I owe someone $10

Ok, so now I owe someone $10 on the "my boss won't do anything for my 2 year anniversary" bet I laid out in my previous post.

I knew exactly what I was getting 10 minutes ago, even though I received it 5 minutes ago.

Why? Because I process the business credit card transactions. About a year ago, my boss spent $50 at Starbucks (a store he never personally goes into). Also about a year ago, I received a $25 gift card. 10 minutes ago I heard him rummaging deep in his desk drawers.

Ta Da!

2 Year Anniversary gift: $25 Starbucks gift card - the other half of that year old Starbucks transaction.

I'm going to go buy myself a grande sugar-free hazelnut extra foam latte.

Random Thoughts by Jen Handy

My parents have been separated since I was two and are both now remarried to great people. I often hope that my future spouse has divorced and remarried parents so we can have 4 sets of grandparents as potential FREE babysitters.

My mom says that she'll still be number one grandma, no matter how many extras there are to compete with.

_______________________

Tomorrow is my 2 Year Anniversary at my job. I was only supposed to be here for a year.

I bet anyone $10 that like both my birthday and Assistant's Day, my boss does absolutely nothing to recognize this.

_______________________

I was in three weddings this summer and I survived! It was a long, grueling pace of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, dress purchasings and fittings, shoe buying, hair and makeup be-doneing, rehearsal dinners and ceremonies. I love each person whose wedding I was honored to be a part of but am SO GLAD it's all over. Also, I will happily be a bridesmaid for my loved ones, but refuse to give any more speeches.

My introverted self was stressing out over all the necessary schmoozing and small talking with people I don't know.

_______________________

To end on a Debbie Downer note: my sole remaining grandmother (and the one I was actually close to) is being transferred from her apartment in a retirement center to assisted living. Stay strong geema!

These are a few of my favorite words:

Indubitably
Sacrosanct
Juxtaposition
Rebuffed
Chiaroscuro

Not for their definitions; solely for the way they roll off the tongue.

Let Them Eat Cake!

I love cake. Of course I do. I mean, who DOESN'T love cake? That's right: crazy people.

My most recent favorite was definitely Helen's wedding cake. Delicious layers of lemon cake with fresh raspberries sandwiched in between. Just look at this awesomeness:



But what if Helen hadn't hired a REAL professional, with references, and instead let her drunk aunt Mary who claimed to be a professional cake decorator provide her with a cake? It might have gone a little something like this:

Inspiration Cake -



ACTUAL Cake - (requested to be all white w/ green accents but otherwise like above)



Find more of these awesome cake disasters at my new favorite website: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Raddest Weekend Ever

Do you ever have a day or weekend that is just so freaking perfect it puts you on a natural high for days? My weekend was like that. Here's a run down:

Saturday Day: Step-mom's B-day

Saturday was my step-mom's 50th birthday, so my dad went all out on the planning. He rented a white limo and had my two step-sisters, two of my step-mom's friends, and me meet up in the parking lot of the restaurant we would be having dinner at. We all hopped into the limo, poured some champagne and surprised my step-mom at her house. From there all the girls went to lunch at an amazing mexican restaurant right on the coast with gorgeous ocean views and some free flowing pitchers of margaritas. From there we went shopping, which ended up kind of boring for me because I'm brizoke as a joke and we were in Bloomingdales. I couldn't afford anything even with the giant sale they had going. I made good friends with a comfy chair.

We then headed back down to the restaurant for dinner, which was amazing for everyone but me. Amazing because my dad had set up a private dinner in the kitchen of a very delicious restaurant, where the chef cooks in front of you, describes what he's doing, passes around things to taste while he's cooking and creates a four course meal. The whole experience was awesome.

