A New Start

Ladies' Brunch 12/02/07

2008-05-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

On November 30th Irene and Lisa came over to help me put my Christmas decorations. We ate xmas cookies and listened to carols - it was G.T.s. It was all in preparation for the Ladies' Brunch. So much food... it was delicious. Zeljka was amazing! I wasn't feeling well at all and she took over. She cooked and served and everything. The bacon kicked ass. It's been so long so I don't remember all the stars of the menu. Bailleys and hot chocolate or coffee. Yum - that was good! I had such a great time, and I loved seeing everyone. I hope to make it an annual thing. What better way to kick off Christmas? Ladies, booze in the a.m., and eating for hours. Oh ya - we wore PJs! Well, only 6 or 7 of us actually wore them, but we were comfy. Here are some pics:

Return of the Blog

2008-05-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Since my hospital stay I've decided to try to blog again. The only reason I quit was because I started spending so much time in hospital and when I was out, everything hurt or I was sick. It was total bullshit. So here's a recap of what's been going on recently: I'm off chemo - they say it makes me too sick. I'm not on any kind of treatment right now. I'm trying to get walking again - I've been stuck in bed for over a month. I'm going berzerker. I also need babysitters when Al is at work - good thing I have the best friends in the world! They have a schedule worked out where they come over once a week to watch me and make dinner. Oh, and empty my pee bags. I have problems with my kidneys now, so I have tubes running out of my kidneys that drain into bags. Since I'm stuck in bed, Al and I have been having "Lost" marathons. I love this show - right now we're on season 3. Al's birthday was last week and I bought him a GPS. My cousins had one and it looked so cool I had to get one. It's effin fun, I can't wait to get in the car. You can have celebrity voices tell you where to go - like droopy dog (that's only funny to me and Lisa). OK this pen sucks so I'm done. Al's going to type this up for me.
The next blog is going to be about the ladies brunch I had back in December. I went to the hospital the next day, so I couldn't write about it or put up pics. See ya.

Bing Bing Blog

2008-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning. I just got out of a week long stay at the luxurious Toronto General. Amenities included tv/phone, free drugs, remote control bed, and nurse service 24/7. Activities included CAT scans, being pricked 100 times for an IV line, and having a brand new tube and bag inserted into my kidney. My most favourite feature, though, had to be Bing Bing Bong. All day, all night "Bing Bing Bong". Man what a catchy tune. Al tried to record it, but unfortunately a picture will have to suffice.

PMH Update

2007-12-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

hi there,
since al is so wonderful, he has offered to update the blog for me while i'm away.
so no news yet. there was plans for a surgery but it doesn't look like it can happen so they're "racking their brains" trying to figure something else out. i really hope they do soon cuz i'm going to go loco up in here. it's day 2 and i'm so bored. i'm really happy about all my visitors though, my mom even came up!!
here's a couple of pics of what i've been up to:
eating french fries

reading magazines

getting a constant supply of dilaudid

the drugs are definitely taking the edge off of the pain. and even though i only sleep for a couple of hours at a time, they are deep sleeps. i even remembered a dream i had. yesterday i had watched tyra and it was about spotting couture fakes. so in my dream, i was in the audience at that same taping, and tyra was talking about how the biggest culprit right now is an Yves Saint Laurent counterfeiter. then she went on about how buying fakes contributes to street crime etc. but then she started praising the person who was responsible for these ysl fakes and said the tyra show apprehended her and here she is... "yves saint lauraunt" kay!
then aunt kay rolls out in her black slacks and white blouse and was doing her aunt kay-isms "oh god love ya anyway" "uh huh, uh huh, yup" and the audience was eating it up. so was i, i thought it was freakin hilarious.
anyways, my eyes are crossing from the drugs and al needs to get home so i'm done for now. there's a small chance that i can get the internet in my room, hopefully i'll find out soon.
'night.

be back soon....

2007-12-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

well they are hospitalizing me. i go in tomorrow morning and i may not get out until monday. im nervous but i know its for the best. i have things ive been wanting to post about but ive been way to sore and tired. when i get back im going to blog the heck out of this thing. its going to be a blog o topia.

good night.

sigh.

2007-11-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

originally i said i didnt want to use this blog to complain or post anything negative, but things have been so hard lately i have nothing else to post about. i cant go out, i cant leave the bed/couch. its really starting to affect me mentally. not only am in in constant discomfort and pain but now i just feel like im going crazy. and i just found out that i cant get into see the doctor till the 5th of december. i dont know what im going to do for the next week. im afraid. and i start chemo on the 3rd. i really wanted to have this last bit of time to myself, to feel strong and do what i wanted to do before the chemo starts. and i was under the impression that i needed this appointment before the chemo, just in case i needed surgery. i really hate feeling like i have to suffer because other people drop the ball. like basically my whole experience at this hospital. this appointment was supposed to be set up last week. clearly they forgot and wouldnt have called me if al and i hadnt hounded everyone that works there yesterday. i dont know how im going to do this, another week of living like this. i was just hoping i could get an appointment so they could give me some tips on how to get relief. i shouldnt complain im sure there are a ton of people going through much worse than me. i just feel like im having more time stolen from me. its not fair. i spend at least 3/4s of my day in the bathroom. the rest of the time im waiting to have to go to the bathroom, or in pain.
im going to try to think of positive things. we are ordering swiss chalet for dinner. theres a new gossip girl on tonight. fonzie is so cute, she knows im sick so she has been following me around and acting like a guard cat. she wont leave my side, its so adorable. ummm. thats about it.
im also very thirsty. im drinking fluids, but obviously that doesnt help my constant leaking situation. but if i stop im worried about my kidneys since theres only one good working one.
well i have to go back to the bathroom. sorry for being a drag. hopefully my next post wont suck.

say what?

2007-11-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

sorry i havent been blogging this week, ive been feeling like total shit. im going to d o a big one later, i already have some saved in a draft.

see you tonight!

look below me!!

'keepin it brief 'aka '6 oreo cookies down'

2007-11-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

i started this blog and a bunch of crap got erased for some reason. so ill try to re write.
mostly i was trying to say i dont have much to write about because of this stupid bladder issue. its so uncomfortable and awful. a urologist was supposed to call me to make an appt and no one has. i tried to call them on friday and was passed around to a bunch of people and then i got one nurse who laughed and said 'ha, good luck trying on a friday, everyone leaves early on a friday.' oh, im sorry, i thought i was calling a hospital not an elementary school. anyways i have to call them first thing tomorrow and get on their asses.

im going to have to do two things so i can keep this brief. the first is im going to try to remember and write things starting today and going backwards. the second is im going to write beside the pictures like a slide show because i couldnt upload them in a proper order.
so today al and i went to ikea to get our christmas decorations. they look pretty nice i cant wait to put them up. the ladies brunch is going to look so nice, i really hope that this bladder thing doesnt get in the way of anything.
yesterday i didnt leave the house, and didnt have the baking party alex and i had planned. she came over though which is still gt's and i hadnt seen her in like two weeks. Lisa came over too, we ate junk food and watched every episode of season two of the sarah silverman show. H-I -Larious. we also had a debate about what it takes to make a marriage successful, and what the right steps in a relationship to take are, to make sure its going to last. it was interesting, because were all a little different which is a good thing. its nice that we all bring a little something different to the table but still respect what the other has to say. because really, none of us have any idea what were talking about, all we can do is base what we know on life experiences. and that doesnt make us experts in anyway. if someone knew the answers to what makes a marriage successful, theyd be rich as all get out and no one would get divorced.
friday al and i ordered in and watched The brothers solomon. its got Gob from arrested development in it. it was pretty funny. like a 6.5 our of 10.
Hey im watching the Girls Next Door right now, one of my fave shows, and McLovin from superbad is on it right now with Bridget. hilarious.
anyways, the rest of the week is a blur. stupid bladder. had a couple of hospital appointments. didnt do much at night. the weekend before was very eventful, went to the states and had an awesome time. here's the slide show....

ok, these werent done on the weekend, i think it was tuesday night maybe. They are called grasshopper cupcakes. chocolate cake, with a york peppermint patty in the center, with a mint buttercream frosting. deeelish. to quote al 'these are the best cupcakes ever'.

Heres al ordering at mighty taco. wowee. this place was interesting. that big guy is the manager, he yelled out the word 'retard' while al was ordering. and hes wearing sunglasses.

this is what i though of their mighty taco.

however, i didnt think so badly of their fountain pop and roastidos.

for the first time in her life, lisa couldnt finish a plate of nachos. her name of weiner con queso might have to be revoked.

this was when i first got my order, i was so unsure....

this was als order. i cant remember what he got but hes written all about it in his mighty taco group that he moderates on facebook. al and his friends used to travel over the river every week to get this shit.

als in heaven here

i bet the employees at tops here this 'hey mam im at taps' a billion times a day from us hilarious canadians.

they have the best junk food in the states. for example, chubby hubby ice cream. my favorite. you cant get it in canada for some reason. its vanilla with a fudge ripple, with chocolate covered, peanut butter filled pretzels scattered throughout.

