Eggrolls

So... I found myself with a day off and looking for things to do. I decided that the paychecks just weren't going to get into the bank on their own so I deposited them. I then went to TJ Maxx and roamed around for awhile looking for gift ideas. I found a few things, a pine scented yankee candle, some skull bottle stoppers, jeans for me (Im a sucker for good jeans), and a nerf toy for my boyfriends lil 3 year old. I then went shopping at one of my favorite grocery stores called Sprouts Farmers Market. I got avocados, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, zucchini, roma tomatoes, blackberries, oranges among other goodies such as ear candles and garlic sourdough bread :) Then to get gas for my beastly gas guzzling truck. I got home and cleaned up the place a bit and moved around the 4 totes of Christmas decorations that will be going around the house and on the tree in the next couple days. I decided to try my hand at making chinese eggrolls after that and I think they turned out pretty decent. I took a couple pictures of the funtivities involved. The recipe ensues...

Gathering all the ingredients.

Cut up the cabbage and carrots and make the oil nice and hot.

Add all of the ingredients to the pan and cook till the cabbage is slightly wilted.

Let the mixture cool down and then prepare to wrap!

There we go making some eggrolls :)

Wrapped and ready to be fryed up to eat.

Mmmmm...look at those hot little rolls!

I ran out of cabbage mixture so I had some leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving and some velveeta!

Finished product, ready to eat! The top ones are the chinese eggrolls and the bottom ones are the mashed potato and cheese ones. They all turned out better than I thought. I could have wrapped up the cabbage eggrolls a little tighter, but I was afraid to tear the fragile eggroll wrappers. Fun stuff, I will definitely make them again. Heres the recipe for the chinese eggrolls if you are so inclined.

• 4 c. cabbage, coarsely chopped shopping list
• 1 or 2 tsp. red wine, optional shopping list
• 1 pkg. egg roll skins shopping list
• 2 carrots, grated shopping listshopping list
• 2 tbsp. soy sauceshopping list
• 1/2 c. chicken brothshopping list
• 1/2 tsp. saltshopping list
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 2 tsp stir fry sauceshopping list

How to make it

·       Into a large frying pan, place about 3 T. oil. Let oil get hot.

·       Throw everything into the pan, and saute until well blended and coated with oil/wilted just a tad bit---not completely shrunken, but just reduced by a bit. You don't want to over-cook. You're just looking to wilt everything a bit before the frying stage!

·       Remove from heat, pour vegetable/meat mixture into a colander and let drain into another bowl in the fridge until cool enough to handle.

·       Prepare wrappers by laying out on waxed/parchment paper.

·       Wet edges of each wrapper individually with a fingertip or small brush dipped in water.

·       Place approximately 3 tablespoons mixture in each wrapper, and seal egg rolls

·       At this point, you can either deep fry for a couple minutes, or fry in about a half-inch of hot oil until golden brown.

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Have it Good

I don't often think about how good I have it at work. I was so blessed to find jobs immediately when I moved to Fort Worth, and I soon found that they really loved my work ethic and how personable I was with people. I think there is something to midwestern work ethics that isn't always realized here. I work my butt off with every job I have, no matter the pay. I give 100% in it. It is my livelihood and I have been rewarded in the past with recognition in getting better positions and raises by my working hard. Unfortunately, I don't see that hard work ethic as much in those around me at my other jobs, people tell me that I'm working hard, to just sit down and let others take care of stuff, things like that. The winery loves to have me there and is looking to advance me in the future when they get everything grounded in the next few months with some major position changes of the owners. the owner suprised me the other day when he asked me to do an 8 wine tasting for a group of 12. He trusts that my wine knowledge is good enough to be able to share it with others (and he is a stickler for us knowing all the details about our wines). I love working there, we have a close knit crew and I've made some great friends. People who come in say that they love to be there because we have so much fun there, and really we do. We joke around, and there never seems to be any bad nights there. The managers want us to drink the wines (isnt that terrible?) and know our stuff. We sip wine all night as we work, and the customers love that we drink wine with them. All in all it's a great job, I have learned so much about wine and their regions, distinct tastes, terriore, varietals, bordeuxs, and all that good stuff. I always wanted to be more knowledgeable in wine, and I feel like I really have it now. There is so much more to learn, but I will get there. I really do have it good.

