aaaaaarg. I did it again! Hold on...

*Instrumental version of "Let's Get It On" playing*


Raspberry Ganache Twirl: Deep dark chocolate and raspberry infused ganache in dark chocolate.




I'm sorry to inform you that the sheer deliciocity of this piece of chocolate makes it impossible for me to describe it in a language we might understand. Instead, I'm going to attempt to express how good it is with an image I found on the internet that sort of lets you know how it made me feel:


















Exactly.

That is all.

Everyone who is tired of reading about, watching stories about, or hearing snippets about Rosie O'Donnell, raise your hand,

You'll have to pardon me for this, but it's about time someone handed that heifer her butt, and I'm glad it was that skinny little blonde lady from The View.

OK, so I'm home now, and I still have no idea what to do with myself. I keep thinking that I need to do homework or a project, and when I realize that isn't the case, I just kind of go brain numb. Luckily, that isn't a completely new feeling for me. : ) I know I should probably clean the house or something like that, but I just don't want to. SIGH. Oh well, I'll have to do it one of these days.

I wanted to add something about that weird dream I kept having while on my trip. The guy behind the counter who kept forgetting my lunch order was Bruce Willis. Does this mean I feel that Bruce has abandoned me? Probably. He's just usually so attentive... ; )

THE ADVENTURES OF FEET & FEET

A Vacation Pictorial. Unless otherwise obvious or labled, I'm at the welcome stations between the states. In my opinion, Mississippi has the best ones! : )

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: What I did during my Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

SATURDAY

I found out early Saturday morning that I'm not the only resident of CrazyTown when I am woken suddenly. Steve woke me up and apologized for making me mad in a dream he had. Now, either he was still not lucid enough to realize that was weird, or I have such a bad temper that even when he dreams of doing stuff that makes me mad that he feels he needs to apologize! I hope it's not the latter. We finally went back to sleep. I awoke again with a strong and certain feeling that something was wrong back at home, but I never figured out if it was a dream, or if it was CrazyTown for me too. Then we all got up and got ready, and Grandma fed us up with a big breakfast. She wouldn't let us not eat everything, so by the time we left for the reunion, we were stuffed and sleepy.

We arrived at a big house, which we weren't sure was the right one until on of Mr. Lee's cousins came outside, and piled inside. Steve was helping his dad unload stuff and Grandma had run off, so I was stuck inside holding cantaloupe and cake and looking fairly silly until someone told me where to set it down. The Pratt family has a lot of nice people in it. I had met a few of them before, but not many. It was pouring down rain almost the whole time we were there, but it wasn't too bad. Even though I enjoyed the reunion as much as I could, I still don't understand why a bunch of people who don't know each other want to get together and eat just because they are related. Weird.

Anyways, that took up most of our day. We came back through Conroe and made a few stops on the way home. When we got back to Grandma's house, Steve had finally found a wireless signal that we could jump on and I was able to check my work e-mail. I got a message from the VP of my department that made me furious. I'm sure if I explained what it was, it would just sound silly to anyone else, but let me tell you, I was so mad I was almost cross eyed. Let's just say that I had offered to help during an event for the SpRocket, and the people in charge of that event took my offer to help and made it into something I would never have agreed to do because it is not only embarrassing personally, but basically picked me out from everyone else in my department who is working this event and would make me look like a complete ass. I was livid. After that, I had to go to bed because I wasn't quite to the point where I could trust myself to answer that e-mail and not get fired. I did finally figure out a way to answer the e-mail and tell her that I was still willing to help, but that I didn't want to do the thing that would be so embarrassing. I'm hoping it isn't something that she is going to make me do anyways. I'll be pissed.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning we awoke and left Conroe, stopping briefly to have breakfast. I was plugged back into my iPod, and it's amazing how fast time flies when you have your mind on other things. I also had taken some medicine for my cold that made me sleepy, so I was going in and out of consciousness until we stopped in Hattiesburg, MS to stay the night. We can make the trip in one day, but we had brought Grandma with us, and I don't think she would have been able to stand it. We had dinner, and when we got back to the hotel, I got comfortable and planned on watching a Monk marathon on USA. Unfortunately, I was more tired than I thought, and I wound up falling asleep and not waking up until morning!

****ASIDE**** I kept having this dream during our trip that was so frustrating! I would go to this restaurant, the same one each time, and placing my order with the guy in the kitchen. Every single time, he would forget my order and I wouldn't have anything to eat. When I'd tell him, without being rude or angry, that he had forgotten about me, the cook would jump all over me and tell me that he was busy and couldn't be asked to think about me when he had all of this other stuff to do! I'm sure that dream is meaningful, but I have no idea what it means! ****END ASIDE****

MONDAY

Monday we did nothing but drive and come home. That is where I am now, and I'm so glad. Be it ever so humble, and all that jazz.

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: What I did during my Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

THURSDAY

Greetings, gentle reader! Although you probably haven't given a fig where I have been for the past few days, you should know by now that I don't care and I'm going to tell you anyway.

I'm not allowed to say that I am going on a trip before hand, for obvious reasons, but yes, I have been on a trip. A road trip of sorts, to Texas where I attended a Pratt family reunion. Don't worry, you'll get to hear all about that, but humor me by allowing me to start at the beginning of my tale.

We left on Thursday morning, after playing "Which Dog Will Be Harder to Control" while we took them to the pet resort. Bear seemed to be resigned of the fact that he would be staying with the Jones Valley Animal Resort folks for a few days, but, as usual, Butler spent the whole ride over trying to talk us out of leaving them there. Ever since he came home missing that tooth, he is afraid of what they will remove off of him every time he goes. Surprisingly, except for the normal wallerings and jumpings that we always deal with when we take the boys to the resort, they behaved quite nicely. Butler narrowly escaped being eaten by a miniature dachshund, but with the vet's quick reflexes, Butler made it past him without incident. Shut up, Kenny.

Unfortunately, instead of having my head about me when I was trying to get Bear into the car, I forgot my purse, so when Mr. Lee came to pick us up, I had to ask him to take me to the bank to take care of what should have been a fairly simple, in-and-out errand. However, apparently I had my deposit slip written in Klingon and they had to call in a specialist to decipher it. So that put us behind by about half an hour, which made me feel rather terrible, but we were soon on our way.

After looking at a magazine and listening to talk radio, I ended up getting irritated at one of the radio guys (political stuff, you know) and I plugged into my iPod to listen to the 5th book of Harry Potter. I began work on another afghan, which was supposed to be a gift for Steve. However, when he complained about my color choices, I imposed upon him a life-long afghan ban, so now this one I'm making will go to my brother. That probably sounds harsh, but when someone (and by someone I mean me) decides to go to the trouble of crocheting you something as big and time consuming as a blanket, don't piss them (me) off. Don't worry, I'll make him a hat. : )

Because I was so intent on what I was doing, when we stopped at a Zaxby's for lunch, I had no idea where we were. I went out to get us a table, and I was just about to ask where we had stopped when I looked up and saw a giant University of Alabama collage. Of course, I kind of figured where we might be, but I asked anyways. I mean, I knew we were in the STATE of Alabama, so it was still possible that it was just there because of that. I shouldn't have asked. I was then given the visual tour of the place and all things hounds tooth and Bama was pointed out to me. So, I suppose I can now say I've been to Tuscaloosa. Never been there before, and I wasn't impressed. However, to be fair, I didn't see enough of it to form a complete opinion of it. I suppose I'll need to go back one day, as long as it isn't during a game. I've heard that the town is hell on wheels during football season!

It's weird to have dinner out with Steve and his dad. They don't talk much. I grew up in a family where we always talked when we had meals together, and I always forget the "Can't Talk, Eating" rule and try to have conversations. Yeah, got to get out of that habit of wanting interaction.

So we drove on, hitting the Mississippi visitor's center. That's the great thing about traveling with Mr. Lee, he likes to stop at the visitor's centers and roadside stands, which I always like to do. I got a piece of an emu egg and took a picture of my feet. It was thrilling.

The next place we stopped was the Louisiana welcome station. I'm not exactly sure what was going on in that place, but the workers jump you as soon as you open the door. We had only gone in to use the facilities, but the vulture-like welcome wagon wanted to give us a map...no, please, come back and get a map. MAP! MAP! I was scared. I scurried out to the ladies room before they could physically restrain me and force some literature in my hands. The bathrooms also had what looked like prison toilets. No lids, no funny business, so do what you need to do and leave. However, they were clean and that is what mattered! I didn't realize that Steve and his dad were already in the car, so I spent a few minutes walking about and snapping pictures. I found some interesting stuff in the vending machines, but I didn't buy any of it. Who really wants to eat something called "Crawtaters?" As I was leaving, I was once again accosted by the Village of the Damned Welcome Wagon and I was asked to sign their book and get the map. I took the map and some other random literature because I didn't want them following me down to the car with anything. Granted, I knew they were trying to be friendly, but they came across as both scary and desperate. Also, when I turned around and told them to have a nice day, they didn't seem to know how to respond. OK, then. From there we drove through Slidell and over Lake Pontchartrain. I was amazed at how much was still destroyed after Katrina. Whole neighborhoods, businesses, hotels, still in tatters. You could see that building was being done, but it was still like a ghost town. So sad. We passed N'Awlins proper, and even though things seem to be getting back to normal, it was still so battered. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what happened down there. Mr. Lee decided to show us around downtown New Orleans, and he drove down Bourbon Street so I could see it. I really couldn't tell much about it because we were driving, and the street is so narrow and the buildings so tall. One thing I did notice was that Hustler apparently owns many, many, MANY buildings along that street, and if you so desire, you can go inside and meet a few of the young ladies who work there. I silently hoped that even though Mr. Lee was driving, he had his eyes closed. He stopped in the French Quarter so I could get out and look around. I've never been to New Orleans, but now I'm hot to go back again so that I can take more pictures. We didn't go far, but we walked down one street and went in a few shops. I was able to get my requisite mini snow globe, and we went into another business where I found a couple of books on local color that I liked. While in there, I had to ask Mr. Lee to go to the other side of the store because of some of the more "Mardi Gras" type things that they were selling. I was mortified. He's my father-in-law, which is close enough to being my dad that now I'm scarred for life knowing he saw them. Dad's just aren't supposed to know things like that exist. I don't care what anyone says. : )

We needed to head on, but Mr. Lee wanted us to have some beignets, or French donuts as they kept being called. We went to Cafe du Monde (or something like that) and had some. They were wonderful. I also had a cafe au lait that will haunt my dreams. It was so good. I was able to get a few pictures, but not even a quarter of what I wanted. That's why I'm determined to go back!

Not much else happened after that. We drove on to Baton Rouge and got a hotel room. This was where I realized a couple of things. One, I had forgotten my pajamas. Granted, I could have slept naked, but no one needs to be subjected to that. Plus, I don't think Grandma would appreciate it. Two, my face was burned. Not sunburned, but apparently there was an unfortunate mix of facial cleansers or something going on there. It hurt, I do know that! So we had to make a Wal-Mart run to rectify the situations. Then, blessed sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

FRIDAY

I woke up Friday morning in a Baton Rouge hotel room (sounds like the beginning of a questionable country song, doesn't it?) freezing to death. I've noticed that in hotel rooms, they are either stuffy or freezing. Hardly ever are they comfortable. Anyways, I got up to get ready for my day and I realized two things almost immediately. One, whomever decided that florescent lighting in the bathroom was a good idea, was an idiot. No woman wants to get up first thing and see what they really look like! We want shadows and forgiving lighting. Two, big mirrors that run the length of the wall are embarrassing while you're changing clothes. You think you know what you look like sometimes, and then you catch a glimpse of yourself in these mirrors. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

After the lovely continental breakfast, we got back on the road. We spent most of the rest of that afternoon driving towards Conroe, Texas, where Grandma lives. I had been here once before, but had somehow slept most of the way. Today I got to see where we were headed. We crossed the Mississippi river (huge) and drove across a bridge that seemed to go on forever. Apparently it crosses about a billion miles on Louisiana wetlands, or swamps, if you will. Some of the places we drove through were beautiful. When we got to the border of LA, we stopped at the Texas welcome center where there is a really long walkway through a wetland that is so interesting. Spanish moss, water lilies, duckweed, cypress trees...you see so many beautiful things. My only problem that was that there were a lot of bugs. A lot. One flew into my shirt, and it was only the grace of God that it flew out quickly, or I would have soon been running naked through the swamps of east Texas. I don't like bugs.

After that we weren't that far away from Grandma. We passed through a place called "Cut & Shoot, Texas. Population 1158" and it made the Athens that I grew up in look like a thriving metropolis. It stretched about 6 miles and consisted of a police station/town hall, a post office, and a vegetable stand. Everything else we saw was houses, but there weren't many of those. We finally made it to Conroe and found Grandma's street. Of course, the first thing Steve and I did was take a nap. When I woke up, I felt horrible.

***ASIDE*** The woman that I work with brought her crud into my office in one of the many, many, MANY times she comes in to talk to me (uninvited) and she never once covered her mouth when she coughed. She also felt that it was a good idea to bring her sick one year old to work with instead of leaving her with her dad, who doesn't work at the moment or staying at home with her (because it would take up her sick leave and vacation time that she wants to use during Christmas. Don't even get me started.) and she brought the little girl into my office at least twice and let her touch things. Seriously, if your kid is sick, KEEP HER AT HOME! Ugh...I'll vent on that another time. ***END ASIDE***

Anyways, I had been working on a nice cold that the afore mentioned lady brought me and it finally won out over my frantic application of meds. After Grandma fed us dinner as only a grandma can, Mr. Lee wanted to go to a bookstore, but I felt so terrible that I begged off. I sat at Grandma's house and watched "Most Haunted" while wishing for a miracle to make me feel better before the reunion the next day. I also hoped that I would get better before the next week at least, because I was asked to sing at a wedding. If I'm still sick when that wedding comes up, I'm going to pick up that lady I work with and throw her off of the roof of the SpRocket like a lawn dart.

Not much else happened that day. Once everyone got home, we basically sat around and watched TV while Grandma talked to no one in particular. She does that. Steve and I tried to break into a wireless signal we found, but it was useless. I did find out that Westar is extremely lucky to have Steve as its Network Admin. Anyone who knows how to do the stuff he can do, but who uses his powers for good instead of evil, has to be some kind of asset!

When we went to bed, I found out that the hound dog that lives next door to us in Alabama apparently has a Texan cousin. We got to listen to Jay-Bob howl and bark. Borrorrorrrrr! Boooooorrrrrrrrr!

This is technically a double feature, but since it isn't the weekend yet, I didn't feel it was appropriate to use the other banner!

