Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Something wicked this way comes...

'Tis the season! All Hallows Eve is upon us at last.

This past weekend was spectacular. (Even though I had to spend a large portion of it at my parents' house so I could dog-sit Tasha while my parents were away.)

Sam's mother's surprise party was on Friday night. I was in rare form. I had a long week and by the time Friday rolled around, I was all amped up and ready to party! I donned my costume (which was quite tactile... and garned a few comments) and danced my ass off. Prior to the party, I had decided not to drink too much. Enter Joe and Rich. Between songs, I headed to the bar for some water and was intercepted by the aforementioned gentlemen. Joe asked, "Wanna do a shot?" I replied, "Hell yes," without missing a beat... at which point Rich started cracking up. "What's so funny?" I asked. "Joe just asked me how he could get you to do a shot." Tee hee... like I need convincing.

Saturday was all about recovery... and I spent most of my morning in bed, sleeping off the mini-hangover. When I finally got out of bed, I did all my laundry, stained an unfinished bench that I bought for the apartment, walked the dog several times, and drove to Wendy's for a cheap and easy dinner because I was too lazy to cook for myself.

Sunday morning I woke up early, feeling more refreshed. I picked up Sam and we headed to Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Cathedral, where we met Tim and Michael for Mass (in Ukrainian!). It was a beautiful Mass, too. Brought back memories of going to church with my grandmother. After Mass, we drove to Port Richmond and had coffee and pastry at a little Polish bakery. That was followed by lunch at a hole in the wall bar/restaurant/discoteque. Homemade Polish food. It was out of this world. We split two plates of pierogies (some potato and cheese and some meat) as an appetizer, and I had kielbasa with fresh rye bread. Also, I tried some fabulous Polish beer. I was stuffed for hours.

And then it was Monday. Ugh. I got two days of work out of the way, and tomorrow is Wednesday! I'm psyched for Karen's party tomorrow. I get to wear my costume again and I'm bringing a treat. Jello shots! I decided to make some orange and some black. But first I had to figure out how to make black jello. It was an experiment... lots of bubble, bubble ... but not so much toil or trouble. I used black cherry flavored jello and put in a ton of food coloring. Now it's a very dark, deep purple that can pass as black. Oh, and I used vanilla vodka in the orange jello, so it'll taste like a creamsicle! Should be yummy.

And on that note, I best be going. See some of you tomorrow night!

Friday, October 26, 2007

If you can’t beat ’em...

This time last year, I was complaining about the overabundance of "sexy" Halloween costumes. This year, I gave in to the pressures of society (and my own creative juices) and decided to embrace the tradition of slutting it up for a night, in the spirit of the season. Oh, and did I mention that this endeavor involves fishnets?

So yeah... I'm excited about my costume. I'm going as Little Dead Riding Hood... kind of a gothy, vampy take on a fairy tale classic. The costume is quite tactile. In addition to the fishnets, I have some crushed velvet, some lace and some leather. Should be fun. And I've got two costume parties to go to (one tonight, one Wednesday), so I get to dress up twice! Wooo-hoo!

What is everyone else doing for Halloween? Costumes, parties, traditions? Comment away!

Friday, October 19, 2007

my day

Our school had off today. To be completely honest, I'm not sure why. It has something to do with us having some optional days off and we got to pick when we wanted them. Someone suggested today and we voted yes. No holiday... no holyday... just a day off. It was blissful.

So here's how I spent my day:

I awoke rather early (around 8:30 AM) and showered. I went to the mechanic to get my oil changed... and I managed to read several chapters of a book while I was waiting. From there, I hit the Dunkin' Donuts drive thru, where I purchased a hazelnut coffee and a pumpkin donut (yay! finally!). I took my breakfast with me into Parkwood Hair Salon for my hair appointment. I was debating between leaving my hair long or cutting it a bit shorter, the way I used to wear it before I let it grow. Since I couldn't decide, Nat offered a suggestion... "Wanna try something different?" She explained what she wanted to do, and it sounded good. So I told her to go for it. (I trust her.) It's awesome. Short in the back and angled longer in the front (about chin length). When she finished, I got compliments from several people in the salon. Thanks, Nat!

