Okay. So this happened a while ago, but someone finally posted the photos from his camera, and now I can blog about it. (<3 you, Chris )

So Chris and I finally decided to start dating and it was time for the inevitable “first date”. It was a day’s worth of activities (which in my opinion is way better than one small moment in time). It started with:

Family Breakfast:

Every Saturday (or at least every one we can make it to) my family goes to eat breakfast at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Historic Downtown Sanford (conveniently within walking distance from my family’s new store, Fawn). The morning usually starts with my sister, Sarah or my mom calling me anywhere from 9.30a to 10.30a, asking if I’m going to meet up with them at breakfast. The answer is usually yes. We usually bring friends along with us as well, in which we consider family anyway- but regardless, it’s always a great time. This time, I brought Chris. A great way to start a day. After many a laughs about random nothings, we moved onto:

Fawn:

My family has opened a store in Historic Sanford called Fawn. It has sort of become a second home for us (or a place to go when you need to get out of the house). My brother and his wife were working along with my mom. Chris and I tried on these amazing handmade bearbeanies by one of our local vendors and went photo crazy…

Say it all together now… “AWWWW…” Yeah, okay. Enough with the cutesy stuff. Anyhow, we hung out there for a while before we decided to go for a walk. Downtown Historic Sanford is a great place to take walks. Our store is within walking distance to the St. John’s River so we decided to go to:

The St. John’s Riverwalk:

Here’s where the story gets good. We were hanging out on these huge swings at the docks when we decided to take, you guessed it, more pictures…

And then it dawned on me. I grinned slyly to myself and suddenly said, “Hey, Chris! Set the camera on the bench over there, set the timer, and come get in a picture with me!” I had it planned out perfectly. The background was too adorable, the sky, too blue, and the wind, too gorgeous to pass up a great photo opportunity. He easily agreed and moved into action, setting the camera onto the bench, perfectly positioned to get us both in focus so that when the timer went off, we’d have a great shot of the two of us… He fiddled with his settings, set the timer, and hit the button. Not having used his timer before, he then quickly ran around to meet me as he didn’t know how much time he’d have before the camera would take a photo. Just as he whipped around like a sly Clark Kent, we suddenly heard the rattling of metal on metal. We looked at each other in surprise and promptly looked to the ground. We knew his keys had hit the railing and fallen out of his pocket, but where did they go? We looked at each other again, this time in horror before both turning to look down the 20ft drop-off into the St. John’s River. But of course, the camera, holding to it’s integrity, wasn’t biased on urgent situations and still managed to snap a photo…

It was rightfully dubbed “The Best Photo of the Day…” We still laugh about it.

After a phone call or two and some time to pass, his dad came to the rescue with a spare car key, and our day was back on track. It didn’t sway our plans of later going to…

Kobe Steakhouse…

We had an amazing dinner, we placed bets on whether or not the kid sitting at our table would freak out when the chef lit the table on fire. He did. I won. All in all it was a great day, the best date I could have asked for.

It was moments like the ones that happened that day, however, that get a girl thinking… These are the sort of stories you tell to your grandkids some fifty years from now… And that’s when I knew that this relationship was one that was going to last. One that was worth it. One that you never want to end, and thank the Lord, it doesn’t have to… I’m dating my best friend. What more could a girl want?

PS… dating another photographer has it’s upside, too.

d.

So our like big BIG moving day was Sunday, August 30th, my brother’s 19th Birthday. We worked our fingers to the absolute BONE that day and were up until at LEAST three in the morning. We had planned to leave on Monday, August 31st at like 6am. But as we fell onto the air mattress, we made a wise decision to park it for a day and just RELAX. I’ve outlined this day in a previous post so I won’t re-bore you.

Anyway, we DID relax but also had a LOT more to do than we thought. We got up pretty early on Tuesday, September 1st and started getting last minute crap together and packing the car. The animals were extremely anxious and worried. I was like at wits’ end. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt bitchier in my LIFE than those last few weeks before we moved, I was just so dern frazzled all of the time and trying to hold it together. It was a lot of pressure, we had a lot to do and a lot of people to say goodbye to. I had been holding back from getting emotional by just focusing on the task at hand. This was easy because there was a neverending list of tasks at hand to keep me composed. The closer we got to having no more tasks though, the closer I got to losing my shit. Kristyn’d been having a hard time with the “saying goodbye to everyone” part of leaving. Not that I hadn’t but it was really, really bothering her. So I stayed the straight guy while she fell apart and sometimes she stayed the straight guy while I fell apart. So this last day, we were both excited to get this show on the road already.

After we’d fit all we were gonna fit into the Relocube and packed all we were gonna take in the car, it was time to bring the animals out:

Here's a picture of our House with the Relocube next to it. That tiny cube holds the entire contents of our entire apartment here, haha.

Kristyn's walking Elvira out of the house for the last time. Things are going well...

Okay, one down, three to go. Elvira is a little worried.

Here's a scuffle that happened when Kristyn brought Monster out of the house. Things are starting to get hairy.

They know something is up and frankly, they don't like it.

Chucky coming out is smooth enough.

Edith was pretty trouble-free too.

Here is Kristyn loading Edith into her prison cell, I mean, comfortable travel carrier.

So then I went in to the house for one last look around. Here is our lonely, clean bathroom. I'm melancholy.

Oh happy, pretty, yellow kitchen! How many good times I've had in here! Weekend breakfast rituals, parties with friends...I'll miss you!

