A Few Random Points of Interest (Or Not)

1. It might be June here in Nashville, but it feels like August...in Hades.

2. My friend Donna visited me and Daniel over Memorial Day weekend and in the middle of her visit, had to have an emergency appendectomy due to a ruptured appendix. She is the worst houseguest EVER! ;)

3. During her stay at a Nashville hospital, Donna was treated to not only Southern hospitality, but multiple infections which turned up as nasty abcesses 2 weeks later. She is now in an Erie hospital recovering from another surgery to her midsection.

4. If you come visit me, please make sure your organs are all in good working condition.

5. Daniel's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday! I made him a birthday cake. From a box. And frosted it with chocolate frosting. From a tub. It was really all I could manage.

6. I bought three lovely hanging baskets full of purple flowers a few weeks ago. They are now mostly dead due to...??? I HAVE NO IDEA! I water the little fuckers. I make sure they have sun. I don't know what to do with them.

7. First step to getting nursery ready is underway. This involves getting estimates from contractors to fix the walls which are beyond our skill level.

8. Our neighbor's outdoor cat has become very fond of us (could be the treats we give her) and has taken to sleeping in our garage and meeting us at our back door every evening when we come home from work. Miss Razzy Fluffybutt. She does not like Addison one little bit, much to his dismay.

9. Anybody else out there a fan of Edy's Lime Juice Bars (Or popsicles - let's just call 'em what they are)? SO good. Just the right amount of pucker.

10. I have always wanted to fashion a hat like this for Gwendolyn. But I'm too chicken. She'll cut a bitch.

Lazy Weekend & A Milestone

This weekend was LAZY. Oh indeed it was. We had big plans. BIG PLANS! To paint the basement.

We did not paint the basement. We didn't even tape off the basement to ready it for painting. Nope.

I did, however, get my hair cut and was told in no uncertain terms that I have "resistive grays"! What the hell!?

My stylist, who is talented and someone I like, has been using a gloss to color my hair for...oh...probably about a year now, and it's always worked brilliantly. Except this time. This time, she glossed me, she stuck me under the dryer, she washed and conditioned me, she cut me, she blow dried HALF of my hair and then said, "Oh dear. Looks like you have some resistive grays." She was not happy about this at all, especially since they seemed to be concentrated right at my part.

So she asked if I had time for a "do over". I didn't want to disappoint her, so I ended up spending almost 4 HOURS at the hair salon Saturday morning. BUT, my resistive grays have been beaten into submission. At least for a while.

While I was wasting time at the salon, Daniel was busily pruning the massive amounts of overgrown monkey grass that seems to surround every inch of the perimeter of our house and yard. Fortunately, the "new toy" feel of the weed whacker hasn't worn off yet for him and he takes every opportunity to put it to use.

Let's see, what else? There was half-hearted laundry attempts. There was lackadaisical wall washing in the basement. There was tv watching. We did manage to go grocery shopping Saturday, which is the worst time to go, but we survived.

Saturday night, we went out to dinner at a local neighborhod restaurant called Mad Donna's. It was the first time either one of us had been there. Although Kelly and I went there once when it had been the old Radio Cafe (good times).

Anyway, we both enjoyed it - cool, relaxed atmosphere and creatively delicious food (I had the sweet potato enchiladas and they were really good!)

Sunday we watched our latest Netflix movie, La Vie En Rose, about the late Edith Piaf. I can see why Marion Cotillard won the Oscar for Best Actress. The story seemed a little disjointed and difficult to follow at times, but her performance as the French singer was flawless.

We did some reading. Oh, and we made this horrible lunch. For the love of god, do NOT ever make the following recipe.

Let me just say that we are both fans of Alton Brown. C'mon! He's great! Anyway, we saw one of his "recipes" and thought, "hey, that sounds interesting and healthy and has no sugar in it - let's try that! It's Alton...it MUST be delicious."

WRONG. Oh so wrong.

Basically, it involves cans of sardines that have been marinated in a mixture of vinegar, parsley and lemon juice. Once they have marinated for 45 minutes or so, you broil a couple slices of sourdough bread, then you spread some mushed up avocado on the bread and then mash the marinated sardines into the avocado and VOILA! Instant disgustingness.

