Trying to kill time

Until my boo gets here. He's landing at

Phoenix-Sky Harbor Int'l, AZ ( PHX )

Gate: 25
Scheduled: 10:57PM
Estimated: 10:49PM
Aircraft: 757-200R

Yeppers!! This time he gets to come visit me. He's braving the heat. As you can see conveniently outlined below is the forecast for when said boo will be in town. At least it's supposed to be a little cooler while he's here. It's barely breaking 3 digits! That will be a relief. Hopefully it will rain and cool it down even more. If we could get the high 90s that would be awesome. This sounds crazy, but when it cools down to the 90s it's so nice!

Tonight - Jun 30 Isolated T-Storms Currently Cloudy 89° feels like 88° Winds From the South 30mph

Sat - Jul 1 Isolated T-Storms 103°/85° Precip.Chance 30% Winds From the Southwest 9mph

Sun - Jul 2 Partly Cloudy 102°/86° Precip.Chance 20% Winds From the Southwest 9mph

Mon - Jul 3 Isolated T-Storms 102°/83° Precip.Chance 30% Winds From the West 7mph

Tue - Jul 4 Isolated T-Storms 100°/83° Precip.Chance 30% Winds From the West Southwest 6mph

Guess we'll just have to sleep during the day and go out at night.
So it's currently 9:35 and he gets here in a little over an hour. I can't wait. It's been a month since we've been able to see each other, and even longer since he's been in Phoenix. It's kind of nice not being the one traveling.

We don't have much of an itinerary planned. There's going to be a fireworks show Sat night at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, the fireworks are being launched from the Waddell Dam. I think that will be pretty cool to see. I'm glad we found that fireworks show since he will be traveling back in the late afternoon on the 4th and so won't really get to see any fireworks. So that's one thing that is fairly set. We're also going to get 1 hour massages at Massage Envy. I have 2 gift certificates (thank you Marcia and Jaime) for free massages, so we're going to do that. We also plan on having dinner one night at the White Chocolate Grill. That place is awesome! I've been there about 4 times and every time it's off the chain. My favorite items are the:

WCG Bacon Blue Cheese Salad
Mixed greens, Maytag blue cheese, Apple-Wood Smoked Bacon, candied nuts and red onion


Classic Club (big surprise there!)
Cooked in house rotisserie turkey, with smoked applewood bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato

and last but not least the

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs
Tender-Smoked and Grilled
*** These might just be the best ribs I've ever had. They're tender and the meat comes right off. I'm conoussier, but I know these are off the chain.


So that's somewhere we'd like to go. Another place we'd like to check out is Bobby C's. Neither of us have ever been there, but it's a jazz lounge with live entertainment and some good home cookin' :)

here is a taste of the menu:
Buffalo Wings / Fried Wings / Veggie Basket / Catfish Nuggets / Buffalo Shrimp

Southern Fried Chicken / Catfish Dinner / Chicken Fried Steak / Chicken Fried Chicken / Hot Links Dinner / Fried Shrimp / Grilled Shrimp / Grilled Pork Chops / Smothered Pork Chops / Meat Loaf / Baked Chicken / Vegetarian Platter

Fresh Collard Greens / Mashed Potatoes / Candied Yams / Macaroni and Cheese / Dirty Rice / Black Eye Peas / Potatoe Salad / Fries / White Rice / Fresh Green Beans

Now if that just doesn't sound like smack your mama good, I don't know what is. Ok, I can think of a few things - lasagna, spaghetti, my own pot roast (that's slap your mama two times good!) and some of the cookies that my co-workers keep making that are freaking awesome (insert shout out to Michele and Sheila).



Anyway, the point of this blog was to kill time. I think I've done a pretty good job of that. It's now 10:03 and it's getting closer to time to go get him!!!!

I'm so excited!!

When all else fails

Add fun photography.

My boo is so awesome!!

He sent me these beautiful flowers just cause. No particular reason, just cause he loves me! They're so beautiful and smell so nice. They look so good sitting on my desk.





He is so great!!


And hella cute :)

"Guess what? I got a fever.

And the only prescription...is more cowbell!"

7th grade art rears it's ugly head

yes, I did this kind of art work in 7th grade, but it's kind of cool, and so since I was bored I pulled out my awesome art skills.

























I rock.

