New camera, new photos!

So, I got a new digital camera for xmas from muh Scotty and I thought I would start off "v2" of my blog with some fabulous photos! Well they're kinda lame but enjoy them and shut the hell up.

Our tree:


Cooper eating presents:


More to come. We're heading to DC tonight to hopefully take in the lights of the Capitol tree so I'll be supplying more pics. Yeah boi!

There goes that idea...

So we've got a number of HOV lanes around here and of course, since I'm lone commuter to work, I never get the benefit of driving in them. I've always wondered if people put dummys in their car to use the lanes. Guess so. Guess I won't be trying it either unless I feel like getting a hefty ticket. I bet you anything people around here do this and don't get caught.

From article: "In the passenger seat was the pale head of a mannequin stuffed in a sweatshirt and wearing a hat. The usually white, Styrofoam head had been painted beige to give it a more lifelike appearance. On the head was a baseball hat tilted toward the driver."

Da Hillz

Here's a pretty funny parody of Justin Bobby and Audrina on the Hills done by James Franco and Mila Kunis. Perfect. Since we all know the show is like, totally fake.

Gotta admit they did pretty good with that one hahahhaha.

We didn't start the fire...oh yeah, we did.

Got the fireplace going! Weeeeeee, right now I'm sitting on the couch next to the roaring fire watching some Dirty Sexy Money. What a good way to spend a Wednesday evening. I also am happy to report that my first attempt at making Enchiladas was successful. Geez. What a day.

This Sunday is our "Dog, Wine, and Cheese" party, and if you are a reader of my blog you are invited. I found out that there are children that will be attending the party, which I'm not very happy about considering I don't like children, but oh well. I'm sure all the wine I plan on drinking will help that. I pray its warm enough out for people to be outside...

Oh yes, Scotty bought us a Christmas tree today! It's not real, which will be a hard adjustment for me because I've never had a fake tree, but it comes with lights already on it which will save me a rising blood pressure from getting the lights just right on the tree. Gotta save that for outside. Now I've got the dilemma of what color ornaments to buy...it's always something.

This is a stupid post. Really I just felt bad because I slacked again on posting. I'm hoping to actually take photos though of the party and post them, so that should entertain everyone for a while :-)

Wee! Dogs, wine and cheese...we are crazy.

My ego is bigger than...you know...my IKEA couch.

So, today I'm really not into writing like, an actual paragraph of interesting information. That assumes, however, that what I normally write is a paragraph of interesting information which therefore means that I'm pretty egotistical.

Anyhoo.

Today at work I told a girl on my team, "I am not the decider on that project". She walked away and I realized I just made a Dubya comment. Then, I threw up in my mouth a little.

Speaking of work, isn’t it sad, the jokes that occur at work that are so lame, that no one else outside your office would find funny, but you find completely hilarious? Today, for example, some of us were chatting and bullshitting about a project we're working on when one coworker joked: “Will mitigate risks for food!” Yeah it’s really not funny. But, if you were in my office, you’d be LOLing profusely like we were at that gem. It's also funny when someone tries to make the joke even FUNNIER, but don't realize that they can't and the moment has already passed. Like when someone else said, "Yeah hahahha will trade milestone decisions for food!" Then its like, moment of uncomfortable silence and the obligatory fake laughs, and then someone says, "Anyhow...". Yeah, thats always funny.

Isn't it funny how I never talk about work much anymore on my blog. I'm sure everyone remembers when I had my job in Georgetown where I would literally blog all day and talk about how many games of solitaire I won. Man. I haven't played solitaire since I left that place. I feel like because I work for the government I really shouldn't blog about it...you know me, Model Citizen and all. Since I took the day off tomorrow, maybe I'll check out good ol' solitaire again and see if I've got any mad skillz left. Cause I was really gettin good there for a while. Whoops, there's that big ego again.

Hilarious, cause everyone knows its Scott with the big ego, not me!

(Just checking to see if he's actually reading my blog posts or just ignoring those nifty RSS feeds...)

Statement about his ego tho still stands.

The search has ended...

And I knew I'd come out of it looking like an idiot. The book was in my old nightstand, which I moved into our spare bedroom because we just bought new nightstands for our bedroom. See, I KNEW I put it on a nightstand. Of course I never thought to look in the OTHER BEDROOM, where the OTHER nightstand was...

IDIOT. Anyhow.

Telecommuting today, so of course I'm blogging. Hey, I have my work computer open and email visible, it's all good. I feel like I get more done both work-wise and life-wise when I work from home. Today I've already been to the bank, dry cleaners, and grocery store and its only 10:45am. I've also read and responded to all of my emails from work, and am just waiting for a response on how to proceed on this project I'm doing. Basically, I'm golden. And, I get to hang out with my puppy all day :-) I rock.

My sister and her friend are coming to visit this weekend, and I'm trying to figure out how to entertain them. They are only 19, so I can't take them drinking. Geez, what does that leave? I figured it might be fun to take them to Eastern Market? Hell I dunno. If anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them.

So, I've now been sleeping on our new memory foam mattress for about 5 nights. Man, those things are amazing. I sleep like a rock, I don't feel myself tossing and turning. Plus, our bed is huge now so even if one of us is moving around the other one isn't woken up. I haven't even heard Scott saying random shit in his sleep like normal. My chiropractor yesterday said my muscles are much more relaxed in my back. I should try to get a job in one of those memory foam infomercials. I still haven't done the test where you put a glass of wine on the bed and then jump around, mostly because I'd probably fall and knock it off myself of the IKEA bed slats we have would break. Hahha yeah, get a nice bed and then put it on an IKEA frame. We're classy. But, has anyone actually shopped for bed frames? JESUS! We had to get a platform-type bed with slats in it (you don't use a box spring with this bed) and they were all insanely expensive, like more than the mattress itself. Fawk that. IKEA it is.

Cept that place sends my blood pressure through the roof. I did find out they make good chocolate bars there tho. Very tasty. And good $1 hot dogs too. The things you find out when you wait in a checkout line for half an hour...

Me Crazy White Lady

Have you ever had something one minute, and then you put it somewhere, and now you just can't find it? Why, I'm facing this exact dilemma right now! About 3 weeks ago, I ordered some books from overstock.com. A cookbook (which is sitting on my kitchen counter), The Devil in the White City (which I finished reading and is now sitting on my bookshelf), Love in the Time of Cholera (which I started reading last night and is on my nightstand), and The Conscience of a Liberal, which is….? Missing? I distinctly remember taking the book out of the box, admiring the shiny cover, saying gee that looks like an interesting read, and then deciding to read The Devil in the White City first. So, where did I put that book? No frigging clue. I looked practically everywhere in the house I could think of last night and it is just…nowhere. Did it get up and walk away? Did Cooper eat it? Is it wearing Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak? I'm thinking none of the above. Seriously, there is nothing more frustrating than knowing the damn book is right under my nose, somewhere in the house…this is what I get for wanting a bigger house. I thought I was absent minded before...apparently I've entered a whole new realm of crazy lady.

Network TV and chickenz

So, we handed out candy for Halloween for the first time (definitely a change from binge drinking in an outrageous costume at OU, but honestly I didn't miss it) and our favorite costume was this little girl, probably 2 years old, literally the cutest thing I've ever seen, in a chicken costume. She was more interested in Cooper than the candy, and when her dad told her to say bye, she said, "bye doggy!". Too friggin cute.

Nope, not having kids anytime soon, thank you very much. NOOOOOOO where near soon. I still don't have that $300 Kitchen Aid stand-up mixer than I want. Fawk.

So I have come to the conclusion that Grey's Anatomy is the largest piece of shit on TV lately (compared to its first season...wtf happened?) and I've actually started to like Private Practice better. Mainly, because there is no Izzy, no George, no Mc-anyone, and no Meredith...the only decent character on the show anymore is Cristina. I think I watch Grey's just out of obligation now, and I'm even starting to feel not so obligated.

Other than that...I'm well on my way to becoming a Civil Servant (bye bye evil contracting) and thrilled about a sizeable raise and the end of BULL-SHITE. To celebrate, I drank a bottle of wine. Duh. And, I made the wise choice of not attempting cupcakes again.

