Parade!

Today is Fat Tuesday. I am always so bummed that I can't celebrate this holiday! It seems so fun and happy and there's beads and drinks and masks and cool stuff. Unfortunately, I always work on Wednesdays so that means no going out and getting crazy on a Tuesday. Instead, today I went to the gym and had a great workout, then came home and ran down at the trail since it was GORGEOUS outside. When I got home, I realized I was out of spinach for my salad for lunch tomorrow so I decided to head over to Whole Foods. As I walk in, I think it sounds kind of loud and there was some New Orleans-style music playing so I thought (for some dumb reason) that the voices were on the music or something....? I don't know. Turns out, not the music but the employees of Whole Foods were having a Fat Tuesday parade! There were several groups of employees and they had turned shopping carts and those carts they use to put out veggies and stuff into floats by decorating them with cardboard boxes, foil, paper, basically whatever they could find in the store. They all had clackers and beads and whistles and were handing out beads. There was even a guy with a crown and no shirt who was riding on top of one of the "floats!!" It was so great and put me in the best mood. The dude who checked me out was in a great mood because of it also and it made me even happier. I guess if I can't celebrate Mardi Gras downtown, this was definitely a great substitute.

Who's the most boring girl? Mememe!!!

I am writing this so that I remember what it's like to try and write about your actual life because I have been so effin' boring lately! This weekend I went to Flower Mound to visit my gram, my aunt, uncle and cousins. I spent all Saturday watching my cousins play baseball and/or basketball. The baseball game was superfunawesome due to the great wind and freezing ass weather. So much fun I can't hardly explain it. I told my family I would never allow my future children to play baseball. For some reason, that was "selfish?" I don't know why.

On a better note, I'm finally going to be home this weekend! Hooray! It feels like it's been ages since I've been home. I mean, 2 whole weekends away from your house makes you feel like you're never home. It'll be good to be here. I am going to make sure I have one day where I don't do anything. And, I'm gonna try to get some cleaning done. Woo hoo!!!

Oh my loo, I'm tired

I don't know what the deal is this week, but I'm so sleepy! I've been sleeping so hard and I am still tired when I wake up. Is that a disease? I thought I heard about some reason why people wake up tired and it was a disease or something.

Abe gets a shout out

I went to DC this weekend to visit LP. We had so much fun! He picked me up from the airport (hooray for the car he had to drive up there!) and we went and ate dinner. Um, it was COLD outside! I had to say that because when we got back to his place, I was getting sleepy already. So what do we decide to do? Take a bath in his HUMONGO bathtub and drink wine. Let me say, this absolutely does not help when you are sleepy. In fact, I think I almost drowned in the tub, like one of those statistics you always hear about. Since I fell asleep so early, we got up super early too and decided to grab some breakfast at this market I had heard about. It was so yummy! I had these things called "Blue Bucks" which are blueberry buckwheat pancakes and I topped mine off with some extra blueberies. AAAAAGGGGGHHHH, it was so good. Plus, we got a crab cake to go along with our breakfast. Also quite tasty. From there, we walked around Capital Hill. We passed the Supreme Court (which has an awesome door), then to the Capital, down the mall and went into the National Museum of American History. Pretty cool, minus the ridiculous lines that were at all the cool exhibits. I can't wait to go back during the week when I don't have to work because hopefully there won't be as many lines to wait in at the museums. Oh well. After the museum, we walked down to the Washington Memorial. I had no clue how tall it really was! Pretty impressive. From there we went to the WWII Memorial and then to see good old Abe! He's so cranky looking and formidable, I absolutely love that statue! Abe, sitting in his chair, looking down on everyone and you just expect him to wag his finger at people telling them what's up. Or, that's how I imagine it, at least. Anyway, after that we grabbed some soup and stumbled on the Human Rights Campaign where we met the most delightful gay man. (Side note to Eric: when I described you as an asshole, he said he would probably fall in love with you). Got something for Eric and grabbed a cupcake downstairs (yes, there was a cupcake bakery downstairs) and headed back to LP's. We hung out for a bit and then decided to get dressed and go to dinner. Now, since this was Valentine's Day, we decided to celebrate our way. One of our favorite places to eat in London was this place called Nando's. It's a chicken place and it is sooooooooooo good! It's like spicy rotisserie chicken that is so good I can't hardly stand it. Instead of going somewhere fancy, we went to get some chicken. Well, it was PACKED! Damn! I thought for sure that we would be the only ones to want some chicken on V-Day, but I was apparently wrong. So, eat some chicken and then go grab a few drinks and then to chill at LP's again. Sunday morning we get up and go to this diner we'd heard about. It was good but the best part was that when we were sitting there, I told LP I wanted to be friends with the diner people. He said that it would take a while but when I went up to break my bill I started talking to a cute old man at the counter named Sheldon. He then introduced me to Bill and Cindy, the owners of the diner and they just HAPPENED to have a child who needed speech!!! So, we talk for a while and they are so nice and invite us to come back anytime. It was just what I had wanted!! A diner family! Then LP and I hung out and I left and boooo. I cannot wait to go back and move there!!!