Milk Lion of Belgium: Flowing butterscotch caramel in a milk chocolate shell.

The name kind of sounds like some weird musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, don't you think?

Okay, although Godiva calls this the "Milk Lion of Belgium" I choose to call it "Griffindor Chocolate" for obvious reasons. If you don't know what those reasons are, you will be dead to me.

This one was so nice. I'm almost beginning to think that milk chocolate is too sweet for me these days, but once I got past the shell, the buttery, kind of almost salty, caramel in the middle balanced it out. If the word "golden" had a taste, this would be it. It was also the liquidy, flowy kind of caramel that I like rather than the teeth breaking, filling removing kind that sometimes sneaks up on you. I kind of squashed this one while eating it like I did to the one the other day, but I'm beginning to think it's just that the chocolate shell is very crisp and not squishy, which is good, so I won't complain.

Now, for the other review I had a guest taster to help me out. Why is this, you may be asking yourself. As you all know, I generally don't share chocolate unless I have planned it well in advance. There is none of that letting someone reach in and grab whatever they want, especially when it's Godiva. I will also not share with someone whom I don't think would appreciate the chocolate as an experience. Hence, Steve very rarely ever gets my chocolates, even though he always asks. Don't feel sorry for him, he refuses to taste anything he eats, he simply eats so he won't die. So, generally, he is not worthy. However, as with most things in life, there is an exception. I do not like white chocolate. I do not like it because white chocolate is not real chocolate, but rather what is left when they take all of the good stuff out of chocolate. I'm not kidding. Also, it's too milky for me. I will eat it occasionally, but I don't make it a point to do so. So when he asked (again) if he could have one of them, I told him he could eat the white chocolate ones as long as he described them for my YCOTD entry. He agreed. My picture of the chocolate he ate didn't turn out clear enough, so I'm once again ripping it from the site. You don't have to wait this time, though, because I got it before I started writing! So without further ado, and verbatim from Steve...

White Praline Heart: Our signature creamy-smooth praline in a white chocolate shell.

Mmmm. Good.

WELL, THIS IS DISTURBING.

Today I was checking my blog tracker to see what people who had visited my site had searched for when they stumbled upon me. One search topic jumped out at me right away. Someone had looked for "Peppermint Patty in a Graduation Gown."

Dear, Lord.

I know for a fact that I have never, NEVER, described myself as Peppermint Patty, so I can't figure out how they found me by looking for that! However, it brought an unfortunate idea into my head.

So, I look like Peppermint Patty now? I've already been told I have a rather uncanny resemblance to Velma Dinkley (the hip, hip lady of Scooby Doo), and I've already been told I look freakishly like Meg Griffin of The Family Guy. So I decided that I would do a comparison to find out who was right. I did a little bit of sloppy Photo Shop magic to make the comparison a little easier. You'll have to excuse my picture being in black and white and the others in color, but I had grayscaled it for something else. So tell me what you think. You may have to click on it to see it better.











I'm Meg Griffin, aren't I?

Huh.

Well, I might get to meet William Shatner after all.

Some of you know that we are celebrating the Space Camp 25th anniversary this year, and as a centerpiece to the whole shebang we are having a Space Camp Hall of Fame induction on July 13th where William Shatner will be appearing as the MC or something. I was pretty much told that I wasn't allowed to get near him, mainly because I had the marketing VP convinced I was a stalker. It was only a running joke that everyone else in the department seemed to understand, but the woman clearly thought I had a screw loose. However, after I pretty much told her that was a stupid thing to think (I have no couth), I was then told that I would be dressed as a pink lady and possibly escorting him to the stage. Of course, I didn't hear anything else about that, so today during our meeting, she asked if we could all work that event - and I asked her if I was still going to have to dress up. She said no, the Media Pimp, Al Whittaker, said yes. So, who knows? Anyways, at any rate, I know now that I will be working (NOT EATING! said the VP) the event, and so I might get the chance to meet him. I've already promised that I wouldn't jump out of a closet and attack Mr. Shatner. Of course, I had my fingers crossed. : ) I'd love it if some of you guys, whoever you are - this is the internet, so you could be anyone - would buy a couple of tickets to the event. There are a few of you out there who refuse to do this, and you will remain nameless and unblamed for your unwillingness to participate. Granted, it's going to be a kind of congratulatory, pat-ourselves-on-the-back event, but forget about that! Captain Kirk will be there!

I also think I freaked out our PR lady and her intern in the meeting this morning. I bought a package of candy paper the other day. Basically it's pressed sugar, potato starch and other things that I'm sure will be found to cause cancer in the near future. If you look closely at it, you can totally tell that it's not real paper, but if you see it from a distance, it looks exactly like paper. Anyway, I wrote my notes on it in a non-toxic pen and took it to the meeting. As a joke, I was going to fold it up and eat it after I finished talking. Since the VP is all torn up about this event, which I don't blame her a bit for being, I didn't get to read my notes like usual. So while they were talking, I started to rip off pieces of the candy paper and eat it. I saw the PR lady staring at me, and I saw the intern trying to look as if he weren't watching me, but I could tell they were bewildered. I was going to tell them what was up after the meeting, but I never got a chance. I'm sure as soon as things quiet down over there, they are going to be "wtfshewaseatingpaperomg!"

I"ll be an adult tomorrow.

Dangit, I did it again! I need to look at my pictures before I eat these things.

*Moon River plays softly as you wait*

Praline Crescent: Satiny-smooth hazlenut and milk chocolate praline in a milk chocolate shell.

I can't believe I'm about to say this.

Plarg! Plarg, plarg, plarg*.

I didn't like this one at all. I don't know what was wrong with it, because I tend to like the praline ones. Heck, I'm southern. Praline is not even an aquired taste when you are born in the south. It just...is. I think it had something to do with the way the middle of it felt when I bit into it, I don't know. It's so rare that I DON'T like a chocolate that I feel a little dizzy at the concept.

I think I need to lie down or something.

*That is kind of a cross between a gag and a spitting sound. Don't be alarmed.

Ruh-ro. I accidentally ate one that I didn't have a picture of! OH NOES!

No problem. I'll be right back with one I will rip off from the official site.

*Girl from Impanema plays softly while you wait*

I love this one's name...

Coffee Feather: Rich coffee-infused chocolate ganache in a smooth milk chocolate shell.

OK, first off, shut up. I know this picture quality is better than the ones I have been posting. However, my pics have more personality (i.e. Eric) and I will continue to use those. Unless, of course, I get lazy. Sometimes that happens.

This one was one of the ganache (holy moley) family, so I knew it would be good. It also did not break the I-Can-Smell-The-Filling rule and smell too much like coffee, so that was also a plus in it's favor. I tried to eat the feather off of the top first, but all I managed to do was squash the whole thing into many, many pieces in the process. However, the sum of the parts wound up to be pretty much precisely what the whole one would have been, except for now I had many bits of mocha goodness to enjoy.

I must confess, I ate this one really fast, so I can't give a completely detailed explanation of the way it tasted. I know it was good, because well after it was gone I was still licking my fingers in hope some small bit was still clinging to them. Alas, however, it was gone. I don't remember tasting much coffee, but I think it was just a nice combination of the two which didn't cause one flavor to overwhelm the other. There was a weird grainy feeling to the filling, which might have just been more because of the chocolate bloom than anything, but it didn't take away from my frantic attack on it, so no problem there.