Glorious Week

Mama made the long flight to Texas to visit me for a week. She left on Monday and it was so hard to see her go. We had a great time. We went antique mall shopping and found some cool things, we went to the botanical gardens where they have an amazing japanese zen garden, I took her to my winery that I work at and we drank wine and ate cheese, olives, and crackers. The tastes that I poured must have been a little too heavy. Mama may have imbibed just a little too much wine, but I wanted her to try some that I thought she would enjoy. We laughed and joked for hours there. We played uno for a few nights and found a book that asks questions like, "if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what food would you choose to eat a day that would keep the doctor away instead?" We drove out to Mineral Wells State Park and went hiking on the rocky terrain, we went to the overlooks and took pictures of Lake Mineral Wells. We walked around an abandoned haunted hotel that has been standing since the early 1900's. We went and ate way too much every day, but we had fun with trying a bunch of new places. So, yes, I thought about kidnapping her and making her stay here. If there were anything that I could change, I would change this distance between us. I miss, more than anything, not being able to just go and see my family and friends whenever I want to. Because the best part, the very best part was seeing her smiling face all day and putting my arms around her as much as I could. Being in her presence, enjoying our time together, that is what matters. It wouldn't have mattered that we went anywhere, or did anything. Just to have that glorious week was perfect.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

He tells me that I was never the one he truly wanted. Stubborn intent and decisions change the course of lives. They cut ties that can never be mended. He never wants to see, hear, or speak to this "evil" that is me. I wish that I hadn't thought that those little monkey trinkets were just something cute with a little life lesson. They play a much larger lesson in life. I see that I am an evil in someones life now. So much so that they never want to see, hear or speak to me again. Ever.

Whats New?

What's new? How do I answer that question? Cause for almost a year I haven't found the words to write anything on this blog. So "new" a year ago is totally different than "new" last week. So I guess I share what is on my mind at this point in "new".

Those close to me know that I have been working 2 jobs, one as a certified nurse aide at a rehabilitation center, and the other as a server at a full production winery. I love working at the winery. I've really built up my knowledge and tastes of wines, and the atmosphere there, the friends I work with and everything about it is just so agreeable to me. They also really like me there and want me to pick up more days and possibly take on some more responsibilities as time goes on. I've come to very much dislike the nurse aide job for various reasons, so I went on the search for another job. 

Good and bad is the fact that I live right next to a mall. Bad being that I live by a mall and traffic is stupid crazy. Good being that they are building a new restaurant/brewery in the parking lot of the mall and I applied and was hired to be a server there starting on Halloween. They are just finishing up the building of it and from everyone I have talked to it is a fun place to work, and they make decent money there. I like it for the fact that they have their own line of microbrews that are pretty dang tasty if i may say so myself. I went there and enjoyed a few of their concoctions recently :) So,  I'm excited to say I can quit the nursing job, and start working less hours a week as a server there and keep the winery job too. This will also give me more freedom to pursue my nursing school career and find that college out there that will take me with over 120 credits under my belt. I am excited to start this new phase, even though it has been long overdue and I already should be done with college and the extreme mess that it has become. But I have amazing support, and lots of potential colleges around here to work with.

I also have someone really special in my life that tries to help me forget that I am so far away from my family and friends. Unfortunately that isn't always possible and each day is a struggle for me to just be happy with where I am and not think about the past, but dwell on what I have now and make it the best that I can. He keeps me smiling and happy, he wants to and does spend time with me, we have so much in common, and also have a ton that we are totally opposite on. But that just makes for an interesting mix. I still have my closest friends that I get to talk to not nearly as much as I want to. My Mama is coming to visit me in a month and I am so excited to have her with me for a week. I may just kidnap her and make her stay here forever :) So much has changed, I am still overwhelmed by life sometimes, but all in all, life is good.

Where to begin?

If I knew what to write I would have started long ago. But the words seem to escape me lately. I want to write and tell of all the changes in my life, but some are too difficult to express, and others are too personal and close to home to share. Here are some things I've learned or thought about over the past several months...

...distance doesn't make your heart separate from home and those you love there. I have never felt such burdening heartache or homesickness than in this time of my life. There are some days that I just want to go home and get a hug from my Mama, there are days when all I can think of is walking through the woods and creeks that I know every step of the way. I miss the ease of just getting to sit and hang out with my friends and family. I miss knowing that there are so many close to me that I know and cherish and can see anytime that I want. I am a stranger here. I don't have connections, I don't have friends. It is the weirdest feeling to know that no one knows me. I can go anywhere I want and not a soul will know me from Adam. I miss my home pretty much every moment of every day.



