Unicycle

2007-05-03T22:10:00.000-04:00

Okay buttercups, I have moved this over to wordpress. If you want the link or the password to future protected posts, leave a comment or email me at belleastreAThotmailDOTcom

2007-05-03T17:55:00.000-04:00

-sniff-

Announcing the final season of 'Gilmore Girls' is truly a sad moment for everyone at The CW and Warner Bros. Television. This series helped define a network and created a fantastic, storybook world featuring some of television's most memorable, lovable characters. We thank Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dan Palladino, Dave Rosenthal, the amazing cast led by Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as well as the producers, writers and crew for giving us this delightful gem for the past seven years. We would also like to thank the critics and 'Gilmore' fans for their passionate support and promise to give this series the send off it deserves."
GILMORE GIRLS finale airs Tuesday May 15 on The CW at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Now what am I going to do on Tuesday nights? For seven years I've planned around Gilmore. I feel unmoored.

In other bad news: we found out that parking isn't included with the hotel like we had thought. It is like $40 a night. So now we have to decide what to do: pay it (which we really don't want to do-we've spent a lot of money on this wedding as it is between gas, tolls, buying new outfits and a gift), drive in and try and find another place to park that is cheaper (iffy and time consuming) or drive to Matt's parent's house and have his mom drive us over. The last option is the cheapest, but will (probably) get us to the hotel the latest, I can't imagine we will make it to Staten Island until 10 or 11 tomorrow night and then we'd have another 40 minutes or so trip into the city and we have to leave the hotel by 7 AM to go to the wedding on Saturday. It is sort of no win. I wish we had just taken off tomorrow!

2007-05-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

For our trip this week, we thought we'd breakout the large rolling suitcase we bought two years ago for our honeymoon to take with us. I love our suitcase. It is fairly big (it was the only suitcase we took on the seven day cruise for both of us) and has pockets and compartments that really squeeze a lot in. Plus it is blue, which makes it easy to spot. We haven't had occasion to use it since.

Normally when we go to NYC to visit Matt's parents, we just bring a duffel bag type thing, but we are staying an extra night and the wedding involves special shoes/clothes that take up a lot of room. Plus we are staying in a hotel and I don't want them to think we are homeless people, carrying all of our possessions in a bag.

Anyway, when I opened up the suitcase I found my adorable matching wheeled carry on bag and inside that, I found our official birth certificates (which reminds me, I never got my passport updated with my new name) and some Hello Kitty with a suntan goodies I bought at a Sanrio store in St. Thomas. I remember how excited I was to see that Sanrio store (and the bookstore that was next door-I knew bringing just 3 books was not enough) because St. Thomas is a ghetto with palm trees and the sketchy van driver had tried to pretend that he didn't know we had a destination and wanted to charge us for a tour (a stance that he backed down from when I confronted him) and we ended up not doing too much on the island. I can't believe I totally forgot about them, they were stuck in a pocket and I guess I didn't notice them when we unpacked. It is fun seeing them now, sort of a 2 year delay souvenir to myself.

2007-05-01T17:55:00.000-04:00

The new Martha Stewart Crafts line is now at Michaels. It is all so pretty and such high quality. Very exciting: fun craft kits, cupcake liners, edibles packaging, fancy glitter. Great stuff!

The only thing that I don't like is the double sided stickers-great idea, but nearly impossible to get off the roll in one piece. I am going to try to return them. I love the goodie boxes and the garlands and most of all, the glitter.

2007-04-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

I did the old "your name needs" thing into google today. The first few responses:

Rachel needs help when she enters Manhattan's meat-packing district to help three transvestite hookers find out who murdered one of their friends.

Rachel needs guidance and normal supervision. A person that has a rapport with Rachel can easily redirect her.

Rachel needs to throw more bacon parties, so we can see her and the lil whippersnapper more often.

Rachel needs to set her sights a little higher. I think if she went out with a borderline A/B celebrity, they could both skyrocket to A-List status.

Oddly, all of these things are true.