I need a new job

I'm so sick of having to cover up mistakes made throughout my company. Yes, I'll admit I have made some of my own mistakes and I am not perfect, but I spend too much time apologizing and trying to correct the shit that has blown up. And I for one am SICK of it!!!! I really like working here, and I like the benefits that come along with it, but it is so tiring to have to babysit and overcompensate to give the company a good face. I do not get paid enough to handle all of this horse crap. I swear some days I'm really ready for a new position.

I really like my boss and my co-workers in my office, let me just put that out for the record, but the other crap that is involved with this position is just so annoying.

What the?

Ok I put in my name, but I think it thought I put in McBrides. Note how she likes fried chicken and likes to torment priests.... that's definitely McBride.

Your Monster Profile

Cursed Ogre You Feast On: Fried Chicken You Lurk Around In: Closets You Especially Like to Torment: Priests

What's Your Monster Name?

Dirty Kristen

Your Personality Profile

You are sexy, powerful, and bold. You're full of passion and energy... Sometimes this passion has a dark side. You feel most alive when you're seducing someone. You never fail to get someone's attention. Quick minded, you're also quick to lose your temper!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Dirty Mary Cash

My pirate name is:

Dirty Mary Cash

You be the pirate everyone else wants to be. You rule the ocean -- a pirate who be answerin' to no man or no blasted government. You be musical, and got a certain style if not flair. But other pirates won't be messing with you cause you be known to cut up those scurvy dogs!

Yes, you'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Destress... Destress...Destress

Regarding my stressful day, a wise man emailed me some good advice:

"Say your prayers and try standing up and walk and get some water or soda. Sometimes doing little things can help to break up the insanity!"

And so to break up the insanity, I'm doing some more blogging. It's a good way to be a little bit less stressed cause it's fun. The other thing that helps me be less stressed is an Oreo milkshake from Jack in the Box, but I'm saving that for a little while and will have it as a treat this afternoon. So in the meantime, I'm putting on more pictures.

This is at the St. Louis Arch looking over the Mississippi and into IL, taken about 3 years ago. I miss STL. At the time I was living there I would have preferred to stay for a little while longer. But , but things didn't work out that way. But in retrospect if I had stayed there I would have missed out on knowing some very important people who have become some of my closest friends. And I never would have met one boy in particular. Because our paths didn't cross in STL. So I'm glad I was able to live there for the time I was there, but as moving was how I was able to meet my boo, I'm glad I moved.



This was taken at the Grand Canyon last fall. We went to the South Rim and it was beautiful. I would like to go again and see it from the other side because I hear the North Rim is even more spectacular.



This was taken in Chicago from the Sears Tower in Jan 3 years ago. It was so dang cold when we were there!! I've got a pic somewhere of me and my friend Tara and all you can see are our eyes because we're wearing hoodies and scarves which cover most of our face. It's awesome.




This was at a pier in San Diego 2 years ago.




Another STL. Looking from the Arch across downtown. STL was great.


----------

Well that's already made me feel better. Yay for pictures destressing.

Sidenote

Sidenote:
Work SUCKS today!! Oh my goodness it is so crazy right now and I can't figure out why. My phone is blowing up, files are getting cancelled, customers are having issues out the you know where, and it is just spiraling out of control today. It's only noon and already I'm ready to go home.

End sidenote.

I thought his name was Warren

This weekend was spent finishing packing, loading, unloading, cleaning, and just getting all the little things done involved with moving. My new room is packed with everything from a 1 bedroom apt. Lots of boxes stacked up in the closet and overflowing into a large corner in the bedroom. The only things I didn't move were a couple of lamps, my couch, a small table and 2 chairs and a couple of small end/side tables. But it's working out. I just have to figure out where to put my awesome chair, or as my brother calls it, my old lady chair. It might be old lady if it had a crochet doily on it, but it doesn't so back off Marc!! It's comfortable!!

Last night we got to go see Cars. It was cute. Owen Wilson was a perfect choice for the voice. It had some pretty funny parts but it was just about 2 hours, so it was a long kids movie. We drove out to Avondale to see it. Long drive, long movie, but it was fun.

So I'm moved!!

Well, part way moved. I took a truck load over to my new place last night, got all the boxes that I've packed over there, most of my clothes, all my shoes (Lily had a great time with the shoes) and tomorrow I'm moving over the really big stuff. My truck was able to fit A LOT of stuff, but it doesn't have capacity for a bed, dresser, chair, etc. So my bro will help me take a couple truck loads over early tomorrow morning.

Then the Make-A-Wish Foundation will be coming over to Tara's tomorrow afternoon to talk about options to do a Wish for Toby. And they're bringing Red Robins for lunch, which will make Toby so happy because he's been obsessed with Red Robins lately. So that will be fun.

