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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Let's recap

So basically for yesterday's post I made myself a to do list for today. Let's see how I did shall we?


...get up before ten. I'm a lazy bum and I need to stop it.
I got up AT 10. Nope. Still a lazy bum. I can assure you this will change soon, seeing as I start work next week. That means I'm up at 8 a.m. and work until 10 p.m. every day. That includes the weekends. I'm terrified I will still be in lazy bum mode and will not make it past week one.

...workout in the morning instead of waiting until evening when I'm pooped.
Epic fail. I didn't even workout today. (Shhh! Don't tell Jillian... she'll hunt me down and make me do situps until I cry.)

...make some phone calls I've been meaning to for a while.
I did make a couple. There's a few more I need to make still. I'll call this one a draw.

...start packing. Again. UGH! I don't even know where anything is. *sad face*
Nope. Well.... kind of. I have little clusters of stuff I'm going to take with me set out, but I really need to clean out my car so I can pack it. It was just really cold today and I didn't want to stand out in the snow. (yeah, you heard me. SNOW.) It melted by mid-day but was still bitter cold and windy. I can only hope for better weather tomorrow.

...read a book. I bought a couple new ones I'm excited about.
Success! I'm about half-way through one of my new books. It's a kids book (I think? It has a lot of very clever references I know most children wouldn't get, so I don't know on that.) so it's a light easy read. When I'm finished I'll tell you all about it. OH! And a side note on that one, I inadvertently started a SERIES in which the new book comes out this July. Poop. I hate being obligated for future purchases. I know. I lead a rough life, lol.

...try to have more patience.
I did, actually. More than I do most days. I have to get out of this house.

...attempt to find my curling iron. It's been missing and I'm very, very sad. :(
Searched again for my beloved curling iron with no success. I refuse to buy a new one, I just bought a new one the same time last year because my old one pooped out finally. I will find it! I will PREVAIL!

...NOT spend my entire day in front of the TV or computer.
I made a point not to! Yay me!

...NOT drive into town again just because I'm bored.
Again, I made a point not to. Yay me!

...send out a package that needs to get in the mail.
I did not send it, but I did get two packages all ready to mail and they will go out tomorrow. I feel like that's a success.

...finish my little load of laundry.
That I did. I have clean underoos! Woot! :D

...pick up my room.
Only slightly. But for the most part it's just a big pile of clean laundry.

...watch American Idol and see who gets kicked off!
Bye bye Matt! I was really worried there for a second. I thought they were going to kick off Adam and then I was going to have to boycott the show for another 4 years. I stopped watching after they kicked off Constantine and Bo and Fantasia won back in season 3. I'm bitter. I'm sorry. That's alright though, cause this year my boy is gonna win it!

...go to bed at a decent hour, instead of 2 a.m.
Well it's almost 11 and I think I'm going to head that direction. I'm actually really pooped today for no reason in particular.

Oh, and in addition to what I DID do on the list, I made a loaf of bread. Photos of which I will post later because my camera is in the other room and I'm too lazy to go get it and download the pics at the moment, lol. Have a good night everyone!

To do...

It's Wednesday again! And that means more prompts from Mama Kat. I picked a simple one this time. It's "Today I will..."

Today I will...

...get up before ten. I'm a lazy bum and I need to stop it.
...workout in the morning instead of waiting until evening when I'm pooped.
...make some phone calls I've been meaning to for a while.
...start packing. Again. UGH! I don't even know where anything is. *sad face*
...read a book. I bought a couple new ones I'm excited about.
...try to have more patience.
...attempt to find my curling iron. It's been missing and I'm very, very sad. :(
...NOT spend my entire day in front of the TV or computer.
...NOT drive into town again just because I'm bored.
...send out a package that needs to get in the mail.
...finish my little load of laundry.
...pick up my room.
...watch American Idol and see who gets kicked off!
...go to bed at a decent hour, instead of 2 a.m.

We'll see how many of those I can cross off the list! I think I deserve a prize if I get through them all, lol. I tend to be easily distracted. ;) What are YOU going to do today?

Monday, April 27, 2009

New glasses!

I went by the optical center at ShopKo today just to check and see if my glasses had come in, and guess what? They got there that morning! Yay! I win. :D I was so totally excited about them I made the little guy who helped me laugh, lol. So of course, here's a couple pics of my new eyes. :) Oh, and that darker looking spot of my hair is where I tried to dye it blue this evening. It didn't really work out as well as I had hoped, but oh well. I'm having a restless moment and when I get those I usually tend to dye my hair strange colors lol. It's not permenant though, so it'll probably wash out in a couple weeks. Is there anything you tend to do when you get restless? Do tell! Anyway, my new specks....



