Michelley's Belly

New Website

2008-03-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Please visit my new site... Michelley's Belly

Goodbye Blogger

2008-02-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

We've grown apart.

It's not you, it's me.

I just don't know what I want right now.

I need something more.

I need to find myself.

I'm gonna have to let you go.

I've met somebody else.

www.michelleysbelly.com

Things You Should Know About ME!

2008-02-24T19:32:00.001-08:00

What were you doing 10 years ago in 1998?
Working at Mervyn's and going to Saddleback Community College

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Pretty much what I'm doing now, not much has changed this past year.

5 snacks I enjoy:
Crackers
Pretzels
Ice Cream
Beef Jerky
Fruity Candy like Starburst and Laffy Taffy

5 things you would do if you were a multi-millionaire
Buy a nice house in San Diego
Buy my sister a condo
Buy a vacation home in Maui
Travel
Go back to school

5 bad habits
Not exercising
Staying up too late and sleeping in
LOVING butter
Forgetting to floss
Reading celebrity gossip

5 things I like doing:
Shopping
Traveling
Drinking
Eating
Scrapbooking

5 things I'd never wear again:
Bikini
Overalls
Jelly Sandals
Pink Lipstick
Scrunchies

5 favorite toys:
Matt
Laptop
Camera
TiVo
iPod

Google Reader

2008-02-23T18:01:00.001-08:00

I discovered a new toy today. Well, I didn't discover it on my own...it was originally discovered by the man of the house, but I LOVE it. Goggle Reader. I've gotten to the point where I'm reading tons of blogs on a daily basis and this is the perfect tool to read them in one place! I suggest checking it out just for fun!

Also, I bought 4 pounds of bacon at Costco today. Enough to last us a lifetime. (not really a lifetime). I don't buy bacon too often because of it's obvious fat content, but I've been craving a turkey, bacon, avocado, swiss sandwich. On a croissant of course. Anyway, the BEST bacon is Oscar Mayer which is the most expensive of course at around $6 per pound. Today I got 4 pounds of Costco bacon for $8 and some change. But it's probably not nearly as good as my favorite Oscar Mayer. Why am I telling you this? I just thought it's funny to buy 4 pounds of bacon for 2 people. Costco has that affect (or is it effect?) on me.

Because People Ask Why I'm Not Blogging

2008-02-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while because there really hasn't been much to talk about. For whatever reason I have started watching Big Brother this season. Maybe it's the lack of other programming on right now, but I'm enjoying it.

Not much news on my diet either. I have maintained for the past couple of weeks and I'm fine with that. Tonight I'm going to a seminar on the Lap Band. I've been to one before, but this one is with a different surgeon. So, before I can even meet with this doctor I have to go to the seminar. It should only be an hour long. (Negative comments will be deleted.)

Another reason I love Matt... Often when I'm cooking dinner I will put my hair in a pony tail. However, I am usually too lazy to walk all the way upstairs to get a hair tie. Well, Matt has a secret stash of hair ties he brought down stairs for me. So, when I say, "Oh man, I need to put my hair up." Matt tells me to close my eyes and he goes for the secret stash. He's my hero.

Not much else to report. I'm really trying my hardest to be lazy and it's working.

Dell XPS M1330

2008-02-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

It's here, it's really here. I am in LOVE. More to come later. Posted some picks on Flickr.

Things I Would NOT Mind Receiving For Valentine's Day...

2008-02-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Conversation Hearts. One of my favorite candies.

Classic Red Roses. LOVE these!

Tiffany & Co. Bead Necklace. Words cannot describe my NEED for this.

2008 Range Rover Sport. Is this really too much to ask for?

Word

2008-02-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

I forgot to stop by and blog yesterday. I was down a mere pound at my weigh in yesterday morning. I need to pick up the pace. Well, I shouldn't say that because I've been doing fairly well with my diet. Tomorrow is going to pose a small challenge though. I am meeting Matt for lunch then we are going to dinner with his family at Red Lobster for his granny's birthday. Yes, she gets 2 party's this year...one reason to live to 91!! So for lunch I can pretty much pick what I want, so hopefully I make the smart choice. I guess for dinner I will stick with shrimp and veggies. And I must stop by Starbucks in the morn before my hair appointment...it's my tradition. I'll just have to be smart with my points...

The Weekend is Over

2008-02-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

The weekend went by too fast! Yesterday was pretty much a lazy day. We went to get tires for the truck, but the wait was super long and we decided to wait until Sunday to do it. Then we went on the hunt for my new laptop. I've been going back and forth for the past few months trying to decide whether I wanted another PC or if I wanted a Mac. Last night I decided on the PC and we ordered it. I am super excited and Matt's a little jealous. His laptop is good, so he really shouldn't be too jealous. My old one is just that, OLD! My new one will now be the one we take with us on trips since it is smaller. It will also be easier for me to take and use for work when I need it. Lastly, it will be a nice tax write-off since I'm using it for my consulting.

Today I got up super early (8:15) and we went to Starbucks for breakfast. We then headed to Costco to get the new tires on the truck, which look good because they are a little bigger than the last ones. Then we were off to Matt's uncles house to celebrate his granny's birthday. The in-laws are always fun to be around. Then home to watch the Superbowl, which turned out to be pretty boring.

Now, it's cold and rainy again. Diet wise I've been doing really well. Today I was a little off with the birthday thing and Del Taco tonight, but I'm still confident that I will have a loss come Tuesday. I don't have any work this week, so I'm hoping to get some stuff done around the house: vacum, mop, dust and clean out my dressers and closet. I'm finally getting in to get my hair done on Thursday. It's been postponed twice now, so it's well overdue! OK, I need to go finish up the laundry. I'll catch up later.

P.S. Del Taco was nasty.

Don't Be Jealous...

2008-02-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

My husband sure is going to get lucky! He ordered me this new friend tonight. My new toy should arrive in about a week. Reason #1,532,698 why I love him!!

FYI...

2008-01-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

Just so we're clear, eating a huge pan of brussels sprouts, 2 salads and half a cucumber WILL give you the toots.

Busy Week

2008-01-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hey kids! It's been a busy week so far. I had 2 inspections yesterday and today. Plus I have one tomorrow and 2 on Thursday. That's 7 reports I have to write! Plus I still have reports to write from last week. So, Friday I'll be writing a total of at least 12 reports. Yuck. Busy, busy me!

I should have taken a picture...last night I made some fabulous stuffed shells. Not super healthy, but all things in moderation. Then today I made sushi. It was a lot of work and I'm not sure it was really worth it. It was fun, but in the end we probably could have gone out to a sushi restaurant and it would have cost the same! Oh well.

Oh, I was down 3.5 this morning at my weigh in. Actually, I was down closer to 5 pounds because of the gain I had last week. But I didn't count last week...blah, blah, blah. I've lost a total of 12 pounds in January so far. Yeah, I'm the bomb. You can agree.

I'm tired.

Look Inside My Pantry...

2008-01-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

You wanna know what I did today? I cleaned out my pantry. It's been bugging me for a while and today was the day! The last time I probably cleaned it out was sometime this summer. Then Christmas came and with all the cooking and shopping it's gotten progressively worse. It feels so good to look at it now. Plus now I know exactly what's in there and can shop accordingly!

Before:

After:

Happy Friday

2008-01-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

Why am I such a slacker at this whole diet thing? I really don't understand it. Can someone please knock me on the head and explain it to me? Maybe I have some deep seeded issues that I don't know about yet...

I've been doing well all week until tonight. I had to go pick up a prescription at Albertsons tonight and I got FRIED CHICKEN for dinner. Why? Grrr. It's just ridiculous and I'm fed up with it. In the same trip I picked up some Slim Fast drinks. I've never tried them before, but I'm thinking I will start having them for breakfast. I'll let ya'll know how they are.

Tonight I walked on the treadmill for about 25 minutes and then did some stuff on the weight machine. I feel better, but I'm still bummed about the fried chicken incident!

Not really any plans for the weekend. I think we are supposed to have a big storm come in. We got 3 Netflix DVD's in the mail, so we'll try to get those watched. And play some more Guitar Hero!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm out there!