...I wish that people wouldn't judge my decisions in life, but instead find out more about what brought me to this point before doing so. It's awful easy make a judgement based on hearsay, or what little information has been offered. I'm not one to tell everyone what is going on in my life easily. If you want to talk to me, then do it is the way I feel. I am not going to come to others if they are not wanting to deal with more things in their life. I'm afraid that I have burned bridges that will never be built again. If that is the case then I am truly sorry. I should have spoken up when it was so hard to, I should have come to those that wanted to know what was going on instead of hiding all of the things I was dealing with in life. I know it is difficult to stop what is going on in our daily lives, so I don't blame anyone for anything.



...I'm not sure that I ever really lived to the point where I took care of everything myself. It is an interesting, satisfying, and scary feeling to know that I am providing for myself now. I pay the bills, I support myself, I make the decisions on what is available to me each day. Especially since each day I am scrounging to pay my bills and provide shelter and food to my table. I never was totally aware of how much work was involved in daily living. I was sheltered from it in ways to not cause me stress or anxiety over it, and I understand the burden it places on each of us much more intricately now.



None of this is to say that I am not happy; because I am. I have found that I love cooking and baking again. Gosh, I missed the simple joys of making food and what fun that gave me. I've been reading books again. Not the ones I was required to read for school, these are ones I am actually excited to read. I am working a weekday job that doesnt kill my body everyday. I just started a new weekend job that will hopefully give me some more opportunities to ground myself into life here and looks to be a lot of fun. I love the fact that I can still go outside in a light jacket in November, and that I can open the curtains of my home and have the sun shine brightly into the windows each day. The sky is so immense and spread out here. The trees and small hills offer little break to the far off scenery that I can catch a glimpse of from my patio and so many areas around where I live.

Thanks for reading in and have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with those you love and cherish.

Time is a flying!

Just a quick "Hello" to the few that occasionally get on my blog to see if I have written anything for awhile. This semester is going super fast, I am already into my 11th week with just enough more weeks to count on one hand. I am in a very time and mind consuming class this second half of the semeste; critical care. I have been enjoying this class and it seems to really help me put everything together that I have learned thus far. There is no room for mistakes in the medical field, but I have to be at the top of my game especially with patients in critical condition.

Other than that I had a great weekend with Sam. We went out to visit the Fort Wayne boys and hang out for the weekend. It was relaxing and it helped me recharge. Plus the fact that the weekend was gorgeous and we got lots of fresh air helped it all too. My arm is a bit sore from all of the football, raquetball, and 5 gallon empty water container throwing that happened over the weekend from being with 3 guys and no girls but myself around. It was a good time.

Hope everyone is doing well! Talk to you again in a month or two!

Jack not name! Jack job!

Does anyone remember the muppet movie where fozzie and kermit hit the road and they stop at a car dealership to buy a car and that huge beast of a muppet starts moving cars around with his hands? "Jack not name! Jack job!" Yeah, I was thinking about that today, no real significance, i just want to watch that movie again. Maybe feel like a kid excited to just watch muppets having fun.

Anyways, schools back in session as some of you read from Sams blog. My sanity will be tested again as usual this semester. I will get to finish my practicum this next 8 weeks with preceptor for 120 hours at the new St. E's hospital in Boardman so I am looking forward to that. I am not looking forward to the 3 hour seminar I have to give in November on accountability and peer review though. I don't know what to fill 3 hours of a seminar about accountability on. Any ideas on discussion, games, etc to fill that time up? Haha, Im studying up on it now, it should all work out just fine I'm sure. I finished my portfolio and resume this week before I get into the big clinical days and stressfilled study time. That is a big weight off of my shoulders. Its not hard work, just time consuming when I don't really have that time to give. I'm excited that this is my last year of school, it is going to go so fast and I am looking forward to all of the prospective jobs out there that I will be able to look at and decide on. Exciting and scary!

Welp, thats about it for me right now, more later as the semester goes on, hopefully I can get on this blog more than every 2 months:) Love and Peace to all!

