Here's the dish!

Jesse and I had my parents over for dinner this past Saturday night. They seemed to have a nice time -- we showed them around and they loved our apartment, they ate all their dinner so I guess that went all right, and they gave us money as a housewarming present. Woah! As soon as we saw it, someone (Jesse? My dad? I can't remember.) mentioned that we could use the money to buy ourselves some microwave-safe dishes. Now, when I first moved out on my own, I realized that, although my grandmother's china is pretty, and it puts on a beautiful light show when microwaved, it's probably not the best idea to heat foodstuffs on it. So I stopped. It has been two years since I have heated food in/on something other than pyrex, corning ware, or paper towels. So when the idea came up to spend money on microwave-safe dishes, I thought, "puh! not necessary."

But when my parents left, Jess brought it up again: "You know, maybe we should buy microwave-safe dishes." Ok, ok, ok... Just because I'm used to it, doesn't mean it's the best plan to live without this convenience. So we went shopping online... within an hour, we had picked out dishes we're both going to be happy with. So even though I wasn't excited about buying new dishes beforehand (what? am I not a girl? what's wrong with me?), now I'm thrilled! They're in the mail, and I'm going to receive them any day! How exciting is that?!

And Jesse and I are talking about going up to Groveland this weekend. That promises to be relaxing. Relaxing promises to be nice. And now I'm stalled thinking of things to write about, because I'm daydreaming about relaxing...

Early Fall Primetime TV Reviews

The saving grace of my early Fall is that prime time TV is back. Here's what I watch:

Medium: Awesome. Such a good show. Great acting, great script, variety in storyline, topic matter. So good. It's hard to figure out what will happen next.

Amazing Race: doh. I'm currently boycotting this show. As one of its main proponents in the early years (read: every year 'til now), I'm really angry that they messed with a good thing. I needed my Tuesday night strategic, backstabbing race-around-the-world. Instead, it's now a family show and they have yet to leave the United States. Boring.

The Apprentice/Martha Stewart: So good! This re-vamped version of Trump's original is so much better. The candidates are annoying, but the tasks are interesting, and they've made some great improvements over The Donald's show: (1) no immunity for PMs, (2) Martha doesn't say "you're fired" at all, which makes sense, since no one has been hired yet, (3) she writes a very well-balanced and insightful letter to the eliminated candidate each week, explaining why they won't be continuing, and (4) there's no Donald Trump! No more comments about how the female candidates are beautiful, no more flirting from the candidate side of the table... it is more professional. Only downside: Guy to Martha's left, lose the cigar!

Joey: Same show, different season. It's funny, the acting and writing are good - it's entertaining and watchable. I don't cry if I miss an episode, though.

Survivor: Same show, different rules (as always!). They keep this show fresh by realizing that the strategy is the only thing the show has going for it (well, that, and all the boob and butt shots the cameramen and editors like). The rules change, the challenges seem to be genuinely challenging, and the teams are shuffled around at various times to keep the players awake and their strategies exciting.

The Apprentice/Donald Trump: I was a fan of The Apprentice the first season, but it has gone downhill since then -- the Donald is too over-the-top, the editing is bad (you never like anyone all season, then you're supposed to support one of the final two? no way!), and lots of bad, impulsive decisions seem to be made in "the boardroom." The only upside: The candidates are making better decisions about who to bring into the boardroom this season (probably because they're aware of how bad the decisions can be)!

ER: I didn't start watching this show until two seasons ago, and I'm a huge fan. The writing is consistently excellent, and the acting is always great.. the characters shift job roles and hierarchy so subtly that it always seems real .. almost like real time. Few shows can do that, probably because they can't guarantee the show will still be on the air long enough to complete a storyline. ER doesn't have that problem. Awesome. I would cry if I missed an episode of this show. ;)

Our house = warmed

We had our housewarming party this weekend, on Saturday night. It was really nice -- lots of fun people showed up. At 7pm, when it was due to start, I wondered why people always like to be fashionably late.. then I realized: I'm always late. It's karma.

