i really can't wrap my mind around what is going on in Louisiana right now. that amount of devastation is just so beyond me, i can't imagine it happening to real people, right now, as i write this.

but it's true. people have lost their loved ones, their homes, their towns.

each new story i hear gives me a lump in my throat that each time it is harder to swallow.

like this one, about a woman who spent endless hours just trying to get her husband's body to the hospital

in any case, i felt like i had to do something. donate what i could....

and if you want to help these folks out here are some legitimate websites through which you can do so (i got them from Fema.gov)

The Red Cross
Operation Blessing
America's Second Harvest

things/people i don't understand:

*the people who loiter outside in the parking lot before work, rather than just walk into the building just because they are a few minutes early. i love comeing in early because i can mess around online, relax with my coffee, etc before the start of the work day. isn't it a little stupid to stand outside the office, counting the minutes until 8AM when you can walk in? it seems so to me.

*the fact that it is so hard for me to make crab cakes. i am a decent cook, i can follow directions (i.e. follow a recipe) and i buy the very best ingredients. so why, tell me, do my crab cakes come out tasting like mildly fishy bricks? WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!

*the people who are thinking of opening a Walmart in Downtown Crossing . i mean Target, maybe, but a Walmart? come on, now.

*the topic of methamphetamines being eternally discussed on NPR: i feel like i have heard more about meth on that station, that i have in all the episodes combined of "Intervention". it's interesting, but it's not as good conversation fodder as other things I usually hear on NPR. i mean, no one wants me to walk up to them at party and be like "so, how about those meth users in the Southeastern US? can you believe how much their dental procedures are costing the prison system down there?". yeah. not so much.

*the spelling of "god" as "gawd". i know a lot of people who do this, and i am not hating on you. it's just that it doesn't really change the pronounciation all that much, and it makes the word actually longer so i just don't see the point of it. really, "aw" instead of just "o" is a waste of precious time.

*the need to give people nicknames. my name is Sarah, and it is not conducive to nicknames. i do not want to be called Polka Dot (because i own a polka dotted dress) or Doris (Day) because of my propensity to wear silk scarves. and while i thought "'Rah" was charming in high school, i am pretty much over it. thank you.

*when people say "i don't want to get a tattoo because i don't want to be 60 years old with a butterfly/ladybug/heart/star on my hip." it's totally fine not to get/want a tattoo because it is a personal choice, but to NOT do something because of the repercussions 40 years from now? i don't get it. also, if you are 60 years old, and your only concern is that you have a tattoo, then i think you are in pretty good shape for an old(er) lady.

adam and i left late saturday morning for Glastonbury, CT to spend some time with the Stewart clan and to see my cousin Dawn marry her boyfriend Tim.

the traffic getting there was HORRENDOUS and what should have been a two hour drive took us closer to three and a half. luckily we know how to amuse ourselves in the car (Hall and Oates singalongs, making fun of crappy drivers etc..). plus, i never mind long car rides when i am not driving :-)

we arrived at our hotel about 2 hours before the wedding (which meant crunch time for me since i need an hour ALONE to handle the monstrosity that is my hair). we did get the important things under control first, and hit the liquor store and Burger King.

note to everyone: it is really key to bring a corkscrew with you if you plan on drinking wine in your hotel room (not from room service, obviously). and since we could not locate a corkscrew anywhere in the hotel, i went Macguyver on that Pinot and managed to open it with a nail file, and a hanger.

yeah, you know you want me on your island.

anywho, we relaxed and munched on fries for a little while and then began getting ready for the blessed event. i wore a calk length sheer beaded sleeveless low-necked dress, with lime green + fushcia sequined sandals, lime green pashmina, huge gold bangle and green + gold chunkey earrings.

in other words, i looked fabulous.

adam looked super handsome in his navy suit, and we arrived at The Gallery in Glastonbury right on time to shmooze with the relatives time before grabbing seats on the lawn (it was an outdoor ceremony)

(the pictures in this entry are NOT mine. i can never remember to take pictures at events like this. i get too caught up in the moment and by the time i realize this is a great "photo op" the moment has passed. luckily i associate with people who own cameras and like to use them)

the wedding had a "scottish" theme since both bride and groom's families are of Scottish origin. i always like to see weddings done differently than usual. and this wedding was definitely different and in a really sweet way.


the groom, Tim, awaiting his bride. he and the members of his family/friends wore the plaid of his family and my cousin and her family wore the Stewart plaid.


here comes the bride! (and the bridesmaids)


my adorable cousin Jen, the MOH.


look how happy they are!


aunt marilyn and uncle wayne


my cousins heather, melissa (and me NOT looking at the camera) and my aunt Maureen. (everyone says that melissa and i are eye twins.
)

the ceremony was really touching, and short: two qualities that i enjoy. i have never seen my cousin so happy and it was entirely worth the 3.5 hour car ride JUST to see that. her and tim are going to be so good together, i can tell.

anyway, we then all made our way to the reception, rather quickly i might add since it was OPEN BAR...two words that all wedding guests love to hear. adam and i were seated at a table with my cousin meagan and her boyfriend Kevin who is one of my new favorite people. here is a glimpse of why

my cousin Melissa: "So kevin, are you going through your quarter life crisis?"
Kevin: "No, I'm going through my quarter life AWESOME".

see what i mean?

so we took to the open bar like ducks to the water and within an hour we were feeling very, very good. and then we danced. we danced and danced and danced.

and we drank

and we danced some more.


my dad's sisters bustin' a move to "We Are Family"

and we mingled and laughed and drank and danced and had the greatest time i have ever had at a wedding. i will say this, we Stewarts KNOW how to put away a drink. and how to cut a rug.

and then the bouquet was thrown and i stood at the back and ducked as usual, and when i returned from the ladies room, the groom was throwing the garter and Adam was DIVING on the ground to catch it.

and he did.

and he got to put it on my cousin Jen. which was actually pretty fortunate for him because she is quite a piece.

and then we danced some more and then like that i was over and we all headed back to to the hotel. well, not directly back to the hotel but first to the liquor store which was of course closed and then to Mobile to pick up maybe some beer but of course that doesnt work because what is this New Hampshire? and then we go to the one open restaurant on the strip, a Red Lobster, to get some booze and they CLOSE AT ELEVEN and then we go back to the hotel to reluctantly sober up and by the time my cousin Anna found an open bar within a 10 mile radius, we had al passed the fuck out.

and then the next day we awoke, blissfully hangover free, and decided to take the long way home through Rhode Island just for fun.

and it was nice.

and all in all, i can honestly say that i canNOT wait for the next Stewart wedding.

i just hope it isnt mine

(haha Adam, jk)

(not really)

i took today off to supervise the delivery of my new living room and kitchen set. they arrived and are GORGEOUS. after a trip to TJ Maxx to pick up a new runner for the coffee table and some other "home accents", our place is looking very spiffy indeed.

we celebrated with steak and ice cream.

and now adam and i are off to Connecticut for the weekend to attend my cousin Dawn's wedding.

all of the older cousins are staying at one hotel, and parents + younger cousins are staying at another one.

the reception is rumored to have an open bar.

nothing like some family debauchery to end what has been a HECTIC month!

last night some friends and i celebrated Boston's Restaurant Week at Aura in the Seaport Hotel.

donning our swankest outfits, Andy, Danielle, Sarah K. and I descended upon the restaurant at 8PM. I had never been there before and was impressed with the quiet elegance, the heavy silver menus, and the wine list (oh, the wine list!). Aura was offering an extra special along with their special Restaurant Week Pricing. Normally, the RW price for a three course meal is $30.05, but Aura was offering three courses, with a glass of wine specially paired with each course, for $50.05.

of course we took advantage of this.

