Lizard's Thicket!

So my mom's friend Linda is down in Columbia visiting her son. Mom is meeting her for breakfast in Columbia tomorrow morning. My very smart mother suggested Lizard's Thicket. When I heard that, I offered to drive her to Columbia to meet her friend for breakfast. Heh. Now we've talked my grandmother into coming with us too. Poor thing is trying to lose weight in order to possibly avoid knee surgery. Breakfast at Lizard's Thicket isn't going to help with that plan. I hope it's as good as I remember.

Anyway I'm excited to show my grandmother around Columbia. Highlights of the trip will include, Riverbend Apartments (which I hear are pretty ghetto now), downtown Columbia, the hospital where I did my internship (no I wasn't pre-med), campus, Five Points (which was under lots of construction last time I was there), lunch somewhere and then home again.

Sigh...

I haven't posted one of these in a while

In a perfect world...

Wouldn't it have been nice if Paris Hilton got out of jail and there were no cameras there to record it? She'd walk out and feel worse about that than the days she actually spent in jail. This is not an original thought of mine (I heard it on the radio this am) but I fully agree with it.

KHAAAANNN!!!

So I was cleaning my ear with a q-tip and there was a bug in there. I just about lost it. It's seriously one of my biggest fears in life. It was one of those little gnats we have here, they call them no-see-ums. Well I sure as hell saw it on my q-tip. I still may lose it.

Ann, I dreamt that you and I got our hands on like 7.5 million dollars and our lives were in danger. We were in a hotel room trying to split it up (we actually were setting aside $500k for charity!) and this older bellhop came in with a machine gun to "make sure we liked the room." Then I woke up so I'm not sure what happened next.

And it's officially summer here. It was already 77 degrees at 6:30am this morning. Ick. That's the difference between here and most other places, it doesn't cool off at night. It sucks.

Update on things...

Christy asked for an update on lunch w/ my coworkers so I thought I'd update on a few things.

Lunch went ok. A bit awkward at times but ok. It's actually torture for me to have to spend time with them so I can't say that I enjoyed myself even if it was lunch away from my desk. She did bring up the whole reorganization but we steered clear of saying anything incriminating. Perfume Pat and I later discussed that she was definitely fishing to see what we knew.

I took yesterday off to take my grandmother to have a heart procedure. Her doctor said they'd be putting in a stent. Then the guy who actually did the procedure called the night before and said that they *might* be putting in a stent. They didn't put in a stent. Actually she only had 20% blockage and they typically don't do anything if it's under 70%. So yay for grandma! Apparently her hear is in excellent condition and hardly anyone thought she looked 81. Mom thinks it's because she still has all her teeth. So yay for grandma's teeth! Mom stayed with her the whole day while I drove back and forth to let the dogs out. It took all day but we're glad she's in good heart health. Now we need to get her knee in good shape.

Work is ok. My "supervisor" is trying to be nicer and more forthcoming with information, usually she guards that stuff with her life. I've applied for two jobs. One closed recruiting yesterday and the other closes next week so we'll see how those go.

Life is fine. I'm getting geared up for the fall but haven't actually registered for classes yet. I'll probably work on that soon. Family is fine. Everything seems just fine.

I'm really not *that* interested in the end of days

I've spent about 35 minutes going through my recommendations on Amazon. I'm up to #316. I'm trying to knock out all the stuff they think I'd want because I've bought whatever it is they're basing it on for my dad (books on the old west, sports and cold war type spy stuff). I'm leaving some of the more interesting books on there for future gift ideas. I decided I wanted to broaden my faith by studying Revelation and the Apocrypha. So now I have all sorts of weird books on the end times and Catholicism. Not that I'm not fascinated by Catholicism in general but mostly I wanted to know why they get the Apocrypha and we don't. I couldn't find any one book that said "we left it out of the protestant bible because it had no flow... Too many characters that took away from the progression we needed to move the story along..." Oh but don't fret, I've looked into it and I've got a handle on why it's not in there.

Anyway it's been a long and arduous task trying to get rid of The Secrets of the Real Deadwood off my list but I'm always up for a challenge.