'hey mam, im at taps!'

heres me at target trying to make some very important decisions

lisa and i preparing for the changerooms

we love to shop!!

al loves to pose!!

lisa loves to smile!!

i spent all my money here. on some really cute dresses.

well i guess thats it for pictures. i guess im done for now.
when i was a kid i thought that the stars of all my favorite shows sang the theme song. i really wish this were true. well it was in one exception. alan thicke sang the growing pains theme song. he also composed the wheel of fortune theme as well as diff'nt strokes and facts of life.
if i had my own sitcom i would insist on singing the theme song.

angry

2007-11-19T12:07:00.000-08:00

so it could have been worse. although they only checked the 'provisional mri' since the final results werent ready yet. im not sure why they brought me in if they didnt have results. so i had blood work done and gave a urine sample, and then they gave me some results. the tumor so far doesnt look too much different then before. so thats fairly good news, although im going to be starting chemo anyways in two weeks. im ok with that. what im not ok with is the fact that one of my kidneys isnt working and theres urine in my pelvis and they arent sure that can be fixed. this urine is constantly leaking out of me, my bladder isnt working. im wearing diapers and feel the urgency to pee and its very uncomfortable and gross. this could be the rest of my life. im not sure i can handle that. im sure ill feel better later, but right now i feel like things are just really unfair and i dont see any sort of light at the end.

anyways ill post something more fun later,about our trip 'over the river'.

blergh

2007-11-17T16:43:00.000-08:00

im still not feeling so great. im at my parents so im not going to post a for real blog. i just showered and then im going to lay down for the night. i dont know if its withdrawl or what, but going off this steroid is effing with me in the worst way. im so uncomfortable and my bladder is screwed up.
i just felt i need to post something to say that ill have a real blog up soon,and to never ever rent I know who killed me. its a steaming pile of crap. its not lohans fault. although shes no meryl streep. its the messiest directing i think ive ever seen and it seems like there was a lot of effort put into the stripping scenes and zero in crucuial plot developments, character development etc. stupid blue roses pop up everywheere for no reason. she gets this crazy robot hand, as if you would just get an awesome robot hand in a public american hospital. rotten tomatoes gave it a 5% fresh rating

ok im going to go put my leg up and hope i fall asleep early.

brb

2007-11-16T04:54:00.000-08:00

sorry for the lack of blog - im not feeling well. i wont get into it but weaning myself off of this one painkiller is totally screwing with me. hopefully it gets better today.ill let you know....

2007-11-13T09:20:00.001-08:00

ive realized that i talk about food a lot in here. im comfortable with that. i really like food, and eating the food. especially treats.
so today at the chop i saw these strawberry milkshake oreos and had to buy them. theyre so cute! the insides are pink, it looked like a party in a box. i dont even eat oreos! i only ever ate them at aunt kay and uncle dons when i was little. so i bought a box and theyre pretty good. they are most enjoyable when you split it open and lick out the center.

On the weekend i was talking about one of the essential books i need to get started on my chocolate making, and Bruce had it. he gave it to me! god hes the nicest man. im so glad zeljka is with him. hes so good to people and so kind. this book has everything in it, from the history and origins of chocolate to some mouth watering recipes. i cant wait to get started. i need to buy a few supplies, i wish i could wait till christmas and get them as gifts but i really want to get started because i have some really good ideas. i still need to think about packaging and logos and names etc.

This week blows, so many appointments at the hospital. yesterday was my CT scan which was quick and easy. i got some pictures of my princess margaret makeover in the changeroom.
Before....yuck!

after...hawt stuff!

Today was a meeting with the pain clinic. not only is the steroid im on making me look like a damn chipmunk, but its affecting my leg muscles. apparently it makes muscles deteriorate and then moves on to the bones and makes them brittle. this makes sense since i cant get out of a chair or stand up from a crouching position with out pushing with my arms. so im getting weaned off quicker then i was before. im not taking any of it tonight so hopefully ill be able to sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is my mri, me lying in a machine for an hour. then monday is results day. im not gonna lie, im nervous for it. everyday i inch closer to results, and i can handle them telling me i need treatment, and id love to hear that its stable, but i have this fear that theyre gonna surprise me with some bad news. ah well, we shall see very soon.
so al and i wanted to make homemade pesto, we loved the stuff that adrienne brought us from italy so much we wanted to re create it. well, no one in the city had basil. there were no pine nuts. it was so frustrating. we drove all over hells half acre and wound up in roncesvalles spending ten bucks on friggin basil. and it wasnt like this basil grew out of some blessed ground or anything. the two types of cheese - parmigiann regigano and pecorino - came to about 15 bucks, we couldnt buy the pine nuts or walnuts in bulk so those were about 8 bucks. thank god we had garlic and e v o o already. then we got home and the food processor was being a dick. it got done. and it was actually pretty darn good. so we have a bunch left and im trying to figure out what else i can make with pesto, maybe chicken? if you have suggestions please leave them for me. also, i think itll keep for a week or something, but can i freeze it?
heres me finally finding the basil...

and heres the yummy fettucine with pesto...

ok i think i posed some questions in my previous entry. who is called skidmark? basically either one of the cats. whichever one decides to leave a skidmark right outside the litter box. and sometimes al calls me skid mark. it started saturday morning when i brought up the subject, i cant remember why but the word kept making me laugh really hard. and the concept, like who actually leaves skidmarks? is it from not wiping? or maybe its from sharting? (a fart that is a little bit o' shit). anyways it makes me laugh.
who gave my mom a black eye? if you were going to say derek then think again. she was trying to get a book from the rafters and it fell right on her eye and it broke skin and everything. since menopause ive gotten a lot clumsier, and certain days are worse than other. mom, i think you might be entering the big M, because man you were Kutzy Van Stumbledon this weekend.
my dads senility, well i could post a whole other blog about this. hahaahha. but seriously. he shaved his goatee off and no one noticed and he got his knickers in a knot about it. but the way he brought it up was weird. we were talking about a serious car crash and he starts yelling 'no one said anything to me' and we were like wtf? who said what? then finally mom figured out what he was saying, no one had commented on his new look. what a weirdo.
i think that was it.
i think the last thing i wanted to talk about was how awesome gossip girl is. its like season 1 O.C. good. i hope it stays this way, unlike the O.C.

ok i keep passing out again. im out.

long time no blog

2007-11-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

i dont even know where to start its been so long, i kinda just want to skip to friday so i will.
i went to work for a pizza lunch. i paid two dollars for the united way and this allowed me to wear my pyjamas. it was fun. i got to visit a lot of people and eat luke warm pizza. i stayed for a couple of hours and then went home and baked some kick ass chocolate chip cookies. it was the best batch ive made so far. then al and i drove home to st.catharines and went to jack asstors for dinner. it was sooo good. and thats just because i love the garlic bread so much. and the vanilla cola. i had a pasta chicken dish it was so so. but the garlic bread ooooohhhhh the garlic bread. im drooling right now. i wish i had more room in my stomach, i had to take some home and share it with derek.
look at how shiny the butter makes it!!

the next day me, aunt jodi, mom and courtney went over the river (the states for those of you who arent from niagara) to git me a bridesmaids dress for courtneys wedding in august. tried on a few, but settled on one that was perfect for me. its a line with a bow so its comfy, covers up my pouch, and makes me new boobs look nice. new as in a grew them back from gaining wait, i didnt have to pay for them. see for yourself! and theres a couple others from the trip too.
im wearing a guns and roses shirt here.

courtney and i went nuts in this avondale type store cuz of all the weird flavors of chips and chocolate bars.
later that day i discovered i love turkey chilli that has no spice or heat and really small beans. my mom made it and it was wonderful. so now i cant say im afraid to eat chilli.
al fell asleep with some cats on him

later on we went to zeljka and bruces new house. it was fun , and we got to meet fonzy and furleys brothers - shmoo and big foot. heres some pics - check out how friggin big they are, like seriously at least twice the size of our babies.

Sunday mom and i made gingerbread chai cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. theyre pretty good, except next time im doubling all the spices.

we also had roast beef and yorkshire pudding that night, and it was of course amazing. heres a pic of the yorkshire - everyone was saying 'look at the size of them' and 'i cant believe how big those things are' as my mom holds a pan up in front of each boob.i thought it was funny. shes not used to hearing stuff like that and having it pertain to food.

im falling asleep. the rest of sunday and monday update are going to have to wait till tomorrow.
good night.

long time no bog

2007-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

2007-11-12T08:36:00.001-08:00

Whats that big kitty? you want me to update my blog? ok ok. Im going to have to do it later tonight because i have a CT scan this afternoon.
I havent blogged in a week, whats wrong with me? i just keep falling asleep at the computer when i go to update. tonight though, my plan is to blog before the hills comes on.
not much to write about though, last week was a slow week. had jewellery class, ive been pushing myself more physically and around the house, so ive been a bit more uncomfortable at night, friday we went home to st.catharines. tonight ill answer the following questions; who has the new nickname 'skidmark'? who gave my mom a black eye? should i have added more spice to my cupcakes? does my dad still have a goatee and possibly the early signs of senility? did i find a bridesmaids dress? all these answers and more in a mere few hours.

looking forward....

