Weekend Edition

This past weekend has been a pretty good weekend as far as weekends go. Friday night the Osbornes and I cooked up some swordfish and veggies (okay, the Osbornes cooked up some swordfish and veggies... I managed to coerce Mr. O. to do the cooking by telling him that I had found a great recipe online... a microwave oriental swordfish recipe involving ketchup. Mr. O. was thoroughly disturbed and took over. Mission accomplished!) So we had dinner and wine and just good company with old friends makes for a really nice evening. Saturday I went to NOLA for a visit with the Mr. Federline and other assorted friends. First we went to a party for the people he works with. A lot of it was boring for me, but everyone was genuinely kind and welcoming. And besides, I bored him later on. After that we went to Dick and Jenny's and I had the Salmon “Osso Bucco” with Haricots Vert, Garlic mashed potatos & Tarragon Butter. What it actually is, is salmon surrounding a scallop, so that the scallop takes on the character of the bone in osso bucco. Interesting, and quite tasty! After that we went to the Rendezvous to meet up with some other old friends and close the evening. Good times!

Today when I got home, I picked the dogs up at my house and went over to my parents' house because my sister is in town (dearest sister stayed here with my dogs last night-- thanks!). We swam until the thunder and lightening sent us running for our towels. Eventually, the rain got so heavy that it was coming up onto the porch and the dogs were scratching at the door to get in, so I rounded them up to go home. When we got in and I turned on the windshield wipers, Camelia went nuts! First time seeing windshield wipers-- it made me laugh really hard! So that was my weekend. I leave for vacation in just a few days, and I'm very excited about it! Yeaaaaaa!

Doing Good So Far

So I've stuck to the no-coke (aside from the once weekly treat) and exercise thing. It's been good, and I feel good. Saturday I went to several July 4th events at various places. I spent most of my time at my parents house with my sister and nieces. There was a really good part of the day where me, Kristin, Hannah, and Lucy were all in the pool making our hair into George Washington's, (have kids done that since George Washington existed???) under-water butt bumps, and other fun water games from childhood. I find it amazing that Hannah and Lucy knew exactly what the George Washington thing was. Hannah's was really good.

Camelia is doing really well, her last little bit of a wound is healing nicely, and she is snoring away on the couch next to me right now. In other news, I am 10 days away from vacation!!! Once again I'll be headed north to PA/NJ to attend Duszapalooza. I need to start working on my outfit! I'm hoping to make it to NO this weekend, so perhaps Buffalo Exchange will have some good merchandise available. We will see.

3 Days and Counting...

You all know how I struggle with not drinking coke. Well, lately I've been sucking down the high-fructose corn syrup nectar of the gods at an alarming pace. I've taken to keeping some in my fridge at all times, and buying at least one each day in the $0.50! coke machine at Cancer Services. Well, my increasing levels of inactivity coupled with my extra empty calorie refreshments have left me feeling not so good about myself. So I haven't had a coke since Sunday. That's right! I'm wondering how long this will last. I've also made an effort to be more physically active.

Tonight there's an opening at Baton Rouge Gallery,and Amy J. and Leanne C. will both be showing some work. Needless to say, I will be attending. I'm about to hop in the shower because I'm a sweaty, gross mess. Then I'll eat a quick dinner and head out to the gallery. Have a good evening!

image is stolen from the BR Gallery site... it's one of Amy's pieces, perhaps included in tonight's show. I know I've never seen it!

What's New?

What's new with me, you ask... Well... I've found a dog! She's a beautiful brindle coat boxer I spied trotting down the street almost 3 weeks ago. She had some visible wounds on her low-back area, and I thought perhaps she had been used as fight bait. I stopped and threw her in the car, and we headed off to the vet. Once we got there, we waited quietly in an exam room for a vet to arrive for the day. When the vet came in, she began the exam, and we discovered that poor baby hadn't been used as fight bait, (as far as we can tell) but was badly burned. So for the past almost 3 weeks, Annie and I have been learning to live in a 2 dog house. So far, so good.

Otherwise, I've been volunteering at Cancer Services a couple of times a week and working for my dad on the other days. Mystery Guest is still around, and he just started an exciting new job for the remainder of the summer yesterday. Ooooooh! Exciting. In other news, I haven't blogged in eons, but I'm going to try to get back into it because it's therapeutic. Amen!

Vote for Cancer Services' Resource Center

Go check out the video for Cancer Services' library and leave a comment (on youtube, not vroooom!) view video here!

Happy 50th Cancer Services

Today was the 50th birthday party for Cancer Services. And I am absolutely EXHAUSTED. Good night.

Year 1, Done.

Yeppers, I'm halfway finished with grad school! And look, I apparently learned how to spell skool! It just slipped out, I guess it's been such a long time since I blogged that I forgot. Anyway, it was a successful first year. And I'm FINISHED. I am proud to say, I made a 4.0 this semester! So what will this summer bring? I will probably still hang around my internship organization, lurking around like a ghost of interns past. But I missed a lot in the days that I wasn't there, and would like to attend some of the groups that are held on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I'll probably check those out and be there at least 1 day a week. Otherwise, I'll work for my dad some, and hopefully get to spend some time painting.

I've been keeping up with the exercise blog, or at least I had, until those last 2 weeks of school. I went to the rec center today and swam for a while, which was nice. A good change of pace. For a while, the group exercise classes are out, so I don't have any ballet or pilates or anything to direct me, so I'll probably fit in some bike rides, runs, and swim sessions until they kick off again. For now, I'll just be enjoying some relaxing time, watching tv, reading what I want to read, etc. Oh! I bought my ticket to PA for DP V coming up in July yesterday. Super-duper excited about that... I don't think Spazz the Clown will be there again this year, but it's pretty much guaranteed to be a good time. So that's that. Oh yeah, and Mystery Guest is still around, enjoying his summer before he has to get back to law related things. blech!

this photo of Mystery Guest and me was taken a long time ago by JK at some little hole in the wall across the river. there was some SPECIAL hair at this place!