2007-04-26T18:12:00.000-04:00

So, we got a confirmation about the hotel we are staying at in Manhattan. I am pretty excited about it for a few of reasons:

We haven't been on any trips that involved a hotel stay in a long time
We are staying in Manhattan which means we don't have to take the ferry to a train from Staten Island to do anything in the city.
It is for Friday & Saturday night and the reception ends at 5 on Saturday, so we have basically all night to do whatever we want in the city and will have a nice hotel to come home too.
There apparently is parking available and since my mom is watching both dogs, we can drive directly to the hotel on Friday night and not have to drop Elvis or the car off at Staten Island.
The hotel seems pretty nice and some rooms (probably not ours) have a view of the Empire State Building and is near Times Square, 5th Ave, and all of the giant department stores.
We are not paying for the hotel! The bride is dropping of the payment this week, they are so happy we can come, they are putting us up!

So, it should be fun. I am a little nervous about the long car ride, but once I get there, I should be fine. It will be fun to be actually staying in Manhattan (where we have a number of friends) and to have the car and not have to worry about going home to Staten Island or who is taking care of the dogs.

2007-04-25T19:33:00.000-04:00

I sort of think that shows that I have never watched (like King of Queens or Everybody Loves Raymond to name a couple in syndication) only filmed one or two episodes. How else to explain that every time I pass them flipping through channels, the same episode is playing? Every time!

2007-04-24T18:31:00.000-04:00

I picked up my glasses today and they are so thin! Really thin, just barely over the edge of the frames. You have no idea how exciting that his! My prescription is so high, I haven't ever had glasses this thin, even in elementary school. The woman at the counter when I picked them up was raving over them. She said when they came in, every one marveled at how cute they were and she was so excited to give them to me. And they were only about $100, including the frames and getting the thinner lens. I even wore them home and I haven't worn glasses in public since 1992 (age 12) except under duress.

And I came home and got a good message from my gastro doctor. I don't have all the details (I have to call tomorrow) but basically he got the biopsy results back and is really pleased. He thinks he can give me some drugs that will make me feel better really quickly! I feel like things are looking up!

And I bought some new t-shirts at Old Navy (identical to the ones I got earlier in the month) in 4 new colors for only $8 a piece! Wahoo!

2007-04-23T19:24:00.000-04:00

The countdown continues to the wedding. We finally got the offical invitation and my mother has offered to watch both dogs for the weekend, so that will be great! Matt's parents don't have a fenced in yard and that made me nervous that Violet might slip out the door or something and run away. My mom's house is dog central (Patches, Caramel and my grandfather's dog Star) so they will be quite happy there. Now we have to figure out what Matt should wear.

2007-04-22T17:22:00.000-04:00

We went to the drive in last night and it was perfect weather. The movies were both pretty good (although the girl who played Ashley in Disturbia was just not good-which was a shame because the rest of the cast was really wonderful and made the movie so much more than it could have turned out to be-but she never once came across as a smart girl then she kind of disappears at the climax with no explanation) so I am glad we went, this way, even if they don't get anything else that we like for the rest of season, we have already gone and it wasn't too hot or mosquito filled. The funniest thing was that the Bengies owner is crazed and talks forever before each movie about all of the rules of the "house" and there are many-including a $7 fee for outside food, no sharing food between cars, no raised voices- and all last night the air around us smelled like pot and hot dogs. So apparently you can smoke up for 4 hours, but handing the car next to you a handful of popcorn is enough to get you banned. I really didn't mind but it was sort of ironic given the owner's endless rambling about rules and good citizenship. It was a lot of fun to be out and about, we've been sticking pretty close to home lately.

Then today we went to H Mart and got some exotic goodies and nine mangos! I am looking forward to some mango experimentation.

2007-04-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

When I woke up the redness on my arm was entirely gone and my neck feels much better. I talked to my doctor and he said that he didn't think he needed to see me and that it was probably some sort of chemical reaction. He also said he would be on call this weekend if I needed him. So we'll see.

It is finally warm out! One of our trees just bloomed:

I think it is a mock apple. It looks like an apple tree, but it doesn't fruit. Anyway, it is really warm and sunny and things are starting to bloom again! The cold snap we had sort of stunted a lot of the plants.

It is so warm out, I think we might go to the drive-in tonight. Bengies didn't play anything we wanted to see last year and tonight they are showing Disturbia and Blades of Glory both of which might be amusing. Some seasons they get nothing but bad action movies and worse cartoons, so if they get anything even remotely good, we like to try to go.

2007-04-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

My arm, wrist and neck on the side where they put the IV is all sore. My doctor thinks it might be an infection or a chemical reaction. He offered to come in the office tomorrow to see me after...he shears his sheep! The fact that my gastro guy has sheep, gave me his home number and is willing to see me on the weekend almost makes up for my weird pain. I hope it goes away on it's own tonight-last night I noticed some sunburn looking marks coming out of the injection site and it didn't get better. Has this happened to anyone else?