I'm thinking if the world could sit around a plate of these in the morning instead of real coffee, world peace wouldn't be so far fetched. I'm just sayin...

WEEKEND UPDATE!

FRIDAY: That was payday, so of course that meant I needed to go and spend all of the money I had just been given. : ) Actually, that isn't that hard to do. For some reason, it doesn't matter how much over time I work, my paycheck never seems to go any further than it ever does. Stupid income taxes! Anyways, I had some important stops to make! I had finally gotten around to buying some new blue jeans. I had been putting it off, because I thought, you have a zillion pairs of jeans, why buy new ones? That question was quickly answered when I tried putting on a pair of them Friday morning and my foot went through the leg of them. I don't mean "going through" in the normal sense. I mean, I tried to put them on and my foot went THROUGH the material. Apparently, just because jeans seem normal, it doesn't mean that they aren't going to fall completely apart on you. Thank goodness I wasn't in public when that happened! Yikes. So I finally went through all of my jeans and separated the ones that were too big and too small, and that had holes in them. That left me with one pair. I pretty much live in jeans unless there is a reason for me to dress up, so that wasn't cool. Anyways, I made a quick stop at the GAP. I have now replenished my blue jean stock and can toss aside the worry that I will have to be professional looking if I don't have to. I ran a few other errands and went home to an empty house. I thought Steve was with his dad, but he didn't come home until after midnight. I was worried until I got too sleepy, and then figured I'd find out what happened to him in the morning. I'd totally forgotten that he had volunteered to do some work for a friend of his, and that is where he was the whole time. Geez. I think I'm going to have to lojack Steve so I can remember where he is! Ooooooh, or get a Marauder's Map like Harry Potter had!!

Wow, that came out dorkier than I meant to sound.

SATURDAY: I finally talked Steve into going outside! GO ME! We went to the Habitat for Humanity surplus building supply store, which was awesome. You can find everything in the world you need for houses in there. I had heard about it and wanted to check it out for a while now. A lot of stuff is kind of old, but that's good if you're looking for something with a little more personality than you can find at Lowes or Home Depot. I got a cabinet door. I didn't need one, but it was a nice shape and I figured I'd make something artsy out of it. : ) Steve took me to A&W for lunch, because I had never been to one before. The food was good, the cheese curds were excellent, and the root beer was omnipresent. We also went to a thrift store called "Thrift Store". Isn't that clever? It's a place crammed floor to ceiling with junk, but the prices were outrageous. It was like these people got "junk" and "Antiques" confused. Seriously, no wonder they have so much crap in that store. I'm sure that they can't sell most of it at what they were charging! Plus the family that owns it lets their small kids run all over the place, and that is not only annoying, it's dangerous. Literally, one false step and you can get buried in a pile of Ziggy dolls and Branson, Missouri souvenir glasses. We didn't stick around long. Steve had plans for that evening, so we went home then and I fell into what I can only assume is a root beer induced coma. I don't remember how long I slept, but as soon as I got up, I took a shower, got dressed up, fixed my hair and THEN remembered that I didn't have anything to do. That was really weird. Oh well, I looked awful cute in case a Jehovah's Witness came by (they are becoming numerous on our street.) I finally settled on finishing a painting I had been working on. Don't be too impressed, it was a new fangled type of paint by numbers thing...however, I did make it my own. : ) I didn't want to watch TV and I didn't want to play The Sims 2 anymore (I'd already accidentally killed one lady and then purposefully killed another because I accidentally added her to the family I was playing. 2 Deaths are usually my stopping point.) so I went and got something to eat and listened to my Harry Potter audio novel. I'm trying to get caught up again before the next book comes out so that I don't get confused. I can't believe there is so much I didn't remember! I also can't believe that I'm 29 and so engrossed in a book about magic school children. I wound up getting yet another migraine and having to go to bed before Steve came home. God bless my cherry pit heated thing.

SUNDAY: Sunday was the normal, of course. At the morning services they did the graduate appreciation thing, which was really nice. Not only was I the oldest graduate, but the only liberal arts major! Yay! I'm hoping that means we are both rare and precious. Over to my parent's house for lunch and then night services. We had dinner with Mr. Lee and then home again. We got to watch the newest episode of Dr. Who, which was kind of freaky, but it was good. I think it was their attempt a "real time" or some such thing because they were keeping time. If that was tense, I don't think I'd make it a whole season of 24. I also got to experience another fun withdrawal side effect of the Zoloft. Musical emotions. I'll be really glad when all I of this is over, and so will Steve, I'm sure. I never knew I could go from happy to tears in 2.7 seconds. Lots of fun, that. :P

Gah. Some people are so clueless that it's painful. Don't you think?

And by some people, I mean me. And by clueless, I mean expectant of the now impossible.

Oy, vey.

Yeah, I did it.


OK, so I can't give you a good reason why I chose yesterday to flake out and not post my chocolate. I mean, I ate the chocolate, and then wondered around wondering why I was so bored. Could I have stopped and wrote about the thing? Yes. Did I? Not so much. However, with my nifty new banner, I shall rectify this situation!

Midnight Swirl: Velvity ganache made with 85% chocolate in a deep, dark chocolate shell.

Just in case your wondering why the chocolate looks kind of ashy, I can explain. When chocolate gets hot and then cools off, it gets something called "bloom". That does not mean that it has any flora growing on it (even though I'd probably still eat it). It just means that the sugar inside the chocolate melted and then crystalized again. It doesn't make the chocolate taste any different, but it takes the shiny away. No harm, no foul. I guess the chocolates got hot in my car on the way home from graduation and then I put them in the fridge. However, the bloomage doesn't bother me. Just wanted to let you know that they aren't getting dusty!

But I digress.

I can sum this one up very quickly. Ganache: French for...holy moley. This was so good. See, dark chocolate is my favorite, so when I got this one out, I had to get into my chocolate eating position of sitting back on the puffy couch, putting my feet on the coffee table, and turning off the TV. It was sooooooooooooooo good. I've decided that whenever I get my christmas wish of Josh Groban holding my hand, singing to me and feeding me chocolates under the Christmas tree, there will be a lot of these in the box.




Open Oyster: A rich bounty of our signature hazelnut praline revealed between milk chocolate shells.

These are so cute. I almost hate to eat this one because it has too much of a personality. Come on, can't you see it? OK, I'll help you out:

I would name him Eric.


However, personality or not, Eric will not escape from my obscene love of chocolate, plus my obscene love for ocean themed stuff. I'm going to take his advice.

Although the shells are a little sweet, the inside stuff is wuuuuuuuuuuuunderful. I'd like to eat this one more like an oreo, if I ate oreos that is.

Of course, now that I've named it, I feel kind of weird eating it. Dang it. I just ate Eric.
And I liked it. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!

YCOTD! (I really need a banner for this)

Pecan Caramel Duet: Crunchy pecan-filled caramel layered over chocolate caramel enrobed in milk chocolate.

OK, I was a little gun shy of this one because it had pecans in it. Not that I don't like pecans, I do, it's just that the one I had yesterday that broke my teeth had pecans in it. Now I'm scared of pecans...great. :( Now every time I come across these nuts I'm going to fall to the ground, shake my fist and yell..."peKHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!" (bad Star Trek reference. I'll move on.)

