Sunday, April 27, 2008
Satuday, 4/26/08: Havana
Every year, our company helps to sponsor the Casino Night fund raiser at one of the local schools to my old office. This year's theme was Havana, so there was yummy Cuban food and fun music. I went with a bunch of my old coworkers, and it was nice to see them all again. I played roulette, somewhat badly, but it wasn't real money (or, it was, but in the way that you purchase chips with your donation and then win raffle tickets) so it was okay. We didn't stick around for the raffle drawings, so I don't know if my tickets would have won.
Friday, 4/25/08: Titanium
I had a tube of Titanium White that I used a lot of in the painting I was working on (and had bought a larger tube to use when the small one was out). And the stuff just. wouldn't. dry. It took over a week, which I did not have the patience to wait for. So I looked up paint-drying online, and read that Lead White dries more quickly. So I took my unopened large tube of Titanium White back to Michaels to exchange it for Lead White, but they didn't have Lead White. They had Zinc White. So I bought that. When I got home, I looked it up online (what did I DO before the internet??), and discovered that Zinc White drives even more slowly than Titanium White! So, back to Michaels it was to exchange the Zinc White back for the original Titanium White. I guess I'll have to deal with it.
Theme: New & Improved
Thursday, 4/24/08: New Refreshment
The weird thing about this drink is that it has no date on it. I look for dates on everything. Absolutely, positively EVERYTHING. If something is after the date, even if it looks and/or smells fine, I will not consume it. Period, end of story. This bottle just says "Use within two weeks of opening." Um, what? So if it isn't opened, it doesn't go bad... ever? Are there any natural ingredients, then? Is this the way food is headed? Also, there wasn't even a *hint* of an air bubble in it before I opened it. Strange.
Theme: New & Improved
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, 4/23/08: New Hideout
Gen's newest costume project involves a ginormous hoop skirt, which, in addition to looking really cool, has become the cats' newest hiding place. If one is ever missing, the first place to look is under the skirt. Which is fine, as it's currently on a dressmaker's dummy, but might pose a little bit more of a problem if it continues when Gen is wearing it.
Theme: New & Improved
Tuesday, 4/22/08: New Show
Heroes always looked like the kind of show I'd enjoy, but I missed the beginning few episodes, and then never felt like I could jump in and catch up. We've had Season One in the house for several months, but it fell behind a number of Things To Watch that we were already in the middle of (i.e. Smallville and Supernatural).
On Tuesday, we sat and watched six hours. And... LOVE. I've only made it through the first eleven episodes to date, but I'm excited to see the rest. It's the new household obsession. Anyone else watching?
Theme: New & Improved
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, 4/21/08: Chicago Underwater
Our latest assignment for class is an Altered Landscape. I thought I'd do Chicago underwater. Most of the pictures I used are from our family's vacation to Hawaii last summer--that's my mom snorkeling on the left, and my sister on the right. The Chicago pictures are Shana's (thank you so much for letting me borrow them!). Anyway, I still have a few more days to tweak it before it's due next Monday, but I'm mostly happy with it.
Theme: New & Improved
Sunday, 4/20/08: And... finished?
So I think I mentioned I've been working on a painting of a house Nadine fell in love with while she was visiting. And I think it's done. Draft One, anyway. I might try again, now that I'm a little more back in the groove--I haven't painted since high school, so it's all coming back to me. Slowly.
Gen and I went to dinner with S and Little A at Yamato's, which has the yummiest shrimp ever. I don't like shrimp, and I purposefully got the shrimp dinner! Crazy. I mean, I'm from the Midwest. I did not grow up on seafood. But I'm trying. And dinner was definitely delicious! We also discovered that at Yamato's, they put on scary animal masks to sing Happy Birthday. Like, cows and gorillas and things. Strange.
Theme: New & Improved
Saturday, 4/19/08: Trivial Pursuit
Ryan's birthday was Friday, so we went out to dinner at Wokano and then went back to his house for some game playing. We pissed off the downstairs neighbors by rockin' out to Rock Band (and I never got to try the drums--boo!), and then quieted down some with 80's, 90's, and Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit (three in one!) and Apples to Apples. Because we're old now, and celebrate birthdays with board games. *g*
Theme: Nostalgia
Friday, April 18, 2008
Friday, 4/18/08: Wicket
While I basically grew up on Star Wars (what kid didn't have a slide-out lightsaber?), The Ewok Adventure had my heart from first viewing. I think my sister and I probably wore out our taped-from-TV video tape. We had the Ewok Village, complete with Wicket, Cindel, and friends, and it was the coolest thing ever. Seriously. I'm pretty sure if I rewatched the movie, I'd be horrified at the lameness, so I might just prefer to keep my fond childhood memories intact.
Theme: Nostalgia
Thursday, 4/17/08: Sweet Valley
I spent many Saturday afternoons as a child sitting sideways in one of the living room chairs with my legs dangling over the armrest, reading about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. I had Skipper dolls named Elizabeth and Jessica, Lila and Amy, and tirelessly played in my Sweet Valley Barbie world. I adored the Sweet Valley Twins books, although I never really got into Sweet Valley High (by the time I would have graduated from the Twins, I was into R.L. Stein's Fear Street books). These particular books belong to Gen, as I mostly got mine from the library.
Theme: Nostalgia
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, 4/16/08: Les Mis
This is the oldest t-shirt I own. I got it in fourth grade, the first time I went to see Les Miserables, which has remained one of my favorite musicals of all time. The year was 1989, and the whole family listened to the soundtrack until the tape just about wore out. Dad was very skillful at muting the bad words in "Master of the House", which, of course, made me want to listen to them that much more. Everybody raise a glass! Raise it up the Master's--!
I still wear the shirt, and it's just about the most comfortable thing ever.
Theme: Nostalgia
Tuesday, 4/15/08: Princess of Power!
I definitely wanted to be She-Ra as a kid. My sister and I would tuck empty wrapping paper rolls into the backs of our shirts just so we could whip them out, point them at the sky, and yell, "For the honor of Greyskull! I HAVE THE POWER!"
...yeah. *g*
Jess and I actually dressed as She-Ra for Halloween one year, with pretty kick-ass homemade costumes courtesy of Mom. We were the coolest trick-or-treaters on the block!
Gen got this DVD for Christmas, and we watched the first episode not long ago. Holy cow, cheesy. Way, way cheesier than I ever remember it being. Lol.
Theme: Nostalgia
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Monday, 4/14/08: Barkley
I'm sure I've used Barkley before in my Pic-a-Day posts, but he fits this week's theme too well to pass up. He was given to me when I was two years old, and he was almost as big as I was. I would carry him around by his neck, which is why his head is so floppy now. And when I was little, I apparently used to have a New York accent (although I never stepped foot in New York until I was in high school... go figure), so I pronounced 'Barkley' in a way that sounded similar to 'Broccoli', which is what my grandma thought his name was for years. Why would I name a dog Broccoli? Hee.
Theme: Nostalgia
Monday, 4/13/08: Scrapbook
This week's theme is "nostalgia" and I thought some embarrassing scrapbook pictures would be a good place to start. *g* The pages are from a birthday gift from my sister, and we have first-day-home!me, violinist!me, and performer!me. We're going to ignore the bad 80's glasses that show up in many of those pictures, mmmkay?
Theme: Nostalgia
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Saturday, 4/12/08: Bachelorette!
This weekend was Elaina's bachelorette party. It was all a complete surprise to Elaina, which is why she looks perhaps a little overwhelmed. *g* She's got a bachelorette sash on, too, that you can't see.
We started the "evening" off mid-afternoon at Camille the Day Spa in Santa Barbara. We all got different treatments. I had a Spa Pedicure, which is different than a normal pedicure in that it took an hour, involved leg exfoliation, a leg masque (which I did not know existed), and a foot-and-leg massage. Mmmmm, heavenly. Then she painted my toes and I was ready for sandals in the 95 degree weather we had over the weekend! In between everyone's treatments, we sipped champagne and chatted.
Then we were off to a Chinese restaurant where we ordered huge amounts of delicious food and yapped. A lot. [Side story: on the way to the restaurant, Elaina was all decked out, and the rest of us were wearing boas. A little girl, about three years old, and carrying two baby dolls with another two in the stroller her mom was pushing, gave Elaina the most judging, you-must-be-insane look a child taht size could possible muster. It was precious and kind of hilarious.] Afterwards, it was off to the hotel, where we invaded a poor Speedo-ed gentleman's relaxing soak in the hot tub (which was HUUUUUUUGE), and then spent the evening playing games and yapping some more and goofing off, and it was a lot of fun.
Friday, 4/11/08: Twisted
We wrapped up the week Friday with dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. It was busier than I've ever seen it there before--we actually had to wait, like, 45 minutes! There's never a wait! I don't want my hole-in-the-wall sushi place becoming popular. Darn it. *laugh*
This is proof of the INSANE AMOUNT OF MONEY I spend on dry cleaning. *grumbles*
Theme: What is it?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thursday, 4/10/08: Fiyah!
