Bon Voyage, Rabecca!

Rabecca is moving to Detroit, so a bunch of us gathered at my place for a potluck going away party. Adam and I ordered a bunch of Avalanche pizza. Mmm. Summer and J brought KFC, so as you can imagine, the leftovers for the next week were quite delicious! Pizza and fried chicken. Can't go wrong!

Anyway, the party was great! My friend Erin was in town from D.C. and I hadn't seen her in ages. Funny thing, we ran into each other at Odd Lots that afternoon, and I told her about my party. She and her fiancé Drew stopped by, and it was great to see her. Melissa brought the fixings for mojitos, so I enjoyed a couple of those. Refreshing! We played the usual games - Ring of Fire, and Caps. It was a nice night and it was good to see everybody. I'm looking forward to visiting Rabecca in Detroit!

Summer and her brother Alex made this sign.



Erin and I.



Me, Erin and Drew.



Take two!



Summer brought a bucket full of iced animal cookies and twizzlers. MMM.



Summer and J!



Rabecca, Melissa, and some mojitos.



Time to play Caps! Summer takes aim.



Melissa and Matt!



Jason's turn!



Look at my form!



Rabecca!



The lineup.



Maia and Emily.

First Grownup Cake

So tonight I made my first ever real grownup cake, as in not-from-a-box. I made this lemon pound cake with a sugar glaze. You put the glaze on top of the cake when it's still hot, and it crystallizes and turns crunchy and it's delicious. I wanted to make Adam a cake for his birthday, and this is the cake he requested! The cake turned out delicious, but not beautiful. Parts of the top stuck to the angel food cake pan when I tried to get the cake out! I tried to put the pieces back together like a puzzle. So yeah, it wasn't a masterpiece, but it TASTED perfect!







We went over to Mom and Dad's for dinner. They made steaks, baked potatoes, garlic bread and salad. We had lots of red wine and some birthday white russians. And some PBR. It was a fun birthday party. We listened to some tunes, Adam opened some presents, and we had a delicious dinner. Once we cut into the cake, you almost couldn't even tell that the top was ugly.





If you want to try making this delicious cake yourself, here is the recipe:

I got to MEET Kip and Pedro!

Kip and Pedro (Aaron Ruell and Efren Ramirez) spoke tonight at Memorial Auditorium. This event was postponed from the previous week, when Pedro missed his flight. Mer and I knew there was some sort of "meet and greet" happening at Mem Aud in addition to the event, because Purple Chopstix was catering it. In an attempt to meet Kip and Pedro, we called Purple Chopstix to find out the plan. All we could determine was that "tots were in the oven."

Mer, Pete and I went to Mem Aud to see if there was something fun going on, but all the doors were locked. Figuring everyone was inside eating tots and having a great time, we decided to forget about it and go get some dinner. We had planned to get Pita Pit, but when we got to Court Street, we almost stopped for burritos. Then we considered getting ice cream for dinner. But we stuck to the original plan and headed to Pita Pit. Delicious.

We arrived at Pita Pit and head over to order our pitas and GUESS WHO WAS IN LINE RIGHT IN FRONT OF US?!!! Kip and Pedro!! After all that hunting for them, they were at Pita Pit!! Obviously, they have great taste! Mer took a picture of me with each of them. Fate brought us together! Fate and the PITA PIT!!!





We took our Pitas to Tony's and had a beer, then went to see them speak. It was a cool show. They talked about some behind the scenes stuff, and general things about themselves. Aaron is a photographer (www.aruell.com) and showed some of his stuff, which was awesome. Set photos from Napoleon Dynamite! Then there was a Q&A section which was mostly a bunch of morons saying "Will you come to the Junction at midnight and have a Junction Punch with us?" There were some interesting questions, though. The best part was hearing about Aaron's little brother, who the Kip character was partially fashioned after.





After the show, there was a small meet and greet, which I got to attend because I was with the Purple Chopstix people. Kip and Pedro had to leave town pretty fast so it was short and sweet. I got my ticket signed. Then I went for a beer with Nicole and Jennine at Tony's.

Attack of the bat!!!

So, Sunday night I was relaxing in the living room, with all of the lights off, laying on the couch and watching Dawson's Creek DVD's. All of a sudden, I see Charlie go FLYING through the air! Obviously he is chasing some sort of creature, but I can't tell what. He is RILED UP. Then I glance towards the ceiling and in the light of the television, I see a dark shadow swooping around and around! I think to myself? "Butterfly? Birdie? Yeah right. BAT! EEK!" So I ducked under the blanket and prayed it wouldn't land on me.