And see you later fishies, hallway and stove. We've had some good times...I was starting to get emotional.

We couldn't take our fish with us. Kristyn's parents thankfully took them. Bye Nicole Ritchie! Bye Billy Idol! Mommy misses you already! *Tears starting to well*

Oh the pretty view of the back yard. So cheerful to look out the window and see a pretty yard. *Trying to control my breathing*

Oh Kristyn's bedroom...so bright, so clean. Kristyn took good care of you and I'll miss you too. *Wiping silly tears off my cheeks*

My bedroom...Oh you were so pretty! So purple! *OMG ARE WE REALLY DOING THIS?! Panic is setting in.*

This is the Dining Room looking into the living room. *Open sobbing*

This is the front room, AKA Chucky's room. Chucky and the cats loveloveloved it in here. *Oh my God Chucky won't have his own room why are we doing this?! Hysteria setting in.*

Living Room looking into the Dining Room. *I can't take it anymore! I have to get out of here! Totally lost my shit at this point*

So basically, I held myself together until the last minute. I hate endings and I hated this one. I, at first, did not even want to move into this apartment for one reason: Because it’s owned by Kristyn’s parents and is so nice, I was terrified that we’d LOVE living here and never, ever want to leave, negating my California Dreams forever. I was right. I loved living here SO MUCH that leaving here was a huge CON on why we should stay. I mean, in reality, Kristyn’s parents are going to put the house on the market once it’s profitable for them to do so again but I REALLY…did not…want to…go. Apart from the drama with the upstairs guy and the downstairs nutjobs, we had a really, really pleasant time living in this apartment. We had a lot of space, all the animals had a lot of room to spread out, they had their own room for Christ’s sake…And we had a lot of good times here, just us alone and with inviting people over. I guess moreso than people, this affected me because I was definitely closing a good chapter in my life. And if we’d stayed, we’d still be making happy memories there. What it really came down to was if we stayed, would we ever get up the courage to make happy memories out here? We wouldn’t have had a bad life either way. Back there we had lots of family, lots of friends, good jobs, lived near NYC, had plenty of things to do and see but we were BORED. Kearny is a cute town and it’ll always be home. We just wanted to try living somewhere else…And as cute as that apartment is, it will ALWAYS be in Kearny.

So we took a chance…and I was sad because leaving that apartment made it real that we were leaving. I could say goodbye to everyone I know and love and for some reason, although it was stressful, I could excuse it away. I think in my head I went to like a “safe place” and thought, “Oh this is like any other time I’m saying goodbye. It’s just see you later.” But when I left the apartment, like the gravity of what we were doing hit me like a ton of fn bricks and I was like inconsolable for a little while. When I say I was sobbing, I mean I was sobbing. Ugly crying, the whole nine.

And when I finally got outside and in the car, Kristyn was ready to par-tay! She had been so worried and sad for so long that now that everything was done, she was soooooo over it. She was ready to party and have a good time and leave and get on with it.

We stopped at the gas station on Midland Ave and I cried over it. We passed the gross Chinese Food place on Kearny Ave and I sighed. I managed to pull myself together for a hot minute and when we pulled into the Bagel Bistro to get one last Onion with Scallion, I lost my damn mind again. “Bagel Bistro!!!!!!!!! Waaaahaaaaa…” Crying while eating a cream cheese bagel is NOT a hot look.

We had to drive past everything in town that we’ve been seeing all our lives and loathing. It was sad to see the Arlo…Shop Rite…and the bat factory that blew up in 1986 and no one bothered to clean the rubble up…the emptied out factories that used to be something and now are nothing…Tops Diner…I couldn’t even look anymore. And we got on the highway to start our new life.

So I have more pictures from that first day once we got on the road. I’ll post them later if I can take it. Lotta posts today, haha. I just want to get them all written. I’m so afraid I won’t write all this stuff down for myself and forget it later. This might all seem like sentimental bucocky to you (and it is) but all of this has been a major change in my life and I’m recording it for me and Kristyn and anyone else who has some time to kill and/or is curious.

Good times.

Now I know we also covered the Going Away Party but there’s aaaalways mooooore. Coincidentally, the party happened to fall on Michael Jackson’s birthday. If you know any of the people in these pictures, then you know you’re looking at some hardcore Michael Jackson fans. Who the hell knew that an ill-advised taller-than-lifesize dummy of Michael Jackson would come in handy on SO MANY occasions! Oh the hilarity!

We begin our evening with Ray whispering secrets into MJ's ear. MJ is thrilled.

Kristyn and MJ get kind of...friendly.

Aleix and Michael are so close that they are known to walk on the Wildwood Boardwalk like this together. They're in love and they don't care who knows it!

Silvia, Ray and MJ are always clownin around together. Oh you guys!

I've immortalized Angie in a moment of abandon!

Silvia, Michael, Kristyn, Angie and Ray pose for the Paparazzi.

This is everyone engaged in their solitary pursuits in a down moment of the party. We all took a much deserved breather from the excitement.

And Chewy came to see us!!! Aleix and Cristina are happy to see him.

Nothing like inviting your friends over to hang out with your inflatable mattress...

Silvie Sophie made a pretty buttafly.

I had released the Halloween costumes into the party (obviously) and Ray managed to give himself bangs using a beard, use my Prostitute costume to make himself into a Pink Lady and get MJ in on the act. Good times.

Ray and Angie getting sexual, as usual. God get a room! (Them's just jokes.)

We had a great time with everyone and were sad to see everyone go!

