Good Start

Well, it's been a good start to the weekend. It was quite a busy week, complete with taking a "Knife Skills" class through Arlington County. I thought the class would be teaching things like how to chop like an Iron Chef or something, but it was a lot more about safety, sharpening, etc. At the time I was disappointed, but looking back I really learned a lot and want to get a stone to sharpen my knives. The guy who taught it--aka "Meat Head" per an email he sent prior to class--was a retired Journeyman Meat Cutter, or butcher. So that was pretty interesting. This older, retired guy with tons of great stories including teaching women prisoners to butcher!

Last night Jeffro and I kicked off the weekend at our favorite sushi place, Matuba. Today I decided to get up early to get some stuff done before I went to visit my sister. I went to the car wash at 8 am(!) before the lines started, then got some muffins and coffee to take home. I got a much-needed pedicure, and then went to see my sister and have lunch with her then do some cleaning for her. Then I went by this pawn shop I'd been before and had seen this really pretty sapphire ring. I went today to see if it was still there and it was! I managed to talk the woman down $65 so I decided to buy it! So it's been a rather good day. Tonight we're going to see Honor by August, the Reserves, and Getaway Car at Iota. I'm actually psyched to see this show. But I'm thinking I might take a nap before I go, as I'm starting to lose steam.

8 Lbs of Blueberries!

How would you like to be the proud owner of 8 lbs. of blueberries? Well, today Jeffro and I made a trip to Butler's Orchard with NOAAgirl and her DH to go blueberry picking. I am so excited! The weather was just gorgeous and the blueberries were very plentiful and huge. A great crop! So now I have to dig up some easy recipes to get rid of said 8 lbs. of blueberries . . . today definitely made up for being inside yesterday doing some work. Tonight is my drum lesson, then Top Chef, then unfortunately getting ready for work tomorrow. The weekends go too fast.

Good News

I just got back from a doctor's appointment for my sister who has lymphoma. Good news! The scan showed that the cancer is gone for now . . . she still has a mass in her chest that needs radiation, but overall things are looking good for her. Of course, there's still a 50/50 chance of recurrence, but I guess we'll take it one step at a time. It would be nice if she were to acknowledge her good fortune with some new-found wisdom and stop smoking. Man, that just burns me that everyone has spent all this time and money to help cure her, and she won't stop. I can't even tell you how furious I am about it.

Ballet and Shopping

That's basically what my entire weekend consists of so far. My nieces are in various ballet recitals on Friday night, and two performances on Sunday. I love my nieces so I always go, but I can think of about a million better things to do with my time on the weekend. Like shopping. So that's what Jeffro and I did this morning. I have been wanting a glider for my patio forever, but have never been able to find one affordable enough or small enough for my tiny space. I found this cool glider at Home Depot, but unfortunately the box wouldn't fit in my car, so I decided to order it online. Check it out here. Then we went to Target and another garden place to get some cushions for it, some charcoal to barbecue, and some plants--including tomato plants. So we'll see if we can get any vegetables this year. I had already bought some basil, which is doing well, and cilantro, which isn't.

So tomorrow it's back to ballet, but hopefully first we'll make it to the Alexandria Red Cross Waterfront festival to see one of our favorite local bands, Catfish Honeymoon at 11:45 am.

Medical Condition of the Week

I feel like for the past two months I've had one health problem after another. I finally got rid of my contact dermatitis around my eyes (yeah, that was a fun, itchy time), and while I was at the dermatologist taking care of that, I had him look at this mole that was bleeding--never a good thing. He removed that and it turned out to be benign. Then I showed him this other problem I've had for a while, a lipoma, and he said "I can fix that." So since it's covered by insurance, I had it removed--excised to be precise--this week. It was an outpatient procedure and used only a local, so I was awake for the entire thing, which was really pretty gross as he dug this thing out of my leg. Considering its location, I thought it would be pretty painful, but it really hasn't been more than just a little bothersome, much to my relief. Ah, the wonders of modern medicine.