Adam was in his studio, which is relatively soundproof, mixing music rather loudly. I yelled "ADAAAAM????" But he couldn't hear me, so I pounded on the wall. "ADAM!!!!!!!" He opened the door and said, "What?" I said "THERE'S A BAT!" And he was like "Ahhh! Get on the floor and crawl to the bedroom and shut the door!!!" So I did that. But I couldn't stay in there for long because I was dying of curiosity. I actually think bats are pretty cool. I took a bat class once in Project Challenge when I was little, and I got to pet one! As long as they're sitting still, they're cute. Like little hamsters with wings! You know, like a pegasus! Except a hamster instead of a horsie! Right? Anyway. When they are flying around super fast with seemingly no direction in mind, they are not quite as cute.

After awhile, it swooped down the basement stairs and perched on the wall overhanging the staircase. Adam took this opportunity to run around and open all the windows up wide in the hopes that the bat would swoop out one of them. Right as he was done opening them, the bat took off again. Adam ducked and I dove between the open dishwasher and the counter, and huddled in that little area. The bat flew AROUND AND AROUND for ever and then finally disappeared again. We both thought it went back downstairs, but from our angles we couldn't really tell.

Eventually we went downstairs and looked all over for it, quite carefully in case it swooped back out at us. After lots of searching, we gave up. The bat MUST have flown out the window. Whew. We could sleep peacefully. I don't want rabies, man!

So today I come home from work and Scott is over. He says, "I heard you had a little bat problem!" I was like "oh, haha! yeah!" and he says, "It's still here." I was like "WHAT?!" and it WAS! It was perched up on that wall above the staircase again! It never left! We slept all night with a bat just hanging out down there! I'm not THAT afraid of it, but I was really terrified that the kitties would attack it and get sick! So Adam called Dad to see if he had any good tools and he sent over Elliot with some long nets.

Adam used a small net to knock the bat down from where it was perched sleeping into the bigger net. It grasped onto the wall pretty hard and screeched and screeched! Finally it fell into the net, and Adam tried to set it free out the window, but it was stuck. He shook it out, but it grasped onto the net. Elliot went outside to grab the other end of the net. After awhile, the bat was calm enough that it took off and flew away.

Two Guests! Two Times the Fun!

This weekend, TWO of my friends came to Athens to visit! Amanda and Anne! Amanda stayed with Jason for the weekend (she's allergic to my cats!), and Anne stayed with me!



Click here for photos.

On Friday night, Summer, Anne, Mer and I had tickets to see Cake and Gomez in concert. We decided it would be fun to have drinks and dinner first. Summer brought the ingredients for Irish Car Bombs over to my house, so we had a couple of those. Mmm, milkshakes! Then we got Pita Pit and ate it at Tony's over a pitcher of Killian's. Unfortunately, the concert was sort of boring. We actually left early. The performances were fine... I just think I'm getting pickier about concerts maybe. I just don't have the attention span for them! I would rather just hang out with my friends. The atmosphere wasn't that great, sitting in rows, squooshed together. If it were an outdoor concert in the sunshine, maybe I would've had more fun?

After the concert it was POURING RAIN. We ran to Casa, and got completely soaked to the bone. Mer and Summer headed home, and Anne and I met Amanda and Jason for a couple of beers. It was Anne's first Paw Paw Wheat experience. Delicious! Afterward, we got Souvlaki's and went back to my house and made it through the first five minutes of Napoleon Dynamite before we fell fast asleep.

On Saturday, we met up with Jason and Amanda for a Casa brunch and speedballs! Of course, it was delicious. Then we headed back to my house for two rounds of Pictionary. Both games, the team that I was on won! Naturally. After that, Amanda and Jason headed home and Anne and I went to see The Upside of Anger (starring Felicity!!!). It was pretty good. Then it was time for dinner. We were going to Purple Chopstix, and staying for the party afterward, so we put on the tater tots tank tops that we had made!

Dinner was delicious, another first time for Anne! We both got the yellow curry chicken and Tom Yum soup. Amanda and Jason met up with us for the party, and it was a blast. Lots of dancing!! After Purple Chopstix, we headed to Goodfella's and then The Union. It was a very eventful and very fun weekend!

The End of an Era

Not too long ago, I decided that my Pigging Out webcam section would continue until the 1,000th picture of me eating my lunch was taken. Today, April 22, 2005, at 2:41 PM, it happened. The final picture was taken. It is truly the end of an era. My webcam will still be on every day, but you'll have to witness the lunch eating live. 1,000 pictures is all you get. Check out the new April photos, and peruse the lunchtime pictures from the past two years here: Pigging Out.

