Busted

A few months ago, with this post, Jodi took my suggestion to start a blog. Months flew by and just her test posts... her world... la, la, la... no new posts... from March, people! So I checked today and she posted recently. Twice! And my favorite Queen of Pittsburgh called me out about not having her blog listed on my Daily Reads!!! Hrmph! Even my newly-returned-home-from-the-south buddy Giant Hogweed turned on me in the comments!

OK, OK! Jodi's World has now been added to my Daily Reads list... it's alphabetical, so don't be salty you're not at the top. I expect to see scoopage on all the happenings in Pittsburgh -- at least once a week. AND pictures!

This weekend, we're hosting an Anniversary Party slash Chumados Team Party down at the cottage. Last year it was just a Chumados party, but John and I announced we had run off and gotten married earlier in the week, so now it's also an anniversary party. I'm hoping this will become an annual tradition, but next year, I may move it from 4th of July weekend. Too many people out of town or have visitors coming into town... a busy time of year!

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Oh! And before you guys jump to conclusions... nothing exciting will be announced at the party this year by me or John. So stop thinking about names like "Willamena" or "Fredrika".

Have a safe weekend everyone!

Best Steak Ever

OK... maybe not the best EVER, but the best this year anyway! John and I cashed in a Ruth's Chris GC we got last year as a wedding gift. It took us over an hour and a half to get to Bethesda from Laurel due to the rain, but the misery of our journey was worth it. I've been to some pretty good steak joints in the past -- St. Elmo's in Indianapolis, DC Chop House, Nick's in Gaithersburg -- but this was a real treat. All steaks should be topped with butter and come out on a sizzling 500 degree plate!!! It was soooo cooked to perfection. Sadly, I have no pictures to show you the steaky goodness.

John had the filet and shrimp with steak fries. I had a caesar salad, ribeye and spinach. Being a high-falootin' fancy pants place, everything was a la carte, of course. We needed at least 3 more people to help with the sides. There were plenty of lo-lo's (leftovers) of course. To finish off the meal, I had some French Press coffee and we shared a yummy apple tarte. This coffee was as good as the Cafe du Monde coffee in New Orleans. I love coffee, but don't drink it very often. I may have to look into getting a French Press!!!

Ruth's Chris gets 4 out of 5 serving spoons in my review. Our meal was excellent, the service was very good (up until we waited 20 minutes or so for the waiter to bring us our check) but the prices were a little out of the "everyday" range. This place would be reserved for very special occasions, for sure.

And as an aside, I saw some blue sky this morning! Laissez les bon temps rolle. Something like that.

Mr. & Mrs.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Husband!

A year ago today, Johnny and I snuck off to the PG County Offices and got hitched. So, officially, today is our wedding anniversary, despite all the other ceremonies and events that occurred in our honor afterwards, as evidenced by the above picture from the blessing ceremony last October.

Yesterday, John declared he was going to refer to me as "The Mrs." from now on. He's such a goof. One of the many reasons I love him.

In other fun family news, my cousin, Kenny, and his wife, Jewells, had another daughter last Thursday. Introducing....

Emerson Grace

Here's proud papa with the baby:

Congrats Kenny, Jewells and Adeline!

A TGA Feast

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to this past weekend. My hands were dirty with these...


It was a VERY busy Saturday morning, running around L-town getting stuff together for the influx of family and the golfers. Everyone really enjoyed the house, the view of the bay, hanging out, playing cards and eating CRABS!

Of course, after your bellies are full, this tends to happen:

The main reason I invited my family (and my parents' golfing crew) down was to celebrate my aunt's birthday. It was also my mom's friend's birthday too.

The weather wasn't ideal (very humid, rain off and on). A bunch folks hung out on the porch anyway. Some of them enjoyed a little waterside debate about whether the tree in the front of the house was a Maple or an Oak. I always find it fascinating the subjects my parents and their friends talk about (and bet on!!!)

John and I decided we'd have this group back down to the cottage any time... they divvied up all the leftovers amongst themselves so we wouldn't have tons of food in the fridge. They left the chocolate cake for John. I almost think the place was cleaner than when they arrived. Except for the few bags of trash, there was virtually no trace the 17 of them had been there! The funniest part was they all left at the same time. Most of them were golfing the next morning and they are old people who need their sleep. It was a flurry of thank-yous and good-byes and then the house was quiet. All before 7:30 PM. On a Saturday. I was pooped (and in this "What the heck just happened?" state of mind). I'm glad everyone had a good time.