So people started rapidly showing up, and then I realized: I had way too much in the way of drinks. Oh well. People ate, they drank (a little) .. but we didn't run out of anything, and everyone seemed satisfied. I never had to say "no, we ran out" if someone asked for something. That's always good for a nurturer like me. =P

Our front bonus room smelled like ant spray all night, even though we'd been airing it out for two days. And then, of course, we got ants inside the house. I think we scared them out of the bonus room and into our house. How annoying: our house is cleaner than it has ever been, and now we have ants. Awesome!

Some of our invitees didn't show up. Two of Jesse's friends didn't show, and my brothers didn't come. That made me sad. But our house was full and laughter-y well into the night, and people seemed to be having fun.

Ever since the party, I haven't been able to get up in the morning. Last week was incredibly hectic at work, and the cleaning and prep work for the party has knocked me out.. I'm ready for a vacation now.

My computer doesn't work.. it gives me some sort of error about not recognizing the non-existent floppy drive. Exciting. And the case is a piece of junk: as my brother put it, "It looks like they hot-glued the electrical, instead of soldering it." So I have to replace the case and then worry about the other stuff... Blah.

Computer Puzzles

So, I'm buying a new computer. I ordered all kinds of things from newegg.com two days ago, and most of it has already arrived. The things that were sent from California are already here, while the things being shipped from New Jersey haven't yet arrived. They're so slow in Jersey. =P (j/k friends from Jersey, if you exist) (and to all my friends from Philly, since I know you exist, I wasn't really j/k) Now, that big puzzle of pieces just needs to be put together next week, by my brother, who has awesomely volunteered to help his little sister out.

And I also bought my first mobile phone game. Jesse bought Bejeweled, and I chided him for spending so much money on such a silly little thing... then I was inspired by his silliness, and bought Collapse! for myself. Awesome. I'm a big Collapse fan. And It's so fun to have it on my phone. I'm also really into spending money I don't need to spend right now. What's that about? =P

And that's where I'm going to awkwardly end this post. Seeya!

The new and improved Busy Rooni

Hello, Journal. Long time, no see. How have you been? Good. Oh, me? Busy.

Work, work, work... Socialize, socialize, socialize. I have nothing to complain about, so I won't. =) Just busy, and I always think about writing, but never sit down to do it because I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say..

Over the weekend, Jesse and I socialized a bunch with friends: we went to a wedding on Saturday afternoon, which was really nice -- we danced a bunch and made friendly conversation. Then we followed that up with socializing at a friend's house (with fellow wedding attendees), which was also really nice. Then the next day, we helped still other friends move some heavy things into their new place. And that night, we went to a dinner party for another friend's birthday. Somewhere in there, we painted some pottery at one of those fancy retail establishments that lets you do such things. That was really fun -- the "fun" that means you put your creative brain to work to design something, then spend hours painting and painting and painting more detail until it's done. All in all, a super nice weekend.

Monday, my mom called and begged me to go to Home Depot and choose paint colors for her house. We bickered over blue-greens and yellow-greens until we settled on the very cute color "Little Green Frog." It should be very pretty.

Tuesday, my friend (the same friend we socialized with on Saturday night) wanted me to go shopping for vacation clothing, since she's leaving tomorrow morning (and I'm taking her to the airport). So that's been my week so far. Currently, I'm working hard at my place of business.

And tonight, I just found out, I'm going out again for paint color work. And over the coming weekend, I'll be cleaning and prepping the house for our upcoming Housewarming Party (the following weekend).

So that's my life.. and from this boring blog, you should be able to see why I haven't been writing lately -- not that I'm too busy, but that I really don't have anything to say. =)

Ferocious schedule

Maybe I should start all my blog subjects with "ferocious" .. it's a pretty awesome little adjective.

Anyway, on to the schedule.. I probably shouldn't complain, but I will anyway. ;) Remember, I'm an introvert.. hectic social schedules stress me out.