Look how lovely this one is with all of the swirlies on top! I love it when food gets screen printed! Also, and a little off subject, I've noticed that Godiva never "covers" anything with chocolate...Godiva "enrobes" things in chocolate. Kind of like the centers of these candies come home from a long day at work, kick off their shoes and someone brings them a nice, fluffy, chocolate bath robe to lounge in before they are ruthlessly gnawed out of existence.

Anyways, I'm going to eat it, even though it has the scary pecans in it. I even had it out of the fridge, just in case. It smells lovely, kind of like when you open a container of cocoa powder when your making a cake. I almost hate to eat the pretty top part.

Oh. My. Lanta.

No words...should have...sent a...poet....

10 out of 10

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I have found a new substitute for crack, I swear. Fresh Market (God bless the yuppies, but not too much) sells this stuff called Crispy Fruit, which is basically freeze dried apricots, peaches, and pineapples. It's not like that gross dehydrated fruit that you buy at the grocery store because this has no moisture in it at all. It's like the space ice cream that is sold in the SpRocket gift shop, only healthy. I bought a pack of the dried pineapples and every time I eat a bag of them I get hyper. Maybe that's not a great thing, I don't know, but it's nice to feel awake without having to pump myself full of caffeine. I suggest you go and get some. Right now...go. Seriously.

2) Wow, that brings up a thought. How am I going to start the caffeine rehabilitation? I've been drinking so much of it to keep me awake for classes, and now I won't need it as much. Hmmmmmmm. I wonder if Betty Ford has a department for that.

3) Speaking of rehabilitation (see what I'm doing here?) I have found out the hard way that Zoloft is not a drug that one should just quit taking all of a sudden. Please don't get uncomfortable while I talk about being crazy, because I'm going to tell you about it. I was diagnosed with PMDD several months ago. Actually, I had to go to 2 different doctors because the first one wouldn't listen to me. Seriously, he just smiled and acted like it was normal to want to kill myself, have severe anxiety attacks, and wanting to beat people up with baguettes in the supermarket. I was a little concerned about feeling the way I did, so I went to another doctor who actually listened to me and he prescribed some lovely brain numbing drugs to help me out. Now, granted, I liked not having bouts of concentrated crazy every few weeks, but the drugs had a lot of side effects that I didn't like. One, I didn't like being so infernally sleepy. Two, I didn't like gaining weight for no reason. Three, I sometimes like to have variations in emotions, and the medicine was making that all but impossible. It was like "Wow, that's a great picture of your family" had the same effect as "Wow, I just cut off my thumb. Blood is a nice shade of red." So I decided to step back the pills, as was recommended, but apparently I didn't stop gradually enough. At first I thought I was getting the flu, because I just felt sick all of the time and everything in my body hurt. When that was over, I thought I was having heart problems because I would be sitting still doing something low stress and all of a sudden all of the blood in my body decided to rush to my head and pulse there for a second before going back to it's regularly scheduled business. I did some research and found out that the whole pulsing blood thing is normal when stopping Zoloft and it's called "Brain Shivers". It's basically a very intense, very brief vertigo that lasts about 5 seconds and then goes away. Friends, that is no fun. I would be walking along and SPLAT! fall against the wall, or stumble down stairs and other such drunken type of behavior. Granted, I'm not graceful, but that has been a lot of stumbling, even for me! I still have the brain shivers, and I still have periodic bouts of feeling...nuts, for want of a better word, but I know what it is now and can deal with it a lot better than I could before. Don't worry, I still have my pills in case I need to take them again, but I'd like to try and deal with life unadulterated for a while. I know that medicine like this is important, but I don't want to have to take it all of the time if I don't have to. Does that make sense?

4) This is so much fun! It's like origami on steroids! Of course, you need some scissors and glue, but you can make so many interesting things. I suggest you try it, it's very therapeutic!

5) My teeth are much better than they were after the YCOTD debacle. I should probably be more fair to the Godiva company and not curse the pecan thingie, it was actually very good. I probably also should mention that I was keeping them in my fridge, which didn't help the whole "being hard" situation. I will say, however, that I could do without the crispy rice in the thing. As much as I like things in my chocolate, I don't like crispy rice in it. I want my cereal to snap, crackle and pop, not my chocolate. Plus it just feels weird, and we all know that if it feels weird, I can't eat it. It's just my way.

6) OK, I need some guidance. Many people sent me money as a graduation gift, to both my delight and utter undeservedness. I am going to be donating some of it to a charity, but that is still going to leave me with enough to do something rewarding for myself. I am thinking about going to a spa which is not far away from my house. However, here is my issue. First off, the spa package includes a massage, a manicure and pedicure, a facial and things of that nature. Second off, I'd love to do this, just to see what it is like, BUT...I'm not too comfortable with someone I don't know rubbing me. Then there is the whole being ticklish thing, and I don't want to kick anyone in the face while they are painting my toenails. So I'm torn between wanting to try this stuff out, and not wanting to kick people and giggle while someone is rubbing me with hot stones (which, if you think about it, just sounds kind of weird in the first place). I need to either be talked into it or out of it. Anyone?

Wow, I don't photograph well.

At graduation, some random photography business snapped pictures of us on stage and right after we got our diplomas. I just got my proofs yesterday, and yikes. I look into the mirror and I don't look like that to myself, you know? So do I look like the hideous creature that I see in the pictures, or do I look like the relatively normal person I see in the mirror?

Ugh.

Who knows? I guess it doesn't really matter in the long run. I'll just stick to the pictures of my feet. At least my feet look normal.

YCOTD!


Pecan Crunch: Pecan pieces and crisped rice within solid milk chocolate, dipped and adorned in dark chocolate.

I probably should have read the little chocolate map before I tried to eat this one because I chomped down on it and almost broke my teeth! This little sucker is SOLID! Solid, yet tasty. I think I would be able to describe it a little better if I weren't in such excrutiating pain from the inital bite down on it. Let's just say...no damnit...there should be a warning. BOO TO THIS PIECE FOR NOT STATING CLEARLY THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE HARD!
But as far as the pecans go...those weren't too bad. 6 out of 10 for physical abuse to my teeth.

Sara was on the news last night!

She looks so much better!

I do have one complaint, though. Liz Hurley said that the whole situation was "gut wrenching".

Bad taste...bad.

I'm glad she's doing better. : )

It's time again for:

YUMMY CHOCOLATE OF THE DAY! (nice complimentary background, huh?)

The Dark Mint Medallion: A crisp, refreshing mint filling in a dark chocolate shell.

Technically, since these are both exactly the same, it can count as just one chocolate. No seriously, it can. My chocolate, my rules...so suck it! : )

These are some of my favorite of all chocolates, with minty goodness surrounded by dark chocolate. My only problem with them is the naked woman in relief on the shell. Granted, it is the very essence of Godiva, but still. Not that I'm going to let that stop me from eating them, of course. One of the great things about this type of chocolate is that you don't get that smell of mint before you actually bite down on it. To me, that is bad form all the way around. You need to be surprised by the mint. Like, oh look, here is a round and seemingly solid chocolate piece of candy...*bite*...OMG! It's got mint in it! How perfect! But I digress. Eating a Dark Mint Medallion is like eating a York Peppermint Patty strait from the candy dish of God. The chocolate is nice and crisp, and the mint, oh the mint...you can almost taste the leaves they made it out of. Do you think I could get away with eating one of these every morning instead of brushing my teeth? Anyone?

Now go away. I have the other half of my one chocolate to finish.

I had meant to add this picture to my last blog entry, but I reached my time quota at work and the stupid firewall thing blocked me out of adding this, so here.