Simply Said

"You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there." -Bob Marley

Time Away

So, I have been away from the blogger scene for awhile now. As the end of the college semester reared its ugly head I resigned to focusing on it. I also started a new job that has been quite the challenge to get used to; with its crazy hours and physical stress on my body. I have found new muscles and aches and pains in my body that I never had before. I have found that I have new smells to experience that I don't quite enjoy so much. I have so many funny stories of things that happen at night with the resident that I take care of. The lady that told me that she was going to call the police on me because I was taking her out of the building even though I was only taking her down the hall. The man that told me I was the sherriff and putting him in jail. The woman who got picked up in a red firebird on Easter morning by her pimp boyfriend in his canary yellow suit and white patent leather shoes. The stories keep happening and I keep laughing. Thats all I really need in this crazy time of readjustment. A good laugh.

But now that summmer is here it is time to wind up again; to enjoy the time that I have to myself and with my family and friends. I was in a wedding with one of my best friends in the world a few weeks ago, to see her and her new husbands excitement and love was such an encouragement and a blessing. I get to enjoy seeing my friends more who live only 4 hours away, but that distance is longer than it ever should be. I get to be with my husband more and go hiking and enjoy uninterrupted time and focus on him and our house. I get to go traveling, go to concerts, read some great books, make some tasty meals, all of this I am just utterly excited to do. No stress and no time management with school involved. All free of burden. I love summer!

Done with that

I can't be further from done with that past blog or the season that it fell into. I really wish that people did not have to get so uptight or judgemental over feelings that I, personally, have. So what if I wanted to write about what I just went through or the fact that I was hurt and saddened by the events in my own life. Goodness knows this blog doesn't reflect exactly who I am or my traits or flaws. This blog to me is merely a reflection of what is going on in my life and my thoughts from time to time. My friends know that, and they come to me if they have something to say from these words that I write out and post on the world wide web. I want to be able to show my cards and explain to you if you have a problem or offense.

Why would someone put themselves out there and say some really nasty things to me that are only trying to bring me down without having any contact or want to contact me? What makes a person do that? I'm not sure. If someone takes offense to what I say they should come to me straight away and find out about me before making judgement calls. Life works that way. You don't shy away from confrontation if it is needed to resolve things. Yeah, whoever it was that said some things on my past blog; it hurt, it really sucked. So good for them! I'd like to know if they feel really proud now because I never got to respond to their comments.

It is my personal belief that people should never make others look bad just to make themself look good. Life and people are too good, time is too precious, and friends are too few to be hurting each other.

Suprise Ending

As many of you have heared, I lost my job at the Encore Cafe last week. It was a sudden shock, to say the least. I knew that since the cafe opened it was always hurting financially. It seems that a new cafe in Columbiana is just not what people are able to spend their hard earned money on. The past 2 months the daily take at the cafe went down to half of what it had been.

I understood that; we made drastic changes, but nothing seemed to do the trick. I knew it was hurting. Even though the head cheese never really gave me any indication of where things were, I knew we were hurting bad. I tried to do everything that I could to make things work. I developed recipes that were cheaper for the cafe but also gave some tasty scratch recipes, took care of jobs that would let people get out of there earlier on their shifts, any thing that I could think up, I did. I had a pretty strong suspicion.

My plans were to quit after this semester at college. To work through the semester and find something in the medical field to get my foot in the door since I will be graduating in May of 2010. I knew that I didn't have to put up with the place too much longer. My heart wasn't in it anymore. I never really had control over the place and it was slowly released from me over the past year anyways. Why was I there trying to make good of something that really didn't treat me right in the first place? Lots of promises were made, none of which happened. Ideas were thrown around only to be taken back at the last second. Trust was placed in me and things asked of me, but when I went to take care of them my toes (and trust) were stepped on.

I am glad to not be there anymore for the fact that I never had a worse boss, I never had so much mistrust placed in me. I was never lied to this much for something so simple as coffee, salads, and sandwiches. My faith in people, in friends, was shattered...I lost friends, I gained friends, it was the most trying year of work that I ever had. I have never been hurt so bad and I will never get hurt like that again.

In fact I will never do it again.

Bleak Outlook

So I'm just sitting at the Cafe waiting for Sam to get done with his new job at 4:30. We drove together this morning (as Sam pointed out, it was the first time that we ever have been able to drive to work together) to save on some gas and because the roads were pretty horrendous that we didn't want to venture 2 cars out there.

