Saturday Night Conversation

11am. Dave is back from a morning drive with Brig
Dave: Hey - guess what? Our favorite restaurant just opened up a few blocks away!
Carrie: Cafe Rio?
Dave: Pei Wei! We should go there for dinner tonight.
Carrie: Naw, we have all that left over white chicken chili. Let's just eat that.

6pm. Dave and Carrie just returning from a run
Dave: So what are you thinking for dinner tonight?
Carrie: I thought we were going to have chili.
Dave: Oh really? I thought we were going to Pei Wei.
Carrie: Well, it just seems like a waste of money with that delicious chicken chili just waiting for us in the fridge. We can go to Pei Wei another night this week.

6:30pm. Carrie is feeding Brig squash
Dave: So what time are we leaving for Pei Wei?
Carrie: Davvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve...
Dave: It's a Saturday night. We should hit the town as a family.
Carrie: I hate to buy dinner when we have so much food in the fridge...
Dave: But none of that food is Pei Wei spicy chicken.
Carrie: Fine. If it is that important to you, let's just go.

7:00pm. Carrie is putting Brig in his car seat.
Dave: If you don't want to go, we don't have to go.
Carrie: I'm happy to go.
Dave: Because just say the word, and we won't go.
Carrie: We are going!

7:15pm. Carrie and Dave arrive at Pei Wei. There is a giant sign saying the restaurant isn't open for another few days.
Dave: Crap. Is it not open?
Carrie: I don't know - look at all those people in there.
Dave: That is weird
Carrie: It has to be open
Dave: I'm going to go see what is going on...

Dave returns from checking to see if Pei Wei is open
Dave: They aren't open until Monday. But they are "practicing" tonight. They want to know if they can buy us 2 entrees, 2 appetizers, and 2 drinks so their wait staff can practice serving us.
pause
Dave: Is that ok with you?

I will never question Dave again.

If I had to choose...

My friend Rusty has this awesome blog. I visit every few days and cast my votes, often surprised that my views don't line up with the rest of the votes. (Apparently there are a TON of people who would rather have a Barcalounger over an Eames Lounge chair. Unreal.)

After a particularly moving episode of FNL, I forced myself to consider this conundrum. If I had to choose, who would I pick between Tim Riggins and Edward Cullen?




So I ask you, dear readers: Who would YOU choose?

***If you don't care either way, well... then you probably shouldn't be reading this blog.

Best Salad Ever

I've been going through my iPhoto library, trying to clear stuff out since I'm rapidly running out of space. I came across this picture and realized I meant to post about this salad I made almost a full year ago:

It was one of those totally serendipitous moments. I had BBQ chicken left over from a Sunday dinner (made in the crock pot), lettuce, fresh corn on the cob, tomatoes, corn chips, black beans, and if memory serves, monterey jack cheese. I cut the corn off the cobs (we had eaten them the day before too, and had some left over) and topped it all off with this:


If you are lucky enough to live by a Stew Leonard's, I highly recommend picking up some of this dressing. If you don't, I'm really sorry for you. But then you probably live in the West and have access to an awesome indoor rec center, so we're even. Except you're getting fit and I'm eating salad dressing.

Anyway, I'm going to make this salad again... as soon as I see fresh corn for sale!

***As I'm looking closer at this picture, I don't see any black beans. So maybe I didn't have any on hand but they would make it even more delicious, don't you think?

***I also highly recommend placing Legos by whatever you're eating. It will make everything taste better, just because Legos are so awesome.

Things are breaking in NY, too.

Lest Laura feel like she's the only one with bad luck, here's a run down on my past few months.

In December, our boiler broke. The burner was bad, and the coil was shot (don't worry if you have no clue what I'm talking about; neither do I!) and we had to spend around 2 K to get things up and running again. There were quite a few days where we had no heat and no hot water (more like a few months of no hot water. We had lukewarm water... but no hot).

Next it was the dryer. After paying Sears to come fix it, I was told the replacement parts would surpass getting a brand new dryer. So I paid the guy and then ordered a new dryer.

Then our water dispenser stopped working on the fridge. This would have been no big deal, until the Sunday evening jam session when I was sitting at the drums and looked over to realize that we had definite water damage in the basement ceiling and wall. We pulled out the fridge and found out that the water tube had sprung a leak! I got a local company to come and fix it. The tube was repaired but Patrick (the repair man) told me he didn't have the part to fix the water. He also told me the tube to my ice maker was now frozen, because we had turned the water off to the fridge to stop the leak. I had turned the water flow back on, and that evening we had a NEW leak because the water tube popped off the back when water met the frozen ice tube. So currently I have no ice, no filtered water, and no COLD water at my kitchen sink. It's super annoying, but I'm not going to get it fixed until I'm back from my trip, just in case the fridge starts leaking again while we're away.

