were to die for. I made baked sweet potato wedges with salt, pepper, lemon juice and a tiny bit of cumin. They went really well with the curry and were really quick to make since I put them in the microwave for 5 minutes before I baked them.

There are a few more recipes for the week that I'll update as we go. If anyone wants any of these recipes, let me know. If you have any fantastic recipes to barter, that would be even better. Also, if anyone wants me to make these recipes for them, they either need to pay me/bribe me with backrubs or a bottle of wine but I will cook for hire.

Camping: Take Two

Last weekend was fantastic. Anthony and I met Erin and Kyle at their house, and followed them north to the Au Sable River Primitive Campground at Sawmill Point . We got a site, set up our tents, started a fire and made dinner. Pruden and Sung got there around 11. We basically spent the weekend relaxing around the fire, cooking and swimming. We hiked down a dune to the river and despite none of us having suits with us, we decided to jump in anyway. The hike back up the dune was nothing short of torture, but probably a sign that I need to hike up hills more often and NEVER do it three days after I give blood. Despite the heart attack, it was more than worth it. The view was gorgeous. I'd like to go back and take a canoe/rowboat out and explore the river. On our way out on sunday we drove east to Tawas. We had lunch near the beach, and went swimming for a couple of hours. Anthony literally had to drag me out of the water. I hadn't had much time to swim this summer and I miss it so much. I always feel better when I'm in the water. It makes my arthritis disappear and I feel so relaxed. It's sort of hard to explain, but I always feel more centered and more myself in the water. Like all of the day to day things that drive me crazy just don't exist. It's just me and the sky and the water. This might have something to do with the fact that I was in the water before I could walk, when I was barely 6 months old. I spent 90 percent of my summers from then until we moved at the age of 10 in the water. If it was daylight, I was in the water, and plenty of times even when it was dark. I doubt I'll be able to make it swimming again this fall, but it's top priority next year. Kyle suggested winter hiking...I don't know how I feel about it, but we'll see. If nothing else I do want to make sure we (Anthony and I, and Erin and KYle) try to go once a year. I always forget how much I enjoy it until I go.

It's A Party!

Katie and I finally decided when we are going to have our housewarming (apartmentwarming?) party. To make things easier, we decided to make it a combined housewarming/Halloween party. It will be Saturday, October 29. I suppose that makes it a pre-Halloween party, but the same rules still apply. COSTUMES for everyone. I will be sending out invitations. Probably just by email but we'll see. Everyone I know/have ever met is invited. So, give me a call, send me an email/IM or post a comment to let me know if you can make it. The more the merrier.

...and she's out...

I donated blood tonight. I had a feeling it was going to make me really lightheaded. And apparently I was right. They drew the blood and as she finished up I got really flushed all of a sudden. It's always my first clue that I'm not feeling well. I got flushed, and then cold and clammy and really dizzy. It's never a good sign when you feel like you're going to fall over when you're laying down. They gave me an ice pack to put on the back of my neck, and had me breath into a paper bag. I spent about 15 minutes just lying there. Then they put me into a wheel chair and wheeled me over to a cot. I spent about another half hour relaxing. They kept feeding me peach juice, which for Hi-C was actually fantastic tasting, and a couple of cookies. Anthony of course had no problems. Punk. He was very helpful though. I am sure Erin will be relieved to not have to cart my passed out body around again. I had the same thing happen when I donated blood in high school. Only that time I actually did pass out cold...more than once. Poor Erin. No one should have to deal with me when I go limp as a noodle. I felt much better this time at least.

Catch Up

So I guess I've been slacking about posting. My excuse is that I've still been unpacking. Plus, classes started last week, so I have been trying to get those in order. MSU bites my many testicles and my schedule NEVER WORKS. I always spend a few weeks switching crap around and trying to scramble to get organized. The weekend before they started, Anthony and I went camping. We went to Sleepy Hollow State Park. It was so nice and relaxing. We did go for an 8 mile hike with my parents. I wish I could go hiking every weekend, it's always exercise I actually enjoy. We took the rabbits with us. They actually did really well. They were very calm and didn't seem to get stressed out from any of it. Even with dogs barking and kids shrieking. I wasn't sure if it would bother them or not, so it was kind of a test run. We set up their cage next to our tent and covered it with a tarp. (grins) I have such good critters.

Other than that I don't think I've had anything terribly exciting happen. I did have my mom's car for about a week and a half, so that came in handy. I had a chance to go up and hang out with Erin for an afternoon, and have dinner with Erin and Kyle. I've been shopping like a lunatic lately, I went with Erin, Katie and Anthony, all on separate occasions. In my defense I actually didn't buy anything that was over 20 dollars, and that was for jeans. I needed a few things for the fall. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Secession

Dear Red States...

We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're
taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe
this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of
the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You
get Ken Lay.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get
Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay
their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian
Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single
moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and
we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need
people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently
willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you
don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you
success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to
spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the
country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92
percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines
(you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90
percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all
living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools,
plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88
percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92
percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90
percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually
100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University,
Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was
actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless
we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that
evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and
61 percent of you crazy b*****ds believe you are people with higher morals
then we lefties.

By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they
grow in Mexico.

Peace out,
Blue States

Thank you Suzette. That was one of the most entertaining things I've read in a long time.

No More Ghetto!

I am finally done with the ghetto fabulous house at 1002. It is empty, clean and I will never ever have to go back there. My sinuses are rejoicing. Anthony, Katie and Ion were a huge help cleaning it out. Katie came by several nights after work to get the last of the stuff, Ion cleaned up the kitchen (a monumental task). And Anthony is my hero. He cleaned out the ENTIRE basement. For those of you who don't know what it looked like, imagine a garbage dump. With a working washer and dryer. He did it one evening when I went home to my parents' house. It was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I was dreading the thought of cleaning it. Anthony and I took a truckload of trash from the house to the apartment and filled up a whole dumpster here. Ion and Katie came over yesterday to help me get the rest of junk out. I am so relieved to be done with it.