Then next week comes all the cleaning and getting everything really and truly out of the apartment. I don't have to turn in keys until July 1, but if I can get as much done now and during the weeks to come it will make that last day go by so much faster.

Yay for my new big room with pretty walls and pretty carpet!!!

Counting down the list

10 Favorites
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Time: Evenings
Favorite Food: Spaghetti, lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo, pizza bombs, mandarin chicken, tasty treat
Favorite Drink: Diet Pepsi with lemon
Favorite Ice Cream: Coffee almond fudge
Favorite Place: Where my boo is
Favorite Sport: baseball
Favorite Actor: Gabriele Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, James Marsters
Favorite Actress: Sandra Bullock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emma Caulfield

9 Currents
Current Feeling: little tired, little bored
Current Drink: Sarah's hard lemonade = lemonade and sprite
Current Time: 1:50 pm
Current Favorite Show on TV to watch: House
Current Mobile used: Sprint service, Samsung phone
Current Color of socks: not wearing socks, strappy sandals
Current Underwear: purple cotton school girl unders
Current Clothes: black striped pants, white and black striped shirt
Current Thought: man this lemonade is good

8 Firsts
First Nickname: Little Indian Baby
First Kiss: Carl Shoemaker in the 4th grade
First Crush: Lad, when I was 5 in Ashton, ID
First Best Friend: Rachel Egbert
First Vehicle I Drove: 1979 Green Mustang
First Job: Burger King
First Date: I can't remember. I think it was with Bill Condie
First Pet: Pepper, my tabby cat

7 Lasts
Last Drink: Still drinking Sarah's hard lemonade
Last Kiss: Almost a month ago
Last Meal: Subway ham, turkey and bacon sandwich on wheat
Last Web Site Visited: Kristen's blog
Last Movie Watched: The Break Up
Last Phone Call: Title company in Phoenix
Last TV show Watched: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

6 Have You Ever...
Have You Ever Broken the Law: just a little bit
Have You Ever Been Drunk: nope
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: no… well I knew him, just not real well
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire: no
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: can you skinny dip in a Jacuzzi?
Have You Ever Broken Anyone's Heart: not to my knowledge

5 Things
Things You Can Hear Right Now: Kristen's iPod playing Swing Swing, Mary coughing, the JV office talking, Kristen now singing along, my own typing
Things On Your Bed: pillows, sheets, blanket, my pajamas, that's it.
Things You Ate Today: Subway, some cookies, an ice cream sandwich, some carrots, and some grapes
Things You Can't Live Without: my boo, my family, my iPod, my computer, my car
Things You Do When You Are Bored: talk on the phone, watch TV, read, play games on the computer, go for a drive

4 Places You Have Been Today
Home
Work
Subway
Blimpie's

3 Things On Your Desk Right Now
My iPod
My phone
My picture of me, Dave and the Michel(l)es

2 Choices
Subway or Blimpie
Work or Sleep

1 Place You Want To Visit
Woodbury, MN

I'm settling

Since none of those other yummy food items are
availalble in Phoenix, I'm settling for my other
favorite spot:





big surprise there

Yummy Food from the Past

So I'm craving a Ranch Hand from Burger West in Ontario, OR right now. Don't ask me why, but it is so good and I want to eat one for lunch, or brunch, as it is right now. It's like an old school, ma and pa type hamburger place that's mainly just a drive up box with tables outside for seating. But that ranch hand is so good!! And I want one! It's kind of like a Big Mac, but much better!

But if we're going to talk about all the yummy food from the past that I crave, the #1 spot for that has to be Pocatello, ID. There you can dine on pizza bombs from Goody's Deli, chinese food from Mandarin House, and at the end of the day, top it off with a huge ol' ice cream cone for a buck-o-five at Tasty Treat.


This is a pizza bomb:
You can put whatever you want in it, I prefer pepperoni, black olives and extra cheese. yes the extra cheese makes it that much better. But if you're into peppers, onions, sausage, whatever, it's the best of make your own pizza. And it's folded over on itself, similar to a calzone, but much much better. There's just something about it. Better than a calzone.
I wish I could have one now. Along with my Burger West Ranch Hand. The best thing about Goody's was that pizza bombs were only $2.25 on Mondays. And since they were right across the street from the west side of the ISU campus, and only about 2 blocks from my apartment it became a weekly ritual. These pictures were taken on my cell phone over last Christmas when I made my friends come to Goody's with me for pizza bombs. They still live in Pocatello so can have them whenever they want. I, unfortunately, get them only once a year, sometimes once every two years. It's very sad. I need to figure out a way for Goody's to freeze one and overnight it to me so I can cook it myself. There is just something about a Goody's pizza bomb that is so freaking good!! It might not even turn out the same if I try to cook one myself.

