Talblog

Becky and My Band

This is our band photo... what should our band name be?

Jer's awesome

For my birthday, Jer got me an amazing print and an awesome knife skills class...sooo cool cause I've been saying that I want to take one for a while. I'm really looking forward to it! And the print is beautiful - he framed it himself too. I'll post a picture soon. But, not to be outdone by gifts, he takes me to a surprise dinner at a place called "Quince". The food was amazing and the atmosphere was equally impressive (service, ambiance, etc.). I'm looking at the menu and voila, there's my name at the top! So cool! I'm not sure how he swung it but it was really touching. :) It was truly a memorable birthday. Jer, you're the bee's knees. :)

feeling more introverted

Becky's busy craftin a reversable cover for her sewing machine. Pretty cool and inspiring to see her making stuff. Makes me wanna make some stuff - though not so girly. Maybe a painting or something.

Anybody else painting? Doing stuff? Post it... I need inspiration!

Elizabeth Peterson!

Liz...

Remember in college, when you came home with leftover 'Outback Steakhouse' 'Alice Spring's Chicken'... which basically means chicken with bacon cheese and bbq sauce on it? Remember that? I still think of the leftovers you gave me as one of the best meals ever.

And I ate it while we played Waverace 64.

yes.

for brett

saw this in santa barbara the other weekend and was disappointed the store was closed. brett, i would have splurged and bought you the whole ensemble, just b/c your utter disgust would have brought me so much joy. (see: UGGS)

horrific:

HOLLA

why is no one posting anything? what the hell is wrong with you people!??!!!?!? i dont have much time at the moment to relay my latest happenings so i'll leave you with a photo.

check out these two douchebags...drinkin girlie booze...

manga madness

Hi all!

Long time no speaky! Since I'm taking a little bit of time off before my next job, I have countless minutes to spend making my own online avatars. Yay for free time!

Oh yeah, I guess I'm also puttering around the house, uploading photos, trying to get myself organized, gym, trying to make indian food, yadda, yadda. What are you guys up to??? Tell me!

And if you have a few minutes, make your own manga likeness! Make sure you add the big eyes (or you could get them for real, here.)

Do it and post back here! www.faceyourmanga.com

Missy, keep writing. I lurve your posts. I hope everyone is well! Miss you guys!

xoxo,
b

time to take medical advice?

against my conscience's better judgement, i made an appointment to have my cholesterol checked tomorrow morning. some recent prolonged chest pain made me remember that i'm getting a bit "long in the tooth" (as jeremie likes to put it), so maybe it's time to actually start paying attention to precisely how i'm destroying my body. lame and totally a waste of time, right?

for reasons relatively unknown, i've had high cholesterol since i was a teenager. my mom raised my sisters and i on rather healthy, no-soda-no-koolaid-healthy-treats-sit-down-dinner, diets. which is quite commendable, albeit to this day i still find nothing more frustrating than trying to mix natural peanut butter into an acceptable consistency. *oil sploosh*

then my sisters graduated from high school and it all went to hell. by then we were the place to be on the block...fridge(s) were always brimming with delicious sodas and there was usually a bag or two of doritos and cookies to accompany that. my mom was too busy working and had given up on her hippie healthy days. so i came home from school and fired up a few celeste pizzas with neighbors. every. day. high cholesterol,whaaaaaat?

i finally got off my ass in high school and became a JV/Varsity rower, which i assumed reversed the digestive damage i had incurred during puberty. NOPE. over the next decade i watched as these fictitious levels continually jumped. college was a catalyst. four years of swigging cases of Busch Ice, in between shoving down fistfuls of calzones and burrito buggy. i'm really not sure how i refrained from eating buckets of pure lard. (needless to say, i was a really pretty girl in college...."why dont my pants fit anymore?????????")

post higher learning, i dropped 20 pounds and took my health seriously! switched to hard liquor, started yoga and incorporated vegetables. MORE than doing my part, but did my body thank me?

"....well missy it looks like your HDL is just too low and that LDL, well i just dont know what to do with you....." "well you're a filthy liar, i know that much doc!" *LAUNCH PLAN B*

so i switched to wine and started eating some fish. that DEFINITELY has to be good enough!!!

"...this is getting serious, you've now peaked at 270 missy, this is not good...." "SONOFABITCH, STOP LYING." *LAUNCH PLAN C*

so i tried choking down some oatmeal regularly, but for only a possible 20 point LDL reduction that shit just didn't seem worth it. bleck. *PLAN C - OBVIOUS FAILURE* *LAUNCH PLAN D*

so, i gave up. other than trying some absurdly overpriced vitamins and Dannon live-plant-sterole shots, i completely let myself go...and now i'm lethargic and have random chest pains. *PLAN D - COMMENCING ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION - SUCCESS*

so here we are again. much like flossing before a dentist appointment, i often consume a bunch of vegetables the night before my cholesterol checkups. both acts are completely futile, but vital for the self esteem.