Now I just have to finish unpacking and organizing everything here at the apartment. It's still a bit chaotic at the moment and people are coming over tonight. Speaking of which (should that be typing of which?) anyone who wants to go out to the club tonight to celebrate Joe being home on leave and Erin and Brigit's birthdays, let me know and I'll give you directions. We are meeting here at 9pm.

Moving

This past week or so has been absolutely exhausting. Between trying to pack and clean I nearly went insane. The house we were in hasn't been cleaned in about 10 years and it is absolutely disgusting. There is crap there that I don't have a clue who it belongs to, or what to do with it. Here's a quick timeline of what last weekend was like.

Friday: Pack, clean, run to new apartment to pick up keys. Take up a load of kitchen stuff. Collapse for a few minutes. Take a quick shower, attempt to look somewhat presentable. Go with Katie to a party in Flint. Drive Katie home from party because she was way too drunk to drive. (By the way, her new G6 is VERY fun to drive). Shower, collapse in bed.

Saturday: Get up ass early to pack a few more things. Go to apartment with 700 gallons of paint. Paint until our arms fall off. Thank you for all of your help Brigit, we love you! Order a GIANT order of Pokey sticks (story to follow when I have more time). Go back to house. Pack/clean more. Collapse into bed again.

Sunday: Get up ass early. Pack and clean more. Wait for parents to arrive. Load 10 million boxes into a moving truck, Anthony's truck and a my parents' huge van. Drive 5 miles to the new apartment, unload. Collapse.

Sunday wasn't actually as bad as I thought it was going to be, between Katie's parents, my parents, Katie and Anthony we got things loaded and unloaded fairly quickly. After we unloaded we went out to lunch at Clara's. A couple of us had their breakfast buffet. It was so good. That might have been partly because we were starving. I'd been wanting to check it out for years, but I hadn't ever been there on a sunday afternoon before.

Megan is...

megan is the devil
megan is an angel
megan is partially correct
megan is a loser
megan is green
megan is doing an interview
megan is leaving
megan is a rat
megan is so offended
megan is born
megan is number 2000
megan is thrown to the ground
megan is connected to the following things
megan is here with all of us
megan is only 3 years old
megan is my pride and joy
megan is not dying from aids
megan is available to perform with such musical combinations as duos with guitar or piano
megan is admiring the sky
megan is listening to us today
megan is the one who publishes the movies
megan is at wit's end when circumstances change her life in ways she cannot even contemplate
megan is trapped in the game while an electrical fire is sweeping the building
megan is king for a day
megan is the cutest baby
megan is hardly average
megan is straight into this acting stuff in a big way
megan is in her second season with the big red
megan is becoming
megan is confident that everyone can master the basics of floral arrangement
megan is passionate about this genre of literature and this approach to teaching history
megan is very precious
megan is in the fifth grade
megan is happy to oblige
megan is more active now because she feels so much better with the treatments
megan is starting to look more like michael
megan is still a little unsure of what to do with
megan is on stage
megan is one of the leaders of the in group
megan is no longer so frantic
megan is the young adventuresome woman who stows away on the pirate ship as the captains boy
megan is being featured on many canadian tv guides
megan is looking for dustin
megan is now back in school
megan is coming downstairs for her date
megan is saying hello
megan is a great
megan is the very first to actually mention and discuss it
megan is a new and hot model with a great body
megan is doing an interview
megan is unbelievabally thrilled to be in miami
megan is a babe btw
megan is our new friend
megan is delighted
megan is hardly average
megan is not here by choice
megan is an author and freelance writer
megan is no longer so frantic
megan is living the dream
megan is flattered
megan is unable to resist the temptation to create this new machine
megan is so cute
megan is straight into this acting stuff in a big way
megan is up at 4
megan is completely fictional
megan is happy to oblige
megan is clearly an accomplice
megan is just a pawn in soneji’s elaborate chess game
megan is going steady with the team quarterback
megan is now 6 years old and is a true character
megan is already the number one ranked female surfer in the united states

I found a very entertaining site called Googlism . It searches the web for all sorts of interesting things related to your name. I have to say, there were a few parts it was definitely right about. Megan is...the devil. The odd thing was, that was actually the VERY FIRST on the list. I didn't move it around. I deleted a few, and some were repeats, but there you go, if you ever wondered what your name has been doing without you...

Crazy Weekend

This weekend was insane to say the least. Anthony and I left Thursday morning, drove to Kalamazoo, picked up his tux, drove to his parents' house (a half hour past Kzoo), relaxed for a few, got dressed, drove to a rehearsal at Western, then to a dinner in Kzoo, and back to his parents'. The next afternoon we got partially ready, and went back to Western for the wedding. It was very nice. I sat around knitting for the first couple of hours. Anthony was a groomsman and had to put on his tux and be in the pictures. I waited to dress until just before the wedding. No point in ruining the gorgeous dress my mom bought me. I inadvertently matched the bridal party, which worked out, because I sat at the head table. It was a nice wedding. Not exactly my taste, but anyone who knows me should know that when I get married things are going to be a bit creative...The ceremony was gorgeous though. On a deck behind the building, overlooking the trees. It was very pretty and the ceremony was sweet. Anthony looked incredibly hot in a tux...it's official, guys should wear them more often. After the ceremony we went inside for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Then we went to the reception. They had very yummy crab stuffed salmon, and an ice cream cake. The cake was made by Coldstone Creamery. Apparently it was the first wedding cake they've ever made. Kendalyn talked them into it. It was really really good. I am never a big fan of wedding cake, but if you include ice cream...much better. We hung out with Anthony's friend Trevor for a while at the wedding. He and I spent quite a while discussing what wine snobs we were.