Speaking of medical conditions, my sister goes in for tests next week to determine how much her lymphoma has improved. She goes on Friday to get the results, and I think my whole family is going to lend her support. Say some prayers, everyone.

The Heat Is On

Well, today was certainly a lot nicer outside than yesterday, but I guess summer is really here to stay (yeah!). Jeffro and I are going to our first outdoor summer party at the Old Dominion Boat Club this evening, and I'm psyched to be spending the evening outdoors. Jeffro, on the other hand, not so much. I'm the kind of person that on a day like this I want to be outside all day and he doesn't so that's hard for me sometimes. So I basically just ran a bunch of much-needed errands today instead of going to do something great outdoors. Blah.

Tomorrow we're having brunch with MJ and Computerguy and then we have dinner at my sister's to celebrate my nieces' birthdays--two of them this past week. Last night we had dinner at Ravi Kabob on Glebe Road in Arlington, which was excellent. It was Pakistani food, but it was just about identical to Indian and absolutely delicious. Then we went to Springfield Mall to pick up gifts for previously mentioned nieces. I haven't been down there since they redid the mixing bowl, and boy was I shocked. To get to the mall, you don't even have to get on 95S at all anymore, you are immediately separated from all of the insanity that used to be a near collision course. I was very impressed and shocked, since I didn't like the change they made for the exit for 395N being a left-handed exit to a right-handed exit. I figured they just f*cked the whole thing up, but I guess not.

New Food Network Star

Everyone turn your tv on right now and watch the The Next Food Network Star! It will soon be going head to head with Bravo's Top Chef, which also starts this week. What a great summer of cooking!

I don't know about you all, but I had a very nice weekend, complete with a trip to Matuba (my favorite sushi place), my first visit to the pool, an unusual trip to the movie theater (I never get around to going) to see Knocked Up (just aiight, nothing to rush out and see), a trip to the Clarendon farmer's market on Saturday morning, and Music and Lyrics on DVD. A fun weekend, all in all!

Damn, Well . . .

Last night Jeffro and I went to the Birchmere to see a much-anticipated show, The Damnwells and Ari Hest. We found out at the last minute about a third opening act, Julian Velard. Initially, I wasn’t thrilled to have two opening acts, but I actually wound up liking Julian’s voice quite a bit. I wouldn’t say he was commercial or pop enough for me to actually purchase his music (sorry, Julian) but he has an absolutely wonderful voice that made me want to keep listening. I would describe his voice as Jeffro did of Melinda Doolittle on American Idol, like warm chocolate, velvety. I would liken his voice to Lou Rawls, for the few of you who might remember him from “You’ll Never Find” or “Lady Love” back in the 70s. Listen for yourself and see what you think.

Ari Hest was quite good as well, and his band was outstanding. Ari's voice had a bit of vocal effect on it, which probably isn't needed since he's got a fine voice that doesn't need crazy vocal production. Frequently, I thought Ari’s voice sounded like a non-country version of Mark Miller from Sawyer Brown. His bass player sang harmony vocals that really made the songs shine, and his guitarist/steel guitarist sang occasionally as well. There’s nothing I like better than good harmony.

Which leads me to The Damnwells. They are a great band, don’t get me wrong. The lead singer has a great voice, the guitarist/steel guitarist (yes one here too) was superb, and the songs are catchy. I was really looking forward to seeing them cause Jeffro plays their CDs all the time and I’ve gotten to really like them. They put on a great show, however, it was severely lacking in harmony vocals. I found out today that due to a recent change in band members, there was no one to sing backup. But last night I was gravely disappointed and that kind of ruined the experience for me. I kept telling Jeffro I was "crushed." But despite this, and a suddenly very slurring lead singer during the encore, I am still a fan of The Damnwells. They just need to polish up their act to include once again the brilliant harmonies that are so much a part of their recorded songs.

