Just follow me on Twitter

Yeah, I just don't have time to blog anymore. I already have to blog at work, I Twitter at work, I do all of this other Web 2.0 bullshit that honestly has me too drained to keep running this personal blog, at least for now. But, y'all can follow my exploits on my personal Twitter, which is honestly much easier than writing whole blog posts. And perhaps more interesting. Check me out:

@mdoodly

only the lonely

Scott's in Hong Kong until next Sunday. I of course enter "waaah lonely ooh scared of noises" mode, as I do every time he travels. Its just what I do. Just me and mr. coops, hangin out, watching tv (right now I'm flipping back and forth between the Intervention marathon on A&E and the Jon & Kate Plus 8 marathon on uh...TLC...sadly I don't know which show is more fucked up). In a way i'm glad I have to work tomorrow because I don't quite know what to do with myself.

In other news, reading a very interesting new book by Dr. Drew about celebrities and narcissim. I actually had heard an interview he did on the Howard Stern show because one of the people on the show is apparently an off-the-charts narcissist. Heh. So anyways, I saw it sitting at the library and thought hey, why not. At the end of the book is the narcissim test, so when I'm done I'm going to take it and see how badly I need therapy.

I made some really good chicken the other day. I marinated it with Chinese 5-spice powder (which I'm kind of obsessed with), some vegetable oil, for like 24 hours. Then I roasted the chicken in the oven. My god, its really good. I've been putting it on salad, in pasta, whatev. Its just fuckin good.

I really want to try one of those Wendy's twisted frosty things.

Has anyone seen the infomercial for the Bullet Express by the makers of that Magic Bullet thing? My god, I really want it. Really really really bad. Its like a food processor and stand mixer all in one! ooooeee!

Stupid post.

the most ridculous soup recipe ever

So, as previously stated, I make my own vegetable soup. Its really easy, healthy, and good to do when it’s a chilly day. Then I put it in those handy dandy Ziploc “Tupperware” pieces of shit and take them to work. Here’s basically what I do, though you can do whatever you want and you honestly can’t fuck it up. If I don’t fuck it up, you won’t.

Chop 1 medium sized yellow onion. Sauté in big ol’ soup pot with about ½ tsp red pepper flakes and 2 tbsp olive oil. Olive oil is good for you. Use it. Sometimes if I'm feeling crazy I chop up a few pieces of bacon and brown them first, then put in the onion. I rarely have bacon, but uhhh its good. Or, as the Barefoot Contessa would say, "how bad can THAT be?"

After about 5 minutes, salt (KOSHER!) and pepper (FRESHLY GROUND!) the onion. Do not salt your onion right away, it draws out too much water and then your onions will steam. Ick. This ain't White Castle.

Then, add ¾ cup chopped carrots and ½ cup pretty finely chopped celery. I hate celery, and the only way I’ll eat it is if it’s cooked into the soup so it has no texture or flavor anymore. That’s also why I only use ½ cup and chop it nice and small. (Secrets Revealed: i have no idea if its 1/2 or 3/4 or whatever cup. I'm just guessing. add whatever amount you damn well please).

After about 5 more minutes, add in minced garlic. Just use as much garlic as you want. I used like…4 cloves. I love garlic. Oh yeah, I also threw in a chopped zucchini, cause I had one. Sometimes I chop up a potato too and add it in. Whatever you like, honestly.

Then, after a few minutes I added about 1.5 tbsp of tomato paste and some more S&P. I use the tomato paste that comes in the tube that you just put the cap on and refrigerate. Me likey. Cook that into the veggies for a couple minutes. You might notice your pot getting a bit dry, no?

Add ¼-ish or whatever cup of red wine. You can also add white. Just add something that doesn’t taste like ass. That’s called “deglazing” or some shit. Wine is key to my soup. Just like butter is key to my pasta sauce. KEYS. KEYS KEYS. I'm tired. Anyways...

Cook for a few minutes until the pot becomes nearly dry again. Then add 1 cup of crushed tomatoes. Or whatever can of tomatoes you have on hand. If you don’t like tomato-ey vegetable soup, omit the tomatoes. Duh. Keep the paste though.

At this point, start adding in chicken broth. I buy that stuff in the carton, the Progresso one is good. Buy LOW SODIUM CHICKEN BROTH, for the love of god.

So I usually start with half the carton, and see how watery or chunky I want my soup to be. At this point, if you happen to only have had 2 cups of broth (like, 1/2 carton); add about a cup of water. If not, I add 1 more cup of broth. Cook for 20 minutes, low heat, half covered. Then taste it to see if you have enough S&P. At this point I typically add more S, typically not P. Add whatever you want. Notice a theme?

