Happy Go Skateboarding Day!!!!

Just wanted to add a quick photo from last year’s Go Skateboarding Day…just to ask you a question: What are you doing inside reading this? Borrow a board, build a board, go out and have a good time. It’s your only chance to go out and do it legally. 🙂

My Thing About Shoes…

So, as I was telling Jackie the other day not only do I have a thing about shoes but it’s like well, a long story.

See, I’ve been on crutches now for close to 17 years. 17 years! There are kids here at this University that are that old! But, ever since then, my collection of shoes has a right foot graveyard, and my collection of left foot shoes. I continue to say shoes too…that’s the thing and like get offended when people say “oh I like your shoe”. Well, I like your shoe too, but I haven’t decided if I like the right or the left, so hey.

Which leads me to my original point. The trendy stylish shoes. For a while there it was Uggs. Ugg boots retail around $200. US of course. Now I recognize that there are importing costs, etc. etc. But believe me, this gal ain’t buying anything that costs $200 to put on one foot. That’s just too much for one foot.

This is my thing. I have probably two pairs of expensive shoes. My birks which I bought circa 1994 have yet to have recorked and still adore to this day, my tevas, got a discount, my chucks? $20 a piece baby. For both shoes even. I have quite a collection of chucks going given my shoe houndiness. I guess that’s the scientist in me, I can’t pass up a good deal. Even my boring work business related shoes are cuter than anything and were about $20 a pair. I’ve never gotten the whole shoe thing. Sure, those stilletos are cute but once you stand in them for longer than like 20 minutes your feet hurt.

There’s no point in that ladies, I don’t care how good they make your legs look.

Something to see…

Some people actually like this weather…

Just something to see…

A Fantastic Contest

Absolutely Bananas has a FABU contest going on, you MUST stop by there and see it. The blog is offering up a contest for Keen! Who can beat that? A great shoe, a great blog, something fun, interesting and exciting, please stop by!

Four Things

So, I took Charlotte up on her challenge for the four things that she got memed for.

Four Jobs I’ve Had:
(aside from the unexciting corporate jobs I’ve had over the past 12 years)

* Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Columbia, MD! Yes ladies and gents, I was that poor high school chick that you saw in the front of the store trying to talk down an 80 year old because there was a tear in her 300 thread count, egyptian sheets.
* Athletic Tutor. College Park, MD. Yes ladies, I did tutor not only Tahj Holden, but Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, and a couple others of College Park Athletics fame. I even had a date with the kicker! I didn’t know it was a date though.
* Real estate research photographer. Bethesda, MD. Yes folks, they sent me out into the big bad world with a tremendous Olympus zoom camera, three speeds, digital. They also gave me a computer, a GPS, and a truck. I proceeded to sit in traffic for hours and hours on end. I covered all of Northern VA, DC, and most of Maryland. Do you know what we have a lot here? Yup. Traffic. Last year we surpassed LA in traffic. Yummy. I crashed the truck three times. Although to this day my father swears it has the same wheel base as my little car…suuuuuuuuuure.
* Research Technician, Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory. Baltimore, MD. I always felt a bit like Frankenstein in this job. I irradiated cells, sat in lead encased rooms a lot.

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:

* The Princess Bride
* Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (that wasn’t)
* The Goonies
* Clueless

Four Places I’ve Lived:

* Columbia, MD
* Mt. Vernon, Baltimore, MD
* Lanham-Seabrook, MD
* College Park, MD

(I had to stretch that one)
Four Three TV Shows I Like:

* American Gladiators ( I can’t help it!)
* Big Bang Theory
* Jon and Kate Plus 8 (makes me glad I don’t have children yet)
* Real World

(I don’t have cable these days so I was hard pressed to even think of 3 shows.)

Four Favorite Foods:

* Chicken and Dumplings per D. Wilson’s recipe
* Crabs, Gunning’s or Obreckyi’s. Both in the area, both FABU! Gunnings, Hanover, MD; Obreckyi’s, Baltimore, MD…5th year in the row…best crabs in Baltimore!
* Anything on the menu at Rosemary’s Thyme Bistro, Dupont Circle, Washington DC
* I’m dying to try the Fish Market, Old Town Alexandria, VA

(It was hard to think of just 4. I picked 4 recent favorites. Not my 4 all-time favorites, though.)

Four Places I’d Rather Be:

* Fiji
* Tahiti
* Lookin’ for an apartment WITH the bf instead of FOR the bf in the Windy City
* in my bed

I am not going to tag anyone, but if you want to play along, just paste the meme into your own blog or an email and change the answers to suit your own favorites. You know how these thangs work by now!

Samantha’s ~ A place to go see…a restaurant review..

So, I’m not quick to let people forget the fact that I have a thing for food. I’m just now getting into the idea of actually making and cooking food, but Friday was special. It was a special occasion for me and the bf, so I figured that we would try something new.

We ended up in Silver Spring, a good 26, 27 mile trip from me here at work, but I wanted to make sure that the bf knew that I was willing to drive as well. The plan was to try a new place for dinner, and then try IronMan down at the Uptown Theatre, a favorite of ours for their panoramic screen. Now, here’s where things get interesting.

