Today in a word, thus far: unproductive.

My sentiments exactly: My favorite BMWK blog.

More on this later. I'm very opinionated about it, but I'm headed to Sib1's house to do a birthday box with Sib-inlaw1 & 2 and Sibs 1,2&3 for the Old Man, who is turning 50.  It's kindof cool having over half the sibs, including in-laws, living nearby.

Filed my taxes today... will probably do the Associate's tonight.  Reminded me of this:

Confession:

I like Katy Perry.
This is why.  Her voice is sub-par, I'll admit. But the actually song--the idea, all the elements put together--I love.

On to other news.  I started drawing again yesterday.  It's kindof cool now, not having work or school at the moment... or month... or 3... ahem... Anyway my first drawing is of a photo a friend took a few years back. I thought of it off and on at random times, finally decided to draw it.  It turned out okay.  The anatomy is slightly off, but it was a fun challenge.  Today I opted for something less depressing: the figure skater, Sasha Cohen, posing at the end (or beginning, who the hell can tell?) of a routine.*  The olympics were helpful in giving me something challenging, anatomically, to draw.  I wouldn't have thought of a figure skater if I hadn't watched the olympic figure skating with My Associate last night.. this, however, did not turn out as hoped.  This is the photo I decided to draw.  Her legs and butt were difficult to get right.  Just look at the picture...her butt looks weird! Still kindof working on it. 

Anyway, the reason we were watching figure skating last night rather than at the gym, as we had hoped to be, is because we decided to go practice driving a stick.  My Associate has been teaching me... he's been really patient about it.  I'm definitely letting him teach our kids to drive... I don't think I'd be able to be as patient as he is.  Anyway, we were just pulling out of the parking lot we'd started in so I could try driving on the actual road... and the battery died again.  Ha.  Expletives followed... then Associate's brother was awesome and came to pick us up.  And...that's how we ended up watching figure skating.  Those girls are amazing, they do crazy stuff.

Anyway, Associate's dad, who has been completely awesome about the car thing, is charging it in his driveway today, and hopefully we'll get that car working this weekend, or soon anyway. 

I need to come up with code names for My Associate's family. :) Associate's mom is easy: we'll call her Saint MIL (Mother In Law.)  The other names will come to me.

TODAY I had my first mock-dress fitting. It's like sheet fabric, she's using it to make a pattern for the actual dress. It looks good... changing the sleeves and the bottom of the dress, altering the neckline, and it had to be taken in a LOT... she gently said, "Fluctuation is fine for the mock-up, but once we have the actual dress... you need to maintain your weight." I explained that I thought I'd gained weight... so I don't know what that means... either she made it too big, or I am smaller.  I'm hoping the latter!  Either way, I'm excited about the dress. Just need to work on my bum so it looks really good in it. ;-) ...JAY-Z and Beyonce are calling me to go workout, so I better go do that.

Orange Julius and basketball game tonight with the Associate! :)

* I stand corrected. My new bloggy-friend, The IceSkater from So Midwestern says Sasha Cohen IS moving, not stopped. :)

The Week from Hell.

Last week was pretty bad.  I'm super smart apparently and VERY capable of buying cars... the battery died within two hours after we drove it home.  It has more dents than I realized, did NOT pass S&E testing, needs all new tires, new brakes, a new battery, a catalytic converter... can we just add a brain for me onto that list?  Anyway, our wonderful seller was so kind as to agree that he would take the car back and refund the money if it was more than the battery that needed replacing...then proceeded to screen our calls and ignore voicemail messages for 5 days.  So... hello, car.  Goodbye money used to buy the car, and other $ to repair it...

But it's really going to be fine, we'll get it repaired and it'll run for years.

I had a few other doozies last week, without going into too much detail though, let's say this: I have retired from matchmaking, at least temporarily.  It's good if you're going to do it...not to set up a non-high friend with a high friend.  That's never a good set-up.  Fortunately, my non-high friend is forgiving and even seemed to be amused.  Thank you, non-high friend, for not hating me. :)

Last week definitely was a week of failures...this week will be a lot better. Tonight we went to the gym, which I definitely needed.

Wedding plans are moving along quickly; we went and looked at rings tonight, so I'll be getting Ty's ring in the next few weeks. We're now 61 days away from getting married... really 60, since we have a morning wedding.  Weird! But exciting!

My mom sent a pkg for My Associate and me for Valentine's Day, but sent it to Sis's house, so I just got it on Saturday or Sunday... can't remember. Anyway... it had this marvelous lavendar-scented pillow scent sack. Mm. And teddy grahams. AND truffles! Truffles are wonderful...chocolate in chocolate? That's better than Better Than Sex Cake in my book.

Along those lines...new favorite food: vegetable flavored pasta. Spinach, cabbage, carrot... you name it, they've made it. Through in some of the oil Dad brought back from Parma, Italy, for me... and you have some amazing pasta. Sometimes I add spinach, pepper, and mozzarella cheese too. Delicious.

Oh, and new cause I'm supporting: bone marrow donation. Take ten minutes, go to http://www.marrow.org/, register. They'll mail a kit for you to send in swabs with tissue samples from your mouth, and you'll be in the database to save a life, or several lives.  The risk is pretty low, side effects tend to be back soreness for a few days, but besides that, nothing really. Not a bad price to pay for saving lives. Go check it out. You can always have your name taken off the list if you change your mind. 

If you're planning on staying at a hotel in Dubai in the near future...consider this: Maybe don't.
For your viewing pleasure: swedish delight....
For your mouth's pleasure: poached pears in phyllo dough. My roommate just made these. Delicious.
And for your eyes' pleasure: George Clooney. I'll leave it at that.

The new things...

I've decided to revert to this blog again, mostly because it's the least embarrassing of my blogs.

So update on life:

My wedding dress is being made, as of yesterday, by a very talented seamstress in the area. :) I'm very excited about that!

Bigger excitement--I now have a car! It's a 98 Corolla, and it's got a pretty decent sound system! Hooray!

On Friday I have an interview with a nursing home... woot! I've always wanted a job at a nursing home.

So life is good. :)