I worked over the weekend (not the whole time, but still, it interfered with the whole relaxation thing) .. then Monday, there was a client visit at work -- I was with them from 8:45am to 8:45pm. Tuesday, I came home early to stress out about a report that's due this week. Today, I stayed home all day to do that report. It's done. Tonight, I'm going to a friend's house to help make wedding favors (yay helping out!). Tomorrow, Jess and I have a bunch of things we'd like to do -- make a nice dinner, play more Ratchet & Clank, watch a new movie from Netflix... but we'll probably just make a simple dinner, pay bills, watch Survivor and call it a night. =) Then Friday, I'm going out to dinner for another friend's birthday (yay Nola's!). Then it's Saturday morning at home (nice weekend breakfast with Jesse, maybe?) and off to the overnight bachelor and bachelorette parties (for the betrothed couple) we go!

Next week, I'm hoping the work schedule slows down a little. Maybe I'll feel more inspired to write in Ye Ole Blogge more if I feel like I have some time to myself here and there.

Oh yeah, and I'm working on buying a new computer -- that way, maybe Jess and I will both have nice set-ups in this home office space. Wish us luck! Wish me luck! I wish you luck. Talk to you all again sometime soon. =)

My two weekends, and Katrina in-between.

I had a great birthday, last weekend. I was bummed out, trying to squeeze everything in (Jesse time, family time, quiet time, bridal shower time, etc.) ... and there was a "pre-wedding hang-out session" that my friends were planning for our engaged friend who's getting married at the end of the month (it was also her bridal shower over the weekend) ... I was getting so stressed out that I almost didn't go, but my arm was twisted several times around, and I relaxed a bit over lunch with some other friends, so I ended up going (happily). And wow, it was a good thing I did! =P It was a surprise birthday dinner party for me. =P Sheesh. I don't think I've ever had a surprise party before, so I didn't quite know the lead-up warning signs.. hehe

It was super nice; we went to a swanky place called Nola in Palo Alto. (Woah, go to that link -- going there only just reminded me that it was a Nawlins-themed restaurant. Poor New Orleans.) The food was great, the company was great, and we had a sweet private room at the back of the restaurant.. I was very impressed and touched.

And then, on Saturday (my actual birthday), Jess and I packed up a picnic lunch, and he read to me on the banks of the lagoon in Foster City. I fell asleep. It was very relaxing.

My mom (who's totally my biggest fan and should've called me at midnight as soon as it turned August 27) didn't call me to say Happy Birthday, so I was bummin' out into the late afternoon... Then, of course, she called me at about 7:02PM singing the HB song into the phone, and apologizing profusely for missing my exact birth time of 6:55pm. Awww. So, I had to forgive her. And then I was in good enough spirits to go out to dinner (without my mom's call, I was totally thinking of just going to bed early and not eating dinner), so Jesse took me to a sweet little italian restaurant called Tomatina. Yum.

Then on Sunday, I went to my friend's Bridal Shower. It was bridal showery. I embarassed her with lingerie, which is pretty much the purpose of a shower, right? Then my family took me out to dinner Sunday night, staying with the Italian theme, to Maggiano's. Nice decor, but we ate outside to stay cool. Beautiful night, good food, fun joke-and-story-telling. It was nice, overall!

Then came Monday, and the hell of this past week. Ugh. So much work, so much hurricane crying. My company built a whole emergency hurricane relief application, to direct people to the Red Cross donation lines, the FEMA info lines, etc. All of this extra work piled on meant that I didn't get my original work goals for the week accomplished.

So here I am, on a Saturday, at work. Doh! Oh well. I'm fortunate enough to live in a beautiful state, with temperate weather, and my home and the building in which I work are still standing.

Poor New Orleans (not to mention other destroyed areas along the Gulf Coast). I've donated money, but I wish there was more I could do... Something tells me, though, that there's a premium on space in the disaster-stricken areas, and they don't need another mouth to feed.

James Taylor Madness

Cool, calm, smooth. That's James Taylor, right?

According to the guards at the gate, who didn't bother doing a serious check of our companions' carry-in items, "This is a pretty low-key crowd. We're not too worried."

Jess and I didn't receive a pat-down at all. They didn't search our stuff. I think it's safe to say they weren't worried about riots at the James Taylor concert. Would you be? I wouldn't. In fact, I wasn't.

Well!

If you've never been to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, it's important to point out that it's fundamentally different from run-of-the-mill Amphitheaters in terms of seating: assigned seats are on big stone steps, as opposed to those stadium-style flip-open seats. So when you sit down, the person behind you has their feet right next to your back.

The people behind us were evidently getting sloshed early on. Sometime at the end of the concert -- I believe it was either the last song (before encores) or the first encore -- the woman sitting next to me (my mom's friend) suddenly jerked forward, as though she was supporting a huge weight. Sure enough, a person had toppled onto her, and a split second later, I was also being pushed forward.

In a setting like this, that's probably the only thing you worry about: "I hope no one loses their balance, cuz this could get ugly!" (it's just a giant set of stairs)

I thought someone had passed out, or was trying to pass in front of people and lost their balance. Nope. Just as I'm turning around to see if everyone was ok, people around us started yelling "STOP! STOP IT! GET OFF OF HIM! STOP!"

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Jess and I jumped to our feet and stood in the aisle, trying to get away from flying fists. The fight would go on for another minute or so before two cops came down toward us. Of course, remembering that we're on a giant set of stairs, and this guy is drunk and throwing punches, it was hard for the cops to approach him. So they didn't. They just let him continue to fight as they called for back-up.

They got a third cop involved, and they all still stood far away from him until he calmed down (stopped punching and swearing at people). Then he sat down and started examining his leg, which was apparently bleeding.

Eventually, the whole group decided to get up and leave (including the fighty guy), and things calmed back down. My mom said someone stepped on her hand in the mayhem (the tip of her thumb was black with trapped blood -- it's amazing more people didn't get hurt, in the cramped conditions).

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Other than the fight and minor injuries, it was an excellent concert. A beautiful night to be outside, listening to a soothing singer-songwriter. Sorry you missed it, everyone who wasn't there.

I try to like butterflies.

It's still Summer. Jess and I live in a somewhat foggy area (it's no San Francisco, but it's cool and moist many evenings/mornings), so it doesn't always feel like Summer at home. But I'm reminded that it's Summer when I think of my schedule...

Seriously, I'm an introvert. I like to stay home and do quiet things (read, sit, think) to recharge/refuel. But ever since someone turned the sun on back in May/June, I've been busy trying to act like a social butterfly. Two of my friends are taking the marriage plunge this year (one already did in June, the other will in September) and because they're female, that means three party dates each: bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding ceremony and/or reception. In addition, my mom is renovating two houses. Jesse and I moved, we did some renovation in our new place, and August brings both Jesse's and my birthday.

So, my quiet time has been cut back, due to everyone's need to take advantage of the Summer sun. Jesse and I tried to get away from our hectic pace last weekend by driving up to Yosemite and picnicking by a lake. It was really nice. Unfortunately, we did have to come back home. And now I'm at work, accepting and denying meetings, answering questions, and planning parties and gifts for other people's parties.

In fact, our intern had his last day yesterday (it's the end of Summer), so we took him out to lunch. My team at work is raucus and upbeat, so it was fun. Because of my recent trip to Yosemite, I was reminded of something I told my mom a few months ago: In the Summer, when you drive across Central California, you kill multiple specimens of California's bug species with your car's front end. I mentioned to her that she might not ever drive to her vacation home in eastern California if, before she left, she was given a tray of bugs and butterflies and a baseball bat, and told she had to beat them all to a pulp before she would be allowed to leave for vacation.