Tonight, I may head over to my parents' to help finish off the half bushel of crabs left over from Saturday. I actually only ate 3 crabs on Saturday. That's how meaty they were. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Roll of Dimes

Someone gave me an old roll of dimes. I took them out of the wrapper to look at the dates and see how old they really were. The coins at the end of the roll fell out and they were ivory colored, almost papery. I thought they were fake, but upon further investigation (I Googled it, of course!), I found that back in the old days, they used pulverized diamonds to make coins and that's why they were discolored and a weird texture.

Yes, I have really ODDBALL dreams! Must have been all that booming thunder we had last night. It didn't sound like it was raining, just Godzilla stomping up and down Route 1 looking for a Famous Dave's BBQ Pork Sandwich.

John and I are heading down to L-town this weekend to host a crab feast in honor of my aunt's birthday. At first, it was just going to be my parents, brother and his family, aunt and two family friends. Somehow my dad ended up inviting a bunch of their Thai golfing crew. The TGA. Breton Bay has never seen such a high AQ there all at once. Luckily, not all of them will be eating crabs; I only ordered a bushel. My mom is grilling some Laotian Sausage (full of delicious spices and herbs - YUM!) and bringing a pot of Fish Belly Soup. It sounds really gross when I type it out like that, but it's actually really yummy. I'll be cooking up some rice and corn-on-the-cob. Maybe some lamb chops for my dad if I can find some. Hopefully, we'll see a nice Amish family selling some by the roadside tomorrow morning. Not sure what other dishes the TGA will be bringing down.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Birthday Slots

Today is my aunt's birthday (seen here on the right in a beautiful turquoise silk outfit at the blessing ceremony for me and John last October):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NAA JAEW!!!

She's spending the day at the senior citizen's version of the "Happiest Place on Earth". That's right... despite two bounced paychecks from her job teaching Thai at OnTheVergeOfBankruptcy Language School in Arlington, she's in Charles Town today playing the slots. Can't think of a better way for my aunt to celebrate her birthday!

Third Most Honored Holiday

After 12:12 and Super Bowl Sunday, this is the third most honored holiday of the year... the Longest Day of the Year. We'll be celebrating tonight, somewhere, with a beer in our hands and a feeling of goodwill in our hearts.

If you have a blog, check this out!



It's some geeky html graph of your blog. I'm not sure exactly what mind mapping thing it's doing (maybe taking my most often used words or topics and creating the branches?) but it's cute, isn't it? I want some fabric with this design for pillowcases or something!

Happy Longest Day!

A Little R&R*

I was going to talk about two work commute incidents -- one that ended my commute yesterday on a bad note, and one that began my commute today on a bad note -- but I decided not to expound upon the two beee-yotches who obviously have total disregard for traffic laws and never learned the simple act of courtesy. (Oh no! I got myself all stirred up again! Here we go...)

When people (= me!) are driving in front of you (you = the B in the Solara yesterday and the B in the Mazda 6 today) and trying to merge onto a one-lane street, or say, the freakin' highway, you don't dart behind them and then make it so the person (me) can't merge properly into the lane! WAIT YOUR TURN!!! It's not as if I were driving 5 mph!!! It's the freakin' I-95, for Buddha's sake! I'm waiting for the UPS double trailer truck to pass me but you have to run me off the road 'cuz you can't wait your freakin' turn!

And big haired Solara B... I should have run into you instead of slamming my breaks to let you by. Jackass is gonna be 11 years old next month and yours looked about 2 months old. Battle scars like that on Jackass wouldn't mean as much 'cuz he's old and worn. Yours was all shiny and new and you would have been really pissed your new car was all scratched and deformed. It would have served you right. You're lucky I don't keep a squirt gun filled with brake fluid with me for retaliation purposes. I understand brake fluid does wonders on a paint job.