We are having company this weekend, and I'm quite excited, though the house is in shambles as we haven't unpacked everything and are waiting for our new bed to be delivered (thank you overstock.com for $1.95 shipping) hopefully tomorrow. Also having friends for dinner tomorrow and I'm back at the bone-cracker beforehand so it will certainly be a fun filled couple of days. I'm tellin ya people...find a good Chiropractor.

Haven't you all missed my posts? Cause I've certainly missed talking about myself. Hehehhe.

The Great Halloween Cupcake Debacle

First: let me apologize for my long absence. Moving to a new house, the lack of a fridge for 2 weeks, my job, getting the dog groomed and nearly having a breakdown as a result, a back injury, and life in general has really distracted me. So, I'M BACK WITH A VENGEANCE.

Second: we carved pumpkins...mine was, well, phenomenal. Here is a photo:



Yes, I'm that good. Nuf said.

So tonight I came home from a lovely bone-cracking chiropractic visit and decided to bake Halloween cupcakes. From a box, of course. I'm not the Barefoot Contessa, I don't bake from scratch on weeknights. So, while I'm measuring the like 3 ingredients that go in, I become distracted by...something?...and somehow put in twice as much water as required. So I'm mixing the cupcakes up like, why the fawk are these so liquidy? Then I look at my Pyrex measuring cup and notice I was glancing at the 1 pint line, not the 1 cup line. Great. I can't even make a goddamned box of cupcakes correctly. So what do I do? Put my "Sandra Lee hat" on and think of what I could dump in there to make something respectable out of it. In went flour, vanilla, baking powder, some other shit, I don't know. What came out was this odd combination between muffins, cupcakes, and rubber. I ate one, and felt like I had just consumed an entire loaf of sourdough bread. Trash, say hello to dozens of cup-rubimuffincakes.

So much for my mad baking skillz.

Stuff, and whatnot.

So does anyone watch "The Hills"? If so, I have a question I seriously need answered. What exactly does Spencer DO (other than act like a douchebag)? I've seen him on a computer, reading a newspaper, or eating. That's it. WHAT DOES HE DO??? It drives me freaking nuts.

Now that I have that out of the way...

Had a relatively good weekend. Friday night went out with Ryan and Linsey for some tasty food and tasty drinks. I'll definetely be going back to Russia House!! Tasty vodka. Saturday I went to the mall and stood in a line of 30 people at Banana Republic to buy like, 1 thing. Then I went to Sephora and went a bit overboard on what I bought but I figured, oh well, I deserve it. Right? Eh whatever. Then Scott and I went out to a few bars on Capitol Hill, had a really good time people watching. Very fun. Today I was planning on running a few errands while Scott was out helping some dude put some parts on his car or something...then within 15 minutes of Scott leaving, Cooper starts vomiting. Vomited 5 times within like 30 minutes. So I'm like, well this is a fabulous way to spend my Sunday. I still have no idea what he ate to make him puke, and he's OK now. But I spent the day watching him like a hawk because I knew if I left to run an errand, I'd come back to find vomit all over my house. Sigh. So, my trip to Target was delayed until about 6pm, which was OK cause it was a lot less crowded. Some people washed my car windows for free because "Jesus Loves Me". All in all, not bad.

Oh yeah, back to "The Hills". Anyone else like squeal with delight when Elodie handed Heidi's ass to her on a silver platter? Oh man. Priceless.

Looking forward to a hellish week, but Friday morning we are heading back to the OH-IO for a wedding. Will be very very very nice to get out of town for a weekend. I think tomorrow I will make some cuppycakes.

I frigging love cupcakes.

The end.

Cooper is...

35 pounds! Yikes.

Who knew Monday Night Football was amusing

Announcer: "he really muffed that punt, there!"

Followed by 5 minutes straight of Scott and I laughing and making raunchy jokes about muffs, footballs, and any combination of the two.

See, you can't ever say that Monday night TV sucks.

to add insult to injury...

We so very happily got a $500 electric bill in the mail.

I think that really needs no further comment.

I need a loan, bitch

Lots of things going on lately. We finally found a new home! Of course not to PURCHASE, because I can't afford the payments on a half million dollar house, so we're stuck renting again. Oh well. We got it month-to-month so in case we find something to el purchase in the meantime we aren't stuck in a 1 year lease.

Anyhoo...

So the house is bigger than what we have now (thank god), in a MUCH nicer neighborhood (yay!), on the GW Parkway instead of Rt. 1 (super duper yay), but it is definitely further from DC. That was kind of the compromise, I suppose. We needed a bigger yard for the Coopster to run around in, and ya just don't find that in DC. I mean, I'd be living IN DC if I could, instead of the burbs. Personally I'm still waiting for the day when I can afford one of those $5million dollar homes in Northwest.

So we start moving Oct 1, which I do not look forward to the act of actually moving, but I know after its done I'm no longer a resident of the hood.

In other news...I work a lot? Yeah that's really about it. Once we start moving I"ll be posting photos of the new digs.

I still need a vacation!! Come on people. SOMEONE has to want to go on a weekend trip. Atlantic City? Anyone?

HUGE BLAH

Things have sucked lately. I work all the time, I barely ever do anything remotely fun, I am poor, the house we found to rent was rented out from under us (thank you shady ass Long & Foster Realty), the construction around here is non-stop, I'm sick, and I need a vacation. Like, more than I've needed a vacation in a really long time.

I'm such a whiner. But honestly stuff does suck.

Guess I'm looking forward to hopefully watching the OU-Virginia Tech Game, guess there's an alumni group going to a bar to watch. I need some fun football watching times. Basically I need to socialize with normal people and drink beer and not talk about my job or my dog or my boring ass life for a day.

So, is anyone interested in meeting up somewhere for a weekend trip? Like, for real? (and no, I don't mean in Ohio or anywhere around here.)

Das one big ball of fur!

Me and Cooper today at the Capitol :-)

Cooper's Video Debut!

Not just a video...but a music video featuring a classic Michael Jackson song!!

My dog is now a YouTube all star. Clicky HERE




Sidenote: Scott is now doing a "comic series" on his blog...check it out, first linky on my sites list to the right!

ou est le bibliotheque?

The more I watch this, the more I laugh. If you know any French, its simply hilarious. Well it's hilarious anyway but you know.

Voila! Mon Passporte!

Le Countdown a la Anita et Schatz

I like how I think I can make a sentence in proper French. What a joke.

Anyhoo...at Anita's request, I present the countdown to the arrival of NitaBallz and Schatzel.

THE LADIES ARRIVE IN T-MINUS 7 DAYS!!

I am so excited :-)

Many conversations of schellack, stupid people we used to hang out with, and life in general await us.

Cold shower anyone?

Whelp, it was a hot one here today folks. Hit 102...and if anyone has been in DC in the summer, you know what a sweltering swamp it is. So even 80 can be bad...but 102? Holy shit. The minute you walk outside you can feel the heat and humidity hit you like a brick wall. I can say I've felt nothing like it in Ohio, FOR SURE.

Speaking of the good ol' midwest, I'm headed back to Mentor tomorrow for some old fashioned R&R, in a house that is clean and not in the hood. Taking Cooper in the car by myself, which should be a real trip considering he can't sit still for 5 minutes and feels the need to sit in my lap every time we're in the car. Yep...gonna be a very very long drive.

Might not be posting till next week as a result of my trip, and I know you'll all miss me so...but in return, I'll try to get real cute puppy pics this weekend for you all.

Whoa!

Cooper is officially 15 weeks and 20.5 pounds. He's gonna be a big doggy!!!!

O...M...G

These may be some of the most disturbing photos I've ever seen...

Clicky HERE

I like food.

So I'm watching the episode of Top Chef that I recorded last night and I'm thrilled to see that they are doing a Bertolli frozen meal in a bag challenge! I frigging love that stuff. I have like 3 bags of it in my freezer right now. If you've tried the Stouffers and Lean Cuisine meal in a bag things and thought eh this is pretty disgusting (as I have), you have to try the Bertolli stuff. Esp when we both work like 50-60 hours a week and neither of us wants to roast a friggin chicken or something. Damn good shit. Don't look at most of the nutritional info tho.

