I'm quitting...

Before anyone freaks out (Mom), I'm talking about something that doesn't effect me or my IRA.

I'm talking about Orbitz gum. Right before I got laid off, a co-worker gave me a piece of Sweet Mint Orbitz gum and I haven't looked back. I've never been a gum chewer before and suddenly I was really addicted. I get like this with the strangest things. Like apples. Like peanut butter. And I don't know how to stop. There aren't support groups for gum addicts, but maybe there should be. Just for my sake.

I knew this gum addiction was becoming a problem, when more than 3 pieces a day just wouldn't suffice. The flavor and chewing quality wasn't lasting more than a few hours before I needed my next fix. And I was itching man. I started buying the 10-packs at Costco (along with the uberly gigantic peanut butters). I started chewing in the mornings and after every meal. I started chewing everywhere, even in the pool. It was taking over me. And now, I'm saying enough is enough.

I was thinking how funny it would be if someone invented a quit chewing gum, gum.

So instead of waiting around for some quick quitting gimmick to come to the market, I decided I'm just gonna do it cold turkey. I magically gave up cigarettes a few months ago (after almost 10 YEARS of smoking!) to the point where even a drunken drag makes me sick these days. So I'm hoping the same effect will happen when I quit the gum. It's only 10:35 am and I'm already on my second piece. I have 3 more sweet mint Orbitz pieces left. A small stash of Unicorn gum that's really old and I believe Dominic keeps an emergency pack in his glove compartment. I'm gonna hope for the best. I'm gonna need your prayers. And I'm gonna give it my all until I'm not totally dependent on those little, evil chewing sugary pieces of goodness!

Ain't he the cutest?

The boyfriend told me yesterday that he was going to make me dinner that night, at my place. I had this weird premonition that he was going to make me potato laktes because Passover started this weekend and during the holidays I usually think about my grandma and talk about her endlessly. She would make what seemed like 10,000 laktes every time I would visit and then "made" me eat them all, which I gladly took on. I tried recreating her recipe once, years ago and they didn't turn out the way she made them. I thought this would always be the case, as it's hard to copy someone's vague recipe, but then I realized I just didn't add enough oil.

Note to lakte makers: Add too much oil. The laktes should be swimming in the shit.

When I got home last night, I walked into my building and smelled something amazing. Potatoes. Onions. Love. I ran downstairs, flung open the door, and half-expected to find my Grandma standing by the stove, with her makeup all done up and her hair stuck together perfectly.

Instead I found my boyfriend, sitting on the couch looking very pleased with himself. And I was pleased too. Because:

a)he made me something very special
b)he knew to get the good honeycrisp applesauce (NOT SOUR CREAM) at metropolitan market
c)the kitchen was spotless

He did make the same mistake I had made with the oil, but that's okay. I figure the next time I'll show him how it's done. Or at least buy them from a place that knows how it's done.

T-Minus Vegas Baby

That's right. In less than 2 days I'll be in sunny, warm, strip club city! We actually arrive before check in on Wednesday and I've already decided that I want to wear my bathing suit on the plane so I can immediately get into vacation mode the second we land. I figure I'll bore Dominic to death what with me doing baking in the sun (with SPF 45) for hours so he'll get chips and cards and fold and whatever else you do when you play poker.

But really, we have no plan. Our plan is no plan. We have a hotel in Vegas and a bed and breakfast (organic baby) in Utah, for when we go to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park!

I have yet to hit this part of the U.S. yet and I know while all you youngsters are dreaming about going to Greece and Africa or whatever else is hot these days, you should really consider exploring the good ol' USofA.

Because I for one, can't wait!!

Invest this bitches!

I don’t understand people. Since I’ve gotten on this investing/saving kick, I’ve talked to others who want to do the same but don’t know what to do. I keep suggesting read up. Get as many books as possible. Find one that you can read and understand. And they all give me the strangest looks. “Like, read? What is that? Something you do on the internet, right? Reading is so boring. If it’s in some weird form of pages, then it’s not for me.”

What has this fucking world come to? And why are people being so dumb? To me, personally, (that’s probably a very redundant phrase but I use it just like you use the word literally, so there!) if you’re gonna put the time into giving your money to a company to hold for like 40 years, you better read up. What’s the point in all this investing if you don’t know a thing about it? Are you doing this because your mommy told you so? And if you are, then are you 5 years old? Okay then, that makes sense.

So stick your head out of your asses people, and do some research. Reading a book or two will definitely benefit you way more than those countless hours you waste watching Deal or No Deal.

God, I hate that show.

I could make someone a good wife if they like bland food and all.

Last week I got my first bin from a CSA. What is a CSA? Well, actually I don't know. It stands for Certified something something. Basically, it means I get fresh produce delivered to my apartment and it's mostly from local farms.

When I told my Mom about this, I think she got confused because she kept comparing what I'm getting to what she used to get when Publix, the huge supermarket in Florida, delivered everything from tampons to zucchini. This is not that. This is a local food delivery service. No tampons. No beer. Just fruits and vegetables. From farms in like Snoqualmie, WA. Not Venezula.