2007-11-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

first of all, it might sound like my mornings are really lame, but i really look forward to breakfast. its the breakfast of champions and it consists of the following -

i love reese peanut butter puffs. and ever since i became a sugar junkie its been my new breakfast of choice. i used to eat organic yogurt and bananas when i worked, i need to get back to that kind of breakfast....eventually. i just love the pb puffs so much. second of all, im not an iced tea fan but i love love love pom's passion peach iced white tea. its so effing delish. thirdly i love moonbeam coffee. this is nothing new, ive been drinking it for a couple of years now, they serve it at the cafe near work and in kensington market, its a local (i think) organic coffee. Since we just recently bought a coffee maker al picked up some grinds so we can have it at home. its wonderful. we went to ikea today to look for some shelves/movable counters and coffee canisters. al's all about coffee right now. he wants a grinder so we can buy beans, he bought some canisters to store the beans and the grinds in, and when we buy the shelving unit (that wont be in for a few days) were going to display the coffee maker and all the other coffee accoutrements he winds up buying on it. i told him we need to get a poster like this for the kitchen;
hahahahhahahahahahahaahhahaa.

im looking forward to the cavalli collection at h&m but holy shit am i excited for the erin fetherston collection at target. the line is so adorable and affordable and were going november 18th for the launch. al gets to go to mighty taco. i get to go to target. i think were going to tops and also walden galleria. Heres a couple of pics from the erin fetherston line.

are there any newish bands with male vocalists that are good right now? it just seems like everything i listen to has a female or several female vocalists. maybe thats just what i prefer? but i used to like bands with boys. i still like listening to guy bands from 2 years and onwards ago. can anyone recommend any bands? my itunes house cleaning playlist looks like this -

the pipettes, dragonette, mia, feist, amy winehouse and lily allen. its all very good, but any suggestions would be appreciated.

movies, im looking forward to a movie thats coming out in january. Be kind, rewind. good goddamn this looks hilarious. i was guffawing in the theatre when i saw the trailer. it stars jack black and mos def. they run a video rental store and their tapes get magnatized. they cant afford to order new movies so they re shoot everything like ghostbusters. heres the trailer.

ooh and finally im really looking forward to the ladies brunch. invitations go out this week. its going to rage. or not rage but be nice and christmassy and cozy - cuz were gonna wear pjs. and i found some awesome decorations at ikea today so the living room is going to look great. i cant wait to hear what everyone plans on bringing.

im going to need to wear some loose pants, thats why i am suggesting we wear pjs. and it will be like christmas morning but with booze, more food and no presents.

goodnight.

2007-11-05T08:24:00.000-08:00

whoa its been a while. after it gets to be too many days it feels overwhelming to write anything so this might be short.
friday morning al and i bought a coffee maker. yup, a brand new delonghi. she sits on our kitchen table. al bought a thermos today so he can set the timer at night and have coffee made in the morning and bring it to work. we bought it with our zellers gift card that we got as a wedding gift.
that night i went to milestones for lisas celebratory dinner (for quitting le shiteau). apparently it was also her five year anniversary and guess what her gift was? a 50 dollar gift card to her own store. thats 83 cents for every month she worked there. i really dont know why she wants to leave but whatevs to each her own. anywas i had a creamy pesto pasta with chicken and it was great but i couldnt finish it. i also ordered a glass of wine and it tasted good but halfway through i had to stop drinking it. it was just too much, it hurt kind of and i got really sleepy. it just wasnt worth it. so i gave it a good home, lisas stomach. here are some pics of everyone at the dinner...including some plastic animals that came with everyones drinks.

the reason theres a bill with a spoon and the word 'fettucine' on it is because we had an awful waitress. she walked up to me and put a spoon in front of my face and said 'fettucine' in the most dead pan of ways, i looked at her confused and she rolled her eyes and said 'you ordered the fettucine?!?!'. obviously im the idiot for not knowing how to react to a spoon in the face.

after the dinner we went to chapters because there was a news report saying that they were charging the american prices. thats a huge deal! so of course after we picked out our books they informed us that the press release was wrong. bait and switch! so i only bought one book, because they gave me 10 percent off. I bought the Moosewood 'new classics' cook book. there are some good recipes in it, and after this halloween season i really need to eat as many veggies as possible (its a vegetarian cook book).
On saturday we had our big trip to barrie. the car ride was stressful, and it was mostly due to me not knowing how to work my ipod. luckily harry is a smart man and he reset it for me. i couldnt get it to play and then it mysteriously disappeared in the car. seriously we looked everywhere and couldnt find it. finally al pulled over somewhere to use the bathroom and i got out of the car and opened both doors and searched everywhere and found it, it slid between the door and my seat.
anna and harry have a beautiful home. it gave me domestic pains. and they have my dream bathroom with a bathtub with jets! so nice. harry did a great job finishing the basement/family room. and theres a cute little nursery for the two little boys anna is hauling around in her belly. we had the greatest lunch i wish i took pics of it. one of my fave things - quesadillas - and a yummy mango salsa. and then the tarts came out, which were really picture worthy but i forgot i had a camera untill we left. there were four and we ate them all - peppermint patty, snickers, raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, and apple cinnamon walnut with a pastry cream. we got them at queen of tarts in roncesvalles. i love that place. so we stayed for a few hours and then i got super hot and loopy. my menopause is in full effect so im going through some weird shit. so we left and spent an hour at the zehrs. what a saturday night!!! we stocked up on halloween candy and i got milk so i could make kraft dinner when we got home. it was a good night, when we got home we just ate dinner and chilled out. heres a pic of anna, harry, shanty and the babies in the belly. and zehrs!!!!!

we went to bed early so we could rest up for the greatest brunch know to man. in toronto anyways.
the hot house brunch was effing incredible. i ate soooo much. and not only do they have every breakfast food imagineable, they put out lunch items too, like my fave pastas! man alive, and the quality of food was so good, and there was live jazz and the coffee was good too, although it should have been included in the price. heres some pics of satisfied brunchers...

Lisa - the eating failure

The Ferrante sisters - eating champs holding the prestigious silver fork awards.

afterwards, alex lisa and i walked around bay and bloor area and saw lars and the real girl. it was soooo good. i laughed a lot, teared up a bit too. it was well done, except i found that the ending could have been a tiny bit tighter. i enjoyed the ending, it just seemed as though the pacing really changed at the end, as if they were editing it and a producer came in and was like 'youre only getting 20 more minutes of screen time so wrap it up'. like maybe a little bit of story was sacrificed, or missing at least? otherwise, i really recommend seeing it.

i also bought a sweet touque. there was a snag so i got a discount. here it is....

it looks pretty cute in real life. heres a picture of what alex thought it was going to look like. i put it on the wrong way when we left the store and she was trying her hardest to pretend to not hate it but her face kind of gave her thoughts away. then i caught a reflection of myself in the mirror and was like 'whoa i look retarded'. then i explained to her that i had it on wrong and she was relieved.

ok im going to make a pb and banana sandwich this friggin blog took forever to write. and im going to go cuddle furley she might have ear mites :(

c'est l'halloween

2007-11-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

i brought chocolate to class last night, making me the most popular kid in school. the teacher brought in weird hippy candies that she gave out to some kids. i contributed some of my good chocolate to her fruit candy that she was handing out. there were some cute kids that came by the studio, but they were mostly lame. first of all, the past couple of years ive noticed that parents are either lazy or cheap because the kids that i see have the worst costumes. like putting cat ears and a black t shirt on a kid is not a costume. any ways these stupid older kids kept showing up too. if youre older you better try waaay harder at looking good otherwise im not giving you a damn thing. the only older kid that was cool was this weirdo in all blue spandex and swimming goggles and we asked what he was and he said 'extreme 90's dude'. that was pretty awesome.
class was good, we learned how to make silver rings. it was kind of difficult only because im scared of all the machines. my ring turned out ok though. and it looks like the stuff well be learning in the next few weeks are going to be really cool. i ate like 20 mini chocolates just now i dont feel so awesome. i could eat more but id probably barf. but i want them so bad i just love chocolate so much.
sarah silverman is so hilariously awful. on her show tonight, her moms dead body was stolen and assaulted and to get money for a new tombstone adn revenge on the necrophiliac she enters a cookie baking contest thats hosted by a transvestite. its great.
i missed ugly betty tonight because this sweet treehugger came by wanting to talk about genetically modified foods and emissions from landfills and the effects on our health etc. oh ya she was from greenpeace not just some random girl. we talked for like a half hour then i pledged ten dollars a month. were going to get a monthly magazine and she gave me another book thats supposed to be informative.
speaking of organic whathaveyous, we bought a coffee maker today which means we can make moonbeam organic coffee aka the grrrreatest coffee in the whole entire world. i can NOT wait for tomorrow to dip in to that delicious hot bev.
tomorrow is lisas last day of work celebration dinner. woohoo! then saturday we are going to visit harry and anna in barrie and sunday is the big brunch. what a weekend.
the cats have been whackadoo for a few days now, they are jumping all over everything and its like they are 20 times more curious then ever. al even had to kick them out last night because they were jumping all over us. maybe its the weather.
i need to shower. heres a pic of me on my way to class. i think its funny because im holding a giant box of chocolates and passed a bunch of trick or treaters and didnt give them any.

chocolate overdose

2007-10-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

i never thought id say that i have had too much chocolate, but im thisclose to exploding with delicious cocoa mass and milk solids. I had my introduction to chocolate class tonight and it was a lot of fun. The main thing that we learned was how to temper chocolate, which is kind of like getting the chocolate to the right consistency so you can dip things into it or make bars and barks etc. i made a bunch of chocolate dipped strawberries and barks. They were so good, we still have some barks left with coconut and cranberries, caramel bits, and rice krispies. i ate a couple of the strawberries and sent the rest with al to work and apparently everyone really liked them. I forgot to take pictures of everything i made but lets pretend they looked like this...

they kind of did, i made some drizzle on them. but i used milk and dark chocolate, not that white crap. The truffle class is full until january but i plan on taking that one as well, and then there is a sugars class that deals with brittles and toffee and caramel etc. and theres also a molds and decorating class. i think they are all in jan/feb. so is that cake decorating course. im going to get so fat.

yesterday my mom came up for a visit, it was fun. We went for coffee, and then hung out at home for a bit. We headed out to college street and shopped around bought some homemade pesto, some treats for al and soup for me. Went to american apparel and mom bought me the cutest hot pink dress and i bought b&w polkadot leggings to go with it. I also think it will look cute over top of some ripped up jeans. i dont know how to put rips in my jeans though. anyone?
we at lunch at bar italia and holy crap in a hat it was good. We had a gorgonzola mushroom crustini appetizer and we both had a steak sandwich with portabello mushrooms, red onions and garlic mayo. so good. afterwards we went to the eatons center to get a hand mixer but they were too expensive. so we got some xmas ornaments instead. dad got an awesome wrath of khan ornament, mom got an i love lucy one and i got a mother daughter mitten set. then my leg felt like it was made of cement and i hurt a whole lot so we came home to order dinner. al came home for dinner too which was nice. he also drove my mom to the terminal which was nice. he also drove her back to my apartment after realizing she read the schedule wrong and her bus wasnt untill 11. oh mommy. it was her first time, the next time will go off without a hitch.
didnt we look nice for our day out?