I'm also thrilled because tomorrow night we are having dinner at Dino up in Cleveland Park, an italian restaurant I have heard SO much about and have been wanting to try for a super long time. Since Scott leaves for his 3 week work trip to Germany on Saturday AND since Dino started Restaurant Week early ($30.07 for 3 courses per person!!), it is the perfect opportunity. Not sure if anyone reads this has ever been there, but if you didn't like it then don't tell me lol.

Back to Top Chef..still not so thrilled by any of the contestants this year. Hung drives me freaking nuts. I like Casey (sometimes), Howie (sometimes), Tre (sometimes, he made some funny comments about chicken) and CJ...kind of.

Whatever.

Lunchtime Posting

I think that my lunchtimes at home with the Coopster are a good time to make blog posts. Mostly because I have so little time to make posts at all. So, that being said, here's my lunchy post:

Ate a bagel with low-fat cream cheese. EH.
Fed Cooper some of the bagel. He liked it more.
Dreading leaving for work again in 15 minutes.
It's really hot out. My arm got burnt from sitting in my car window on the way home from work. I work like 6 miles away. Mind you, in the middle of the day that is 20 minutes of driving. Go figure.

My lip gloss, is poppin.

Almost hump-day update

Good news: Anita and Kristen are coming to visit me!!! :-)

Bad news: On Saturday, Scotty is leaving me for 16 days for ze Deutchland :-(

Other important things:
I finally went grocery shopping; my fridge and cupboards don't look so sad anymore. I now have fresh fruit AND vegetables! W00t. So what did I cook last night for dinner? Tacos. How frigging healthy. Hey, I used low fat sour cream, ok?

Work is just insane. All of my "fun" memories of me living in MS Excel at Owens Corning are coming back to haunt me these past few days...of course I can't for the life of me remember how to make a decent pivot table so I get to re-learn these fun things all over again. Now that I have a laptop and VPN I can work from home (which, is good AND bad) so I'm going to try to work in a little telecommuting every now and then...esp. when the boss man is out of the office.

Puppy is good. He's getting so big! Back to the vet next week for more shots, and then I think he's out of the woods in terms of getting bad puppy viruses, and we can actually take him for walks and to dog parks and crap. He's been doing this funny thing where he sleeps with his legs up in the air next to our other A/C vent...he's totally hilarious. Well, not when he's biting me or tearing the inside lining of my Banana Republic work skirts, but you know. When he's sitting or sleeping.

Anyone out there watching Big Love? There's like, nothing else on to watch, I dunno I can't figure out how I feel about it now. Loved the first season...kind of on the fence about this one. Since I can't afford BOTH HBO and Showtime, I can't watch Weeds, one of the best shows out there. Pissed about that one. Heard it got leaked on the internet tho...

Anyhoo...I'm just at home right now for lunch for my daily "let the dog out and feed him" routine, so I guess I should go back to the office. Dammit.

Happy almost hump day everyone!

Chef du Jour

Since I've effectively stopped grocery shopping (both because of a severe lack of time and funds), I've had to become really creative with the dwindling items left in my fridge/freezer/cupboards. Now, please note--I still buy wine, because...well, wine is really important to one's happiness. So last night I looked through the food...looked again...poked around...and said, pasta! I'm always stocked with pasta, it's too cheap not to keepa around. So not really wanting regular tomato sauce, I threw the following things in a pan and came up with some damn good pasta, if I do say so myself:

Directiones:
Pour yourself a glass of wine. Drink it. Well sip it, don't chug it.
Get out a large pan.
Boil water for pasta in a separate pot. Obviously. When it boils, put in the pasta. This ain't rocket science.
In pan, put:
About 1/4 cup of olive oil (as RR would say, "eyeball it"...I can't believe I just said that)
1/4 of a good sized white onion, chopped
Red pepper flakes...I dunno however much you want, make it SPICYYYYYYY
Couple sprinkles of dried oregano and parsley let's say, 1/2 tsp of each

Sidenote: you can tell my cooking is super exact

Also add about 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic. I really like garlic a lot. if you don't, then don't use that much. dur.

So, you saute all this shit in the pan over medium, even low-medium heat until it starts looking super duper tasty. then, chop up 2 ripe plum tomatoes and put those in the pan. Stir it all around, sing a song, drink more wine. By this time you think you are hot shit. Then, the piece de resistance--throw some damn wine in that pan! I used pinot grigio, I think chardonnay would work just fine too. Don't use that crap that costs $3.50 and you bought just so you could get drunk, use something that actually tastes good. So, I used like, 1/3 cup of wine. Simmer it.

By this time, your pasta is cooking and is close to getting done. So, take it out, put it in the sauce. Stir it all around till it's all nice and coated. Then...and THEN...put in about 2 tablespoons of butter (I used an olive-oil based margarine, I like to think its slightly healthier) and let the pasta simmer in the sauce for a bit. Sprinkle grated parmesan all over the top, and then you have one freaking good meal.

Well, I was proud of myself.

Anyone else come up with a decent recipe while using very few ingredients that are randomly sitting around--you know, the ones that if you don't use within the next 3 days will rot? Those make the best recipes.

I bet none of you will ever eat anything I cook ever again, right?

My COOPER!!

Here are the long awaited photos! In case you can't tell, he's already doubled in size since we got him. :-)

Aww my puppy.



He loves laying right by the A/C and his food!



Yah he's rowdy.



Cooper...in the Mini Cooper! muahahahhah! Oh the humor.

Philosophy at RFK Stadium

So, yesterday Scott surprised me by making a play date for Cooper last night so we could actually go out and be normal people. He took me to our first Washington Nationals baseball game! Man does that team suck. But, it was fun to just go sit, watch some baseball, see the craphole that is RFK Stadium, and drink some beers. We had a really interesting crowd sitting by us that was pounding beers just as fast as we were (which always makes the evening interesting...) and I learned some very important things from the deep thinking crew sitting next to us, such as:

"Frank Thomas is like the Pauly Shore of baseball!" (i don't even know what the hell that is supposed to mean)

and

"You could be fat, be a drunk, or smoke rocks, it's all about loving the game, man!"

I know, those are some profound words. So we leave the game, and go pick up the dog. We hear that the dog was just so good, he just sat around and watched tv and acted all cute!! Man, he puts on a good show. We take the little bastard home and there he goes, biting and chewing and being all rowdy. But...he's still my cute puppy.

And, here are pictures to prove that we were there. This lady does not tell a lie.

The huge ass crowd at RFK (LOL)

Hot Shit = This lady right here

Good news: got a promotion at work
Good news: get to do performance reviews on all of my team members. muahhahahahhaha.
Bad news: my raise is so miniscule its like, an extra $2 a week.
Bad news: now i feel like i should send my $2 a week to one of those African orphans, or is that $2 a day they needed?

Good news: i haven't been drinking as much alcohol as i used to
Bad news: i gained weight because i stopped exercising so i could play with my dog

News, neither good nor bad: Rachael Ray has man hands

Good news: found a really awesome sale at Ann Taylor Loft
Bad news: spent money

I dunno what the hell I'm talking about.

Puppy pics coming tonight. Must locate USB cable.

Melly Libs #1 WINNER

Victory goes to: NitaBallz! Who came in from behind with a very late entry to sweep the field. Now this is an impressive piece of work, folks. Wax, loincloths, and Britney with an umbrella? Utterly amazing.

Melly Libs a la Nita:

Today, I went to the brazilian wax salon. I saw this crazy person who was wearing a loincloth and wax. The crazy person saw me staring at them and I quickly turned and walked away, but I did it so quickly, that I ran straight into a wax boy and found myself completely covered in hot wax . The crazy person laughed at me and went about their business. So here I am, walking around in the brazilian wax salon covered in wax, and who do I happen to see, but Robin Williams !! Great. Robin Williams walks right up to me and says, “is everything going okay with you today?” With a crazy look in my eye, I say, “Sink the sub. Hide the weasel. Park the porpoise. A bit of the old Humpty Dumpty, Little Jack Horny, the Horizontal Mambo, hmm? The Bone Dancer, Rumpleforeskin, Baloney Bop, a bit of the old Cunning Linguistics? ”, declare the day a complete bust, and go home and pop open a Heineken. As I drink my cold and tasty beverage, I hear a loud noise outside and go to the window to investigate. Suddenly, I see brittany spears with an umbrella, and my face goes completely white...