We turned onto the side road about 1/10ths of a mile from our house and Sam ran over a black lid to a trash can. I think that our car has a decent amount of clearance under it but that darn lid stuck under the car and we started dragging it. It was so loud! Sam stopped and tried to back up to lose it and it still stayed with us. So we had to pull into a driveway and somehow the gravel in the driveway loosened the lid and it popped out from under our car. It was like a mini snowplow under our car. Goofy, but at least we had a good laugh on the way to work.

I am so glad that we are starting to see some longer days. I think that this winter has snuck up some depression in me that started silently but has recently reared its ugly head. Seasonal Affective Disorder, maybe I need to get some spotlight and sit in it, drink some milk for vitamin D and soak in some rays of artificial light.

We got to go to Hocking Hills right after the new year with some of our best friends. I really had a good time, but it went entirely too fast and it stayed busy the entire time also. I was expecting a little down time, but I didn't find it till about 1am every night, when everyone was trying to stay awake. I loved the Lodge we stayed in this year, it was beautiful and the lay out of the huge cathedral living room/dining room/kitchen was just about perfect to spend our time with each other. We ended up getting into some closets that were closed to our viewing:) and we found some amazing white graduation gowns and prom dresses. From there we made our own fun. As always good friends, good food, good hiking, good sleeping, good dancing. Pictures will be posted soon I hope!

Random thoughts, but thats how I do.

Reminiscing...

Do you remember the first concert you ever went to of your favorite band? I was looking thru things of mine the other day...and I found some ticket stubs from Pearl Jam concerts I have gone to in the past. I remember my first time seeing them. We were in Pittsburgh at Post Gazette Gazebo on the lawn, I'm not even sure of the year? Maybe 1999? I'm sure Sam would remember the exact date since he is good with those things. We were waiting for Iggy Pop to come on the stage and play. A single man comes on the stage and says " I am Iggy Pop" and starts singing this:

I will come to you in the daytime
I will raise you from your sleep
I will kiss you in four places
As I go runnin' down your street

I will squeeze the life right out of you
I will make you laugh, I'll make you cry
And we may never forget it
As I make you call my name as I shout it to the blue, summer sky

And we may never meet again
So shed your skin lets get started
And you will throw your arms around me

I will come to you at nighttime
I will climb into your bed
I will kiss you in 155 places
As I go runnin' round in your head

I will squeeze the life right out of you
I will make you laugh, I'll make you cry
And we may never forget it
As I make you call my name as I shout it to the blue, summer sky

And we may never meet again
So shed your skin lets get started
And you will throw your arms around me...
("Throw Your Arms Around Me", Hunters and Collectors)

As he starts singing I realize that it is Eddie Vedder, the lead singer from Pearl Jam. All the years of waiting to finally see him live and in person wash over me and I remember the feelings. The song, the moment, it all fit together perfectly. All of the other Pearl Jam concerts that we went to, he never did that. He never came on stage and played an acoustic song to start the night like that night. It was one of a kind. I thought I was going to cry, I thought I was going to faint like one of those silly girls you see in the old Beatles videos. The crowd went wild as everyone realized it was Eddie all at the same time and that made the emotions even headier. But I will never forget how special that moment was. All the other concerts I have ever been to, none of them were as memorable as that one, and that moment.

Man Down!

We took a hard hit from Hurricane Ike last night. Of course being on top of a hill we always get the most extreme elements of each season. We have had some pretty wild storms on that hill. The straight line winds that come over the hill have torn down trees and knocked down our tall garden sunflowers and blown away trash cans galore. In the spring we don't get leaves on our trees for another 2 weeks after everyone else because of the elements. Its just something that we are used to laugh at anymore.

Last nights storm was in the top 3 of the worst we have had since we moved there almost 10 years ago. We had Megan over for supper and planned on watching a movie or just chilling for the night. The winds were wild the entire day & they picked up around 8pm. We sat on the porch for awhile watching everything unfold; it's always a great show out there. Winds picked up and the electricity went out. We went inside for a moment and we noticed that cars were stopped on the road in front of our house. A large locust tree fell onto the road and was blocking it for traffic. People were trying to move the branches onto the side and into our yard so Sam went out with the chainsaw to try and cut it smaller. When we got out towards the road we noticed that the electric pole was bent at an angle towards the ground and leaning into our yard. Yikes! I called 911 to let them know the situation and of course it was busy. I finally got ahold of them and they said they would put it on file, to call if it caught on fire or sparked. Whoa whoa wee whoa!