The rehearsal dinner the night before was great. It was at a little bistro. Mixed greens and vinaigrette with goat cheese, chicken and mushroom pasta and berry crisp with vanilla ice cream. Plus, a good chardonnay. Mmm. And it was free...even better. Anthony got a great groomsman gift. A box of 10 Beers of the World from World Market, and an engraved bottle opener.

When we got back to his parents' house after the wedding, a couple of his sisters were there. It was a family reunion weekend. We slept in as late as we possibly could the next day. Luckily we had his old bedroom instead of having to stay in a tent like the rest of his siblings. I am still kinda overwhelmed by the whole family. Mostly just the amount of people, especially kids. I haven't been around that many kids at one time since I was in elementary school. I have finally met ALL of his sisters and brothers. Plus, I got a little time to sit down in smaller groups with them. It's no longer scary, just still something I can't quite wrap my brain around. I do really like how much they look after each other. As his sister Leanne said "we may fight with each other, but if anyone outside the family tries to say something bad about one of us, the rest are there to back them up." It's a nice thought. That was the one thing I hated about being an only child. I apparently am being adopted into the family. One of his nieces gave me a hug when she left and said "cause you're part of the family too now". It was sweet. We also played Bingo (a demented version) late into the night for various prizes. I suck apparently....my luck is non existent. But Anthony won a giant jar of pickles. Erin and I always said we'd buy one at some point. Well, now I have more pickles than I know what to do with. I did get a cookbook as a consolation prize. (sigh) There's some good recipes in there though. We also roasted marshmallows and made hot iron pies. They are something Anthony has been raving about for months. They're two slices of bread, with butter on the outside, and pie filling in the middle. You put them in little metal presses on sticks and put them in the coals of the fire. QUITE delicious.

Ugh, all I've talked about for the weekend was food. I expected to have gained 5 pounds when I got home, but amazingly enough, I lost a little. That is nothing short of miraculous. We headed out Sunday morning, and drove back to Lansing. I collapsed on the couch, and Anthony went to work. Like I said, the weekend was nothing short of insane.

Ooh, also, on the way home we stopped at a garage sale. We got a big oval mirror and candle sticks for my new apartment, a wooden salad bowl set, and a mesh splatter cooking screen for his place. All for under $15.

And They're Here!

Well, Marthena didn't give birth that night. They managed to keep the babies from appearing until early wednesday morning. They're both healthy and so is Marthena. They'll stay in the hospital for a few more weeks because they are so tiny. Andrew weighs 4lbs 4oz and Bryan weighs 4lbs 10oz. I am just really happy they're doing well. I guess this means I need to finish up the second baby blanket I am knitting. Although with this weather, they won't need it until January.

Bad Babies

My cousin Marthena is pregnant with twins. She isn't due until the end of September. She has been having contractions on and off for several months now. Apparently they've decided they are ready to arrive. Bad babies...no cookie for you! She has been on complete bedrest for that whole time in an attempt to keep them from arriving early. This has been driving her mildly insane of course, since she used to working a ridiculous amount of hours and is an avid runner. Not the ideal candidate for this. But she's been reading, and being crafty and my mom went to visit her for a week. So she's been tolerating it.

Apparently tonight she is going into labor for real. She's only 31 weeks along. Which means they are considered in the size/age range of "routinely survivable". One of them is 3 lbs. 11 oz. and the other is just over 4 lbs. And they're giving them steroids to help their lungs develop. They'd like the labor to be delayed but at this point it seems like it might have to just happen now.

It's really scary though. I may not be a fan of babies for myself, but I certainly would like all of my second cousins to arrive safely in the world. Send good thoughts out to northern Ohio that they and my cousin do well.

Books Everywhere

So, this reading thing has gotten ridiculous. I finished More, Now, Again by Elizabeth Wurtzel. It was really good. I've been meaning to read her books Prozac Nation and Bitch for quite a while now. This one was about her addiction to Ritalin and cocaine. It was very good. Not necessarily a fun book, but well written, interesting, and actually gave me a little insight into what it's like to have an addiction. I figure if I am ever going to be a therapist some day, it's not a bad idea to at least read about people with problems. Even if my classes don't give me an opportunity to actually interact with them in person. Here's a quote from it that I really liked:

"You're not understanding what I'm saying!" Is she yelling? Dr. Singer never yells. "This is why you do drugs. This is why you feel terrible. You think it's because you feel everything too much. But it's not. It's that you don't feel things enough. All those times that you panic and get hysterical waiting for some guy, any guy, to call you, it's not because your feelings are exaggerated. It's because you don't feel at all."
"That's crazy." I think I may be about to cry, but I don't. "My feeling are excessive and inappropriate and, too much for anyone to handle. So I do drugs and it's manageable. "
"I don't think that's true. I think if you weren't afraid to feel things , it would be ok. If you were not afraid to hurt when you hurt, it wouldn't be so bad. But then you push it away, and you end up going crazy and feeling crazy about nothing - about waiting twenty minutes for a call - because you don't allow yourself to just feel what is really there. "

I finished it this morning. Last night, while in Meijer, Anthony picked up Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. After I finished More, Now, Again I got on the computer, checked my email and then decided I absolutely had to start Harry Potter. Now, I KNEW I wasn't going to be able to stop. Harry Potter may not be a stimulant, but damn it, those books are addictive. You'd think I would have learned something from the first book, but apparently not. At noon I started reading, stopped only to grab something for lunch and take a quick shower. At a little bit before 5, I finished it. I read 650 some pages in under 5 hours. It's official, I need help.