I usually cook this soup on very low heat for about an hour more, covered. At some point I may throw in some cannelini beans, if I have them. So its kinda like minestrone. Whatever the fuck you wanna call it, its just soup with vegetables.

When I serve it, I often throw in some leftover pasta that I have sitting in the fridge, cause for some reason I always seem to have leftover pasta in the fridge. If you cook the pasta in the soup, it will be fine the first time around you eat it, but since you’re making this to divide and reheat at lunch, it will eventually turn to mush. Trust. It will also soak up your liquid.

I can imagine that NO ONE will make this soup, because this really is the most ridiculous soup recipe ever.

delicious, tasty, and not horrifically bad for you food items

In my quest to eat healthier (uhhh and drop some poundage off my fat ass but I'm going to be broad here and just say its a quest to eat healthier so when I end up not losing weight I don't feel like a huge asshole), I have found a couple things that are pretty delish, and as the title of my post says, not horrifically bad for you. And because I'm mawesome (meaning MAJORLY AWESOME, use it in a sentence this week), I'm even going to put links in here to the items, so its kinda like a pop-up book! My god, my creativity astounds me.

#1: the Mel McShmuffin. Heheheh I'm clever. So I use a 100 calorie english muffin (good source of fiber, and I am like, all into fiber lately), toast it. Then I take an omelet pan, spray it with Pam Olive Oil Spray (don't get the shitty stuff, cause it sucks), heat it, and then pour in 1/4 cup or so of egg white from le carton. Use some S&P. cook it. Then take out a slice of 1% american cheese ***sitenote: ok, the finding products and linking to them is becoming a real big chore here, so I'm going to stop. you 3 readers are smart, you can figure out what the fuck i'm talking about*** and put it on the english muffin that just came out of the toaster all like toasty and shit. Put the hot egg on it. I then wrap it up in a paper towel and eat it in the car cause I'm hood like that. I'm telling you, its really good and like, 200 calories for breakfast that will actually make you full for hours.

#2: Kashii Roasted Vegetable Crackers spread with contents of 1 Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb Light Cheese Wedge. DELICIOUSOSOOSOOS. Kashii also has REALLY good cheese crackers, kind of like a healthy version of cheeze-its. not the same, but really good.

#3. Fiber One products. I told you about my fiber thing, I'm all nuts about it. Their BEST Products are the Fiber One bars - Oats & Chocolate and their muffin mixes, where I substitute the eggs with egg whites. I make them into mini shmuffins. Real tasty treats. I DO NOT like Fiber One yogurt.

#4. This is not a recipe, but the new Healthy Choice Asian Potstickers meal. I fucking hate frozen meals, and sometimes its a necessity at lunch. But this shit is GOOD. Like, for serious. Go buy one and you tell me if I'm wrong. Cause I'm not. Boo yah.

#5. I was going to type out the recipe for my "Random Ass Vegetable Soup" but I'm kind of tired, and its hard to type out because I don't actually have a recipe, I just make shit up. But its good for you, so I figured I would share it with you 3. Perhaps tomorrow.

Another Amazing Website

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Trust.

More progress

Well, I'm nearing the finish line...I think...

Here's a photo of where I stand as of today:

As you can see, the pile is nearly as tall as my garbage can. Now that's quite impressive.

And I must show you the awesomely awesome tool that has helped me get all of these damn recipes into a binder:

Its an automated 3-hole punch. So all I do is shove a whole pile of my cut-out recipe pages into the thing, and it punches all the holes for me! It is SUPER SUPER cool. Scott just happened to see it sitting in his office and brought it home for me to use. I am inclined to not return it, but I mean honestly how many things can I 3-hole punch?

Sigh. I'm tired of slicing and dicing up my magazines. But its good, because I'm getting rid of clutter, and I get to look back through all of these super delicious looking recipes that I totally forgot even existed. Hopefully I can now spice up my cooking routine! Weeeeeeee!

Getting rid of waste

No, not a blog post about six sigma or lean process improvement or something fucking lame. It's all about how I'm finally going through my massive piles of food & cooking magazines and cutting out the recipes I actually want to keep. This is no small feat, I have quickly discovered, as my arm is actually kinda tired from slicing stuff out of the magazines. Oh, and I'm using a nice sharp Ginsu knife to do it, because I'm ghetto and I don't have any other type of slicing apparatus. So you can just imagine me sitting at the table with piles of magazines, a knife, and a glass of wine. Heh.

So anyways, what I've done for you is taken photos of how well my magazine pile is progressing.

Here's the pile I got through yesterday (please pay no attention to my filthy floor):



And here's my pile after my efforts today:

Uh I really did make more progress than it actually looks. And scary enough, I'm like 1/3 (err maybe 1/4) of the way done.