After my haircut, I stopped at my parents' house to play with Tasha and pick up my mail. I also managed to catch an episode of "Full House" that I'd never seen before. (I didn't think such a thing existed...) Joey was playing in a charity ice hockey game and the opposing team's goalie had humilated him in a college game years ago. Joey decided to come back with a vengeance and score the winning goal, but Michelle didn't like "mean Joey." So he played nice for the first two periods, but then during intermission, he had a heart to heart with Michelle. He told her that sometimes hockey players have to act mean to win games. She gave him permission to be a meanie, and of course he scored the winning goal. Huzzah for Joey! Huzzah for Michelle!

Anyway.

From there I went to Oxford Valley Mall. I hit Barnes and Noble first, buying two Mo Willems books for the classroom (moms and teachers, if you've never heard of him... LOOK HIM UP NOW! He is amazing.) and two books for me ("Eat, Pray, Love" and "Love in the Time of Cholera"). Then I went clothes shopping. I found a few cute tops, a black skirt for Halloween, and some black fishnets (also for Halloween). I went to Hallmark and bought a crapload of cards for several upcoming birthdays and holidays.

Then I went home... and the rest of the night consisted of dinner, laundry and reading "People" magazine. All in all it was a busy but productive day.

And tomorrow - FONDUE!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

festivities

Yesterday I hit a milestone... the big 3-0. I've officially been alive for three decades. If I were a rosary, I'd be more than half finished.

I started celebrating on Friday night, when I was persuaded to hang out at Rich and Heather's place with Karen, Joe and Dooner. We hung out til 3 AM (the usual time with that crew) having some drinks and munching some Doritos. Good times indeed.

On Saturday, I headed to West Chester to see Erin, Mike and young Mr. Henry. After a yummy Chinese dinner, we drove to Linvilla Orchard for an Autumn Moonlight hayride. After the hayride, we enjoyed apple cider and toasted marshmallows on the bonfire. When we got back to the house, we watched a few scary movies ("1408" and "Witchboard") while drinking warm apple wine and eating homemade apple pie from the orchard. It was a fun night filled with fun autumn-y activities. (I think the actual word is "autumnal," but I like the sound of "autumn-y" better.)

The next day was Rich's party. I hung out for awhile, but had to leave early for a family dinner... in honor of me! My mom cooked a delicious dinner for my birthday. It was only me, my parents, Doug and Jill for dinner. But later on, several other people came over for cake and ice cream... my aunt, my cousin and her two kids, Erin, Mike and Henry. My cousin's daughter Kait (the one Karen likes, lol) and her son Kyle (my godson) got me a Build-a-Bear for my birthday. It's a koala (because I went to Australia with Kyle) wearing Flyers gear. I LOVE it!!! It even has a helmet and skates! It is now sitting in a place of honor on my bookshelf, along with my Flyers beanie bear and my autographed puck. I also got some gift cards (Target, Great American), a Brita water pitcher, and a membership to BJs.

Last night, I had some company to help me celebrate my actual birthday. Joe came over first and entertained himself with my Magna Doodle until Karen and Dooner showed up. We watched a bit of the Flyers game while we pre-drank, and then we headed to the Ashburner. It happened to be trivia night, so we decided to try our hand at the game. We kicked ass in the second round, but overall, we didn't fare so well. But we had fun trying. Sam and Heather came later to join in the festivities, but Sam had to leave early with Dooner (something about them having to work in the morning... wusses... lol). Joe was in the mood for a shot of Jack, so him and Karen stopped by my apartment on the way home. I got to sleep at 1 AM and woke up at 5:45 AM. With a teensy hangover. But once I took a shower and some allergy pills, I felt better. And after I got some coffee in me, I felt MUCH better.

Mad props to Joe, Karen, Rob, Sam and Heather for driving, buying me drinks and food, and helping me celebrate. So far, being 30 isn't half bad.

Oh, and I almost forgot... THE FLYERS WON!!! 4-0!!! SHUT-OUT, BABY!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

just in case you wanted to know...

People who were born on October 16th...
  • Noah Webster (lexicographer)
  • Oscar Wilde (author)
  • Angela Lansbury (actress)
  • John Mayer (musician)
  • Suzanne Somers (actress)
  • Tim Robbins (actor)
  • Eugene O'Neill (playwright)
  • Kellie Martin (actress)
  • Flea (musician)

... and me!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

it’s the little things...