On the plus side, it was a great book, I loved it. And now I can't wait for the people I know to finish it so I can start talking to them about it. In the meantime I'll attempt to keep my mouth shut. Also,l I am not feeling terribly patient about waiting for the last book to come out. Over a year seems like an awful long time when I'm ready for it NOW.

Evil Storm

This was an....interesting...weekend. Saturday, Stav and I worked more on the website while they had a garage sale. I sold a few things too, and made a little bit of money, which was really nice. The site is getting closer to being done. I registered for my domain name and bought server space on www.godaddy.com . It's actually a pretty decent price, and Stav uses them also. I actually got to do some of the work on the site myself. I now have a little bit of an idea of how to use Dreamweaver. I know about a billionth of what is possible, but hey, it's a start. I mostly want to learn enough to make sure I can add pictures and update the links myself. I don't want to make Anthony and/or Stav have to do it all of the time.

Saturday night we went to Harper's. There was a going away party for Stav and Paul. (sighs) I am really going to miss those guys. I can't believe they are leaving. As Erin was talking about in her journal, it really is the end of an era. People are moving, getting married, having kids...and I can't believe it's all happening so fast. Somehow it seemed like it wouldn't all end...that there would be a way to have things just go on the same, forever. I suppose that's really naive, and I always knew it wouldn't actually last, but that didn't stop me from hoping. I'm going to miss running next door to borrow a book, drop off the rabbits for an hour or two while our house is getting "fixed" by construction workers, or just hanging out there for a BBQ. All of the random bar/club nights, and parties...They're some of my very favorite people. I also doubt I'll see Nancy or Kracker much, even though they aren't the ones moving to California. The going away party was a ton of fun. It was in the VIP room at Harper's, and we all got in the club free. We also had free champagne (really good champagne too) and food. Ooh, and we got fun hats! They had random fedoras laying around. They had a couple of different colors, I thought I was wearing one that was grey, or light blue but it ended up being purple. Apparently black lights really mess up my sense of color. It was incredibly funny when we left the club. Erin, Kyle, Katie, Anthony and I were all wearing the hats and there was a huge line of people waiting to go in as we left. Six people or so made comments as we were leaving about them...mostly whispers of "are they VIP's?" We all walked out like we were very important...and then cracked up when we got across the street.

I woke up Sunday morning when Anthony left for work at 6:45, and then again at 8 or so when the storm got out of hand. It had been raining/storming most of the night, but it started to get insane around 8. I drifted off for a few minutes between the lightning and thunder strikes, but I bolted out of bed at 8:20 when it sounded like our house got hit. There was an incredibly huge crash and the house shook. I am not actually sure what near us got hit, but it has to have been very close. Our power went out at the same time, and as of last night at 9 o'clock it was still out. I had sort of a lazy morning, I wandered around East Lansing with Ion and Stepha, to see what was going on with the power and to try to find food. We didn't have any luck with the food, but it was kinda fun. I also read most of the day. It's amazing how much more reading I get done when I can't turn on my computer. I finished reading "The DaVinci Code". I really enjoyed it. It was the perfect book to read in an afternoon. I am not quite sure why people made such an huge deal about it though. Yeah, I can see why it irritated the Catholic Church, it just always seems so silly how big of a deal people make about things like that.

I was supposed to take engagement pictures of Erin and Kyle on Sunday. The storm nixed that idea. Kyle got kidnapped by Consumer's, and was gone all day. Erin ended up coming down anyway, and she and Katie and I went out to dinner. We went to Old Chicago, we'd never been there before so we decided to try it out. It was actually really good. Erin and I split a small pizza. When the waitress brought it out, she put a piece on each of our plates, and then dropped the other two pieces on the floor. It was pretty funny, but I felt really bad for her, she seemed horribly embarrassed. It worked out well though, because we got a new pizza for free, so we ended up getting more than we paid for. We also got honey raspberry ale, which was yummy. I am still not a huge fan of beer, but I have found a few I like. They just have to be higher end. The three of us also split a giant cookie. It was so good. We also took half of it home. It was just a fun dinner. The three of us haven't had much time to just hang out and talk in quite a while. On the way home we got hit on by a bunch of redneck guys in an Explorer (or something similar) with a decal on the back window that said 'get er done...". Very quality guys. They yelled something out the window that sounded like a cross between Yetti and King Kong. We never did hear what they were saying...Erin made some fantastically funny comment about it, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. We all ended up laughing so hard we cried.

Sleeeeep

I am so tired this morning. It could have something to do with the fact that it's 7am and I am awake. I'm not sure what exactly is going on with my brain. It seems to think that when Anthony gets up for work, I should too. (sighs) The rabbit chewing on the metal cage isn't helping either. I left my trusty spray bottle at Anthony's place too, so I had to resort to putting a small amount of water in a glass and throwing it at him. I have one soggy, pissed off Jack right now. Squirrel is still cute and relatively well behaved though. I was so shocked the other day when I had to yell at her. She's picking up a few bad habits from Jack. He's mellowing out though, so I guess it will even out eventually.

We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the other day. It was awesome. Bizarre, but awesome. Then again anything starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton is pretty much guaranteed to be a little off. I actually liked it a lot more than I liked the original. I know that's probably going to get me tarred and feathered, but it's true. Maybe it's cause I saw the first one much older than most of my friends...but I dunno, it always just seemed like one really annoying drug trip. With candy. Willy Wonka, as played by Johnny Depp, was also mildy annoying, but it seemed to fit a lot better with what I remember from the book.

Another movie I liked that I forgot to mention was War of the Worlds. Despite Tom Cruise's annoying habit of, well talking, his movie was great. He may have gone off the deep end in his public life, but it hasn't affected his acting. The movie wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was still really good. I have to say though, it wasn't the alien creatures, or the gore that freaked me out. It was people. The scenes with people desperate to survive and how utterly mindless they became nearly made me sick. I have a strong stomach for most things, after all, I loved Kill Bill and Sin City. But a couple of the scenes showing how easily people fall into the mob mentality made me absolutely ill. Yes, I know. I'm weird. But, aside from that, it was a very cool movie.