I ordered cedar-plank roasted scallops for my appetizer, grilled boneless halibut for dinner and black forest cake for dessert. it was divine. and we all ordered a different main course so it was nice to get to sample everything.

(incidentally, the 2002 Chateau St Michelle Sauvignon Blanc is my new favorite white wine, i liked it so much that i asked for it with my second course too. if you see it on a wine list, order it, you will thank me. it is dry, slightly sweet heaven in a glass).

anyway, dinner was amazing. the waitstaff there is so attentive. whenever i turned around, our waiter was topping off one of our wine glasses (and this still counts as ONE glass of wine, even when he refills it once or twice! amazing!). we toasted one another, had great conversations and agreed that we definitely had to do this more often. which of course is why restaurant week is so great, patrons get to experience a restaurant they might not normally go to and the restaurants get way more exposure and hopefully pick up some more regular patrons.

Andy and I also vowed to get really drunk in the Oak Bar at some point soon. there is something very alluring about getting sloppy drunk in a snooty place, oui?

maybe that's just me.

in any case, it was a wonderful night. i will definitely be back to Aura soon.

i'm pretty ambivalent about whether people speak English fluently or not.

i don't think to be in this country you should have to be an English all star, i just think you should be familiar with enough English words to perform your job function, which in general I find to be the case (except at the Dunkin Donuts on Newbury Street but that is a story for another time)

anyway i had to make what i thought would be a quick stop at Home Depot this morning to retutn the carpet cleaner that Adam and I rented last night (we gave our current living room set and kitchen set to our soon to be married friends Jeanne and Chris, and our new sets come tomorrow so this was a perfect opportunity to clean the living room carpet which was in pretty rough shape and no, ADAM it is not all my fault but yes, i found that nail polish does stain. the carpet looks much better now though. and judging by how the color and quality of the water we dumped out of that machine when we were done, either our landlord never cleaned the carpet before we moved in, or we really are dirt dogs)

anywho, the lovely folks at Home Depot let you rent an industrial carpet cleaner for the night for $30 as long as you pick it up after 5PM and return it before 9AM the next day. perfect! so i can pick it up after work and drop it off on my way back to work in the morning!

so i arrive at 6:59AM to return the cleaner and the man behind the counter asks what name our rental agreement is under and i give him Adam's name because we used his credit card to secure it. Adam's last name is Meuse, so when I saw him looking in the "A" section i mentioned that his last name begins with "M".

"A"? the clerk asked me
"No, it's "M". Meuse. That's his last name"
"His first name Meuse?"
"No!" i said again, and grabbed a pen from my purse and actually wrote his name on a piece of paper which i thought would end it all.

but still, he is looking in the A section and shaking his head "It not here" he said. and looks at me expectantly, like i know what happens next??

So i tell him again to look in the "M" section and after making the "MMMM" sound repeatedly, he finally gets me. sort of. and looks in the "N" section.

god.

finally i had to ask for a manager because we were getting nowhere. the manager came out, i gave Adam's name, and poof! A rental agreement appears. I pay. I leave.

i feel bad for that clerk, but to be honest i don't even think it bothered him. He probably still thinks I don't even know my boyfriend's own name.

next time i will just rent it under my name: Sarah Stewart. should make things a little easier.

(or maybe not if you judge by the client who i have been dealing with for months who sent a certificate of insurance in my name addressed to "Fara Stewart")

today, i plead ignorance.

no, literally. i am ignorant.

some proof from the past few days:

*i called Aura (the fancy seaport hotel restaurant that i will be dining at tomorrow night in honor of Boston's Restaurant Week) to request a table by the windows (being that this restaurant is in the Seaport Hotel, i much desired a View of the Sea). the following converation ensued with the hostess

Hostess: "I'm sorry Miss Stewart, we don't have any windows."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Hostess: "There are no windows in this restaurant?"
Me: (dumstruck) "Um, but you're on the water"
Hostess: "Yes?"
Me: "I thought I had seen windows in the hotel when I walked by it"
Hostess: "The hotel has windows. The restaurant does not"
Me: "Ok thanks!"

No when i go in there tomorrow they will think i am stupid, because clearly the hostess made a note next to my reservation that says "this idiot thought we had windows". d'oh!


*the other day i came home from work (Adam was at class) and set about taking advantage of my "alone time". work outfit came off, ratty, holey nightgown came on, i made a little plate of brie and crackers and i settled down to watch some Law and Order reruns. Around 9PM someone started knocking on my front door which is weird because 1) i hadn't buzzed anyone into the building and 2) no one ever uses the front door. they KEPT knocking and of course instead of being reasonable and opening the door, i shut off the TV and smooshed down on the couch so that no one could see me from outside. clearly this was a robber of some sort. because robbers are known to knock first. of course.

the next morning when i was leaving for work, i could not find my keys. intelligence flashed in my brain for an instant and i opened the front door. there, in the keyhole, were my keys. so some it seems that it was some good samaritin (and not a robber)who was at my door the night before, trying to alert me that my keys were stuck in the door still. i'm sure my shutting the lights/TV off was a good expression of my gratitude.


i though i had more good ones, but i am too ignorant to come up with them right now.

i have a new reccomendation for you waltham/newton peeps (all two of you :-)

So Cal on Moody Street is SO GOOD.




I just got the Turkey Bagel Baker for lunch and nearly died from ecstacy. well, not quite but it was a very good sandwich!

And the air fries are nothing to sneeze at either.

Go for lunch sometime (if you haven't already). you will thank me!

(this is the latest edition in my acclaimed series "Crazies I Meet In The Parking Lot")


Dear Fugly Windbreaker Girl,


I think it's nice that you have a boyfriend now. When I first started working here, I would hear you on your cell phone in the ladies room crying to your friend(s) about how you just wanted to meet a nice guy (which, by the way, is a totally appropriate ladies room conversation to be having and we all appreciate hearing you weep and moan in the handicap stall)

and I had hoped the precense of a man in your life would lead you to make different choices with your attire, such as not wearing a hot pink windbreaker every day. sadly that was not to be.

But I digress.

Yes, love is grand and you appear to be settled now. however, since you may not have much experience in this area i must offer some advice. making out in the parking lot is fine if you are in high school, of even if it's simply at night. 7:30AM on a weekday is NOT an appropriate time.