And now onto the chinese. This is honestly the best chinese I've ever had from this wonderful restaurant, the Mandarin House. It's the best sweet and sour sauce I think I've ever had, and the rice is good enough to eat by itself. It might be sad to say, but every chinese place I eat at gets compared to Mandarin House and always comes in lacking. Every time I go back to Poky to see college friends I have to have some. Last time I had Mandarin House twice and ate it on the drive from Pocatello to my parents house. So dang good!!


Sidenote:
I tried to attach a pic of the yummy chinese food, but Blog is currently mad at me, so I had to do it a back door way. Yay for Flickr, the best picture back up!!

What's up...

...with all these big headed bloggers bad mouthin the Siskel and Ebert wanna be movie reviewers???

Angel Dust

Angel Dust People Iced: Six Car Bombs Planted: One Favorite Weapon Sack full of doorknobs Arms Broken: Twelve Eyes Gouged: Sixteen Tongues Cut Off: Nine Biggest Enemy: Fire Crotch Get Your HITMAN Name

It is possible to be even more domestic than before??? I guess so!

Sorry to dwell, but I have to come back to how great my Super Suppers experiences have been... For dinner tonight I made a Maple Mustard Pork Chop with Cinnamon Apples. Yes, I know it sounds absolutely heavenly, and it was!! I wish I would have made two, it was so freaking good. But I just made one to try it and see how I liked it. So I still have two left for dinner tomorrow night. I really can't wait to have another one. I need a side to go with it, though. Anyway, back to how freaking good it was, here is the description, right from the Super Supper's website: "Boneless pork chops glazed with Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and fresh lemon juice. Serve with our Cinnamon Apples for a perfect taste combination." And I for one can confirm the fact that it is a perfect taste combination. It was sweet with the apples and mustardy with the marinade (this was my first ever marinade) and it was so incredibly tasty!! I'm just going to go on and on about it! The pork chop was very tender. I had my doubts because it seemed like I didn't have nearly enough marinade for the pork chop to possibly simmer in but apparently it was just enough because it was very flavorful. And then with adding the apples to it and simmering the pork chop with the apples??? Mmm Mmm Mmmmm that was good! The apples were soft and were oh so good. Brown sugary and kind of cinnamony. And I'll admit, I didn't see how the two combinations of completely different flavors were going to work out, but that pork chop with apples on the side definitely put me in my place!! I'm giving it a 10. Thanks Dave for making me hip to Super Suppers!!

Songs on my iPod...

I love listening to my iPod at work. In case you wanted to know what's been playing today, here is a brief list of some of the songs and artists that came up on shuffle.

Song - Artist

Tomorrow - SR71
Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam
Lost in You - Sugarcult
Take On Me - Aha
TNT - AC/DC (oi!)
No One - Cold
Just a Little - The Used
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Serenity - Godsmack
Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boys
Confessions Part II - Usher
Forever is Never - Happy Endings
Little Black Backpack - Stroke 9
Downfall - Trust Company
At Last My Love Has Come Along - Etta James
I Don't Want to Live Without You - Foreigner
1st Time - Lil' Mo
Someone Like You - Van Morrison
Fall To Pieces - Wakefield
Vindicated - Dashboard Confessionals
Karma - Alicia Keys
The Red - Chevelle
My Name is Jonas - Weezer
Half the Fun - Snow Patrol


I know everyone is very interested in what I listen to, so I hope you will find the above list helpful and insightful.

It's official, I'm domestic

So I baked my first meal that I made this last week at Super Suppers. My boy hipped me to the Super Suppers scene and I walked out with 5 meals that I prepared that you take home and cook. So I tried my first one today, and I have to say it was a success.





I could really get into this cooking stuff! Don't get me wrong, I can cook, but I don't do it very often, and I'll admit my cooking skills are somewhat limited, but I can make a mean pot roast and some dang good spaghetti!! But today I'm sticking to packing and baking some chicken cheese bread.



Yum, golden brown and inside full of melted cheese, olives and big chunks of chicken.







I feel like Betty Crocker. I'm so domestic.