I just love them! You can't really tell from the picture, but they're a tortoise shell brown with a teal inside. And my favorite part...
They have moons and stars on the sides! So cute! I love being able to see. Especially when I get to see through awesome frames. ;)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Just Some Reasons Missoula is Awesome

So I've been in Missoula since Thursday, and every time I come here I remember why I like it so much. I have to say it's been really nice to get away from the house with my folks, I love them and all, but I'm too old to be living there. And believe me when I say that there is nothing to do at home. They live in a very small town, and I've been driving about 1/2 and hour most days to just go do something. It's so nice to be in a place that not only has neat stores to just browse through, but always has events going on.


Just a few things going on this weekend are the Maverick Brewfest, a play and wine tasting, and Saturday starts the beginning of Bike, Walk, Bus Week. BWBW is really awesome because there's a whole booklet of places around town that are doing different specials everyday for people walk, ride their bike, or use the bus to get there. Free coffees and coffee mugs, free carousel rides, raffles for cool prizes, a treasure hunt, and discount New Belgium beer are just some of the great incentives to use alternate transportation. PS, if you don't know of New Belgium Brewing (they make Fat Tire), located in the ever-so-lovely Fort Collins, Colorado, you should go here and check out their website. They're a really eco-friendly brewery and have great employee incentives. We took a tour when I was there and I was totally impressed. They also do a tour called Tour de Fat, where they promote using alternate transportation and give away a New Belgium bike to one lucky winner every stop they make. Proceeds also go to good causes, which is a good reason to go visit them and drink some beer! Even the cups they use are made from corn so they're compostable and produce no real waste. If they're in a city near you I would definitely recommend going.


While I'm on the subject of beer, the Maverick Brewfest is also a charity event. Brewers from all over the state, and a couple out-of-staters, come and set up a giant tent and for $20 you get a bunch of tickets and a keepsake glass to go around and sample all the wonderful micro-brews we have here. Their proceeds also go toward children's charities, so that's a bonus too. And, the Firehouse Ale that's I *think* brewed in Helena (I could be wrong...it's happened before), sends part of it's proceeds to the Montana Firefighters Association. I like to drink for causes, lol. But really, I think it's really neat of them to do stuff like that. At least my imbibement of alcohol is going toward the greater good, even if it's not mine. ;)


Actually, the reason that I decided to come up this weekend was because a church group that Jenni recently got started was going bowling, and since I was invited I was like YES! Things to do with people! I am so there. :) There were about 7 of us and we had a really good time. I actually won the first game with a 108! Yay! While we were there we even saw a man bowling in a hot dog suit (sorry, I don't have my camera with me this weekend! I suck, I know) which completely cracked me up.

The play that I stayed to see Saturday was also really good. It was actually a staged reading of the musical John and Jen, so cute and sad. One of my friends was putting it on, so I went to support him. :) We met up later for drinks and I also wound up meeting three more of my friends as well. I felt all popular and loved. *basks in the warm fuzzies* I can't wait to move back there again. Or even to start my job. I have a lot of friends that I'll be working with the first half of the summer, and just thinking about it today made me all excited and happy. YAY! I haven't been that excited or happy in a long time. Too long. It's about time the warm fuzzies came around again.

My friend Allison also went to Missoula this weekend, and she was competing in the Woodsman's Competition. I forget if that's the right name or not...sorry! But basically she saws through logs in ridiculous amounts of time. She's pretty amazing. Took second this year by .2 of a second...all because of a giant knot she had to saw through. But she sawed through a 22" log in something like 40 seconds....crazy! With a handsaw, not chainsaw, just so that's clear. She's a buff girlie. :)

So that is mostly the extent of my awesome weekend. I'm really sad I didn't have my camera, that always seems to happen right when I want it too. Ah well. Next time. Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day! Yay!

Today is Earth Day folks! Go hug trees! *frolics about with a daisy crown in fields of flowers* Yeah...I wish, lol. Actually, if there was any picture that is perfect in my mind for Earth Day, it is one of our drama department professors hugging a panda. It is the most adorable picture I've ever seen and it hangs on his office wall. I smile every time I see it, and sometimes I go visit just so I can go look at the panda and giggle on the inside. I wish I had some really exciting news or events that I'm doing for today, but alas, I am lame and have done nothing of note other than eating Chinese food in our state capitol. :) I have a good friend who works there and we had lunch today. I love being able to run around the capitol building for no reason, lol, it's so much fun.