But even I, ever the romantic, can see how you might be SO happy with your man that you simply can't keep your hands off him. Fine. but do you really need to make out in his car while it idles in the middle of the road in front of my office?

You see, i can tear myself away from my boyfriend to actually drive myself to work, and while you apparantly cannot, i don't think that i should have to be late because i can't get around your boyfriend's Trans Am.

And tell your boyfriend I am not a "bitch" as he yelled when I tapped on my horn. I am just someone who, if she wanted to see trash get on top of each other, would look into a trash compactor.

keep if off the road, kids!

<3me

Polar Beverages, you never cease to amaze me

first i tried your ginger ale, and found it was the best, most ginger-est, tastiest ginger ale i had ever drank.

and then your Diet Orange Dry made my life that much better, with what tastes like a slightly sweeter Orangina.

and now we have your latest concotion: Vanilla Seltzer (which i cannot find a picture is since it is somewhat new) but which is so sweet without being TOO sweet and tastes like real vanilla and is so refreshing that i am more in love with you than ever.

Polar Beverages, you complete me.

i'm a tad hungover this morning, and it really doesn't helo that there is construction going on in the suite above my office and it sounds alot like elephants bowling.

i am not psyched.

anyway: the weekend wrap-up.

fridaynight: old school sleepover at my house with danielle. we went to the mall, we ordered thai food, we watched lots of SATC and Law & Order and drank lots of wine and wrapped lots of presents.

saturdaymorning: went to Jeannie's beautiful wedding shower where she cleaned up and helped me to see that i really DO want to have a wedding someday, if only for the large amount of kitchen goods i could amass.

saturdayafternoon&night: word to the wise: drinking before noon DOES have consequences and those consequences are Total Immobility For The Rest Of The Day. 4 bloody marys in the morning + attempting to take a nap around 4PM = waking up with a horrible, pounding, nauseating hangover at 8PM. Not Cool.

sundaymorning: breakfast in bed followed by a viewing of "Le Divorce" (love it) and some leisurely shopping

sunday afternoon+night: baby shower for Gary and Kristen (and the soon to be Dahlia). lots of alcohol and meat and general merriment. followed by massive chinese takeout effort by Adam and I, followed by watching the latest (and second to last of the season) episode of The 4400. followed by blissful sleep.

and now here i am at work. boo.

this week i have 1) fancy dinner at The Seaport Hotel's Aura with friends on Thursday (it IS Restaurant Week, i hope you know) followed by Day Off on Friday so that i may facilitate the delivery of our new living room set and kitchen set. then Saturday Adam and I are off for a weekend in Connecticut to celebrate my cousin Dawn's wedding.

so hopefully the days between now and then fly by.

Confession:

When i have to sign for a package that requires my signtaure AND that i print my name, i don't really sign it. i just draw a line. Why should i have to do both? If i print my name, then you know who i am, and that I recieved the package so why bother me with a signature?

It irritates me.

Adam and I are starting a new regime.

We have lived in our apartment for almost a year, and still haven't really tried any new restaurants/bars in the area. I grew up in Braintree (the next town over from Quincy, where we live now) so we mainly stick to the places that I have always gone to (Fuji, The Fours, Alba) with a few exceptions of Grumpy White's and Fox & Hound (only because they are on our street!).

So, i am not standing for this nonsense anymore. We are going to try out one new bar/restaurant a week in Quincy a week until we hit them all (or get too fat to leave the house)

Last night: we dined at Finian's on Hancock Street.



This restaurant is kind of a mainstay in Quincy so i was surprised I had never been there. It's definitely a "family" restaurant as evidenced by the 1,000,000 kids there. We were seated next to a huge party of parents + kids that initially turned me off....

It ended up not mattering though. The wine and beer selection was decent (and inexpensive! my glass of Berrenger's Pinot Grigio was only $4.75 and Adam's Sam Adams Summer Ale was $3.79). And speaking of inexpensive, they have a deal where Thursday thru Saturday nights, dinner for two is $16.99!. So i ordered the Shrimp Parmigiana and Adam got the Beer Battered Fish & Chips. The food came promptly (and was very tasty), and more importantly so did the liquor.

All in all, we had a great meal (with lots of leftovers!), lots of wine & beer for $40! where else can you do that??

So, i give two thumbs up for Finian's. it's not the fanciest place, and i wouldn't order a martini there, but the food is good, and a good deal. They also have a $7.99 Breakfast Buffet on the weekends that we plan on checking out soon!

and i admit, we did go to Fuji afterwards for an apres-dinner cocktail.



but hey, you need the familiar in your life too, right?

Next up? Kagawa: the "other" sushi bar

i love Real Estate euphemisms.

when i worked at the Evil Real-Estate Agency i was in charge of writing (i.e. fabricating) all the ads for apartments/houses were were listing. luckily my degree in English came in handy since i was already adept at the art of BS. throughout my many months working in that office, my BS skills became sharper than ever.

allow me to decipher some terms taken from actual ads on Craigslist.com

"adorable" = miniscule
"garden-level" = lock your windows 'cuz your apartment is on the street
"no fee" = the landlord jacked up the rent to pay the realtor
"country setting" = no hope of public transportation
"dazzling, spacious studio!" = hop on your unicorn and come see it!
"owner occupied" = no students or parties. or student parties.
"tenant at will" = we're trying to sell the place but want to make some $$ in the meantime.
"Includes refrigerator/freezer, stove" = we ran out of things to put in the ad.
"freshly painted" = someone was murdered here
"renovated" = craphole
"heat/hotwater included" = this apartment will be 90 degrees in the winter. constantly. and there is not a damn thing you will be able to do about it.



oh and i had to show you this ad: just to delineate that one small spelling mistake can totally negate your meaning.

"LOVELY HOMELY 2 B/ROOM APARTMENT"


and this one, to show that you should not post in the real estate section when you really mean to post on the personals section

Seek Sweet Honest Female to Share Studio


god, i miss working real estate. (not)

my apartment building (see the pink arrow?) as seen from a satellite!

the ocean's lookin' a little brown, isn't it? this would be why i don't swin at that beach.

anyway, thanks to Google Earth i know have one more thing to distract me from work.

lately i have really been getting my comeuppance*.


it's true.

yesterday, i hung up on a telemarketer. not in a terribly rude way, but not in the nicest way either. i was at work and she was like "can i talk to you for a few minutes about your security system" and i was like "no thanks!" and hung up. then, two minutes later, she called me back and was like "don't hang up on me. i am trying to help YOU out by offering you a new security system. the least you can do is hear me out". and what do you say to that??? so i sat listening to her go on about new rates and new plans until finally i was like "i have no authority to make this decision and my boss is on vacation" but i was scared to hang up again so i waited for her to hang up first.