And I am somewhat of a fan of canned fish products. I just couldn't endorse this. Maybe it was the texture. Maybe it was the overwhelming flavors. Whatever the cause, it did not suit our palates at all. Sorry Alton.

Also finished reading Spurlock's Don't Eat This Book this weekend. It was very accessible information. Some of it I'd read before in works like Fat Land and Fast Food Nation. A lot of it I had forgotten. And some of it was news to me!

That's about the extent of it. See? Lazy.

Oh, and this post is my 300th post on this blog. Milestone.

Happy Monday!

I Heart Bullet Points

Okay, not especially, but bullet points are about all I can handle today. Busy at work. No internet at home due to water damaged equipment (see below). And just not feeling very wordy at the moment. I know, weird, right?

Saturday: Water pipe burst in our basement. Not good. Not fun. Could've been worse, but very annoying nonetheless.

Sunday: Looked at houses with our realtor. Fell in love with a house that is WAY over our budget. Naturally.

Monday: I don't remember Monday, so as far as I'm concerned it never happened.

Tuesday: Watched the inauguration from work. Loved President Obama's speech. Hated the invocation. Was amused by the benediction. Am hopeful.

Wednesday: Put ridiculously low offer on house we've fallen in love with (seriously, like, 12% below what they're asking). Am STOKED for tonight's 2 HOUR LOST season premiere!!! OMG - I can't even contain my excitement!! (I think I just peed a little)

Miscellany

Quick Update – Nothing Terribly Interesting but Don’t Want You To Think I Died or Anything:

So, I’m in my 6th day of being 32 years old. Meh. It doesn’t suck so far. Even though I consider 32 to be the Age of Bridget Jones, my biological clock is keeping it’s mouth shut, I’ve experienced no panic attacks regarding my lack of matrimonial enthusiasm, and none of that pre-mid-life career crisis nonsense has surfaced. So there you go. 32 is okay.

Of course it helped being eased into 32 by having a full birthday week celebration (organized and executed by Dan the Wonderman) which included fire extinguishers, Nutella, bubbles, tiaras, coke/mentos fountains, shoes, opera, Indian food, sapphires, lots of wine, and one party complete with chocolate cloud birthday cake. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, the party went off without a hitch despite my deadline induced work schedule prior to said party and my nearly constant fretting. What can I say? I have poor coping mechanisms.

Speaking of Indian food (I did mention the Indian food, didn’t I?), can I just say that Sitar Restaurant is maybe my favorite restaurant of all time (although Arturos Restaurante in Lincoln comes in at a close second)? Like, besides the perfect fish tikka, they have this naan bread that’s stuffed with spiced potatoes and peas. Hello carbohydrates! It’s a carb-fanatic’s wet dream and oh.my.god. yum. I plot out occasions which will allow me to eat there. Yes, it’s a problem.

Nana and Papa came to town. Yep, my 80-year old grandparents, driving back to Pennsylvania from their annual migration to Florida. Would TOTALLY have taken them to dinner at Sitar, but alas, they’re old and ethnically challenged so we went instead to the Loveless Café. A Nashville tradition, but not really my cup of tea. You know, all that southern food – okra and grits and gravy…blech. Although the biscuits they serve are gorgeous. Hmmm…sensing a trend here…bread…good. Anyway, they left early Sunday morning and have since called to let me know they made it home.

Had my second tennis match on Tuesday. And while I played FAR better than last week, I still ended up losing the match. Ya know, I’m really not too tore up about it. Surprising, I know, considering how competitive I can be. But, I played a talented opponent. I played well. The games were close. And I realize I just need to work on getting in shape and bringing my skills back up to where they were 5 months ago. Seriously, it’s my own damn fault and instead of beating myself up about it and getting all depressed and frustrated, I’ve decided to use this season to have fun and gradually improve. Crazy concept, huh?

I’ve come to this bottom line: I think I need to work on balance in my life. Historically I tend to adopt an “all or nothing” sort of attitude to – well, to just about everything in my life. Like, if I can’t do something perfectly or near perfectly, I immediately decide it’s not worth doing at all. Not only is this lack of moderation nearly impossible to maintain, it’s really not a healthy strategy to life (gee, ya think?). So, I’m going to consciously strive for balance as a new year’s resolution. Hey! I’m only 4 months late. Gimme a break.