Naughty, Naughty!

2008-01-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

Oh, I've been a naughty girl! Some of my naughty friends include Jack in the Box, Johnny Carinos, Pizza Hut, Bud Light and Red Robin. Well, I'm not sure if I should count the pizza since I threw most of it up after drinking 10 beers on Sunday. Damn Chargers! The weekend is such a blur...

I've been pretty busy this week working. And next week is looking like it will be pretty busy as well! I would like to get out of the house today, but it's so cold and rainy here. We'll see.

My friend, txlass, has a new online store. You should visit it and buy something! I ordered a tank top and a crop sleeve shirt. I'll show them off when they arrive!

Also, check out my new toy...

We finally bought Guitar Hero for our Wii!! And it's so much fun!

Roni's EatSmart Scale Contest

2008-01-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutrition Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

I Want to Live on Balboa Island

2008-01-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

THIS is Balboa Island:

I had an inspection here today and I stopped to smell the water...

P.S. It was a beautiful 70 degrees!

Spaghetti Pie & Weigh In

2008-01-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

Just stopping by to show you what I had for dinner last night:

Spaghetti Pie. It was good. I worked hard to save my points yesterday in order to have it for dinner. It was worth it. Oh, I also managed about 22 minutes on the treadmill last night. I had to stop because the bottom of my heals were hurting. Maybe time for a new pair of shoes!

One last thing...I was down 3 pounds at my weigh in this morning!! That's a total of 8.5 pounds lost!

Happy Monday

2008-01-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Chargers won yesterday...woohoo!! We'll see what happens next Sunday!

Today was a great day. I met my sister in law at Starbucks this morning, which was fabulous! I even worked today. I've been receiving several inspection requests from my old boss and I did one of them today. They have sent me 23 just in the past week or so. That's going to put a nice chunk of change in my pocket! Hopefully it will continue and I'll get even more work!

Jack and Michelle Sitting in a Tree

2008-01-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

Did you know that a taco from Jack in the Box is a mere 3 points? Probably not the healthiest 3 points you can eat, but I had 2 of them. And you know what? They were grossly good. I enjoyed it.

I did just over 40 minutes on the treadmill as well today. Yeah, I'm cool like that.

Friends, Sushi & Starbucks

2008-01-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

I've hand a good day! Matt was off, so we did stuff around the house...took the lights off the house and put the decorations up in the garage attic. Tonight I got to see one of my most favorite friends, Patty, and her son. It was so nice. We met at a sushi place in Oceanside, then we walked over to Starbucks and chatted some more. There are some people you know you will be friends with forever and she is one of them! We've been friends since 6th grade...18 years ago!

I Love My Matt

2008-01-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

The top 2 reasons Matt married me: my grilled cheeses and quesadillas. They are my culinary masterpieces. Gourmet, I tell you! He likes his grilled cheese cut into triangles and his quesadillas cut into rectangles. I am just the opposite. If you cut your grilled cheese into rectangles you get the same type of crust on each half. The top crust is the best. That's just my two cents.

False Alarm

2008-01-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

OK, Matt has my laptop on life support and it seems to be working for now.

See, I've been having problems with it for a while now. I'm just too attached to it to go buy a new one. My laptop screen will randomly go black while I'm in the middle of something and won't turn back on. And we can't figure out why it does that. Also, lately there have been weird lines popping up and weird spots on it. So tonight I went to pick it up and Matt had his foot on the power cord causing it to pop out of the side of the laptop. When I went to plug it back in and try turning it on, it wouldn't do anything!! I don't know. Matt fiddled with it for a while and now it's working. We'll see how long it lasts!!

2008-01-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

MATT.JUST.BROKE.MY.LAPTOP.

Silly Boys

2008-01-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

So, last night I made Sloppy Joes for dinner using lean (4%) ground beef. It was super easy and tasty…or so I thought. Matt took one bite and says, “This is fat free beef”. I laughed and explained that it was 4%. Now, he just thinks it’s an atrocity that such a thing would exist. When I was a kid that’s the only type of ground beef my mom would buy. We never ate the fatty stuff, so I really don’t mind it. Matt, on the other hand, never tried lean beef until I started cooking for him. Matt doesn’t complain about my cooking unless it involves turkey or lean ground beef. So last night he turned into a critic and a comedian. It was quite funny. He said, “What is fat free beef? Turkey!” I told him that the day he starts cooking is the day he can complain. Needless to say he ate a huge plateful for the Sloppy Joes!!

As we were lying in bed he says, “Michelle, I’m in dire need of some good food.” All I could do was laugh. He said it in such a way that you would think he was actually dying. He specifically requested that I make my Spaghetti Pie. It’s basically spaghetti and sauce mixed together with Italian sausage. Then you put it in a baking dish, spread cream cheese over it and then sprinkle with chives and mozzarella. Then just bake it. Purdy darn good, but not too diet friendly.

In the end Matt said he would continue to eat my “diet” food. I don’t think he was really trying to complain…just in dire need of some good food. You know honey; it could be a lot worse. I could be making you eat tofu or something! And tonight won’t be the night that I make you Spaghetti Pie, which is no way a reflection on the amount of love I have for you. I just don’t feel like going to the grocery store 2 days in a row. However, if you bring home spaghetti, sauce, sausage and mozzarella then I would have no choice but to cook for you. (I already have cream cheese) I still love you!

Weigh In

2008-01-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

I had my official weigh in this morning and...I'm down 5.5 since the first! Woohoo. Anyways, I'm off to get some stuff done:

Pick up a few groceries
Do some online banking
FINISH putting the Christmas stuff away
Attempt to clean out the pantry

That's it kiddies! Later.

The Skinny Cow

2008-01-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting to mention The Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches. You’ve probably already tried them…I’m a little slow! I don’t know why I haven’t tried these before. They are FANTABULOUS! So far I’ve tried the Mint, Cookies ‘N Cream and Chocolate Peanut Butter. The mint might be my favorite. They are all between 2 and 3 points. Not too shabby! Try them, you’ll agree…

Another Day in the Life of ME

2008-01-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I missed yesterday, I was too busy being lazy!

Sunday was a nice day. Well, not nice weather wise, but nice lazy wise. We woke up and I made blueberry pancakes for the man of the house. I chose to have a WW blueberry muffin instead. It just made more sense to have the muffin for 3 instead of the pancakes for 5.

Then we went for a drive to see the house some friends of ours are buying. It’s a new house and still being built. We walked through the models, which were nice. It’s a little depressing seeing how they are getting a slightly larger house than us for less. The housing market is totally crashing. It sucks. But I’m glad we are fortunate enough to have a house. I really like our house even if we have some less than pleasant neighbors…but that’s another story for a different day! Then we went to Starbucks…I was good, only got a TALL!! Mmm, I love Nonfat Upside Down Caramel Macciatos!

The rest of yesterday we lounged around and watched some football while it rained. Go Chargers! We’ll see what happens next weekend when they play the Colts.

Today has been somewhat of a poopy day. I won’t go into all the details, but I feel like a doody head. I’m a loser and that’s all there is to it!

OK, kiddies I’m off to do some more housework…I have to earn my keep around here somehow!

Oh, Baby!

2008-01-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

“There’s a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning”…according to Jimmy Buffett anyways! However, this has been a quiet Saturday night for me. Eh, I’m trying to be good and lay off the booze for a while for my diets sake. Did I make that sound like I’m a frequent drinker? No comment.

Today was pretty mellow. Matt woke up with a horrible headache, so I just pretty much lounged around. I watched Hairspray, which I thought was good at the beginning, but toward the end I just got annoyed with it.

I also took down most of the Christmas decorations around the house. They haven’t made it in their storage containers yet, just hanging out on the floor in the living room! Oh, next year please remind me to buy CHEAP Christmas lights for the tree. That way I don’t have to take them off! It was just too frustrating!! At the end I gave up unwrapping them neatly and just pulled them down the tree creating a huge mess of pine needles everywhere. Anyways, Matt got the tree outside and in the trash can, so at least that is out of the house. We had hoped to take the lights off the house, but it’s been raining all day. That probably won’t get done until next weekend. Tomorrow’s goal is to get the decorations put in their containers and put in the garage.