and then this morning i was test driving my new shortcut from the highway to my office which brings me past the T station. and i was behind a man in a BMW who was looking for street parking but being VERY picky about it. he kept slowing down, stopping, then speeding up again. so i sped up and passed him in the other lane and he FOLLOWED me to the convenience store 20 feet away that I stopped at, pulled up behind my car, and when I got out and told me (yelled at me) i should "what's the big hurry!! slow down or you'll hurt someone!".

i basically ran into the store after that.

but irate-telemarketer woman and angry-car-man have a point. i should not hang up on telemarketers (they are just trying to earn a living!) and i should not drive on the wrong side of the street just because i am in a hurry.

but still, what's with these people telling me what's what?!

i'm not a fan.

when i was in Lebanon two summers ago, i came to realize pretty quickly that if you're going to party with the grown-ups, you have to learn to handle your Arak

Arak is a strong, anisette-type liquor that EVERYONE drinks with their meals. they drink it before the meal. during the meal. after the meal (it's a digestive, supposedly although i always thought that was kind of an excuse to booze). it's clear like water but when you add ice or water it turns milky-white.

even ME, someone who has been known to strap on when it comes to drinking, was usually only able to handle two glasses over the course of the meal. meanwhile everyone else finishes the bottle and is fine to drive. cool.

and just now I was in Marty's on my lunch break (as usual) and i found a couple of bottles of it hidden behind the Campari (which i was GOING to buy so i could make these tonight, but i try to limit my weekly alcohol budget to $50 or less so it was either the Arak or the Campari) so of course I bought the Arak and there will now be lots of alcoholic fun this week.

and then, thanks to my good friend Google, i found this list of Arak cocktails.

my personal favorite:

Freshness of a summer's evening
1 measure of Arak Fakra
Orange juice to complete
1 slice of lemon

or pehaps i can interest you in a

Lebanese night
1 vanilla-flavoured ice ball
1 rose syrup ice ball
1 dash of Arak Fakra
1 dash of rose syrup

so if you feel like an Arak cocktail, come on over!

and please bring ice balls.

aaaaaaaand it's recipe time (again).

i made these last night and they came out so good that i brought one into work for lunch and everyone is like "omg is that lean cuisine!?" which i'm not sure is a compliment but in any case everyone agrees it smells and looks GOOD. and i can attest to the fact that they taste good. and they are good for you (mostly)

Sarah's Stuffed Green Peppers



6 green bell peppers
1 lb of ground turkey
one small onion
2 cups minute-rice
2.5 cups tomato sauce (any kind. i like tomato basil)
shredded low fat mozzarella cheese.
salt and pepper

*set a large pot of water to boil, and while it is heating up, cut the tops off 5 of the peppers and seed them. when the water is boiling, drop in the peppers and boil for 10 minutes.

*preheat oven to 350

* chop up the onion and the remaning pepper and combine it with the ground turkey in a bowl. mix in 1 tsp salt and one tsp pepper.

* heat large skillet and add turkey+onion+pepper mixture. Brown for 10 minutes (until Turkey is mostly cooked).

*pour 1.5 cups tomato sauce and all the rice in the pan and mix together for 5 minutes. remove from heat.

* place drained peppers in a baking dish and put a liberal amount of the turkey in each one. cover with remaining tomato sauce, and make a foil tent over the dish. bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

*after 20 minutes, sprinkle the mozarella liberally on top of the peppers, remove the foil tent and bake again for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown.

* bon apettite!

now, i am not a religious person: so take the following statement with a grain of salt.

God does NOT want me to smoke.




it's true. i mean, i haven't really quit smoking. i am as i ever was: on a drunken weekend night i might smoke a pack in 4 hours. but during the week i don't smoke at all.

however the need was in me yesterday. all day that nicotine itch was in my skin and my fingers yearned for that perfect cylindrical shape of a cig. plus i wanted to go on a smoke break with my boss to hear the office gossip.

but she smokes Marlboro reds. puh-lease. i may as well go smoke pot on my break, that's how high those things make me feel.

so on my lunch break drive to the local conveneince store for a pack of Marlboro Ultra Lights 100s. and as i confidently reach for my license (they are hardcore in Newton), i realize to my dismay that it is gone. and i know exactly where it is. on my desk, next to my keyboard, where i left it after trying to prove to Paul just hot ugly my license picture is (it's true. i look like a drunk cherub on meth in my picture. when i try to explain how ugly it is people are always like "no sir!" and then when i show them, they are VERY circumspect)

anyway so fine. no cigs for me. then, on my drive home i ran out of gas on the highway (not an uncommon occurance as i only remember to gas up when the light comes on). so i pull off the road into a service station and figure that instead of paying at the pump i will go in and pay and while i'm at it get a pack of cigarettes. so i get out of my car, take three steps in the direction of the kiosk and fall the fuck down.

legs splayed!

skirt up!

purse contents EVERYWHERE!!!!

(this is what i get for thinking i can wear three inch heels to work!)

the man at the next pump yells "hey are you ok!?" and as a small crowd gathers, i mumble "uh, yeah sure", i am so mortified that i literally want to just lay on the pavement. instead. i gather my purse contents, straighten my skirt, and hobble back to the pump. i am too embarrassed to stand there for too long so i swipe my credit card and put $3.86 worth of gas in my tank after which i leap into my car and peal out.

with no cigarettes.

and no pride.

and my left ankle still hurts :(

so you SEE? God really does not want me to smoke. i have the bruises to prove it.

good "on hold" music i have heard today

* carolina on my mind - james taylor
* i need you tonight - inxs
* world on a string - frank sintra
* musak version of steely dan's "hey nineteen"

terrible "on hold" music i have heard today

* commercials

a commercial as "on hold" music? are you kidding me? being on hold for 10 minutes is bad enough as it is. plus i am aware that you are probably making money off of this and thus profiting from my misery and thus giving you cause to keep me on hold for as long as possible. expect to hear about this when (if!) you ever answer the phone.

does anyone remember that part in Jerry Maguire, when Regina King's character is like "i'm pregnant - and i'm incapable of bullshit!!"

(side note. love you, regina! )

well anyway. i am not pregnant, but i think we all know that i am incapable of bullshit! especially in the morning before my second cup of coffee.

a woman called me this morning and was VERY impatient considering that 1) she didn't know the name of the law firm she was calling to ask me about and 2) didn't know the location of it, and since I deal with SEVERAL different law firms 3) i could not really give her the kind of answers she wanted since i had no idea what she was talking about.

her response to my advising her that she should find out the name or location of the law firm and then call me back?

"you know, if you're answering the phone you should really know your business."

my response?

"thanks for the career advice!". click.

