Last Weekend

This past weekend I finally made the long-discussed trip to visit my cousin.  When we first talked about me visiting she lived in NYC.  Now that I finally went – she lives in DC.  All the better for me I suppose, as I had never been to Washington DC.  My 8^th grade class didn’t make the bus trip down.  Probably because I was the only one in my class.  Homeschooling doesn’t make for practical class trips I guess.  Anyway – Southwest ran a pretty cheap promo so I flew down for the weekend.  

My cousin lives just over the border in Arlington in a never ever been updated split-level.  She rents her room and therefore, is just as impressed by the decorating as I am.  She apologized profusely before I even got inside – quite unnecessarily I might add.

“Remember when you played M.A.S.H. as a kid and you never wanted a ‘split-level?’ Well that’s what I’m renting now.”

“I think I always thought the ‘S’ was ‘shack.’…probably because I was homeschooled.”

The décor in the place is incredible.  Everything is tiled in pink or blue.  And if it’s not tiled in that color scheme it’s painted with such - the hallway is a lovely robin egg’s blue.  And any leftover wall space is wall papered in all of its tacky patterned glory.  Oh and not to mention the ceramic face plates on all the light switches.  I'm telling you this place is amazing. I'll just give you a taste of one of the bathrooms.  I'm no photographer but, for the most part, the Blackberry takes OK pictures.

Exhibit A: Bathroom  

The Floor

I think the wallpaper is advertising Milk Bath?

In case there wasn't enough going on in there already...

I'm pretty sure there were hieroglyphs on the blue tiles in the kitchen.  Complimented by a pink counter top of course. The oven is original. And the electrical was done upside down so that all the switches are in the "off" position when the lights are on.  I truly enjoyed this part of my trip.

Yes, I did go into DC to explore some things.  Like the Museum of Natural History to see some real dead dinosaurs.  I've determined I am grateful they no longer roam the earth.  I have no desire to meet one of those things.  I saw the Hope Diamond - decided I'd pass on receiving that as a gift.  Didn't prefer the setting it was in.  And I saw the Declaration of Independence all National Treasure style.  Except there were hoards of 8th graders on their class trips who didn't want to let me look at it.

Fun trip.  Great to visit my cousin.  Great to see some history - and by history I do mean the house.

My Car Hates Me

                As a baby high school graduate I chose to attend Niagara University.  I had the time of my life.  Met some of my most favorite people in the whole world. Took out a life time worth of student loans. And walked away with an accounting degree – that did in fact, get me a job.  All things considered, it was a successful four years.    

               

               The problem with Niagara, for my parents, was its geographical location.  I picked a school just over 5 hours from their house.  Personally, I found this to be an attractive selling point.  But for people who do not like to make a weekend of dropping their kid off at school – this made for a very long day.  Consequently, they so generously purchased me a vehicle.  The Tucson – or as I like to call her these days, The Life Ruiner.

                As I’ve mentioned before, I live in Buffalo, NY.  We get to enjoy (?) all four seasons up here.  And that obviously includes *winter.* Last winter my Tucson started playing this game called “I won’t start when you tell me to.”  Great. Thanks.  Just how I want to start my mornings.  The battery would be dead every time.  So I took it to the dealer- they told me it was fine.  

“Well, then why doesn’t it turn on when I tell it to? “

“We don’t know. Here, buy a new battery and try that.”

   

             I bought two batteries last winter, and after the second one I hoped it was fixed.  It wasn’t.  I Googled.  People seemed to think it was the radio that caused this problem.  OK.  Bought a new radio, had it installed and it didn’t die again….till it got cold out.  

                This winter has been horrible.  HORRIBLE.  I’ve had to jump my car at least twenty times. I’ve taken it to multiple car places.  No one can find the problem.  There is no solution.  So please, people, stop offering me suggestions as to what it “must be.”   

               Clearly this car jumping every time I need to move it is not exactly practical.  Thankfully Boyfriend works in my building and sometimes drives me there instead of fighting with my car.  Anyway - this is what I’ve learned about jumping cars in the last week or so:

               

•  Saturn’s batteries are hidden in the depths of the trunk. 

 I learned this by reading the owner’s manual – after me and a friend of mine struggled to get the hood open only to not be able to find a battery.  And please note – there is no ‘carpet lever’ or whatever they called it to release the carpet of the trunk.  You just have to pull it up with your fingernails.  Then the cap they put on those batteries is designed so no one can get into it.  I needed some sharp pointy screwdriver looking tool to bust it open.  (My technical tool knowledge should indicate to you that I should most certainly not be working under the hood of any vehicle.)  This whole event took approx. 45mins.  Thank you Tucson.

• No matter how flustered or rushed you are – always make sure you put the plus cable on the plus side and the minus cable on the minus side.