Tonight we went to Chili’s for dinner. I was good and stuck with the Guiltless Salmon, which is one of my favs. It’s only 10 points on WW and you get a good sized piece of salmon, black beans and steamed broccoli. Yummy. While we were waiting for our table we saw a guy come in wearing really short corduroy Op shorts. Way to bring back the 80’s, dude! Plus it was, like, 55 degrees out! I though it was funny…you probably had to be there.

Hold on to your britches folks, I got the new Victoria’s Secret Swim catalog today. Sooo exciting…not! I don’t even know why I get the catalog. When was the last time I fit into VS?! I just decided that ~~if I ever~~ WHEN I fit into a VS bikini, we’ll put a pool in the backyard. (Start saving your dough Matt!) And I did 25 minutes on the treadmill tonight while I used my hand weights, so I’m on my way.

I think all the veggies I’ve been eating have finally caught up with me. (Another head of cauliflower at lunch and broccoli at dinner) Otherwise, there must be a smelly frog in the room! TMI??

Finally, I am signing off to watch some Supercross with the man of the house. MMM, sexy motorcycle riders, the only thing that would make it better is a vodka cranberry…

TGIF!

2008-01-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today has been somewhat of a lazy one. I woke up late again! I’m out of NyQuil now, so I’m hoping not to sleep in so much tomorrow! Anyways, tried the WW blueberry muffin this morning and it was OK. Of course not the yummy fat-filled kind, but still good. I then wrote 5 reports…5!!! I’m the bomb!

For lunch today I experimented a little. I love fried zucchini and squash. Well, I had some yellow squash in the fridge and decided to bake it. I sliced it into thin rings sprayed it with some cooking spray, then tossed it in some corn flake crumbs. Baked it on 400 for about 35 minutes. It came out pretty good! And only 1 point because of the corn flake crumbs. It made a nice side dish to my tuna salad sandwich! If anyone else out there has any other vegetable suggestions, I’m open!

Then I spent the afternoon curled up on the couch chatting with friends and watching TV. But when the time came, I made Matt dinner. I made shrimp tacos. It’s always nice when Matt likes what I cook. He came home and saw the shrimp in the sink and gasped, “shrimp tacos!!”. Yes, I know how to make my man happy…occasionally!

Plans for the weekend:
Take down the Christmas decorations
Tidy up the house
Vacuum & Mop

Now I’m off to watch Pulp Fiction with the man of the house. Have a good weekend and stay warm!! (It’s cold and rainy here!)

I'm sleeeepyyy

2008-01-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

Not too much to report today. I went to Target and Walmart to return some things. My mom gave me a Walmart gift card for my birthday, so I wondered around there for a while. I bought some WW blueberry muffins that I'm hoping are good. Sometimes that stuff can be dry. I didn't know Walmart sold other gift cards as well, so I got a Chili's gift card too! Then I meandered around Target and got a couple of Christmas items on clearance. And that's all I did. I tried really hard to work today, but I wasn't too productive. Tomorrow I'm going to have to lock myself up in the office and crank out some reports. If I just sit and concentrate it shouldn't take too long. Then I can get the bill sent out and earn some sort of a living.

Oh, tonight I made roasted broccoli. I was just ok. I think I'm going to stick to the roasted cauliflower for now!

Well, I'm off surf the web...

Good Things Come in Large Packages

2008-01-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I received a huge package from Jessy! I love it and wanted to brag. We have a gift/package exchange each month, so it's a combo of that, Christmas and my birthday. We decided that for 2008 we would scale down our monthly packages and only do it a few times a year. We are getting too out of control!!

Now I will brag...
Blue Slippers - I got 3 pairs this year!
Rudolph Purse/Bag - I <3>
Flower Note Cards - Love them!
Sweetie Pie Towel - I'm going to buy more of these and use them for Valentine's Day
Frame with a pic of me and Jes - Beautiful!
Penguin Cups - Penguins rule the word!
Fleece Blankie - I'm always cold, so this is perfect!
Ornaments - Look nice on my tree!!
Cars - I was going to get this for Matt's stocking, but forgot, so thanks!!
Candy - Evil.
Lip Balm and Lotion - Luxurious!
AND a gift card to Old Navy and Gap - SPEECHLESS.

Howdy Folks

2008-01-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

So keeping with my resolutions I decided to give turkey a chance tonight. I made Roni’s turkey meatballs and spaghetti sauce. I thought they came out pretty tasty. Matt on the other hand said I should make them again…”next year”! I guess it was my resolution to eat more turkey and not his! We are going to have to ease into the turkey thing I suppose and maybe make it once per week. Oh, I also made my friend, Andie’s, roasted cauliflower tonight. OMG, it’s fantastic. Why didn’t I think of this before? Just chop up a head of Cauliflower (I just bought a bag of it already cut up). Then put it on a pan sprayed with cooking spray and season with Mrs. Dash Table Top Blend. Then mix it up so you get good coverage of the spray and seasonings. Pop it in a 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes depending on how crunchy you prefer. Soooo good! I’m going to try it with broccoli tomorrow night. Thanks Andie!!

I’m not sure what I got done today…I slept in until 10 this morning! I think it’s because I took Nyquil last night. I managed to make it to Trader Joe’s and Albertson’s though and stocked up on some good food. I also picked stuff up around the house. Tomorrow I have to get some work done. I still have at least 5 reports to do and I need to get the bill sent out for them. I like shopping too much not to work!!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T16:10:00.000-08:00

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my resolutions. In a way I think resolutions are dumb because they are things I should be already doing! This year I am going to set some realistic goals though and try my hardest!

Spend less at Starbucks…less trips and smaller drinks!
Blog more!
Weigh less than 200 pounds.
Drink fewer regular sodas.
Give turkey a chance!
Go back to school.

There you have it. Those are my goals for 2008. I hope this year brings lots of joy and happiness to everyone!!

Goodbye 2007!

2007-12-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

The holidays are coming to a close and it’s a little depressing. I love all the lights and decorations. I’ll be putting mine away this week. Christmas was good this year. My grandparents flew out from Texas. We had my mom, sister and grandparents over for Christmas dinner. We decided to make stockings for everyone this year. Everyone was supposed to bring one or two items to put in each persons stocking. My mom went waaaay overboard. She bought 4 foot stockings and they were stuffed full!! She’s nutty like that though. It was all fun and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Wow, I can’t believe the year is over already! I was trying to rack my brain and reflect on some things that happened in 2007, but I’m sick and my brain isn’t working. All in all I think 2007 was a pretty good year. Matt and I both turned 29, two of our good friends had babies and we went on an amazing trip to New York.

I hope everyone stays safe tonight and enjoys their festivities.

Warning: Boring

2007-10-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been pretty nice. Yesterday I actually got up and made myself breakfast, which isn’t something I get to do when I’m working. I had a couple of pieces of bacon and an egg. Oh and I’ve rediscovered my love of coffee. Well, I have always loved coffee, I just don’t make it at home too often…I’m a Starbucks snob. But since I’m working from home I don’t want to start making a habit of driving to Starbucks every day. I do have to say I bought some pumpkin spice creamer and it was pretty darn tasty!!

Lets see…what have I done this week…I had an inspection on Tuesday and then I had 2 more today. Oh and yesterday I wrote 4 reports. Not too shabby. And I’ve sent my resume off to several companies.

Thanks to anyone reading this boring blog!

Parrotheads!