(i should note, she is not a client. just a woman who always calls me for directory assistance because she finds the whole process of using the yellow pages to be way too difficult, apparently)

i was kind of hoping she would call back and cuss me out since i am raring for a fight this morning. but then my second cup of coffee kicked in and i felt pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. good times.

last night i went over my parent's house for a little while to drop off a (rather soggy, but hey it was my first time!) tiramisu i had made for them in celebration of their wedding anniversary.

thirty freaking years.

can you imagine?

go james and jacqueline!

snippets from a loving conversation:

me: did you know that i'm a cowboy?

me: and on a steel horse i ride?

me: and that i'm wanted (wanted) dead or alive?

adam: you're wanted dead by me

this past weekend was Massachusetts "Sales Tax Holiday Weekend" giving all shoppers a 2-day break from the usual 5% state sales tax.

now, we all know how much i love shopping. and adam loves any kind of good deal. so with our powers combined we did some SERIOUS damage this weekend.

it also helps that alot of stores were having crazy sales in addition to the no-tax-deal.

our purchases included:

1) a new living room set from Bob's


2) a new kitchen set (with 4 chairs) from Bernie and Phyl's


(and can i just tell you how bad i wanted to pit Bernie+ Phyl against Bob's. like we applied for financing on Saturday at Bernie+Phyl's and they approved us for a large amount. and then when we went back on Sunday to purchase the kitchen set they had lost our information and i was gonna be all like "well at BOB'S they gave us better financing ANYWAY so we'll just go back THERE and buy our kitchen set!" and then they would have been like "no! god no! we'll give you whatever you want just PLEASE shop here!" and we would have been like "throw in that fabulous Pine china hutch and we'll call it even" and they would have said "sure!".

unfortunately they located our misplaced information. lucky for them! )

3) a new dinnerware set (4 pc, 6 setting)from Pier One + carafe and dipping bowls.
(and a special thank you for the most thoughtful person ever, Andy, for getting us the mugs and inspiring us to complete the collection).

4) assorted soaps/moisterizers/cleaning stuff from Williams Sonoma (50% off!)



in the end, we saved ourselves around $250 with the tax free holiday and associated sales. not too shabby especially since it was all stuff we would have bought anyway!! and we have a some lovely new furniture that arrives on Friday the 26th which works out fabulous since I already had that day off.

(of course if the kitchen set and the living room set arrive at the same time that might present a problem. but i will be so hungover from a special fancy night out at the Seaport Hotel the night before (with Andy, Danielle and Sarah K) that i probably won't care. or else Adam will come home and find the kitchen table in the living room and a couch in the kitchen. )

musings on a Law and Order rerun:


1) i hate it when witnesses say things in more words than they need to. like when Lenny asks the witness "what did he call the victim?" and the witness responds "does the word "bitch" mean anything to you?".
just say "bitch" or "he called her a bitch". only an asshole answers a question with a question. and only lenny gets to make the wisecracks

2) i like this episode because the mother is hooked on Medazzalin and i can totally relate to that. I haven't been hooked on it, but they gave it to me before I had my surgery (about 20 minutes before they knocked me out) and it was looooovely. i made me into such a surgery cliche - telling the surgeon and the nurses and anyone i was wheeled by that i loved them. it was awesome. if i had access to it i would definetly be a recreational user.

2a) Medazzalin dealers: contact me via email at pinkshoes@gmail.com

2b) just kidding

3) i also hate this episode because the daughter is such a whiney bitch. waaah! my father left my mother for a younger woman! waaah!!! i could never kill someone and get away with it because i can't keep a secret, even about myself. i would be like "i did it but i'm not really into the whole jail scene right now, ok? thanks". i would definitely not whine and cry on the stand. plus i would not wear a floral dress to the trial. a murder trial would definitely call for a suit. Chanel maybe? in navy. navy is a very "innocent" looking color. you wear black and you go to jail. trust me, i have seen enough of these episodes to know. black or red = jail. blue or green = mistrial!

4) when anyone is pregnant on this show, and they are described by friends/family as "very excited about it" then the pregnant woman usually end up murdered/kidnapped. word to the wise, do not be very excited about being pregnant. i would reccomend maybe "cooly apprehensive" or "somewhat ashamed". you know, to avoid drawing attention to yourself.

5) who is cooler than Jack McCoy? he's the only guy i will allow to use the phrase "pig in a poke" (repeatedly) and not hold it against him. sigh.

6) this is my second post about TV shows tonight. i fucking rule.

can i just say that i am obsessed with The 4400?

it's my favorite new show.

i totally plan my Sundays around it. people know not to call me after 9PM. adam knows not to make plans that would make me be out of the house at 9PM. the world stops Sundays at 9PM.

i love it.

especially him:

Shawn, the hot, tortured, healing, hot, slightly-gayesque, hot leader of The 4400 foundation. although he is really more of a figurehead. and way too naive. but did i mention he is hot?





and her


Maia, the clairvoyant child. first of all, she is smart and i only like smart children. secondly, she can see into the future!!! if i have a child, she better be clairvoyant. and then we will make millions on the stock market. what better reason to have children?





and a new episode is on tonight! wahoooooooooooooo!

(yes, i know i'm a nerd. whatever)

scenes form a Newton liquor-and-gourmet-foods-store

i stopped into Marty's, as i usually do once or twice a week to stock up on wine, cheese, crackers, tomato+mozarella+red onion salad, what have you. on this particular excursion i was running in quickly, at the end of my lunch break, to purchase a bottle of Lebanese wine for my parents since i had tapped into their bottle at home earlier in the week and wanted to replace it.

i knew exactly where it was, so i ran in, grabbed a bottle and hurried over to the cashiers. there was one register open and at the last possible woman, a tall woman with a grey mullet-esque
'do looking like an LL bean model hopped in front of me. and by "hopped" i mean she shoved her two huge baskets of stuff in front of me and then kicked across a box of about 7 wine bottles. and then had the nerve to smile apologetically at me as though the baskets flew out of her hands and nearly on my feet and she had nothing to do with it.

so the lone cashier (who knows me since i am there so often) says "ma'am can i just take this girl since she has only one thing?" and the woman replies " no, sorry" and then smiles again at me.

if you are going to act like a heinous beast, at least don't SMILE at me. you wretch.

anyway it got me thinking. whenever i am in line, and i have tons of things. if the line is not too long and the person behind me only has one thing then i will usually tell them to go in front of me because that is the nice thing to do. and yet this NEVER happens to me. i will have one thing and Miss Thing with 40 items will rush to get in front of me and then inevitably will have 100 coupons and be writing a check.

there is no justice in the world, i tell you.

Lesbian Swans in Boston's Public Garden




from the front page of Boston.com

"Boston's beloved pair of swans -- feted by city leaders, residents, and tourists alike as one of the Hub's most celebrated summer attractions -- are a same-sex couple. Yes, scientific tests have shown that the pair, named Romeo and Juliet, are really Juliet and Juliet."