This weeks prompts from Mama Kat are all really good... I might just have to indulge in more than one. We will at least start with this one:
2.) When is it okay not to listen to the words? Explain about a song you really love that has lame lyrcis or lyrics you simply don't understand.


Most of the songs like this for me are more heavy rock songs. There's a couple songs by Buckcherry and a group called Between the Buried and Me that have an awesome rhythm/guitar riff/drum solo that I just love, but the lyrics can be...special. I'm not even going to tell you what they are because I try to keep my blog PG and not offend folks lol. But I really am a sucker for a great guitar riff or good percussion, and sometimes that comes with screamy or offensive lyrics. However, a great band that has RIDICULOUS skills is Dragonforce.
I would also like to point out that I liked Dragonforce before they became more popular due to Guitar Hero. I have a friend who finds obscure bands and liked to play them in shop, so I've discovered a lot of stuff through him (Hi Dan! *waves*). For your viewing and listening pleasure I have included a video of one of my favorite songs of theirs (it is the one from Guitar Hero, and how STOKED was I that they put on my favorite so I could pretend I was awesome too!), it's called Through the Fire and the Flames (no explicit language that I know of, so we're good there! Yay!). I'll tell you now the video is 5 minutes long (most of their songs range from 5 to 10 minutes...I know, right?), and they're kind of reminiscent of a cranked up 80's hair band. So if 80's rock isn't your cup of tea, feel free to skip it. :) Or if you just want to see/hear some amazing guitar, just forward to about 3:00 in the video and watch from there. The whole thing is amazing because they play SO fast and are unaltered (i.e. not sped up post-recording), but if you just want to see what I mean, that's the chunk to watch. I'm pretty ecclectic in my music (you should see my iPod...it's craziness) so don't think I just sit around and head bang all day, lol! But those are just a couple where the song part overlooks the lyrics part for me.



Hmmm... so I think that's all for today. I have a road trip and stuff tomorrow, so more exciting things to come. Oh, and I got a haircut, so I'll take pics to post too. :) I might even try blogging from my phone! Exciting! Hope everyone has a great day!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Some shopping photos

Not a whole lot going on here on the home front this week. I did go to the dentist and found out that I need a crown, which I'm going in for tomorrow. I always knew I was a princess! *insert eye roll here* However, this kind of crown is not really one I think I want. But at least it will keep me from having mind-numbing pain when I get food stuck in my tooth, and hey, that's always a bonus. Cause you know, me and food, we're tight. Sometimes a little too tight, as in my clothes won't fit tight, lol. I've done really well lately though. And because I am me and like to spend money I really don't have, I have done a lot of buying of new clothes. I feel justified though, because at least they fit me well, and I think that it's important to have clothes that fit well. And as per Alexis' request (that comment made me laugh...and who am I kidding? I love taking pictures. Can we say vain? Sorry guys!), I have posted photos of said purchases.



I got this one on sale! It was $6.



I think this might be my favorite one. I don't have anything like it, since I've been kind of in a brown and blue rut (can you tell?).


You probably can't tell, but those are little stars. This one was also on sale, $6.


I got this is my dressy outfit for the last show in Bigfork....

....and here are the shoes that go with it. Also on sale, $11. Yeah, I rock the sale rack lol.

Sorry I'm so dull this week guys, this next week I've got a lot going on, so hopefully I'll have some fun, exciting stuff to report! Later!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Getting down to business!

Whoofta! It's been a day. Not a bad one, just a busy one. First order of business! April over at April Showers is having a month full of giveaways! All of you should totally head over there and enter to win her amazing prizes. Actually you should just head over there anyway because she is hilarious and entertaining and has an adorable blog (she is a blog designer...so if you're in the market...*wink wink*). You can follow the link in this post or click either of the two cute buttons over on my sidebar and they will wisk you away. :)