So today al and i took a walk to starbucks through graffiti alley (which was part of the resurface project). He got some great pictures and an especially great one of us kissing. i know some of you are like ew puke but whatever i like the picture.

so tomorrow is halloween and its the first year of my whole life where i havent celebrated at all. well there was matts bday, but there was no magic hill, no canadas wonderland, and i cant even hand out candy or do anything tomorrow because of my jewelry class. which im excited to go to but how will i make things halloweeny? i was going to bring in chocolate, but i eat candy everyday so its not special. maybe ill bake tomorrow and bring that in. and ill get home at like 930 and then itll be too late to do anything. :(
oh and ill leave you with this. Not only is my face super puffy, but im growing hair. yup, a beard. al pointed it out and i saw it in the bathroom today. so big cheeks, plus fur. what does that mean? it means im turning into eleanor chipette.
Shes the blonde one, obviously.

brunch, birthdays, and two scary hotel rooms

2007-10-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

ok, first order of business. We watched two scary movies this weekend. Friday night we watched Vacancy. It was total garbage. Al and i were trying to think of a new tagline like 'Vacan-dontsee this film' or 'the real vacancies were in the theatres'. Nothing worked. Anyways, my biggest complaint about this movie was that the writing and directing and everything else was lazy and hackneyed. They didnt even bother trying to explain things that really didnt need explaining but usually get explained anyways like as a courtesy to the viewer. The innkeeper was creepy in the beginning and turned out to be one of the killers but you dont know why he is the way he is. same with the too helpful gas station attendant who is another killer, and then theres a third guy that came out of no where. are they all related? most of the time the answer would be yes, and usually a little inbred too. but they didnt really get into it. kate beckinsale and luke wilson fought non stop, because they were seperated but havent told anyone, and its because their kid died of course but thats about all we heard about the kid that it was dead. and you could pretty much guess that they were one of those couples in a movie that were fighting because they have a dead kid. anyways by the end of the movie they are back in love. surprise. its funny how that happenes too because luke wilson gets the shit stabbed out of him and then falls wound first on to the ground for whats probably 3-4 hours. he seems dead but when his estranged wife weeps over him and kisses him he springs to life. and then it pans out like as if something was going to happen like one killer wasnt quite dead either, and then it ends. thats it. it was only 72 minutes long.
On sunday we watched 1408. this was much better. I read the short story a while ago and it scared the begeebus out of me. the movie was almost as creepy. john cusack was good and there wasnt any blood or gore but still managed to be a really good horror movie. there was another dead kid subplot but not as annoying as the first one. sam jackson was really good too. i recommend this film,so im not going to give away anything like i did in the first review.
saturday morning i had breakfast with the ladies alex and lisa. went to if, havent been there in like a year. so good. had pumpkin spiced pancakes and super good coffee.

we look like a commercial!

then al and i went to the duff aka hell on earth....

we got our costume stuff finally and headed home.

i made some gingerbread bloody brain cookies for matts bday....
they were really yummy. and fit in nicely with all the other delicious treats kat made. im still craving skor bite blondies.
the party was a good time. al and i were posh and becks. his costume was amazing, he actually found a proper jersey and shorts combo. my wig was horrendous, but at least my costume worked when i stood beside al. and i got to buy a new dress at h&m which was pretty sweet, posh needs new dresses.
matt was supposed to be dumpy super man but im going to say he was superman in various states of undress. he tried to tell me he wasnt drunk. then tonight i got a text saying he forgot about the bottle of jagermeister he drank, so ya he actually was a little drunk. the pictures will do the talking. some honorable mentions go to miss piggy, lindsay blowhan, peg bundy, betty boop and jewish jeff.

my leg feels like its made of cement and furly is cuddled up in the cutest way so im going to try to sleep.

scones and sushi

2007-10-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

today i made starbucks style pumpkin scones. it was pretty easy, im not sure how they measure up though. i think theyre pretty good and so does al.we quickly split one before we left for matts bday dinner. and i couldnt get it to look the same, like the icing i drizzled over the scone just ran into the plain icing. im not sure how to make it thicker/harder.

so we brought matt to 'sushi inn' in yorkville for his bday dinner. it was so good. its affordable and great quality. i had california rolls, shitake udon and sushi pizza. im so incredibly full. the best part was the shitake udon, so warm and hearty and healthy. id like to make it at home someday, it'd be perfect indoors when its raining and cold out. al had some spicy roll and a bento box and couldnt get into the pizza. neither could i. it tasted really good but it was too damn much. matt also got a bento box, and some roll but i cant remember which kind. it was very enjoyable.

i love this one of matt. his stomach is saying me want food.

when is fashion week over? i dont think im going to a show this year. this eps. of ER takes place at fashion week, i guess i can pretend that im at a show.
im quitting cheese nips cold turkey. i need to start somewhere, and they really arent necessary, like half a box a day.
ok im going to bed i fell asleep, as usual, writing this. i fall asleep sitting up but iill lay there with my mind racing.

oh heres a ps - who watched those baby videos??? you have to watch people, its hilarious. i saw two babies out today i wanted to shove lemons in their mouths so badly. its funny but its adorable too, just trust me.

babies eating sour stuff

2007-10-25T05:30:00.001-07:00

this is funny shit. lisa or mo, can i give the babies some sour keys and video tape it?
ok this first one is kinda long and annoying because you hear a lot of the mommy infantilizing the thing

here are the rest. hilarious. hey mom you should give matteo some lemons and tape it.

smile please

what the hell is it eating?

i want a Hawaiian baby

little old man baby

wait till the end...

i love how he thinks hes going to win agains the lemon

if al and i ever adopt and theres an online application im just going to upload all these videos under the 'reasons youd like to adopt' section

i would have made him eat more

hahah pickle

bloated

2007-10-24T21:19:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of class. I can tell im really gonna enjoy it. however tonight lisa and i were having body issues. i was just sore from all the up and down, and she had the cramps. we also werent able to finish our projects, we were too slow so well finish up next week. Also, we had to to a lot of sawing, like A LOT of sawing, and i broke at least 5 of the blades i needed to saw with. the piece im making is an ice cream cone, and lisa is doing a mushroom. they wont be turned in to anything,, it was just to get practise with metal working, drilling, sawing, soldering etc. right now were at the soldering stage, i think we got half way through it. we put the silver pieces on the backings and torched it and put it in this weird liquid.. then we washed it. i wanted to take more pictures but i think she really wanted to close up shop so i only got one, when lisa and i were waiting for al to get us. i said 'make a face that expresses how you feel about your work' and the above photo is what we got.
also, i got a message saying i can get into that introductory to chocolate class so im really happy about that. its the day before halloween. oh and bummer, we have jewelery class on halloween. i really wanted to hang out eat pizza and watch a scary movie, but now there isnt much i can do that halloweeny. ill have to think of something or ill be sad.
so i think al and i are going to dress as posh and becks for halloween/matts bday. gt's! itll be fairly simple. too bad im not as thin as i was a month ago it'd be perf.
oh speaking of that, i gained ten kg's in a month. thats a lot in case you couldnt do the math. ive got to slow the weight train waaaay down. also, my doctor pointed out my puffiness/bloated face today. ive got to call the clinic about this. The hospital was awesome today, i waited for an hour and a half for a 5 minute appointment. Ah well, i should be thankful everytime i leave there with good news or no news, and no pain. and no visits to the blood lab. Afterwards i got a latte to reward myself for all waiting and bullcrap.
al and i decided to get a dominion pizza for dinner, which normally is pretty awesome. they have the freshest ingredients because, you know, theyre fresh obsessed. well today i decided to call in early to place the order, and said wed be by at four thirty to pick it up. basically, it seems as though they just made the pizza when i called and left it for two hours. this shit was not fresh, and some of als toppings were traipsing all over my good stuff. so i called in to complain, hoping ill get a free pizza out of this. i asked for the manager and was on hold for the length of a really bad song, and a fleetwood mac song. then some dim witted teenager anwered and said 'maybe the four o clock shift didnt get the message about the pizza' and then i said 'it would never have gotten made then' and then she told me i should have drove it back which is total bullshit then i said 'so i shouldnt call things in early because they wont be fresh' and she said 'uh well no, i dont know, maybe it depends on who's working'. it was unbelievable. so i asked her if she was really the manager and she said no just customer service. so i told her i was going to call back in the morning. now i have a story to tell as well. i better be compensated for this pizza dammit!! They cant claim to be fresh obsessed and then serve up shit pizza.
well thats it for today. oh and another thing happened, i got really mad at furley because she was purposely disobeying me, i think, and i felt bad about it all night. were ok now, but i was sad.
and who watches diffrent strokes? i didnt realize how arnold drummond was king of the one liners. its like his whole dialogue, one liners and quips. its not that cute. but its still funny.
bye.