So - is this even a productive use of time? I mean the magazines weren't hurting anyone...but I also forgot to use them to find recipes. Now, I will have all the ones that actually interest me in 1 binder so I can have it handy all the time.

Hehhh yeah right, I'll probably shove them all in a binder and put it somewhere and then forget I have it. OOOOh well. Its kind of a fun project. My version of scrapbooking.

A SUPER fun new game

http://picktheperp.com/

It gives you a crime, and you have to pick the person that was charged with it out of a lineup of 5. The best I got was a streak of 4 in a row correct. Its tough. Its kinda sick. Its perhaps inappropriate. But its really really entertaining.

Ways to waste time and money

I've got plenty, and thought I would share some with the faithful few readers I've got.

1. Wal-Mart Free Samples & Trials. Updated often, you can get free samples of all kinds of crap - shampoos, lotions, dog treats, etc whatnot.

2. Penzey's Spices. I friggin love this place because they have all kinds of unique stuff and you can order neat spice blends in these little jars so you aren't wasting too much if you don't like it or don't know what to do with it. Like, I've got a little jar of Chinese 5-spice powder that I use as a secret ingredient in a lot of rubs and marinades. I also highly recommend the Northwoods Fire seasoning. God I could spend hours on this website.

3. Slick Deals. Hey, it pointed me to a sale on amazon where I got 2 really nice Calphalon stainless steel pots for a total of $20, shipped. Helllooooo.

4. Brads Deals. I advise just signing up for the email list because I find the website really overwhelming. So daily you get this neat little "list of deals" in your inbox. Sometimes there's some really good shit. Like, shoe sales where all Nine West shoes are $14.99. Also has lots of coupon codes and whatnot. Fun. Me Likey.

5. The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She lives out in like, bum-fuck country and raises cows. But, some of this stuff she makes on here looks amazing, I've used a number of her recipe ideas already. And, she's funny and takes delicious photos.

6. This is why you're fat. Reaching for that massive burger dripping with grease, cheese, and bacon? Look at the photos here and you might put it down. I can't believe some of this stuff actually exists. Hilarious.

7. Heat Eat Review. Ever eat those infamous frozen meals at work? This website reviews them, so you might be able to spare yourself from disgustingness.

8. Smart Bargains. I have gotten AMAZING deals on Cole Haan and Kate Spade shoes and bags on here. Right now is a massive bed and bath sale. Its kind of like Overstock.com, but I like it better. Stuff seems higher quality.

So there's 7 things that you can totally waste hours on. Cause I bet you were looking for JUST that. Now you have an idea of the mind-numbing things I do with all of MY free time :-)

Ohhhhh and the money. The money. Me have none. OH well. You can't take it with you.

Disgusting

I ate a filet o' fish for the first time this weekend. Ok, I ate HALF of a filet o' fish for the first time this weekend. I was so insanely disgusted by its disgustingness that I only got through one half of it.

Yeah, I know. Been a long time right and you're like, HEY why are you talking about a stupid fucking sandwich? Well, I blog at work now so I'm kind of down and out on blogging....

In other news, Cooper jumped out of a 2nd story hotel window while we were in Ocean City this weekend. We left him in the room for ONE HOUR so we could grab something to eat. He freaked, "OMG WHERE ARE MOM AND DAD", tore through the screen of the open window and jumped about 30 feet down to a friggin cement parking lot. Awesome. Luckily, someone caught him before he could run too far, shoved him back in the room, and also luckily we didn't go out drinking for hours. We came back, got the low-down from the hotel clerk, and then had to find an Animal Hospital for him as he was limping (and of course I assumed he had massive internal injuries and was near death, because I am a paranoid freak). First 3 we tried, ALL CLOSED. Fucking assholes. They say on their websites they're open...but ooooooeee they're not!!!! Sneaky mother fucking assholes.

So, we find the Pet ER open about 30 miles away. Immediately we think...FUCK, this is going to cost a fortune. Not like I really cared, but still, this dog is one expensive lovable fluffy guy. So, we take him to the Pet ER, where they deem him "fine", give him some pain pills and some spray stuff for his paw and send us on our way. They also said he's "milking" his injury probably for attention, because he wasn't limping as much when he was in the back with the doctors. Smart fucking dog.

1 day later, he's limping much worse. They didn't x-ray him at the Pet ER since they noticed he was bearing weight on his leg and assumed it wasn't broken. I dunno. Again, I'm the overparanoid jewish mother, so I just think its worse than it probably is. I'm going to give it one more day or 2, and then its off to the vet here. Which, let me tell you, our regular vet visits here in EXPENSIVE LAND cost about the same as a fucking Pet ER visit in a-bum-fuck Maryland. Just one more reason the Metro DC region is so great!