Next order of business, I thought I'd try the Writer's Workshop hosted by Mama Kat. The theme I'm picking is: Tell us about that time at the playground when that thing happened.
I'm a clumsy kid, so there are a few things that have been noteworthy during playground time, lol. Like most kids I loved the swings. And also like most kids, my friends and I would swing as high as we could and then try to jump off. One particular day, I jumped off at the peak of my swing, landed perfectly....and left my back pocket attached to the swing. I had basically ripped my pants in two, which is totally awesome for a kinda shy and quiet 5th grader. Mortified, I wore my coat around my waist for the rest of the day since both my parents were at work. Second incident, it was winter. In Montana there tends to be a lot of ice in the winter, and the playground is no exception. We were running in from outside after recess was over, one of my friends gave me a shove, I slipped on the ice, fell, and cut my knee to the tendon. Fun times. Slap some gauze and medical tape over that...we're good to go. Left a knarly scar though, which I'm actually quite proud of lol. Last incident I feel is worth telling was my one and only attempt at trying to play football. I can't catch. In fact, as one of my friends so kindly pointed out I "have the catching ability of a post-it note." This is not to your advantage in football. So on this day, I missed the ball that was flying RIGHT AT MY HEAD, which proptly smacked me in the face, breaking my glasses in two. Yup. Dead center. I taped them back for the rest of the day nerd-style...really classy. I wish I could say I got more graceful as I grew up...unfortunately that is not the case. However, I do laugh at myself now instead of getting embarrassed, and I usually tend to be fairly entertaining in the process so bonus! :D

Alrighty, so I have to say that along with what seems to be half of the blogging community, I am torturing myself with this:






That's right ladies, the 30 Day Shred. Can I just say I did NOT realize how out of shape I really was until I tried to do this? Day one I made it through, but I was definitely jello. It felt good though, oddly enough. I'm on day three of doing it and actually even in the past two days (I skipped a couple...for Easter weekend...bad I know) I've noticed a difference. I'm still a puddle of sweat, but today I no longer had jello legs when I was done. Tired legs, yes. But I could still walk lol. I'm really excited about getting back into shape, so I'm trying to kick my own butt and keep up with this now that I have no holiday to use as an excuse. If any of you are doing this too, how far into the 30 days are you and how do you feel?

I also did some mad shopping today (I'm totally into retail therapy lately...which is not good for my checkbook) and I'll post pics of my cute finds later. Happy Hump Day everyone! I'm out! :)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Long and Link-Filled Post! And Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all are having a good weekend. My mom and I dyed eggs tonight after church. I haven't dyed eggs in a long time, so I was really excited (egg-cited...ha!). And look at my awesome egg! I did it in layers, and used a plain wax crayon that came with the kit I bought. Neat eh?


I hate how yellow are lights in the house are, the purple part is actually a really nice shade. But I started with yellow, went to red, and finished up with blue. Yep. That's a keeper.


So today, I am a little bit of special. I got the pic I submitted posted over at Vanity Plates: Creepiness in 8 Characters or Less. Yup, that first one, that's me! Yay! Small victories, lol. Go over and check out the blog, it's pretty hilarious. And I promise, once you start looking, you see crazy plates everywhere!


So when I was sick with the 'Monia, I pretty much stayed on the couch and watched food network and The Biggest Loser all day. Well, one day while I was watching Tyler's Ultimate, he made The Ultimate Fish Tacos. They looked fantastic, and I told Mom I wanted to try them. So we went shopping today for the stuff (which was awesome, cause I got to pick out everything and not have to pay for it! Yay parents!) and had them for dinner. A-MAZE-ing.


Simple breading: coat in flour, dip in egg, coat in panko bread crumbs. Let sit a couple minutes so all the goodness soaks in and doesn't fall off when you fry them.


Fry in hot oil till nice and crispy. We cooked ours for 3 minutes per batch, since our pieces were little.


Nappa cabbage slaw, mango-radish salsa, and chipotle mayo. Made all of 'em from scratch! The salsa and mayo recipes are included in the taco recipe link, I made up the slaw. It's basically some leftover cilantro, nappa cabbage, and chives with a vinegarette of balsamic and olive oil with some salt. I threw in some Jamacian seasoning we have from Pampered Chef, but I think it would be fine without.


The final product. We bought some tortillas (though there is an easy recipe to make your own that my friend Allison has. We made them one night at her house for tacos....check out her blog Cast Iron for the recipe!) and then to make the tacos just warmed them up a few seconds, spread on the mayo (thinly, unless you want to burn your face off! which you might, I don't judge ;) ), pile on some fish, slaw, and salsa. Wrap up and eat! SO GOOD. If you missed the link at the top, you can go here and download the recipe. I will tell you that we used Basa fish instead of Mahi Mahi, and it was still super. Any whitefish is fairly good for this, cod would be an excellent option as well. I will also say that we had to buy about half the things on the list, and wound up spending about $30. We have a lot of leftovers though, so it's worth the money. And the salsa and mayo would be good on so many other things, so multi-use ingredients there.

Also, I was visiting A Duck in Her Pond a couple days ago, and she had a recipe for these adorable mini banana pudding pies. They reminded me a ladybug, so I decided I was going to make a ladybug pie!