Mmm, tuna

I made an awesome dinner tonight. Tuna steak seared for three or four minutes on each side, with fresh raspberries on top. I made cold peas with a wasabi dressing too. It was so light and fresh tasting. Perfect summer food. I decided I could probably eat a whole tuna by myself at some point. However, considering the price of good tuna, I am quite sure I couldn't afford that.

Giant Pig of Death

This weekend went really well. We had fun hanging out with my parents, and got some good ideas for the bricking of their house. They also got me a new bunny cage. It's actually a dog cage, but it works really well, is easy to clean and folds up for transportation. We already have one at Anthony's place, he bought it for me. I gave them back the cage my dad and I made. It's just a bit too small for two critters to stay in at once. And now I'll have a cage at their house so I don't have to haul one back and forth.

Anthony's graduation party went well too. Meeting the whole family was kind of overwhelming, but it wasn't too bad. I got to meet people a few at a time, so that helped. His grandma is really cute. I'd pay a lot of money to see her and my grandma talk. I think they would be really entertaining. I was glad I finally got to meet them, and that it wasn't quite as scary as I thought it was going to be. They party was a luau theme and the roast pig they made was yummy, if alarmingly huge and scary looking. A few of his friends and Erin and Kyle came, which was really nice.

7:54 AM

It's 7:54 AM and I can't freakin sleep. I woke up around 6, and haven't been back to sleep since. I woke up because the light in the kitchen was on. Now, I have no idea WHY it was on. It was off when Anthony and I went to bed, and neither of us remember turning it on. I still maintain that there's no way it was me. For one thing, I am remarkably adept at maneuvering in the dark. I think it comes from being blind...I'm turning into a bat and developing sonar. I can now use echo location to find my way around. I never turn the light on to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. Plus, this apartment is pretty light, from all of the street lamps around here. It was the kitchen light that's about 6 feet up on the wall too, which would be the last light I would turn on. If it's isn't easily accessible, there's no way I'd bother to go for it when there's a switch right at waist height. I blame either Anthony, or the rabbits. Jack? Squirrel? Were you guys having a party last night? I think I better go check the fridge for missing beer.... What is really weird is that I am not even tired.

I'll be "getting up" in about a half hour. We have to get ready to go to Hartland today. Anthony and I are getting haircuts from Malissa. Mine has grown at least 4 inches in the past 2 months and I can't take it any more. After that, we're going to my parents' house. They are planning to replace the wood siding on the house with brick and desperately need my advice. Apparently they are incapable of making brick decisions without me. Frankly it's a good thing they asked for my help, I am MUCH more efficient at deciding what looks good. When the house was getting built we spent 4 hours in the tile place. I picked out tiles for my bathroom in 20 minutes and STILL like what it looks like. They agonized for hours and really hate what they have. After we drive around for a while and look at brick houses we are going to have a BBQ. That was kind of random too, they just decided they needed to make dinner for Anthony and I. It's great...I am always thrilled to have other people make me meals, just a little surprised by it.

After dinner we're headed back to Lansing to feed the bunnies and then to his parents' house in Grand Junction. That means a total of 4-5 hours of driving today...fun. Anthony's graduation party is tomorrow and it was easier to drive there tonight than early tomorrow. I finally get to meet his whole family. All 9 billion of them. I've met his parents and his brother Brad. There are EIGHT other siblings, who are all married and have at least three children. YAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. As an only child, I am confused and frightened by this. Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it.

Pthhbbbtttt

May I just say....HAHA, I knew before you did Erin! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the fact that the other half of my brain is now engaged. Kyle told me he was going to propose the day he got the ring, which makes me feel quite special. So I knew a whole two weeks before Erin did. I also got to see the ever so sparkly ring. Erin seemed determined to trip Kyle and I up, she mentioned something random about weddings nearly every day for those two weeks. All I have to say to Kyle is, 'I'm impressed', you managed to keep a secret from the nosiest person ever. Well done.

So I'm a Fugitive Who Can Transform Into a Huge Dog...SWEET!

In honor of the new Harry Potter book coming out and the fact that I just re-read "The Order of the Phoenix" in one day.

You scored as Sirius Black. You are the most loyal friend anyone could ask for because you'd go to any length to ensure their safety and happiness. You're free-spirited and very difficult to confine to a caged life. You love being in the company of those you love and love to show them how much they mean to you. You loathe those who only live for self-gain and show disloyalty. You're a great person but sometimes its needed of you to think more rationally than being quick to jump into things.

Harry Potter Character compatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

Mmm, chocolate

Apparently I've been craving myself...

BROWNIE BATTER! You scored 77% SWEET, 74% CHUNKY, and 74% UNIQUE!

brownie batter ice cream with a rich brownie batter swirl Mmmm....you are a very sweet mix indeed! You are warm, loving, and caring to all those around you, but you're not boring in the least! You have a wild streak and a creative, unique streak, too. You are a great friend, an interesting person, and you know how to have fun without ending up crouching over a toilet bowl. Nice!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 67% on SWEET You scored higher than 80% on CHUNKY You scored higher than 78% on UNIQUE

Link: The Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor Test written by weered1 on Ok Cupid

Etsy!