Wanna move here? Just bend over, and get used to it.

The Weather Gods heard my rant!

Cause its not miserable today, its sunny and warm-ish!

Too bad I'm suffering from a splitting hangover headache and probably won't be enjoying much of the sunshine. I bitch and bitch and bitch about the weather, then I get nice weather, and don't enjoy it.

I'm such an asshole.

Well....I did it.

I went to the mall at 1pm. I never go to the mall at that time. I'm one of those people who is there the second the mall opens, I take approximately 1 hour and do what I need to do and I leave, mostly because I hate people have no patience for crowds, slow walkers, and lines. OOOOee boy it was kind of stressful, but I really wanted to exchange a pair of Cole Haans I bought online (ok when you say SAGE GREEN they should not be GOLD, but maybe I need to study my color wheel a bit more). Did that pretty quickly, and decided to browse a bit in some other stores - which is where I went wrong. I should have just left then and there and called it a successful day.

Banana Republic was hot, crowded, and full of rude people tearing apart the sale section. I feigned interest for about 3.2 minutes and then left. Tried jcrew...god that store just screams I'M PRETENTIOUS, YET REALLY BORING. So I walked in, walked out. Went to Macy's where the shoe section (yeah, I spend $100 on a pair of shoes and then go look at more...that a problem?) was just a complete madhouse. So I realized my success really did end when I left Cole Haan, and I ske-daddled.

After that, I did lots of neat things, like get gas (have I told you how much I love paying for premium fuel? I do. I really really do.), go to the bank, and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marshalls. I have a love-hate relationship with that place, so I decided maybe I'd have some luck and stopped on in. For a total of $15, I managed to score a set of 4 stemless wine glasses and 2 adorable ceramic dog bowls for Mr. Coops. A good haul, I'd say, and I think it made my afternoon cross back over the line of "successful".

Now, I'm just killing some time before I go out drinking with Jen, and where we will finish planning our trip to Miami Beach in May.

Now only if this weather would stop being so FUCKING GODDAMNED DEPRESSING, things would be all-around pretty swell.

I don't feel like blogging

I just can't come up with anything good to say lately. I'm just kinda miserable at my job, and so its really dragging down my sharp wit and stellar sense of humor, which makes blogging fucking lame.

So after typing that last sentence, I sat here and stared at my screen thinking of what else I can write. Uh...

I still have a lot of carrots left. I didn't put enough effort into using them too much. But, they are still fresh, no worries mate. I checked. So far I've done stir fry and vegetable soup. "How un-creative, Mel!!!" you cry? Fuck you.

I made jambalaya pasta tonight, and even went all out and used andouille. It was really good. This week is a good cooking week. Perhaps I should just see that as the only positive thing going on right now and smile. I haven't sliced off a finger, given anyone food poisoning, or made something inedible. Now, it is only Wednesday after all so there's plenty of time left for me to fuck up, so I'm going to knock on my wood nightstand and hope that I didn't just jinx myself. Cause that is really how things are going lately.

Eh. In other news, we are taking a trip up to Ocean City the last week of April and we get to take Mr. Coops with us because they have dog friendly beaches and hotels. PLEAAAAAAAASE I need some good weather. PLEEEASE. I don't know what's going on but I just can't handle this COLD anymore. My fingers and toes are constantly freezing, my office is freezing, I'm just SICK OF IT.

WOW I am throwing myself one hell of a pity party.

A shitload of carrots, and other amazing stories

I'm fighting off some kind of head cold that is driving me NUTS, and I'm hoping when I wake up tomorrow morning I will feel 138% instead of the 78.9% I'm feeling right now. Reaching a point at work where if I miss a day (ok, if I miss a day that is Monday - Thursday...I've come to notice Fridays are almost a waste and I should really not bother coming to work, but I'll save that for another post) I'm like, a black hole of behindedness. Or something like that. Basically it sucks.

Um, so there was no point there except to say that I CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS WORK. So cold, get the fuck out of my head cause I ain't got time for your SHIT.

I went to Wal Mart today (or, as I like to call ours, Central America) and then to Safeway for some groceries. Our Wal Mart stresses me out so badly that I typically only go once every 3 months or so, because it takes me that long to recover from each trip there. Today I picked up some towels, pillows, other stupid junk of a smiliar nature that Wal Mart serves a purpose for. I also heard more Spanish than I needed to, and oh man the clothes that some people were wearing holy FUCK do you look at yourself before you leave the house? Like for real? My god. Picture: chubby woman about 5'5", in tight tight tight jeans, a shirt that only goes to right below her boobs, and her massive stomach hanging out over her pants, exposed for the whole world to see. Now, this almost made me turn around and walk right out of Wal Mart. Seriously. But, I stuck it out, got what I needed and ran like hell out of that store. My god.