2007-10-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

I’m such a party animal! On Saturday we went to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Irvine. I had originally bought 4 lawn seats for Matt, Tracy, her boyfriend and myself. Well, on Thursday my favorite sister called and offered me 2 VIP passes and tickets in the orchestra section. I took them and ditched Tracy and Anton. See, my sister is the greatest! Back to Saturday…we picked Tracy and Anton up and headed for the concert around 2:00. We were told the parking lot would not open until 3, but we tried anyways. Sure enough they were turning everyone away at the gate saying they don’t officially open until 3, but may open a little earlier. We circled around once and by the time we got back to the gate, they were open. There were motorhomes and cars lined up along all the side streets waiting to get in. The Irvine police were out in force busting all the Parrotheads for drinking on the sidewalks! Fun times! We were lucky because the people parked next to us had a tiny car and left right away for motorhome parking. This gave us plenty of space to sprawl our Buffett gear out. Then the party began. Tracy thought ahead and made the boys some silly signs. We drank, drank and drank some more. I made some amazing Jell-o shooters! I think I am officially a Jell-o shooting professional. So, between the Jell-o shots and beers, we were all feeling pretty good. We walk around a little to see what was up in the motorhome section. But I think we had just as much fun and excitement at our own tailgate. Anton made chicken tacos on our mini grill that were amazing. Shortly after we headed inside for the show. I think I’m forgetting some aspects of the evening…but it’s to be expected since I was so intoxicated! The show was a ton of fun. We didn’t sit down the entire show. Matt bought me a tiny $7 beer, of which I spilt shortly after 2 sips. Oops… There are a few things I can't mention because as Tracy put it they are "too incriminating"! We will be doing this again next year fo sho!

We dressed the part...

And Matt handed out his salty nuts...

You can see the rest of our pics on flickr.

Work Shmerck!

2007-10-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

So, back in April one of our big clients went out of business. Since then our work has slowed quite a bit. Well, on Thursday I found out that Friday would be my last day. I am still going to work as a consultant for them until I find something else. My job before was doing safety inspections and miscellaneous things around the office. Now I will just be doing the safety inspections. I am really hoping to get at least 4 per week, so I will have a comparable income to what it was before. So far I have enough work to last through the end of October. I'm just hoping to get the same, if not more, for next month. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand it's going to be a bit tough paying the huge mortgage each month and hoping I get enough work. But on the other hand I'm excited to move on to my next adventure. I'm just dreading the job hunting portion! My [former] boss is working on another deal that could lead to more work, so he sad if/when he lands the deal he will bring me back. I'm not really holding my breath. However, I would definitely go back there since I had the perfect flexible schedule. I would LOVE to just do consulting work. Come on, working a couple of days a week on MY terms is wonderful! But I'm not sure I can pull it off...I would just stress too much about getting enough work month to month. I guess the ultimate job would be something part time AND continue to do safety inspections. That would be fabulous! So, in the mean time don't expect any fabulously outrageous gifts from me. And if we go out and I get tipsy and offer to buy the next round (like I love to do) DON'T let me...no matter how tempting!!!

Matt can't complain too much because this means his wife has more time to make him gourmet dinners...

My Friends Are Cooler Than Your Friends

2007-09-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, Jess (as in Jess & Wes) and I exchange care packages each month. Yeah, we're super cool...blah, blah, blah. But the point of my story is that Jess sends the BEST packages ever. We pick a different theme for each month and the last one was for Diet and Exercise. Jess sent me a ginormous exercise ball. And it's red. I love it. Now I have 2 balls. One white and one red. The red one is my favorite by far. Besides, someone might have had sex on the white one already... Anyways, I also got some yummy WW chocolates, that I took to the movies with me. I was probably only supposed to have one to be healthy and all but I had 4 at the movies! And I got a WW magazine that has some fabulous looking recipes in it. Oh and I can't forget about the recipe cards Jess included with her own recipes!! There's also a mini first aid kit in case I fall off the red ball. AND the workout CD, which I haven't had a chance to listen to, but I'll bring it to work tomorrow and see how it sounds!! Am I forgetting anything? I'm so lucky to have such a great friend! She knows just what I like and need! Our October package theme is Halloween of course!!

Fun and Chores

2007-09-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

So Thursday night Traci came over and we had a great time! We had a drink at the house, then decided to head over to Island's for dinner. We immediately ordered a round of beers and shots. We had such a fun time together giggling and catching up. I'm sure Matt would appreciate me using the term "giggling", so I should clarify that Traci and I did most of the giggling. Traci and I even managed to find ourselves walking into the men's restroom! Oops... Then we decided to head to BJ's Brewery for another round of drinks. Then back home. It was a the most fun I've had in a while!

After bagels on Friday morning, Traci headed home. Matt and I had to hang around the house for a little bit to wait for the plumber. We never use the shower in the guest room, so when Matt went to make sure it was clean he realized that the hot water wasn't working at all in the shower! Luckily it is covered under our warranty on the house. The plumber guy said they'd have to come back Saturday with the part they needed. So, Matt and I decided to catch a couple of movies. We saw Superbad and Good Luck Chuck. Both were funny. I was expecting Superbad to be funnier, but it was still pretty silly. Then we went to Kohl's since I had a coupon. I found a really cute top for work that I was going to get. But then Matt decided he was mad at me for some reason and stopping talking to me. So, I left without getting the top...but I'll go back by myself and get it, that way I can look around more! We pretty much called it a day after that.

Saturday was rainy. I tried sleeping in. I was having a crazy dream that involved band and Jessy. Weird. Then Matt got a call from Verizon saying they wanted to replace our box and said they would be there between 8:30 and 12. Well, come noon they still hadn't shown up. The guy didn't get there until after 1:00!! Fucking annoying! Right after the Verizon guy left the plumber came and was there for about an hour. Then we were off to Costco. Then I went grocery shopping. Since I'd been craving a pumpkin pie for a week, I was debating on either making it myself or buying one at Albertson's. I ended up just buying one, which was a huge mistake. I really should have just made one, they are soooo much better! And easy to make, so there's no excuse for me! We ended up going out for pizza, which wasn't great either.

Sunday was a nice sunny day. Matt watched the Chargers loose AGAIN. I decided not to sit down and cleaned out my pantry, which was a huge mess! And I cleaned my kitchen up and got out some of my fall decorations. I'm super festive. But I'm not allowing myself to put out any Halloween decorations until October 1st.

So, that's all for my weekend. I'm a pretty boring person, I know!

Rain, Skulls, Drinking and Smoking

2007-09-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

So how inappropriate is it to wear skull shoes to work? I say it's OK since I'm the only one here and it's a rainy day. Plus I got them at the beginning of summer for $8 at PacSun and haven't had a chance to wear them.

I love the rain! I have loved the rain for as long as I can remember. It's a good excuse to wear jeans and a cute hoodie to work. Oh and the skull shoes! And I love getting hot coffees when it's raining. So nice. It's a good day. Maybe I should move someplace like Seattle!

Tonight, Traci (mother of 2 cute boys under 3) is taking a much needed break and coming to visit me. We have a plan to drink. I'm going to get her drunk. She doesn't know it yet, but I intend on ordering a round of shots as soon as we get to the restaurant! Oh, she's in for it. I've been on a drinking binge lately. Well, I'm not sure you'd call it a binge, but I'm certainly drinking more than I usually do. For example: on Sunday as we were watching the Chargers loose, I declared that my goal for the week was to drink everyday. Matt looked at me and replied, "that's a goal?" in a non-approving tone. And I've taken up smoking, but really only when I drink. It's weird. Maybe it's because I know someday I'll be a mom and I'm trying to get it all out of my system now.

P.S. I didn't achieve my goal for the week. Therefore, I'll have to try again next week...

The Devil visited me at work today...

2007-09-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Pie

2007-09-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Just so we're clear when I'm having a craving for pumpkin pie, a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks does NOT hit the spot. I may just have to break down and make a pumpkin pie!

Another one bites the dust

2007-09-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Such a nice weekend! The weather has cooled off quite nicely. I'm guessing it was in the mid 80's all weekend. Saturday we got up early since the Verizon Fios guy was supposed to be there between 8 and noon. (Note: Verizon Fios is horrible, don't even consider getting it!) I made a breakfast casserole and we lounged around waiting for the guy to show up. After he left we decided to head to Home Depot to look at plants. For some reason this summer the shrub-like plants in our front yard decided to die. I am quite happy by this as I HATE shrubs! But they came with the house and we've been too lazy to dig them up. I keep telling Matt that I didn't poison them, but I'm not he he believes me! Anyways, I'm pretty sure I know what I want to plant out there, it's just a matter of Matt digging up the shrubs, etc.