I found the most amazing website this week. It's a site that is for selling handmade craft-type stuff. I am sure to most of you that sounds less than exciting. However, as a person who has so far mostly spent money on being creative instead of making money on it, it is heaven. When I first saw it, my thought was 'Oooh, a website for Erin." Then I proceeded to go insane because she was on vacation and I couldn't tell her about it. Eventually the thought occurred to me, 'Hey, you have photographs, why don't you try selling them?' I've spent the last few days putting together a shop, I have a dozen or so of my photographs on sale now. In keeping with the Drifting Visions theme of my future website, that is also the name of my Etsy shop. The shop is similar to eBay in that the site doesn't actually sell your products and ship them out, they just put buyers and sellers in contact with each other. But, there are no auctions and it's limited to handmade stuff. I am impressed with how well the site is organized. It's clean, simple, and pretty easy to use. Plus, they are just starting out and so they're really open to suggestions. The link to my store is Drifting Visions Etsy if you would like to check it out (hint, hint...)

I am also curious, is anyone actually reading this?? Or, am I just talking to myself most of the time? Leave me a comment on here, just to let me know please!

It hasn't helped that I've changed what IM client I've been using, so my profile with the link to this keeps getting lost. Lately AIM has been bogging down my computer like crazy and driving me nuts. I decided to try out Miranda IM since several people have been raving about it. I was impressed up until the point where I realized that reading people's away messages wasn't an option. It's a really nice set up over all. It's an incredibly small file that has the basic IM options and beyond that there are hundreds of plug-ins to use. I loved some of the plug-ins, they were just what I was looking for. However, it makes absolutely no sense to me that neither the Miranda program nor any single plug-in will allow you to check away messages. The only way of seeing them is to send someone a message, which just gets annoying to me and to them. I then downloaded Gaim, and I love it. It just rocks. Much smaller file than AIM and much less of a nuisance. Besides, now I don't have the damn advertisement windows in my buddy list. And it lets me check away messages. Anyone who is annoyed with AOL and/or wants to be able to chat with people on AIM, MSN, and yahoo, etc, all at the same time should check it out. I tried Trillium years ago and it just made me cranky. I'm impressed to have found one that I finally like.

Chasing Rabbits

I let the rabbits run in my room while I am in here. That way they get exercise and are much less cranky. Usually it works out great. Today I forgot to close the bedroom door while I went to put in my contacts. I've been wearing my glasses all day but I needed contacts to go running. I have one contact in and all of a sudden there's a crash. With one eye shut so I can see out of the eye that does have the contact in it, I see that my door is open. And there Jack is, joyfully hopping through the living room. You know the scene in Lilo and Stitch where he goes rampaging through the model city of San Francisco? It looked a lot like that. He's adorable but rather destructive. I think maybe I should have a padded room for him. When he saw me coming he hid under the couch. Since it's nearly impossible to coax him out, I just left him there while I went to put in my second contact. I wanted to be able to see what I was chasing around. I'm not sure I really needed to go running. I got an awful lot of exercise running right in the house. 20 minutes later I finally got him back in the room and in his cage. Squirrel is still out and about in the bedroom because she's well behaved. I'm never quite sure how to deal with her though. I am used to the wild antics of Jack. She just quietly sits around and cuddles when you pick her up. The oddest thing I've ever seen her do is lick my ear. Which, is kind of strange, but from what I can tell, to rabbits that just means 'I love you'. I think I'm glad most humans don't do it that way.

Sex and the City....in Lansing?

Doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Katie and I had an incredibly girly night last night. We went out to dinner, bought candy and makeup and watched Sex and the City. I was appalled to find myself painting my toes purple and watching four women bitch about men. Then again I've been told I'm the most like Samantha, so I find that a bit more reassuring. After all, how you not want to be like someone who fights tooth and nail to stay single. Granted, if she's my role model, I failed miserably. Silly me, I went and found a nice guy to date. But I can definitely see myself saying this...(Samantha:) "I think I have monogamy. I caught it from you people. (Carrie:) "Now it's airborne." In fact, I have a feeling that at some point I said something similar to Erin. It's much easier to blame your friends for such things. I'm slowly starting to admit I even have a girly side. I'd much prefer to pretend that I'm a cold hearted vixen who breaks men. And I am, I did that for quite a while, and while it's loads of fun, I'm not sure it's really a full time occupation.

Fourth of July

Somehow the 4th didn't quite go as planned. Anthony and I invited a few people over (mostly friends of his) and a total of two people showed up. One of them was the downstairs neighbor, so I am not quite sure how much that counts. However, Brigit made it, so she gets extra points. A lot of it was because of the weather, the random thunderstorm doesn't exactly set the mood for a summer barbecue. It also led to the Lansing fireworks getting cancelled. However, the ass hat guys who live on the other side of the house decided it would be a great idea to launch fireworks RIGHT next to the house. (rolls eyes) After the third one whizzed by the window, Anthony politely asked them to go somewhere else. There is a park with a huge open field directly across the street from the house, so it really wasn't a difficult request. Apparently they went there, but not far enough. We were sitting there watching a movie when there was a huge boom, and the house felt it was hit by a cannonball. (cause you know, I've been hit by so much cannon fire...) We went downstairs and there was a ridiculous amount of smoke and a GIANT GAPING HOLE in the front door. Apparently the genius guys couldn't keep a bottle rocket aimed in the correct direction and it flew into the front door and broke the window. One of the guys came up in a bit to drunkenly make a bad attempt at apologizing. And everyone wonders why I hate the human race.

I'm Going to Hell...Wahoo!

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

The Adventures of Jack and Squirrel!

Well, I finally decided to name her Squirrel. If a squirrel and a cottontail rabbit had a torrid affair, their offspring would look just like her. We let them rampage around the bathroom for a bit, and we took some pictures. Here is one of Jack, and several of Squirrel.


Captain Jack Sparrow




Squirrel


Squirrel



and more Squirrel




Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of the two of them together, but that's next on the To Do list.

I made my famous Orange-Dijon Chicken tonight. I haven't made it in at least a year, which is crazy, because it's one of my favorite recipes. Anyone curious to try the recipe can either as for a copy of it, or bribe me to make it for your. Trust me, it's worth it.