2 FOR 1

2007-10-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

FURLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! isnt this the cutest picture in the whole world? if you said yes youre wrong because theres a few on the camera still that might be as cute but i just liked this one the best.
its been a low key couple of days, hence the no post yesterday. i wanted to go for a nice walk by the waterfront cuz it was so freaking hot but dinner ran really late and my peg leg is driving me nuts.
i made a recipe from the recipe exchange, chicken stuffed with apples and almonds. it was pretty good but needed some extra kick. i think id use cider instead of apple juice for the sauce next time. heres a pic al took of his dinns and me making salad.....

after dinner we just lazed around, then i watched the hills. spencer is the most despicable human i wish heidi would grow some balls and leave him. i think he somehow hypnotizes her using one if his gigantic white teeth. teeth arent supposed to be that white. i swear he wants to keep her barefoot and pregnant but forgets the part of that scenario where the husband also works.
today was a bit more eventful. the leg is still very much peg like and painful but im taking an extra pill so hopefully that will give me some relief. i met kat at starbucks and had the best psl of the season. i had given up on them, especially from the dovercourt location.
if i were a man i would try so hard to make giada di laurentis my wife. shes beautiful, successful and maybe one of the greatest chefs on the food network. and the niece of dino di laurentis.
i passed out during her prep work, woke up to eat and passed out again.
i think im gonna go with it and try to go to bed now.
xoxo
oh wait - if youre looking to waste a good half hour heres some shoe porn - - http://www.shopstyle.com/action/browse?cat=1&fl=b959#266_0
its a collection of christian louboutin shoes. aaahhhhhhgggdhdhgdhhdd.

and heres me enjoying another love of mine - miniature chocolate bars

sunday

2007-10-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

i didnt get my scone. thats ok, ill make up for it next weekend. i knew theyd be sold out. its so popular, why dont they make more? why is it you cant get a scone past 10:30 am?
anyway i met up with mel around noon for a coffee at starbucks, and then headed to her apartment. its really cute! she has an awesome chaise/couch thing and i liked posing on it. i tried to do a george costanza pose but al said it looks nothing like GC.

I tried to get a boudoir photo of mel, but it was really bright in her room and i didnt know how to turn the flash off yadda yadda, so i was taking the picture in the dark and i couldnt see to frame up - anyways i think this one turned out ok, and then i tried to get one of the two of us....

we came back to my house for a little bit, but then mel had to head out.
al and i decided to go to 'stolen riches', its a new sneaker store on queen that looks like an art gallery but for shoes. then we walked around queen st. because it was so beautiful out. i finally went inside the sanko (japanese) store. it was pretty cute and we bought delicious pocky its almond crunch flavored. remember that scene in the grudge where the one woman goes grocery shopping for the first time in japan and shes so overwhelmed by how different the culture is and the packaging of everything? it kind of looks like that store. its mostly very cute. we forgot the camera at home so we had to use my cell phone -
and what a day to forget the camera! it was the zombie walk. at first i just saw one kid covered in blood and i was like wtf that poor kid! but then i realized what was going on. i took some pretty crappy photos and deleted them, i saved this one though.

we had the pesto from italy again, and we finished it all. i dont know what were going to do! either adrienne has to send us more or we need to book our flight soon and stock up on the stuff. so delish. we also got caught up on our gossip girl. i mean...i did and al watched basket ball...yup cuz he doesnt like gossip girl.
i saw a trailer yesterday for a film called Juno. it's the new michael cera film and that young girl from hard candy - shes so good i hope she gets nominated for something important. I think this movie looks really really good -

i also think the new ryan gosling movie looks pretty awesome

there havent been many movies out lately that ive cared to go see, but i think ill try to see these two in the theatre.
i start my jewelery class this week and im so excited, if thought up a few designs for charms already although i dont know if well be making charms. if we cast any molds i guess i have some ideas. i wish i knew how to sew, i feel like i always have good ideas and then i feel handicapped because i dont have the skills to do anything about it. it feels like i dont know how to use my hands or something, i dont know if that makes sense. anyways. sex and the city is on and its the season where trey and charlotte separate and aidan and carrie are engaged and i havent seen this season 5 or 6 times yet so i going to go watch it.

alexs bday take two

2007-10-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

tonight was the perfect bday date!
we went to a place called caren's wine and cheese bar
it was so nice. the staff were very friendly and the decor was really sleek. we split a fondue to start, it basically could have been a meal. it was so decadent and we went through two baskets of bread.

Alex had the stilton stuffed burger with potato gratin and i had wild mushroom risotto. Neither of us could finish our meal, not even half so we d.b'd it. lunch tomorrow! but goddamn was the risotto good, so creamy and flavorful. and it looked nice too.

i love alexs eyes, so hesitant, she gave that burger a good go but in the end the burger won.

this one is pretty, and take a look at my fancy juice. the waitress didnt want me to just have boring water so she made up a white cranberry/pineapple mix for me.

we took some fancy shots around yorkville while we were trying to walk off our meal before the movie.

oh yeah the movie. it was great. apparently people are not liking the newest wes anderson film "the darjeeling ltd". so much. I think people just have a problem with auteurs. The movie is great. Its probably going to come second to royal tennenbaums for me. it was very emotional and as alex said, full of symbolism. it was very wes andersonish - the soundtrack, composition, pacing, and so on. ill never get tired of his style. and his writing (and owen wilsons AND jason schartzmans) writing was very strong. Id recommend this film to anyone, W.A. fan or not.

So i took public transit for the first time in months today. like at least 6 months. it still sucks!
but you cant tell here, were trying to make the subway look fun...
heres alex and her fave feline, the fonz... and then another of alex leaving. My internet was down and it got scary for awhile, luckily al was able to tell me how to fix it and tragedy was averted.
now its way to late. im meeting mel for coffee and hopefully scones in the morning. pumpkin scooooonesss.
im not feeling so hot, my bad leg has been acting up since ive been weaning myself off the one drug. i hope it gets better because i dont want this bloating anymore. anyways, i gotsta get to bed. im out like trout.

diabetty

2007-10-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

i wont even get into the amount of sugar i just ate. i mean i could throw everything in the garbage and get rid of all the sweets we have in the house, but i feel like that would be so wrong and that i should put it all in my stomach. but then i want to barf. i guess one day soon we'll go back to having just a moderate amount of treats and i wont feel so bad. like one chocolate bar a day is good, but one plus a cookie plus fudge etc. is like sugar suicide. like sugacide.
tyra banks is one of the dumbest personalities on tv. shes actually must smarter on next top model when she acts like a robot. i watch her talk show everyday because i cant believe what comes out of her mouth. today she was talking about cell phone technology and then said 'its like out of an old sci fi movie'. once she also asked barack obama if her and her mama can have a sleepover in the lincoln bedroom.
furley has been my little shadow all day its the greatest thing. she walks beside me and lays beside me and does her little squeak meow and weve been playing fetch all day. and when i was sleeping she rubbed her little face all over mine.
someone just texted and its 1230. who could it be? Lisa! she says 'strokes'.
Irene and i went to terronis for dinner today, we ordered the pizza i love with gorgonzola and pears and walnuts yadda yadda. im not totally sure but i think that i make it better. we also split some anti pasta platter it was satisfying. im still not totally sold on terronis. theres like only one or two things on the menu that i like.
then we went to lisas house and hung out before she went dancing with work friends. it was fun but ive been kinda sore tonight so i had to head home a bit early. but not before lisa and i showed off our hot legs.......

aww its lionel glitchie. and above here somewhere is lisa showing off her huge 1950's boobs, because thats what it looked like in real life but the flash from the camera somehow ruined the effect.

So i literally passed out on my computer last night. i woke up to me uploading a picture of irene and i was like 'wtf' so i just moved my computer to the side and thats all i remember. i just got up to pee (its 5am) and was like 'why was i dreaming of irenes face' and then i remembered this post. alex has already commented, i was happy!
back to bed, oh and the cats were sleeping beside me and when woke up i thought they were al :(

eleven hours

2007-10-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

I slept for eleven hours last night. sort of.
Candice came over after work to meet the kitties before we went out for dinner. then we went to the rhino to eat, ive never seen it so busy there. I decided to eat a burger, not thinking about the fact that i may or may not have eaten burgers a few days this week. why? whats wrong with me? so the burger was delish, i had sauteed mushrooms and onions on it, and cheddar. Candice took care of dinner and also brought me a book 'Crazy sexy cancer tips', written by kris carr (she made the documentary for TLC). It was very sweet and i had a great time, it was so nice to catch up with her. So after dinner we came back here, i pawned off some sweets on her and she went home. I came into bed to watch tv and start to blog and holy crap - i could not keep my eyes open. it was like i was going into a red meat coma or something. Then I started to feel really crampy and nauseas. I think that my body had a hard time digesting the onions or something because i did not want to move or anything. So basically i passed out at 10 and woke up at 11 realizing i missed the new sarah silverman - who my mom refers to as alicia silverstone - and was bummed. so i went back to bed until midnight when i had to take some pills. then i slept on and off till 9am. I havent slept more than 5 hours a night in weeks and weeks. i hope the same thing happens tonight, i need to be rested for my date with alex tomorrow. Tonight im going out with Irene to terronis, and then to lisas house to celebrate a little something that i wont mention yet. ok, here are a few pics from yesterday....

Ya I know theres a lot of just me posing, i was trying out wearing a head scarf and i dont know how i feel about it. Al took some pictures to i could look at it and figure out if i liked it. i still dont know. all i know is, i look like a man in that picture with candice and she looks like a cute california blonde.

yup im off to clean the spare room. I have to turn it back in to a bedroom instead of making it a 'floordrobe'.

quick one

2007-10-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

ya, today was a little boring. got up crazy early and watched project runway canada with iman. shes stunning. i kinda wish i went to school for fashion design. ah well, hopefully what lisa and i get into will be enough for me to feel like im being 'fashiony'. speaking of fashiony, does anyone know how to get involved with fashion week? id just like to go to a show or something, maybe dress up a little. fun! if anyone has the deets please let me know.
im not sure if ive mentioned the fall recipe exchange that andrea allen got me involved in....but i lovesss it. except for the 57 nacho dip recipes. there are a few gems in the bunch that make it all worth while. like this florentine frittata.....