AND I LOVE IT!

Yesterday, I couldn't have been more pumped when Dominic dropped me off at 4pm. I spent the next FOUR HOURS cooking everything for the following week ahead. I decided planning ahead like this is the best option for me, because I've noticed lately how tired I get after work and thus I end up eating Trader O's for dinner. And I guess cereal could be okay every now and then, but a week of it gets as old as your grandma.

So I made:

Zucchini Bread for the next knit meet up.

A big salad to last me a week for lunch. It's contents include, avocado/lettuce/cabbage/argula/mozzarella cheese/rainbow chard leaves/mangos/balsamic vinegar

A very modified version of this broccoli and millet recipe. Except I barely had enough millet, so I added wild rice and then tofu and then the stems of the rainbow chard. Voila, dinner for the week and if the salad runs out then it turns into lunch too.

And to top everything off, I made Cabbage and Potato soup!
It's sitting in the freezer right now, as an in case I don't have any food heat this shit up and feel all warm inside emergency.

On Saturday I also made French Toast from beer bread I made a week (or two) ago and it was pretty darn good. But I wouldn't say I'm a chef by any means. Actually, most of the shit I make turns out kinda bland and it never looks as good as the pictures shown on these blogs I turn to. But that really doesn't matter to me. I just love making it all.

Like a website or a scarf, I seem to like to create things. Even if it means burning the shit out of my cutting board and slicing my finger along the way, I'll do what it takes to make me some real home cooking.

My Saturday was better than your Saturday

I don’t know about you, but I had the most awesome Saturday (last week) ever.

First, I woke up at 6am because my boyfriend was snoring. Wait, it gets better.

Then, I went to ALPACAPALOOZA!!!! What’s this, you ask? It’s only the most awesome festival ever. No, The Cure or Daft Punk weren’t there, but a shit ton of the cutest alpacas you’ll ever see were. I spent way too much money of the softest, brownest alpaca yarn and took so many pictures of these llama/sheep dog/freaky animals to last me awhile on my screensaver.



After that, I went to Phuket for some coconut milk soup that was oh so delicious. And the fact that I get to tell my friends to meet me at Phuket always deserves a chuckle or two.

And then, if petting alpacas for hours wasn’t exciting enough the boyfriend took me to probably the only place worth going to in Bellevue. That’s right, Skate King.

I haven’t been roller skating since I was 17 and man, oh man, things haven’t changed in 10 (okay, 12) years. Every rink is exactly the same. And the Skate King is awesome just for that very sameness.



We walk in and are immediately blasted with the smell of burnt popcorn and moldy carpet. There’s a hint of vomit in the air, because two birthday parties are wrapping up and there’s just way too many cupcakes left. Obviously they didn’t go to Trophy.

The skate handler is about 65 and gets a kick out of telling me corny jokes. The one that killed me was when he said, “I know when you were born.” And I say, “Oh yeah, when?” And he’s all, “On your birthday.” Oh, silly old man, give me my skates so I can hold hands with my boyfriend while we skate to Michael Jackson songs already, will ya.

And that’s exactly what we did for the next two hours. I’m probably the slowest skater in the world, but at least I didn’t hold on to the rails like some of those 7 year old losers.

But while I wasn’t by any means a skating master, I regained my pride by being the claw machine king (er, queen?) of the world. That’s right, I won me a motherfucking Donkey Kong stuffed animal. And it only cost the boyfriend $1.50 (3 tries). Usually I give that shit away to the kids, but the boyfriend was so amazed by my claw kicking ass ability I gave it to him instead.

A few pin ball and air hockey games later, we were pooped. It was 10pm and we were taking off our skates when ooh, is that Boyz 2 Men song I hear? But it was too late, skates were off and the skate handler told his last joke for the evening. Something about will you take my wife.

Please.

$10,642.70

I PAID OFF A STUDENT LOAN TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then I said yes.

So....We got engaged! I just wanted to share my excitement to the internet and for those I can not reach via telephone.

This happened last night, at home, in a very sweet way. It’s something I believe is personal between the two of us so I rather not go into details. Some things are not meant for this blog and the world to know.

But we are both very happy and can’t wait for our married life to begin.

We’re getting hitched pretty soon. We don’t want the hassle of spending lots of money or the worry of planning something, big or small. We already have a trip planned for Vegas and Zion at the end of April, so we decided to tie the knot there. We have already invited those we feel can splurge on an impromptu wedding. It’s not gonna involve Elvis, like Dominic has been begging for, but it will be memorable. I’m hoping for a taco truck/mariachi band reception!

Neither of us need things, in fact we’re trying to sell things we feel like we don’t need anymore, so we’re not doing a registry. If you’re really dying to give us something, send cold hard cash. Or yarn. And history books.

Anyway, we’re both very, very excited. And I can not wait to be Mrs. Barrie Alana Campese. Dominic can’t wait to become Mr. Arliss. Teehee.

If you want to see the ring, click here.

I love you all.