This is the picture of me and the Kenny! The first one made in over 10 years!

I am refusing to admit anymore that my stupid IT guy only gives us 15 minutes to look at the majority of websites at the Sprocket, so my new excuse is that this much sexy wouldn't fit onto my other entry. : )

Speaking of Kenny, he gave me a ginormous box of Godiva, the chocolate I am most likely to leave my native country for, as a graduation gift. I didn't realize until I read about his somewhat complicated search for it in his blog, that aquiring the afore mentioned chocolate was an exercise in both patience and almost futility. SO, I figured that it would be a shame to let the oppourtunity go to waste and only say thank you. I am now attempting to stretch out my lovely gift for the maximum amount of enjoyment by only eating one piece a day, and also let you guys come along for the ride by showing you my YUMMY CHOCOLATE OF THE DAY!

Today's selection will be:

Cinnamon Blush: Creamy Milk Chocolate ganashe infused with the warmth of sweet cinnamon in a milk chocolate shell.*

You can smell the cinammon before you even taste it. I've just recently learned the joy of cinammon and chocolate together, so this is a lovely, lovely, lovely thing to find inside the box.

Wow. *ggggglllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*
Don't worry, that was the sound of my face melting onto the desk in sheer joy. You know that spot on a dog that, if you scratch it, it's hind leg starts to shake? This chocolate did that to me. 9 out of a possible 10.

*As written in the chocolate map inside the box.

WEEKEND UPDATE – GRADUATION EDITION

Greetings, Y’all! Sorry for the tiny delay on the recap of my weekend. However, now that the imp from hell is no longer trying to squeeze my eyeballs out of my skull, and I’m no longer lying prone on the couch with a heated cherry-stone sack on my head, I feel up to the challenge of telling you all about my weekend!

FRIDAY: Amy and Jon McGee, my cousins (or rather Steve’s cousins that I also claim as my own) were scheduled to stay with us this weekend so that they could attend my graduation. I thought this to be a very wonderful gift on it’s own, but they showed up bearing more gifts of books, a movie, and a screaming graduation monkey named Fergus. We talked for a while, and then went straight on to the SpRocket so that they might see Spiderman 3 in IMAX. Afterwards, the 4 of us (oh yes, Steve was also there, heeheehee) attempted to go to Steak & Shake for dinner, but the hastareds who own it decided that it wasn’t necessary to keep it open 24 hours! BOO! So we went on and had dinner at IHOP. Although it was not good for my arteries, I had a cheeseburger with an egg on it. Shut up, it was good! I’d never heard of fixing a hamburger that way before, but apparently it was a French thing. I suppose I was taking advantage of the “International” part of IHOP. Once we got home, we sat about and talked for a while, at least until none of us could stay awake anymore. Isn’t it sad? 4 grown people who had not seen each other in a while, and when we all sit down and get comfortable, all we can do is fall asleep. Man, we are old!

SATURDAY: Steve had already promised his services to some friends of his for that morning, so I was allowed to drag Amy and Jon around to do my bidding. They were very good sports about it, though. I took them to 5 Points to walk along the row of weirdie shops and things that I never seem to get to see. There is one whole shop that sells nothing but beads. I didn’t even know it existed! We also saw a fufee house wares shop that apparently monograms everything you can buy there, as well as a place that sells cute baby clothes, toys and engraved jewelry. The McGees took that opportunity to introduce me to the world of WebKins, and I’m now the proud mother of a St. Bernard named Jacob! I also took them to Zero Gravity, the local head shop du jour. I hadn’t been there in years, but the place hadn’t changed at all. Don’t worry, it’s not just a place to buy *ahem* tobacco pipes and other accessories, they sell clothes and wind chimes, fairy stuff, dragon stuff, and big cloth posters of Jimi Hendrix. I bought a skirt and a pamphlet about Amish hex signs (from the “pagan info” section of the store of all places.) I can only assume they thought it was witchy because it said “hex” in the title. Oh, well, now my car will now smell like patchouli for a year or so. Eh. We then journeyed to the market for the purchasing of much food and an ice cream cake from ColdStone so that we might celebrate my achievement by grilling and stuffing ourselves beyond the capacity of rational thought. It was wonderful! We spent the rest of the evening watching things from YouTube.

SUNDAY: The day I’ve been waiting for had finally arrived! Since graduation wasn’t until that afternoon, we spent the morning watching “Shaun of the Dead”. Steve and the McGees left earlier than I did so that they could have lunch with Mr. Lee, I couldn’t go because of when I was going to have to be at the VBCC, so I got ready after they left. I was having trouble getting ready, from not being able to find all of the pieces of my dress to the oft mourned problem of Giant Hair, so I was almost unable to get where I needed to go on time. Right before I left, I remembered that it cost $5.00 to park at the civic center, and I realized that I’d never have time to go to the bank, so I had to grab a roll of dimes from the change jug and pay with that. The attendant looked at me like I had just grown a horn, but she was forced to take it. It was $5 after all! I finally got into the East Hall and exchanged my too short gown for one that fit (after a long wait and some random UC employee making the new one reek like cigarette smoke) and I took my place in line. I have no idea why we had to get there so early, but we ended up waiting a long time before anything happened. I was a little embarrassed since I seemed to be wearing more honor chords than anyone else, but I chose to believe it was because I was smarter than anyone else. : ) They kept getting tangled around me, which sucked, but I managed.
So I finally got into the arena, wishing that they were playing something more substantial than Pomp and Circumstance – maybe the Rocky Theme song – and we stood for roughly 12 hours until everyone got inside and prayed over and everything. I couldn’t find anyone I knew in the crowd until I’d been in there for a while. I finally spotted Steve, Mr. Lee and The McGees first, then I saw Kenny and Lauren come in, but I never found Mom and Dad (who I found out later sat in the back of the arena). I was so glad I had so many people there to watch me graduate, even if it must have been painfully boring for them all. Thanks, guys! Well, then I officially graduated. Moved the tassel, got the diploma,
shook the hand of who I can only guess was the dean of the Liberal Arts school (I wasn’t paying attention when they introduced her) and sat back down in my place. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that 1 minute and 30 second part of my day was probably one of the best I’ve ever had! GO ME!
When they finally let us go, I walked back with the class and was under the impression that everyone had already gone. However, to my surprise and delight I was able to schmooze with Kenny and Lauren, who gave me the gifts of chocolate and ice cream…*tear up*…excuse me…I promised myself I wouldn’t get emotional about it… heeheehee. I also was able to have my picture made with my parents ( I don't know what is going on with my face in that one!)






and Kenny (who I haven’t taken a picture with since 1996, and wow do we look different now!) and then I had multiple phone photos made with Steve, Mr. Lee and the McGees. I accidentally poured water all over Steve’s butt while we were taking a picture, so I’m probably not going to be allowed to put my arm around him for a picture ever again – still sorry about that, Steve! After that, my special day was over. Steve and I had to go get the truck, which had decided to die in the parking lot of O’Charlie’s . I used Lois to jump off his battery, so I looked awfully cute in my cap and gown (which I refused to take off because of the fear of what my hair looked like underneath) messing around with jumper cables. I didn’t give in to the desire to go to Wal-Mart in my outfit and buy something completely inappropriate because I felt that for that day only, I should behave myself. No wonder I don’t do it much, being an adult is boring! : ) I was finally coming down from the excitement, so I practically fell out when I got home and I slept the sleep of the righteous until I woke up to go get dinner. I was still kind of out of it, because I didn’t realize until I was almost there that I didn’t have on shoes, I had on my puffy dragonfly slippers. Oy. Good thing I was only going through the drive through.