well, i've been out of town and haven't been grocery shopping in at least three weeks. to make matters worse, tonight i came home and plopped down on the couch instead of embarking on an invigorating walk to the beach. around 8pm i dragged myself to the fridge to start my veggie binge. uh oh.

fridge contents:
block of cheddar cheese
bag of shredded cheese blend
parmesan cheese
cream cheese
butter
milk
BACON
eggs
one left over enchilada
cherry jello
grapefruit juice/gatorade

*holy shit, surely i didn't buy all of this!* <--- i did

freezer contents:
pizza(s)
eggo waffles
pie
old bag of brussel sprouts

*aaah christ!*

so. i did what i had to do. grabbed the bowl of fresh cherry jello and a big ole spoon, then sat my ass on the couch and watched a re-run of "the new adventures of old christine." every day i come closer and closer to becoming our very own completely hopeless bridget jones. wish me luck talblog!

-your favorite spinster

i hate bug bites

oh, hello talblog.

so becky jeremie and i spent some time in colorado last weekend visiting grampa B in Denver then up to Leadville. we're spoiled in california, in that there are very few bugs in LA and SF. true, we have earthquakes and fog instead, but i'll take it! we got a VERY rude awakening when we encountered SWARMS of mosquitos at 10,200 feet above sea level. how can they survive in the mountains?!? to entertain ourselves we threw gpa in the back of the Jeep and drove up into the old mining sections of town where we used to play years ago. sadly, the land has all been taken over by the EPA which has destroyed the structural and historical integrity, but supposedly it's "safer." lame. whilest snooping around old mine shafts and climbing mine refuse piles we constantly had to swat and kill the little mosquito a'holes that couldn't resist the human buffet...f'ing bugs. dare i say they sort of ruined a good time??? other weekend highlights included:

1. becky getting altitude sickness, AGAIN.
2. getting grampa drunk on aggie's ale at the Brew Pub.

3. trying to see if grampa recognized that there was a Tranny working at the Brew Pub. is it a she/is it a he?!?
4. jeremie spilling grampa's beer all over the table.
5. the look on jeremie's face when great aunt katherine told him to put a whole watermelon in the creek to cool it off at the bbq. (it works!)
6. hearing the same ole stories over and over and over again as we drove around town.
7. watching jeremie sweat when we hit traffic on the way to the airport.

but the most hilarious moment of the trip had to be when grampa, who is very hard of hearing, and i went car shopping. grampa is 87 years old with a freshly renewed driver's license and he wants a new car. i'm a bit horrified, but i applaud his desire for a new, pimped out ride. in between dealerships, this conversation occurred:

me: "grampa, i'm thirsty!"
gpa: "i have twenty after three [as the time]."

hey, let's go get those hearing aids checked, okay? i have no idea how "i'm thirsty" and "what time is it" sound alike, but this was almost as good as the time when i gave our failing grandma a pedicure and she tried to tip me b/c she had no idea who i was. she told becky and tammy to "find my husband for me, i need to give this girl a tip." i tried to tell her who i was and she got scared...so i let her tip me. *laugh cry laugh cry* i dont make this stuff up.

*end denver*

then i continued onto virginia to see the parents and our other sister. well summer time in virginia is always completely awesome. 90 degree temps with a minimum of 80% humidity, daily. if you're lucky, you get a breeze of some sort. today i'm bored and cant stand squeezing myself in amongst the clutter that now consumes the childhood home. so im braving the elements and sitting outside under a big pine tree with my mom's brat-dog panting in my direction. he loves people and he loves begging (for ANYthing) even more. mom says he's trying to deflect my negative energy and that's why he hangs around me. i just told her it's b/c negative energy is more attractive. then again, mom still doesn't understand how i have friends...duuuuh mom, b/c i'm the bee's knees, a peach, a gem, a sonic BOOM of excitement.

damnit, i just looked across the yard and noticed that the $60 jasmin plant i bought her for mother's day is currently fighting for it's life. gooood purchase. next year i'm definitely getting her the bacon of the month club instead.

so instead of doing the usual run around trying to see all my friends who still live in VA, i decided to actually try to relax and catch up on some sleep for a day or so. FAIL. last night i got so aggravated at mom i had a bit of a "flare up" - i totally yelled at her and her dog then stomped upstairs and slammed my bedroom door. even I am impressed with my exemplary maturity. (reminder i am almost 29 years old). i emerged from my room an hour later after i caught up on email - just in time to catch my dad reorganizing all his high end star wars collectibles. i then got suckered into a 45 minute conversation on action figures and their shipping strategies. i'm pretty sure i blacked out.

this morning i was rudely awoken by my mom flinging open my bedroom door to tell me she thought she got screwed by Pier 1 b/c she couldn't assemble her new directors chairs. she was, in fact, NOT screwed and i put the chairs together in ten minutes. that's how my mom and i settle arguments. all is forgiven.

but back to bugs...after i got up i realized i had almost TWENTY new bug bites on my body. i was only in the back yard for maybe 30 minutes last night, and i have three more days to go. bastards!!!!

that's all for now, i have to go water dying plants and see what my friends are all doing...

-long winded and trivial