ackkkk...

For those of you who don't know, we are leaving in the morning for two weeks in Cape Cod, Massachussets, so I will not be blogging for a while or if I do it won't be much.

Mom has to get all of her bulbs planted before we leave and also since the grocery stores are so expensive up there, mom bought all our food here and we are going to make food and freeze it and bring it up there in the coolers.

But since she's planting, that leaves me to cook the food, since my brother and my dad are mostly useless in the kitchen.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as veggie lasagna because it just isn't lasagna without the meat. This is coming from the mouth/fingertips of a self proclaimed beef-hater. Take the meat out and its just a funny tasting casserole.

The other thing I have decided is that if God ever decided for whatever reason that I can't go to heaven, instead of sending me to hell he could just smother me with mozzarella cheese. It would have the same effect on my soul.

I can't get the smell off my hands. I have tried soap. I have tried lemon juice. I have tried vinegar. I am about ready to throw up.

Birthday weekend...

Ohhkay... I know you're all probably wondering what happened this weekend, and whether or not it was totally fabulously awesome.

So, Thursday I drove down to New Brunswick, with a car full of random stuff that Steve told me to bring. I already told the story of what happened Thursday night so I'll start with Friday morning. Steve had to get his insurance paperwork to the DMV, so he got up really early and let me sleep in. What I didn't know was that he was also running errands. He took my bikes which I had been storing in the basement to the bike shop and had them fixed up. I had been meaning to do that, I just hadn't gotten around to it. So, now I have two working bikes. When Steve got back, I still didn't know what was happening so he had to tell me what kind of clothes to wear. Good thing I brought a lot of options.

We went to the mall first because I've been meaning to get a new bathing suit... not that there's anything wrong with the ones I have... just... yeah... its a girly thing. Anyway the one I fell in love with was two pieces, and each piece was $80 marked down to $60. So I said forget that, I'll swim naked before I'll pay $120 for practically no fabric. This is why I hate bathing suit manufacturers. I could get a prom dress for $120. I could get a two hour massage. I could have food for twelve days.

So anyway when I was done non-shopping, we went to the park next to the mall and rode the bikes around. That was so much fun and its been so long since my bikes were functional.

When we were done biking, we sat near the car with a cooler of cheese, crackers, fruit, and sparkling cider. The ducks in the area decided they needed to be invited to this little picnic.

When we got back in the car, Steve made me put on a blindfold so I didn't know where we were going next. He stopped somewhere and said, "Just sit here, I'll be right back." In a few minutes he came back and said, "Ok they're being bums and think its silly that I blindfolded you. We're back at my house and there are people inside. You can take the blindfold off." I went into the house and I could hear that everyone was in the kitchen, except for Rod. I said hi, and we kinda talked a little and then a few minutes later Navin came out of the kitchen and said, "Oh! Waait! SURPRISE!!" So the whole night Navin kept "surprising" me at non-climactic moments. Anyway, the surprise was an Indian dinner masterminded by Anissa but cooked by everyone.

Left to right, you will see, in no particular spelling-correctness, papadum (Indian tortilla chips), egg curry, some sort of pea-tomato-paneer thing, tuna cutlets, a saffron-rice-raisin-cashew dish, chicken tikka masala, palapum (a crepe-like pancake thing made out of fermented rice flour), spinach with coconut, and chipati (kind of like pita bread).


Left to right, you will see: Taylor and Anissa; Taylor, Anissa, Navin; and Nick, Mike, James, Rod, and Steve.


After that, there was Mango, Chocolate, and Party Cake ice cream, and different toppings that matched the different flavors. And Mango Lassi, a yogurt Indian drink... kinda like a smoothie. While we were all crammed around the table Navin mentioned a movie later, and everyone told him not to give away anymore secrets, at which point he SURPRISED me again.

Later, Cara showed up to join us for the mysterious movie, which turned out to be Harry Potter. While we were there, we sat with Joyce, a former jujitsuka, and her boyfriend Lenny. I haven't seen her in a long time. That night I completely passed out, exhausted and happy that I got to see all my friends.

