Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Random Vampire Books

After Sense & Sensibility and Persuasion, I needed to take a break and read something mindless.  I went to my favorite second hand bookstore and picked up some cheap paranormal paperbacks.
Mary Janice Davidson's "Dead and" series is entertaining and fun so I picked up a collection of short stories.  I've never been a prude but there was so much straight up porn in these stories that I felt a little dirty.
If I want that much sex, I'll watch real porn!
I picked up another author I've never read before, Kimberly Raye.  It wasn't the first book in this particular series but I didn't know that until I got home with it.  It was mindless and entertaining....just what I want in my paranormal fiction.  But I guess this is becoming the norm in this genre...the explicit sex.  And please believe me when I say I AM NOT A PRUDE!  Without over-sharing, I've been known to be a little wild but for some reason, having to read in EXCRUCIATING detail about how and where two people put their mouths and fingers, where they are tingling and bodily fluids galore is a bit off-putting - to put it mildly.
This is why I stopped reading Laurell K. Hamilton.  I loved the first several Anita Blake books but suddenly, each book became more about near hard core porn than about paranormal escapades.  They were all sex, no plot.  Seriously.

So, I guess I'll keep looking for the perfect mix of fantasy and subtle sexuality.
Or maybe I'm just getting old.  *sigh*

Persuasion by Jane Austen

I've been so MIA that I've had a hard time finding myself!
Jane Austen has been difficult for some of the participants but there are at least two of us who are loving every second.

Life got overly dramatic for me in the middle of Persuasion but I persevered and really enjoyed it.
So many people told me this is their favorite Austen novel and although I really enjoyed it, I can't say I liked it more than S&S. 

I just love the way Jane Austen fleshes out her characters.  They are so multi-layered and their faults aren't hidden. 
Anne is a goody goody but everyone adores her...I even liked her and I hate goody goodies! (Not really!)
I loved how Captain Wentworth gave her the cold shoulder at first, too.  She sort of deserved it for not standing up to Lady Russell!

Pride and Prejudice is next.  I've read this one before but I'll give it a once-over to refresh my drink.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

It's hurricane season...pass the Xanax

Oh Lord...here we go.
There is a tropical thing/disturbance/pain-in-the-ass out there. The media vultures are loving this. They are practically peeing in their collective pants.
Like I don't have anxiety issues enough as it is, they lead the news at every turn with this thing and of course we have a reason to worry....the oil spill.
I don't even want to imagine the horror of a hurricane blowing right through that oil cover a large portion of the Gulf. I just can't think about it.

So, I've turned my attention to World Cup soccer, baseball, iPhone iOS4 and Doctor Who.
USA is playing Ghana today and I'll get home just in time to watch most of that.
The Astros broke the Rangers' 11 game winning streak last night, so that was exciting.
I'm loving the new operating system for my iPhone that came out this week! Sure, merged mailboxes, faster, zoomier cameras and multitasking is awesome but I now get to put a pretty wallpaper on my home screen. Yay!

Who knows if anyone is reading this besides Colin but just in case....
I know times are tough out there for so many of us. I'm struggling day to day myself but most of us are doing better than others. I can feed my dogs, buy them flea prevention and treats and sometimes buy food for myself so I think I'm pretty fortunate.
Some people are really trying and still can't seem to make it. I've been reading Libby's blog for a long time and her posts and pictures are super charming. She's having a lot of problems right now and needs some help.
Just thought I'd pass it on.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Told You So

I KNEW it! Britney didn't have a stylist for her train wreck interview. This girl is just plain losing it.

From NY Post: "Dateline" staffers were shocked when they showed up with Matt Lauer to interview Spears last week and found the pop star alone in her Malibu manse. "Neither of her publicists, Leslie Sloane Zelnick or Nanci Ryder, showed up," said our source.

Ok...I'm shutting up about Britney Spears now. You'd think I was obsessed or something.

link stolen from Pink Is the New Blog

Friday, June 11, 2010

Tidbits and crapfests

I've had a really bad week.
Our network went down and I was afraid we were infected. It took a team of three IT people (me and two others) to get things back up and running.
I'm still VERY cautious....I just can't believe we did it and it all seems very precarious right now.

For four days, I've been super stressed out and the only thing that made me feel better was the fact that I found episodes of Last of the Summer Wine on You Tube and I've been able to watch them on my iPhone at home.
I'm VERY excited about this discovery!