Safeway, hmm...anything exciting to report...I bought a 5 pound bag of carrots because it was on sale for $1.99 and the normal bag I get (like, 1 or 2 lbs?) was also $1.99, I figured why not. Now I have to figure out what I can start putting carrots in because I now have an assload of them. If you have a good carrot recipe let me know cause I'm kind of stumped. I'm going to do a veg soup, was also thinking some roasted balsamic glazed carrots may be good with steaks this week...and that's about all I got. So help me. Pleeaze.

Oh yes, we entered Mr. Coops in a St. Pat's costume contest, but he didn't win, mostly because we got stuck in the back and the judge never even saw them. But jesus does that dog command attention. I shit you not, at least 30 people stopped to talk to us about him or pet him or whatever. He is such the attention whore. I will post a picture of his costume when I've got some energy.

That is all for now, I think. I'll post on my progress with my 5 pounds of carrots so in case you find yourself with a mother f-ing bushel of carrots, you'll know exactly what to do.

My newest vice

Is reading celebrities' twitter pages. If that's what you call them...pages? Who the fuck cares. All I have discovered is that it's really immensely entertaining. Take, for example, some of these gems I saw this evening while I was surfing the tubes (and while I should have been in bed, asleep, but that's neither here nor there).

Diddy's page: If anyone is with q tip. Tell him to call me pls!!!!!
Mel's response: Seriously? You think someone out there reading your twitters (tweets?) just happens to be with q tip at that very moment?

Neil Diamond's page: I made someone's dream come true with a hug. Life is good (and the sun shines in L.A.)
Mel's response: Wow. If only I had powers like Neil Diamond's. And if only I was in LA where the sun in shining and not in this snowy cold shithole.

Mischa Barton's page: Hey guys, check out this video of me jewelry Shopping at the P3R Showroom! XOXO MB :)
Mel's response: What a rough, rough life that must be. Jewelry shopping. Torture.

Tina Fey's page: Am I eating a Caramello bar for lunch? Yes. Yes I am.
Mel's response: You are my idol.

Penn Jillette: I'm off to LA to pitch a few things. I'm want to do a movie about Vermeer and I want to do a bloody slasher film where I'm the bad guy.
Mel's response: I want to have endless amounts of money and 400 pairs of cole haan shoes. I want I want I want. Greedy magicians.

John Cleese: Thinking about tooth decay...
Mel's response: Aren't we all?

So you all see the huge social value of twitter, right? I mean reading the random crap celebrities post is just endlessly amusing for some reason. Like, I could post the same shit they post but its not nearly as cool or funny because I don't have paparazzi stalking me all day and I don't have millions of dollars. I dunno. Something about it seems voyeuristic, and fascinating. I will not start a twitter page, however, because I have a hard enough time updating my blog and checking facebook 4,312 times a day so really there is no free time left. And no one wants to read what I have to say THAT MANY TIMES A DAY. Not even I want to read that. Come on now.

Traveling Part Deux

So, last Sunday (so 8 days ago?) we arrived at the airport on time, no issues, no missed flights. Arrived in NOLA ready to party. We landed at about 1030am, so we figured we'd go to the hotel, drop off our stuff, and just walk around. Luckily (or maybe not so luckily?) we were staying at the W in the French Quarter, which is convenient to just about every drinking establishment known to man.

We started out with daiquiris, then a huge beer, then we moved on to the thing that really kicked us in the ass – Hand Grenades. They are made with Everclear, but taste like fruity deliciousness. Our mistake was having TWO of them. Oops. So, we took our Hand Grenades and went out to watch the Barkus parade, which is all of these doggies dressed up in silly costumes going through the French Quarter. By this point, like 4pm, I don't even think I knew what my name was. I took a photo with a man painted in silver and a guy with a snake, which I just walked up to and decided it was ok to "pet". So you know I must have been shittay drunk.

Woke up, figured since we did nothing of value the day before (except stimulate the economy by paying for overpriced drinks), we should do other touristy things. We took the St. Charles streetcar, walked through the Garden District, walked down Magazine Street and went into some boutiques (including my favorite jewelry store EVER), where I exercised self control and only bought 2 things. Stopped at Harrah's for a little slot machine fun. Relaxed in W Hotel cabanas. Have I told you how much I love W Hotels?

Had a pre-dinner Kir Royale at the Carousel bar in the Hotel Monteleone (it's a bar that spins around, way way neat). Dinner that night at Nola, one of Emeril's restaurants. Just so, so delicious. Deliciously delicious. Then headed to the ultimate funnest of fun tourist traps, Pat O'Brien's dueling piano bar, where they ripped on Scott for...something? and where we sang and got crazy and drank Hurricanes. It was really a perfect day.