In the morning, Steve asked if I was interested in visiting some of his friends who were all planning on hanging out and playing frisbee. I said sure, so we went over but they weren't playing frisbee by the time we got there because I was so exhausted from Friday that I slept in really late. So we sat around and played Hoopla, which is a sort of extension game of Cranium. It was fun.

Then we left and went back to Steve's place, where he told me I should change into different clothes, and get my cowgirl boots. I ended up with his Indiana Jones hat because its cooler than my hat, despite how cool my hat is haha. But I neglected to get any awesome hat pictures.

Anyway, once dressed up, we went to the Colorado Cafe, which is part restaurant, part bar, part dance floor, and part hicksville. We made it in time for some country line dancing lessons, and learned "Sundance" which is a 4-wall line dance, and "Blue Rose" which is a partner dance. We shared some buffalo chili and Steve had ribs; I had a chicken sandwich. Then we went back and danced a little more but mostly watched white people dancing (haha), and then Steve went on the mechanical bull and lasted 24 seconds. Note the bull's Jesus fish bumper sticker.



Then we danced some more, and watched people dance, making the total number of hours there about 6 1/2. It was kind of funny, there was one black girl, and one Asian (Steve) and one guy that looked like he was part Asian, part something European. Everyone else was white and usually had a beer belly. Yay for Hicksville! And for Day Two, Steve succeeded in completely wearing me out. Maybe he was trying to get me tired enough not to wake up so he could draw a moustache on me while I slept or something.

So, that was supposed to be the end of the weekend, but because we saw Joyce and Lenny on Friday, Joyce invited us to go to the shooting range with them. Steve is learning a lot of gun and knife defense techniques in jujitsu so he was really interested. I wasn't as interested, but still thought it would be neat to go.

Steve got a lot of bull's eyes, when he took three minutes to aim.


Steve with a .22, and a .45 (the same type used by James Bond in Casino Royale).



And me, taking my time trying to figure out how to hold and shoot a .22


So, that's not all the pictures from this weekend, but only the important ones haha. Anyway, I had a great weekend, and it was even better that some of it was spontaneous and a surprise even to Steve. Now he knows how it feels hahaha.

And thanks to everyone who came and made dinner. It was SOOOO yummy!

HENNA again...

This time, I remembered to do before and after pictures. These first ones are the "before." Note that my hair is brownish on my head but the very tips have been sun-bleached by my job into a bright orange color.




Once done with that, I went inside and glopped some green-chocolate-mud onto my head. Actually last night I did some research on henna and discovered the reason that henna is green but leaves a red mark on anything it touches when its wet. Henna is a plant, so its green. But inside the plant cells there is a chemical called lawsone (it has a red color) that is released when the cell wall breaks down, usually by hot water but sometimes with acidic liquids like vinegar or lemon juice which is why a lot of henna artists use lemon juice when mixing the henna.

I mixed mine with two teaspoons of powdered cloves because cloves contain the chemical eugenol, which is a brown color. There, now I feel smart. Back to normal me:

Thus, I now have auburn hair that smells like ham spice (the hay smell of the henna is completely overpowered by the cloves). No, I did not take a "during" picture. The henna was everywhere, and the camera's not mine.



There it is folks, the new soft-haired me. Really. Its very soft. Mmmm velvety.

Trip to the shore...

My mom and brother and some friends went down to my uncle's house at the shore on Friday. I followed, Saturday morning. Thought you all might enjoy some pictures.

Me on the lagoon:


Mr. and Mrs. Swan show up at the Cracker Cafe with baby Elizabeth. "Is it ok if she has crackers for breakfast dear? I think it should be ok..."


Elizabeth spit out the crackers so we gave her some grits. She liked that better.



Everyone is satisfied and poses nicely for a picture.


And Peter the most tame wild rabbit in the world munches on the new grass mom planted two weeks ago.

A trip to the Home and Garden Center

What kind of a vase would you use to display them?
I wonder if they come in different colors.
I wonder about the fragrance.
Who would help to put those preservative packets in the water?
Would they would look better on the kitchen table or in the entryway?
I wonder if they are cheaper by the dozen.
I wonder if they come with long-stems.