I would be excited about World Cup but I don't have cable so I'll just have to read about it.

I have a birthday coming up...tomorrow to be exact.
A friend took me to dinner Wednesday night and gave me a gift card to Massage Envy. Believe it or not, I've never had a professional massage! After this crapfest of a week, I decided to take this afternoon off and go get that massage!
I can't wait!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Baseball and.....hotdogs?

Well this was good news to my newly vegetarian ears.

Minute Maid Park's Veggie Menu Gets PETA Love

According to PETA, MMP has all sorts of stuff like "veggie burritos, quinoa tabbouleh, and sun-dried tomato rigatoni, all new for the 2010 season. Minute Maid Park also serves up hearty veggie dogs, Thai noodle salad, hummus and vegetable wraps, vegetarian sushi, fruit smoothies, rice and beans, and organic baby-vegetable ratatouille."

Where IS this stuff? It took me two trips to the ballpark to find the veggie hotdogs.
Do they supply a food map?

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Jonesin....

for a new tattoo.

Someone stop me!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Bad Dream?

I had a very detailed dream about being fired from my job.
I'm not sure if this was a nightmare or wishful thinking.
It's not that I want to be fired but I was just thinking how nice it would be to stay home a lot more. However, without a job, I wouldn't have a home to stay home in...so yeah, it's a catch 22 type situation. Or whatever.

I had a bad weekend. It started with me losing my iPhone.
Friday night, I went to dinner and when I drove up to the restaurant, I sent a quick email and slid the phone into the front pocket of my giant purse.
Then I went in, had dinner and as I was leaving, I dug around in my purse but couldn't find my phone. I thought maybe I put it in the giant black hole part of my bag and I would dig around more when I got into the car. Nothing. I pulled everything out of my purse and nothing.
I tore everything apart, searched under the car seats, between the seats, went back into the restaurant and questioned the staff, searched the now clean table and the floor under the table. Nothing.
I went back to my car and started having a panic attack. This is my iPhone - which is my life- my music, movies, pictures, apps, emails, phone numbers and addresses. Not to mention that there is NO way I could afford a replacement iPhone. I was fucked and I knew it. I kept picturing some asshole somehow slipping it out of my purse and now he was the proud owner of a new iPhone with a pink cover and I was fucked.
I literally BAWLED while I drove to my mother's house to use her phone or computer to discontinue my service. Running through my mind were all the things I needed to do after I called AT&T; change passwords to my emails and other websites. My phone is password protected but I'm sure all it would take is a google search to figure out how to break through that security.
Anyway, as I'm driving and cryin, I start thinking about how this is just so unreal. I distinctly remember putting my phone in the FRONT pocket. How could it go missing? Was there a hole in the lining?
At a red light, I reached over and stuck my hand deep into the pocket and mother of god...there was a giant hole. I reached into it and felt my fucking iPhone. INSIDE. THE. LINING.
So, I cried in panic and misery for 20 minutes and then cried in relief for 10. 30 minutes of hysteria on a Friday evening. I needed a drink.

I'm not done.
Sunday was my god-daughter's bridal shower. I was in charge of shower games and gifts and the cake.
I have a friend who makes beautiful, elaborate cakes so she volunteered to make it. I picked it up on Saturday and it was a gorgeous heart-shaped, three-layer red velvet cake with a cherry almond filling, decorated with hearts and love.
She secured it in a cake box and we put it in my backseat for the ride home.
I drove carefully, I swear, but when I got home, the top layer of the cake was not at the top anymore. It was sitting behind the cake and the filling was everywhere.
Just twelve hours before the shower, the cake was ruined.
I just stared at it for a long time, not believing what I was seeing. Then my mind started working furiously, trying to figure out how to fix this mess. This cake was a lost cause so I called Krogers. I must have sounded panicked because the nice lady in the bakery assured me everything would be ok. They were about to close but she asked me about the shower colors, then looked at what they had pre-made.
The colors were red and white and she found a white cake with some flowers and red ladybugs. She would write on it with red icing if I wanted.
Then she put my name on it and put it aside and said I could ask anyone at the front to go back to the bakery and get it for me.
That sweet lady at Krogers saved me.

Yes, it was a silly looking cake for an elegant shower and I came close to throwing myself off my balcony but in the end, it was just a cake (as people kept telling me) and it did taste pretty damn good.

On Sunday evening, I rested and drank. Monday, I did nothing and spoke to no one. I'm over it now.