OMG SUN!

I'M ON A VITAMIN D HIGH!!!

Today I subbed a half day at a school where the kids called me by my first name.  It was so strange to hear "Amy" coming from the mouth of an 11 year old.

THIS AFTERNOON THERE WILL BE:

Sun.

Flip flops.

Ice cream.

A phone call with my name twin.

 

HAPPY LONG WEEKEND!

   
 

As It Turns Out...

Oral is a real name.  Today, two separate people informed me that in fact there are people named Oral.  Most notably, Oral Roberts, a well known televangelist.  Oral was his given middle name.  It seems a scandalous choice for a Minister to adopt the name Oral.  Although, I suppose he could be referencing his abilities as an orator.  But he has a university named after him and I don't...so what do I know?

I do know that I had a latte and Toblerone for breakfast today.  Possible New Year's Resolution:  No chocolate before 10:00 am?

Today I...

- Got my culture on at the Peabody Essex Museum.  (I am a bad museum goer because I want to touch everything...Pav can sympathize.)

- Had some family bonding time with Mom getting lost on the way to the PEM.

- Enjoyed a mocha latte.

- Wished I lived in Michigan so I could own these:

- Had a pizza do-over based on some expert advice (Thanks Bonnie!).  I used an entire handful of cornmeal on my pizza peel to ENSURE that the dough did not stick.  Turns out, that was a bit of an overkill and it made a huge mess...but it certainly didn't stick!

This time the pizza cooked on the pizza stone and while the bottom perfect, there was most definitely a layer of raw dough between the crust and the sauce.  Sigh...the perfect pizza evaded me once again.  Oh well, maybe next time.

PETA Would Be Pissed

When I am super absent from the blog like I have been for the last 7 days it usually means that I am having a meltdown.  In the interest of full disclosure, I had a mini meltdown last Thursday-Friday but have since been busy and productive social. 

The Cliff Notes version of today is this:

Hung out with the Baby Momma and the cutest yet possibly loudest baby alive.

Got my recipes set for the Thanksgiving bake-a-thon that will occur tomorrow in the state of Maine.

Had a peppermint mocha latte (which was WAY better than my pumpkin spice latte) with K who tried to convince me not to go to the grocery store at 6:30 p.m.  Needless to say, I didn't listen and it turns out she was right.  My trip to the grocery store led to a series of events that left me frustrated and left an animal dead.

Everyone in town was at the grocery store bumping into neighbors and blocking aisles to chat.  I grabbed my loot and got the hell out of Dodge.  At this point most of the commuter traffic had subsided but as I approached the 1 mile sign for my exit the brake lights lit up the highway like a Christmas tree.  It took the next 12 minutes to travel the 1 mile to my exit and I spent the whole time worrying that I would
A) run out of gas and
B) pee in my pants.

Luckily, I did neither and was only yards from turning into my complex when a giant possum lumbered across the road in front of my car.  There was a car coming the opposite direction so swerving was out of the question.  I hit the brakes...the possum stopped...turned...and then I ran over it.  Because I hit my brakes hard, I ran over it very slowly...it was like going over a speed bump.  Gross I know.

Sadly, this is not the first animal I have run over.  I hit a bunny once in daylight and made the epic mistake of looking in the review mirror only to be traumatized by seeing the poor thing flopping all over the road.  (This was on the way back to camp where my CIT's then sang "Little Bunny FooFoo" to me until I cried.) 

I have a much stronger affinity towards bunnies than I do towards possums so I'm not very broken up about the possum.  Although I hope it isn't there when I drive by again so I can pretend it didn't really happen!

Duck Duck Don't...

...count your ducks chickens before they hatch.  It recently occurred to me that I might be jinxing myself by posting duck counts at the beginning of each month.  Maybe announcing I have no job on the first day of the month is a self-fulfilling prophecy?  I'm not superstitious per say, though I occasionally read my horoscope (which I only believe when it says something I like) but I figure a bit of cosmic cautiousness can't hurt.*

From now on goals will be set on the first of the month and ducks will be counted at the end of the month.  With that said, my November Goals are:

1. Find a community service opportunity and volunteer.

2. Read at least four books.  I have gotten seriously off track with my 1,000 book challenge...like haven't-finished-a-book-since-August off track.

3. Limit myself to one non home-cooked meal per week...lattes don't count...obviously.

These goals seem realistic yet a bit more significant than October's goals.

*And I can put off cutting and pasting all those little duck pictures until the end of the month...WIN-WIN!

So the Moral of the Story Is...

Edward Cullen says:

In October, I drank lots of lattes, wore flip flops with sweatshirts, looked at the moon, spent too much time online, visited with lots of friends, ate too much candy, dressed up for Halloween, didn't finish a book, met new people, went three entire days without going outside, barely watched tv, kept my apartment clean, made a minibook, drove more than 1,500 miles, photographed lots of leaves, and cut my own hair.

I accomplished ALL three of my October goals proving that my idea of aiming low should now be widely recognized and respected.  This past month, I tried something new, I wrote an entire blog post without using the word "I" and I carved some kick-ass pumpkins.

Sadly, I exhibited poor decision making skills in carving my pumpkins 8 days before Halloween. Apparently if you live in an apartment this is not a good idea.  I went away for the weekend and returned to this:

I spent the better part of 10 minutes scraping pumpkin guts off the window sill with a spatula.  Today was spent mourning the death of my jack-o-lantern before he was able to realize his Halloween dream. Maybe I should have put it in the fridge rather than leave it in the window when it was 75 degrees for 4 days?  Oh well...live and learn.

I also tried to dress my dog as a lady bug.  She was not psyched:

However, after some tummy rubbing and the promise of dog treats she acquiesced.

So the moral of the story is...
Don't carve pumpkins a week before Halloween and leave them inside.
Be nice to animals...or bribe them with treats before you embarrass them.

Bring on November!

Try Something New

One of my October goals is to try something new.  Before I even made this into a goal I knew that I wanted to try the seasonally appropriate pumpkin spice latte.  This is what we call a win-win.  I get to set and accomplish a goal (giving my life a sense of productivity and purpose) while simultaneously providing myself a reasonable excuse to take a field trip to Starbucks. 

Because I knew what the end result of this goal would be in September, this goal could have been easily accomplished on October 1st...but in the land of Amy, procrastination is king, president, and prime minister.  So 22 days later (today) I FINALLY had my pumpkin spice latte. 

It looked...yummy.

It smelled...delicious...like liquid pumpkin pie in a cup.

 It tasted...like what I imagine drinking a melted pumpkin scented candle would taste like.

Amy = soooo disappointed. 

There was merely a faux pumpkin flavor and no spice to speak of.  This is what I get for procrastinating.  I should have just ordered one on October 1st and I would have known then...instead I talked about it for weeks.  Goal for November: Less talking more doing?

I sat at Starbucks listening to Jay-Z rap about his 99 problems and wondered if Jay-Z has 99 problems, then I must have at least 103 of them.  While wishing I had ordered my usual mocha latte, I made some extraordinarily easy Halloween cards.  (Seriously...I stuck a sticker onto an already made card.) 

Oh well.  Now I know.  At least I didn't get pulled over for being young and black with my hat real low.