Next day, walked around down by the river, stopped in approximately 20 souvenir stores to find Mr. Coops a Mardi Gras bandana but couldn't find one (wtf?), relaxed some more in the room and then headed to the airport, and home!

Whirlwind of travel. I got pretty traveled-out. Its mostly the airports that I find exhausting, and all of the gross and annoying people and germs and $4 bottles of soda and just the general lameness of it all. I found out I may have to go to New Mexico for work soon and all I can think of is F-U airport. And seriously fawk the flights that are more than 1.5 hours, I cannot sit still that long. Oh well.

Other things to note: I am sick of Gossip Girl reruns, I am sick of the freezing ass cold weather because I have completely fallen off of my running routine, I need to go grocery shopping but may just go Friday morning before I pick up Amber from the aeropuerto for her visit (yay fun!!!), also need to go to the dry cleaner, Target, do laundry, buy new towels, pillows for the couches, and basically all new bedding for our bed.

Hmph. Think I'll be sittin on the couch watching TV instead.

I forgetted to write, now I have to write lots

Well, last time I posted I was sulking in my hotel room, getting ready to leave California. Phew, thank god. I am totally NOT a west-coast person. Scott was hoping I would go there, fall in love with it, and call him and tell him we had to move there immediately.

Sorry, no dice.

So, with me, there always has to be some kind of dramatic situation which I've ultimately created for myself someway, somehow. And, this case was no exception.

When I'm not at work every day during the week, I have a hard time telling what day it actually is. It just seems to really put me off balance. So being in SD and having odd hours at this conference really really threw me for a loop, and for some reason I did not realize my flight was leaving on SATURDAY, not FRIDAY. Like I knew, but it wasn't really registering with me. Of course, my Iphone alarm was only set for weekdays. Alas - I missed my flight. It was supposed to take off at 645 am, I woke up at 630 am. I love how I actually THOUGHT I could catch that flight. I'm such an idiot. I should have stayed in bed, called the airline, rebooked, and went back to sleep. No, instead I'm the asshole who throws on clothes, runs downstairs screaming that I need a cab, realize there isn't one there so pay double for a black Town Car to get me to the airport running red lights, and then get there to discover, "yes, ma'am, your flight has already departed". No shit. I knew that already and yet I felt the need to make a scene.

Then, I find out that I can't get on a flight departing until 1:30pm. Um, for serious? Cause that's 7 hours. I had no options, all other flights were booked, and Scott and I were departing for NOLA the next morning @ 830, so I had to get home.

I also realized that I had checked out of my hotel, so I had nowhere to go. I call Scott, sobbing, crying, whining, just wanting to get THE FUCK out of THE CALIFORNIA. He's like, look, everyone misses flights. I missed flights. You'll be fine. Basically telling me to grow a pair and shut the fuck up. And he was right, I was fine. But I was also really pissed I had to buy all those magazines and books to keep me occupied, cause there ain't SHIT to do in the SD airport. And it was packed. I couldn't even get within 20 feet of the bar, so drinking was out. So whatever, long story short, I get on my flight and head to the layover in Chicago. I arrive there, immediately find a bar and frigging pound 22-oz beers like it was going out of style. Goddamn, it felt good. I get a call from Scott saying our dogsitter had fallen through, and I'm about to panic again but he tells me he's taking care of it. Good, because at this point I couldn't handle it. Drink more beer. I only had a 2 hour layover, so I consumed as much as I could. Oh, I also ate some french fries because I realized I had like, not eaten all day, and french fries are a really important part of a balanced diet.

So, land in DC and it is 1130 pm at this point. Now folks, keep in mind my next flight is leaving 9 hours from this point. Joy. By time I get my bag, get a cab home (I decided to let Scotty sleep, since at least one of us should appear well rested on our vacay), by that time it was past midnight. I got approximately 3 hours of sleep that night, since I had to get up and pack another bag and shower, etc. So we make it to the airport and take off to our next destination.

At that point, all I wanted to do was get sloppy drunk. I deserved it, right?

And sloppy drunk we did get. I'll make a NOLA post in a day or 2, I'm tired of typing, and I figure that was too much to read anyways, and I also am kind of hungry and want Scott to take me to brunch so we can get drunk off mimosas. I have a real big Sunday planned, you see.

Living the high life here in Viginia, folks. Keeping it real. Dirty south.

And seriously, fuck California.

Wendy Whiner

I've come to the conclusion I've turned into one of "those people". If I travel alone for more than 48 hours, I turn into a lonely, depressed, whiney basket case who can't deal without her man and her dog.

Sigh. Only a few more hours of California left. I should have enjoyed it more. I tried. I really did.