I love starting off the work week with two rage incidents. I hope it's not an indication of how the rest of my week will go. I just don't understand what's up with drivers these days. I think I drive "normal". I don't hang out in the passing lane going slower than everyone else. 5-10 mph or so over the speed limit is my comfort zone. Never got a speeding ticket. I don't tailgate. I don't feel the need to maneuver myself in and out of traffic to be in the front of the pack at all times. I don't drive like I'm in my own personal reality version of Grand Theft Auto.

And what's worse, I hate to admit, is the offenders I see are often WOMEN!

Maybe these two incidents are karma (CARma) for something I just now remembered from over the weekend. This ass in a new Acura (still had the white plastic over the hood and roof - probably a guy working at the dealership) was tailgating me and trying to maneuver himself to the front. But there was traffic in front of me and around me. So he got into the middle lane, trying to somehow get around. He almost had a chance to get in front of me (which really wouldn't have done him any good) but I boxed him in. And I laughed. Victory! He never got to the front before he turned off the main road.

Drive safely, everyone!

* Rage & Rant

Summer Starts

I hear it's supposed to be 90 degrees tomorrow. It's been a really nice June so far. Not too hot. Sadly, John has to work Saturday (bah!). I'll be running errands like going to the grocery store, picking up a gift (probably the liquid kind) for my dad... Father's Day and all.

And this weekend, we'll also celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANN!!!

How to Bojangle a Burger

I hate when I come up with witty titles for blog posts and then forget them the next day when I sit down to blog!!!

Sunday, I took out some ground beef from the freezer to make spaghetti sauce for Monday night dinner, but John and I ended up going to the Greene Turtle to meet up with the Gill family, who were visiting from Arkansas. Sean set it all up, as many of us will be unable to attend a party on Saturday in honor of the Gills (hosted by the Strickers). Tuesday, we had dinner with my MIL at Bertucci's. Well, something had to be done with the ground beef, so Wednesday was the day.

Since we didn't have any burger buns, I decided to form the beef into burger dogs. I seasoned the meat with some Adobo, pepper and a little Worchestershire. Mine had chopped onion in it too. Johnny's not a fan of that much bojangling of his burger. They were yummy, despite looking like turds on the grill:


Laugh if you want, but if these were made of pork, you'd just call it sausage and they'd be perfectly normal eaten in a hot dog bun!

Oh, Surprise...

Our resident Fleege is celebrating a birthday today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FREDDY!!!

May your year be filled with extra tall margaritas and tasty cigars.

We hear Freddy wants to take in a Nats game (possibly with a couple VIP tix through his work) to celebrate his special day. Rat Bastard! Enjoy your day!

What to Wear

Next month, a group of us are traveling to Montana to attend the wedding of "The Human Schwiff" Tiffany and her fiance, Eric. John and I have never been out there and we're really looking forward to the trip and visiting with the Heitzmans.

In the past 5 years or so, I purchased a new dress for each wedding I attended. I was a bridesmaid in one of them too. I can fit into the dress I wore to LL and Austin's wedding last June (love this dress!) but I wanted to wear something lighter in color. I was thinking maybe the dress I wore to Handsome Matt and Alison's wedding; a white silk/linen with light green floral print. Sadly, it fits me like a sausage casing now. I probably wouldn't be able to sit down without bursting every seam. A closet full of dresses and I can only fit into maybe 3 of them.

Montana in July is very hot. Upper 90's, according to my research on the internets. I'm not sure if the wedding will be indoors or out, so I want to wear something that will breathe and not make me sweat too much. Another option I have in my closet is a plum linen sleeveless dress (which I also love) but I'm afraid it might be too informal. And don't even get me started on the shoe issue... do you know how much Fred Flintstone feet swell in 90 degree heat???

It's been a dilemma for me lately to dress less sloppy and a little more "professional", especially for work. The men at my office must wear a button down shirt and a tie. Their daily uniform is pretty much set and (to me) pretty simplified. The women, however, run the gamut from pant suits to t-shirts and stretch pants. Some of the larger women only wear pants with an elastic waistband. And a tee. And what are essentially sneakers. I tend to not feel so bad on days I don't look as "professional" as I'd like.