Florentine Frittata

1 tbsp butter
2 lg garlic cloves minced
10oz bag baby spinach
1/2 teas each of salt, ground black pepper
1/4 teas ground nutmeg
8 eggs
2 cups grated swiss or gruyere cheese
3 green onions thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350
Generously oil 9 inch glass pie plate. Melt butter in a large frying pan (medium high heat) Add garlic and spinach. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir often until spinach is wilted (about 2 min) Remove from heat.
In a large bowl whisk eggs. Stir in cheese, onion and hot spinach. Pour into prepared pie plate, then stir to distribute ingredients evenly. Bake until top is golden and puffy (30-35 min) Serve hot or at room temperature with a little sour cream or salsa if you wish. Enjoy

It was soooooo good. Al did a little dance and said it was fucking incredible. I love when i cook something that he enjoys. It may be high in fat content but its also high in protein and various other good things. i dont know, iron? calcium? anyways its effing good and was really easy to make. up next, chicken stuffed with apples and almonds - im looking your way.

alex and i have decided to have a baking night, lisa and i will have craft night and alex and i will have baking night, but like id really want to get into some creative baking, perhaps even with truffles etc. im so happy with life right now, and its so funny how a year or two i would make fun of my future self. it happens. life changes. make it for the better always. my only regret, is that i cant incorporate wine into these things. one day when im off the meds - bam! im cracking open a bottle of chardonnay and cracking out the springform pans.

alex is buying me fancy cheeses on saturday, i might have to make out with her in return. a girl only turns 28 twice!

ok for real im off to bed. i have a plan - wake up when al leaves (like i have a choice) make a yummy tea and start that miranda july book. lets see what happens.

xoxox

me and matt: best buds and burgers

2007-10-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight was my date with matt. It was really nice. we went to chehosky's on queen. We both ordered burgers made with jack daniels and split some fries with bacon gravy. good god damn it was good. the burger melted in my mouth. it was so nice to have one on one time with matt again. we havent done it in so long, i missed him. i hope we do it again and more often. hes like my brother and its hard when i go so long without quality time with him. weve been like peas and carrots since we were fourteen years old. i think its lame when people say guys and girls cant be just friends because weve never even entertained the idea of anything else. weve been through everything together, weve been each others prom date three times, weve been roommates, a lot of great times and some pretty hard ones. weve always been there for each other, hes always been there when it counts and has helped me out of some tough spots. i kind of picture us always being neighbors, and even living in the same retirement community. if i were a rich woman i would make sure we had condos next to each other in miami. hopefully al and kat are ok with retiring in florida. i think matt and i will suit being really old - hell mumble a lot and ill yell at him to speak up and well bicker about who won at mahjong and sometimes hell forget to put pants on because hes a little senile and kat will get mad at him but ill laugh and take pictures and put them up for the rest of the retirement community to see. no i wont do that, too mean. we will have coffee together every morning though. al will want a top of the line coffee/espresso maker so matt can come to our place in the mornings.
anyways, enough about old people. here are some pics.

this is after matt looked at the bill and realized i ordered and ate two lobsters while he was in the bathroom.

we walked back to matt and kats afterwards. we made a stop at the nutty chocolatier where i bought maple aaandd pumpkin fudge. i wasnt at kats for very long, al came to get me shortly after i got there. kat and i did have a discussion about weight loss and boob size, hence the fondling shot.

heres me and the fonze. shes welcoming me home.

what the hell should be for halloween? i mean, halloween night im not going out, just handing out candy - or eating most of it, ordering pizza and watching scary movies with whoever is interested. but on the 27th its matts spooktacular bday party. i think i want to be bloody and gross. but thats as far as ive gotten.
ok im going to try to sleep now. i was super tired from the burger, like i was going to go into a meat coma, but now im pretty awake. hopefully the gossip blogs are on fire with some big britney or lohan news. i hope its lohan, shes my fave.

babies

2007-10-16T06:50:00.001-07:00

I love them so much. Ive had cats before, and Ive loved them all but these cats are different. I dont know if its because I cant have babies or what, but they really are my little babies. I feel like Al and I are real parents and we are a real family. Cats can count as children, right? I kinda think theyre better than children. Look how effing beautiful they are!!! And they are so smart, Furley knows how to play fetch, like a dog. Shes really good at it too. And she talks to me, if she wants me to move so she has room on the bed, or if the lap top is in her way, she'll look at me and squeak and look at wherever the problem is. And this morning Fonzie didnt want me to sleep anymore, and i think she could tell i was only half sleeping, and she started tapping me on the arm. shes done that before, tap on something to get my attention. theeeeen, this morning al told me they didnt have food in their bowl so to feed them when i woke up. so i thought, ill get up around 930 and feed them. well they got too hungry, found a bag of temptations treats, and brought the bag into me, and dropped it off right at my face so i can feed them a treat. They are without a doubt the smartest cats that ever lived. And they have had the cute turned up to 11 for the past few days. i dont know why, but i dont ever want it to end. sooooooo cuddly, especially my furley girl. she freaking loves me, shes such a mommies girl and i love it. Its funny, because i feel like ive been getting closer with my mom over the past short while and i dont know if its from me getting married or if its because now i understand what its like to have a love for a daughter so i can relate to her more. that sounds pretty ghey but who knows?
i wonder if i dressed them up in a costume for every month and made a calender if anyone would buy it. hell i would, how could u pass up something so awesome? i bet lisa would too. maybe ill take some cheesecake shots for her boy cats, i can make them a kitty playboy or something.
ok, im going to go eat some peanut butter puffs. then i neeeeeeed to work on more thank you cards, and then id like to try to put a significant dent in the spare room but we'll see about that. the real reason is i have a pair of black tights and a pair of shorts with blue and black plaid and id like to try to find them to pair them up with these black heels that have blue flecks on them and a black sweater. Matt is taking me on a date tonight im so excited. i want to look nice.
ill let you know how it goes tonight! im also going to go give my babies 1000 kisses.

lorazapam

2007-10-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

i took half of one and ive already fallen asleep sitting up and drooling. this is a good thing. last night i slept for maybe 5 hours and felt like total shit for most of the day. i was going to try to sleep in a bit after al went to work but my nurse came super early. then it was like 10am so i figured i should just stay up and eat two bowls of reeses peanut butter puffs and wait for the deeeelish coffee al brings me at 11ish and brightens my damn day.
most of the day was spent responding to emails, and then i made chocolate chip cookies from scratch for the first time. they were/are pretty great, pat me on the back. al enjoyed them too, he said he wanted to come home to the smell of baking. soo obviously i obliged, seeing as im a housewife now.
i finally got to go to forever 21 today. i only looked on the first floor, apparently the second is more up my alley but there were too many stairs. i bought super cute accessories to try to jazz up my wedding dress so it doesnt look like my wedding dress anymore.
got some arbys at the food court - beef and cheddar for 5,99 holla! then we just came home.
kind of uneventful but a nice night for me, i love the weather lately too. i cant believe i dont have a single pic to put up today. ill try to make up for it tomorrow.
i keep passing out, i gotsta say goodnight for now. i may post in the am.
xo

retro birthday bash

2007-10-14T21:18:00.001-07:00

This is going to be mostly pictures, because i don't have a lot to say. Except that it was one of the best parties ever thrown. The decorations and food were perfect. Andrea and Lisa were so helpful, i don't think i could have done it without them. As for the food, we had swedish meatballs, pigs in a blanket, a jello mold (ew), deviled eggs, cocktail skewers with olives, pickles, cheese and pepperoni (my gramma would be proud of me), cheese fondue, crab elegante, assorted nuts, a pastel candy tray, cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, haunted chocolate from little poland or something, a sparkling fruit punch, alex's signature drink - the ukranian hula girl, and pink elephant popcorn. We decorated the living room with jewel toned balloons, streamers, magazines and movie posters from the 1950's, a little lounge-y bar area with a neon martini lamp and confetti. I think the best decorations were the serving dishes that andrea and lisa brought. they were very cute, as you will soon see.
Alex had a great time, so i am very happy. I had a blast planning the party and i really wanted her to feel special, because she means so much to me. I wish i could plan parties for all my girls. Maybe i will, maybe i should budget for a party for each girl. Lisa has gotten one already, so either shes next or i take the next 8 months planning irenes!
Id have to say the best part of the night was when we roasted alex. there are a lot of good alex stories floating around, i kind of wished we had scripted it. I love a good roast, i wouldnt mind being roasted, especially if sulu was doing the roasting.
Im very happy with the the guests that came as well. I always love seeing jeremy and gord, it doesnt happen very often any more and i think it should. and andrea gerson came in from montreal! amazing, shes the cutest thing around and so much fun. i wish shed move here f'reals. I cant believe that her and andrea allen had never met before, im glad the party was also bringing people together, how magical. Andrea allen cracks me up, i hope to hang out with her more. and shes quite the style maven.
im listening to the klaxons, undecided if i like them. and trying to eat some cheese nips very very quietly so the crunching doesnt wake al up. i think they are giving me chest pains.
I wish that i had oodles of cash, id just plan party after party.
Ok get ready for the picture parade, im going to try to put them in order from the set up in the beginning to the mess we left until this morning.

Fun Food Friday

2007-10-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

(me posing for al)

im so tired to im going to try to make this a quick one.
I had a really great day. I woke up a bit early to clean a bit before Priya came over. I made us some croissants (thank you pilsbury) and got ready. Priya showed up bearing gifts! I scored a sweet brandon walsh key chain, some tea with anti oxidants, a chocolate and caramel covered apple, and she made a really good quacamole. We had yogurt with granola and berries and bananas and i had 2 TWO coffees today so i felt so jittery. The first coffee was wonderful, Al brings me moonbeam coffee every day and its the highlight of my afternoon.
Lucky for Priya and I, it was a What not to Wear marathon - its unbelievable how some people dress. i wonder how many people are fakers. id fake it. like i should get alex and lisa to nominate me and for the 3 weeks leading up to the 'surprise attack' with stacy and clinton i could totally dress like a dirty hippy or something and not wash my hair, all they need to do is take one look at my bedroom and theyll believe im a total slob and throw the 5 grand at me, and maybe even give me porcelain veneers. what a dream come true that would be. These lovely ladies know what to wear.......
Priya is sporting her David Lee Roth shirt, because she was on her way to the Van Halen concert. Lucky girl!

After she left i rested a bit and then met lisa to pick up some more party decorations for tomorrow. Tomorrows gonna 'rage' as they say in laguna. Then we met up with Alex and Chelsea for dinner at Bar Italia. I liked the atmosphere and the food was good, i would consider going back there, the only complaint i had was that our waitress was a total bitch. we didnt drink booze or anything so maybe she just figured we werent going to be tipping big or something? anyways she didnt have to be such a damn skeeze.
Chelsea, Alex and I ordered the same think. I forget what its called but it had a yummy marsala sauce with bell peppers, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and something else i cant remember. it looked like this....

Heres some shots of the ladies, and one of Lisa acting very lady like. She sure loves her pasta!
chelsea was try to hold the candle under her chin all spooky like but she kept blowing out the flame. the waiter that kept relighting it found it amusing, i think.

Alex came back to the house afterwards and we worked on our new rap project....

Then she left to go to a party. Ive fallen asleep 5 times trying to write this so i think im going to wrap it up. Weve got a big day tomorrow, setting up for the party!
oh one more thing, im definitely weening myself of that dexamethasone. I cant sleep, i eat waaaay too much and my face has decided to balloon up. my nurse said its time to get off the drug, i just hope that its not too hard because that pill really helped with some pain. but i dont want a chipmunk face - SEE!!!!!

back to school, back to school.....

2007-10-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a jewelery making course today! im so excited to be a student again. Even if its only for 8 weeks. Lisa is taking the course with me too. It is supposed to start Jan. 9th but were trying to get in for the october 24th course. Ill find out tomorrow if we can get into that one. Thatd be amazing, especially since i know im not on treatment for the next 8 weeks. It looks like we'd learn a lot:

week #1: First evening: working with copper-safety, drilling, sawing, soldering.
week #2: Making a band ring out of silver (stamp, hammer finish, roller print, etc.)
week #3:working with wax create pieces w/the lost wax technique
week #4: Finishing wax projects, cleaning up castings> cuttlebone casting (finish up models) week #5: bezel settings, tube settings, alternative settings for found objects, clean-up castings week #6: forming & findings (ear wires, pin backs, pendants), married metals, riveting, etching on copper or brass
week #7: make another piece incorporating techniques from the course.
week #8: finish up projects

No experience necessary!
Register online, at the studio or over the phone with Visa, Mastercard or Debit.

And from there they offer all these other kinds of workshops so you can always be upgrading. I think that we'd be really good at it. Al is very very supportive of me doing it too. And this will be good for business, and Lisa has her cards and Id like to take some more courses in other crafty areas. Were going to have plenty to sell on our site, plus the shirts were going to design, i cant wait. Maybe one day, like maybe by the time were thirty we can have our own little store. Life would be so sweet.

So the cats are basically insane now. Does that happen once theyve been fixed? Fonzie actually ran out the back door and headed towards a fence. Al had to throw down the groceries and pounce on her to catch her. I would die of heartbreak if i lost her. Theyve also been getting into all sorts of trouble around the house. Heres a picture of Furley desperately trying to get into my jelly beans.
it was pretty cute to watch. there are teeth marks all over the container. im surprised she couldnt figure out how to open it, maybe she was just using it like a shake toy, cuz it made cool noises and stuff. shes so damn cute.

thursday is now the night of a thousand laughs. 30 rock was hilarious as usual - but most hilarious was Tracy Jordans Werewolf Barmitzvah - i cant seem to find it on you tube but when i do that baby is going up here. The office followed, i caught bits and pieces but Dwight was convinced that the new computer system was alive. Then the Sarah Silverman show premiered tonight. sometimes shes so funny i cant even watch her. it hurts my body too much to laugh that hard. shes just so awful, awfully hilarious!!!
you know in that commercial for 30 days of night where the young girl is scared and says 'oh god' and the vampire looks at her confused and says 'no god'? that gives me the hibbidy jibbidies in the worst way. Im glad they are running ads for the Darjeeling ltd. too. I can not wait to see that, ive been waiting so long for wes andersons newest film. i just hope that i can make it through. i will have my trusty ass donut so i should be ok.

ok, i think im going to try to go to bed. it hasnt been that exciting of a day. I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork for the disability people today, which was stressful. I hope that i can be off for at least a few more months or more. Im enjoying being a little housewife right now, believe it or not. Just having a break is nice, and being able to do things that i want to do like take classes etc. i also ate waaaaay too many chocolates today and though i was going to explode, but what else is new. the new diet is slowly but surely being put into effect. better foods, less sugar. it shouldnt be that hard, its how i used to live before i got all messed up.
ok im falling asleep while typing. good night all, try not to think of the most recent brit brit crotch shot (from two days ago) http://img3.imagehaven.net/img.php?id=GO8IHC5ZTZ_britney_nopantiesagain_big.jpg

I bet it sings now! "I want my baby back baby back baby back. I want my baby back baby back BRITNEYSSSSSS baby back kids" I added the extra s's because i bet it hisses a little bit.

xo
cheryl

Heaven in a jar

2007-10-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

Today I bought this..... Al and i had to go to the Danforth to get some party supplies for saturday, and we stopped in this store that has hundreds of types of hot sauces. Als dream come true and my worst nightmare. Anyways, the lady at the counter must have read my mind because she called me over and handed me a spoon with this white stuff on it and i almost died it was so good. Cheesecake in a jar, what a great idea! i could do so much with this. I was thinking about spreading it on graham crackers and maybe topping it with chocolate chips. You could just dip fruit in it too. You could also put it on toast with jelly. The possibilities are endless. I might save it for the christmas ladies brunch and dish it out then.
The party supply store was fun, they had everything. I wish we owned a home, i would decorate the crap out of it for halloween and proceed to scare the crap out of all the children.
we also went to licks for dinner, nature burgers rule.
today wasnt as productive as i had hoped. I got some things done. Oh, like calling canada post and complaining about one of their disgruntled employees. The guys downstairs have a separate entrance around back in the alley. Couriers always miss this so i have to point it out and usually its no problem. This friggen guy, who looked like he was in fall out boy or something, fought me about where he was dropping off the package. he told me it wasnt his job to search for their apartment. apparently its mine? then he was like 'fine im just going to leave it here' and goes to toss it on the porch. he was such a baby so i said its not that big a deal give me the package so he did and i still have to deliver it. So i called customer services and she seemed to take a lot of notes so who knows. i dont want to get anyone fired but he was such a prick to me i kinda dont care what happens to him.
Im listening to the Dragonette album, its ok so far. There are a few slow jams that im not sure if i like, maybe because i was expecting it to be a hundred percent fast styles. i really miss dancing, i hope i can do it again soon.
My friday has filled up fast! Im making a light brunch for priya and i, and then after lisa and i meet up for some party business were meeting with chelsea for dinner.
Then on monday candice is coming over to meet the kitties and were heading out somewhere too.
ok im trying to go to bed early tonight, early being 1 am. heres hoping.
xo
cheryl

the party squad

2007-10-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

well i wanted to get up early and get a head start on things today but i was up untill 4 so no dice. i got up around ten and then rosa my nurse came by. after she left al came home for lunch with my coffee. my fave part of the day - i get to hang out with al and drink the greatest coffee around. i could seriously make out with this coffee its so effing good. After al left i worked on some thank you card business, nothing too exciting. i need to get addresses for some people, it may take a while.
the girls were being cute as hell today. Furley was all over me, she followed me around and squeaked at me all day. she even let me pick her up a bunch of times, and she cuddled a lot with me. shes mommy's little girl.
Fonzie was nothing to sneeze at either (unless youre allergic, HA!). She was flipping and flopping all over the bed, she even fell off when al was petting her. Theyre probably the cutest cats that have ever existed. and smart too. furley is a champ at playing fetch, shell drop her ball right off in my lap.

I made a delish dinner too. im trying to re evaluate the diet because im gaining weight at a rapid pace. and its been a long time since ive been able to cook and i miss it. My sister in law Adrienne brought us this pesto from milan so i made fettucine with pesto. it was sooooo good. we also made Cesar salad. i wanted sweet stuff, more specifically i wanted the halloween mix of jelly beans (black, orange, and yellow) but as per usual the chop disappointed. I will never understand why so many people are opposed to black jelly beans. it invokes such a strong reaction in people and they usually make the puke noise. Its my favorite whats the deal? i think i like it so much because when i was little one of my fave treats were black babies - only they were called something a bit worse than that at the time. i was allowed ten after dinner, that was my dessert. things were always counted out for me. i also would get smarties, i think i had more than ten though. i should really start measuring again, as im well on my way to eating a whole box of cheese nips. back to the chop story.... so i bought straight up jelly beans and jube jubes. I thought the party committee needed some sweets but surprisingly lisa got nachos. andrea opted for the hickory smoked almonds. i wish i had opted for nothing because the jelly beans were tearing my insides apart.
I think this party is going to be great, we got a lot of stuff organized and weve got some pretty good ideas regarding the appetizers and decor. Tomorrow al and i are going to the danforth for some shopping. friday after work lisa and i might head out as well. i was able to get some shots of the committee hard at work...

as you can see, we did a lot of looking at pictures and writing things down. This party is gonna be a rager.
a fly just tried to get up my nose. ok im going to try to go to bed now, its only 1am!! wish me luck.

two posts in one

2007-10-08T22:48:00.001-07:00

theres a fly terrorizing me. i dont know if im going to be able to sleep with this asshole buzzing around. and its almost 2am.
well, ive got a lot of pictures to put up! lets start.
first off, here's the finished product from all of our hard work on saturday night...