Brief excerpt: We’re both graduate students, although he recently graduated (bastard right?:) and is now a doctor. We’re on a tight budget, made even worse by the fact that we are now expanding back out to two households because his new job will necessitate a move to Illinois. So, I was looking for an affordable, good food place.

We arrived at Samantha’s. Now, the Washington Post City Guide raves of the appetizers, but no can do there. We were happy with the chips and homemade salsa. That’s right, we watched them make some. Homemade chips too. *yum* Both of us ordered Salvadoran dishes, with the hopes that we were trying something new, and that it would be better than our typical Mexican trips. The same variety except one beef and the other chicken, the saltado dishes (literally meaning jumped back) were very good. Although I wasn’t expecting what I got.

When you walk into a Latin restaurant, you are anticipating spicy food. You just are, that’s how it goes. When you don’t get it, there’s an anticipation that something is wrong. My meal was prepared with fresh tenderloin, onions, peppers, peas, fries, it was really good. Just not spicy. Same goes for the bf. So, guess in El Salvador, it’s not about spicy. I did a bit of research and found out that I was right.

Salvadorian food is about using the freshest, most fruitful of ingredients, opting more for vegetables than anything else. Apparently, the papusa’s are also amazing, especially the seafood variety. I already have the Crab enchiladas picked out for our next visit.

Located in the Latin area of Silver Spring, if you’re not familiar with Silver Spring MD you will miss it. As we did three times, and I’m from the area! Prices are reasonable, and there is limited parking. It’s located at 631 E University Blvd. Very family oriented, and family run!

4 crutches from me! Stay tuned, Ironman review soon!

Happy Birthday Girlfriend!!!

You know, I have been realizing recently that I have known my girl Laurel for a long time now. She lived through my heart surgery, the recovery, her leaving for pharmacy school, my hemming and hawing about going back to grad school. She’s lived through countless boyfriends, an ex-husband, and you know what?

Everytime I talk or email her, it’s as if we have just left off. When we see each other, it’s as if things have just been the same since they were in 1998.

Her birthday is today. In the gracefulness of the day, I am hopeful that she went out and got trashed last night, and is either reading this from the luxury of her bedroom, or doesn’t have too much to do today at work. She has given me strength, hope, and calm, for 10 years now. I am forever grateful that she’s in my life, and that she walks the path she does on a daily basis. She has given me credence to know that it’s okay to be the person you are. That even if you try and hide it, you really can’t. She’s the type that will run you into a wall because she knows you can break it down. It’s weird. There’s just no uncertainty from her. That’s just how it goes.

So, I sent her a pie from Dangerously Delicious Pies here in Baltimore. I figured that I might as well do something that’s so authentically Baltimore, and authentically urban, she couldn’t resist it. Then, I go back to check my email and find out that she’s not into the chocolate! I was doomed. I went out and got her something else, and sent it out too. But, she liked the pie!!! Go Dangerously delisch!!!! (Pssst…it was the Mobtown Brown, TRY IT!!! SOOO WORTH IT!) So, two presents in once. 🙂 I can’t be happier.

So, happy birthday Laurel. Thank you for your friendship and for being you. I don’t know what I could do without ya. 🙂 This is for all those birthdays that I was a loser and either forgot or didn’t have money.

Giants Win, Giants Win!!

After an entire season of watching the arrogant New England Patriots, and how disgustingly arrogant Tom Brady went back and forth the entire season swearing that the 19-0 season was a guarantee….

…yes folks…they lost.

Congrats Eli, Strahan, Tyrie, and the rest of the New York Giants, you truly deserve it.

A Confession

I got to admit, I’m on way too many websites all at once. I know this. It’s honestly Kara’s fault. Why do you say this? Well, okay, so Gather was her fault. Facebook was all me. Twitter, Plaxo, it’s all Kara. She’s hooked up. I thought before all this I was lucky just to have Myspace . Man, my myspace is like a commercial for all things skateboarding. It’s an advertisement for my favorite bands, and my favorite boards, and my favorite toys. God, even this website has ads for action sports. I’m obsessed. 🙂 But, on Facebook, my sister and I have currently become obsessed with Scrabulous. It’s an online scrabble competition.

She cheats.

I know she does. (Don’t deny it Kara! Read on!) For some of the words she comes up with, I know she cheats. Now, I know she’s well read, and I know she’s got it going on and all, but cmon. I know it. She cheats. For example, she won the last game we played with Zed. What the hell is a zed??? You don’t use that in normal conversation, I mean cmon. She’s currently beating my butt with words like Sabine. What??? What is that???

Yes, I looked up all these words, and I just know Kara’s sitting there with her mondo Scrabble dictionary and studying what she can do to abuse her little sister.
Well, I have a confession.

I cheat too. Yes, I’ll admit it. It’s not something I’m proud of, but my vocab has fallen off a bit since graduate school started. If it’s not chemically related, I normally don’t know what I’m talking about.

There. I’ve said it. I feel better now. Let the ridicule begin.

Quote of the Day

Special thanks to my friend John for this quote of the day,

“And the sex talk consisted of, ‘Don’t flush condoms, because they don’t grind.'”

I laughed out loud so the entire side of the building probably heard me.