Hopefully Melly Libs #2 will soon follow!!

Currently...

...it is 95 degrees and the UV index is "very high".
...my puppy is getting bigger. a lot bigger. i need to post new pictures of him.
...i'm watching the Barefoot Contessa make french onion soup. i frigging love french onion soup.
...i wish i could afford a nice BMW convertible.
...i still can't believe we celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday.
...i think that i am getting so bad at updating my blog, and that people have probably stopped reading it.
...i'm wondering why it is nearly impossible for me to stay awake through an entire movie--whether at home or in a theatre.
...i wonder how many people pronounce the word "coupon" "coo-pon" vs. "cue-pon". I pronounce it "coo-pon" since that's how it is supposed be prounounced.
...i also wonder if there is any good pizza to be had in all of NoVa. I know, there is some decent pizza in DC but I'm talking about like, driving down the street and getting it.
...it would be so great to have some chocolate mousse. damn that barefoot contessa.
...i wish Amber much congratulations on her new jobs!

and finally, my public service announcement of the day...

...you should not use products from China. I know, you are probably thinking yeah come on they can't be so bad, one or two bad seeds just got into the news and people made a big deal. Yep, i thought the same thing. Then i read THIS. Go read those labels.

Pinkberry is coming!

Well, not until mid-2008. Bout damn time we get some "frozen yogurt" around here!

W00t.

Short update

-Round 2 of company (Scott's parents) is now gone. House is quiet.
-Puppy is sleeping right now. Puppy is rowdy and loves to chew on fingers, arms, and ankles.
-I am insanely wiped out. I feel like I have a new baby.
-Getting face time with the big boss man next week. Looking for a promotion and raise.
-Scott got the iphone. I got his blackberry perl. Wow, a phone that works!
-I don't think I have showered for 2 days. Really.
-My tags on my car are expired. Oh well.
-Rent and bills are due. Oh well.
-I want some warm, fresh bread from a bakery.
-I also want an egg mcmuffin.

Sigh...

I break bones and laugh!

Too funny!! Pearl rocks. View here.

Le Puppy!!!

Well, we ended up getting a boy puppy instead of a girl, but he's just as cute. I won't re-hash the night we spent at the animal hospital with him last night, just 5 hours after we picked him up, nor will I say how much that cost. Just look at him :-) His name is COOPER!

A Labradoodle for Mellydoodle!

We've finally done it--we got a puppy! We pick her up next week. She's a labradoodle, and is SUPER cute. Now what we need is a good name...and it is really really really tough. So, I need my faithful following to help me...come on now folks, send in your suggestions!!

LOL nice one Hil

You know the only reason I like this is because Bill Clinton is in it. Oh, and Johnny Sack. And Journey. Heheh. Click HERE

According to Rachael Ray...

...anchovies taste like "salty nuts".

Um? I somehow doubt this. In fact, I know this isn't true because I have anchovy paste in my fridge and it tastes like shit. So, correct statement is, "anchovies taste like pasty shit".



P.S. - Fricking awesome work so far on the Melly Libs. I am LOLing profusely. Keep them coming.

Melly Libs #1

Okay, here is my first effort at Mad Libs, which I am now calling Melly Libs, just in case someone decides to sue me. I want to see how people do with it before I spend a great deal of my very valuable free time coming up with bigger and better things. I definitely admit this first one is sort of lame. But, get over it and get creative and make it as funny or as disturbing as you possibly can. I think I may actually turn it into like, a continuing story, so everyone will have written their own story by the time I get sick of making up Melly Libs for everyone. OK anyway, good luck!!!

Today, I went to the __________ (place/location). I saw this crazy person who was wearing ____________ (clothing item(s)). The crazy person saw me staring at them and I quickly turned and walked away, but I did it so quickly, that I ran straight into a ________ (noun) and found myself completely covered in __________ (um stuff?). The crazy person laughed at me and went about their business. So here I am, walking around in ___________ (wherever you are at) covered in ____________ (whatever you are covered in), and who do I happen to see, but _____________ (person)!! Great. _________ (same person you just mentioned) walks right up to me and says, “is everything going okay with you today?” With a crazy look in my eye, I say, “_________________________”, declare the day a complete bust, and go home and pop open a Heineken. As I drink my cold and tasty beverage, I hear a loud noise outside and go to the window to investigate. Suddenly, I see _______________ (whatever it is you see), and my face goes completely white...

...to be continued.

Sopranos, I miss you already

Tonight was the long awaited, much discussed finale of the Sopranos. I think it ended the only way it could really--with about 400 possibilities as to what happened as Tony, Carmela, Meadow, and AJ sat in that shittay diner place. They could have been robbed, shot, Tony could have been moments away from getting taken by the Feds (was that odd guy with the 80's jacket a Fed? Or, a member of the NY crew?). Sure at first I was like, WHAT THE FUCK (I actually yelled that at the television) and then as I thought about it, there was NO way it could have ended any better.

In memoriam, I post msnbc.com's list of top 10 Sopranos moments. Eh yeah we can all debate those, but still my favorite episode will always be Pine Barrens. And I'll always wonder wtf ever happened to Adriana. That biotch ain't dead. And I'll always think that Tony's mother was the best character. Oh well. I should probably stop acting like the Sopranos are real people, eh? Damn. Well, goodbye to literally THE BEST television show ever made.

NOW what the hell am I going to do with my Sunday nights???? SHIT.

Other fun Sopranos links:
Mad TV spoof on Sopranos if it were on Pax TV (a religious-based channel)
Simpsons parody of Sopranos intro
The Sopranos in seven minutes--pretty great!! (not incl. most recent season)

Only in D.C.

Where: Near the White House
When: Sunday, around 1:30 pm
What: 6 year old hispanic boy blabbing on his Blackberry like it ain't no thing.

FAWK I can't even afford a new cell phone LET ALONE the Blackberry Perl, and this asshole kid is using one? WTF???? ARE YOU A CITIZEN?

End rant.

Stupid Bitch!

First Paris Hilton gets released from jail for being a whiny, bitchy ass crybaby, and THEN SHE GETS FREE CUPCAKES?

WHAT THE FUCK?

Thank god they sent her back to jail. Wonder how long it'll take her to weasel her way out this time?

I can't even believe I wasted 5 minutes of my time writing a post about frigging Paris Hilton. I am disgusted with myself.

CONGRATS!!!!

To Damien, on his new job! I am so very happy for you :-) Now you can afford to buy me a drink next time I see you.

Currently watching: We Are Marshall. Damn, depressing so far. Also I hate Matthew McConawhatever but, I really like sports movies, so I'll keep watching. He's wearing a sweet ass plaid jacket right now tho.

Current opinion: Paris Hilton is a complete waste of space. I get so angry thinking about it it that I won't even say anything else about it. Except this: GROW UP, and DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE with yourself. It is a SAD, sad day in America when her release from prison is a "Breaking News" story at the top of cnn.com.

BIKINGGGGG

Today Scott and I went biking for the first time in um years, and it was painful. We rode the path that goes all along the Potomac, it was beautiful. However, we sure as hell overdid it. One of those things where you kinda forget you have to ride ALL THE WAY BACK. I'd say we did about 6 miles. Not 6 miles of straight, flat path, but 6 miles of winding, twisty turns, hills and shit.

Note to self: need a better bike seat. My ass is killing me. (insert jokes here).

Das about it for the moment!!

GO CAVS!!!

Finally, a Cleveland sports team has done something with themselves! I admit to getting a bit teary eyed tonight as the Cavs kicked some ASS to win game 6 in which the Pistons pretty much quit playing in the 4th qtr. Beautiful. LeBron looked like a giddy schoolboy at the end when he walked back to the locker room. I love it. Pretty scared of San Antonio, that's for sure, but hey let us bask in the glory for a little bit, right?