Saturday night we headed to Pala Casino to see Sarah Silverman. She is hilarious! But I'm pretty disappointed in Pala Casino. We'd never been to an event there and I don't think we'd go back. It was like a giant ballroom with chairs. The seating wasn't raised or anything, so it was hard to see. Sarah was still funny and we had a good time. Another side note - all of the Indian casinos I've been to are so smokey! Nothing beats Vegas! All of the larger casinos on the strip pump in clean, fresh air and are soooo much nicer!

Then onto Sunday. Slept in. Made cinnamon rolls. Watched 24. Took shower. Went to Taco Bell. Went grocery shopping. Did laundry. Watched the Chargers get their asses handed to them. Drank 3 beers. Cooked dinner. Went to bed.

Weekend Adventures

2007-08-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we decided to head down to San Diego. We first went to Coronado and walked around. We had lunch at Rhinoceros Cafe and Grille. The service was a little slow, but the food was pretty good. Then we headed to Balboa Park and decided to see an IMAX. Neither of us had seen one before. We figured we would see 2 since there was a deal if you bought one you got he next one for a $1.00. We saw Dinosaurs Alive and Coral Reef Adventure. Both were pretty good and it was a lot of fun. Then we wandered over to Fashion Valley Mall for some Cheesecake Factory action. We put our name in then walked over to the Apple Store. We looked around for an hour and then went back to check on our table and luckily we were called just a few minutes later. It was a very nice day.

Sunday we didn't do too much. Just ran some errands and did stuff around the house!

Coming Home

2007-07-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our flight didn’t leave until 3pm, so we were able to sleep in a little. Since we didn’t have our luggage we didn’t have toothbrushes or any of our toiletries. Luckily Matt brought his tiny so-called brush with him. The handle is broken off and everything. There was a hairdryer in our room so I was able to dry my hair. I must have pulled out half my hair trying to brush it with that brush! Horrible!! We made it to the airport and checked to see if there were any earlier flights we could go on standby on. But no such luck! We ate at the airport and waited for our flight. Gratefully it was on time and we made it to Washington in about an hour. What we thought was a non-stop flight, wasn’t. We had another stop in Denver and had to change planes again. We finally made it home around 9pm and thankfully our luggage was sitting in OC waiting for us. Oh and while we were at the airport we spotted Vicki and Jeana from the show The Real Housewives of Orange County . They were with their kids coming home from some place. I had to talk Matt out of taking their picture!

Nightmare!

2007-07-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Tracy left around 6:30am to meet her tour group and Alison left around 9am to go see family, so Matt and I had the rest of the day to ourselves. We decided to check our bags at the hotel and did a little more site seeing. We went across the street and picked up a few Christmas ornaments and then to a couple of souvenir shops to get a few gifts. Then we grabbed an early lunch at the restaurant across from the hotel. We ordered the cheese steak sandwich and spilt it. It was pretty big and looked good, but I thought the meat tasted a little weird. Then came the New York Cheesecake. We had waited all week for this and it was worth the wait! I have never had cheesecake that was so good! We then decided to walk down to Columbus Circle and go inside Time Warner Center, which is basically a shopping mall. We walked through the mall and played in the Samsung Experience shop. Then figured it was time to head back to the hotel and catch a taxi in order to make it to the airport on time.

We took a Town Car to the airport and once we got there we realized that our flight had been delayed an hour. But they put us on standby for an earlier flight, which ended up being over sold and we couldn’t get on. Then our original flight was delayed until 7, by now we knew we wouldn’t make the flight from Chicago to OC. But figured we could stay the night in Chicago. Then 7 rolls around and they end up cancelling all flights in and out of La Guardia! Then we had to stand in line 2.5 hours to get a flight out on Saturday. It was horrible. By the time this was done it was 10pm and all near by hotels were sold out. We finally found an Extended Stay America hotel in Whitestone, NY and it was $200 for the night. To top things off, our luggage ended up on that flight we were on standby for! The hotel was horrible. They only had smoking rooms available! We ordered pizza and had it delivered to our room. Then we went to sleep.

Fun in New York

2007-07-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

We got up early and headed for The Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the way we stopped at Pick a Bagel again for breakfast. The MET is a huge museum, so we had to pick which exhibits we really wanted to see. We split up and Matt and I walked through and looked at the sculptures and paintings. It was so amazing and the museum is beautiful. After we were done we decided to grab hot dogs off the cart and eat on the steps of the museum.

We then walked down to the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz. The Apple Store is pretty neat as it is all underground. And FAO Schwartz was just as I had imagined it and had seen in movies. From there we met back up with Alison and Tracy. We sat and pondered what we should do next. Matt and I decided to visit Macy’s, which is supposedly the largest store in the world. While Alison and Tracy did a carriage ride through Central Park. We were shocked at the size of Macy’s! Inside there was a Starbucks, a pretzel place, Ben & Jerry’s, a bakery, a restaurant and best of all a bar. We couldn’t resist and got a couple of beers and spinach artichoke dip at the bar. It was so fun. The escalators at Macy’s were the original wooden ones and something we hadn’t seen before. On the way back to our hotel we stopped by Hooters for a couple more drinks and some wings. At this point we were pretty tipsy. When we finally got back to our room we found Alison and Tracy drinking Malibu and Pepsi, so we joined in and had more drinks with them.

We finally had to get ready for a comedy show we had bought tickets for. We all got dressed and headed for the comedy club. There were several comedians performing and most were pretty funny. Afterwards, Matt and I decided that we would go to the Empire State Building. Alison and Tracy were tired and headed back to the room. We couldn’t imagine missing the Empire State Building and are so glad we went. The views were amazing and to see it at night was the best. There are 2 levels you can view from: the 86^th floor and 102^nd floor. We decided to do both. Everything looked so small looked down!

Diamonds, Cupcakes and Broadway, Oh My!

2007-07-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

On our way out we stopped at Pick A Bagel for breakfast again. Matt and I ordered a breakfast wrap with potatoes and split it. We then headed for Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. Top of the Rock was amazing; we had a 360° view of the entire city. We then walked down to where they have the huge Christmas tree during the holidays. There was a farmers market going on that day. Alison and I spotted Dean & DeLuca and had to go in to get coffee.

Afterwards we walked down 5^th Avenue for a little shopping. We stopped and went into Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral was huge and so beautiful. We were able to walk around inside and take pictures. On our walk we noticed a group filming an Adam Sandler movie called You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. We saw Adam, but of course we saw him from across the street, but it was still cool. Next, we wandered through De Beers looking at diamonds. Then the girls decided to wander through Tiffany & Co. while Matt walked down to the Apple Store. I found a couple of necklaces that I fell in love with. I didn’t buy either. I’m hoping I can get at least one for either my birthday or Christmas!

Next we figured that we should go to TKTS to buy our Broadway tickets for that night. They offer tickets up to 50% off, so of course tons of people line up to get these tickets. Our first choice was Hairspray and at the urging of others around us we decided that our second choice would be A Chorus Line. While waiting in line Alison and I decided to go pick up lunch. On our way we say the Naked Cowboys, so we had to stop and get our picks taken with them. When we finally got back and we got to the ticket window we found out that Hairspray was completely sold out. So we went with our second choice instead and got 4 orchestra seats together, so we were happy.

After TKTS we hoped on the subway and headed towards Greenwich Village. We specifically wanted to go in Magnolia Bakery, which is known for its cupcakes. I picked out 3 cupcakes and a container of banana pudding. We walked across the street and found a table in the park to sit and relax. The cupcakes turned out to be just okay, but the banana pudding was fabulous!