Megan drove her car to the end of the driveway to shine lights on the tree in the road. It was so huge there was no way of it getting cut. While I was out there I got smacked in the ear with a flying branch and it hurt for the rest of the night. A huge branch rolled right into Megans car and scraped along the side of it while she was parked there. We watched it rolling towards us and Megan said that it came at her so fast she forgot to roll up her window as it rolled past the drivers side. Today we looked and her car is all scraped up from it. Electricity is still out now over 24 hours later and not supposed to get turned on possibly for a couple days.

I had to work today, but Sam took the day off to clean up everything. I went home and our great friends Megan and Jonathan were there. I worked the morning with Brad and he came over as soon as we got off work. We picked up and burned 5 truckloads of branches and leaves in the firepit in the afternoon, the yard probably looks better than it did before! We emptied the refrigerator and freezers and brought everything over to Jonathans house to store there. Tonight we are staying with the Wilsons since we possibly won't get electricity for another couple days, at least not till that electric pole gets fixed. But at least I got a shower tonight and I am comfy in a house with great friends who are hospitable and love to help us out.

What? Its all over?

Playing cards on July 4th

Relaxin at Lakeside



Sammys birthday presents
Well, the summer is officially over for me. I'm not even sure what to write about because I didn't let anyone in on what was going on in my blogsphere at all. I've never been good at writing in journals because I just get on these crazy tangents and the information I wanted to write never gets on the paper. In saying all of that because I just went on a tangent; I had a really great summer! I got to relax, enjoy time with friends and family, go on some sweet weekend trips, drink myself a little too much, sleep in, get sunburnt, get mad, get tattooed, get a dreadlock, eat tasty smorgasbords, throw crap away, play some tennis, make a pinata, read a book, and all things good. I will write on some of the more memorable events of the summer in the future but for now, of course, I have to get to class.

Visiting

I have been a world traveler these past couple months. Really just a Eastern part of the United States traveler is all. I went to Bradenton Beach in Florida with my Dad at the end of March and then at the end of April I went to Chicago for a NRA food show with Don, the owner of the Encore Cafe and Main Street Theater. Both trips were semi-work trips. I went to Florida to help Dad clear out and clean the house that was passed to him in the death of his brother. I went to Chicago to peruse a HUGE food show there to get some great ideas and make some contacts with restaurant sources. I did get time by myself which was absolutely amazing. I love to have time to myself and in both trips I had lots of it because I didn't have my husband or any friends travel along with me. I would rather have had Sam or close friends with me because each of the trips would have been so much more fun, but at the same time I enjoyed myself immensely in the fact that I was alone. I love friends and sharing all my time with others. Don't get me wrong. But I think that I am a loner more than I admit. I am too independent and I am stubborn as all get out. When I want something I want it then and there and that is a downfall of mine. I have a hard time waiting for things so it is just sometimes easier to do it on my own and in the timely manner that I want it done in. So it was nice to be by myself each time for awhile.

In Chicago I stayed in my own room at the Chicago Hilton on Michigan St. right across from the lake and Grant Park. This hotel reminded me of the movie "The Shining". I love that movie and I was just a little creeped out by all of the gaudiness and pomp at the hotel although it was absolutely amazing to see how much work and effort was put into that hotel. I was very much impressed by it all. I went to an awesome suburb of Chicago called Wicker Park where I visited a sweet record store, a musty bookstore and a independent coffeeshop called the Earwax Cafe. I want to take everyone back to visit them all with me again! In Florida I spent as much time on the beach as I could. I got my usual big ole sunburn which turned to a nice shade of pink on my skin and is now faded to barely noticeable. Overall they were both excellent trips and I hope to go back to both places soon and with family and friends so I can share more memories with them there.

Wheres the time gone?