2007-04-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

I stayed home for work today because I was still so befuddled and weak when it was time to go to bed last night. I was even mixing up my words! I feel better this morning, but I have a monster headache and can't take Excedrin because it has aspirin and I can't take aspirin for a week. It was great to sleep-I had to get up at 6:30 Monday for the eye doctor appointment, then for work (7:30) Tuesday and Wednesday I had to get up at 5 AM. Not to mention how weak you feel after all that fasting and yesterday my stomach was still out of wack. Anyway, I feel 90% better today. I also made an appointment to see my doctor in about a month. I am not currently on any medication now, so we will see what he comes up with. I really like the once a day idea, you feel much less like a sick person when you don't have to whip out giant pills at every meal.

2007-04-18T14:18:00.000-04:00

Alive!! Everything went fine today. I had to get up at 5 AM for the final dose of meds and then we left at 6:30 to get the hospital. It only took 10 minutes to get there and they took me right away. All of the nurses were friendly and the anesthesiologist was really funny. And I love the warm blankets they give you. I wish I had a blanket warmer at home!

They loaded me up on tons of drugs so I didn't feel a thing and next thing I knew I was dozing and drooling in the recovery room. We were home by 10:30! So it went as well as could be expected, I was so groggy from the drugs I laid down and slept until 2PM after we got home. I still feel a little fuzzy headed. Anyway, we got pictures of my insides (ew!) and a diagnosis of a "very mild case" of Crohn's, which isn't as good as not having it at all, but better than having a severe case! I have to go back in a few weeks for a follow up and we are waiting for the results of the biopsies he took but there was a note that said that my doctor thinks that we can control my Crohn's with a once-a-day pill! Remember when I was on meds before? It was 2 half inch pills three times a day. 6 pills! One would be awesome.

2007-04-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

Today I have to "prep" for my colonoscopy tomorrow morning. This means no solid food and only clear liquids all day and taking some pills later to (as they put it so delicately on the box) "clean out your system".

Right now all I have to do is drink 16 oz of liquid an hour until four. Which I am finding sort of difficult, as I am some who typically drinks maybe 24-30 oz of liquid total in one day. Yuck. Then at 4, I take some medicine (with 8 oz liquid) then keep drinking 16 oz liquid every hour until 9 PM.

My appointment is at 8AM tomorrow (although we have to get there at 7AM) and the actual test generally takes about 20-45 minutes and then you have to recover from sedation for about an hour and you can go home. So I am hoping I will be home by 11 AM tomorrow. Cross your fingers!

Now I just need to get away from the computer and all of the food blogs and stop torturing myself about food. Mmmm, food.

2007-04-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

I had an eye appointment at 8 this morning. I ordered some super cute retro looking glasses (pictured here, except mine are black with a lime green accent) with thinner lens (because I am so nearsighted. Serious, I am at like -10 and -9.75 which puts me squarely in the "Extreme Myopia" range) . Anyway, the lady at the eye doctor's who helps you pick out the glasses was so nice. She immediately picked out a bunch of the retro looking ones for me (is it that easy to tell what I'd like?) and they look really good on and are not too big, which will help with keeping the lens as thin as possible. They still won't be "thin" but they should be comfortable. As the lady said, they are so cute, I might even want to wear them out in public instead of wearing contacts all the time. Which would be a first since I started wearing contacts when I was 11 or 12. They had to dilate my eyes so I look severely stoned. I am so happy it is overcast out or I'd be huddled in the bedroom with the blinds closed.

I am really trying to eat a lot today (sushi for dinner!) because tomorrow I have to fast and then can't eat until Wednesday afternoon. I have a baked potato in the oven right now.

I am playing around with Wordpress...I will keep you posted!

2007-04-15T19:32:00.000-04:00

I am thinking about moving this blog to Wordpress. Not the food ones, just this one. I'd like to have a place with a name that doesn't connect at all to the food blogs. I have been with blogger for like 6 years and I feel sort of funny about it, but I'd feel safer if my two blogs weren't so easily connected. Or maybe staying on blogger and changing the address of this blog? Wordpress blogs all seem to look the same unless you pay for the upgrade.

Anyone have any ideas?

