Bug-B-Gone

Hallelujah! My nasty Korean bug is gone and my laptop is, once again, mine all mine. This was certainly a reminder to do all of the annoying little things we all put off. My current list includes going to the dentist, fixing the lock on my car door, filing paperwork, etc. It used to include updating my antivirus software, but I learned my lesson the hard way. Blech. Here's all the fun-fun I've been up to:

Got on a cooking streak (per my promise to Lance if he ponied up for the D & D spice rack) and made some incredible chicken noodle soup, and then a tasty sage meatloaf. Yum.


Went to a delightful party for Jo-Jo the Child Bride, and picked out out bridesmaids dresses...for the most part:

Went to Dave and Busters with Tinger:



Went to a tea party for our friend's little cutie, Sierra, in honor of her 1st birthday:


Dobbie helped me fold laundry:

And, in return, he got a new soft blankie for his little doggie den:

Helped set up a Sugar Rush Bar in SF:

Saw Lancer try on the fugly MBT shoes:

Ta-da...that's the junk I would have been blogging about if a Korean bug hadn't eaten my laptop and ruined my life. Enjoy.

Jo-Jo's Bday!

Our fave lil' sis had a birthday last night, so we headed up to the city to party with her. As usual, Joe dished up some tasty fare for us to nosh on all night. On the way in, we saw this great view, and Husbie whipped out his camera to grab some night pics. Funny, some dude was already in the same spot taking pictures. Two artists, same vision!

After the pics we headed to the par-tay

Amy, Kaari & Jo-Jo

Amy & Kaari

Amy giving slightly evil eye :)

Amy, Kaari, Claudette & Jo-Jo

Happy Birthday Jo-Baby!

The Right Stuff

So...I was watching VH1 last night and I saw the greatest thing ever. Apparently, the man upstairs heard my fervent request to meet NKOTB, and he helped VH1 craft a contest for me to do it. You send in your pictures of your NKOTB craziness--old or new--and then write a 50 word essay on the craziest thing you ever did as a fan.

I can't tell you everything about my essay, but you better believe it had to do with the 1-900 NKOTB chat line, the desperate hope that Donnie would be on the other end of the line, a $300 phone bill, and a summer's worth of babysitting/grounding because of said bill. If I get to meet them, it will certainly help me feel better about the wasted summer. And, rudely, Donnie never answered the phone, so I really need to chat with him about that...in person.


I am pulling out the remnants of my NKOTB altar, and making Lance take pictures of me today with my old posters once I get hot. I will let you know how I fare contest-wise.

Also--by a stroke of bad luck for Heather Dearest, I have an extra ticket for the concert on the 10th in San Jose. Killer seats, $70 for the ticket. Any takers? To qualify, please answer the following:

1. Which New Kid you liked in your youth.
2. When/how you found out Donnie was the only one worth loving.
3. What vintage memorabilia will you be bringing to the concert--posters, pictures, Teen Beat, buttons, etc.
4. What crazy antics you will do with me so we get pulled onstage for a spotlight dedication of "I'll be Loving You Forever?"

Thanks for applying, best of luck to each of you. Hayley...you should TOTALLY apply.

Stupid Bug

So...I got a freaky Korean virus on my laptop. It disabled my security software, killed my firewall, and turned all of my words into Korean gobbley-gook. It hijacked my browsers and stole my passwords and usernames. Anyone familiar with this knows how annoying it is--you have to re-set everything and create all new passwords...blah, blah blah. Blech. I shall post once more when the ol' laptop gets scrubbed clean and re-formatted.

I wonder if someone purposely infected me with the bug because I listed Sugar Ray's Floored as one of my top 10 albums. Maybe it was Bono, because he threw up at the idea of being on a list with Mark McGrath. Something to contemplate...

Music To My Ears

On our many summer roadtrips, Lancer and I would chat about our favorite all-time albums. We overlapped a few times, and were on opposite ends of the musical spectrum at other times. In general, we like the same music, though I like more crappy pop songs, and he likes techno a tad more than me.

If I had to name my top 10 favorite albums of all time, I gander they would be the following:

1. Depeche Mode--Violator

2. NIN-Pretty Hate Machine

3. Red Hot Chili Peppers--Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic

4. Paul Oakenfold-Bunkka

5. Beastie Boys--Licensed to Ill...everyone says "Paul's Boutique' to be cool...but LTI is likely their real fave

6. Michael Jackson--Thriller

7. Sugar Ray--Floored

8. Joshua Tree--U2

9. Prince--Purple Rain

10. Green Day--American Idiot

What, pray tell, are some of your favorite albums? You know, the 10 albums you could and would listen to over and over on a stranded island?

NIN

As previously stated, Lancer and I were in O-Town last night to see NIN. No need to get all worried about us...we simply like industrial music, and no one does it better than NIN. Lance had never seen them live--I had, back in 95 with my sister, and they were better this time around. If only I had held onto my old concert shirt...oh well.