It's moving time again

Nope, this isn't just a messy house! It's that time again when I'm packing up and heading out. Only this time it's only a couple of miles away. My apartment lease is up at the end of the month and my sis-in-law is letting me rent the new addition that they just added on so I don't have to renew a lease. I'm done with this apartment complex anyway. They don't play well with others, we'll put it that way. And I for one am sick of it!! So I'm going to show them by not resigning my lease. So I'm going to rent a brand new bedroom with attached bathroom at Tara's house. I officially don't have to be out until the end of June, but I'm starting to pack now and will probably be moving stuff over there as early as next weekend. As soon as the carpet is completed and there is a closet rod up in the gargantuan closet I'll start taking stuff over.
And who knows, maybe this is just a pit stop on the road to a new place. Since I do only seem to average about a year, year and a half per city. And I really do miss my sweaters, so maybe I'll find somewhere cold to move to so I can wear my sweaters. But then I'll miss my really cute strappy high heeled sandals I've begun to love in Phoenix. S0 maybe I'll have to go to a place with 4 seasons, unlike Phoenix, who's 4 seasons are man it's kind of getting hot, is it possible it's getting hotter?, holy hell I'm burning up and I must've died and gone to Hell it's so hot. So it will be nice to have a spring and a fall again. Let's see... where could I move that has a spring and a fall, where I can wear strappy sandals in the summer time and sweaters in the winter time... I know - Idaho!!! Just kidding, sorry folks, I'm not moving back there. I'll have to give that one more thought...
But in the meantime, back to packing.

My iPod is great

It's like the best radio station out there, always playing music that I like. I bought a cute little set of speakers from Radio Shack for $30 and they sound awesome. They even came with a little subwoofer. I can rock out at work to my favorite radio station, I mean my iPod. Oh how iLove it.

Frienship payments are due!

I love the time of the month when I get to collect monies from the monthly friendship payments due me.

Yes, I think I'm an amatuer photographer

I love these pictures. I took them at the Maritime Museum in San Diego, on the historic ship the Star of India in April 2004.

Why I love DVDs

So in the spirit of movie reviews and critiques, I've decided to start with The Usual Suspects. It seems that every time I watch this movie I pick up on one more thing I didn't notice the last time I watched it. Although I must admit I knew who Keyser Söze was going to be the very first time I watched it because back in the day of movie quizzes at WF in STL with Greg and Tom I created a master movie quiz that touched on who the mastermind really was. At that time I didn't know anything else about the movie. But then I borrowed it from Greg and watched it knowing the whole time who Keyser Söze was.

I just watched again a couple of days ago and got as into it as I did the first time I saw it. I love Kevin Spacey as an actor. I think he is extremely talented and was happy to see him with Gabriel Byrne of whom I am also a huge fan. And although I hate to admit having seen End of Days (I am not linking to that one on purpose!!) I do like that Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak have been in more than one movie together. I always like it when actors reunite in multiple movies. But back to Kevin Spacey in particular... one thing I just learned this last go round (thanks to the speacial features and featurettes) is that the name Söze was picked because in Turkish it in essence means verbal, which was basically Kevin Spacey's character's nickname: Roger "Verbal" Kint and he's called Verbal throughout the movie. The name Keyser comes from the German word Kaiser which means king, ruler, or emperor. So basically, Keyser Söze means Verbal King or Verbal Emperor. I found that very interesting since Verbal Kint was Keyser Söze that broke down to Verbal King.

Just one more thing I would never have known with VHS.

The mysteries of Veet...

So I'm trying to decide if is really worth it. I've tried to find reviews online from people who have actually used the product. I think this is the most useful review I found online. But the dilemna still exists. Am I a waxer? A depilatorian? I don't know.

Vegas, Baby!

So I know I just said I was going to be a movie critic, but I wanted to include some pictures in here as well. I just got back from a trip with my boo, and wanted to post a picture or two.





Or three, as is more accurate.

My first blog

I’ve decided to join the blogging masses and have created my own blog. This inspiration has come from the influence of multiple blogs… and I can honestly say one word sealed the deal: ketchup. It’s ok that you don’t know what the meaning is behind that and why ketchup of all things would help confirm my decision to create a blog, and why that is just so funny to me! But if you loyally stick to reading my blog you’ll find that most of my jokes are for my own amusement. I tend to crack myself up and regardless of whether other people think my jokes are funny or not, I’m laughing.

But I decided that I would start this with the intention of commenting mainly on movies and probably music. Sort of an amateur critic. We’ll see how that goes.