Ridiculousness

I'm a huge fan of Craigslist. Huge with a capital H.

The free section, the furniture for sale that I could browse all day, the cool apartments I'll never be able to afford and the unintentional (though sometimes intentional) hilarity encapsulated in Missed Connections. But of all of these my favorite is the furniture. Awesome stuff for cheap always wins my heart.

Today I passed a consignment store and decided to stop in, thinking that it was just a physical manifestation of my beloved Furniture For Sale section, though probably much classier considering they had to pay rent and all. But oh no, my friends, the only similarities were the prevalence of scratches and stains on the furniture, sans deep discounts warranted by said scratches and stains.

Today, in the "classy" consignment store were two pieces of Ikea furniture. The first (in bright pink):



Brand New Retail Price: $49.99
Craigslist Used Price: $15-$20
Consignment Price: $49.00

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, a whole $.99 cheaper! But it's a deal because it's all worn in for you. None of that effort usually required to make it seem used and broken in.

Next up:



Brand New Retail Price: $39.99
Craigslist Price: $15
Consignment Price: $49.00

No, your eyes don't deceive you. That lovely, but obviously cheap, chair up there is being sold used for $9.01 more than it sells for brand spanking new.

So, if you're looking for a way to get some cash for random furniture laying around, even if that furniture is stuff you bought on the cheap at Ikea during college, take it on down to a consignment store and you'll get back even more than you originally paid for it.

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

I flew across the country last weekend to visit my ailing grandmother in South Carolina. It was a bittersweet few days full of decent air travel, awful sleep (partially in bathtubs), much missed family, and my only grandparent left feeling the onset of mortality and divvying up her life possessions.

I was gifted some things I really wanted, was barred from claiming other things I really wanted and spent an entire day sifting through old family photographs (including a couple sweet tintypes of relatives with long forgotten names).

The album I'll be putting together of all these photographs will also be bittersweet. They're my last name's family history, but not really mine. My dad was adopted so though I'm technically related to the people in the photos, they're not my ancestors. Someday, probably after my grandmother passes, I'll hunt down the blood relatives.

On the plane ride home I sat next to a guy who's initial words to me were "I don't let anyone I sit next to wear headphones" as I was pulling my iPod out. He turned out to be right. I didn't put those head phones on once the entire time we were in the air. It turned out that we knew a lot of the same people and his wife was best friends with my ex-step-sister and I had been to his father-in-law's church several times. I don't think I've ever talked the entirety of a plane ride before, but it was great - I barely noticed how long we were in the air.

We were supposed to look each other up on Facebook, but I've since forgotten his last name and his first is way too common to be of any use. I'll chalk him up to being a short-term friend, the kind you don't look up even though you say you will because attempting to extend the relationship beyond the short time you were brought together will just be awkward.

"You'd be surprised at the things I can do."

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.