Where do I go from here?

I was listening to NPR this afternoon, and they had a really cool story on the radio about six word memoirs.


What would your six word memoir be?

Hey Everyone! Wow, it's gotten a bit dusty in here. How have you all been? You all look fabulous! ;P

I don't really have much to talk about at the moment, but one of my goals this year is to cook more. I have a cute new apron, and I'm going to try making a few recipes from my Joy of Cooking cookbook.

Oh and I want to have an official tea party. With cups and saucers, scones, and tea sandwiches.

It will be awesome.

I recently found a recipe for ham and bean soup that is simple to make and super tasty so I thought I'd share:

Chop and dice a medium sized onion. Saute it in 1 TBSP olive oil in a large pot. Add 1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning and cook til fragrant (about 1 minute). Add the following ingredients:

2 large carrots diced
1/2 a cabbage cored and cut into bit size shreds
12 ounces of diced ham
1 quart chicken broth
1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
2 cans of white northern beans undrained
2 TBSP parsley

Simmer for 15 minutes and serve.
(this can also be easily made in a crockpot)

Happy eating!

My 10 year high school reunion is coming up. Gah! I was looking to see if I had any pictures for the slideshow, and I realized that I didn't really socialize much in high school. I am also finding that everyone I remember from back then seems like a caricature of themselves, because my memories are so hazy. Despite all the time spent in school, how much did we really know ourselves or even each other? I'm a totally different person now than I was then, and I am wondering if that's the case for everyone else?

Last week I experienced one of the truly most rewarding moments at work I've had in a long time. I was helping someone put together a resume because she wants to do volunteer work with children. After it was all finished, she said "I am so proud of this! I guess I never realized all the things that I've done in my life." She was positively glowing! I was blown away by how such a small thing could mean so much to someone else.

My friend and I went to go see the Flaming Lips in Columbus last week, and it was AWESOME! Their stage presence is incredible, and the music is so infectious! Everyone there was super nice and the whole vibe was really fun. People were wearing quirky homemade outfits and animal costumes, there were tons of balloons and confetti, lasers, and the band genuinely seemed to enjoy what they do. I love how one reviewer describes it: "It's like your birthday, christmas, and halloween all rolled into one". Indeed.

Yay for Labor Day!

Huzzah! Three day weekend! Scooter's in the shop, so hopefully it will be up and running soon. *fingers crossed* Now I just have to go get my motorcyle learning permit, so I can ride my hog all over town! 80 miles to the gallon, woot! :D

*Addendum*
Scooter is fixed! New wiring, a replaced gasket, and a new spark plug later, it runs! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

So.....I haven't updated in 2 months! Holy crap. I can totally understand if nobody even checks this blog anymore other than Becky. LoL.

::::I finally bought a scooter. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to start. I suspect the problem is something simple, but being unfamiliar with the mechanics of scooters, and the fact that all the parts are Chinese, we've been unable to figure out what exactly is wrong. We've contacted tech support several times, but all they do is say helpful things like: "The fuel is not getting to your carburetor, buddy." Well no shit Sherlock. I'm planning on taking it to get serviced at a scooter shop nearby, and hopefully it's something simple like faulty wiring or a blocked fuel line.

::::My dad got remarried a couple of weeks ago, and I had mixed feelings about it. To be honest his woman didn't really make such a great impression on me when I first met her, and my family wasn't all that impressed with her either. But my dad seems genuinely happy, and in the end, that's all that really matters. It was certainly an interesting event with jello shots, cornhole, and homemade moonshine concoctions.

I often feel like I don't have much in common with my dad's side of the family, because I'm the only college graduate and have way different interests and tastes than they do. But it ended up being a lot of fun, and I'm going to try and spend more time with them. I've kind of lost contact since I left for college, and everyone made sure to mention how they never see me anymore. Oh and to ask when I'll produce a progeny. *rolls eyes*

::::Eddie and I spent 4 days at a music festival at a privately owned campground, and it was a lot of fun. We met some really cool people, and it was really relaxing to unplug from our phones and computer for a few days. The guy camping next to us looked alot like Ernest Hemingway, so we referred to him as EH all week long.