Kiwi Invasion

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. This was a busy week, as they all are, made busier by a visit from friends of mine who have been living in New Zealand (kiwis) for the past couple of years. They originally weren't supposed to stay with me, but at the last minute their plans changed and they asked if they could crash here. It was actually fun having house guests. They were here from Thursday till today and we had some fun times and good eats. Thursday night was another visit back to Cap City and last night we ate at Panjshir II in Vienna, which was really good. Friday night, Jeffro's band, Jeter, played out at Bistro Europa and it was a good show. I just wish I didn't have to leave early, but I did because I had to work all day yesterday. So it's been a busy few days. But this morning I slept in, and all I'm doing today is going out to buy some plants to do a little gardening and keep things fairly low key. The kiwis left this morning and Jeffro is off doing band stuff, so I've got an entire day of peace & quiet. Well, except for my obnoxious dogs, that is, who are insisting that we all go for a walk NOW. Bye!

Birthday Weekend

This Sunday is Jeffro's birthday, and finally a weekend where we are not going out of town. Festivities started last night when we met a friend of mine whose birthday I missed last month at Cap City Brewery in Shirlington. Today we're meeting friends of Jeffro's for dinner (during the day I'm going to Home Depot to get plants for my yard and get a pedicure, yeah!), and tomorrow we're going to the Corcoran Museum (Jeffro's been wanting to see their new modernist exhibit) and to a secret place for lunch.

BTW, I'm STILL sick, going on week 3 or 4 now, I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it's a sinus infection so I finally got some antibiotics, but am not really feeling any good effects from them yet. Unfortunately, when I get an infection like this it usually takes something powerful like Cipro to kill it, but I am trying to hold out hope that this lesser one will work . . .

Idol Slip?

I'm so bummed about the outcome of American Idol tonight . . . Melinda Doolittle was sent home. However, we all got a warning about it from Ryan Seacrest. Was it accidental or not? Before a commercial break he said something like "when we come back, Melinda is going home," supposedly to mean that we were going to see footage of her visit to her home town. Or not? I think he was secretly trying to prepare us, cause as soon as he said it I knew she'd be kicked off. It sucks.

Rear Ended!

This morning driving to the allergist I was rear-ended for no apparent reason. There was a long line of traffic, and I'd been sitting there stopped for quite a while. So it wasn't like a sudden slamming on brakes or anything explainable like that, the woman just didn't feel like using her brakes, apparently. It took me a minute to figure out what happened, and thank God my airbag didn't deploy. There was no damage to my car, but her bumper looked pretty well ruined. So at least there was that. I didn't get her info, cause in the past when I've exchanged info I haven't needed it, but in hindsight I probably should have just in case. Cause now of course my back is hurting a bit.

Jeffro and I leave tomorrow to go to yet another wedding, an Indian wedding like we went to last year. Hopefully it will be a fun time, but I'm freaking out cause I have so much to do at home. I haven't vacuumed in weeks (if you own dogs that's a big deal) and we haven't been grocery shopping in forever. So somehow when we get back we need to do those two very important things or I will indeed lose my mind next week. Hopefully it will be a better week than this one.

And for all you allergy sufferers, there's a new antihistamine nasal spray called Astelin that I've been prescribed, so I'm gonna give it a try. I'll let you know if it's the next miracle drug.

Long Time No Post

Sorry folks, been sick and didn't really feel like posting last week. That was the sickest I've been in 2 years. Very nasty virus or something, and I'm still not feeling 100%. I really thought that I was going to wind up with a sinus infection. I even took Weds off work, but had to go in Thursday and Friday for a conference. So this weekend I tried to get some rest, but had to take my oldest dog to the vet for an ultrasound that I'd put off for a month cause I wasn't home at all in April. The results were better than I expected. Her liver enzymes have been increasing for a while, and we weren't sure why. Now we know:

1. Her gallbladder is messed up, essentially she has a gallstone and suspicious inflamed tissue.
2. Her liver is messed up, she has a nodule and suspicious inflamed tissue.
3. Her adrenal glands are enlarged, which could mean she has Cushing's disease, a disease that humans also get.