We went back to the hotel and got dressed up for our Broadway show. Tracy and Alison left first and took the subway and Matt and I decided to take a taxi. We all made it in time, but were surprised to see most people didn’t dress up. We were some of the best dressed in the entire place! This was a good show; however it was a little boring. I would not recommend this show to someone that was only seeing one show in New York. Thinking back we should have just paid full price for Hairspray tickets. After the show we decided to dine at Ruby Foo’s, which is an Asian restaurant. It was pretty good, but a little pricey. We then headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Lots of Walking

2007-07-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

We got up early again and took the subway to catch a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands. Once we got there we had to wait in line for about an hour to get tickets and then wait in another line to get on the ferry. It was worth it though! We weren’t able to get tickets into the Statue of Liberty because they only give out a certain number each day, but we went to the island and walked around. We took some great pictures of the city. Then we got separated from Alison and Tracy and took the ferry to Ellis Island on our own. While on the ferry, the older woman sitting next to me on the boat fell over on me. She had passed out. Matt went to look for help, but the crew was very unhelpful and pretty much sent him on a wild goose chase. This is a little concerning! But there was a nurse on vacation that finally came and helped her. I think she just had heat exhaustion. Once on Ellis Island we walked around and looked at the museum. Then we took the ferry back to Battery Park. Matt and I wandered down Broadway and made our way to Wall Street and saw the New York Stock Exchange. It was pretty neat to see where all the action goes down. We kept wandering and had a slice of pizza for lunch. Then found Century 21 department store, which was supposedly a great store to find designer stuff, but it reminded us of a giant TJ Maxx or something. We weren’t too impressed. We kept walking and came across St. Paul’s Chapel. The Chapel is located directly across from the World Trade Center site. I was quickly touched by the Chapel. It was built in 1766 and is the city’s oldest public building in continuous use. Outside was an old cemetery, which are always interesting. Set up along the walls of the Chapel are 9/11 memorials. There are posters and articles taken from the memorials left outside the church after 9/11. I read some history about the church and it survived the great fires of New York shortly after it’s construction and it survived the attacks on 9/11. Not even one pane of glass was broken after the attacks, which is amazing considering it is literally across the street from the WTC.

Tracy and Alison caught up to us at the Chapel and from there we decided to head to Canal Street to do a little shopping. On Canal Street you can buy all sorts of knock-off products like purses, watches, jewelry and electronics. We were mainly interested the Coach purses. As we walked down the street we were approached by several different people selling purses. One came up and said he had Coach purses and to follow him. So we walk about a block down to a tiny store where we were told to wait. Then a small secret door opened up at the back of the shop and we were ushered in. Inside there was floor to ceiling designer handbags. Alison and I picked 3 bags each and tried bargaining with the woman inside. She eventually got mad at us and said we were “driving everyone crazy” and proceeded to kick us out of the secret room. So, we left empty handed, but quickly were ushered into another secret room by someone else. We eventually bought our share of bags. I ended up with 2 black Coach handbags, 1 brown Coach handbag, a black Coach wallet and a brown Coach wristlet. And I think it all coast $130! Not too bad. They aren’t real Coach, but unless you look really close you can’t tell. While the girls were shopping for bags, Matt walked through some electronic shops that had their own secret rooms. But those rooms were to preview adult movies. So weird. But Matt says he didn’t go in them!

After a crazy afternoon of secret room shopping, we decided to head back to Little Italy for dinner. We found a place that looked pretty good. However, we had the worst service ever! And the food wasn’t as good as it was the previous night.

Rainy NY Day

2007-07-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

We woke up to a rainy mess outside. Yuck, not the way you want to spend your vacation. And the genius that I am did no bring any tennis shoes. For some reason I thought it would be okay to wear flip flops everyday! I did have a pair of slip on shoes that I thought would work best. We decided to have breakfast at the hotel. Then we ran across the street to buy overpriced umbrellas from a luggage shop. Luckily there was a tour bus stop in front of our hotel, but we still had to wait in the rain. We got on the first bus that stopped, but quickly realized that it was not going the direction we wanted. But luckily they were handing out plastic ponchos. We got off the bus and put on our fashionable ponchos so everyone would know we were tourists.

We had decided to get off at the World Trade Center site. It appeared that the rain had let up as we got off the bus, but it quickly began to pour. Unfortunately our bus dropped us off about 2 blocks away from where we wanted to be, so we had to run in the rain, wearing tourist ponchos! Then the wind started blowing and flipping our umbrellas the other direction. What a nightmare. By the time we made it inside the building, Matt and I were soaked and I had giant blisters on my heals. I was miserable and let everyone know it. I was in so much pain and sopping wet even with the tourist poncho on. The WTC site was amazing. You can’t really get the feel for what really happened on 9/11 because there is construction equipment covering the site. But it was still amazing to see.

We went back and forth with what we would do the rest of the day. I threatened to get a taxi and head back to the hotel. Pour Matt is always having to calm me down. Tracy and Alison went outside to see what else was around. Matt and I found a Godiva and got some chocolate, which cheered me back up pretty quickly.

We all decided to head over to the American Museum of Natural History since it was something we could do inside without getting wet. We decided to try the subway. We bought the weekly pass and we were set. We made it to the museum without too many issues and without getting too wet. It is such a pretty museum. We didn’t go through all of it since it’s so big, but we saw some key exhibits. We saw the “Big Bang” exhibit and the Dinosaur exhibit, plus a few other things. The dinosaurs were pretty cool, but I think they were fake. It didn’t say it anywhere, but I think they were just replica fossils of one’s they have found. They were in glass cases or anything, so I don’t understand how they preserve the real thing like that. But it was neat none the less. There was a hot dog cart in front of the museum so Matt and I decided to grab a late lunch. It was our first “cart food” in New York. Can beat a $2 hotdog with kraut! By the way, it was still raining at this point. After the dogs, we met back up with Alison and Tracy and took the subway back to our hotel. We stopped by a liquor store and got some Parrot Bay to mix with our Pepsi.

Back at the hotel, we changed and took the subway to Little Italy. After about 30 minutes of walking in circles, we finally made it to a restaurant. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo and Matt ordered the Meat Tortellini with Alfredo Sauce. It was amazing! I love Italian food to begin with, but this was fabulous! Then we couldn’t resist dessert and I had Tiramisu and Matt had a Canoli. Both were to die for. I could live at that restaurant. Some day I will go to cooking school in Italy. On the walk back to the subway, Allison was solicited for Coach purses, which made us very excited! Originally I thought I heard him say “cooch”, which means something completely different, but gave us a great laugh. Oh and the rain was pretty much gone by the time we went to dinner!

Touring NY City

2007-07-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up fairly early to start our sight seeing. We hit up Pick a Bagel on our way out. I had a great garlic bagel with veggie cream cheese and Matt had an everything bagel with regular cream cheese. They were pretty good!

We decided we would do the 48 hour bus tour which we could hop on and off as we wanted. They had several stops all over the city, so it seemed like a pretty good deal. It was a double decker bus, so the prime seats were located on the upper level. Among the stops were Central Park and The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. The Cathedral is under construction, but still beautiful. Central Park is also beautiful. You walk through and people are walking, jogging, biking, playing soccer, Frisbee, and just laying about. It is such a peaceful place and could not have been more perfect. We walked through a Quiet Garden filled with beautiful flowers and plants. There were butterflies everywhere. At this point I was super tired and grumpy and yelled at Matt for chasing a butterfly away that I wanted to take a picture of. Then he was mad at me for yelling at him. But then we made up.

After the bus tour, we decided to head back to the hotel to move our stuff to our new room and grab some lunch. We ate at a place down the street from the hotel called Carnegie Deli. When we sat down they had fresh pickles sitting on the table for us! I was in heaven. Matt and I decided to share a Reuben Sandwich, which was gigantic, but super good. We couldn’t even finish the whole thing!

After lunch we decided to walk around the street fair going on along the street our hotel was on. It was somewhat a waste of time looking back. It was a lot like a swap meet. But I did get to share a Banana Italian Ice with Matt, which made it completely worth it.

Then it was nap time, we were all pooped.

We got up in time to catch the night tour on the bus. This was not a hop on, hop off tour. It took us through Upper Manhattan and to Brooklyn. There happened to be an accident on the bridge and we sat stopped for probably half an hour.

After the tour we were ready for dinner, so we headed to Ray’s Pizza. Now, there are several different versions of Ray’s and I’m not sure which one this is, there’s Famous Ray’s, Ray’s Original, Famous Original Ray’s, etc. So, who could keep track?!

We hit up a bar on the way back to the hotel, which was a dud. There were only a few people in there and it was bad service.

Headed for New York

2007-07-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

We got up at the crack of dawn this morning, re-packed and headed to the airport. Knowing our suitcases were on the heavy side, in an effort to be sneaky we went directly to curbside check in. But they caught on and directed us to check-in at the inside counters stating that we would have to pay a $10 fee for each bag over 55 pounds. Well, that wasn’t the case. Once inside we were told we’d have to pay $50 for each bag. They told us we could re-arrange our items and take stuff out to take as carry-ons to avoid the fee. But they said we had 3 minutes to do this in order for our bags to get on our flight. So, here we are suitcases open sitting on the floor trying to figure out what we could take out and carry. We eventually got it all worked out and headed for our gate. There was a Starbucks conveniently located next to our gate, so Matt and I stood in line forever! Tracy and Alison decided to go ahead and board the plane. Matt and I eventually got our drinks just in time as we heard overhead, “Matthew & Michelle Wedeking to gate 17”. Apparently, the entire plane was waiting on us. But we made it!

After the longest flights ever we were finally in New York! We headed directly for the hotel. Once there Tracy and I went to the check in counter and were told they were sold out of the double beds we had reserved and were putting us in a room with one king bed. Needless to say we were upset. How would 4 of us fit in one king bed? After an hour of arguing with the manager we finally headed to our room. We were told we could change rooms in the morning to two double beds.

Once settled into our room we decided to walk around and see some sights. We were surprised to learn how close our hotel was to Times Square. Times Square was super busy and lined with shops and restaurants. All the lights were so beautiful! We walked around for a bit and decided to grab a bite on the way back to our hotel. We stopped at a place called John’s Pizza. We all shared Pete-za-rolls and a Pizza. Along with a pitcher of the local Brooklyn Pilsner. It was a great way to start our trip! On the way back to our room we stopped by a drug store to pick up a case of water and a bottle of Pepsi for drinks. Once back at the hotel we cashed in our 4 free drink coupons and ordered some pretty pricey cocktails. But why not, they were free!

So for the night Tracy, Matt and I slept on the king bed and Alison slept on a cot.

Day 1 of Vacation

2007-07-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

Today was officially the first day of our vacation. We spent the day packing, cleaning and running last minute errands. We made a few last minute shopping trips for shoes and clothes. We also ended up having to buy a larger suitcase even though we already had half a dozen at home! Once everything was packed and the house was clean we headed for my moms. My mom surprised us with $300 to spend on our trip! She then took us to Tracy’s parent’s house. We thought it would be best to stay there for the night since our flight was so early Saturday morning. At their house we ordered Chinese and talked about what we would do on our trip. Then Tracy had to do some rearranging of her suitcase to make sure her bag didn’t weigh too much. Then off to bed we went for a 3 hour nap.

Where have I been?

2007-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

I've just been busy. We went up to Alameda a couple of weeks ago to visit with some friends. I actually co-hosted a baby shower for an old high school buddy. That turned out to be a lot of fun! We flew up on Friday and ran all of the last minute errands for the shower. Then Saturday was the shower. I must say that it was one of the best baby showers I've ever been to. Sunday we got up early and made the trek to Napa Valley and visited 4 wineries. We had a blast. We went to Domain Chandon, Peju, Turnbull and V. Sattui. All were great; however my favorite was V. Sattui. Our friends are members, so we got free tastings and I think we ended up trying 16 different wines while we were there. And of course we signed up for their wine of the month club!
I have a few things planned for the weekend:
Friday: We are going to lunch with my dad and sister, then possibly to see my mom.
Saturday: Baby shower form my good friend Traci.
Sunday: My basic weekend tasks - laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping.

That's it for now!

Starting Over

2007-04-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start my blog over. Well, I'm changing the focus of it really. I'm not sure what the new focus will be, probably a bit of everything. I didn't want to start an entirely new blog because I like the name of this one. We'll see what develops...

Vegatarians Suck!

2006-11-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

I tried, I really, really tried...I was a vegetarian for 28 days. That's almost an entire month! It ended on Saturday in the desert, when we cooked pollo asada. I was just going to have a veggie burrito, but that damn chicken spelt so good! And I caved. The sad thing was that it really didn't taste good. But I'm proud to say I'm completely eating meat again! I don't want to be a vegetarian. I went into the experiment thinking that I don't eat that much meat anyways, so how hard could it be? Let's just say, you always want what you can't have. I LOVE veggies, but they taste so much better with meat next to them!

Not much else is new with me...I had a fabulous weekend. We went to Ocotillo Wells with some great friends that I don't get to see often enough. I got dirty, slept in the tent trailer, drank some tasty beer and martinis and ate some terrific food! I posted a few new pics from the weekend. Oh, that reminds me, I'm searching for a name for my tent trailer. If you have any ideas let me know. I'm going to put it on the side of her like she's a boat! Keep in mind that she's pretty WT! You can see more pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/michellewedeking27/

Crazy People

2006-05-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

When I read this article it made me really think. I mean, are people really that ignorant? Just because I got a Tetanus shot doesn't mean that I'm going to shove a rusty nail through my hand. So, if we ignore this potentially life saving vaccine we won't have to talk to our children about sex? Is that the real issue? Religion always has and always will get in the way of medicine.

Merck's dance with the religious right

Drug giant close to approval for controversial anti-cancer vaccine for youngsters.

By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer

May 16, 2006: 2:58 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Merck needs a hit, and it just might be on the verge of getting one, thanks to some delicate footwork with the religious right.

Merck is eagerly awaiting news from the Food and Drug Administration, which is due to make a decision on two key experimental vaccines in the next few weeks. One of those is Gardasil, a controversial vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer.

If approved Gardasil could be a multi-billion blockbuster for Merck. However the vaccine is used to inoculate young girls from contracting a sexually transmitted cancer virus later in life. Conservative religious groups worry that use of the vaccine may send the wrong message about premarital sex.

Through a carefully orchestrated "informational" campaign, Merck has managed to overcome that resistance. And now it may be about to win the government's okay as well.

An advisory committee for the FDA will vote on greenlighting Gardasil on May 18. A "yes" vote will clear the way for ultimate FDA approval, since the agency usually follows the lead of its panels. The FDA is scheduled to complete its review of Gardasil on June 8.

The experimental vaccine is backed by strong clinical data and has been hailed as a bright light for Merck (up $0.60 to $35.29, Research), a drug giant that is losing billions of dollars in annual sales to impending patent expirations, as well as the withdrawal of its blockbuster Vioxx.

"It shows that there's life after Vioxx," said Les Funtleyder, analyst for Miller Tabak, referring to the vaccine.

About Gardasil

Gardasil is most effective, as a preventative, when used in children. The vaccine has been tested in boys and girls as young as 10, with the intention of inoculating them years before they become sexually active.

The data from Gardasil late-stage studies has been strong. Gardasil has shown 100 percent efficacy in preventing the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, which causes 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, according to Merck. This type of cancer kills nearly 4,000 women in the U.S. annually and nearly 300,000 worldwide, according to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.

Gardasil has also shown 100 percent efficacy in preventing the sexually-transmitted viruses that cause 90 percent of vaginal and vulvar lesions in young women, including genital warts, according to Merck.

If the FDA approves Gardasil, it would help fill part of the sales vacuum left by Vioxx, an arthritis painkiller that Merck pulled off the market in 2004 after a study showed an increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Not only did this erase $2.5 billion in annual sales, but about 11,500 lawsuits have been filed against Merck by former patients and their families.

Analysts put a wide range on the potential Vioxx fallout. While Barbara Ryan of Deutsche Bank North America projects that damages could total $30 billion for Merck, David Moskowitz of Friedman, Billings, Friedman projects $50 billion, the highest projection in the industry.

In addition to the Vioxx troubles, Merck's patent on its top-selling drug, the cholesterol-cutting Zocor, expires on June 23, taking away $4.4 billion in annual sales.

Gardasil sales could reach $1.6 billion annually by 2009, said Ryan of Deutsche Bank North America. Jami Rubin, analyst for J.P. Morgan, projects annual sales of $2 billion.

All about the age

But Funtleyder of Miller Tabak said sales are dependant on whether the vaccine is approved for all ages.

"What's the age range?" said Funtleyder. "Are they going to make people in the religious right freak out?"

