Too Busy

This weekend was pretty crazy busy. What great weather! Here's the scoop on weekend activities:

Friday - decided to get the heinous yet necessary vacuuming out of the way cause my place really needed it. Then Jeffro came over and we watched some TV we'd taped earlier in the week.

Saturday - A friend came over for lunch and we went to Cafe Marianna, on the outskirts of Old Town, Alexandria. They have excellent blue corn fried oysters. Then we walked around and did a little touristy shopping. It was a beautiful day to be out and about. I bought a sundress for my upcoming trip to St. John in 2 weeks. That night Jeffro and I went to Galaxy Hut to see Aderbat and The Daybreak Line. They were both pretty good acts.

Sunday - I ran a couple of errands then took a dry run with my neighbor who starts a new job tomorrow. She has to report to her corporate office in Centreville and wanted someone to go with her to get the route down. So we did that then went to lunch at Guapos in Shirlington. Then I ran more errands with Jeffro--we bought snorkels for the trip and went grocery shopping. He helped me to fix my toilet, an easier job than I thought, thank God. I was glad I didn't have to pay anyone to do it. Now I'm off to watch reruns of 2 weeks of Prison Break so I'll be ready for tomorrow's episode. I'm absolutely wiped so I can't wait to go veg out.

Lost Without Lost

I'm going to watch Lost tonight and tape American Idol. Usually I do the opposite, but since Lost wasn't on last week I'm having total withdrawal and have to see it as soon as possible. I'll watch AI right afterwards, though, don't worry. Speaking of Lost, apparently two of its female stars have been arrested for drinking under the influence. One of the stars decided on 5 days in jail over 250 hours of community service. Here's a lovely mug shot and the story about Michelle Rodriguez. As an aside, if stupid little country bumpkin Kelly Picker isn't at least in the bottom three this week I'm going to die. She was horrible last week and didn't even get relegated to the bottom three. I'm sick of her getting away with everything cause America thinks she's just so darned cute.

And Then There Were 3

I found out today that Indiana just passed a law to finally cave in and have daylight savings time. The remaining states that haven't caved yet are obviously Alaska and Hawaii (are they really actually states anyway?), and Arizona. Now we're 3 hours ahead of AZ, but the rest of the year we're only two.

April Showers

Boy was it a rainy weekend. Of course I spent most of it running around, getting soaked, and enjoying very bad frizzy hair.

Friday night Jeffro and I made our bi-monthly pilgrammage to Matuba, our favorite sushi restaurant in Arlington.

Saturday was spent running tons of errands and shopping. I felt like I really got a lot done.

Sunday I spent on Solomon's Island at a restaurant called Stoney's that have some of the best crabcakes around. Then stopped off for a drink at the newly remodeled Tiki Bar. They added this "sandy beach," complete with palm trees where a parking lot used to be. It was a fun time until the ride home. The Wilson Bridge was completely backed up, all the way to exit 7 in MD for those of you who know the area. We took many crazy and scary back roads to get back, but it still took forever to get home. So that really sucked and ended the day badly. I had hoped to get home no later than 7 and it was more like 8:30.

Toastmaster Thursday

I can't believe it's already Thursday, thank God. The week actually went by pretty quickly, probably because my boss was out until today. Every Thursday I go to Toastmasters to improve my shoddy public speaking skills. Last week I was Table Topics Master and got to call on people to give impromptu speeches. I hate giving them, so it was great to dish them out. This week I had to give my second real speech. I just couldn't get my act together, and decided to rewrite the speech last night. I guess I did pretty well, and I even ran over the minimum time, which I didn't do last time. I got good evaluations and comments. I just wish I didn't get so nervous every time. Maybe a real toast, like on the left, would help.

PS

The best part of the weekend was the news from the vet. I forgot to mention I also took the dogs to the vet because this fatty tumor that Pepper has in her neck seemed to be growing and changing and I was really nervous. Thank God it had just filled with liquid, and the vet drained it and all is well.

What a Weekend

This was a really crazy weekend. I have been completely exhausted since about Thursday, so Friday night was pretty low key. What made the weekend so crazy was that on top of all the activities listed below, I had to take care of my friend's two dogs. Now most of you know that I already have two dogs, so this was double the amount of work, as I had to walk each group separately. At least the weather was gorgeous, so I really didn't mind being outside that much. I also got to spend a lot of time sitting outside on my porch, and that was really cool.

Saturday Jeffro's mom was in town and we played tourist, going to the National Museum of the American Indian. I hadn't been to there yet. It was just aight for me. The exhibit halls that had actual artifacts like masks, beaded clothing, etc. were pretty cool, but some of the other exhibits were not that great. There is a lot of wasted space in the building. The cafe was pretty neat, you could get food from about 5 different American Indian regions. I had tamales, as recommended by Lady Brett.

That night we went to see a local band, Catfish Honeymoon at Jay's Saloon & Grill in Arlington. One of Jeffro's friends also had his mother in town visiting, so he brought her as well.

Today I spent most of the day cleaning my place, which was a disaster. Tonight we went to my sister's for dinner and it was a pretty fun time. I love spending time with my 6 nieces and nephews, although it can be exhausting, especially when one of them uses you as a playground to climb on all night.

Call Of the Wild?

A woman stopped me the other day when I was walking my dogs and told me that my oldest dog Pepper looked like a wolf. She said a friend of hers had a dog who was illegally part wolf and that Pepper's legs apparently looked like this dog's. Very bizarre. But I guess that would explain Pepper's love of howling.

Bye, Bye Bucky

Finally, finally, finally Bucky got kicked off American Idol. It's hard for me to believe his lack of vocal talent got him farther than talented powerhouse Mandisa.

Weekend Rocks

This weekend started with a bang last night when Jeffro and I went to Jammin' Java to see 4 bands play for the Six Points Festival. First of all, I have to say 4 bands in any evening is at least one band too many. What were they thinking? Things always start and run late, and even having 3 bands in an evening is a lot. So next year the planners need to rethink this concept. It was a great show overall, but by the end I was like, enough with the new bands and changing of sets. Here's my little review of the acts:

Shwa: I'd seen Shwa solo once at Staccato a long time ago. It was fun to see him with a band, and their songs were catchy and melodic. However, as a first opener, they shouldn't have played so long--see above diatribe about too many bands, running late, etc.

Hotspur: Jeffro had included one of their songs on his blog and music mixes, a very mellow beautiful tune called Have You Seen This Girl. However, their live show and rest of their music is quite different. They are very high energy, crazy guys who jump around, make crazy faces, etc. When they first started playing I was just laughing cause it was borderline absurd. However, they won me over with their antics and really cool tunes and in the end I was very entertained--in a good way--by their performance. They kind of reminded me of the band The Darkness (I Believe in a Thing Called Love). They were simply a lot of fun. And they are apparently Jeffro's new favorite band.

Honor by August: I was also familiar with this band, thanks to Jeffro, and I really like their song, Only in Photographs. They are a good band, however, in my opinion their songs sound too much alike (once you've heard Only in Photographs, you've heard it all) and they need to vary things up a little to keep it interesting. Great harmony, by the way, from the bass player.

Junkfood: Last but not by any means least was Junkfood. The lead singer had a really strong voice and they had fantastic, perfect harmonies going on with the drummer and lead guitar singing on most of the songs. I love harmony and thought they were outstanding. Many of their harmonies were reminiscent of Bon Jovi's Jon and Ritchie, or Def Leppard. They definitely had very strong pop singles, which I love. Plus what I loved the most about them was the lead singer and drummer were both chewing gum--that is what I do when I sing or have to give a speech cause my mouth gets too dry otherwise. Very cool to see someone else doing it. I always wonder how people can sing for so long without dying, even if they're drinking a lot of water. Jeffro bought their CD, so I'm going to have to borrow it.

That's it for now. I really need to get in the shower and get my day started. I am going to run errands/shop since it's raining. Tonight is a mellow night given the busy week, probably grocery shopping and watching a movie or something. Tomorrow I'm having brunch with a friend I haven't seen in a while. That's about it for the rest of the weekend.

Weird Coincidence of the Week

I told you in my last post that I was having a very strange week. This about tops it off and gives you some idea of what I'm talking about. This is the most bizarre thing--a woman started working at my office a few weeks ago. I noticed that she has a photo on her desk of her, her husband, and her dog. I stopped yestrday briefly to talk to her and found out that her dog had been in the Alexandria shelter the same time as when I adopted my first dog Pepper and it was the dog I actually had wanted initially but it already had a contract on it--apparently hers. I thought the dog looked familiar in the photo (yes, I know that sounds weird) but never imagined it was the dog I was thinking of. I even described to her where the dog was in the shelter and the time frame and it indeed matched up to when she got her dog, who is also 13 this year. How bizarre is that? I'm so glad he went to a nice home. He was a very engaging dog and looked at everyone when they came in like, "I'm cute, take me home!" He's a little white spitz, like the photo here (sorry so blurry, can't find one that is clear).

Bad Dog Day

This has been a really weird week, all kinds of strange things have been happening that I just don't want to go into too much. But regarding the dogs and the bad dog day, I took my two dogs upstairs to visit with their doggie friends. I hadn't yet walked them for the night, but they had been out in my yard so I figured they'd had their chance to do their thing. Well, apparently I was wrong cause my youngest dog lifted his leg and peed all over my friend's coat. It was draped over a chair and apparently that was really appealing to him. I was sooo mad. She was really nice about it, and remarked that if the coat hadn't been there and he'd peed on the chair instead she would have killed him. But still. This is a 6-year old, fully housetrained, never-has-pee-accidents dog. No reason at all for him to act that way. Her dogs do pee on the floor quite frequently, so maybe going up there made him think he had to join in? Then when we went on our walk quickly thereafter I stepped in his dogshit. Then I spent the last two hours cleaning my house. Time for some much-needed R&R. So who leaves Idol today? I predict bottom three: Taylor, Elliott, Bucky with Elliott going home.

Yes I'm Alive

I know it's been quite a while since my last entry. I'm trying to spend less time in front of my computer at home in order to get some other things done in my life. And to enjoy the warmer weather. What a gorgeous weekend! Here's a little update of what's been going on:

Friday - was an exciting night of grocery shopping with Jeffro. At least the store was empty and this made for one less errand to have to get done over the weekend.

Saturday - I actually worked out in the middle of the day and got some work done cleaning up the basement, which has been the bane of my existence for years. It felt really good. The weather was gorgeous, so the dogs and I spent a good deal of time outside. Jeffro and I had an outing in Georgetown that evening. We walked around and had dinner at Pizzeria Paradiso. Very yummy.

Sunday - Another gorgeous sunny day. The dogs and I headed to the dog park expecting a big crowd, but there was hardly anyone there. Guess people were out enjoying the day in other ways. Then I spent a little time cleaning up my yard getting it ready for the little bit of spring planting that I do. That evening, we went to visit some friends of Jeffro and sat out on the deck and grilled some chicken for dinner. It really felt like a summer party. It was a lovely evening, and we discussed plans for our upcoming vacation to St. John with them--39 days and counting.

Tonight we're going to see Matt Nathanson at Jammin' Java so it will be a pretty late night. Luckily this week should be quiet at work, since it's our board meeting and half the staff will be out of the office.

MY First Day of Spring

Well, today was officially warm enough for me to think spring is really here. I'm so excited for winter to be over. I just hate it. This was the first day I walked at lunch without a coat and didn't wear gloves at all. Plus I left my back door open to get some fresh air inside. My dogs and I had a great walk tonight and lots of people were out and about in the neighborhood.

I have been feeling like crap all week, I just can't wait for it to end. I had my first "water cooler" conversation today. People use that expression for standing around at work shooting the breeze, but I've never actually seen it in real life involving a water cooler. Well, today there were about 4 of us standing literally around the requisite water cooler that has to be provided in order to avoid drinking DC water. The other weird thing about today was the bus ride home. It was a completely new bus with somewhat comfortable bucket-type fabric seats with a hideous print of the Capitol all over it--almost like one of those rented buses. The bus even had new bus smell, if there is such a thing.

So who will be kicked off American Idol tonight? I hate to say it, but I think Lisa's time is up. She's had one too many bad performances lately and was definitely the worst one last night, although everyone kind of sucked. So we'll see if my prediction is correct. It makes me sad. Going into this, she was my favorite.

The Eyes Have It

Apparently lash extensions are the latest Hollywood craze now headed to a salon near you. This is something I would really love, but never really spend $250-$500 plus 90 minutes of time to get, when it only lasts four to six weeks. Guess I'll just stick with tons of mascara, like this photo of myself.

Resources for the Career Challenged

There seems to be a lot of the career blues going around these days. Here are two cool resources for those of you who dream of doing something fun, different, and exciting:

VocationVacations - Want to test drive your dream job before buying? With Vocation Vacations you can pay to spend a few days with someone who works in the field of your dreams. They're even making a TV show out of it, on the Travel Network.

Living Out Your Dreams - Career and Life Coaching and Resources. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Still not interesting enough? Well, then just check out bullshitjob.com. Send them a story about your awful job to try to get it posted, or read about one that is worse than yours. You can even join their newsletter to get some bullshit emailed to you. Be sure to check out their Office Space tribute page.

Weekend End

Well, I'm counting down the minutes until The Next Food Network Star at 9:00. It's been a busy weekend and definitely interesting.

Friday: Jeffro made me dinner and then we hung out and watched tv shows we'd taped during the week.

Saturday: spent most of the day cleaning. Saturday night we went to a party at the Old Dominion Boat Club, and this great band Route 66 was playing. They had the whole place dancing. It was a late Mardi Gras party, complete with hurricanes and king cake. It was a pretty good time.

Sunday: had to do the grocery shopping, but later went to my neighbor's for dinner. Some great sea bass. We watched Must Love Dogs, which was kind of cute in an only-pay-$4-for-a-rental kind of chick flick way. Now as I said, I'm just waiting for the Food Network festivities. And wishing I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. Sigh.

Gone Country?

Michelle Branch has apparently gone country. She is in a new duo called The Wreckers with Jessica Harp. They were on WMZQ this morning, but I missed it, although you can see their performance here. Pretty cool harmonies.

Finally!

American Idol said goodbye tonight to Kevin, the bane of my television existence. It's about 3 weeks overdue, but he's finally off the show. Sorry, Blogger won't let me upload a photo but he's the little dweeby one.

New Reality Show Addiction

I happened to catch the premiere of the Food Network's Who Wants to Be the Next Food Network Star and I love it! The drama, the mishaps, the food! Plus all the Iron Chefs showed up and Rachel Ray in 2 exciting back-to-back episodes. I highly recommend it. Stay tuned every Sunday night at 9 p.m.