So I know I already blathered on and on about the packing and moving segment of the move to LA but there’s more. I just uploaded all these here pictures and you’re gonna like it, see? Here I lead you into the topsy turvey world that is…CROSS COUNTRY MOVING:

This is the first box I packed. I've always been overly sentimental. Don't act surprised.

We had just started packing and I took some pictures for posterity. You can find the HELLA mess pictures on my flickr, I won't torture you with them here.

Kristyn packing her beloved CD's. We have NO IDEA how much work is ahead of us yet. So naive.

A loverly picture of our mattress with Elvira on top. The cats could not resist this high perch.

These are the eyesore posters we made for the House Sale. We made bank but I will never have a House Sale again so long as I live. Dirty, cheap bastards, in my house, wanting to take my stuff. I still have flashbacks of this weekend and it's not welcome.

Our Show Room. Don't be jealous!

This picture is called: The Calm Before the Storm

In the above picture, I hadn’t yet run to the window and shrieked, “NO EARLY BIRDS!!!” to a gaggle of waiting lady vultures who were ringing the doorbell off the hook fifteen minutes before the sale started. The cab driver who molested me every day on my way to work hadn’t shown up yet. The Asian Lady didn’t steal that DVD stand from us yet. The kid with ADHD hadn’t yet arrived and ripped a hole out of an exercise ball with his teeth. Nor had he taken a baton and smashed it on everything in the house while his mother calmly looked at CDs. He also hadn’t overturned a box of loose beads onto the floor and scattered them throughout the house. His mother hadn’t yet hung out for three straight hours followed by walking out with $15 worth of merchandise without paying for it. The Swindler Lady had not yet come and scammed Kristyn out of a lot of money by tricky hand moves and guilt trips. I hadn’t yet confronted the same woman in the Supermarket as she was shaking down the cashier over some Little Debbie Cakes. “I WILL CALL THE POLICE NEXT TIME LADY!!! I’LL TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOU! YOU’LL NEVER YARD SALE SHOP IN THIS TOWN AGAIN!” (This woman scammed us in the summertime too at a yard sale. She took my friend Becky’s purse and shoved it in her own and gave her a dollar though the price had been $15. {She also wanted to buy the glasses off my sister’s face!} When Becky demanded the purse back, the lady told her she was rich and could get another one. Becky screamed, “You don’t know my socioeconomic status!!!” and the woman started crying. They actually FONDLED each others FACES at this point and I think some gentle kisses were exchanged. Becky ran over and said, “I just made someone cry!!” And the woman stood on the side of our house and weeped. But later we realized it was a scam and were over it.) The woman hadn’t come yet and told me a fable about how her husband had been shot and killed in Florida. Nor did we meet the woman yet who showed up at the last second and tried to talk me down to peanuts for all the most expensive things left in my house. I didn’t know I would later call the police on this woman. I also didn’t know I’d need backup in the form of friends looming as she took my Tony Little Gazelle from my clutches for $15 rather than the $50 I wanted for it because the Kearny Police Department said that I’d entered into a verbal agreement over it after she pressured me into agreeing that she could buy it. I certainly did not expect to force this woman to sign a handwritten contract and then receive a tender hug from her. None of these things had happened yet and it was a simpler, more innocent time.

But Lori and Billy brought Chewbacca over to visit! And many friends and family stopped by!

Kristyn and Edith were tired.

And even Monster needed a little shuteye.

But something hilarious happened because Kristyn and Janie decided to move a dresser down the stairs.

...and me and Christine helped by taking pictures and waving at each other. Oh and by laughing. We laughed too.

But the dresser got outside and yes, that is the tiny car we stuffed it in. Note the look of naked despair on Christine's face. Also note how everyone's spine is painfully curved from carrying shit.

Loooooong story short, we fit everything into the Relocube. It took like ten of us and so...much...time...and...strain but we got it all in there.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure to work with Chris, who is also known as “Phame” by many. I could go on talking about him and his music, but I can let you decide what you think about it on your own. I want to talk about how fun the shoot was. I gotta say, I was extremely nervous, but I always get nervous before I have a photoshoot. I always think something will go wrong or they will be extremely unhappy with the pictures. I am sure I am not the only photographer that feels this way. Anywho, it couldn’t have gone better. He had great ideas, knew what he was doing, had a great stylist, awesome props and a fun entourage.

We even took the big bikes they brought inside the Palace of the Fine Arts, which I am sure is not allowed. We also were shooting when a big tour bus of Asians came by. Thinking he was someone famous, it got troublesome when they ALL wanted to take a picture and some started to climb on the bikes without permission to take pictures. They must not realize that here in the states we are allowed to bitch slap.

Some wedding photographers even asked if they could use the bikes as props for a mini engagement shoot they were having.

We also went to the Fort and a Law office for some more great pictures. I took over 800. While I would love to post all of them, I only picked five to show. But, thanks to baby Jesus, he was extremely happy with the pictures. So was I. I did post a gallery on my website though and you can see more there.

Tomorrow I go home for Thanksgiving. With lots of fun Photoshoots planned.

Family, Food, Friends and Photos. I am excited. Since it might be my last Thanksgiving at our house this year.

Hi guys!

I haven’t done a straight up “So here’s what is going on” blog in a while. I’ve only been inclined to blog when I want to flip my shit on someone or talk about Muppets so here goes nothin.

California, so far, is beyond incredible. I can’t believe this is my life. Apart from the fact that I miss my family and friends, I have to say that this is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I feel so light-hearted and happy all the time. I’ve had a few moments of angst since I’ve been here but I think it’s BECAUSE I’m happy. Like the fact that someone would try to piss on this makes it that much more “Aaah!”.

And what’s so funny is that even though me and Kristyn have been loosely planning this move for-like-ever, we still didn’t even know if it was even going to really happen until July, about a month before we left. I mean I gave my job a month’s notice and left in the end of August. We only JUST decided to take this lounge for real right before I gave my official notice. I can’t imagine if we hadn’t made that decision, so many good things have happened since then because we chose to do it. About a month and a half before we left, I told my boss Jessica that I’d been thinking of leaving and that odds were I was. I’d come to her unsure bc I wanted to ask if I could work from home if I left and keep my job. It didn’t work out (large in part bc of the economy and why keep someone on if the company can save $$, sucks but is reality). But I took a chance and she was excited for me. She said, “Sometimes you have to leap and the net appears.” Honestly, that was what kind of sealed it for me. (Jessica please do NOT feel guilty if this takes a nasty left turn haha.). I mean truth be told, I was looking for the confidence to go through with it and that made me decide to just take a leap of faith and it’s paying off! I still don’t have a job but Kristyn does. Money is tight and so we can’t go out and do much but it’s okay…we always have a fully stocked fridge, the animals are happy and (over) fed, I got an internship with Lionsgate films (!) and Kristyn might get an internship too! Plus, we are in LA!!! What is not to love?! I can’t get over that we LIVE in a place that sparks people’s imaginations the of the entire world. It’s so bright and colorful here. The buildings are painted in bright colors. There are murals painted everywhere. The palm trees, the wide streets, the nice cars, the blue sky, it’s always sunny, people are friendly, everyone rides bikes, the architechture, the store are CLEAN, BIG, MANY…

Also, I was going through our pictures from the road trip this whole past week and neither of us can even believe we did that. We drive cross-country! Well Kristyn did. I offered to drive all the time but at some point she decided that as a personal goal she wanted to drive it all herself which was so impressive. As goals go, that’s a pretty big one haha. We just stopped whenever it struck our fancy and had lots of snacks and bevs. But going through the pictures, it’s hard to imagine that we actually were IN some of these places, they’re so dreamlike and pretty. I’m going to post blogs about them and links to my flickr so you can peep’m if you wanna see what the middle of America looks like from a nutbag’s perspective (that would be me).

Anyway, enough self-congratulations. I am on my way to Lionsgate. Guys, I am so glad to be there! Everyone is so nice and is really making me feel welcome! And so far, I get to sit down all day and read scripts and write synopsis and analysis. I’m a script analrapist like Tobias, well not quite the same. Either way, I’m glad to be there.

Also, tomorrow it’s Thanksgiving! We are celebrating on Friday bc Kristyn works tomorrow. We’re going to loom in on our families’ parties though via Skype. We did it with Christine last night and here are the results:

Our stupid computer kept shutting down for some reason though, boo! Okay gotta go, I’m almost there. Time to pay attention haha…

Edit: I wrote this this morning and my WordPress app would NOT deliver the goods. So *here goes nothing, I hope it posts*

“Sorry Billy, Happy Pony is on. And I am NOT missing Happy Pony.”

I finally finished my blanket!

Me walking around in Santa Monica

Christmas in Glendale!

Kristyn attacking Monster and Elvira

This is the Target in Glendale! Three floors!

Okay, there is no doubt what makes people love canned (actually, jellied) cranberry sauce.  It’s basically the only other ingredient besides cranberries in jellied, canned cranberry sauce:   little lovely ingredient called High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Is it delicious?  Yeah, sometimes it is.  It’s what makes so many things so damn delicious.

Ketchup?  Tomatoes, Vinegar and High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Soda/Cola?  Water, Carbon Dioxide, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and a bit of flavoring that came from a lab, not a tree.

Grape Jelly?  Grapes, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup.

The list is basically endless.  Try to shop for things without High Fructose Corn Syrup one day.  Your shopping trip to the Supermarket just got 3 times longer as you search for the items you’ve learned to love all you life in a healthier and more natural version.

Oh, and this one ingredient can arguably be the single biggest reason for the epidemic of Obesity, Diabetes and Heart Disease that has gripped America in the last 10-20 years.

Sidenote:  watch King Corn!  An excellent documentary that will explain how fucked up this situation really is.

http://www.kingcorn.net/          Right now, King Corn can be viewed on the Netflix watch-now feature.

So, if you’ve never had real Cranberry Sauce, like anything that’s all natural and doesn’t come from a can, it takes you by surprise at first.  But seeing that we live in one of the top 5 states in the country to produce cranberries (I’m pretty sure Ocean Spray OWNS Chatsworth), it would be a shame to not take quick advantage to make some from scratch for Thanksgiving.  It’s thick without gelatin, sweetened by your choice of sweeteners, and a little bitter because it’s actual cranberries!

Monika made some tonight, and we don’t have pictures of the process, only the result.  But, it’s delicious, and takes only fifteen minutes, and very little skill on the stove (not that Monika doesn’t have plenty of kitchen skills)

1 Cup Sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 Cup Water

4 Cups Fresh Cranberries (local and organic is ideal, but we used what’s pictured above)

Optional:  nuts, orange zest, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, or anything else you feel like adding

1.  Wash cranberries.

2.  Boil water and sugar until disolved.

3.  Add cranberries and return to boil.

4.  Reduce Heat, Simmer for 10 minutes and stir continuously.  The cranberries will burst and start to gel

Add optional ingredients if you like.  Thicker when cooled, but delicious when hot and syrupy.

See you tomorrow with more recipes!

–~r

Turtle Soup (Teaser Part 1)

Teaser trailer for their forthcoming album, Turtle Soup.

Enjoy!
Tim & MM

Currently Listening:
Blakroc – Blakroc
Junior Kimbrough – You Better Run (The Essential Junior Kimbrough)
Currently Reading:
Thanksgiving recipes from grandma

Hever Castle

My husband is always desperate to go do things on the weekend, I am not. I am not sure why because once in the car and at the destination I have a fantabulous time and then talk his ears off for the rest of the night about what a great day we had, and he always says “yes once we got you out of the house”

I do love it once I’m on my way that is.

Hubby was desperate to do something out-doorsy which is pretty hard right now as there seems to be a bit of rain in the UK it’s really bad. But there was a 3 hour window in which it was meant to NOT rain, we showered as fast as possible and set of to Hever.

After much debate about my husband saying “I dunno if I want to go there” honestly we spend 40 minutes always having a go at each other. Him about me not wanting to leave the house and me telling him every suggestion I make he doesn’t like” anyone else do this crap?

We got there and then it started raining, well what a surprise the weather board got it wrong. Eliza is a total princess and despite wearing 14 layers of clothing and a fleece and a wind and waterproof coat she was cold. I kept pointing out the castle in a very excited manner, and maybe there was a princess in there.

We raced down to the bridge and stopped for a quick jump in some puddles and then crossed the moat’s bridge where Eliza decided she would fall through one of the cracks and die. Daddy came to her rescue. he did point out to her that the cracks were not that big she could fall down between them.

Standing in the Entrance was a guide, under her breath I heard her say “children” to another guide, you could see the dread in her face. The desperation of yet more toddlers touching a tapestry or knocking a 1795 vase on to the floor started to flood my mind. You watch Eliza, I’ll take Jerry. I told my husband which is normally pointless as he forgets he’s meant to be watching one or other of them and I end up watching both of them, why is that? Hello, hello anyone out there or am I talking to myself…

Eliza is pretty good in places like this, she’s very interested in Artwork she wants to know who every single person is and what the painting is about, I try to get her to tell me what she thinks the paintings are about, and we look at them and talk about what we can see. Jerry has no time for this sadly might have something to do with the fact he is 17 months old.

She then says very loudly “IS THIS THE HOUSE OF THE QUEEN WHO HAD HER HEAD CUT OFF?” To say I was surprised was a understatement. back in July/August we had gone to Hever with friends, we didn’t go in the castle but the kids had a great time in the Gardens they also have a fantastic Adventure playground and water maze. I had told Eliza back then about Anne Boleyn I was so surprised she remember that and so proud, she has an amazing memory when she wants to, funny she can’t remember me saying 7347364 times a day to stop snatching and pushing her brother.

You’re not allowed to take photo’s in the house sadly so obviously I didn’t. Thankfully after a cup of tea the rain stopped and we headed back into the gardens I was relectunt to walk around as the kids had both been so sick last week, but they seemed fine.

Steps in the Italian Garden

The colours right now are lovely, was nice to let my eye photograph some thing else for a change.

Lots & lots of puddles!

It was flooded in parts and the kids had enormous fun, they got so wet! Luckily I had spare clothes for them both!

I just love this image.

Someone likes Swans

What the hell is going on here? She’s all nekkid and making out with a swan, it’s just wrong.

It really started to get very cold and the kids by this point were very wet, and I was very worried they were going to get ill again so we changed their clothes, banged the heating up, by the point I had driven a mile they were both fast asleep. A good day me thinks! We bought a Annual membership which means we now have access to the Castle and Gardens for a year. I can’t wait!

Definitely worth a day out even just to the gardens!

]]> http://rymoody.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/preparing-for-a-long-weekend/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:47:18 +0000 Ryan Moody http://rymoody.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/preparing-for-a-long-weekend/

This weekend I will be attempting my first 24hour solo mountain bike race, at the Kona 24 hour in Forest, Vic.  I will be once again saddling up on the Baum single speed, fully ridged, mountain bike in the pursuit of much pain and suffering, sleep deprivation, dehydration, and hatred of all forms of so-called ’sports nutrition’.  Even though there is a single speed category, I will as always be racing for outright solo position.  Only last week did someone make me aware that this race is also a qualifying round for the solo world championships next year, which are being held in Australia.  So I guessing that the competition will be quite hot, and dearly wanting to qualify. 

Over the past week I have been making the final preparations, to the bike, my eating plan, lighting setup, thoughts and tactics on how to approach a 24hour ride.  There is much I cannot do, things that I will have to deal with on the fly, and make accommodations for.  I’ve been eating as much as I want this week, and drinking just as much, as there is only going to be so much food and drink that I will be able to shove down my throat between 12noon Saturday and 12noon Sunday.  Every little bit will make the difference, and special treats like caffeine will be saved until the last 6-8hours.

My goals, ambitions, objectives for this race is to first finish.  Ride as many laps as possible, without stopping for extended periods or sleep.  Head off from the start line at a cruisy pace, don’t get mixed up in the heat of the race, get into the darkness and cool of the night, survive the graveyard shift, and then smash it all the way to the finish.

I’m guessing I’ll be a mess come Sunday afternoon, but hopefully the adventure will be worth it.