Girls as young as 11 could be approved to use the vaccine. But the idea of children that young being inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease is upsetting to many parents and parental groups.

So Merck's recent educational campaign has focused on prevention of HPV and cervical cancer, and de-emphasized sexuality.

"Merck continues to work with all organizations to understand diverse positions and make people feel comfortable about broad use of Gardasil," said Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty.

And that has apparently been a winning strategy. Dougherty the company has managed to win growing support for Gardasil over the last year.

"How could anyone be against vaccination against a common virus that causes cervical cancer?" asked Ryan. "I think, in that way, [Merck] is successfully walking down the path that will minimize complications along those lines."

Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both faith-based conservative policy organizations, recently have spoken in support of HPV vaccines from Merck and GlaxoSmithKline because of their life-saving potential. But the organizations still promote abstinence before marriage as the best way to prevent infection.

"The HPV vaccine does not, in any circumstances, negate or substitute God's plan for sexuality, which is sexual abstinence until marriage and sexual faithfulness within marriage," said Focus on the Family spokeswoman Linda Klepacki in a statement on the organization's Web site.

J.P. Morgan's Rubin observed the FDA will be closely watched to make sure it doesn't reject Gardasil based on morality instead of science, as the agency is accused of doing in its failure to approve birth control pill Plan B for over-the-counter availability. The FDA said it did not approve Plan B for OTC use because there was not enough data involving girls under the age of 16, even though its advisory committee had recommended approval.

"I think the FDA's failure to approve Plan B [as an over-the-counter drug] despite the FDA advisory committee's support on this probably backfired on them," said Rubin.

Funtleyder of Miller Tabak said that Gardasil won't be as politically difficult to get past the FDA as Plan B, because Plan B is a birth control drug and Gardasil is not.

"Certainly the same political forces that were in operation then are in operation now," said Funtleyder. "But [Gardasil] is a different product. [Plan B] was closer to contraception [than Gardasil.]"

Merck's Gardasil could eventually face competition from GlaxoSmithKline's (up $1.20 to $58.28, Research) Cervarix, which is also being tested for the prevention of human papillomavirus but is at least one year behind Merck's drug. Rubin of J.P. Morgan projects that Cervarix sales could reach $1.6 billion annually.

Zostavax, the shingles vaccine

In another positive development for Merck, although not as big dollar-wise, the FDA is expected to make a decision on Zostavax, Merck's shingles vaccine, on May 25.

Annual sales projections for Zostavax tend to peak at around $200 million, a drop in the bucket compared to the company's $22 billion sales total for 2005.

Zostavax was developed as a vaccine against shingles, a blistering rash caused by the latent varicella virus, which also causes chicken pox. Merck published the findings of late-stage studies last year in The New England Journal of Medicine, showing that the vaccine reduced the incidence of shingles by 51 percent. Merck also said that, in those not successfully inoculated, the vaccine reduced pain and discomfort in shingles patients by 61 percent and reduced persistent nerve pain, the most common symptom, by 67 percent.

There seems to be little doubt that Zostavax will be approved by the FDA. Back in December, an FDA advisory committee recommended approval of Zostavax. On its Web site, the National Institutes of Health seemed to give Zostavax an endorsement, because if approved by the FDA it "has the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of cases of shingles in the U.S. in a single year."

The analysts interviewed for this story do not own shares of Merck stock.

Community Booths

2006-04-01T14:07:00.000-08:00

It makes me want to punch babies when I see a community booth. What is a community booth you ask...it's that horrible long table at restaurants with chairs on one side and the booth on the other. I just wanted to say that I am sick of going to restaurants and having the hostess try to seat us there. I HATE the community booths with a passion! Why would I want to sit next to a bunch of strangers or worse, CHILDREN! What the hell. And I'm getting sick of the damn hostess giving attitude when I say I don't want to sit there. We aren't in elementary school and shouldn't be forced to sit at those dreaded long tables, we aren't all friends. People have cooties and kids drool. So fucking annoying!

Matt's new toy...

2006-03-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share that Matt just bought a $200 remote for the TV. Whatever! He got the Logitech Harmony 880.

It's Friday!!!

2006-03-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've been pretty productive today. It's my Friday off and I'm so happy. So far today we've gotten the oil changed in both the cars, went bowling, went to Sears and bought Matt a miter saw, then went shopping at Costco. And that was all before noon! Now it's raining and we're a little bored.

I don't think we have any other plans for the weekend. It's supposed to rain thru Sunday, so that sucks.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

TGIF!

2006-03-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone!

My Friday needs to speed up a little, but otherwise it's not too bad. I was a little disappointed when I went to make my soup for lunch and then realized that I didn't have a spoon. That sucks! So, I HAD to go out in the rain and get my California Rolls. Yum!

Anyways, not much going on this weekend besides Mason's 1st birthday party. That will be fun, we get to wear Cowboy hats! Man, you know you're getting old when you say a 1 year old's birthday party will be fun.

Anyone have any luck using RIT dye? I am going to try dying the cover that goes on one of our couches. I figured it's not a big deal if it doesn't work because it's our old couch, but it's soo comfortable. If it doesn't work, I'll just get rid of it. I'm going to dye it dark brown and use it in the front living room, which I crazily painted a light aqua blue over the summer. I'm too lazy to paint over it right now, I'm trying to work with it. If anyone has an suggestions using the RIT dye, let me know!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Missing San Diego

2006-02-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

As I sit here eating my bean and cheese burrito I realize how much I miss San Diego. I have yet to find equivelent or better mexican food in Murrieta. The barn on Poway Road has the best mexican food ever. If you know what I'm talking about, we'll be friends forever. Whatever you do, don't buy a house in Murrieta. You may think you're getting a great deal on a huge house, but in reality, there is nothing to do here. Suck it up and buy that tiny ass condo in San Diego or Orange County. You'll thank me.

Since I'm blogging, I might as well go over my boring weekend...tonight we're going to dinner with my dad in Irvine. I'm off work again on Friday! Another 3 day weekend. On Sunday I'm going to lunch with some high school friends, which will be really nice. The rest of the weekend will probably be spent cleaning, grocery shopping and doing our taxes. The tax part should be interesting. We should be getting a large sum back because of the interest paid on the house. So, the highlight will probably be figuring out what to do with all that money. I'm thinking we can finish the backyard or maybe do the flooring downstairs. Our house is only a year and half old and I already want to rip out the carpet and put wood floors in. Who the hells idea was it to put carpet in the dining room?! Anyways, I'm sure Matt will want to do something practical like put the $ in savings...I say blah to that!

Well, I'm off to cry about missing San Diego.

Supercross in San Diego

2006-02-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

Matt and I went to Supercross on Saturday in San Diego. It was a ton of fun! We had pretty good seats at club level. It was sort of strange as there seemed to be a huge lack in security there. We saw several fights and it took security guards forever to break them up.

Anyways, the races were amazing and we were so excited to see Bubba Stewart win over RC.

On a sad note, James Marshall was badly injured during the first Supercross Heat race. His crash looked pretty bad as he landed face down and wasn't moving. He is in ICU and the extent of all his injuries are still unknown. Reports were saying that he can't move anything from the neck down. So, keep James in your thoughts and prayers.

My Friday...

2006-02-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today is my Friday! I'm so glad I'm off tomorrow, I love my 3 day weekends.

Not that anyone cares, but I just had the greatest lunch. I had California rolls and miso soup. Yummmm...

I haven't been up to much lately. I don't think I did anything last weekend. Actually, we did pick up our new dining room table and chairs. We had to assemble the entire thing...a table and 8 chairs. That's a lot of work, but we did it.

Matt and I are going to Supercross in San Diego on Saturday and I'm really excited. Any excuse to drink will work!

Does anyone have any plans for Valentine's Day? It's sucks that it's on a Tuesday. But we have always done the same thing...take out from Pick Up Stix. I don't think we've missed a V-Day at Stix yet. I know, boring, but we like it. I already got Matt's gift, but I can't say what it is cuz he'll be reading this.

Well, I'm off to do a safety inspection in Garden Grove for work. Hope everyone has a great weekend!