Is that mean? The lunch crowd recoiled and laughed uncomfortably at the story. Oh well. Sometimes it's hard for me to know if I'm funny or just inappropriate.

My book

Well, it's not really my book, because he wrote it, but it is for me, which sort of makes it mine. My book!

Jesse's writing me a novel. It's called The Amber Lantern, a bedtime story by Jesse Harlin. For those of you who don't already know, Jesse has made a habit of reading to me before bed. It's so relaxing, and it's so sweet -- I recommend that all boyfriends do this for their girlfriends. Yes, ladies, I read to him, too, but he's so much better at it, and he has the patience for it -- it's so great!

So, of course he's incredibly creative. Visual artist, musician (duh) and writer. He tells one great bedtime story after another -- but he's writing this one down! And it's chock full of inside jokes and references to us (you'll have to get these out of me one-by-one.. I don't want to post a list of inside jokes, because, you know.. then they'd be outside jokes).

So the copy I got for my birthday is an official, bound version, containing the first three chapters. So far, Jess has read the first chapter to me -- I wish I could tell you what the whole book's about, but he won't let me read the back cover, and the whole book's not done yet anyway. ;) I can tell you that the first chapter sets the story on Kipiki Luni Island, with a dragon who's learning to fly, and a decorative tin monkey with a colorful past, who've just met a shipwrecked duck. It's all very exciting to me -- I'll tell you how it turns out. ;)

Thank you, Bug! I know it's not my birthday yet, but I love my present, and I think you're the sweetest and the best! Tippit, Bug!!

This is how I pulled it off...

Jesse said he'd let me tell you all how I pulled it off. I was super busy, and this is the first chance I've had to write. So, here goes...

I figured out what I wanted to do, then I told Ry (Jesse's brother) that I was thinking about it. He showed me some other Chicago-style pizzeria that shipped complete pizzas. I called Italian Delite. Anthony said, "Uh, not sure.. but I know it would be a bad idea to ship the complete pizza. The sauce would ruin the dough." Anthony also said to "Call back tomorrow. Frank will be here. Joe's here today, and I can tell you right now, Joe would say 'no.'"

Okay, so I called Frank. Sweet, helpful Frank. He said Italian Delite was thinking about doing this as part of their normal business, but it hadn't been fully explored yet. Long story short, he really wanted to help. He offered to freeze the pizza dough, sauce and cheese for me. He wanted to ship it himself, but his suppliers weren't calling him back, so we resolved that Jesse's mom (Karen) would have to do the legwork. Luckily, she was willing and available!

I called dry ice retailers (for obvious reasons), shipping companies (price estimates, ability to ship dry ice), Acme and Wawa and hardware stores (trying to find a styrofoam cooler). I also needed to get directions to all of these places, in the correct order, because Karen's internet connection was on the fritz.

SO! That's the prep. Lots of phone calls, taking notes, organization. Then I called Karen mom and explained the whole plan -- she was game! Sweet. Frank, at Italian Delite, said he didn't want me to pay for the pizza until he heard whether it worked out for us. I'd say it did!

Poor Karen got lost once or twice, because places weren't where they said they'd be, and the whole thing took a few hours, all told. But with the cooler, the pizza ingredients, and the dry ice, packaged up, she made it to FedEx by the Overnight-shipping cut-off time, and it made it to California without a scratch!

I needed a lot of time, after work, to get the pizza ready. The sauce was still frozen, and the dough was way too cold to rise. So I asked Jesse to go to Radio Shack to buy a memory card for my digital camera, because I needed to take pictures. It worked perfectly! He bought the excuse, and it bought me more time.

It's really, really hard to press pizza dough super thin. Really hard. I gave up on using my fingers (my arms were hurting), and I can't spin dough, so I used my rolling pin to finish it(Sorry to all the pizza snob foodies reading this).

I set the oven to 450F a good 45 minutes before I put the pizza in, so it was really hot. I put the dough on a thin metal pizza pan with holes in it, dressed it with a healthy amount of sauce and cheese, then put it in on the bottom rack.