Went out last night in Georgetown on the waterfront where it was beautiful, crowded, and insanely expensive. We had a decent sized group but managed to rack up a tab of about $280 without tip. Closed out the night at some other bar with good air conditioning and by time we got home and had a quick snack, it was friggin 4am. I can't do that shit anymore. Hence why I slept till noon and wasted my entire day. But, my bike is here, put together, and I plan to start riding tomorrow! WEE!

Here's an interesting msnbc.com article for you all on a phenomenon called "sexsomnia", or, having sex while sleeping. I found this pretty interesting, I mean I've heard of doing other weird shit while sleeping but this is just odd. But the really odd part is that apparently some partners actually like this? Some comments from the article:

Schenck notes that one woman said that her boyfriend while asleep was “more amorous and a gentle lover” who was “more oriented in sexually satisfying her.”

And,

Another woman said she “found some aspects of sleepsex pleasurable ... and a little kinky,” Schenck notes. In fact, the woman liked the sleepsex so much, he adds, that “she requested that the patient incorporate some of the nighttime sexual practices ... into their conscious lovemaking.”

Of course there are many others who don't like it. But yeah I dunno, odd phenomenon if you ask me.

I don't know how this post went from the Cavs to sleep sex, but I'm crazy like that.

Ummm foreshadowing?

So working at agency XYZ in the Department of Defense has surely been interesting, and that continued at work today when I had to attend a mandatory "Gas Mask" training class and have my own personal mask issued to me. I think, oh yeah they are gonna give me some piece of shit surgical type mask thing that I'll toss in the trash when I get back to my desk. Oh no, this thing is serious with some kind of motorized air filter attached to it. So I sit there thinking, you know, they sent out about 400 emails to get us to attend this REQUIRED training, why is that? Why so sudden? Also very comforting is the fact that we are at terror warning level thingy 3 or alpha or something, and if we reach level 4 or bravo or whatever the hell it was, we actually have to carry our masks with us. So my ass would be walkin around, goin to the Pentagon and shit, carrying this gas mask in a black bag like a tool.

See, my concern really should be, hey um am I going to be using this gas mask sometime soon? You can see where my priorities lie. Whatever, I live and work in a nuclear blast zone, I don't think some gas mask is going to help me.

Can I take a minute and spew my continued spite for Sandra Lee. You know when she starts off her show with "So I went to the Army Navy surplus store..." it's going to be so bad. So bad. I can't even explain why I'm sitting here watching it. Anyone notice how she pronounces "L" words? Like, "it's soooo lllllllllovely" and shit. Good god. She nearly drives me to drink.

I think I need another long weekend away from the government. Oh I did find this hilarious thing online today, one of those "you know you work in government when..." lists, and it was so spot on, I laughed my ass of in my cube for about 30 minutes and then used my goverment owned computer to forward it to everyone I could think of. Here are a few of my favorites that are COMPLETELY ACCURATE:

* You understand the rationalization of an acronym comprised of acronyms.
* You realize that a paperless office is impossible. Actually, you believe it is possible, just not in your office.
* You work for an acronym, on an acronym, and your job title is an acronym.
* Your supervisor doesn't have the ability to do your job.
* Dilbert cartoons hang outside every cube.
* Your boss' favorite lines are "when you get a few minutes," "in your spare time," "when you're freed up," and "I have an opportunity for you."

To read the rest click here

And with that, it's off to find a bar to watch the Cavs game!

A quickie

For anyone who eats fast food and likes humor, this guy did a review of fast food places and it's really amusing. His assessment of Burger King is pretty much dead-on.

Read HERE.

A Big ol' post with lots of photos

To make up for my absence the past 2 weeks I decided to make a big post to redeem myself. Here's what I have to report on:

Report 1: Kelly P's wedding: fun, I took like 2 good photos if that. I also am happy to report that I officially crashed my first wedding with Damien. We basically noticed the wedding next door had 2 open bars, so we went right in. Note that Kelly P's wedding was dry, cept for the 1 hour "cocktail hour". So we walked into the other wedding, got drinks, tipped the bartender, and did the ultimate--headed out to the dance floor to rock out. Yes, at the wedding we crashed. I'm sure we looked ridiculous attempting to pretend we were on "Dancing with the Stars" or whatever the hell it was we were doing out there, but it was so damn fun. It was so great to see all the grad school buds again too. Here are a few photos--please note I should never have possession of a camera while drinking.

Here's Damien doing god knows what:


Here's me and Tara, notice I look wasted:


Finally, the piece de resistance: the empty beer cans under our table (hey we had to get drunk somehow right, I say bringing beer down from the room in a garbage can with ice is totally fine)


Report 2: Memorial Day Weekend
Since between the both of us traveling Scott and I have barely seen each other in the past 3 weeks we decided to just go all out and have all kinds of fun this weekend. Weather was gorgeous. Friday night was drinking in DC--we went to Chinatown, Rosa Mexicano for some strong ass pomegranite margaritas, our favorite place Shelly's Back Room, then to...um...not sure. But I drank too much and decided to be a bit of an exhibitionist in the metro station. Ask about that later. No photos from that thank god.
Saturday was Auto Cross and that was BRUTAL given my major hangover and the fact that my body hates sun and heat. That took up the whole day, and then that night we friggin vegged out.
Sunday was MY day, so I chose to go to Pimlico, the track in Baltimore where the Preakness is held every year. Let me tell you that place is in the fawking GHETTO. Like, GHETTOTTOOOOOOOO. But we had a few drinks and bet on some ponies and I of course lost pretty much every race. Still tons o'fun tho. A few pics:






After we navigated our way out of the ghetto (which seems to encompass the vast majority of Baltimore) we went down to the lovely Fells Point area to get a crabcake or something at one of our favorite restaurants--Crabby Dick's--only to discover it closed!! WTF!! They are going to get an email from me. So we strolled the streets a bit and then decided to drive to Annapolis since it was sorta on our way home to grab some dinner. Annapolis is really the most adorable place, brick streets, historical row houses, the whole thing...oh yes and the US Naval Acadamy, which means HOT men in sailor uniforms. MMMM mmm. I could have eaten friggin Cracker Jacks for dinner and have been satisfied. Yeah buddy. So basically we ate dinner at this overpriced seafood restaurant and then headed back home where we passed out on the couch.

Today--NOTHING. No SUN, no CARS, no nothing. :-)

All in all, an awesome weekend, and I'm definetly looking forward to a 4-day work week!! YES!!

Contest results n' other shit

Well I thought I would give people PLENTY of time to come with poetry. Since I only got 3 entries (ok, better than zero I guess) I decided to declare everyone a winner of something.

Winner of most creative: Damien
Winner of funniest: Schatzie (seriously that got an LOL)
Winner of best current events tie-in: Amber

Congratulations to all! As winners you are each allowed to make a guest post on my blog. So, if you want to let me know.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Today Scott and I are headed to Pimlico race track up in Baltimore to bet on some ponies. Pimlico is where the Preakness is held every year (race numero dos in the Triple Crown series). Keep your fingers crossed that I break even!! (I am horribly bad on betting on the ponies, but its so fun!).

Other than that, Lindsay Lohan is still a drunk and a cokehead (ok well most everyone knew that already but now its official), I still hate Sandra Lee on the Food Network, my neighbor's 3 dogs still will not shut the fawk up, the war in Iraq is still a disaster, and I am still chubby and pale.

See not much new happens around here. But let me tell ya, summer is roaring in like a lion out here with our 80 degree heat and humidity. I already can tell this summer I'll regret moving here, but since we got the A/C fixed I guess it isn't so bad.

Anyone else got good weekend stories? Or um stories from the past 2 weeks since I haven't posted? I'm slackin man. Slackin.

Le contest de poetry---WHERE IS YOUR LE POETRY?

So, readers, I spent all this time (insert sarcasm here) coming up with a great idea for a poetry contest, and instead everyone decided to post comments about the fact that I am holding a poetry contest without actually posting any poetry.

This does not make moi happy. I thought I would come home from work, open up my blog, see all this lovely poetry, and be prepared to pick a winner...sigh.