(and here is my favorite part)

''I think this proves that there's something in the environment in Massachusetts," Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, a Waltham-based organization fighting same-sex marriage, joked in a telephone interview. ''Maybe it's the water that's causing all this lunacy." "

it cracks me up because in middle/high school, the majority of my guy-friends were gay...and as my girlfriends and i all dated these guys and then one by one they came out the closet, we used to joke "there HAS to be something in the water"

and it turns out, there is!

so, i was out sick yesterday.

and did anyone know that puppies do NOT care if you are sick?

it's true. i have acid reflux but it only flares up occasionally...like maybe once or twice a month. and i had one of those flare-ups yesterday BIG TIME! maybe it was the Lebanese wine the night before (Andy came over for a Wednesday night gossip session). or maybe it was the bruschetta....or the spicy pork chops. whatever, all i know is i woke up at 5AM on Thursday and wished death upon myself.

this has been a very vomitous summer, if i do say so myself.

but Bodhi (the puppy) does not care a whit about me and my illness. he took EXTRA long to go to the bathroom each time i walked him (usually he goes right away but he seemed to sense that i was mentally willing him to go asap so i could crawl back in bed). and the barking that i mentioned in a previous post had pretty much died down but yesterday he howled/barked/shrieked in earnest forEVER when i put him in "his room" so i could get some rest upstairs.

(i did learn a trick though from a puppy manual my parents had lying around. if you coat one of those nyla-bones in peanut butter and give it to them, they will be occupied for EVER. it takes them so long to lick the PB off than when they finish, they are exhausted.)

but i'm telling you, these puppies have no compassion.

i felt better around 4ish so then i set about my daily business: cleaning the kitchen, doing some laundry, playing with the dog, etc.

and then at 7 i felt SO much better that Adam and I went to Target and bought out the store (we got a skirt + shirt for me, jeans, 2 shirts and a courderoy suit jacket for adam, a coffee maker, curtains for the living room, a meat tenderizer, hamster food and a puppy teething ring....this is why i love Target)

and i put myself to bed at 9:30 and today i feel so much better. i feel better than i have all week. in fact maybe all month. maybe i just needed a day to sleep since the past weekends have not left me any time to do that.

happy friday!

tell me if this makes me a snob:

if someone is talking about how they have no money, but they are well dressed/accessorized then it endears them to me. if someone is talking about how they have no money and they are dressed badly/smell, it repels me.

snob? yes? no?

my favorite small pleasure is when a shopping website has a "view all" button. so instead of looking at 10 pages of 12 shoes, i can look at one page of 120 shoes.

time management, people. that's what it's all about.

if you're bored: my latest reviews are up on HotelChatter.com

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2005/8/10/8433/89513

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2005/8/9/103128/0587

and
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2005/8/5/114858/4183 (thanks ERIN)


even if you're not bored, you should check Hotel Chatter out. it's like Fodor's meets US Weekly.

do it.

to make a long story short: we are not moving into the two bedroom.

to make a long story long: here goes.

so, all along we were not dying to leave our apartment. it was basically "if you give us a good deal on a two-bed then we will move there, if not we'll renew our lease in this apartment". this was what we told Jim. now, Jim is an awesome landlord. he is fair, he fixes things right away, he's really friendly and you can tell he cares about his tenants. unfortunately, Jim had a medical emergency (brain aneurism) about 1.5 weeks ago and has been in the hospital (expected to make it thank god!) so we have been dealing with his wife, Carrie.

Carrie is, now how can i put this? a bitch on wheels. she doesn't really know anything about the real estate business or the business of renting and maintaining apartments but she THINKS she does because her husband has been doing it for thirty years.

anyway, Carrie is the one who showed us the two bed last Friday. we told her about the deal we had with Jim, and how he was only going to be charging us $100/month more than we were paying now, and how we didn't need to pay any first/last security because we paid all that in October of 2004 when we moved in, and we were staying in the same complex.

makes sense, right?

Carrie agreed with this and after our "final walk-through", when we were standing in the kitchen discussing where the baker's rack would go, she says "ok, let's talk numbers".

excuse me? what numbers.

apparently since we only paid 1/2 month's rent as a security deposit last year (that was all Jim asked for). we owed her the balance on that plus the difference between that and the rent on the new place. basically about $800. NOT what we had discussed with Jim. at all.

so we told her that Jim said that we didn't need to pay anything to move in since it was like we were essentially staying in the same place. and they still had our last month's rent and security from last year.

"he would never say that" she said haughtily. "i know my husband, we are like this (crosses fingers and sticks them in my face) and that is not how he does business"

here is me

but what can i say? i know she is upset because her husband is very ill but she should NOT be taking it out on us. and why would we lie about what Jim said? he is awake and talking. she can ask him herself!

so basically i am like "well we can work something out, right?" and she is like "probably". so we say we need to think about it and we go back to our place. we give her permission to start showing our place while we think about it.

it isn't just the money, although that is annoying. it's the principle of it. we made a deal with our landlord and his wife is renegging on it and she NEVER even mentioned having to pay the $800 until after i was like "we'll take this place". like she was waiting for me to like the place before she stuck it to me.

then yesterday we decided to call Carrie and say that if she was going to charge us $800 PLUS more rent a month just to move into another apartment then we would just stay where we are.

"Oh well i already rented out your place!" she said casually.

Excuse me? we haven't even signed a lease for the two-bed yet? how can you rent out our apartment from under us? we TOLD you we had to think about it!!!

and she dropped off the lease at our apartment (FYI she showed our place yesterday too and didnt lock the front door when she left and then DENIED it when we asked her about it). and first of all my last name was wrong on the lease, and second of all the rent was $150 higher than what we had discussed. she said it was to "make up for the lack of 1/2 of the security deposit!". hello! if i wanted to pay $150/m more than what we agreed on i would be living in a MUCH nicer place!

at this point, i was like "F this B" . so i made a few appointments at other apartment complexes and told Adam to tell Carrie that we were gonna go somewhere else. I don't need this strong-arming.

that's when she told us if we left we wouldn't get our security deposit OR last month's rent back (our lease expires Aug. 31 and we already paid Aug rent because we thought we were staying AND we also paid "last months rent" when we moved in). We explained that we WANTED to stay but we were being lied to and felt like we were being forced into getting an apartment we didn't want. Carrie told us that since we didnt give her two months notice that we were leaving, she wasn't obligated to return that $1450 to us.

i know, right, what a bitch! the only reason we didnt give 2 months notice is because we wanted to STAY in the complex and then at the last minute you changed the deal. that's not OUR fault!

then she tells us that they want us to stay. that she didn't really rent out our place. so apparently she was just "saying that" to try and get us into a two bedroom and pay that $800.

so it came down to stay where we are, in a place we like, and pay no money. leave the complex and lose $1450. or move into that two bedroom and pay $150/month more rent than we agreed on.

um, we're staying where we are. i can't take this housing madness anymore!

but we ARE getting a new living room set and kitchen set and curtains so it's almost like we're moving, right?

right

oh and we are still having a housewarming party. why the H not?

officegirlhaiku is getting no love lately

and i admit, coming up with a new one everyday is rougher than i thought it would be.

so, i am opening it up to the masses. do you work in an office? are you a girl? can you write a haiku?

then you know what to do.