So that is about it. I’m a college graduate now, the first in my family. Go me, indeed.

Wow, so I have finally finished college. Now what?

I had a wonderful weekend, which culminated in my graduation ceremony at the VBCC, attended by most of my wonderful family and some great friends. I'm sure you want to hear all about it.

However, I hope you will indulge me for a day or two before I describe everything. I woke up this morning with a migraine headache, add to that some unwelcome news, and I now feel like my head is going to split apart at the seams.

Once I'm over the migraine, I'll be able to write more than this, but I just wanted to let you know that things went wonderfully this weekend, and I wanted to say 'thank you' to everyone who made it so great. :)

Since I'm graduating this Sunday (can I get a woo-hoo!) , I have been thinking a lot about the path that has led me to this place I am right now. I owe multitudinous thanks to a great deal of people who have helped me get to where I am today, so I felt that I should take a few moments to express those sentiments to a few of them so that everyone who stops by can know about what they've done for me.

First and foremost, I thank God...I'm really feeling God in this Chili's tonight. He is the biggest reason that I have not, to this point, jumped off of the roof of a tall building in sheer frustration and, of course, He's always there when I need Him. He has also given me:

My parents, who have always supported what ever weird, off the wall, and unfamiliar activity that I have undertaken - as long as it didn't mean I would be more than 20 miles from them. It goes without saying that they are the ones who have always made me believe I'm better, more talented, and smarter than I probably really am, and for that, I'm thankful. I'd also like to thank them for putting into me the fear of the afore mentioned God, so that I wouldn't do some of the ignorant things that rurally raised children seem to do that ultimately lands them in jail, a home for unwed mothers, or a trailer park out in the sticks. Unfortunately, these life lessons came from them both reprimanding:

My sister, Angie, who I learned from because she actually did all of the stupid things that I never did, and who unconsciously taught me that I was going to have to do more than wait around for someone to marry me to do something with my life. She was also the one who taught me to draw Snoopy at the age of 3 and who's artistic ability completely outstripped my own up until now, and probably still does in many ways, so I'll probably always be working to try and be as good at it as she is. I'd also like to thank her for telling me that the reason she didn't finish college was because she never felt as talented as the other people in her class, because I had been feeling that way in every art class I had ever taken and almost let it take me down, so it just made me work harder to get past the insecurity that I felt and learn to develop my own style no matter what anyone else was doing. It was also her unfortunate choice of past relationships, and the advice of who I should and shouldn't have dated, that helped me find:

Steve, who I thank because he took it upon himself to sign me up for college and tell me that I was going back, no matter what I thought about it. It was he who filled out my application, sent it in, and told me I was accepted. So, really, when it comes down to someone making a choice for me, this one was not a bad one at all! He's also put up with my hissy fits because something didn't work, the moaning because of how much homework I had to finish, the mess and expense that comes along with being an art student, the periodic meltdowns I have had from sheer exhaustion, and the fact that I am not, and will never be, appropriate for any of his corporate and "smart people get togethers" due to my lack of computer knowledge and my obscene desire to talk about the things I've learned in art history- and the fact that he takes me there anyways. : )

There is also

Kenny, who has been my friend for so long that I can't imagine being who I am now without having had his input in one way or another. He's always given me good advice about how to handle the stresses of college, and he always made it look easy, even when it wasn't. So surely, I believed, if he could make it through with little to no trouble, it had to be gravy. I'd like to thank him for that gentle lie. Heeheehee. He also has taken all of the pieces of art that I have shoveled onto him with the grace and delight of a loving Grandma, and (so he tells me), proudly displays them where other people can see it. Believing that at least someone was proud enough of the stuff I made to show it off always made me happy. Of course, he probably has more than his fair share of hit or miss print work and no free space at all on the front of his refrigerator!

Sara, who I thank for always being smarter than me and actually graduating in a timely manner from UAB, prompting me to attend her graduation ceremony and think: Hmmmmm, I'd look hot in that cap and gown!

Josh, who always spoke to me in French and tried his hardest to make me feel intellectually inferior - but never succeeded!

Amy and Jon, for having one of my screen prints matted, framed, and hanging in their house.

The unintentional rude male relative (who shall remain nameless) who basically told me I was unattractive, yet talented. That, my friends, made me know that if the modeling contracts never came through, then I'd need something to fall back on.

Mr. Wayne, who hired me as his administrative assistant, and then fired me a year later. You let me know that I suck at corporate America and should stay as far away from it as possible. I thank you for that every day.

and lastly, (although there are way more people than I'm adding here and if you feel I've slighted you - I apologize - but I'll make it up to you in some way), to everyone who has ever smirked at me when I told you I was an art student. To everyone who ever treated me like I was mentally incompetent because I didn't know how to code HTML, do math, or be able to recite "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God" when prompted. To everyone who ever tried to dumb down a conversation, because they didn't think I had taken the appropriate classes to understand what they were talking about AND to all of the people who made the "Do You Want Fries With That" joke when it was funny - and well after it stopped being that way...I thank you all too. I thank you for pissing me off so badly that I worked my tail off to prove you wrong. Because, while it is a noble thing to do your best to make the people you love proud, it is truly another blessed thing altogether to be able to succeed just to spite those who think you can't do it. IN YOUR FACE!!!!!!!!!

AHEM.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to retract my last blog entry, which told of the many, many artifacts and pieces of artwork destroyed in the fire at the Bus Barn on Monday. I was told, unequivocally, that there were no - I REPEAT- no priceless and irreplaceable, space related artifacts damaged or otherwise cremated in that fire. I'd hate to have that rumor SPIN out of control. I didn't mean to LIE to anyone, and I know now that to even think that any of our important artifacts could have been improperly stored in a non-humidity controlled, probably not sealed, and certainly inappropriately protected area of our property would be an embarrassment to our business and our crack (maybe on crack) team of archivists and historians. I'd like to apologize for misleading you with false information. You may spit on me without recourse at our next meeting. *smirk*

Oh, and I also lost my entire supply of Sentra in that fire. Sentra is a rigid plastic sheet that enables me to create my fabulous, and certainly uncriticizing, signage. Boo. Now I am going to get behind on my jobs! Darn that fire for burning nothing except for my supplies and the building it was stored in!

Oh, and I also hurt myself again while painting the Space Dome wall. How much of a goober do you have to be to hurt yourself while painting? Geez. I have to wear a wrist brace most of the time, but I'm going to decorate it so that it looks less...medical. I don't care if I hurt myself, I will always feel like that kid who wears band-aids for attention if I have to wear any kind of appliance. Oy.

Well, I picked a bad day to take a day off from the SpRocket! The Bus Barn burned down yesterday, and I mean, it burned DOWN. They are going to have to destroy it and build another shop. Don’t let the name fool you; the bus barn was more than just a place where they parked busses. They did all kinds of construction for exhibits and things down there. I’ve been down there to add decals to missiles and cars and (horrors within horrors) some of our artifacts were stored upstairs. Artifacts, as in, irreplaceable paintings and/or watercolors by pre-cold war Russian artists who have sense gone on to the great beyond. Gah! It makes me want to vomit. Other than that, I’m glad no one got hurt and that the fuel pumps were deactivated when the fire started. I’m also glad that even if there had been a missile down there being restored, it would have been deexplosivetated. Can you imagine accidentally launching one of our Russian missiles at Redstone Arsenal accidentally? Schnikes.