So, I don't think there's any guessing involved here, but I was wandering around my apartment trying to find something interesting to take a picture of (because lord knows I don't have the energy to find or create something outside the obvious), and... voila. It's a nice candle, for the record. Smells real nice. In addition to being pretty. Two thumbs up.
Theme: What is it?
Wednesday, 4/9/08: Livin' on a Prayer
Six months ago, Roni and I bought tickets to see Bon Jovi. Finally, finally the day arrived. And it was worth the wait (and traffic)! It was Roni's, what, fifth show? And my first. It's been a long time since I've been to a big, showy concert, and I forget how much fun that can be. *g* They played for over two hours and fifteen minutes, and the whole thing was just fantastic. That little guy has a gigantic amount of energy and it's just infectious. I apologize for a lack of coherent recap here, but I'm going on four hours of sleep sandwiched between two killer days, and the adrenaline from the concert has loooooong since worn off.
So, yes. Bon Jovi: GOOD. Sleep: Also good. Zzzzzzz....
Tuesday, 4/8/08: Rocks
Theme: What is it?
It's a vase in the living room, filled with those little vase-filler marbles. I kind of like it. Only once did the cats knock it over, and boy did it scare the BEJEEZUS out of them! Those little rocks are loud when hitting wood, and also not that fun to gather back together. *laugh*
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday, 4/7/08: Chop, chop!
Theme: What is it?
It's a Pampered Chef chopping device, which actually belongs to Gen. It's an amazing little piece of equipment that I use quite a lot for someone who doesn't actually cook. *g* At the inevitable roommate separation, I do believe I'll have get one of my own.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sunday, 4/6/08: Torture device?
This week's theme is What is it?, which is actually an apt theme, as I probably would have taken this picture regardless. It's the best $7 I've spent in a long time. Looks like a medieval torture device, yes? The little screen at the bottom is making my life infinitely easier and cleaner.
It's... a paintbrush cleaner. The screen sits in the bottom and can be used to scrub the brush against if necessary. You fill the tub with turpentine or brush cleaner and the spiral at the top holds the brushes upright. Brilliant!
Theme: What is it?
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Saturday, 4/5/08: Art?
We had a creative household this afternoon and evening, as Gen worked on the amazing costume she's making for this summer's Anime Central, and I tried to paint. I've been saying for more than two years that I should pull out the brushes, and I finally did it. We'll see how it goes. So far, just about all I've done is make a mess. *g* Green paint to my elbows, I swear!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Friday, 4/4/08: PRA4BBS
I was behind this person pulling out of my office building this evening, and then ended up behind-and-next-to her (?) again at a stop light a bit down the street. I was first intrigued by the A
Otherwise, it was an excruciatingly unmemorable Friday.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Thursday, 4/3/08: Travelin' Cat
I've been home for two entire days and I haven't put my suitcase away yet. And it's not even as if I have all the room in the world to be leaving large items around; my bedroom is small enough that I have to walk around this thing just to get out the door. But Monet, see. She loves suitcases. I'm not sure if she thinks she wants to go somewhere, or wants to keep ME from going somewhere, but if there is a suitcase out and about, you will definitely find her on top of it. I have a certain amount of guilt at taking away such a beloved sleeping spot!
Wednesday, 4/2/08: View from the Street
Wednesday was back to work, and it was cold and rainy, and this picture totally wasn't taken on Wednesday at all, but on... last Thursday, maybe. Because not only was I back to work Wednesday, but I had to stay late and totally didn't have a chance at all to take a picture. And this one makes me happy. I don't get a view like this, living in Apartment and Condo Central.
Tuesday, 4/1/08: Last Day
Tuesday was technically our "unplanned" day, in which we were to fit in EVERYTHING WE DIDN'T GET TO DO, OMG. This included getting up and out early, breakfast at Mel's, a trip to Target, Hollywood (the Chinese theatre, the Kodak theatre, shopping in goofy souvenir shops, etc.), a drive through the hills and Mulholland (where this photo was taken), a quick final trip to Borders, Mexican for dinner, and then down to the airport. There were still a million things we didn't fit in, so clearly Nadine has to come back soon and often.
Monday, 3/31/08: Relax!
Monday was our lazy day. Nadine and I bummed around the hotel (internet! at last!) until early afternoon, then went to Costco and the mall before meeting Alicia and Nikki for dinner. After the craziness of the weekend, it was nice to have a low-key day.
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