Worst lyrics ever

I spent my morning driving to Portland and surfing radio stations. By far the WORST lyric I heard:

Just call me Fred Flintstone
I can make your bed rock.

Really? That's the best you could come up with? You're going to pervert a beloved American character to sell more albums? I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of Googling these lyrics to find out your name.

Mariah Carey wins the silver. Good thing I love you Mariah because these lyrics are pretty sad:

I can see right through you
Like you're bathing in Windex


Remind me to bring our iPod next time.

Back burner-ing it up

I'm the queen of the back burner. If I have a task to complete but it doesn't require my immediate attention, it will reside in the back of my mind for months until I'm suddenly confronted by it and forced to act. Some examples:
  1. A button popped off a coat of mine in December and I haven't worn it since then. The sad part is that I do still have the button.
  2. I have a "stain" pile of clothes that I need to treat and soak. The pile is growing. UPDATE: I just bought a Tide pen, which has turned out to work miracles! Incredible!
  3. A pair of earrings require a simple super glue fix but I haven't touched them in a year.
 One of the tasks on my to-do list was to order new glasses and contact lenses. I was given my prescriptions at my eye exam last April and it took me 10 months to finally take my glasses prescription to Costco and order new lenses and frames. My plan was to use the frames I already had, but they (not so gently) informed me that my frames were too old and they would break if they tried to put new lenses in them. So I must say goodbye to my lovely black frames that I've adored for the past five years. Although, I haven't worn them for the last two years because my prescription was outdated and I couldn't see past 10 feet in front of me. But I still loved them.

Summer of 2005, back when I first got my glasses. Amanda and me :)

Midweek Tidbits

  • If you think that apple crisp and apple cobbler are the same dish, then check out Gourmet's guide to fruit desserts. Apparently there's a difference!
  • Who's out there in the blogosphere? This infographic breaks down the demographics on who's blogging, what they blog about, and why they blog. Looks like I'm right in between the 23% who blog once a week and the 27% who blog 3-4 times a week.
  • Did you know that scientists are even adding sugar to our fruit now? This article describes how our food, processed and natural, is getting sweeter and sweeter.
  • Twitter reports that it has grown to 50 million tweets, or short blogs, per day. I love that huge spiky graph. I wonder how many of those tweets report what the twitterer had for breakfast?
  • I stumbled across this crocheter's blog while surfing the Interweb. How cute are these little dog sweaters? That chihuahua looks adorable in one!

Crocheting: baby booties

I found a pattern for baby booties online and I finally got to try it out tonight. My first attempt wasn't so hot but I figured out my mistakes and got better the next time around!

Try #1. It didn't work so well. Clearly, a change was necessary.

 
Try #2. Definitely getting better!

 
Try #3. I could make one bootie but could I replicate it? I think these look pretty similar. Fun! Also, I think these are more like toddler booties instead of baby booties... unless your baby has really big feet.

A sunny Seattle Saturday

My mother-in-law (Della), sister-in-law (Kelly) and I went down to Pike Place Market today to check out some flower vendors for Kelly's wedding. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for February and all the Seattle-ites were out enjoying the sun. I haven't been to Pike Place in a while so it was fun to take in the sights and tastes of the market. A little tip: stand next to the smoked salmon in the fish market and an employee will inevitably offer you a sample. Works every time. You can thank me later.

 
I'm not sure if this is true but it does make me want to buy local.

 Lots of tulips.

These were a dollar per stem.

Skagit Valley tulips.

Fragrant hyacinths!

Pretty.

 Still pretty.

 The Olympics were out.

Hello.

Midweek Tidbits

Holla and welcome to Midweek Tidbits. I hope everyone enjoyed the three-day weekend!

  • Nothing relieves stress like a bit of comedy. Here's a list of the funniest characters on TV right now. The writer mainly chose network shows which is fine with me because I have no idea what's on cable anymore.
  • After visiting iamneurotic.com, you'll realize you aren't as crazy as you thought. Other people do WAY crazier things than you do.
  • I've gotten more into the Olympics this year than I ever have before. I've been trying to follow NBC's Olympic blogs, which give some fun inside perspectives.
  • Speaking of the Olympics, if you haven't seen snowboard cross before then you need to check out this video of the men's final race. Trust me, you'll be inspired! Go Seth Wescott!
     

Valentine's Day early

 

Mark and I went to dinner at Palomino's downtown for a pre-Valentine's Day dinner. The food was delicious but our server was decidedly awkward. The first time he came to our table, he said, "Hi you two, what can I do for you? Hang on, I have an emergency." And then he left, but only to tend to the table behind us and clear their dishes. A couple of minutes later he returned and said, "Emergency over. What can I do for you?" Weird.