I’ll let you know!

Ryan

http://www.baumcycles.com/

http://www.fullgaspromotions.com.au/Kona-24-Hour/kona-24-hour

I actually sat here for a long time trying to think of a suitable title, and then I gave up. So I just wrote in the first line of the chorus of the song I’m currently playing. I think maybe for this whole summer I’ll do just that, and I’ll pick songs from my summer playlist (that I haven’t made yet but I will, and I know this song will be on it).

So this song is:

Kids In Love – Mayday Parade

Sorry, Mai, but you inspired me to do this.

The downside of me doing this, of course, is that at a glance you wouldn’t know what the post will be about, just (if you happen to like my type of music) what song I was listening to.

This post will be a photo post. I just cleaned out my study and decided to take pictures of stuff I discover hidden away in piles of paper and books. Since in my study I basically chuck everything that I come across during the course the year (and, apparently, last year and some from the year before) I thought it would be a fun memory lane trip thing. (It also means that the page might take a while to load for people with slower internet. Although I’ve compressed all the pictures, they’re still over 100 kb each.)

That’s what I started with.

The crap I had in front of my computer. Note the 3 cool gadgets, in size order.

My English teacher needed to learn names. I thought the Joker thing was really snazzy.

Ah, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out the folder of notes from Jack’s. It’s actually really heavy now.

Omgsh, 31/50, FAIL SAC!

Here’s a visual of what I was writing about a few weeks back. April, as you can see, signed her name very “bigly”.

Oh, Pooki, Eunice, if you still read this…I still have it.

My lack of mid-year exams.

Just. Plain. Awesome. Also, ignore the huge scratch on my screen protector.

I love it. I forgot what was in the letter (I didn’t re-read it) but I remember it was nice.

See those blanks? They were me walking around the library making people talk to me.

12I = the entire known physical universe.

See, proof that I’m hardcore. Highlighted in bright pink are my misdemeanors.

Was tempted to write “FAil” like I did last time but no.

Haha, April, remember this! This was at the start of Yr 11. The packaging made me rofl.

I drew this way back in 2007. Carmaine had sprained her ankle, and I drew this small comic depicting what would have happened if I had to move her because she couldn’t do it herself. Everything is to scale.

Do you see the “hand up brief” one? It made the entire class chortle. That’s what she said.

It’s blurry, but that message got me through some pretty rough Methods class.

Look what I found! This was end of Yr 10, 2007. When I took the picture of the picture, my camera recognized our faces.

Dom, Carmaine, remember these guys? I still haven’t opened mine haha.

Just when I thought I finished, I turned around and saw this.

I cleaned out that pile of textbooks that I couldn’t/didn’t sell. What do I do with them now? Seriously, someone tell me.

Sorry if I just capped someone.

Well, it was a pretty good trip down memory lane. There were heaps of stuff I chucked out that I didn’t take a picture of, for example the stuff we wrote for English at the start of the year that was meant to be about us. That wasn’t used.

2 favorite things I found were the comic of Carmaine and the photographs.

Alex.

I DON’T THINK THIS NOVEL CAN BE FINISHED IN 50 000 WORDS :O

& I WILL update you at some point about the legend that is INGRID MICHAELSON + GREG LASWELL LIVE. Lyk syrsly.

!!!!!

Crazy week this week.

The recipe for Meatloaf Muffins!  It can be found on Rachael Ray’s website, too.  Dave also makes Stuffin’ Muffins for Thanksgiving and they are FABULOUS.  Say what you will about Rachael Ray not being a gourmet, but she has some decent recipes.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for pan
• 1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
• 1 small yellow onion, cut into quarters by a grown-up helper (GH)
• 1 small green bell pepper
• A splash of milk
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons grill seasoning, such as McCormick brand Montreal Steak Seasoning
• 1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup tomato salsa
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

So the pictures are a little *foggy* themselves…I’ll blame the camera but I think you can still get the point.

I had seen this done somewhere recently and I decided to give it a whirl. If you’re like me and love the easy-to-peel, juicy sweet, and pint-sized goodness that is a clementine…why not go a little further and try this out too. And if you don’t love everything good about clementines…shame on you!

Anyway, you start with a shallow cut around the outside of the clementine (think waistline). Use a butter knife or similar object to slide down between the skin and the flesh of the fruit (again, given the easy-to-peel nature of this fruit this part is WAY easier than, say, with an orange). Once nearly all has been loosened you should start to be able to almost spin the outer peel. Carefully pull one whole half of the peel off, trying to keep the part that goes through the middle of the fruit intact on the outer peel. You should have something that looks like a bowl with a stem of sorts standing in the middle of it. This is the bottom of your candle. The other end (without the stem thing) is your top. Place a small amount of olive oil in the bottom half being careful not to drown your stem. On the top half, cut out a star (or other shape if you are that good) with a paring knife. An easy star to cut is the star of David (two triangles offset). Light the ‘wick’ in the bottom, place the top on it, set it on a butter dish and enjoy!

It’s not going to light your house by any stretch, and you won’t be doing it for the aroma. But for a fun, easy, and kid-friendly project, I would recommend it!

Let me know if you do it…send me a comment, or even better, a picture!