UPDATE:

Ok, so I just noticed something. I bought a book about being a Christian and dating (I believe for my church small group). So now there are not only Christian dating books but books on raising kids. So Amazon had a timeline for me and I haven't lived up to it. I bought the dating book like 6 years ago so I guess they figure I should have been married with children now. I showed them!

What's cookin' good lookin'?

I made mac & cheese carbonara yesterday. That was labor intensive to say the least but I think I'd do it again. Then I made a cake later in the afternoon and that turned out very well.

My 'supervisor' wants to go to lunch with Perfume Pat and I on Wednesday. I really don't want to go. I can't use lack of funds to not go because she's buying. She's only buying because she knows I like to use the lack of funds as an excuse. I'm guessing she wants to talk "reorganization" and I'd bet that she tries to lay down some ground rules as to how that's going to look. I think I'm going to have a 24 hour flu on Wednesday.

How was that not the first thing that came to mind?

Um, Anderson Cooper is hosting the debate which will take place on campus next month. I need to meet him. I better get to meet him. They seriously do not want to see what I'm capable of if I don't get to meet him!

Ok, breathe...breathe...

Sure, he's gay. Sure, he'd never even give me a second look even if he weren't but that does not change the fact that I'm slightly obsessed with him. I need to meet him. Will I share the fantasy of 1) him being not only straight but absolutely in love with me 2) our place on the upper west side 3) my fantabulous closet full of clothes in said apartment 4) our son who goes on to Johns Hopkins and becomes a pediatric cardiologist 5) our daughter who goes to Brown and becomes one of the greatest female writers of the 21st century and 6) the weekends out at the Hamptons where we mostly ignore the trendy parties and stay on our patio drinking wine, listening to the waves crash while reading to each other? Nope, I won't. I'll shake his hand, turn 50 shades of red and hope that I don't puke on him.

Happy Flag Day!

No flood damage to my car. I left work early since I was totally wet so it was nice to be home for a couple of extra hours. Actually getting home was very scary but I was so happy to be there.

On a totally different subject, this logo is being used by a department on campus. There was some discussion about it and offense was taken.



Thoughts?

OH THE HUMIDITY!!!

So I've given up and just decided to go curly for the rest of the summer. Sadly I don't like my curly hair because it's never quite right. Really I should probably get a haircut but I love having long hair. Previously I'd scoff at the women on What Not To Wear who cry when Nick chops off their hair. They usually love the cut later but that doesn't stop them from either crying or bossing poor Nick around. Now that I've had long hair for a few years, I kind of get it. Not that I'd cry but it'll take a lot for me to cut this mess on my head. Long, straight hair was great in LA but now that I'm living in 100% humidity for like 6 months of the year, I might want to rethink the whole thing. We'll see.

Yum

I'm making a cake this weekend for Father's Day. If it works, it'll be an original Alisa recipe. If it works and is actually good I'll be thrilled.

I don't want to live there anymore

LA will always be idealized on some level. Mostly because my hair looks amazing there, not like the frizzy mess it is here. The weather was absolutely perfect...sunny, 80, light breeze, no humidity and actually cool at night. Not like here when it's 80 by 7am and never cools down with tons of humidity. It's amazing how different weather can be on the same freaking continent.

I saw friends and their babies...

(Robbie - Jen's baby)

(Marie & baby Gavin)

I stayed in my favorite pool house



and took a dip every chance I got

(no, I didn't go down the slide)

Oh and I did go to Ashlee's graduation which was the reason I chose that weekend to go to LA.

Heh, she has graduation-cap head.

Overall it was a good time. I absolutely don't want to live in LA unless I'm fabulously wealthy. It was funny though, the minute I stepped off the plane I felt like I was in another world. So many trendy people looking like they're goal is to be mistaken for someone famous. I'm over it.

I did manage to stay on east coast time but I'm exhausted because I usually give myself Saturday and Sunday to wake up naturally. However, since I was out there I was forcing myself to get up at 4 so that when I actually *had* to get up at 3:30 for my flight Sunday, it wasn't such a shock.

I hate being back at work but I'll live. Oh and I submitted an application for the other job. I'm not holding my breath though.

I'm fixin' to git outta here

I'm applying for another job on campus. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. It'd be a great job but from what I hear, a lot of people want it.

Oh and I'm having a clumsy day so I'm hoping that ends by the time I get in my car to drive home.