Whoa whoa we whoa! I thought that I would have a little more time to get in some more blogging and catching up on my blog reading once school was out. Turns out I don't have much extra of that glorious commodity to go around. I'm still pretty busy at the Cafe. I work 6 days a week there. Sundays are amazing I must say!!!! Last Sunday Sam and I spent the first part of the day outside. Sam played in the garden and did a bunch of other stuff around the house that needed done. Trimmed the golden threads by the door, rounded up all the weeds around the firepit and other areas of the yard and a bunch of other stuff I probably missed. I spent some time inside cleaning and putting away stuff that I just sat down whenever I got in the house the past several days. Later in the day we watched TV and both took a nice sunday nap in the living room. Sam in his lazyboy chair and me in my comfy, sink-in 1960's orange fainting couch that my best friends parents gave to me after I begged them to give it to me for years and years prior. This couch is the best thing in the world. I'm telling you if you ever get to sit or rest in it you will sink in and never want to come back out. It's that good. So off of that tangent; we got up went to hike in the Coke Ovens in Leetonia for awhile, got some Dairy Queen and sat outside by the little creek that runs behind it to eat and then went to the Oakvale Cemetary to walk around and check out some of the gravestones and mausoleums. Sam actually broke into one of the mausoleums. It didn't seem like it was really locked but once the doors were opened we could tell that it was supposed to hold back people from getting in. The entire inside was a rose colored marble and there were some keys laying on a bench that looked like they were to be used to get into the vaults. I don't know. We didn't try them. So after that adventure we went home and I made the usual Sunday homemade pizza. Which hasn't been "usual" for the last 2 months probably. Kyle and Brad came over and we watched a movie together and ate the tasty pizza. I must say the crust was really good this time. Thin and a little crunchy. Yum. I made a pepperoni, a spinach alfredo and a pepperoni and onion pizza. With the 4 of us we had less than 1 pizza left so it must have tasted ok. After the movie we watched the Best of Chris Farley DVD from SNL and laughed our heads off. I really miss that guy. He was probably my favorite from SNL. So good. Well, I am writing this at work so I must be getting back. I'm suprised that no one has come in to say that I had a visitor of phone call to get to. Later all!

Oh Man! Here it Comes!

I'm not sure why I put the crazy pictures on my blogs sometimes that don't really make sense with the topic at hand. I enjoy a nice random picture to spice it up a bit and make you wonder what's in my wacko head. But this one seemed to make sense to me with all of the chaos coming up. So this next week is gonna be killer! 2 cumulative finals in the hardest classes I have taken as of yet in my entire college career, the grand opening of the Main Street Theater on May 8th and with that planning a menu for the big day, menu planning for Mothers Day, scheduling my employees around the Cafe and Theater, studying my brains out in the "spare" time I will have with all of that and then all of the little details that go along with getting a 440 seat theater prepared for a huge influx of people that have been curious for over a year to see the place in all it's glory! Yikes! I was talking to my friend and we are both sick of school so we discussed it and I think that we are going to just move to Mexico and start a freak show with some of the crazy people that come into the cafe every once in awhile. We got T-Rex, the Determinator, Creepy 40-100 year old woman, the Caramel Macchiatti man, Grand Wizard I and II, Pink Slipper Woman, and Red Dog. Wouldn't you like to come see it? So if you aren't doing anything this Thursday, May 8th we are having an open house for the grand opening of the Main Street Theater from 6-9pm. Refreshments, a movie(Breakfast at Tiffany's), presentation with a slide show and lots of other suprises to pique your interest. Come on out! I'd love to see ya!

Florida.

So, um, yeah, I am in Florida right now. No joke. At this very moment I am sitting in the downstairs apartment of my Fathers newly aquired house. We have the windows all open and the fans going. Dad is sitting near me reading the local newpapers with his feet up just like any good old dad does in the evenings. I am sitting here in the other lazyboy chair with my feet up too. I am feeling pretty cold right now, mostly from the sunburn that I got while on the beach today for 2 hours. I swear I put on suntan lotion; that stuff just doesn't work for me and now I am freezing from all of the heat radiating from me. No wonder Florida is so hot. All the heat that people generate from sunburns here, its gotta be redunkulous. I kinda really like the feeling that a good hard sunburn gives you. A little headache, some tight skin on your face when you smile, all that good stuff. We are down here to clean up the house and to get together documents and stuff that my Dad needs to go through to clear up all the legal mumbo jumbo since his brother died. We flew down on Saturday morning and we are flying back on Tuesday. I am really enjoying the feeling of being down here. I enjoy alone time and this is also giving me some time to study and get schoolwork done without all the interruptions that life gives me in Ohio. So if you don't see me for a few days, well um yeah, thats cause I'm in FLORIDA!