In addition to great sound quality, they had an amazing light show going on--it was connected to the music, so the colors and light would pulse along with the music. It was the coolest visual I have ever seen at a concert. The pics don't do it justice:

TR's voices sounded killer. I have no idea how he has angrily sung all of these years without damaging his voice. BTW--I like him with short hair. This isn't helping with my current obsession for creepy, pale, slightly vampiric men.

Camping Dobbie

Here are some fun pics from when we went camping...you know, the one where we had no tent. My friend put the pics up, and they're super cute...especially the ones with her cute kiddio and Dobbie:

Funny/Not Funny

Funny: Going to see a band @ 32 that you saw when you were 19. Ha-ha-ha.

Not Funny: Being stuck on BART when an earthquake hits the East Bay. This is *exceedingly* not funny, because they stop your train and strand you. It's especially not funny when every single sketchy-A loser from the East Bay is on your train, including an Eminen-wanna (Sup, Daaaawg???) who bragged about stealing the bike he had with him. I imagine that's what he meant when he said "Pshawww...I just rolled up on this Blank-Blanking bike." Um, yeah.

More on the NIN concert later..it's 1:15 am, and I have to be up @ 5:45 am. Blech.

Ghetto Green

Pulling up in my driveway this evening, my neighbor asked me a question: is it ghetto to pull your truck up on your lawn and wash it if you're doing it to be "green" and using the run-off to water your lawn?? Note: he was actually doing this while we're talking. My answer: "Yes, it's ghetto. But it's also green." We decided that it was ghetto green.

People in Kentucky know all about ghetto green. They have been chopping old bathtubs in half and sticking a plastic Mary (of the Jesus, Joseph and Mary story) inside on their lawn for decades. These little gems are known as "Bathtub Mary's." Backwoods folk may be the original recyclers. In case you thought I was joking...

Three cheers to being kinda trashy whilst saving the world. Ghetto Green is the new black.

Falling Into Fall

In my mind, it's time to bid adieu to summer. We camped with her, hit the beach with her, shopped with her, roadtripped with her, cruised with her, drank frozen drinks with her, and dined al fresco with her.

But it's falls turn to take over. I want crispy breezes, crunchy leaves, spicy cider, warm sweaters, red highlights, pumpkin displays, sexy boots, and hot soups and stews straight outta the ol' crockpot. I want to change my wreath from crunchy apple green to my orange and brown one. I want to start contemplating my Halloween costume, and dream up the buffet spread for my spooky party. The party is an Oingo-Boingo inspired theme, BTW.

I got in the fall mood today by lighting my cinnamon candle. I am also feeling "back-to-schooly." I got a new purse, and like my backpacking days of yesteryear, I want it to be impeccably organized with clean, new items. I furiously cleaned, scrubbed and purged the house all day. I am hitting Coinstar and Goodwill this week, and I'm listing valuable castoffs on Ebay. I'm also pulling my cute sweaters out of hiding. Goodbye summer...we had a good run. See you next year!

Pizza, Pizza

I did something tonight that I haven't done in over 4 years. I got to go to a pizza place, order pizza, eat pizza, and be full from pizza. Ta-da...Amici's in San Jose is now carrying gluten-free crusts. And it's goooood. I found out this morning around 9 am. By 6:30 pm, my friend Alie and I were happily horking down a Hawaiian pizza on a breezy San Jose street. We also found out they deliver to my hood for free, as long as the order is $40. Score!!

I know some of you have dietary restrictions--mostly self-imposed ones like going veggie or vegan. I know you feel my pain--missing out on many things other people consider normal--birthday cakes @ the office, pizza on Friday night, cinnamon buns for breakfast. It was so fun to finally feel normal, and just grab some pizza with a friend.

Here's to many more deep dishes with friends!

Labor Day--Point Reyes

We kicked off the day with a good ol' fashioned pancake breakfast @ church this morning. I took some of my tasty Trader Joes gluten-free pancakes along, and feasted, along with 800 others, on eggs, sausage, fruit and hashbrowns.

To take advantage of Labor Day, Husbie and I decided to check out Point Reyes, a quaint little town north of SF. The last time we were there together we were just dating, and I took pictures with a camera containing film--ancient history!!


Along the way, we found a cool little antique shop, and we fell in love with a weird little outdoor stove. We asked how much it was, and the shop owner told us it was allegedly on hold for some dude named Horatio. However--she told us that if Horatio didn't come back during the day, she would let us buy it on our way home. He didn't--we got it-score!!

We scoped out the Point Reyes Lighthouse, and hiked down and then back up the 30-story stairwell. This reminded me that I NEVER, EVER WANT TO HIKE HALF-DOME. EVER. EVER-EVER. EVER-EVER-EVER.

Down the stairs...

Back up the stairs....

Cool tree:
Look at that view:

View from the inside:

After this little heart-attack-hill, we cruised over to the downtown area for some shopping and grub:

On the way home, we stopped off @ Baker Beach for a few shots of the bridge:

Cheers to another day in the Bay Area!