After dinner, we raced down the escalators - Mark on the escalator going up and me on the escalator going down. I'm not sure how Mark won going down the wrong escalator, but I choose to blame it on my heels!

ee cummings in the morning

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

- ee cummings

Seen at Safeway

The sole contents of a college student's shopping basket at Safeway:
  • Nail polish remover
  • Mascara
  • Eye shadow
  • A bottle of wine
  • A bag of puffed Cheetos
Sometimes I miss the college life.

Midweek Tidbits

Welcome back to Midweek Tidbits! Cheer up - don't all you worker bees get the day off on Monday? Thank you President's Day!
  • Apparently this is somewhat old news, but did you know that there is a musical coming out on Broadway that is based on songs by Green Day? True story.
  • This map shows how connected Facebook users are via their region. According to the data, apparently Washingtonians only connect with other Washingtonians/Pacific Northwesterners. Huh.
  • The newest social networking endeavor has been launched by Interweb giant Google. Read about Buzz on their blog. Has anyone started to use this?
  • Do you know your beef? Here's a handy guide to the different cuts of meat. We rarely eat beef and I didn't grow up with it, so I barely know the difference between a porterhouse and a rib eye. Remember that song "Pieces of Me" by Ashlee Simpson circa 2004? A friend remarked one time that every time she sings "pieces of me" it sounds like "pieces of MEAT", and I've never been able to get that out of my head. The song was ruined for me: every time I hear it, pictures of steak float around my head.
  • What could be better than Batman valentines? Sometimes I miss elementary school, where you had a little bag on your desk and everyone would be given cute Disney valentines and candy!

There and back again: Tiger Mountain

My friend Lori and I did something crazy today. For reasons unknown even to us, we got on the road at 7 a.m. to hike Tiger Mountain. We were craving an outdoor experience but I said I had to be back in Seattle at 11, so Tiger Mountain was really one of our only options unless we wanted to get up earlier.

I hear that on a typical spring or summer day, Tiger Mountain is a freeway of people. Given that it was February and 7:30 in the morning, we didn't encounter nearly as many hikers as we might have in the summer but we still met our fair share. But hey, it was a gorgeous and clear day. Seattle-ites are known to flock toward the sunshine! And they always bring their dogs. We saw SO many dogs on the way back down. Dachshunds, labs, golden retrievers, pugs, greyhounds... you name the breed. Speaking of pugs, I had a standoff with a rather bull-headed pug on our way down. You know if you are approaching a dog (or even a person), obviously one will have to move to get out of the other's way? Well, the pug and I were on a trajectory course for collision but I figured it would get out of my way since, naturally, I am much bigger than the pug and could crush it with my shoe. The pug did NOT get out of the way and when neither of us stepped aside, we came to a face-to-face standstill. For a second, neither of us moved. The pug stared at my shoes and I stared at its ugly little face (sorry pug owners). I finally stepped aside and the pug continued on its way. There are two explanations for why this happened. The pug, that spoiled Seattle pet, wanted to assert its control over me and forced a showdown. OR the pug was too stupid to realize that all it had to do to keep its momentum was take a step to the right or left. It came to an obstacle and its little brain couldn't figure out what to do. I prefer this second explanation rather than a pug bent on domination. I prefer to think they're stupid.

Anywho, it was gorgeous up there and our early morning paid off. We mainly had the trail to ourselves on the way up, even though it started to get busier later in the morning. It's always great to get out of the city and take in a view.

Lori and I are ready to go, 7:30 a.m. notwithstanding!

 
We made it to the summit! The hike is 5 miles round-trip.

We heart the Northwest.

Lori poses as we begin our descent.

It was kind of cold up there!

Midweek Tidbits

Welcome back to Midweek Tidbits! Get through this day and you're lookin' good, kid!

Comedy in the Central District

 
Last Friday, Mark and I headed to the Central District to check out a little place called Central Cinema.  The little theater is Seattle's only dine-in theater, where you can order food and drinks that are brought out to your table during the movie. We went to see an independent film called "Mystery Team", which was created by a comedy troupe called Derrick Comedy. One of the highlights of the evening was the appearance of one of the actors in the film, Dominic Dierkes, who is in the photo above with Mark. If you check out some of Derrick Comedy's online sketches, you may recognize Donald Glover who co-stars on NBC's show "Community" as Troy Barnes.