Maybe it's because I didn't pick a prize for the winner. I think I have an Applebee's gift card laying around I'd be willing to pawn off. However, I think the better prize would be to be a guest poster on my blog for a month. I know, I am so generous and the winner will be so privileged.

So please people, amuse me, write something. Anything. Shit if you can't even do this I don't think I will post my long awaited "Mad Libs" next week! OH yes, I was really gonna do it! Yeah enough about this.

In other news...Scott decided that he wants to file a class-action lawsuit against the TSA because they let First Class passengers go through a separate (i.e., shorter) security line while all the hacks in coach have to go through the long, regular line with pissy TSA screeners. I like this idea. Class discrimination I say!!!

Also, I saw a very interesting article that talks about how a new study of the Kennedy assassination seems to prove that there couldn't have possibly been one gunman. I know, conspiracy theories blah blah...but these were highly technical bullet tests and proved that the tests done back in the 60's were simply not valid. If you're super into the Kennedy shit like me, you'll find it interesting. Peak your curiosity here.

Whelp that is about it for today. Probably no post again until Sunday/Monday since I am heading back to the OH-IO for Kelly P's wedding. You know what this means--you all have time to work on your magnificent poetry skills. I suggest that you get horribly drunk and then start rambling some stuff off, and then just post it. That would be fun.

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Le contest de poetry

ATTENTION ALL: THE FIRST ANNUAL "LE CONTEST DE POETRY" OF "LE BLOG DE MELLYDOODLE" HAS COMMENCED.

There will be one, and ONLY ONE, winner. I request that between now (12:26 am on Tuesday...Wednesday?) and Sunday at 5:00 pm EST you post your best piece of poetry as a comment. There are NO RULES. You may:
-use profanity. in fact, you may get extra points for it, especially if it rhymes.
-use any format you want, whether haiku or iambic pentameter or some shit you made up. not like i'm gonna research it.
-trash talk anyone and even use their name. i do not sue. though i do know a lot of people in law school.
-confess your deepest, darkest secrets. in fact, you SHOULD do this.

I will come up with my own points system. It will not be statistically valid nor reliable. If I laugh, a lot, you will probably get a lot of points. This is not the time for sappy crappy stuff. Pretend that you are a funny version of Carrot Top.

Readers-----start your submissions!!

I swear if no one posts anything I will freak the fuck out.

No sleep, a cockroach, and the Sopranos

Whelp its Monday night (ok Tuesday morning) at 1:03 and I'm wired. I'm sure this Pepsi I'm drinking isn't helping. I had a really bad night of sleep last night and it looks like I'm heading that way tonight. I have turned into that chick that can't sleep without having her man at home. Never did I think I would be that person! Of course Bravo is replaying season 1 of Top Chef so of course I'm gonna watch it. Oh yeah I also saw a cockroach in my sunroom, so I sprayed it with Raid for about 5 minutes straight until it started to twitch and die. I left it lying there on the floor because I'm afraid to touch it, and also I want Scott to look at it...and pick it up. Hey at least I took out the trash and even cleaned up the house a bit. Give me some credit. Geez that whole paragraph sounds like a lame ass Shania Twain song. "ain't got no man, killed a cockroach, (twangy twangy), can't sleep, oh no, got my house cleaaaaaannnn..." [I'm guessing everyone has stopped reading by now?]

Anyone out there watching the Sopranos? Goddamn, do I love that show. I'm getting sad though since only 3 episodes remain, and I keep coming up with all of these theories about the bloodbath (I assume?) that will happen. I've been loyal to the show for quite a long time...more loyal than to any other show I think I've ever been. Well, except for Sesame Street when I was a kid. I digress. So here are some of my theories about what could possibly happen--oh, and if you don't want to find out any information (i.e. if you aren't up to date on the show), you may not want to read.

1. Adriana isn't dead. This has been my hope since she was "killed off"--offscreen. Who was her "killer"? Sil. Are they in cahoots together with the Feds? Maybe. That would be an awesome ass story--they come back to rat out everyone.
2. Paulie dies. I think this is practically inevitable...but...another option is that he goes and joins Phil Leotardo's crew. And then dies.
3. Bobby gets arrested for the sloppy ass murder he committed in the laundry room at the very beginning of these final episodes. Who really cares what happens to Janice.
4. AJ commits suicide. Eh? Not sure on that one. Wouldn't be all that shocking tho.
5. Meadow serves no purpose. Yeah just a general statement so I think that she'll probably keep serving no purpose.
6. Carm...I really haven't figured out what happens to her yet.
7. Tony...I'm not sure if I see him kicking the bucket. I think his downfall will involve the Feds, not weapons. Hey, he ratted out those "Arabs" to them as a favor, so I see that as foreshadowing. Meaning, that favor will come in handy.
8. Chris, well, we already know what happened to him.

I dunno there are so many possibilities...yet another reason why I'm sitting on my couch instead of sleeping. Geez, only 3 eps left. What will I do on Sunday nights then? Hopefully Big Love comes back soon. I love that scandalous Polygamy shit.

Oh yeah something interesting...this weekend Anita asked me if I knew anyone famous in DC. Whelp, now I do, as one of the very important folk at the Pentagon that I work with ended up having a very interesting (if not perplexing) story on the front page of the Washington Post today! Read here. All I will say--I wish I got to work with him more, I could learn so much. He's a very intelligent man and I have a lot of respect for that--and for the fact that he is quite young and in such a high position of power in the DoD. End work chat.

Still waiting for my bike.

Still waiting for Scotty to get back from San Fran, which he deems "too emo".

Apparently turning 25 has made me not be able to handle the effects of caffeine anymore! I am so done with this post.

Awww

After having a pretty rough day (probably one of the more shittier birthdays I can remember), I was sitting on my couch, relaxing, trying to forget that today ever happened when I heard a knock at my door. Of course I was scared shitless at first because I'm home alone, but then I saw a "Happy Birthday" balloon bobbing around in the window. OOOOH! So I open the door and its an adorable "cake" made out of flowers, with candles in it and everything! And even cuter, it was from Scott's parents. AWWW. Honestly it made my evening about 100 times better.

Here's a picture of it. It's really the cutest thing ever!

Photos for your viewing pleasure!

Since I've just been posting boring random ass ramblings I figured everyone might enjoy some photos. So, here goes.

First, 2 photos from the "Britain on the Green" (or something) car show we went to on the Sunday of the weekend of Mel. You can see in photo #1 some of the cars and the fact that I am thrilled to be there. Photo #2 is a lovely shot of the Potomac.





Next, some of my birthday presents. We celebrated Tuesday night since Scotty has to travel for work (and is already gone :-(). I got these beautiful flowers that included few roses (he knows I don't like them) and that did include both tulips and gerbera daisies (which I love). They are still blooming, and yes I am no Barefoot Contessa I can't arrange flowers for shit, so forgive me.



Finally here is...my new bike helmet, that goes with my NEW BIKE!!! I have been wanting a bike since we moved here and whelp, I got it! Well at least I have the helmet, the bike is on its way. But umm that helmet is pretty damn sweet so you know the bike will be rockin.



That's all for now folks. Enjoy!!

Smoky Mountains and a Small Car

Whelp, I made it home alive from Minis on the Dragon 2007. Damn that is one crazy road. I think they claim it has 318 turns in 11 miles. Needless to say, I was on the verge of vomiting about half of the time we were driving on it. The midnight run we did on Saturday with like, 80-100 other Minis was the worst of them all--I was literally choking down the vomit because my genius boyfriend got his windows tinted hours before and I couldn't roll the window down. But, I kept all the vomit in and all was well. The Smoky Mountains are really beautiful. The air was clean, there was no cell phone service, barely any internet, and I don't think we had a phone or clock in the room. It was definetely in redneck country and we saw many "sweet dudes" in pickup trucks with their rebel flag license plates/stickers/etc. While I think I would go back and visit the area, I don't think I could stay there longer than a few days. I began to feel trapped there, because there was no actual city within like, 30 miles of where we were. I dunno...I'm no wilderness girl. Shocking I know.