2007-04-13T08:19:00.000-04:00

The annoying loud talker-mumbler guy at work kept staring at my feet yesterday. A surprisingly tricky task as you could barely see them under my long, wide legged pants but every time I walked by, he craned his neck to follow my feet.

Pick one:

Foot fetish?
Staring at my silver shoes
Debating whether or not to tell the manager my shoes were inappropriate*
Just a creepy freak
Insanely jealous of my beauty, brains or footwear.

*Which I don't think they are. The manual says something about no flip flops (which people wear all the time) and I think the shoes look basically normal, especially on. Not to mention the fact that absolutely no one from the public/customers ever, ever sees us. But he is sort of a smug ass so I wouldn't put it past him to stir the pot needlessly.

2007-04-12T21:04:00.001-04:00

So tired! Between work and an article I was hired to write being do, I am worn out! Bring on the weekend.

2007-04-11T13:05:00.000-04:00

One of the things I hated most about teaching was how there was no time to even make a phone call during the day and that it was always a hassle to arrange coverage for any absence. Now I know what days I am free and can schedule accordingly. It is amazing how even being able to do simple things like that improve the quality of life.

Since I am a 27 year old with the eyesight of a 90 year old this means I can go to the eye doctor during the day on Monday and not even have to take off. I am actually sort of looking forward to the appointment, my contacts are getting a little grubby and Matt's insurance is switching next month so I can order contacts and get them free this month and then order glasses next month and get them free as well. Well, I might have to pay a little extra to have them made extra thin, but still better than the small percent they'd pay if I got contacts and glasses at the same time. My glasses are 3 years old, I generally don't wear them out but it is nice to have an up-to-date pair in case I ever need to. Witness the contact lens shattering (I wear "hard" contacts) incident of 2004 and the 1995 cornea scratch, both of which left me unexpectedly wearing glasses for days on end.

Then Tuesday I have the excitement of fasting and "prep" for my colonoscopy on Wednesday morning. I did have to take off early on Tuesday for that one, but Wednesday is my scheduled day off. Fun, fun. I do hope they figure something out, we are making the drive up to NYC for the wedding fairly soon and I want to be in top shape!

2007-04-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

Look at what we found at the supermarket of all places? The flowers are almost 10 inches wide!

2007-04-08T11:55:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

I made 6 bunny cupcakes to take to my mom's house and 5 extra cupcakes that I iced with some butter cream icing.

2007-04-07T20:06:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Easter! I always enjoy Easter due in no small part that my mom still makes me an Easter basket. And Rheb's has my favorite dark chocolate eggs with "sherbet" filling-chocolate and vanilla swirl. We're going to my mom's which is fine, we always play the egg crack game and this year I am making bunny shaped cupcakes (thanks to Aimee!) and made some kitschy coconut nests yesterday. My only complaint about going to my mom's is that she often uses the holidays to "experiment". Witness the dreadful prefab cheesecake of Christmas '06. She's making lasagna tomorrow and cross your fingers she doesn't use those "no boil" noodles that always remain crispy despite package claims. For a while there for Easter we were having Chinese or fried oysters. Those were the days.

I just wish it wasn't so cold yet! My daffodils are stunted into half opening and it flurried today! Snow! On Easter weekend!

2007-04-05T18:41:00.000-04:00

I was able to exchange the shoes yesterday. They are pretty comfortable and look like cartoon shoes.
It might snow (flurry) tonight! On my poor daffodils and the 3 hydrangeas we just planted.
I went to the Health Concern today at lunchtime and bought some whole wheat graham flour. I want to make homemade graham crackers! I don't know why I forget about that store, it has a lot of health food stuff, but also some odd juices and baking/cooking ingredients I have trouble finding for pretty cheap. I also bought some ginger candies, freeze dried apricots and unsweetened coconut.
We're making sushi for dinner tonight!

2007-04-04T09:43:00.000-04:00

Today I am going to venture out to the mall. I haven't been in months but it is finally Spring and I want to exchange those Crocs ballerina flats I bought online late last summer that were too small. They wanted me to spend $10 to send them back, so I held on to them to exchange at a store. According to the Journeys website they have them in stock, in silver, in Towson. I wish all stores had a "is it on the shelf" button, I hate just randomly hoping something will be there.

It also raining today and is supposed to be cold and icky all week-even getting into the 20s at night on Friday. Just when the daffodils and tulips are starting to come up.