It wasn't but 2 minutes later that Jesse got home. Then I started panicking -- I didn't know what else to say to him to keep him from knowing what was going on. I was hiding it the best I could. (Cook, dammit, cook!) Then it was done (I hoped), and I showed it to him -- the rest is history.

Happy Birthday (last thursday), Bug!

After all this anticipation...

...I won't even get to fill my readers in on what the "big deal" is about my plan(s) for Jesse's birthday! I'm going to have to let him fill everyone in...

Doh.

I've been waiting so long to be able to tell everyone.. =D

Oh wait, no I haven't.. Everyone I come into contact with on a daily basis pretty much knows. (Except Jesse--heehee!)

Anyway, it IS his birthday, but if you know the plan(s), please still keep mum! HE doesn't know yet.

...at least, I don't think he does...

Tomorrow, tomorrow.. I love ya!

I WISH I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT JESSE'S BIRTHDAY.

I'm starting to think I can't wait.. I have a lot of nervous anticipation. I hope he likes it.

I know he'll like it.

And I'm doing a lot of baking tonight.. I'm making cupcakes and banana bread. And I also have some coffee cake mix I might throw together for a birthday breakfast... we'll see if I have enough time or energy.

I'm babbling.

I'm excited! I wish I could tell everyone BUT Jesse, but he's probably my blog's most consistent reader. =P (Hi Jesse -- it's only a day away!)

I don't bring you flowers anymore...

Yeah, so I hardly ever write. While some may not appreciate my neglect, I'm sure that Jesse will, eventually.

His birthday is Thursday. Thursday! It's Monday already. I'm obsessed with preparation. We'll see if he enjoys the effort I'm putting into it.. If so, he'll tell you all about it. If not, he'll probably tell you all about it. =)

Unfortunately, since that's all I think about (other than Jesse and tiling), and I can't talk about it -- because you-know-who reads this blog -- I don't have much to say here for the time being.

T-shirts galore!

You should check out Threadless.com .. they have quite the unique t-shirt collection for sale.

All are different.
Some are...tasteless and funny, cute in a disturbing way, sweet, creepy yet artistic, blasphemous, disaffected, attempting to make a point, or otherwise awesome in general.

I know some of you will enjoy poking through these new t-shirt options. I know that I will definitely enjoy seeing them around. Have fun! =)

YAY! I figured it out!

So it's still early, technically, but I have decided on what to do for Jesse's birthday. Watch for more details in his blog, as I'm sure he'll update people as more is revealed to him.. =D =D

keep livin' your vidas loca

Phew, this is a good little afternoon laugh... do read up, enjoy, and comment away.

"Sometimes it feels like nobody understands your rebellious, genre-defying crew of goth-rocker pals—am I right?"

Look no further.

It's Birthday Month again...

...and as always, Jesse's up first.

All you people in relationships where your birthdays are far apart from each other: rejoice. Jesse and I both have August birthdays, two weeks apart. And they're fast approaching.

I almost always wish my birthday would come first (in fact, we swapped birthdays last year, but it didn't work out so well). He's so creative, and I feel pressured to make his birthday great. Not that I don't *want* to anyway, but the fact that my birthday is looming shortly after his makes it intimidating -- "What's he going to do for mine? Will he think his birthday is lame in comparison with his plan for mine?"

Doh.

Oh well.. I have eight days left, and counting. I hope it goes well -- wish me luck! I have lots of ideas, but as a procrastinator, I'm not allowed to decide on a final plan yet.

And now I'm listening to Techno Squirrels

You know, it might seem bizarre to switch from Vaz Hoil to Techno Squirrels, but they're actually closely related and strangely good together. =) Do check them out, and enjoy!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening to Vaz Hoil

Luv Spackle, to be precise. It's music like this that puts a smile on my face and helps me to get through the work day. ;)

Thanks, Vaz Hoil!