First things first

YAY. Just got back from visiting my honey in DC. It was so much fun! I mean, we didn't really go out or anything, but we just had a blast finding things to do in the city and exploring. Before I get into that, I don't think I mentioned the lobster dinner we had before LP left. We go to his dad's house because he had to pick up his bed and stuff before he left. His sister had gotten his dad a gift certificate for fresh lobster for Christmas. Apparently, you call them and theysend you the lobster packed in ice and still ALIVE on the day you want it. Crazy, right? Anyway, his dad used to own/run a restaurant so decided he wanted to cook us these lobsters. When we get there, I see this ice chest and we figure it's our lobsters. I (of course) cannot wait to see live lobsters so we open them. They are all crawling around and stuff in there, claws banded together, bodies trying to crawl up the side of the ice chest. It was so crazy! The lobsters are all creepy and crawly and freaking me out just a little bit, so LP's dad boils them! And, they're dead. That's the end of the poor lobsters. Sad. I'll write more about my trip tomorrow.

Grace is not my middle name

I am a known klutz. For real. I find bruises constantly on my body. The other morning I woke up and found one on my shoulder. How does one even go about acquiring a bruise on their shoulder? I have no clue. Nor do I know where this one came from. I also trip. A lot. Most times, I trip and there is nothing to even trip over. Like, just walking down the street/hall/whatever and then - BAM!- I'm stumbling. It's kind of amazing. I also drop things for no reason. Today, for instance, I am heating up my lunch (sidenote: I didn't want to eat my lunch today. I had made the gross chicken last night and didn't finish it because it's gross but couldn't make myself throw it out so I was going to make myself eat the leftovers today). I heat this Tupperware container of crap in the microwave in the little break room and stop it and stir it and do everything that you should do to heat things evenly. I start to take it out and then somehow just drop it. All over the counter. It's got rice. This means the rice is EVERYWHERE. Little rice pellets on the counter, in the sink, on the floor. And the sink has no disposal. What does this matter? Oh, just that I have to proceed to scoop out every single piece of chicken and rice with my hands. Lovely. Now, you may be asking how one drops a whole bowl of chicken and rice? I have no clue. There was no reason, nothing that startled me into a such a state that I drop the bowl, no heat coming from the bowl that was so hot that it burned my hands, no airhorn blaring in my ear to make me throw up my hands and hence spilling rice all over. Nope. Just a huge mess of a lady, throwing her lunch all over, colleagues watching me in awe. I have decided that from now on, I will velcro my hands like 2 large Nerf mitts and then velcro all of my utensils so that this may never again happen. Oh! And, as I dropped everything all over, I curse. In a school. I'm such an aswesome person.

On a lighter note, I had to stay late at the jobby job today. Yuck. When I finaly fight off the butthead drivers and make it to mi casa, I decide that I should go for a run. As soon as I am thinking this, I also decide that I need wine. The day has definitely warranted this, right? I hate getting in my car after I get home. I mean, I live in an awesome place where you can walk to whatever you may need so it makes me feel guilty to drive. plus I absolutely HATE driving so why even get in the car if not necessary? So I can't decide - run or go to the store, run or go to the store, run or go to the store? That's when it happens. I get the most brilliant idea ever. I decide to go on a run around the Capital and then RUN TO THE LIQUOR STORE!!! It's brilliant! I get my fitness on and I also get my drink on without having to get in my car! Wonderful. I am the world's greatest problem solver ever.