Captured at 115th and Allisonville Road in Fishers ( Indianapolis ). The sign is real and was up for about two hours before someone stopped and told them how to spell peonies.

Thoughts...

When the fire department throws a party to christen a new truck, or the EMT squad has a party for give-blood-day, or any emergency department has a non-emergency event that requires the use of their volunteers and vehicles, usually the neighboring towns are called on to cover shifts for a few hours.

What happens when every neighboring town is also involved in the same parade? I saw firetrucks today from towns I have never heard of. Some town called Murray's Island or something like that... I don't know of any islands around here except Manhattan. And Rochelle Park. I see their firetrucks every year, but I don't think I have ever driven through there.

In other news, my great uncle had a tree in his back yard cut down because it dropped a rotten branch in the yard. I counted the rings and it was 117 years old. Which means 1890. Thats pretty cool.

Anyway, I was gonna put a picture up of me standing on the tree trunk. But the scanner's not installed, the disk is missing, the film scanner's not installed but I don't have film anyway, and the digital copy is at my uncle's house in Maywood. So, short of taping the picture to my computer screen, I don't think I have any way to put it on my blog.

And that's all I have to say for now.

Because sometimes English isn't good enough

Many of you know (but some do not) that I minored in Italian in college. Through a random series of events I discovered a blog written in Italian and bookmarked it to glance at later to see if I understood any of it. What I found shocked me. I had forgotten how beautiful the Italian language is. I think the best way to describe it is that its an ancient language that has changed very little from its original Latin, and therefore, it is best used to describe old things, old memories, old friendships... its a language for memories. In fact, it has four different verb tenses for the past tense. Anyway, I hope the blog author, "Hanomalia," will not mind if I do a very poor translation so that (I hope) my English readers can travel with me as I reminisce. This is not going to be a word for word translation, because I can't say in English what it means as I understand it.

E' stato un ricordo che mi ha invaso come i raggi caldi di sole che c'erano stamani. L'ombra, il caldo, l'ora non lo so precisamente ma eccolo lì intatto.

She speaks of a memory that has penetrated her like the hot rays of the sun. The shadow, the heat, the hour, something is triggering it, but she doesn't know exactly what.

Le estati dell'infanzia quando alla fine della scuola ci si ritrovava con un appuntamento muto tutti insieme dopo un inverno da soli in appartamenti con la luce artificiale e i compiti da fare

She remembers her childhood, and the end of school, after spending all spring alone with the artificial light and the homework.

Ma a giugno cominciava l'estate, l'estate in strada perchè non avevamo parchi al massimo avevamo i campi in cui correre ed io cominciavo a starnutire e mi infangavo e cadevo e rompevo sempre i pantaloni

But June is when summer starts. There were places to run and play and fall down and always rip her pants.

E quell'ombra degli alberi e guarda che passa il primo amore il giallo dei campi il verde della cicoria gli occhi del diavolo e gli occhi della madonna Son stata felice e stamani in quel ricordo son stata felice ancora.

Under the shadow of a tree, look to see her first love pass by, the yellow of the fields and the green of the "cicoria," (I think that's chicory?) the dandelions and the violets. "I was happy and in that memory I am still happy."

Sigh. It makes me so happy to read it in Italian. Its only ok in English. You all will just have to learn to speak Italian. I miss those carefree summer days too. Summer rainstorms, and sitting them out under the trees by the water, waiting for the first love to come calling, playing games, ripping my clothes and not noticing till later because we were having so much fun, shaking sand out of my hair and getting tan instead of burned. Did you ever notice that when you hit puberty, your skin changes along with all the rest of you? In the summers, I was extremely dark... you'd think I had some Italian or Greek blood in me, in the summer, but nope... none of my ancestors had Mediterranean blood. Somewhere, somehow, my young childhood skin managed to be that skin I envy now.

Anyway... basta... enough. I'm going to bed with these summer dreams. Buonanotte.