Personalized gingerbread men!! my faves were valerie, because of her purple glasses and kobe bryant jersey, and my brother with his beard and bowtie, and my dad with his white goatee and hawaiin shirt. They were very delicious also. In addition to these we made pumpkin spice bars with chocolate chips. Heres a pic from the martha stewart magazine...

I tried to post the link to the recipe but its way too long and it looked all crazy. i just copied and pasted instead.....

Ingredients

Makes 24

2 cups (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.
Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

The desserts were a success. I could eat some right now, and i probably will.

So after some minor emergencies on sunday, we were able to leave for st.catharines. all week i prayed for a cooler day so i could wear my new knit dress from h&m, and i was in luck!!

we picked up some lattes and alex and proceeded to be stuck in traffic for a while. i think it was a two hour car ride home.
Everyone started to show up, Valerie my mother in law, aunt kay, lisa, al...it was a fun group and a really fun day.

The food was great - turkey, mashed and scalloped potatoes, maple glazed carrots, green beans almandine, stuffing and homemade gravy. And of course the deelish desserts. I even had a little bit of champagne that valerie brought over. i have some comparison shots of everyone holding their gingerbread men and the resemblances are uncanny.

after dinner we all hung out in the living room, al was very very very drunk. it was so cute, he never sets out to drink and he seemed to be having a really good time. alex and lisa enjoyed teasing him because hes so afraid of the abyss. i bet you could write some psychoanalysis paper on that. i passed out on the couch for a little bit while al taught irene some guitar. I think lisa and alex continued to drink and i just bagged out on the couch. my two moms were hanging out and having fun, i enjoyed it.

i had a really strong craving for chocolate, apparently my mom bought me a crispy crunch but someone decided that its ok to eat food that mysteriously appears even though it might belong to someone else........so i went without :(
thats ok im turning into the fly (jeff goldblum), im eating so much sugar its a really bad addiction ive got to kick it! First step, not eating peanut butter puffs for breakfast. My breakfast used to be organic yogurt and a banana. Its like ive spiralled out of control, like im slumming it or something. One of my projects for this week is to re evaluate the way al and i have been eating and making dinner plans for every night.

Today was a lazy day, and i slept more that night than i have in weeks it was so great. i wont havae that luck tonight as its 230 and im aiming to get up at 8am. Anyways, we started the day off with breakfast sandwiches from tim hortons - awesome - then al left and alex, mom and i had some coffee and hung out. we eventually went outside - its ridiculously hot eh? like 28 degrees or something? so we hung out by the pool, it was nice except for the effing bee that wanted to get down with alex's drink. he was eventually trapped.

the day continued to be funny because the girls were allowed out of the bedroom and they really took advantage of the freedom. fonzie hissed a lot and furly, well she kind of just hung out on the stairs but it was adorable regardless.
im glad to be home again. the car ride was a little rough on my body, so laying down and reading the new nylon was nice. oh and i also got my crispy crunch. whoot!
im out for the night, hopefully. be back tommorrow!

too sleepy

2007-10-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

i was too sleepy from all of the baking awesomeness last night to post anything so heres my saturday night post.
Yesterday was super busy but a lot of fun. Al and I headed out around 10 am. im going to include a lot of pics in this post.

We originally wanted to go to bonjour brioche in west end, on degrassi street! Its a really great breakfast place with the best croissants in the world - they leave a huge wet spot on the bag the come in from all the butter thats used to make them. However, we got side tracked by starbucks and their pumpkin offerings....
That pumpkin scone is the most kickass scone youll ever order. I got the PSL, my third one this year, and it was kind of disappointing. All 3 of them have been more coffee than pumpkin. I may try another one this morning but the vanilla is tried and true. its too early to be making such an important decision. Anyways, we got starbucks and skipped the nice place. Some other time.
So we headed down the east end to get some baking supplies. We went to the Bulk Barn and wanted to buy everything we saw when we first walked in. They had my favorite flavors of jube jubes and jelly beans - all the halloween colours like black orange and yellow. so good. all the other colours can go to hell. We got some of what we needed, including every colour of icing. I broke the bank on the icing but hopefully the results will be worth it!
Afterwards we went to the brand new canadian tire and shoppers drug mart. We think the whole complex was new, it was really nice and the shoppers drug mart cosmetic counter was like the Bays. As we were leaving we realized that we were really lame. Weve only been married two weeks and were going to grand openings of Shopping complexes. We immediately went out and got wasted and al puked and passed out in front of some old ladies on the lawn of a church as i flashed oncoming traffic. JOKES. we went to queen street instead to regain a little bit of hipness.
We actually went to queen to buy two things: a tripod which al was able to buy, and a big gingerbread man cut out which i was unable to buy because the jerk selling it wanted 23 dollary doos. eff that, i used two dollar cut outs and they look great. or good enough.
Then we were hungry again, so we went to Shanghai Cowgirl and stuffed our faces. I got a burger with cheese and mushrooms and onions and he got a grilled cheese with tomatoes. We took pictures of us eating and mine are awful but he likes them, his favorite is the one where it looks like someone trained chimp to hold a french fry....

I think Al looks cute in these, he disagarees.
We went home and I read my nylon and napped a bit and then got ready for BAKING PARTY: Thanksgiving edition.
I had to make and chill the gingerbread dough beforehand. Preparing it was kind of a nightmare because i didnt know what i was doing and Al tried to help me and sometimes i tend to be difficult in the kitchen if i am doing something for the first time and i get confused. Long story short the dough got made in time for Alex to get there. Al then took off for the Municipal waste show.
Oh the blood sweat and tears alex and i put into these desserts. I expect accolades and applause when these suckers get pulled out after dinner. Alex and I are going to be stars. We were baking till about 1230, the most time consuming thing was decorating the gingerbread men. I cant show you the finished product until after dinner though, its a surprise. We didnt get any shots of the pumpkin spice bars, the are going to be deeelish. Its basically a cookie dough recipe, with pumpkig puree and a shitload of chocolate chips. We got some gingerbread men shots, including one where alex turned into a mad baker and started going after the cats with a rolling pin. jokes! it was staged.

and the finished product will be posted later. but ill tell you this, they look awesome! well, awesome to us because we did the decorating. they actually look like a small child may have worked on them. but theyre going to taste the same either way! So i went to bed around 230 and started this blog around 8 am. Im really sleepy but im too stoked to sleep. I love thanksgiving and i have some shit to do like eat breakfast and paint my nails and shower blah blah blah. So im off.

entry the first

2007-10-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

So i might be overdoing it with the cleaning. i got super sore again doing my room. but i just have all this energy, i want to be a cleaning machine. especially since ive become an eating machine, i need some balance.
speaking of eating....we went to the hot house cafe for dinns tonight. it was deeeelish. i totally forgot it was the garlic festival too. i was in heaven and i bet i smell like whoa. Al, Irene and I ordered the supreme of chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, in a white wine reduction. It came with leek and chive mashed potatoes and market veggies. and to start they served bread with roasted bulbs and butter and cesar salad. Im still full from it. well that and the crispy crunch bits i ate afterwards. Lisa had fussili with garlic and cesar salad and alex had some shrimp and scallop thingy. it all smelled like my dreams. I think were all pretty bloated and gross tonight from the massive amounts of food we ate. My bag is acting up and alex said it sounds like im either popping popcorn or chewing on hard candy. and she thinks that i could use the hard candy thing as an excuse if im out in public.
Heres a photo al took of us after the meal....Alex came back to the house and we watched 28 weeks later, a screening copy matt and kat picked up for me. it was ok. i think i liked the first one better. this one was really choppy and hard on me eyes.
now im just hoping i can go to sleep soon. i doubt it. i hope i do though, i want to get up early and go to riverdale with al tomorrow.
goodnight!

where to start?

2007-10-05T22:07:00.001-07:00

Basically, I have decided to keep a diary. Ive been thinking about it since I had a really shitty doctors apppointment about a month ago. They made it sound like I should give up and die. For some reason, it's like I was waiting for that moment to decide to turn my life around. I left the hospital and bought a bunch of shoes. I emailed my mother and told her to start planning a backyard wedding. And I decided that Im going to be here for a long time, and not only that im going to try to enjoy every minute im lucky enough to be alive. And ya know? Life has been really really good to me. I had the most amazing wedding, to the most amazing man. My radiation treatments went well, my doctors appointments have all been positive and I actually feel confident in their plans for me. Al and I have the opportunity to go to Europe, a life long dream of mine. I feel like ive been strengthening bonds with my close friends, and family and especially my mother. Ive also been shopping for clothes, maybe a little too much but hey wtf? how often do i do that anyways? And maybe Im not done shopping either. But that's another topic altogether.
So anywho, Im going to try to update this thing once a day. Id also like to include at least one picture per day, if I cant find anything interesting to put up I can guarantee you a really cute cat photo. Im not sending this link to too many people, cuz im not sure who's going to care to read it. Feel free to comment or whatevs.
cheryl