(email to me at HaikusAreAwesome (at) Gmail (dot) com)

and i will post it with a link to your name/blog

happy haiku-ing!

so, puppy-sitting is not all it's cracked up to be. who knew?

now, i have to preface this by saying that i LOVE dogs. love love love them. i am to puppies what regular people are to babies. if i see a cute one, i have to stop and gush.

however i have never really taken CARE of a puppy. when I got Pogo he was 9 months old which is still a puppy i know, but by then they are out of that insane-eat everything-pee everywhere-yelping- jumping crazy mode.

Bodhi, is not out of this mode.

he cannot be left alone. for one thing, if he can't be in the same room as me he CRIES and not just little guilt-inducing whimpers that can be tuned out but loud, piercing, help-me-i-am-being-murdered shrieks. and my parents lied. it does not stop. they were like "when you put him in his crate at night, he will cry for a few minutes and then he will fall asleep"

few minutes = TWO HOURS.

he even cries if i go downstairs to get my laundry, or run upstairs to get my makeup. i had to get changed in my kitchen today because he was barking so loud when i tried to go upstairs and i didn't want him to wake my brother and Adam up. i had to do my makeup in HIS room (the downstairs bathroom) and wash my face in the kitchen sink.

this is what he has reduced me to.

and i can't have him in the bedroom with me because he eats EVERYTHING. he tears apart bedding, he ruins wicker chairs, he laps up hair gel. i turn my back for 5 seconds and he is in the master bathroom tearing apart the toilet paper. if there is nothing for him to chew on, he will start gnawing on the wood moulding along the floors. so basically my only recourse is to stay on the back porch with him and watch his every move.

and his energy does not run out. i took him outside yesterday and we played/ran around/hung out for a few hours in the back yard and when i brought him back inside, hoping he would be worn out (again as my parents The Liars told me he would be), he was still running around, nipping at my ankles giving me that "now what? now what!?" look.




he is so cute. but he is MADDENING.

and it is going to be a looooong week.

i am writing to you from my parents' house in Braintree where i shall be residing until next Saturday, while my parents are vacationing down the Cape. My duties include: taking care of the puppy and watering five plants every day.

in return they gave me: $100, two bottles of wine, access to my mom's jewelery and scarf collection for the week (which is probably the best part), a kitchen stocked with everything from fresh homemade pesto to homegrown tomatoes, and free reign to throw dinner parties/terrace parties/porch parties.

It's like high school all over again, when my parents would go to Europe for 3 weeks at a time. only this time i can legally drink and my mother's jewelery drawer is unlocked.


I think i can handle this.

so, i am now doing some freelance work for HotelChatter.com, writing reviews of hotels by using other bloggers' experiences to give them a more personal feel.

here is my first one

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2005/8/4/122053/9168

so, you get the gist of it.

if you have at any point written about your experiences in a US Hotel in your blog, i would love you forever if you directed me to that entry so i could use it in my reviews! you will of course get credit and a link in the review on the site (which gets 125,000 unique hits a month).

and that ain't bad.

Friday Morning Musings

*There is a bar called "the Sly Fox" in West Quincy that I am dying to try, if only for the interesting fashion choices of the people I see outside smoking when i drive by each day on my way home from work. I've seen beads, fringe, macrame, a leather vest, skorts, skorts with beads and fringe, and what i can only assume is a tutu. I must go inside. It will be like some horrible-fashion vortex. And I bet the cocktails are cheap.

*One of my biggest pet peeves is when people who are neither British, nor Canadian nor anything other than American who spell favorite like "favourite" and color like "colour". you are wasting precious seconds of your life typing/writing that uneccesary "u". please refrain.

*At work, i always get this weird eye-pain behind/in my left eye. it ONLY happens at work. and i know it's not because i need glasses because i went to the optomotrist two weeks ago and he informed me that not only are my eyes perfectly healthy, but my vision is 20/15 and i will probably never need glasses. which is a shame because I had already picked out these fabulous Gucci frames.

*it's casual friday and instead of expressing it by wearing jeans, i am expressing it by wearing a spaghetti strap tank top (and a cute skirt). take that, dress code!!

*i'm going to a show at Milly's Tavern (a fabulous microbrewery) in Manchester, NH on Saturday night to see the band WALTHAM, who are amazing and my favorite local band and if you like good rock music (and Rick Springfield) you should check them out. and if you are in Manchester on Saturday night you should come to Milly's and I will buy you a Vanilla Stout (they are SO GOOD).

why are Lynn Cheney and Laura Bush wearing matching outfits?

and the all-white-thing has me thinking one of two things:

are they near some kind of bio-hazardous material?

or

did I miss another Chico's sale?

can anyone go into CVS and just buy one thing?

no. i didn't think so.

and it always starts out the same way. i need some certain sundry item like hand lotion or tylenol or kleenex or what have you (and i am certainly not waiting in the 1,502 person line at Walmart to do so). so i "pop" into my friendly neighborhood CVS for this certain item...and then i spy that new L'oreal eye shadow that i have to have. and ooooh look at that perfect pink Revlon nail polish and oh my god i definitely need that lip gloss....and 15 minutes later i am leaving the store with my hand lotion.....and about $30 of new make-up plus a scented candle that was on sale and a new kind of body spray in "Almond Vanilla". and a copy of US Weekly.

and one of those chap-sticks they had up at the counter.

and some Tic Tacs.

and i don't even kid myself because when i walk into the store my mind says "ok, you are here for tampons and tampons ONLY" but my hand is reaching for one of those red plastic baskets "just in case".

and CVS knows what's up. all the important items like medicine and shampoo and whatnot are in the back. and so i am forced to walk through the make-up and hair care and useless household items aisle to get to what i really came in for.

i bet that 70% of there sales are accidental shoppers like myself.

but that lip gloss i bought really is cute. and i really have been looking for a silvery-lavender eye shadow for a while. and i mean you can never have to many body sprays or candles, right?

right.

i've been tagged by the lovely OKgirl!

List ten songs that you are currently digging. it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

Okay...here is my list, in no particular order:

1) To Sir With Love by Lulu.
a karaoke essential

2) Your Girl by Mariah Carey.
so fun to rock out to in the car

3) Day after Day by Badfinger.
random, but awesome

4) Magic Moments by Perry Como.
a Bacharach favorite. (thanks danielle!)

5)You Were Always On My Mind by Elvis Presley.
(i love any Elvis song, really)

6) Cool - Gwen Stefani.
it's not the song so much as the AWESOME video. so Roman Holiday!

7) Habanera from the Opera "Carmen".
l'Amour est un oiseau rebelle!

8) I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys.
my true loves. and i am NOT ashamed.

9) Bleed To Love Her - Fleetwood Mac.
lindsay buckingham= another of my true loves. i have several.