Sam and I were watching TV and we saw a Dunkin' Donuts commercial for pumpkin flavored coffee and muffins... and it was like the 17th time we're seen the commercial this week. Today actually felt like autumn and pumpkin snacks sounded ever so tasty ... therefore, it was decided that a Dunkin' Donuts trip was in order. We donned our jackets (yay for cool weather!) and hopped in the car. When we got to DD, I noticed that there were no pumpkin muffins... which is what I had been craving. I settled for a coffee cake muffin, accompanied by a hot cocoa (free with coupon!). After Sam ordered her donuts, one of which was pumpkin flavored, I commented that the pumpkin donut looked mighty tasty. The man behind the counter handed me another one and said, "Try the pumpkin, too." Free donut!!! Score!!!

It was a wonderful end to the day... and now I can start my Friday morning with a pumpkin flavored donut (and my daily mug of hazelnut coffee). Life is good.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

wooo-hooo!!!

Dear readers... I HAVE INTERNET!!!!!

Allow me a brief, but necessary, celebration: WOOO-HOOOOO!

Thanks to our DSL getting turned on and my brother talking me through the set-up process on my laptop, I am now able to get online any damn time I want!


That means more surveys, more blogs and more email!

Anyway. Apartment living is still going well. I made tacos for dinner tonight. They were quite tasty. The trashcans are still MIA. We discovered a small black box marked "Danger: Poison" where the trashcans used to be. I've learned that we have to buy smaller cartons of milk. But it's all good.

I really have nothing else to say. I just wanted to share my joy with you, the blog reading world.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

updates

Things are going swimmingly at the apartment. Except for my roommate - she's a real bitch (tee hee... just kidding, Sam!). Anyway, our DSL gets hooked up tomorrow... FINALLY!!!... so until then, my only internet access is Sam's dial-up or my work computer. If you email me and don't hear anything back, it's not because I don't love you anymore. Well, maybe it is for some of you. You know who you are.

Among the things we've had to deal with since moving in:

  • garbage disposal backing up (thank goodness we had the foresight to buy a plunger)
  • a gallon of milk curdling completely
  • a bag of baby carrots went very soft (some to the point of near liquification)
  • our washing machine in the cellar tends to get a wee bit noisy... reminds me of when I lived at the apartment at LaSalle and our upstairs neighbor would have extremely loud, obnoxious, headboard-banging sex with her boyfriend, who visited every Wednesday (which is why we dubbed it "Fuck Me Wednesdays")
  • the garbage can (labeled with our address) mysteriously disappeared from the side of the house... and not on trash day

Also, I dropped a Corelle bowl while doing the dishes. I had no idea that Corelle would shatter the way it did. I'm talking tiny little shards of bowl dust, all over the floor. It practically disintegrated. I thought Corelle was supposed to be pretty sturdy. Guess not.

Anyway, it's all minor problems. So far.

On the plus side, I got a bookcase, so now my books are all in place, which makes me feel SO much better. And we've had a few visitors... my parents stopped over on Saturday (and brought pizza!), and last night Erin and Henry came over. It's slowly feeling more like home. Slowly.

One of the best things about living on my own is that I no longer have to check in with anyone about where I'm going or what I'm doing. On Friday night, I went to Karen's to hang out with her, Joe and Dooner. I didn't get home til 4 AM (as per usual, when I'm hanging out with that crew)... but my mom didn't call at 2 AM to say that she woke up and noticed I wasn't home. And when I got home, there was no dog to bark when I came in. It was very liberating. (Sounds lame, I know... but it's the little things that make me happy.)

And now, my friends, I must go... the morning bell rang and I have to go out and get my students.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

On moving and apartments

Hello friends!

I'm officially moved in to the apartment. And I consider myself pretty much settled. Sort of. Kind of.

My bedroom is fine, except I need to buy some bookcases. My bookcases in my bedroom at my parents' house are built in to the wall, so I couldn't take them with me. The kitchen and bathroom are very well furnished. But the living room is lacking in seating. We have Doug's old futon for a sofa (and guest bed, if needed), but that's about it for seating. Our dining room furniture is a card table and four folding chairs on loan from my parents. It's not fabulous, but it's a place to eat. We're going to look into Ikea, Kmart and other inexpensive options for extra chairs and a dining room set. And someday, who knows? Maybe we'll get all crazy and buy a coffee table or coat rack. Imagine it!

I went to my parents' house for dinner on Tuesday night. It was an interesting experience. It felt kind of like home... I set the table and washed the dishes, just like I hadn't even left. But I felt like a guest there. None of my things are there anymore. However, my new home doesn't feel much like home yet, either. All my furniture is there, but it still isn't HOME. In fact, since I moved, my classroom feels more like home than either of my other homes.

Anyway... time to teach CCD. More later, when we get decent internet at the apartment.