I know it doesn't look it in the picture, but it really is pink. I sort of threw it together, but here's what I used:

2 packs white chocolate pudding
1 pack vanilla pudding (I hadn't planned on this one, but after I added the strawberries it was too thin...I had to thicken it back up)
approximately 1 cup of fresh strawberries
maybe a 1/4 cup of fruit juice (V8 Splash Berry)
pre-made chocolate graham cracker crust
Oreo halves

Really simple, just mix it up, throw it in, and put the Oreo halves on top. Now, the cookies will get mushy after sitting on top of the pie, but if you use the half with the "stuff" on it, the filling of the cookie will act as a moisture barrier, keeping the cookies crispy. Either way works for me. :) It was a tasty followup to the awesome tacos, so thank you to A Blond Duck for the inspiration!

Well that's it folks! About time too huh? I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter and I'll catch you all later!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Tres Cute!

So I had a craptastic morning yesterday. I was feeling like a loser and a bum and needed to get out of the house. I drove into Helena for some things, and on a whim I decided to stop at Maurices and do a little retail therapy. That's where I found these two pieces of cute!



This one is the first thing I tried on. SO CUTE! It's actually the first strapless dress I've worn/bought and I'm way excited about it.


This one is also super cute. I don't know if you can really tell, but it's black with little white polka dots. It also has a sash belt thingy which you can see dangling off to the left there, but I think I like it better without it. That has yet to be decided.

I'm so excited about these because I never buy - or wear for that matter - dresses. I got them with purpose though, for the opening night parties in Bigfork. I'll make sure to take pics of them on, they look a lot better. More like a dress and less like...big square pieces of fabric. *makes note to self that one should not be a square and to work out more*

So what is this about Bigfork you say? Well it's only my most favorite place ever. This will be my third year working there as a scenic artist, and truth be told, I'm stoked. This is a big season for them, it's their 50th anniversary! And there's going to be a huge reunion with as many people from the past 50 years that can make it. I think there's over 900 so far! I'm so proud to be a part of that. I almost wasn't though, because I had told myself it wasn't smart. The job only lasts until July, and then...what? What do I do? With most of the places in Missoula hiring around May/June, I thought that I would wind up taking the Bigfork job and then come back to Missoula only to live in a box down by the river because there would be no work. Lucky me though, I'm blessed. I know this. And I do sometimes take it for granted, but I am always appreciative. I called Michael's and told them I had this other job that would only take me till July, and they told me, "Well just call when you're ready to come over, we'll make room for ya!" Really?!? Wow. That's awesome. I can have my cake and eat it too. AND, when I was doing my dress shopping yesterday, I was talking to the ladies in Maurices and they said they loved their job and it was a great place to work. So I asked them if their Missoula store would be hiring in July. The boss-lady called over there and she said.... yes! They gave me an application to fill out and told me to come back in to take the personality survey, this way everything is done and all I have to do is show up to the Missoula store with a big smile and say "I'm ready! Hire me!" Super huh? I'm planning on going back next week...because that's when my coupons go into effect. :D Ah, spending money I don't have...the joys. So yeah, things are looking up!

"Things are looking up. It's a great little world we live in. Oh I'm happy as a pup since love looked up at me."

Anybody know that one? That's from a show I worked on my first year in Bigfork actually. I'll most definitely post some photos of the area when I get up there (May 6th). And anyone who thinks they'd like a nice summer getaway, please check out the website for the Bigfork Summer Playhouse. They really have a killer season this year! If you can, come on up and see a show. The view of the lake alone is worth it. ;)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Chocolate cake!

*sings* Dad is great! He gives us chocolate cake!
Anyone who knows where that quote is from gets my love and affection forever. :) However, my Dad did not give me this chocolate cake, I made it myself from a forwarded email recipe. This, ladies, is a 5 minute chocolate mug cake!




This is what it looked like right out of the microwave. It's a cake mushroom cloud!


How delicious does that look?


So...just for the record, when you decide to make this (and you will, I promise!), make sure you get the bottom edges of your mug when you're mixing. I tried to, but apparently I didn't do well enough. Although those flour spots over on the left kind of look like a smiley face don't they? :)


The full cake dumped out of the mug.

A closeup, because I love to take pictures of food. I just think it's very photogenic.

What's that you say? What is the recipe for the quick and tasty cake? For those of you that haven't gotten this email forward, here it is:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

A small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).


I'll tell you it is a really dense cake, so make sure you have a glass of milk handy! Also, if you do make it, let me know how you liked it! More life updates to come at a later date. For now, let them eat cake!