I'm generally in slacks/khakis and sweaters or button down shirts in the winter, slacks/khakis and camp shirts in the summer. And on occasion, a skirt or dress. On the weekends, you will usually find me in jeans and some type of sweater (if it's cold) and a tee shirt. In warmer months, I have my trusty skorts (a light twill one and a denim one) and a couple pairs of capris (probably making my legs look 2 feet long). Tops are usually a tee of some type or a tank. Casual, but classic items.

I own work-appropriate, less casual clothes. They're just not as comfortable as they could be... a little tight around the belly. Without trashing a good portion of my wardrobe or spending more money, the answer is so simple. Exercise. What to wear is already in my closet...

Beach Stuff and Parties

My MIL found some stuff sadly searching for their owners after being abandoned near the Surf's Up pool:

One gray INDIANA tee - size XL
One "Soleil" orange and yellow beach towel
One green "Ashford" golf shirt - this one has Cuello Rojo written all over it!

Call us if one of these belongs to you!

In other fun news, we celebrated BHL's big 25th on Saturday. I discovered my readership stretches further (Hi, Yani!) than I ever imagined. Jallie Beans is taking over the world, one reader at a time!!!

Big Heads and their boyfriends sure know how to throw a party! Tons of food, of course. I didn't taste any of the pork roast (I was stuffed by the time it came off the grill) but had some yummy yard bird, macaroni and fruit. William played bartender later on in the evening, concocting Cinnamon After Shock and Vodka shots. As John and I were leaving, they broke out the Goldschlager. Good Times!

I didn't take a lot of pics at the party, but did take one before the party...

I cooked more than 9 eggs this year and added some cherry tomatoes stuffed with a cilantro veggie cream cheese mixture. I have some of the cream cheese filling left over and it will make a really yummy sandwich spread.

For the Belmont race, we drew random horses out of William's hat for $10 a pick. $80 to the winner, $30 to second place and $10 to the person who picked the last place horse. Val won with her Jazil pick and William came in second. Is it just a coincidence the winners were sitting next to one another?

Sunday afternoon, we went over to William's, where John put an outlet in William's bathroom. He's so handy! William grilled some yardbird, tilapia and veggies and also had some corn on the cob. YUM! Joey and Michelle joined us and we watched the last half of "Airplane!". What a goofy movie!

Well, that's about it... Sadly, it's raining today, but we had some really nice weather over the weekend, so I'm not complaining!

A Birthday and Some Bad Juju

Our favorite Big Head is 25 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LENA!

She's a little bummed she can no longer say she's in her "early 20's" and is now in her "mid 20's". The 20's are FUN times! All of it. Enjoy and don't worry about the number... until you hit 40. Doh! Check back with me in about 3 months and I'll tell you all about my "turning 40" woes.

Last night, Johnny and I went to watch our second Chumados game of this season. It's been tough for us to get to the games, as John is been on-call more and I'm just basically pooped from my work commute. The Chums lost again last night... pretty badly. 20 - 5 or something. The last game we attended in April netted a similar result. I think we're bad luck for the team now after earning awards for Most Valuable Fans last year. Hopefully, this won't reflect badly on whether or not we're invited to the end of the season team banquet!

I woke up last night at around 1:30 AM due to a passing thunderstorm and heavy rain. I couldn't get back to sleep... until 5:00 AM. I made myself get up at 6:00 AM, which is pretty late. So, I'm just barely functional this morning. I'm drinking "Vault Zero" in hopes it will wake me up. The bottle says it's a "hybrid energy soda". What the mutta hubba does that mean???

TGIF (and payday) and see you at BHL's Birthday Bash tomorrow!

Grad Meme

It's that time of year... high school and college graduations. A meme has been circulating around the knitting blogs and I thought I'd share a little bit of my high school experience with you through this meme:

Who was your best friend? Didn’t really have one BFF. Had different groups of friends and they rarely mingled as one

What sports did you play? Soccer

What kind of car did you drive? My parents’ black ’79 Mustang 5.0

It's Friday night, where were you? Driving around, hanging out at Farrell’s, at the skating rink, movies, arcade or a friends’ house

Were you a party animal? No

Were you considered a flirt? No

Ever skip school? One time (senior skip day)

Ever smoke? No

Were you a nerd? I think so, but maybe more of a dork and goofball (still am!)