Chicken little

I'm seriously not good at cooking. I would lovenothing more in the world than to be an awesome cook, whipping up delicious meals from scratch and serving them piping hot. But I am not. Wait- I take that back. I can make some really great side dishes and bake the poo out of some desserts but when it comes to cooking meat, I suck. I can do ground meat and make some mean tacos. Chicken? Steak? Probably pork? (I don't know about the pork. I've never really tried it.) What is my deal?!?!? I need to get it together. Tonight, I made some chicken. It sucked. It was kind of tough and lacking flavor. Thank the Lord that I made some delicious rice that I stirred it in because that was the only thing that saved the poor chicken. Ugh. It's such a pain! Girls are supposed to be able to cook, but not this girl. I make a really great salad, appetizer, dessert, everything but when it comes to the main part I just spaz out and make some mediocore meat. It probably doesn't help that I really dislike touching raw meat and I can barely handle it without gagging. Maybe I need to take a cooking class. That could be my thing - cooking class lady. We'll see.

What to get your sweetheart this year

I'm kind of crazy and (when I can) I like to run early in the morning before work. This is very early. Like 5 in the morning early. In the summer, I run outside because it's actually pleasant but lately here it's been about 30 in the mornings before warming up in the afternoon. Clearly, I did not make it on a run outside today but instead decided to go with the trusty old treadmill. Since running on a treadmill is soooooooo boring, I always turn on the TV if there's nobody down there. Obviously, I didn't have to worry about this today so on went the TV. Now, I'm sure everyone has at one time or another turned on the TV a little too early and gotten to catch some AWESOME infomercials. I mean, besides CNN and the rainbow screen + "beeeeeeeeeeeeeep," that's about all you can get. I guess since it's so close to Valentine's day, all the holiday-specific companies have decided to get on with their infomercial making selves. First, I flip to a channel and this is on:



If you've never seen this, it is Yoga Booty Ballet. I've actually seen this before and seriously, I cannot stop saying it like a million times every time I see it. Not too weird, I guess but I flip the channel and this is the next one I see:



Perfect for that special lady (especially when you're pushing 30) ...... A BEAR!! And, not just any bear but a "Love Bandit" bear. If I got this from LP, I would seriously die laughing. I mean, a teddy bear? It's so spectacularly wonderfully dorky, I can't wait until someone I know actually gets this as a present.

Last but most definitely not least was this tasty nugget:



Yup. "Male enhancement." At 5 in the morning. That will definitely wake you up!!!!

I hope this helped all of you decide what to get your special someone on this upcoming holiday season.

Grossness

I make up things for myself to do when I'm alone. Not only that, I act like they are things that HAVE to be done right away. For instance, today I decided that I absolutely HAD to move the couch and sweep under it. You see, I have cement floors (ooooo, so trendy) and Emma doesn't know how to use her litter box so when she gets out of her little box, she just jumps out all crazy-like and scatters the little litter pebbles all after her. Then, since I have the awesome cement floor, the little litter pebbles roll and bounce their way all over my floor. Sometimes, I find them in the bathroom. Which is as far from the box as possible. (*This isn't saying much, seeing as I have an apartment the size of some peoples' offices*) Ok, back to what I made myself do today. Sooo, decide today that I shold move the couch completely out of the way and vacuum under it. I move it and GROSSNASTYSICK! There were little litter pebbles, hairballs (mine and Emma's), crumbs, parts of her food, parts of my food. there was even a little plastic toy (sometimes I get toys at work that I bring home - I'm a nerd). Ewwwww! Word to the wise - check under your couch from time to time. Ya never know what you'll find!


Side note: I have no idea how to post pictures on this thingy. I WILL FIGURE IT OUT. I just need some time and we'll get it together here!