The menu, on the other hand ... everyone who knows me knows that I am a pretty picky eater. I try not to be and I DO try new things, but once I decide that I don't like a food, I don't like it. A few of these big dislikes are: onions, tomatoes, bleu cheese, fish, and bananas. I know, it's a random assortment, but I have an unflinching hate for all of these foods. Now, here's the menu:

1st Course: layers of roasted eggplant, brie, and tomatoes with mixed greens (I had never really eaten eggplant before and it was pretty decent, but not a favorite)
2nd Course: mixed greens, red onion, candied walnuts, cucumbers, and bleu cheese in a vinaigrette (after picking out the onion, cucumbers and bleu cheese this was really good)
3rd Course: grilled halibut with honey mustard glaze, couscous, roasted asparagus and grilled zucchini tossed in garlic butter (I HATE fish, but I did eat the parts that had honey mustard glaze on it - I'm actually really proud of myself for that)
4th Course: bananas foster (I just at the ice cream and the delicious sugary glaze)

It was really just funny by the end. I made no comments and ate some of everything because it really did look delicious, but I was cracking up with each additional course.

Saturday Night: The Antiques
I'm not really sure how to describe my affiliation with this band anymore. Yea, I still do some work for the label and volunteering to work with them was how I met everyone, but everyone feels like genuine friends now. Not BFF friends, we don't get to hang out that often since everyone is pretty scattered, but friends I sincerely enjoy hanging out with. Yet, because of how I met them, I feel kind of obnoxious if I refer to it as a "friend's band", but I'm going to do it anyway.

So, that was a long way of saying that my friend's band was playing an album release show on Saturday night. They played the entire new album from beginning to end and, like usual if you stick around late enough, they broke into an awesome drunken encore. It was just a really great night of hanging out with some hilarious people and listening to some good music.

Sunday Night: John Mayer
Sunday day was pretty mellow - just went to Barnes and Noble, grabbed a hot chocolate and read a magazine (it's like the library, but more updated and with coffee!)

Sunday NIGHT, however, was The Awesome. John Mayer playing at Irvine Meadows (I refuse to call it Verizon Wireless, because that doesn't describe the venue at all). All 2 people who read this blog know how much I geek out on John Mayer, so I'm not going to hide it. I got a pretty good last minute ticket off of a girl on a Mayer messageboard for way under face value, since she was trying to get rid of it and it was just a single seat. First row of Loge. I'll take it.

I don't care what you say about Mayer's singles or his personal life, but the man can put on an INSANE live show and he definitely brought it out last night. There had been complaints earlier in the tour of short sets, but he took this one all the way to the 11pm Meadow's curfew, and possibly a few minutes beyond it depending on the watch. 18 songs, including TWO encores (which he never does. I was on my way out feeling comfortable in the knowledge that I had never heard of him doing a second encore when I realized that the cheering closer to the stage was getting louder instead of dying down and, sure enough, he had come back out for a second encore) AND a brand new song (which he also rarely does nowadays since he has an open taping policy, but dislikes that people's make judgments on a song based on first impressions of something not fully fleshed out ... or something like that. I'm not going to give you the whole quote even though I know it).

I'm still on a high from the show. I think live music can be addicting - I get such a rush from a good live show.

I wish every weekend could be as good as this one.

Good Hurt

Do you ever have music hit you - like really hit you; when it feels like the song has managed to reach into your chest and pull your heart right out, not just tugging heartstrings, but completely breaking them, the force of the snap echoing through your limbs, and there it is thumping in front of you to the beat, all exposed and aching, but a good ache, a deep ache you can feel through your body all the way to your toes, and you don't want that feeling to end no matter how much it hurts, so you play the song on repeat, but then you have to take a break from it - maybe for an hour, a few days, a month - depending how just how deep it makes you ache, but you always go back to it, you just can't use it all the time or the ache fades and it's such a fucking good ache you can't bear to let it fade, so you ration yourself in order to guarantee that if you play that song the ache appears.

I love that.

Currently Obsessed - Ha Ha Tonka

I stumbled across these guys on MySpace and I keep heading back to their page to listen to the four songs they have up. I haven't bought a CD in awhile, but I'm definitely snagging theirs.

Check out the video for my favorite song of the four: