Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Can you still feel the butterflies?

HAHAHA oh man. America's Funniest Home Videos still cracks me up. I'm sitting here watching elderly people fall off boats and giggling uncontrollably. In my book, nothin is better than that. OK, that's a lie...maybe fart sounds. Seriously, it makes me sad to think that deaf people will never hear something so funny. This is something I think about on a daily basis.

Friday me and Ali packed up the car with snacks and drove down to Ocean City, MD to visit our friend Val. We're the only two idiots that could get lost between my house and the Jersey Turnpike....twice. We had a lovely 24 hours full of crab cakes, beers, and ice cream covered waffles. I also picked up a sweet new apron.


Monday Shana, Scott, Justin, Danielle, Whit, myself and a bajillion other people went to see Jimmy Eat World. It was the first night of the Clarity x 10 tour and something I had been waiting for since November. squee. They sounded AMAZING. I'm so so so lucky I got to see it. After the show a couple of us went to Barcelona Bar. Shots for everyone!!!

Last night to celebrate Fat Tuesday, Jamie, Shana & I went to dinner and then looked for something to do in one of the bars on Bell. We hit the goldmine when we walked in to Dempsy's and they were doing Karaoke. I finally got to sing "Levon" by Elton John. This is something the gay man inside me has been wanting to do for months. Mission complete!

<3

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Amusement or treasure, these optimistic pleasures Like the Ferris Wheel!

Contrary to that little title, this post does not include one ferris wheel. How sad! Summer needs to get here quick so I can get to every possible longuyland fair and take one too many pictures of gigantic spinning wheels that make me smile.


Speaking of smiling and other odd facial expressions, every now and again I like to shut my bedroom door and practice different faces for my camera. You know you do it too. Most of mine come out a bit Downs-y. Which immediately gives me flashbacks to the Christmas where my family was playing Trivial Pursuit and after downing one too many CC Manhattan On The Rocks, my Dad announced "We didn't think you were going to make it past the age of two. Yea, we all thought you had...what's that thing called? Oh yea! Down Syndrome! I'm serious." Man did I prove you wrong or what, Pops?

Ocean City or Bust!

<3

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I love Love.

I also love The Format. And Kittens, Inspired by Kittens - it's like the Cunningham Muffins of cats!

Well another Valentine's Day has come and gone. I think this was probably my most favorite one to date. I did almost exactly what I said I was going to do: bake, watch The Office, and drink beers with my friends. And I lahhhhhhved every minute of it. The Hamptons part didn't happen, but that just means it will only be more special when we head out St. Patrick's Day weekend! Horrah! Less than one month left. Better start a-packin'.

These are the cherry pie filled cupcakes I made - complete with homemade marshmallow icing. The lil bastids took 3 hours to bake and as of 1AM Wednesday morning, there's only one left. When I had my first bite, I giggled like a little girl who had accidentally wandered into the boys locker room. I may have blushed a little too.

While trying to locate ingredients (it's unbelievable how hard it is to find corn syrup & buttermilk in Queens), I also picked up some of my favorite flowers and made a little arrangement. Unfortunately, no hydrangeas could be found at either Stop & Shop or Walbaums. They still made me smile though.

The rest of my three day weekend was spent nursing a stomach ache, watching Madagascar 2 and The OC, spending money on clothes I don't really need but looked really cute in, mani/pedis and sushi, celebrating Ali's birthday, finally getting around to getting my Tara McPherson print framed and sleeping till 2PM. Ah yes, the stuff dreams are made of.


<3

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

It's My Bedsheet Covered With Sand

So I took that blue blanket to the beach on Sunday and retardedly forgot to shake shake, shake shake, a-shake it out. I'm still finding sand everywhere. I kinda like it though....reminds me of summer and falling asleep on the beach, only I'm waking up less sunburned. Yay? There's just about 136 days left till I can be at the beach every weekend. My boogie board is very happy about this.

Until then, we're stuck living in this icy tundra. In real life, my street looks exactly like all these photos, except less blurry. I actually kinda love the way my town looks when it snows. Even though it's a pain in le ass, it's got a pretty classic look to it. Perhaps this is why they were shooting a new show called "The Unusuals" here the other day? Anyway, I remember the blizzard of 1996? and going sledding down one of the big hills a couple blocks away. We had this shitty lavender sled that moved like lightning and cracked when I sat in it. I looked like a cross between Clark W. Griswold and Helga from The Oblongs speeding down that hill. Of course the ropes to steer the thing never worked and I wound up face first in a bunch of reeds, which may or may not have resulted in a nose bleed. To make matters worse, because I was so chubs and had little to no upper arm strength, I couldn't make it back up the slope. My brother had to come halfway down to meet me & extend his leg out and pull me up. Ahhh the good ole days. I probably went home and had my mom make me some hot chocolate with extra marshmallows and threw a party for my Beanie Babies after this.



<3

Monday, February 2, 2009

Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today

I did it! I actually did it! And can't wait to do it again next year!!
Sunday morning I woke up after having crazy nightmares about singing dolphins and 40 foot waves, not really sure about this polar bear swim. I even thought about giving up the dream and going back to bed - the dolphins were kinda cute. Then I thought about how disappointed I'd be with myself. This is something that I've been wanting to do forever, and I've been doing so well with my resolution. This wasn't a time to quit! Plus, how shitty would it be if I showed up at the playground on Monday after bragging to everyone what my Sunday plans were? So I called Shana and begggggggggged her to come with me. She said yes and I am eternally grateful for that. After a 15 minute walk down the boardwalk, I started getting the butterflies. I was super dooper nervous and kept hearing my mother's voice saying "You could go in to cardiac arrest or get hypothermia. Don't die." I silenced her immediately and took off my clothes once I saw the, approximately, 3500 other people.

You'd think they'd sound an alarm or a whistle or something, but nope. All of a sudden around 1:30, people just started charging the water. I've never seen Braveheart, but I imagine this is what one of the scenes would look like, only more wet & less face paint. As I started running in, friends were helping fallen friends out, people were turning blue and the crowd got thinner. But it was too late to turn back and I wasn't scared anymore. I was on a mission. I was expecting to feel the sting of the balmy 38 degree water upon entry, but I didn't (that's what she said). Not until after I dove under and started making my way out did things started to hurt, sting, cramp, and lock up. Yikes! It was at that moment my mother's voice popped back into my head and I forced my way out. This is a picture I took of myself as I headed back to my towel that Shana was so graciously holding out for me. I'm not 100% sure if that's water or snot dripping out my nose.
"Because," she said "when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave." - Coraline.

<3