It's nice to have a place to rest your head

I'm headed to LA on Thursday morning. Once again my flights are well before the sun comes up. What can I say? They're always cheaper. I like flying in that direction because I leave at 6am, have almost a 3 hour layover and still get to LA by 11am. I wasn't entirely sure where I'd be staying but as of yesterday afternoon, I'm good to go.

I've got stuff planned from the moment I leave the airport. Two friends out there have had babies so I get to see them and make all sorts of cutesie/googly noises. The first is Jen and her baby, um, Robert III. Robbie? Rob? El Numero Tres? In the south he'd be Trip. Anyway I'm seeing them Thursday afternoon. Then Thursday evening I'm visiting with the people who's pool house in which I'm crashing. That was a bad sentence.

Anywhoodle, Ashlee's graduation is at 9am on Friday which is fine because I'm planning on staying on east coast time. So I'll have been up for 3 or 4 hours by then! After that is lunch with her family and that may be at their house. I'm still not 100% sure.

I might actually sit still on Friday afternoon. Christy has a half day that day so I thought we could relax by the pool and then take her dog Mandy to dinner at BJ's later that night. Mmm, avocado egg rolls!

Saturday am will be breakfast with Christy in Pasadena. The later will be lunch at Hurry Curry with Marie and new baby Gavin followed by boba and walking around Pasadena a bit. The afternoon will be with my friend Sarah most likely followed by dinner somewhere.

Wow, my trip is planned around meals. No wonder I weigh like 400 pounds.

Sunday I get up between 3:30 and 4 am, drive to LAX, return the rental, and sleepily make my way to my flight. There's an earlier flight from Atlanta to Charleston so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

I might actually be going back in July for the geekfest extraordinaire. We'll see. My friend offered to fly me there on her accumulated miles. Of course that all depends on work.

Happy Monday

Or as happy as it can be for those of us, unlike Ann, who are at work.

The weekend was uneventful which was fine because I'm still suffering from allergies or whatever. This morning is nice and quiet because my two co-workers are not here. yay! I did catch a glimpse of my heartthrob #1 last night at the MTV movie awards but can't find a screenshot yet so here's another pic of him.

Please to enjoy...

"In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'"

Apparently I'm working my way through the cast of Ghostbusters. I saw Sigourney Weaver in Beverly Hills once. And I met Dan Akroyd when I first moved to LA. A bunch of us were going to see Guster at the House of Blues and he was working the door. He said something like, "Ladies, c'mon in and enjoy yourselves." I then thanked him for having Guster there because I couldn't think of anything clever to say. But last night tops any celebrity that I've ever seen in person because this is a man I adore. I met Bill freaking Murray last night. And he liked my freckles!

Ok, I'll back up and explain. My friend is dating a guy who is the general manager of the Riverdogs, the local baseball team. Bill Murray and a couple of other guys own a bunch of baseball teams and the Riverdogs happen to be one of those teams. Bill is in town, I believe partially for the Ginn tournament, and has been going to the baseball games the past few nights. My friend has met him a couple of times but not at a game. So anyway her boyfriend was standing and talking to us and I was looking around the park. I spotted Bill coming towards us and got all excited at the thought of meeting him. My friend's boyfriend re-introduced my friend and Bill and then said, "And Bill, this is her friend Alisa." Bill shook my hand and said, "Hi. So what's with all those freckles?" I laughed nervously and said, "Well I was kind of born with them." Then there was a 5 minute conversation about how I didn't have many as a kid but I got more over time. He said it was the same for him but now that he's older his are fading. I mentioned something about reading Freckle Juice and it not working. He replied that I should have pounded the freckle juice as shots and then it would have worked. I said something about not liking them but having come to terms with the fact that they're not going away anytime soon. He said something about liking them. I questioned, "Really?" and he said, "Yeah, I'm crazy about them." I giggled like a schoolgirl, said thanks and that it was nice to meet him. I later asked Debra what was the last part of what he said and she replied that he said he was crazy about your freckles. Tee hee! We then spent most of the rest of the night watching people ask him for autographs. I think it's fine for little kids to do but other than that I think they should have let him enjoy the game.

Anyway, it's all downhill from here. The only thing that could top that would be a weekend with George Clooney at his villa on Lake Como.