The treatment is 3 weeks of antibiotics and then rechecking the blood to see where things are. Of course, this whole ultrasound, etc. set me back almost $600. That was fun. Then I gave the dogs a bath, had a drum lesson, and didn't do much else this weekend.

I'm having a short week at work, thank God, cause I'm just not in the mood right now. I'm taking Friday off to go to a wedding with Jeffro. Of course this means I'll miss Mother's Day and my sister's birthday yet again as I seem to every year. I'm not in a good mood today, but going to a yoga class tonight, so hopefully that will cheer me up or mellow me out. My job is really getting me down.

Trip to MN

Well, my trip to MN was very interesting. Kind of a huge waste of time, work-wise. We left on Tuesday to get things set up for a judging that was taking place on Saturday. There simply wasn't enough work to justify being gone that long and I was pissed cause I've been traveling way too much. We stayed in kind of a crappy part of MN, very industrial. The block we were on had a nice restaurant right next door to Sex World. No, I'm not kidding.

I did have a couple of really nice meals while I was there. I went to Jax, which is apparently a local institution, and had walleye, a fish that is only found near MN. I also had walleye and a great meal at Cafe Brenda, another restaurant that's been around for a long time.

I got together with a friend of mine that I met as a junior in high school and I hadn't seen since. Even though I don't really know her that well, we were never at a lack of conversation, and she took me on a driving tour of some of the local lakes around the city. It was really beautiful, and some of those homes must have cost a pretty penny. As opposed to the cool new lofts they're putting in near Sex World, which were running in the 100s and low 200s. It almost made me want to buy one as an investment and rent it out. I really envied people their lifestyle. A lot of people had an extra home on a lake, or lived right on a lake. Almost made me want to move to MN. But not quite. Too cold.

I didn't get back until last night, and had to work today, so needless to say I'm not very happy about all that. I have a scratchy throat and feel kind of crappy, so I'm trying not to get sick. I am going to a new yoga class at 7:30, and hoping that maybe that will transform my current malady into health. We'll see.

Thursday Night Fun

Jeffro's band, Jeter has a show coming up this Thursday, April 26th at Bistro Europa in Old Town Alexandria. They'll be starting around 9:30 and playing ‘til closing, so come on out with some friends, and get your Thursday on. No cover.

www.myspace.com/jeterband
www.bistro-europa.com

Minnesota Bound

I'm headed to Minnesota for work this week. I'll be gone all damn week and I'm not happy. I hope, at the very least, to get to see the Mall of America, touted as "the largest fully enclosed retail and entertainment complex in the United States." It should be an interesting trip. Have a great week.

Bathroom Done!

My bathroom was finished last Friday, but I had to go straight from work out of town, so I didn't get to see it until yesterday. They did a fabulous job, what an improvement!

Bathroom Pics, Part 2

This is my bathroom under construction.

Vindicated

Can I tell you how proud and gloating I am after my Tuesday night prediction of Sanjaya finally getting kicked off came true? Well, I guess I just did. Outta here until after this weekend . . .

Face the Fat Facts

This cool new site from the American Heart Association explains the fats in your diet and helps you to figure out how much of which ones to eat. What's really great is this fat calculator, where you put in your personal info and get a specific amount of fat grams to shoot for each day. This is the part I always find confusing, trying to remember what percentage of your diet fats should be and how many grams that translates into. This new calculator makes it easy. Just remember, though, just because it says 0 grams of trans fat on the label, doesn't mean there's no trans fat in there. If the amount is less than a certain amount, they don't have to list it on the label, but if you read the ingredient list, you see where they sneak the trans fat in . . .