First signs of summer!

So, I've been enjoying spring but eagerly awaiting summer. Recently there have been all these little things that make me feel like summer is right around the corner! Last night, since Pedro missed his flight, Adam and I went over to mom and dad's for dinner. We ate on the deck, and it was the first deck dinner of the summer! We all toasted with cans of Stroh's. Nothing says summer like a cold can of beer.

Then this afternoon, I went out to Summer's to enjoy the sunshine. Her tulips and daffodils were in full bloom and it was sunshiney and hot! It really made it feel like summertime could be here any minute. That's the funny thing about having one of your best friends be named Summer. You find yourself always saying "summertime" in conversation when referring to the season. Otherwise you feel gay going, "GOSH, I sure do love summer! Isn't summer THE BEST?" Not that I don't say those things about the girl, too.

Pedro missed his flight!

Would you believe Pedro missed his flight?! Kip went back home, and the whole event was postponed until next Thursday! This is like postponing CHRISTMAS! How am I supposed to deal?!?!

Mountwood Mountain Bike Race

Today I came along with Mer and her crew to attend a mountain bike race in Mountwood, West Virginia. Mer, Pete, Joey, Mike, Craig, Aaron, Kaleb and Tim all went to ride, and I went to take some pictures.

The van ride was super fun, because the van is HUGE and there were tons of us inside. We blew a tire on the way, and it made the loudest sound in the world. I thought the entire side of the van came loose and was slamming down onto us for a minute. SO LOUD!

The race was great, the weather was PERFECT. It was sunshiney and beautiful. Kaleb and I hiked pretty far back into the woods to find some good spots for picture taking. I would definitely go back to Mountwood to hike some day! After we got done taking pictures, I got to have a picnic. I love picnics. After the race, we headed back to Athens and then met up at Casa for dinner later. Which was of course, delicious, and I got to have Paw Paw Wheat.



Click here for photos.

Sangria

Mer and I decided to make white sangria tonight after work! We put mangoes and peaches in it. It was refreshing and delicious! Our coworker Stephani and her boyfriend Chris came over to Mer's for dinner. Pete cooked up filet mignon. Mmm. Also, salad and baked sweet potatoes. Stephani brought a delicious cheese tray, veggies and dip and hot 'n' spicy chex mix for appetizers. I probably ate about 30 pounds of chex mix. It was hot. AND spicy!

Fancy Frosting

Tonight I made lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting for a work birthday party we're having tomorrow. I got to use for the first time the cool frosting decorating tool I got for Christmas! I made little fancy stars of frosting on the cupcakes. Aren't they the fanciest?

Michelle and Aaron come to visit!!

This weekend, I made some new friends. Michelle is Joey's good friend, and Mer has hung out with her several times and told me that she's tons of fun and that I would love her. Michelle and her boyfriend Aaron came to Athens on Saturday night and I hung out with the gang. Mer was right! They're super fun!



Click here for photos.

First, Mer cooked dinner for us all. We had lamb patties in pitas with yogurt cucumber mint sauce, orzo salad, and fresh greens salad with strawberries. Then we went to Purple Chopstix for a party. Ed, the owner, is the biggest Napoleon Dynamite fan in town. He came up with this grand plan where he’s going to have a party every Saturday night for 10 weeks. He’s going to take videos at each party and then at the 10th party he’s going to show the footage! Also, they’re loosely Napoleon Dynamite-themed, so you can dress up if you want. Then at the final party it’s going to be totally Napoleon Dynamite-themed and he’s going to have a tot spread, complete with fancy dipping sauces!

The party was fun. Ed made delicious sangria, and Moss made ghetto mimosas (orange Mad Dog plus André Champagne). Mmm! There was music, dancing, and even some cake. You can view a little movie of Moss dancing by clicking on the Dancing Moss at right, but unfortunately, it’s sideways. I’m still learning my new camera, okay?



We didn’t stay out too late because everyone but Michelle and I were going on a huge bike ride on Sunday. Instead of the bike ride, Michelle and I hung out uptown. We went to Casa for brunch and ended up meeting up with Moss and Ed. We were at Casa for over three hours! It was Michelle’s first time, which is always special. Then we got ice cream and hung out in the sunshine before going back to Mer’s where we met up with the tired bikers. They were also hungry bikers, and we all ended up going to Casa for dinner! I got to have a Paw Paw Wheat beer, my new FAVORITE. It’s from the Marietta Brewing Company and it’s 9% alcohol. It tastes like a golden ray of sunshine being poured into my throat! It is DELICIOUS.



After dinner, Michelle and Aaron had to go home, bringing the fun visit to an end.