What disgusts me - Monday, 11:02 PM

- "Octomom" (anger...sheer anger...raging anger)

- Chris Brown (coughASSHOLEcough)

- my PedEgg (yeah, its just kinda gross)

- A. Rod (coughDOUCHEcough)

- 7:30am flight departure (just sucks)

Discuss.

A Confederacy of Dunces

Over the past 2 days, I've seen and heard a lot of stupidity. More stupidity than usual. Is it just because I was like, paying more attention than I normally do or did stupidity actually increase? Unsure. I don't have a scientific method for proving one thing or another, nor do I give a shit, because who really cares. People are just dang stupid, no matter what.

So here are 2 prime examples. Maybe I'm overreacting, but you tell me.

1. I'm walking down in the Crystal City tunnels and this blond chick breathlessly walks up to me and asks, "can you get to like, addresses from down here?" I stared blankly for like, a solid 10 seconds, and all I could muster was "uhh...heh? whadda ya mean?" Because honestly, what the fuck kind of question is that. I think she said something else, but all I said was yes and ran away scared because WHAT THE FUCK.

2. Was wandering around the mall today with the purpose of buying sunglasses. Found some relatively fast and so I was just wandering from store to store. I walked in the Limited, realized that yes, that place still really sucks, and so I turned around to walk out. Salesgirl chick standing at the door says, "Oh, so you didn't find anything you liked today?" Now, why would you ask that question? Am I supposed to run over to her and be like, "OMG thank you for asking, can you please help me find something half decent in your store of SHIT ASS cheap clothing that looks like SHIT ASS?" Like, I just don't understand what kind of reaction they were expecting out of me. So, I just said "NOPE!" and walked out. I'm not at the mall to THINK. Dumb biotch ruined it for me. I still don't get it. What was I supposed to do / say? Help me smart people!!!

Ok, so maybe just because I've been under a great deal of stress and I drank too much this weekend to compensate and now I feel like crap and even going running didn't help enough, maybe its all some kind of "mel bein a crazy bitch" thing.

I don't think it is.

Someone tell me that people are stupid. Make me feel OK about myself.

Gadgets

Will you buy this for me?

Thank you in advance.

Love,
Mel

Mooshy Brain

So this is not really a post. Its mainly a disclaimer to say that I have not posted in a few days and probably will not post for another few days because I have been working solid 12-hour days...the kind of days that you don't even recall if you ate breakfast and / or lunch, where you survive off multiple cups of coffee and cans of diet coke, where you can't remember what day it is at any given time, where the only reason you know where you're supposed to be at any given moment is because your blackberry calendar tells you, where you've sworn so much that when you actually once apologized for it people just laughed because why bother.

San Diego on Tuesday! Where I predict, due to the way things have been going, that I will be working 12 hour days remotely.

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuckaroo.

Weekend in review

Hmm nothing too exciting. Here's what went on (yep I'm too lazy to write in complete sentences so here you go)

- Friday, went to happy hour with Scotty for a drink. Ended up drinking for 6 hours, but he bought me an Entertainment book (likely as a result of the double 7 & 7's) so it turned out to be an OK night. Also got to try a new bar called the Light Horse. Me likey, Scott no likey. I explained to him you can't fault the bar for charging you double when you order a double, but he's still pissed. I bet if I paid that tab he would have liked Light Horse. Whatev.

- Saturday, went to Georgetown. Had to return the Kate Spade clutch i ordered...just didn't do it for me. Loved the pattern, did not love the size of the bag. I didn't see anything else I liked there so I took that cashola and headed to the Banana Republic sale. The g-town BR is like, stoopid good. They have stuff there I never see at other BRs. I was able to really control myself and only bought 2 shirts for me, 2 for Scott. Total, $50. Not bad. I still might go back and get the coat I wanted, picked up, and put down 3 times.

- Saturday, left Georgetown, got fucking lost. See, I can get to Georgetown with my eyes closed. Its going home that causes the problems. So I end up in...god knows where. I was famished at this point, so I stopped for a large diet coke and some fries at mcdonalds. Thank god, because I somehow inserted myself into a massive traffic jam. I pulled a U-turn probably where I was not supposed to, but fuck it. I came home. Saw Benjamin Button. Really, really fucking good.

- Sunday, Scott was on a mission to find some kind of racing shoes that they are selling at Ross (like a shittier Marshalls) for only $20. Drove around all over the goddamn place looking for these shoes, to some really not sweet areas, to 3 different Ross's, only found 1 pair. Oh well at least we were sort of succesful. Also got some disgusting ass sandwich at Bruegger's Bagels. I will spare you a rant on that place. Stopped at Target, only to pick up a prescription but spent about $140 between us. Typical.