Did you get suspended/expelled? Too chicken to do anything worthy of getting kicked out of school

Can you sing the Alma Mater? Not sure there was one

Who was your favorite teacher? Probably Ms. Murray, the art teacher or the history teacher who always told students on the verge of being sent to the principal's office they were "riding the crest of the wave" (what the heck was his name?)

Favorite class? Commercial Art

What was your school's full name? Northwood High School

School mascot? Indian

Did you go to Prom? Yes

If you could go back and do it over, would you? Probably not

What do you remember most about graduation? Neita wearing a dress, panty hose and sandals

Favorite memory of your senior year? Stuffing 11 people into the Mustang (to give friends rides home)

Were you ever posted up on the senior wall? If NHS had one, I didn’t know about it (because I was a dork, remember?)

Did you have a job your senior year? Nah... spoiled kids don’t get jobs

Who did you date? Pete L. the summer between Jr. and Sr. year; John P. starting a few months before grad

Where did you go most often for lunch? Cafeteria (not allowed to go off school grounds)

Have you gained weight since then? More than I ever thought I would

What did you do after graduation? Went to Univ. of MD

When did you graduate? 1984

So, in honor of graduating seniors, I present this picture of a skinny, young Jallie Beans, desperately in need of a lip rip and some eyebrow grooming (luckily hidden by the bangs and feathered 'do). No laughing out loud!!! You may snicker, but no outbursts of laughter!


Actually, this picture is from sophomore or junior year. Some time before senior year, I got a perm (at the Hair Pair with Karen S.) and (what the hell was I thinking??!!) cut it myself into sort of this mullety feathered thing after a few days 'cuz I couldn't style it the way they did at the salon. Like cutting it was going to help! HAH! Live and learn... I haven't had a perm since 1990 and now rely on my trusty (although not cheap!) style guy at Perez Day Spa and Salon.

Happy Thursday!

$16 shoes

I wore my new kicks to work today... not to bad for 16 bones. I think I may dye the straps black though. Does black shoe polish rub off pleather very easily? Despite being a very inexpensive shoe (and I'm sure ready to fall apart at any moment), I'm glad I picked up these goofy wedges. I hemmed and hawed at the shoe rack until John said, "Just get 'em! They're only $16". They're not the kind of thing I normally wear. I'm more of a Reef flip flop girl.


Well, gotta head off to another dentist appointment now. Hopefully, this is the last one for a while. Holla!

POST DENTAL APPT UPDATE: Feets-a-hurts, feets-a-hurts! Does pleather stretch? Maybe I should wear these around the house with some nylons or socks before I wear them out again. Oh, the happyhappyjoyjoy of having Fred Flintstone feet!

X-tra Action

Although I'm not one for horror movies and tend to enjoy a sappy Rom Com or Teen Angst movie over most genres, I do love a Superhero movie. Sometimes, the more unbelievable, the better. I know these three types can be very formulaic, but if you can't count on "guy gets the girl" or "good guys win", what can you count on?

Yesterday, Johnny took me to see X-Men 3 (I know there's a more official name, Bill, but I'm too lazy to look it up) and it was fabulous! All the new mutant characters, special effects, ass kicking, a blue wolfy Kelsey Grammar, and surprise (after the credits!)... what's not to like?

Not much going on besides that this weekend. Grilled some yardbird on Saturday. Knit some washcloths. Bought some cheap summer wedge sandals at Target. How was your weekend?

Gotta Love a Short Week

I had a couple things to do at work this week but they were side tracked due to technical difficulties. One of the things I liked about my old company was working so closely with the programming and tech support staff. I learned how to troubleshoot and fix problems on my own. Dangerous, but self-sufficient. At my new company, I have to rely on folks in other offices and other countries (!) to diagnose a problem. It can take days to troubleshoot/fix something that should only take 10 minutes.

It doesnt feel like Friday, but I'm glad it is! Not only is it payday, but I could use a good sleep-in tomorrow. I was thinking about going down to L-town, but we'll be hanging out at my MIL's while Johnny does some car maintenance on the fleet. If anyone wants to buy a red convertible Corvette that needs a little transmission work, let us know!!! I'll post some pictures soon. Sorry, Freddy... the Chevelle... still not for sale.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!