Okay folks it’s the week of Thanksgiving and it’s 2009 and I’m making a pledge that I want to get my blog updated in the new year if not by new years and then start posting at least once a week.   Yes I said it once a week.   My Grandma Runner is in town this week.   My Grandma and Grandpa Rhoades were in town in October and I didn’t even post any pictures.  I can’t even remember if I took pictures.   There are so many things that are new in my life and as the time whizzes (<— is that a word? ) by I need to remember to document or I’m going to look back and wonder … hey what was I up to at that point?

If you read my blog and haven’t added me on Facebook please do so   – also I am going to be working on a family update post.   I weight loss post, and a ‘gasp’ love life post!   Can you believe it?  I’m hoping that Jenna from http://stollmyheart.wordpress.com/ can get my blog looking a bit more spiffy… I need to email that fabulous designer and see if she can hook me up.  I think that is what I’ll do after I publish this post.  I hope that you are all preparing to have a wonderfully happy Thanksgiving with your families.   I’m so excited for Thanksgiving with my family!   It’s going to be great!   Just great!

Later folks … SGMJ

My children may be mildly obsessed with the move Labyrinth. I’ve never actually watched it, but it is in the DVD player in the van so I’ve heard it. A lot. I will say it is a terrible movie to listen to.

But the kids love it. Even Slim will ask to watch it. And they love David Bowie. Weirdos.

So with that background info established, here’s the story.

One night last week we had a guest over. Not sure if we can really call him a guest as the Detective has known him since grade school. They’ve been friends forever, he was the Best Man at our wedding, and he’s the Godfather of Bubba. Anyway, he was over for dinner and a little Wii. It was time for the boys to get ready for bed.

I heard a ruckus at the top of the stairs. I walk over to look. And that is when I see it. Bubba is standing at the top of the stairs, sans clothes. He’s… uhhh… erm… ahhh… cupping his junk while dancing and singing at the top of his lungs, “I’M NAKED BOWIE!” and then laughing hysterically. He did it over and over and over again.

Why? What is the matter with this kid? What kind of parents must he have? He’s just not right.

But I love him.

Weirdo.

* He just might be my favorite today.

I have never thought of myself as much of a cook or a baker. I really haven’t had to. Growing up food was usually handled by my parents or our good friends at McDonald’s or Burger King or wherever. In college, I was a solid fan of the dining hall. Was it always good? No, but it was open 16-18 hours a day and it was all you can eat. When you are a collegiate cross country runner all you can eat is important, trust me. When I worked at my camp in past summers, one of the best things was you had three squares a day plus many random snacks and other things. Even last year the vast majority of my meals in South Africa were made by a dedicated and delightful cooking staff. So basically I haven’t had to cook a lot in my life compared to some.

Don’t get the wrong idea here though. I’m quite a fan of the food network and when I’m in states (or on youtube) catching a show or two is fun. I like to think I can whip up a delicious (if simple) meal when need be. And of course this year is the first year I am solely responsible for my food. Besides the lunch I buy at the cafeteria in town and unless I go out to eat at a restaurant I am cooking myself. While I haven’t done anything too extraordinary just yet I’m feeling pretty good about it.

Of course some of the female teachers I know here are quite the cooks and bakers and they have piqued my interest in doing more than I have. This past weekend I got extremely domestic and baked cupcakes for the Cheb English club. Kathryn made banana bread cake and Karina made cookies. All were delicious, but it was a nice boost of confidence that I didn’t royally screw up the cupcakes and that people enjoyed them.

So we’ll see what happens. I need to stock up on the basics like baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and the like but once I do (it might take a while) we’ll see what delicious concoctions I can create. Stay tuned, this teacher may be a baker and a cooker soon enough.

Alright Green Grapes Blog (GGB) readers—it’s time to up the health ante! We talk about leading a more healthifying lifestyle here at GGB, but as your momma told you, actions speak louder than words. Hence, it’s time to join the GGB Nutrition Challenge!

What’s the GGB Nutrition Challenge?

Each month, GGB invites you to send healthy recipes based on the month’s challenge, complete with a list of ingredients and step-by-step preparation directions. Each recipe must be accompanied by a single photograph of the fully prepared item (check out an example from the Food Network and use the form on the “Challenge” page as a guide). If you know your recipe’s nutrition information, please send that as well.

You can submit as many times as you want until the last day of each month, when three finalists will be chosen based on their recipe’s healthfulness, tastiness, and relevance to the month’s challenge. If you become a finalist, your recipe will be posted on the “Finalists” page, where GGB readers will have one week to vote for the winning recipe.

If you win a challenge, you will be notified via e-mail and have your recipe permanently featured on the “Stars” page (along with your blog or website name, if you’ve got one). Each winner will also receive a prize.

Did You Say Prize!?!?

Yes—I did. Prizes will vary each month but will always be something healthifying!!!

One More Thing

Lastly, I must say, this is the blog of a gal who mainly cooks with a skillet and only a skillet–so don’t feel as if your recipe must be Top Chef style–it can be, but doesn’t have to be–just make sure it’s GGB healthifying style!

Check out the GGB Nutrition Challenge page to learn more and read the official rules!

Happy Healthifying!

Can’t wait to see your recipes!