In other news, my birthday is coming up and I dread it as it gets closer. Best thing is, I actually keep forgetting about it so that's good. Shit on Thursday I'll prolly even forget its my birthday and come off looking like an idiot. I've been very good about not telling people at work about it, hopefully no one does anything stupid.

Oh yes, we did take some sweet video of us driving on the Dragon and hopefully I can either post that or a link to it at some point. I was the one videotaping so the actual video will probably make you nauseated with all the shaking. Hey I'm no professional. Until then here are some pictures from people who are (sort of) professionals at killboy.com. They pretty much make a living taking a selling photos of people driving the dragon. Here are a couple decent ones to hold you over:

Numero Uno
Numero Dos
Numero uh Tres
OK this isn't us but this car is sweet
Last one, you get the point

SOoooo, the photos are neat but you really need video to get it. I probably won't get that up till next week since Scotty will be out of town starting Wednesday.

Oh well, enjoy the photos till then!

To Tennessee...or North Carolina? I go

Whelp I've been neglecting my bloggy again and I feel bad. I bet everyone has been crying big crocodile tears over it too...hahahahahhahahhha I'm funny.

So anyhoo the "weekend of Mel" (which was really the "day of Mel") ended up being really fun. I made Scott go to Mount Vernon with me, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Mount Vernon is where George Washington lived for many years of his life and in fact he, Martha Washington, and many family members are buried there. The house is up on a hill overlooking the Potomac river...and it's really gorgeous. Of course, I neglected to bring the camera with me. Those would have been awesome photos. But luckily, we live like 5 miles from the damn place so I can go back anytime I please. I highly recommend a visit. My day also involved me getting ice cream! YEAHHH!

So tomorrow morning we are off to "Mini's on the Dragon" in like Tennessee or North Carolina or some state that is like far away from here. I am not looking forward all that much to this--mostly because it's like 10 hours in a very small, non-smooth riding car, and it's also going to rain for 4 days straight, and I've got to hang with wacky Mini Cooper people all weekend. Scott said "oh we'll find fun stuff to do I'll plan something romantic" but I'm sure that will involve a case of Heinekin and a pack of Camels. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.

I am, however, looking forward to my trip to Columbus next weekend to see Anita and hopefully Kristen so we can all cry over turning 25.

Other than that...work is insane, today was insane in a not good way. All days can't be good though...shit I'm just gonna do what I gotta do to get that paycheck. And vacation days. And make as many connections to important people as I can. And learn my way around the Pentagon. OK, so I go to work for many reasons. Whatever. This section definetly has no point so just ignore what I'm saying. My apologies.

I feel like I should post a link to something or a video cause I've been really slacking on that shit lately...

Do you like math? What do you know about it? LOL

Icky!

Weellllll it's been a kinda blah couple of days, I suddenly became sick Monday-ish and quickly became worse...after a trip to the doctor this morning, I discovered that I have a bladder and kidney infection. That would explain the symptoms, for sure. So, I got a nice big dose of Cipro and am hoping this goes away VERY soon.

Other than that...nothing much to report. Weather is holding out (fingers crossed) and Scott told me that this upcoming weekend is the "weekend of Mel", so now I need to figure out something I actually want to do.

Any suggestions? (nothing involving the Mini Cooper, obviously...or any car for that matter).

Weekend in Review: Sun and Motorcades

What a weekend it was! 75+ degrees and sunny all weekend (yep, I'm sunburned)...I'm hoping this weather is here to stay. It makes me like living here so much more :-)

Anyhoo, this weekend was quite fun. Friday night I went out drinking with Linsey and had a fabulous time. Saturday morning I awoke to the sun and warmth, and sat outside and fried my pale ass body in the nice weather. Scott and I then cleaned up and headed to DC to hopefully sit outside and have a burger and beer somewhere. I randomly say, "hey, let's head up to Dupont Circle and see whats up". Oops. As we get closer we get stuck in ridiculous traffic everywhere, and finally are able to escape into a parking garage. I notice we're right next to the Hilton Washington in Dupont. I finally connect the dots and realize the Correspondent's dinner is that evening, and that the President is gonna roll through soon. So THAT'S why we've been hearing helicopters buzzing overhead for the past 30 minutes.

As we walk down the street looking for some eats, we stop in a place called Il Tomate (or something) which, btw, is one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. But as we sat at the bar drinking a glass of wine, we suddenly notice the traffic all stop and about 15 police motorcycles come whizzing by. Then about 8 cop cars, then the 2 Presidential limos, then about 10 black SUV's with various satellite equipment on top. It was kind of amusing as they were hauling ass down the street to see everyone's windows down (not the Prez's of course) and all the people had tuxedos on and were peering out the window at the regular folk on the street. W00t, my first Presidential motorcade!

So we struggle through our shiteous dinner and, after leaving exactly $0 for a tip, walk down to a bar called Gazuza. I discover it's affiliated with the Chi Cha lounge and I start downing some mojitos and we just relax and chill. After a while, we walk back outside and hear those familiar helicopters again. We sat right across from the Hilton (since we couldn't get our car out anyway) and watched the Prez leave. This time I was close enough to see that he was in the first car, sitting next to the window. So after seeing the gross display of power yet again, we hop in the car and head home.

So, good friends, good drinks, 2 motorcades, and really awesome weather. Not a bad weekend.

OH and the best news--I'm going to see Anita for the weekend of my (dreaded) 25th birthday! AWESOME!!!!!!!

Philly yo what

Here are a few pics from our trip to Philly last weekend. And yes, we did sing the "Fresh Prince" theme song as we drove through the city. Duh.

Scotty in front of Ye Olde Liberty Bell



This pic pretty much explains itself.



Here I am in front of Tony Luke's Cheesesteaks. Tony Luke was on an episode of the Food Network show "Throwdown" where he battled (and WON) against Bobby Flay for Best Cheesesteak. Hence why Scott drove me all over the city looking for it...



THE Philly Cheesesteak that I wolfed down in the car on the way to the hotel from Tony Luke's. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. OK not the best picture but I had to get it before I devoured it and spilled grease on my jeans. So worth it.

Tax dollars wisely spent

I had a cop threaten to give me a jaywalking ticket today. I was literally shocked. Shocked. Even more so when I came home and read that about a mile down the road from where the cop stopped me there was a random double murder (shooting) just a few days ago which goes unsolved.

Why the damn hell is your fat ass threatening non-murdering residents with a jaywalking ticket?!?!??! Here's an idea--LOOK FOR THE CRIMINAL STILL RUNNING AROUND!

I am buying pepper spray tomorrow. And using the crosswalk.

Fucker.

A Blah Thursday.

Even "The Office" couldn't get my spirits up.

Work has been wearing me down this week. I think my boss could tell; he told me to go home at 4, and then came back at 4:15 to let me know that he was serious, to go home. So I did. Scott came home to change before heading back out to his work happy hour and he informed me that he's got to go to San Francisco for my 25th birthday. Whelp, that was just the icing on the cake (I think by now everyone knows I've pretty much been dreading my 25th birthday and the thought of spending it alone is insanely depressing). So I made a huge bowl of pasta and sat down for many hours of TV.

None of it is really helping, I'm still physically and mentally exhausted and feeling the need to kind of get away for a weekend. My weekends are constantly packed and I feel like it's not too often for stuff I really want to do. I must just be having a "oh woe is me" day today. So maybe tomorrow or during the weekend when I get over myself, I'll make a post that is actually worth reading.

An interesting epiphany.

After over 4 weeks (I think?) of my new job, I've been to the Pentagon quite a few times. I never felt unsafe going there, but sometimes I just get this thought in the back of my mind like, hey, maybe I should tell Scott I'll be there from 1-4 today (like I was today, and which I did tell him) just in case. After a lengthy meeting I walked down the hall with my PM, who has worked at the Pentagon for quite some time. "Over here", he points out, "is right where the plane hit."

Um, what?