I think I finally made the decision to stick with Drifting Visions (another of Smitty's brilliant suggestions, once again, he is my hero) for the name of my website. Stav got started on the graphics for the webpage. So far it is really simple. Black background, white lettering...all that fun stuff. I am basically going for whatever will set off the photographs the best. I am still madly editing photos until my eyes start to bleed. Part of the problem is that I've been working on them on four different computers, my desktop and laptop, and Anthony's desktop and laptop. And yeah, we own too many computers, I am actually aware of that. But that's slowing me down because I keep having to burn CD's and send emails to myself. Pain in the ass is what it is. But I am already loving the way the site looks and getting really excited about the idea of it.

Well I'm Surprised

I was so worried about introducing Jack to the new bunny. Apparently I was crazy. Anthony and I put them in the kitchen together, and for the first 20 minutes or so they basically ignored each other. They hopped around checking out the new room and occasionally sniffed each other. We decided to put them in the big cage, and they've spent the past hour or so checking the cage out and getting acquainted. So far they've been eating hay together and she's been licking his ears. It was adorable. I can't wait till I see them snuggling together asleep. I spent a couple hours reading through various articles explaining all of the steps you should take to introduce them and all of the things that can possibly go wrong. I didn't actually need to worry about any of that I guess. I had visions of fur flying and a dead and or bleeding baby bunny. Instead, they're best friends. Further proof that you can never predict how people or animals will behave.

Baby Bunny

I bought a bunny last night. I know, I've become obsessed. I was at the pet store about a week and a half ago, and saw the cutest baby bunny. She is part Netherland Dwarf (mixed with something else unknown) and she looks like a wild rabbit. She has that brown fur, and a little white tail. She was sweet and cuddly and really laid back. I didn't even consider getting her then, she was $30, and I figured my parents would murder me if I bought a critter. I talked to my mom about it a couple of days later. I didn't even suggest getting it, just that I was completely in love with her. Well, a few days after that when I talked to her on the phone she said "your dad and I talked about it, and if you want to get the bunny, you can." I think my jaw hit the floor. I told her I'd take a couple of days to think about it. As much as I'd love a friend for Jack, they are kind of time consuming. I decided to get her if she was still there. Last night I went to the pet store, and she was the only bunny left, so I got her! She's 6 weeks old, fits in my hands cupped together and is so friendly. I am going to take some pictures of her this week and I'll post them as soon as I get them done.

I haven't introduced her to Jack yet, I am going to let her relax and get to know me for a few days before I stress her out like that. Thursday I am going to barricade myself in Anthony's kitchen with the two bunnies and see what chaos ensues. It could be love at first sight or a nightmare. It should be interesting either way. I am not sure what I am going to name her yet. Since I already have one named Captain Jack, I am tempted to name her Ginger. After all, Jack and Ginger just seems to go together. Mmm, good drink. Anthony is suggesting Scallawag, in keeping with the whole pirate theme. She also kinda of looks like a squirrel, so I could just call her that. Any suggestions or comments on the name idea would be appreciated.

Dreams, Cops and a BBQ

I had the oddest dream the other night. I think I've been watching too much Law and Order lately. I had a dream that I stabbed a plastic surgeon (multiple times) because he had been experimenting on homeless guys. How does my brain come up with stuff like this?? I always have such odd, vivid dreams. The weird thing is, dreams like that never upset me. I woke up from it feeling completely calm. But this morning just before I woke up, I had a dream that Anthony and I were arguing. Granted it's not something we actually seem to do in real life, but in the dream, we were definitely getting pissed about something completely ridiculous. Why is it that getting in an argument is more upsetting than committing murder. (shakes head) I am not quite right in the head.

I went to a party at the neighbors' Saturday night. Fun party as usual, but for some reason the neighbors decided to call the cops. Apparently it was the old lady who lives behind me. At 12:30 the cops showed up and broke it up. The old lady called in a noise complaint. It's a party, in a college town, on a Saturday night. What do you expect to have happen?? We back right up to a 'real' neighborhood though, so I think she's probably just cranky that students live near her. I've decided when it's this hot and humid and I haven't had much to eat or enough water to drink in a day, I probably shouldn't go to a party and drink. I had two gin and Sprites (for lack of tonic) and a shot. I wasn't drunk, I just felt horrible. After I got home I ended up taking a nap in the bathtub for a half hour. I felt a lot better after, and once I had a little bit to eat and some water to drink I was alright. It's just weird. I've never been that overheated while drinking I guess.

I went back over there Sunday for a BBQ. They had them all the time last summer, and they are always entertaining. Although, this time we kept wondering if the cops were going to break it up because we were wafting aromas in the cranky neighbor's general direction. It was a good weekend, although I am looking forward to next weekend even more. Anthony doesn't work and we'll have three days where we have NOTHING that has to get done. Such a wonderful thought.

Alcohoroscope

Your Sagittarius Drinking Style

In vino veritas -- and, for you, in booze blurtiness. When battered, you'll spill all your friends' secrets and many of your own.
Tactlessness aside, you are just plain fun to drink with.
You are under the sign of serious partying (what else would you expect from the sign of Sinatra, Keith Richards, the Bush twins and Anna Nicole Smith)?
You're the person who chat up everyone in the room, then persuades the entire crowd to travel somewhere else -- like a nightclub, or a playground, or Cancun.
Good-natured hijinks are sure to ensue (including a high possibility of loopy groping; a spontaneous Sag like you is a brilliant booty call).

Your Signature Cocktails
A travel-loving sign, Sagittarius might be intrigued by drinks like Moscow mules, Singapore slings -- perhaps even a Long Island iced tea (not a bad option, given how much you can put away and still stay vertical). Party monster that you are, you're attracted to shots, like the ever-popular lemon drop. You rules pears, and you could use a nice pear cider right about now, come to think of it.