My opinions & thoughts on one of my all-time favorite classic throwback shows: I really love this show Good Times just as much as I love Roseanne, only that this show keeps my attention a bit longer. I don’t really have a favorite character on this show since I love all of them and when J.J and Thelma start hassling, that’s when the show gets good. I love how fly Willona dresses in this show also, she knows how to keep herself together. I also enjoy when she has gossip to tell Florida and everybody else just happens to listen to her. James really cracks me up when he gets all mad and starts saying damn! it gets going every time I watch this show on DVD or television. Michael is the militant midget of this show and as I’ve been watching all the seasons, I know exactly why they call him that. When Florida and Willona are hanging out together on this show expect to laugh real hard because the stories they talk about will make anyone laugh even people who don’t know too much about this show. Thelma is a very pretty woman and nowadays she still is, I like her character mostly because her and J.J are always going at it like cats and dogs. I also like Thelma because she has a certain confidence to herself and isn’t afraid of much.. well that’s at least, in my opinion. J.J always cracks me up when he says Dynomite! lol. This show is really nice and although some people think it’s ghetto trash just like some people think that the show Roseanne is a trailer park trash show, I love both of those shows regardless of other peoples negative thoughts on the both of them.

TV Show Grade: A+
Overall Rating: 5 stars

My Saturday started with mimosas and ended with me vomitting out of the passenger side window of Ed’s truck as he drove me home.  How was your weekend?

Some of my highlights:

• Somewhere between the mimosas and the barf I went shopping with my mom and am actually about 50% done with my holiday shopping.  Go me!  While at TJ Maxx I saw/heard a little girl screaming “MAMA!!!!!!!” and realized no adult even seemed to notice.  I gave her mom a few minutes to show up, and when no one did, I approached the little girl to ask if she had lost her mom.  She had, and was about to give me her mom’s name so I could have her paged when this uppity lady stomped up and scolded the little girl about staying close.  She also shot me some sort of “Get the fuck away from my kid” look.  Sorry, lady, but don’t complain when your little one ends up in an Amber Alert all so you could find some irregular BCBG velour pants.
• The Griswolding of the House has commenced at Ed’s, although we won’t turn on the lights until after Thanksgiving.  With the threat of crazy storms in the next week, we decided to get a jump on the outdoor decorating.  And when I saw “we” I really mean “he” since I was busy shopping and…yeah.  My main contribution was quoting Christmas Vacation and suggesting sushi for dinner.
• My Girl Katie came to town Saturday and because CKD can no longer maintain her shit, we didn’t get to spend much time together.  She looks fabulous, loves Santa Barbara and it was awesome to see her and A even if only briefly.  I guess if I had to lose it in front of someone I’m glad it was her because she has seen me in waaaay worse condition and still talks to me but still.  What has happened to me?  I have slowed my roll to the point where I can’t hang!  This is BAD people.
• Seriously, I threw up outside a car window while the car was moving.  This isn’t the behavior of a grown woman.  Also, a waste of perfectly good Jameson.  And sushi.  I am so gross.
• Sunday was spent on the couch as I alternately moaned in pain, prayed for death and napped.  I missed Christmas Preview downtown because of my train wreck state.  Way to go!

I am finally feeling human again and will be back with daily postings.  I am finally getting into a groove with the daily (or near-daily) posts and no longer see NaBloPoMo as a nuisance, but as a goal.  Now if you’ll excuse me I need to continue Operation: Hydration.

Surprisingly for us, it was really relaxing!!  In the midst of end of semester projects and exams, we just took a time out and spent good quality time together.  On Friday, we went to the movies to finally watch “Precious”.  We didn’t get to see it last week, the website I checked mistakenly had the wrong date up (I was so upset lol).  It was a great movie, I’m reading the book “Push” by Sapphire now to fill in all the missing parts that Yin informed me that the movie missed.

 On Saturday, we relaxed in bed until early afternoon when I had a hair appointment at the salon in the mall.  Yin decided to go shopping while I was getting my hair done.  She ended up in Old Navy and picked us up some cute winter scarves, gloves, and hats on SALE!!  She also got us these cute New York t-shirts since we absolutely fell in love with NYC after our trip over Labor Day weekend.  We miss NYC!  After the mall, we went home and relaxed some more, spent the rest of the day watching TV together and having good convos.  Saturday night, we learned something new about Yin (that I won’t share ) but she’s part of a special club that only 10-40% of women have this experience…EVER.  That was very exciting to find out, that kept us up all night! LOL.

 On Sunday, we lounged around in bed again, watching the marathon of Snapped episodes on the Oxygen channel.  Once we watch one, we’re hooked until the last episode!  Yin spoke with her family that day about Thanksgiving plans, her mother and sister are coming over to our apartment, her mom is going to do most of the cooking :)  Yin is making her famous crockpot mac n cheese (it sounds weird, but it’s absolutely delicious!  Maybe I can get her to post the recipe on here, I don’t know, she might want to keep it to herself lol)  For Christmas, my mother and my little 5 year old cousin (who she has custody of, so she’s kinda like my little sister) are coming down from Jacksonville.  We got Twinkie (my cousin’s nickname) some clothes and a lot of little girly things that she’ll love!  I’m looking forward to seeing her, I miss her a lot since I basically took care of her when she was a baby until I moved.  Anyway, Sunday afternoon/evening included a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and things for around the house, a load of laundry, and a few homework assignments being done.

 All in all, this past weekend was the most relaxing weekend it seems like we’ve had in a long time!  I just really enjoyed spending quality time with the wife without running around like a chicken with its head cut off getting assignments done!  Am I looking forward to the holidays???  Um…I don’t know, I’m pretty indifferent this year.  As long as Yin is by my side, it doesn’t really matter what else is going on

 Okay, we’ll let you know how our Thanksgiving goes, hope you all have a happy and safe holiday!!  Don’t eat too much turkey…and make sure to ration your pumpkins…there’s a shortage lol.

 -The Yang