I learned this yesterday.  I walked out of work to go to a 5:30 appt and the Tucson reached a new low – even for her.  She wouldn’t start after only sitting through the day in the parking lot.   So I called Boyfriend who was still upstairs to come rescue me.  He drove around and apparently the cap on his battery was also just as difficult to get into.  And we didn’t have sharp pointy tools on our person.  So I had to ask some kind kid who had offered to assist us to help.  Would have all been fine – except I managed to put the cables on backwards and I almost started all the cars on fire.  You should have seen the sparks.  (I clearly should not be touching anything under the hood of a car.)  I apologized profusely and we went our separate ways. 

Clearly the only solution is to light the Tucson on fire.  But boyfriend said he won’t – because it’s sitting in his driveway.

Whatever you do - DO NOT BUY THIS VEHICLE

Restaurant Review

                Last night we double dated with a dear friend of mine from college and her husband.  It’s not often that we go out middle of the week because – I’m too old to do that kind of thing.  And also because I usually have class after work and adding another evening event mid week, thus replacing gym time, would probably result in a meltdown.  But, I’m still on break from school and Annie and I have been trying to make a point to meet up semi-annually, and weekends are busy, so Wednesday night it was.  

We consequently missed ABC’s Wednesday night line-up, and more specifically Modern Family and I’ve been asked to choose a different evening to make plans going forward.  Noted.

                However, because we scheduled dinner on a Wednesday we had the opportunity to partake in the couple’s special at DiGiulio & Co. – a discreet restaurant in Hertel Ave. in Buffalo.  I’d found this place in October during restaurant week, only because my first choice was booked till midnight every single night that week.  Boyfriend and I had enjoyed it – and our server had advertised their “Wine and Dine for 2” nights on Wednesday s and Thursdays every week.   I would highly recommend you try it.  The food is excellent and it was only $33 for both of us. We got the house salad (say YES to the gorgonzola cheese), bottle of house wine, and then we each got to choose one of three entrée options.  My breaded pork chops were so yummy.  And judging by the scraps Boyfriend left on his plate his chicken cacciatore was just as tasty.  

                Per Annie’s suggestion we went ahead and ordered dessert.  (You don’t have to say peanut butter and chocolate cake to us twice.)  It was a wonderful evening. The food was divine and the company just as fabulous.  And EXACTLY what I needed to make it through this dreadfully long week.   We did agree to meet up with these guys again soon – well – as soon as it’s warm enough to enjoy our next night out on a patio.

I Forgot to Tell You...

So after my pre-Christmas post you’re probably wondering what all the fuss was about.  Or not.  Whatev. Even though Christmas is long gone – I will fill you in.

Firstly, I was pretty pleased with my gift purchases this Christmas.  I bought these:

 

        For this funny girl...

        ...who obviously needs running shoes these days.

       And then it was on to Boyfriend.  I had fun buying my first stocking stuffing gifts for him. And for his big gift I got him this:

     Mostly so we can watch this. (On demand.)

      As for my gift - Boyfriend got me one of these:

3G Kindle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

       In case you're like me - and didn't know what an Amazon Kindle was, to want one in the first place.  It's for reading books - without the hassle of turning pages.  And Boyfriend knew I wanted one even before I did.  And you may recall from my previous post stating that the Amazon box was the worst clue in the history of the world for what my present might be?  Clearly that was inaccurate.  The Amazon box could not have been a better clue - I was just too busy thinking about buying monkeys and Egyptian pyramids on the internet to get it.

       What I also learned though, is this - the Kindle is apparently way cooler than the Xbox - because he was WAY more excited to show me how cool my gift was than he was about what I got him.  And also because I've already read a whole book and the Xbox is still in the basement, sitting in the box it came in.  Maybe this weekend I'll open it for him.   

Un-Recap

                After reading my blog roll on New Years, and noticing that there is apparently an obligatory Year in Review post, I gave up on blogging for a week – because well, 2010 was rather uneventful for me.  I haven’t been blogging long enough to link my way through a year.  I do not take photographs so I don’t have a pic of the month.  And even if I did – would you all really want pictures of me doing nothing?  

This is what I didn’t do:

•                 I didn’t get engaged or married.

•                 I didn’t have a baby.

•                 I didn’t go on vacation.

•                 I didn’t get a new job.

•                 I didn’t make any extravagant purchases.

This is what I did do:

•                 I finally rode the Maid of the Mist.

•                 I finally updated my license to say Buffalo, NY.

•                 I got a new Blackberry.

•                 We got a Crockpot.

•                 I read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

•                 I got my hair cut – but no one can really tell.

•                 I worked out like whoa through wedding season – and then I took a leave of absence ending today.  Maybe tomorrow.

•                 I dressed up like a Vampire for Halloween.

•                 I learned that Suave shampoo really is as good as the commercials say.

•                 I started this blog.

The year 2011 is already starting to look more eventful than the last.  And for this blog’s content’s sake, you should all be grateful.  But I guess it’s nice to know that doing nothing for a whole year can still make me really happy.  Right?