I just kind of look around and say "wow, I can't believe that..." Meanwhile I'm like yeah I'm ready to go back to my cube that is NOT at the Pentagon. So then I come home and start doing a bit of research about that day, and find something that honestly scared me a bit. Go click on this website. Pay no attention to the conspiracy theory crap, that's not my point. See that box, "Wedge 1", that's highlighted and the list of 8 rooms? Well, the room I happened to be in, and the room I will be in at least 3 times a month happens to be block #7 in that diagram.

Back to the Pentagon, same room, on Thursday. I think I'll view it all a little bit differently than I did before.

Happy Birthday

To Scotty!!! :-)

To do: stalking

Since this is going on only a few miles from my house, you can pretty much guarantee that Scott and I will be engaging in some celebrity stalking this weekend. Hopefully we can get some photos!!!

MC Rove!

At first, I was disturbed.

Then, I laughed. A lot.

And then I was like...this is the man that pretty much runs the country.

Then I laughed more.

Check check check it out, MC Rove!

80 and sunny today, snow forecasted for the weekend

I feel like I'm back in Ohio with that kind of weather forecast. WTF? And why am I sitting indoors on my couch blogging right now when its 80 and sunny?

Hold. (cue Jeopardy music)

Here I sit, on my front porch, with my laptop and a glass of wine. That sounds much better.

Moving on. On Friday night I was wasted from the aforementioned pomegranite mojitos (I've never even had a regular Mojito, but I felt the need to drink many $9 pomegranite ones) and from who knows what else I was drinking that night. Linsey--thank god we didn't make that stop at Ben's Chili Bowl or else this lady wouldn't have been at museums the next day. For sure. lol. Anytime anyone comes to visit me, I will take you to the Chi Cha Lounge for the now infamous mojito. Aren't you lucky?!?!

Not much to report. Work is standard. No meetings at the Pentagon this week so I feel markedly less important. Every Microsoft product on my computer is pissing me off (I've got a new one to add to the list--Sharepoint. Die.) That being said, here's my Tuesday list of things I like and don't like. Not like you care what I like and don't like but I do, and since I have nothing else to say I'll just write about that.

I like:
-Archer Farms (Target brand) organic hot garden salsa
-Mimosas
-the Barefoot Contessa
-when my pants sort of kinda fit a tiny bit better than they did a month ago
-KY
-my elliptical


I don't like:
-when I find ants in my kitchen after I cleaned the SHIT out of it
-the fact that I still can't seem to make a dent in the massive pile of laundry in my house
-the neighbors cats who roam freely through my yard as if its their playground. I say, stay in your fence assholes!
-working past 5pm
-having no money in my savings account

Ok as I sit here I just noticed that my neighbor half-shaved her white cat. For all you cat owners/enthusiasts--is that normal? I mean, the bottom half and legs (cats have legs right?) of the cat are still all furry and the rest of it is like, shaved naked. I so live in the ghetto.

On that note...I'm off to enjoy my wine and weather!

Pomegranite Mojitos

Are phenomenal.

Sorry for my absence...

Thank you, lone commenter William Cole, for wondering about my presence. Fawk, work has kicked my ass this week. 10 hour days of non-stop, no time for lunch, working my ass off. Honestly, it feels nice to be productive after 2 months of doing SHIT and rotting my brain cells at "Trendy Georgetown Company XYZ". Still...whoooo boy. Then 4 hours of deep cleaning the house last night for Kevin's visit this weekend really was not the mid-week activity I needed. I really needed NO mid-week activity but oh well. Tomorrow I head to a meeting at the Pentagon and hopefully my ass is leaving work at 3:30. Why? Cause I deserve to, dammit.

Oh yes, here are 2 photos from mine and Scott's Sunday afternoon drinking excursion to Adams Morgan (a neighborhood in DC since none of my readers live here...or near here...). Here we are sitting outside at this bar called Tom Tom, which was filled with college peoples having a flip cup tournament:



Luckily, we saw Gordon and Shirley down there just cruisin along in the street, peckin at rocks like they normally do:



I know, we lead the ultimate exciting life. Scott did buy me a really cool (expensive) pair of purple Tsubos (some type of trendy Jap shoes or something) so that also was a highlight of my weekend. The Mini events were not... I won't bore you with those cause I really don't want to relive it.

On the deck for the weekend: who the fawk knows. I think Linsey and I are going to venture to Katherine's birthday party, gotta love the birthday parties. I plan on having some FUN, having some good DRINKS, hanging with Kev, hopefully avoiding as many tourists as possible...yeah, not a bad deal.

I'll of course post a photo or whatnot if something exciting happens...such as seeing Gordon and Shirley again! Love those two!

Yep. Been a long week.

Who gives a shit?

Honestly. For this to be posted as one of the Yahoo top stories. WHO GIVES A SHIT.

Sigh...Friday

Thank god.

Work is getting insane...I had to cancel lunch with Ryan today :-(. But you people know how I am, I love the stress. I get to go to the Pentagon next week so hey that's pretty cool. Other than that...I'm sitting here at my house with the windows open, listening to the faint rumble of thunder from the oncoming storm, and drinking a glass of wine.

Friday evenings just don't get any better than that :-)

Oh, tomorrow I am going to a Mini Cooper event that involves all you can eat (FREE) wings and pizza. There's beer too. Like, helloooo, someone must have known I was coming! Shit!!! Looks like I might have a good weekend!

FYI to all Banana Republic fans: The spring sale started yesterday, hurry up and go! I'm planning on hitting up a few of them in the area to see what I can find. Their clothes are so great for work---only when they're like 40% off, of course.

Note: William Cole, where are you? You've been quiet lately. As has Bip Bip.

Anyone else got sweet plans?

Playing politics

I've been surprisingly apolitical on this blog considering I live only a few miles from the District...however, the firestorm surrounding the U.S. Attorney firings has really peaked my interest. What especially peaked my interest is this article, actually written by one of the fired attorneys. If you didn't think twice about the whole debacle before...I dunno, as to why he actually thanked President Bush at the end is beyond me, HOWEVER, what this shows is that this article isn't some left-wing nutso such as myself spewing opinions--it's straight from the mouth of a Republican. An unjustly fired Republican at that.

Sigh...

Good luck to Amber tomorrow in her job interview, I know she wants it and I think she'll do a great job :-). Good luck to myself surviving the political and bureaucratic firestorm at my own job (I guess that's what I get for working @ one of the big government agencies, eh?). Which reminds me...

A guy I work with used to work in some pretty high level areas with some pretty important people in a very well known building in Washington, D.C. Three interesting things he filled me in on today: Bill Clinton was pretty cool, laid back. Harriet Miers (WH Counsel) is umm...how do I say it...biotchy? Scooter Libby was cool, quite nice. And Rove? Apparently he's a dirty joke teller, and a damn funny guy.

Only one that shocked me was Rove...but then again...frickin Republicans.

Hungry fella?

For some reason today I was thinking about cheeseburgers. Typically I never eat cheeseburgers, but you know when something sounds so good to you, you just can't stop thinking about it (ok well maybe that is just my fat ass and not yours...). Anyhoo, I was poking around various blogs today and I came across an article titled "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die". I'll link it here for your reading pleasure. This guy must have REALLY wanted to write about burgers, since he writes that he 23,750 miles, consumed more than 150,000 calories, and ate 163 burgers in 93 different eating establishments. Crazy, absolutely. He does bitch about condiments in there which I don't necessarily agree with...but at any rate, here's the article. Unfortunately, none of the burger places are around here...but now I got a stop on my list next time I venture to Philly or NYC. Now you tell me that you don't want a big ol' burger after reading this!!!! I bet you do! (Go here
and then click on the pdf link in the third line of the article. Tasty treats!)

Recovering...

Whelp, yesterday was a doozy. I drank for about 12 hours straight, which I now realize I just shouldn't be doing anymore. I feel like absolute hell today. Even my grocery store trip wasn't enjoyable--so you KNOW I must not feel good. We hit about...6 bars I think? Hell if I know. Overall, it was a very fun and very expensive day. Here are a few photos (please take note of my obnoxious wearing of flair):

See! Check out that flair!



For some reason I just really felt like drinking Blue Hawaiians



You can't tell really but right here I'm rocking out to Livin' on a Prayer:



12 hours and 6 bars later...here we are...