To the he first person to ask me if I am going to start popping out babies simply because I've finally finished college: I Will Cut You.

I plan nothing.

You have been warned.

FRIDAY UPDATE- SPIDERMAN 3 EDITION

Yikes. If you happen to notice the date on this entry, you will see that it is actually Saturday morning, but I feel I may not have another chance to write about this week before it gets to be old news, so just bear with me, K?

It seems as if this week has been both 5 minutes long as well as 100 years long. It has been a long time since I have been so sleep deprived that I began hallucinating, but this week has helped me along with that!

All this week I have been working to get the SpaceDome lobby in shape for the Spider-Man 3 opening. Since it was to be the SpRocket's first "Real Movie" opening (we normally don't get the regular movies until they have been in the theater for a while, or until they have already been out on DVD for a while), Marketing and Guest Services wanted everything to be lovely. Although my job is really to make signs, I often get drafted - or I volunteer - to help out with other things as needed. This time, instead of helping out, I was kind of on my own. That was fine, because I got to make things the way I wanted them to be, but it was a lot of work. I've already told you about the giant spider-web, which one of my co-workers took his life in his own hands to begin dogging it as soon as he looked at it. Granted, I can take criticism, and the web didn't turn out like I had envisioned, but I was tired and punchy when he started doing it and that's a bad time to criticize me. I must have struck a nerve with him when I chewed his face off about it because so far, he's apologized to me twice. Anyways, I also made another web out of twine, which suspends a replica camera (that I also made) in between two columns in the lobby, like Peter Parker did in the first movie. I had wanted a strobe for the fake camera so that it looked like it was taking pictures, but I couldn't get my hands on one that was the right color, as well as small enough. Oh well. Although all of those things took a while, my biggest project was that of a wall mural that they allowed me to paint on the glass wall of the Space Dome projection booth. It's not my best work, because I didn't have a great deal of time to work on it, but everyone seems to really like it. It's a cartoony skyline silhouette in black and white, with some signs and stuff added in for funzies. I tried to give all of the projectionists and ushers a mention in one place or another, and all of the employees who've come to see it think they are funny. I painted a big church called "St. Gregory of the IMAX" for the Theater Manager, "Howard's Theater" and "Burrell's Hotel" for one of the projectionists, and "Anthony Hale's House of Un-Cut Funk" for the Chief Projectionist. I also added "Fat-Head Steve's Tequila & Waffles" restaurant for Steve, because he used to work at the theater and because it was my call. Sue me. I also added in some stuff for other people, but it was all tiny and they have to play Where's Waldo to find them. The painting stretches across 6 of the 8 windows, and at the tallest point is probably about 8 or 10 feet high. I was so high from paint fumes and so tired from the work, that St. Gregory's suffered a little. Oh, well, it was still a lot of fun. I've been told that if we get to open the next Harry Potter film, I'll be painting a rendering of Hogwarts on the window. I hope I can get at least two weeks for that one. Oy.

I love being artistic!

Oh yeah, I also embarrassed myself last night because of that mural. When I stand behind the shortest building, you can only see from my eyes up. I was standing there with Anthony looking at the crowd, when I had a moment only those of us with long, crazy hair can understand. I had it clipped up with one of those evil looking spring loaded clips, and it was giving me a headache, so I reached back and pulled the clip out and shook my hair kind of wildly. I didn't even realize I people could see me because most of me was hidden by the painting, but not all of me. Apparently, I was unintentionally channeling Tawney Kittain, because it got this group of teenage boys tickled at me. I wasn't trying to go all White Snake on anyone, but that started a round of me watching them flip their hair and imitate me. When I finally got my hair subdued, when I stood there behind the building again, all you could see was a little poof of my hair moving back and forth along it's roof line. I finally just pulled out my hair clip, put on one of the head-sets and pretended to be pre-crazy Britney Spears until they went into the theater. Never say I don't do what I can to entertain the public.

There were hundreds of people who came to see ol' Spidey. I didn't have to usher like I thought, but I still stayed until after midnight last night so that I could help out wherever needed. I got to give away the Midnight Showing door prizes, and they let me use the microphone. I'll just say, that a tired and goofy Kelly should probably not be given the ability to make public announcements. After everyone was in, I had to ask them to move to the center of the aisles and leave the outside seats open for stragglers. Most of them complied, but I could see from the usher booth that some people weren't doing it. I told them that they had to move over and make some new friends. When that didn't work, I said "I can seeeeeeeee yooooooooooou! I won't start the movie until you mooooooooooooooooooove!" Since they didn't know where I was, I saw quite a few people get nervous and move over stealthily. I also got to ramble and be silly until the prizes were given away and we started the film. It was great fun.

I don't have any pictures of anything at this point, but I am going back to work with the IMAX guys tonight, so I'll try and get some to show off. It's not my best work, but the sheer size of it makes me proud! : )

I feel. Like someone. Has beaten me. With a stick.

Sorry for the Capt. Kirk-ness of that, but were I to say that out loud, that is what it would sound like.

I mentioned before that I was decorating the lobby of the SpaceDome for Spidey 3, right? Well, I was back at it last night, and again I worked until 11:00. Do you want to know what I was doing? I was building a 2o' spider web out of raffia. I don't think it could have taken longer if I had to literally learn to spin the silk from my own body. I also had to hang it by myself. Where, you may ask? It is now spanning the balcony opening above the lobby.

I'm not one to look for compliments, normally, but if at least one of my superiors doesn't wet themselves out of sheer delight at the feat of acrobatics it took for me to get the danged thing up there...I'll put strychnine in the guacamole.

I also got to open the sacred display case and drape our "Limited Edition, Movie Reproduction, Accurate to the Nth Degree Darth Vadar Costume" with spider webs.

There will be pictures. Oh yes. There will be pictures.

As for right now, my boss has given me some comp time for working so late, so I don't have to go in until 10:30 this morning. I'm still not done with the lobby, but at least I can have a break from it for a couple of hours. : )

Another really quick note...

I've been giving the charge of decorating the Lobby and SpaceDome Lobby of the SpRocket for the opening of Spider-Man 3. I'm tired, I'm busy, and apparently no one department can decide what is more important for me to work on, so I've been at the museum until after 11:30 for the past two days.

We watched the test run last night (because I'm also going to be ushering during the opening weekend due to the lack of help they have right now) and I was practicing my field-flattener skills. That is a fancy way to say that I am the one who will clear dust chunks off of the movie while it runs. Wow, that art degree is taking me to me moon. : ) Actually, it's kind of fun, but don't tell anyone I told you so.

The movie is great, if a little emo. Lots of crying and self pity. No wonder Spidey wears a black suit during half of the film. I almost expected Toby McGuire to start wearing eyeliner and cutting himself while listening to The Cure. Other than that, it's really good! Come see it in IMAX!

Oh, and as an aside...the fourth "Bless Your Heart" award will be going to Kirsten Dunst for the fact that some very, VERY, heartless person made her sing in this movie. Erm...she's really...uh...unmusical. That, and her weird, vampire teeth are horrifying on a three-story high screen.

Well, back to the salt mines!

CAN I GET A WOOT-WOOT?!

Guess what I just finished?? COLLEGE!

Heck yeah!

More later!