That's Neat

So apparently blogspot.com has this cool little glitch that I accidentally happened upon just now. If you make a comment on someones blog, but then hit the 'X' to close the window before first typing and submitting the secret 'garbly-dee-goop' word, your computer FREAKS out. It started opening L's blog (the one I was trying to comment on when I screwed up) over and over in new windows, one after another. By the time I was able to hit ctrl+alt+del and override the darn thing it had opened in 18 different windows! Yowzer!

Be warned, fellow commenters!

First Book Club Mtg!

So L and I went to our first book club meeting, and I loved it! We were discussing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which takes place on an island in the English Channel just after WWII.

At that time, the islanders had little access to flour and such (they took longer to bounce back from the wartime poverty than the mainland) so one of the characters came up with a recipe for "potato peel pie." Our book club organizer arranged to have the chef at the restaurant prepare a potato peel pie for our group... how cool!! It was basically like mashed potatoes with some potato peels criss-crossed on top (in terms of flavor, think potato skins). It tasted fine to me, though I'm not sure I would break it out for Thanksgiving dinner or anything. I'm already looking forward to our next book club.

Spots of Sunshine

Well, it was a long week back at work (even though I didn't work Monday). I survived though, and I'm hopeful that things will be easier from here on out.

These are the things that got me through the week:
1. Seeing my work friends again
2. Catered food at work
3. Our staff picnic
4. Sangria and snacks at Susan's
5. Long naps
6. A Chipotle chicken burrito bowl with guac
7. Breakfast at Panera with L, my mom, and my sisters
8. Seeing The Time Traveler's Wife
9. My first book club meeting with L (about The Guernsey Literary...)
10. My hubby's sanity

Hilton Head Island, SC

On our first night in the hotel, I was rudely awakened by the sound of a the fire alarm going off (thanks, jerks, for smoking in the stairwell!) That was a fun start to the trip... but truly, aside from the sunburn and jellyfish stings, the trip was great! Enjoy some pics (note the fried Twinkie):

Back to Books

I read two books while at the beach:
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
- The Time Traveler's Wife

I enjoyed them both, buth for different reasons. Guernsey had great characters with a lot of depth; Time Traveler had an intricate plot that was fun to watch unfold. Now I need to find my next thing to read but with school starting this week, I doubt I'll get to that right now. I'm already feeling super stressed about it!

I woke up around 8am today and wanted to keep sleeping (considering I hadn't gone to bed until 2am!) I laid in bed for an hour -- tossing and turning -- just thinking about work. We haven't even had our first day, andyet I already feel swamped. How is that possible?!

Savannah, GA

So... we're back! I'll start with a blog on Savannah. We toured this beautiful (but humid) city on both our first and last days. Basically, we spent time here when we couldn't be on the beach. We loved the architecture and the trees. The one thing that surprised me though, was that in this warm, sunny place no one grew flowers! Landscaping only ever consisted of bushes and greenery.

We visited the park where the "bench" scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed. "Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know whatcha gonna get"
Juliette Low founded Girl Scouts here from her home-town. There's me giving the Girl Scout sign (hehe).

B and me... plus some sepia-toned architectural shots. Yeah, we were tourists alright.

HellooOo, vacation!

Hilton Head Island... here we come!

Shopping

...success!

I'll be hosting a small runway show tonight. Just give me a call if you'd like to reserve tickets.

Wanna Hear Something Stupid?

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for my library to let me know that The Time Traveler's Wife is ready for me to pickup. With the new movie coming out next week, it's super popular (I'm mean, it's the reason I suddenly wanted to read it!) so I had to put in a request for it. Mind you, I put in this request about 2 weeks ago and I still haven't heard anything.

Here's the stupid part. This book has been sitting on my "to read" bookshelf for MONTHS now. I just noticed it. I feel stupid, and yet lucky! I guess I'll get to read it before I see the movie, afterall!

Lunch with M

It was awesome to see M and Toby... he is SO adorable! We went to Red Robin (and I was pleasantly surprised at their non-burger options). I hadn't been there in a loong looong time, but I was glad to go back.

Afterwards we wandered through Target and got some essentials (and some non-essentials). Tomorrow we're supposed to head out for some ladies-only shopping while Toby's at daycare. I'm really looking forward to it because I always feel like I need new clothes at the beginning of the school year... afterall, I practically live out of that wardrobe so it always needs to be refreshed at the end of every year. Plus, it's fun to get someone else's input. That's usually how I end up with my favorite pieces! For some reason I always talk myself out of what's "different" when I'm shopping by myself.

Late-night Reading

See my new widget? (it's right here ---->)

I'm busy reading, check out what's on my list, and please give me recommendations!

Man I love summer vacation... no bedtime... I can stay up late reading... yay!

a quickie

1. Our wall/ceiling seems to have been repaired correctly (so long as mold doesn't start creeping back through the paint in the coming months).

2. Spent the weekend in NYC with my hubby. Details to follow!

I hate maintenance work!!!

Right now I'm positioned at my dinner table with a "direct" view of what the maintenance guys are doing (remember the bulge caused by the rain a couple months back?) I put direct in quotation marks because in reality, I don't have a clear view of what they're doing because they taped a wall of plastic around their work area. So I can hear them talking... in Spanish. Man I wish M were here to help! My skills are weak at best. But I can say I was disturbed when I heard them saying "Limpialo, limpialo" regarding the piece of drywall that had just been removed. You see, B had to get on the phone and speak to them in Spanish and insist that they remove the drywall because of the black mold. They claimed it was a stain that just needed to be painted over. He said he wanted the sheetrock replaced. So you can imagine my concern when I heard them saying "clean it, clean it" after removing the old drywall (as in: "Quick, remove evidence of the mold"). Can anyone say "sketchy"? Ugh! I just want it fixed RIGHT... is that too much to ask?

Crabfeast... a success!

E hosted a crabfeast this past weekend. Loved it! Lots of my friends were there, plus lots of good food (and of course lots of rain!) We made the best of it, despite the iffy weather. I jumped into the pool during a brief moment of sunshine, and some other fools were crazy enough to be in the pool during the torrential downpour. Yeah, both my brother and sister were two of those fools! Thanks!