- Let me also interject it is 60 degrees right now. This is fucking amazing. Perfect time to start my new running program, one of those things that trains you to run in intervals for people like myself that can barely run up some stairs without getting out of breath. I want to run a 5k this year. So, I did it, it was hard, but good.

- On dock for the rest of the evening: steak fajitas, the super bowl (not for the game, just for the commercials, and because we also got 3-d glasses at Target for some kind of 2 minute ad they are playing at halftime), and fucking relaxation.

I am turning into quite the potty mouth. Rahm Emmanuel must be rubbing off on me.

I'm SO over January

February has many things to look forward to, including:
4 days in San Diego (work trip, but hell for 4 hours a day and I'll still be in California in a really nice fucking hotel with in-room spa treatments)
2.5 days in New Orleans (me and Scotty, catching some Mardi Gras parades and drinking ourselves stoopid and staying at the fucking W hotel)
Amber's visit @ the end of the month

I like to say "fucking hotel" a lot.

I believe all of these fun things will offset the hell that work will be for the month of February, but I figure hey, at least its a short month. How bad can it be?

Anyone interested in traveling in March? Weekend trip perhaps?

Craigslist post of the day

I was in absolute tears when I read this. Hysterical.

Hi, I am interested in joining a cult. Does anyone know of any good cults in the DC area? I don't mind weird ideologies but would like to stay away from extreme rituals.

Thanks.

Thank god, Inauguration is over. And, some other random shite.

I just want people to get the hell outta here, for the roads to be open like normal, and for it to not take me 40 minutes to get to work.

Finally, we are achieving normalcy again. Its wonderful.

Work is odd. We now have a ton of things in limbo, sitting on the desks of folks who have up and left their politically appointed jobs for industry and awaiting new appointees who will likely trash our work and have us start over. such is life in the revolving door of the government.

I just made the most delicious roast chicken. I'm telling you, invest in some Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. That woman rocks it.

Saw Revolutionary Road. DiCaprio was robbed of an Oscar nod. Amazing performances all around.

Finally my raise kicked in, so what did I do? Pay bills you ask? Nope, went on kate spade and got myself a pair of shoes and a clutch. They were on sale, so shut it, but I really should have paid off my Macy's card...or Banana card...or cell phone bill...erm...oops.

Over the weekend inaugural madness took over, and I found myself holding the door open for Adrian Grenier at Indeblu in DC. A couple $15 glass of wine later and suddenly I had Jamie persuading me that we needed to have bottle service and get our table roped off. Do you know how much that costs? A shitload. I suppose that consuming inordinate amounts of vodka, champagne, Voss water, a grilled cheese, and returning home at 5 am realizing we aren't going to make the Inauguration on the mall is worth it. Sounds like one of those MasterCard commercials, no? Cept all that cost money. A hell of a lot of it.

On that note, I am realizing I have a serious spending problem and should probably like, try to stop that.

Oh well. Off to eat some homemade fro-yo.

Family Friendly TV

Scene:

Wednesday night. 7pm. Wheel of Fortune.

Scott: "Hmm...what IS that?"
Mel: "Something...Stanley..."
Scott: "Yeah! Clit Stanley!"
Mel: "Um...no, its Flat Stanley."

Adventures in Cooking

Here's what I've made in the past 2 days:

First: Open-faced huevos rancheros with homemade guacamole
Verdict: Overall delicious, except for the fact that I accidentally used double the amount of onion in the guac than I needed, so it ended up in the trash.
Sidenote: I take bad food photos. Must improve skillz.



Second: Brown Sugar Organic Banana Ice Cream
Verdict: Friggin muy delicioso
Sidenote: Next time I may try adding walnuts and chunks of chocolate. Oh man. Ohhhhhhh man.



Third: Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Scotty's request)
Verdict: In progress, but will obviously be delicious as I have mad IcE cReAm SkIlLz




May attempt a thing or 2 tomorrow...not ice cream or fro yo (thank GOD you say), mostly because I ran out of whole milk and half and half and yogurt. Me likey to cook! Unfortunate thing is that I now have huge tubs of fro yo and ice cream sitting around and I want to eat it. Bad bad bad. Anyone want to come over for an ice cream party? MMMMM!

A couple of photos

I put some of these on Facebook, but not all, so here's a hodgepodge of random pics...

Uno part 1: NYE


Uno part 2: NYE again

Dos: Making my first batch of vanilla chocolate chip frozen yogurt in my new Cuisinart

Thrice: Mr. Coops opening his favorite treat on Xmas: Woofles

I'm gettin hitched!

Yes folks, its official. Don't know where or when, but whooeee boy, we're gonna git er done. Look forward to me bitching about planning this thing in the near future.