My hair dryer up and died last week. I had to buy a new one at Target... at least this repair only set me back $25.

Then this morning, I was running and started to smell burning rubber. It doesn't look good:


What else can go wrong? Don't answer that. I don't want to know.

5 years ago today...

Wish I could re-live that day. It was the best.
Love you Dave.

what brig is really doing is waiving "happy birthday" to nana!!!!!

Give me the camera

Mobile - Phase Two

It took just 11 short months after buying this paper to finally fold my cranes! Phase two of Brig's mobile is now complete.



(Phase one of the mobile is shown here.)

Cheeseheads

On Tuesday the fire alarm went off. Of the 4 floors in our building, only one floor evacuated and it was...... the CPA firm. No big deal, we are really slow right now.

The first floor houses the infamous, "large portion serving" , ornate, crowded, and overpriced Cheesecake Factory. A fire in the restaurant set off the alarms and sprinklers; but, NO ONE evacuated. Yep, they just sat there like life was the bees knees and everything was hunky dory. Their food was a bit soggy; but, they knew the value of a dollar in these troubled times.

Given that floors 2 and 4 also didn't evacuate, it was all the CPAs standing outside for 10-15 minutes, tapping our feet as we lost 10-15 minutes of precious billing time.

Today, I ran a quick errand and came back only to be highly annoyed that yet again the back elevator wasn't working. As I walked around front I noticed several Cheesecake factory workers walking by. Then sitting on an outside bench were 3 of my coworkers sipping Starbucks "iced" drinks.

L: "well hello there ladies"
Coworkers: "Hi Miss Laura"
L: "Arghh, the fetching elevator isn't working again" [yes I used the"f" word]
Co's: "Neither is the front one, most of Pearl Street is without power"

Sidenote, their drinks were gratis since Starbucks couldn't provide hot drinks. [Visions of a nationwide power outage like sugar plums were dancing in my head. Ahh, to get back at Starbucks just for a few minutes would be so fun]

So we took the stairs to our floor. It was very strange b/c the network, computers, phones, adding machines, postage meter and fax were all inoperable but some offices had overhead lights and the entire kitchen and appliances were working [go figure]. So for 2 hours we tried to work with pencil and paper. AT this point in my career I can't even add 12 + 14 without an adding machine. You just don't realize how much you rely on electricity until you are without it.

But the best thing was that the entire Cheesecake Factory was empty. ALL had evacuated so I guess wet food and burning to death are okay but eating in the dark is a no go.

Okay, now back to work.

Happy New Year?

As usual, we're a tad late with our New Year's card. This year we're going with email instead of snail mail, but in case I don't have your email address (or don't get around to ever sending it), here you go.




May the force be with you in 2009.
Love, us.

Laura Turns 40!

Unbelievable! Today our darling Laura turns 40... yet she looks not a day over 12. In honor of your special day, Yah Yah, I decided to skip the traditional list making and instead devote my poetry-making skills to honoring you. So I started off with some haiku, tried a limmerick, and I think we'll all be happy I decided to skip writing you a sonnet. Here you go!


Chocolate in the fridge
It looks delicious... calling me
Hands off! It’s Laura’s.

A well deserved massage
Relaxing... then, POP!
That was my sternum.

Laura is running
We see her on Ithaca
And on Broadway, 2 hours later

Watching a movie
Laura is baking again
Turn off the mixer!

A LIMERICK FOR THE LOVELY LAURA

Laura, Laura where do I start?
I’m singing your virtues, but what’s the best part?

You’re kind, you’re loving, you’re generous to a fault.
You also make a delicious Oreo malt.

Your neighbors below, they’re increasingly crazy.
I’m sure that they wish you were a tiny bit lazy.

You run and you run, through the wind and the snow...
And often with several sweatshirts in tow.

You bake the best treats, of that there’s no doubt.
And I bet you could make something tasty of trout.

Always the one to bring the very best gift to a party,
Which makes up for the fact that you probably arrived tardy.

She can sleep like a champ; she can sleep all day long,
And she does a great job playing or singing a song.

She’s fun and gregarious, and an ace question asker.
And when working at night, is a huge multi-tasker.

Her body is tiny but her heart is GIGANTIC,
And I think that her favorite movie might be Titanic.

She’s a lover of fleece, it’s her most favorite fabric...
and she is considered by some to be quite a maverick.

She excels in her callings, others’ love for her abounds.
But her love for everyone doesn’t extend to hounds.

So Laura, for you, in your 40th year...
May the chocolate flow freely, more abundant than beer!

I love you Laura. Thanks for being the WORLD'S best sister, aunt, friend, and running partner (or general partner in crime). Wishing you the best year yet!