Your Celebrity Drinking Buddies
Britney Spears, The Bush twins, Margaret Cho, Lucy Liu, Brad Pitt, Anna Nicole Smith, Jay-Z, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

What's Your Alcohoroscope?

Restless

It's 1am and I can't sleep, for the second night in a row. (sighs) It's the usual summer restlessness I think. The problem is, in the past I could go out and kiss/break the hearts of random boys. I need to find a new outlet for myself. Since Anthony probably wouldn't appreciate me going to the bar and making out with strangers, I guess I need to be creative. I've never been in a relationship in the summer before. It's kind of odd. But last year I met Anthony in June, we started dating, and here it is June again, and I've never been happier. That still doesn't necessarily help me sleep on warm summer nights when I get bored though. If I were smart, I would go out running or something, but I lack the ambition to get dressed and go. Pajamas are way too comfy at the moment, and I don't think satin pjs and barefeet are terribly good for running. I am not in the mood to read, and the thought of knitting right now just makes me cranky. I need something new and exciting to do before I go out of my mind with boredom. Any ideas?

Photos

I spent most of the afternoon scanning pictures for the website. I have a huge box with hundreds of photos. Tonight, I finally started to organize them. All of the photographs are out of the envelopes, sorted by size and put in shoe boxes. The negatives are in a separate box. I need to get some nice real photo boxes and then sort them by roll. I think I'll still keep the negatives separate, but they will be in order too, maybe not chronological order, cause I am way too lazy to do that much work, but at least marked with a number. That way I will know Negative One corresponds to Roll One. It's a fairly ambitious project, but more than worth doing. I've been wanting to do it for years now. I will (at some point) scan all of the negatives and photographs and burn them to DVD's too. But that's pretty far in the future. Unfortunately because I didn't have them organized, some of the pictures have gotten damaged. Scratched/bent/or otherwise messed up. But, on the photo envelopes I noticed the Kodak guarantee, as long as I have a photo that is printed on Kodak paper, with the negative, they will replace them for free, no matter what I did to them. I have all of the negatives, and I've never had them printed on anything but Kodak paper, so I should be all set. That's kind of a future project too, although before the massive scanning, cause there's no point in scanning damaged pictures. Unfortunately some of them that I need to put on the website are a little dinked up, so I will have to do some Photoshop editing. But, I could use some practice with Photoshop anyway, so it should be ok. I am getting excited about all of this. Other than Stepha's graduation pictures, I haven't done many lately, and I really miss photography.

Scanner!

I have a scanner to use!!! Anthony got one and I am so happy with it. I spent most of this afternoon going through boxes of pictures and scanning them. Anthony and Stav are going to put together a website for me. The website will have all of my photography on it, basically an online portfolio. I still need to go through all of my negatives too. There is a negative/slide tray that fits into the scanner, so I can scan them also. Once the website is put together I'll post a link on here. We're going to work on it next Tuesday I believe.

I am also having a lot of fun with www.last.fm , it is a basically an online radio station where you get to choose what you listen to. You set up a profile and make a list of music you want. It will either play just your music, or the music of the people you list as being a friend. It's kinda nice. Regular radio tends to annoy me because I don't like half the music, most of the DJ's are really obnoxious, and there are too many commercials. This is like a cross between playing your mp3 collection and radio. Only music you like, no commercials, but without the hassle of having to download music. Plus, it's a great way to preview music before you get around to buying it. And of course it's free, which makes me very happy. My user name is VampireSass (of course). If any of you join, let me know and I'll put you on my friend list. I supposed I should give credit where it's due, Smitty was the one who introduced me to it. Plus, I was having issues with it and he helped, so he's my hero.

Catching Up

Well, everything is transferred over from the other site. The order of posts is a little funky, but I don't have the ambition to play around with it tonight. Now it's time to catch up on what I've been doing lately.

I went home on Wednesday night, and had a doctor's appointment Thursday. That went fine, it was just my yearly checkup and I had the usual blood tests done. The lab tech was EVIL. She missed the vein in my arm, and WIGGLED the needle around to find it. So I now have a black and purple bruise the size of a quarter. Plus there is a nice shade of green around it. My arm was sore for two days. Because she was too lazy/in too much of a hurry I have to suffer. After that my mom and I went shopping, we went to Whole Foods and had lunch. Plus, I stocked up on all sorts of yummy food. I got running shoes too, cause I've finally decided I need to get my ass in gear again and run on a regular basis. I've been way too lazy and I need to get in shape again.

The 16th of June was the anniversary of Anthony and my first date. I got him flowers and something, um, fun for me to wear. I'll leave it at that. He got me a book with gorgeous black and white photos of couples from old movies. Sort of hard to describe, but really cool. Also, Phantom of the Opera on DVD, and he took me out for sushi. Mmm, sushi. It was so good. I love Sushi Ya, they are amazing. There was a bit of confusion with what we ordered, so we got an eel roll for free. We also went to see Batman Beyond. I love it. It was exactly what I wanted the other Batman movies to be like. I've had a mental image of a dark, tortured Batman in my head, and the other movies were just too cheesy. This one made me so happy. I won't pretend it's the best movie that's ever existed, but it was at least a great Batman movie.

Today we went strawberry picking with my parents. Unfortunately we didn't have much luck with the berries, the weather has been so weird. Most of them were either unripe or rotting. We got enough berries to make it worthwhile though. I was going to make strawberry shortcake tonight, but there was a lack of baking soda and I didn't have the ambition to go get some at 10:30 at night. Maybe tomorrow.

Ugh, time to go to bed I think. I am really tired, my eyes are dry, and my calves are sore from running today. Good thing I'm cute, cause I am definitely falling apart.