EH was really nice and brought this huge harp that he played most afternoons and at dusk. It was almost as tall as our car, and EH told us it weighed between 65-70 pounds. As you can imagine, dude was ripped. He laughingly told us "I'm a slave to my instrument. I have to make sure I'm able to carry it around." He played beautiful haunting Irish songs and we would sit in our tent and listen. I can't even begin to tell you how moving it was. We really lucked out camping next to him. One night he invited Eddie to come over and play didgeridoo along with him. It was pretty sweet.

In addition to music, there were events that you could participate in. My favorite one by far was the candle labyrinth. They lined up candles into a maze, and you walked through in quiet contemplation. This isn't an actual photo of the one we walked, but here's a picture to give you an idea of what it looks like:



Very Cool.

::::Our county fair took place recently, and I had never gone until this year. My coworker and I took some of the clients from work, and I got my hand stamped so I could go later in the evening with eddie. We got this fabulous idea that we would get inebriated and walk through all the animal barns for fun. Everything was pretty amusing until we got to the pork barn.

Apparently we had timed our arrival with feeding time, and the pigs were beginning to get riled up and start squealing. And not just passive grunting noises, I mean full out bellowing. So we are walking through this barn, and this cacophony of horrible ear piercing squeals begins. And I'll tell you this; nothing is scarier than hearing the simultaneous shrieking of 30 hungry pigs rising in a deafening crescendo. I couldn't help but grab eddie fearfully and yell "It's like being in hell!" Then we ran out of the barn like a couple of fools. It was pretty funny afterwards, but I couldn't help thinking about bricktop in snatch and all his talk about feeding bodies to his pigs. *shudder*

Well that sums up most of what's happened while I've been away. Now it's off to bed. Goodnight!

good news, typewriters, scooter love, and america fuck yeah!

::::My mom's fiance went to see a specialist last week, and he has been given a clean bill of health! Apparently the docs at Toledo over reacted and while he did suffer a pretty severe concussion, he should be okay in another 6 months! Apparently the aneurysms are not life threatening as the other doc had supposed, so as long as he doesn't fall down again, his brain will heal and he'll be able to go back to work when his family doc gives the okay. Huzzah!

::::I went to a rummage sale the other day and bought this totally sweet vintage smith corona typewriter for $5.




Isn't it the cutest?? I love the brown and green color scheme!

::::The clients decorated our front window at work with a patriotic/4th of July theme. It looks like Uncle Sam ate too many freedom fries after a raucous party and threw up some liberty all over our window. LuLz.

::::I have been pining over the cutest scooter for the last couple of months. It's a 2008 motofino 50QT2. It gets 110 miles to the gallon! Plus it looks kind of vintage which I like, and it's mint green! It's listed for $1500, but I'm hoping to get it for $1300. We'll see what happens.

In summary....

My last 3-4 weeks:

1)My mom's fiance fell and hit his head in their basement, resulting in him being life flighted to St. V's for bleeding in his brain. After a scan, the doctor also discovered aneurysms in his carotid artery on the right and left sides of his brain. So the wedding is postponed, there's going to be a major and highly dangerous surgery, and my mom's a basketcase.
2)One of our clients died unexpectedly.

3)My boss resigned, and there's absolutely no transition plan despite the fact everyone in upper management has known it was coming for months now. Result? A complete clusterfuck situation at work.
4)I went on vacation. Strange meats and copious amounts of booze were consumed, I finally got to go to an Ikea, and experienced all the charms of southern hospitality and culture, North Carolina style.

I had planned on writing a much longer post, but a few days went by and I lost my fervor. So here's some pictures instead:

Bubba's-The epitome of fine Carolinian dining!

Riding the pig at Bubba's!

We also ate at cookout where you can have a hamburger, shake, corndog, and bacon wrap all as one meal:

It's in biblebelt land, but the views were breathtaking.

Speaking of being in the BibleBelt, here's a great sign:

The End!