10) It's Too Late - Carole King.
CK rules. enough said.

hmmmm, now who shall i tag?
how's about Erin, Natalie, Chris, Pink Kitty and Amy?

last night, Adam and i went to a brewery dinner/BBQ at Rock Bottom in Braintree. i've been to a few of these brewery dinners before, and it is a great way to sample new beers, eat some fabulous food and meet new people. they were serving bbq chicken, pork, ribs, salmon and sausages with all the usual bbq sides and all kinds of beer from hefeweizen to black cherry wheat. these are a good deal because you pay $40 for a ticket to the event and this usually includes a 4-5 course meal and at least 5 different beers (or more, if you are sneaky). from now until next summer Rock Bottom will be having an event like this once a month! in September there will be an Oktoberfest beer and cheese tasting, which i will mention again as it gets closer and invite you all to come with ;-)

anyway, last night the beers were great and the food was excellent but the company was slightly lacking. we were seated next to a pair of older couples, both in their mid forties. i knew right away i disliked them because the women were both drinking wine. hello? its a brewery dinner. one is meant to drink brews. the brewmaster at Rock Bottom throws these events to let the public get to know his new beers and i think it's rude to not even TRY them. and we all know i love me some wine. i just think it's ridiculous to spend $40 on a dinner ticket that INCLUDES 5 beers and then spend $7 a glass on wine all night. especially when you are putting away the wine like these ladies were. especially when you grab the brewmaster by the elbow and demand some ice for your chardonnay.

and don't even get me started on their husbands. i know from their EXTREMELY LOUD CONVERSATION that they 1) don't like gay people except for the ones on Will and Grace, 2) hate democrats and 3) think if you go to Thayer Academy (like all their kids apparently do) you are some kind of genius. first of all, the gay and democrat thing already renders you an idiot in my eyes, and the Thayer thing? pretty much ANYONE can get in there. it's one of the only private schools around that has 3 levels of classes, and it's considered by every other private school in the state to be the "public school of private schools". so just because you are paying $25,000/year for an education doesn't make it a good one. ask my parents, they made me go to Thayer for a year. and it's certianly innapropriate to talk really loudly at a public event about how everyone who goes to public schools is "trash". and to be honest you are making very clear just who the trash is. especially when you joked about your son's drunk driving accident (in which i understand he seriously hurt someone) by saying "at least we know he's popular". ick.

i wanted to say something (you know i did) but one of the guys actually works in my industry and i have talked to him on the phone several times. i haven't actually met him, but i don't think an appopriate way to meet would be for him to recognize me as the drunk bitch who reamed him out at Rock Bottom, while we are sipping cocktails at a company event, you know?

at least it is good blog material.

Recipe Time!

I made this dish last night and it was 1) easy 2) delicious and 3) made with things you usually have in the kitchen anyway, so i thought i would share it with you all! it ends up tasting like chicken parm but it's much better for you (not TOO much better, i mean we are frying here. but somewhat better)


Ingredients:

5-6 chicken breasts
1 zucchini
1-2 cups Parmesan Cheese
leftover tomato sauce you may have from a previous spaghetti night
olive oil
butter/margerine
flour
salt and pepper

Tenderize the chicken breasts until they are 3/4 to 1/2 inch thick. salt and pepper them to taste and dust with flour, set aside.

Over Medium Heat, heat some olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) and 2 tbsp butter in a skillet/sauce pan until hot. add the chicken breasts as many as you can at a time (they shrink as they cook so don't be afraid to overlap). Cook evenly until golden brown and slightly pink inside..about 3-4 minutes a side.

While the chicken is cooking, slice up your zucchini, lightly salt it and flour it on both sides and put that aside.

When the chicken is done, arrange in a baking dish. Add some more olive oil and butter to your skillet and fry the zucchini slices until golden, about 2 minutes a side. When done, cover each chicken breast with 3-4 slices of the zucchini.

Pour the marinara (or any tomato sauce would do) over and around the chicken breasts and then sprinkle liberal amounts of parmesan cheese over each one.

Bake at 450F for 20 minutes so the cheese is brown and the sauce is bubbling.

Enjoy! (preferably with some iced Big House Red)

so, adam and i have a small apartment

don't get me wrong, we love it.... but it is cramped.

when we were looking for a place last september we realized that it's really hard to find a nice, roomy one or two bedroom in a safe neighborhood near the T around here for under $1200 a month. we had certain criteria we would not bend on (we really wanted two off street parking spaces and for the heat/hot water to be included in the rent) and even finding those two qualities in ONE apartment was difficult. but we landed here in our Sea Street Palace and it has been good to us, despite having no storage, and Adam having to keep his clothes in the living room closet and keeping our grill behind the kitchen table and keeping the table linens in the bathroom.

and because it was our first apartment together it will always hold a special place in our hearts.....

but we are peacing the f*ck out!!!!!

yes, we have been in negotiations with our landlord for the past month or so trying to wrangle our way into one of his two bedrooms that he owns in the building that is 2 buildings away from where we currently live. he had one available. but i ain't paying no $1250/month for a two bed in quincy.

i have a weird hangup about rent and that is that i dont want to spend MORE than 1 week's paycheck on it. in fact i would like to spend LESS than one week's paycheck if possible. i like having 1 paycheck for rent, 1 for car insurance/utilities/assorted neccesities and then 2-3 paychecks a month to play with, save (yeah right) etc.

it's my system and it works for me.

so due to some unfortunate circumstances on my landlord's end, and thanks to adam's persistance (i p*ssied out right away and was like "there is no way he will go lower), we now have a glorious, spacious two bedroom apartment for only $100 a month more than we are paying now and over $200/month less than what he wanted us to pay.

adam says "don't you feel kind of grown up now that we're getting a 2-bed?"

yes, yes i do.

we move in at the end of august. next obstacle? finding and purchasing a proper living room set for our "grown up" pad.

housewarming party immediately following. we're registered at pier one (just kidding*)






(*no i'm really not kidding, i registered at pier one like a year ago for kicks because i think registering is so fun and why should only engaged or pregnant people get to do it?)

it is always nice to come back from a mini-vacay and find out that your coworkers have ransacked your desk.

so pleasant, really.

i came in early today (which mind you is rough enough since i have not been in work since last wednesday) and i found that

1) someone had gone through my "in progress projects" that were in/on my desk and left little notes like "this isn't done" and "this is missing this document" and so on. um, that's why they are still in my desk because THEY ARE NOT DONE. unless i put a binder in your hands, it is safe to assume that i am NOT done with it. and if that is too much to grasp: if you find some binders in my drawer marked "In Progress", they are most likely in progress, and not completed. so really, the notes are a leeetle unneccessary. and annoying. and now i hate you.

2) there are several items missing from my cubicle including (but not limited to) my label-maker, my hole-punch, all but two of my pens and my wastebasket. i can understand maybe borrowing the label maker (i have the only one) and pens are always going missing but my wastebasket? that is just plain laziness since there are about 20 unused ones in the storage room which is 15 feet from my desk.

3) no one brought in bagels today. not that they usually bring in bagels on mondays. but still. i could really use one now!

maybe after some venting in the ladies' room i will have more substantial things to say. like how my weekend ruled.

we'll see.