Yes!

This movie looks like it's going to be wonderful!  I can't imagine how they are going to make "Where the Wild Things Are" into a feature length film, but I'm willing to check it out.  Apparently the trailer (set to "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire) is coming out next week.  Eep!

Yakkety Yak

I don't feel like going to the gym, as it is too rainy outside, so I am going to blog instead!  Yay!

1) Being unemployed isn't too bad so far.  I mean, yeah, the lack of income is sort of sad, but I get to see Aneil EVERY DAY.  Which is totally worth it.  Plus, I'm becoming very domestic.  I cooked fish yesterday!  I cooked!  I rule!

2) Daytime tv totally sucks.  Instead, I am watching these Battlestar Galactica dvds that were loaned to me like, 6 months ago.  Anyone watch this show?  I can't decide if I like it or not.  It's so DRAMATIC.  I like the sassy pilot, and I caught myself saying "frak" the other day, so maybe it is growing on me, I dunno.  I loves me some Edward James Olmos, so I guess I'll stick with it.  My only issue is that these people are not from Earth, but like, they use the same words that we do, like a "phone" is a "phone" yet sometimes they have their own special words for things.  I don't really get it.

3) I hate applying for jobs.  I am not getting too down about it, because according to the news, it's not me, it's the sucky economy, but it's still hard to not take it personally.  I got a reject from a job I didn't even want, and it made me sad!  What's the world coming to?  Instead, I am thinking about just spending a bunch of time volunteering, since I can technically afford it for now.

4) Did you see Jon Stewart take down Jim Cramer?  It was intense!  I sort of felt weirdly bad for Jim, as he just had to sit there and take a beating.  Then I realized that he is annoying!  I used to hate how U of H's business school played Mad Money on the big tv's in the lobby all the time.  Jon Stewart rules!

5) Speaking of Jon's...As if Jon Hamm could get any dreamier, there is video of him as Lex Luthor, asking the government for a $100 billion bailout so he can kill Superman.  This guy is funny too?  It's almost too much to take.  Here's the link: Jon Hamm, I love you so.

6) The way the Austin weathermen are SO EXCITED about our 3 days of rain is pretty adorable.

7) George Clooney back on ER last night reminded me why that show used to rule.  And Nurse Hathaway still loves him!  And Benton is still annoying/awesome!  Man, I used to love that show.

8) Had fun playing poker last weekend, and apparently I get to play mahjong tomorrow, so I am one happy game-playing camper.

9) Still no wedding dress.  It's fine.

Love to all!

Shells

This is not my beautiful wife!

So I decided to go ahead and join a 24 Hour Fitness here in Austin, my new homeland.  I guess technically I was a Bally's member back in H-town, but I sort of stopped going after a while.  But kept the membership.  Why do people do that?

Long story short, I am getting married, and my mother thinks it would be a great idea for my to lose 40 LBS! by the time I get married (on 1/9/10 for those of you counting down).  I mean, that's a lovely thought, and 40 LBS! would get me down to the smallest I've been in my adult (read: post high school) life, but it seems daunting.  Mom keeps reminding me that I have "totally done this before" and that she knows I've "got it in me", but she doesn't realize that the time I did this before, I had a boyfriend who gave me such low self esteem, I HAD to work out and diet or I would just cry all the time.  Literally, on days I would have to skip my workout I would have little anxiety attacks and obsess about it all the live long day.  But I mean, I was a size 6 so I probably should have been happy about it.  

Now I have this nice boyfriend who loves me a lot.  If I told him that I decided to wear a white trash bag to the wedding, I bet he would say he would still marry me.  And he would mean it.

But I figure I will at least try it anyway.  If I lose let's say, 10 lbs before the wedding I will be pleased.  Maybe 40 LBS! can be a hypothetical goal.  I will keep you posted.  If I get really ambitious maybe I can make a pie chart.  Mmmm....pie....

Today I actually did go to the gym.  I've decided that the biggest perk of the gym is that they have cable tv (unlike Aneil, and I guess now, me!) so I can watch The Daily Show in the mornings.   Today was one of those bizarre Tori episodes of Saved by the Bell.  Have you guys read Chuck Klosterman's hilarious Saved by the Bell essay in his book, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs?  It addresses "The Tori Paradox".  You should check it out.  

But okay, I wonder what part of my day will make me happier?  My 40 minute, 400-calorie burning workout, or gorging on crepes with my insanely beautiful friend Kat later today, or when my cutie boyfriend gets home later and gives me hugs...hmmm.

I am going to a "Girls Night Out" tonight with new girls I don't know very well plus all their friends.  Pray for me.

XOXO,

Shells

Who watches The View?

I mean, I know I am a stay-at-home cutie now, but I seriously can't make it through more than 20 minutes of that show.  The women are just too irritating!  I do love Ellen, though.  Maybe if Barbara Walters and Whoopi had some sort of charming dance like Ellen's it would help?  Nah, probably not.

The geniuses over at my former place of employment accidentally paid me for 6 weeks of unused vacation rather than 3 weeks.  Is it any wonder this place is in the red?  When I called to correct it, there were no, oh wow thanks for pointing that out, man, you are great!  Rather, it seemed like they were annoyed that they had to do more work, and asked me to cut them a check (for way more than I owed them!).  What idiots!  Ugh. Lucky for them I have the sweetest, most honest fiance in the world, who convinced me that yes, I should inform them of the mistake, else I may have just kept it.  My dealings with all things HR or Payroll since the end of my stay have been nothing but irritating.  I have to channel all my happy memories with my delightful coworkers to even remember why I worked there in the first place.

End of rant.

In pop culture news, I am perplexed by the American Idol "wild card" announcement last night.  The only real bright spot was that Anoop (my personal fave!) got a spot.  Anyone have any Idol opinions?  Anyone watch this show other than me?  Anyone else shocked that someone actually covered "Mandolin Rain" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range on Tuesday night?  I mean, Bruce Hornsby, really?  Really?  Whatevs, I'll keep watching, of course.  I'm pretty sure that my bizarre need to watch AI is probably Aneil's least favorite aspect of our co-habitation.  Oh well, too late, sucka!

Thanks to Amee I am obsessed with "The Daily Plate", this food journal application within the Livestrong website.  Their database is INSANE.  Much better than any other I have seen.  You basically look up whatever you ate (and can rest assured it's in there) and click "I ate this" and it logs all your calories for you.  Since I'm supposed to be Bride dieting, it should come in handy.  Check it out if you love obsessing and/or calorie counting.

Has anyone tried this Paperback Swap website?  It seems cool.

More soon,

Shelley

Anyone still out there?

Hi, sorry about the demise of blog.  Things got sort of nuts after Bonnaroo, apparently.  Here's the rundown since then...

1)  Bonnaroo was simultaneously fun and exhausting.  I did not shower for like, 5 days.  The sets were extra-long and the festival grounds were great.  But yeah, never doing it again.

2) Then we went to Chicago to visit Amee and take her to Lollapalooza, which was wonderful.  First, we saw Amee.  Second, we ran into Wayne Coyne in the street!  Plus, the festival was lovely and fun and the weather in Chi-town in the summer is awesome.

3) We also visited Val in Philly.  Liberty Bell, water ice, cheesesteaks, Andrew Bird, joy.  We also hooked Val up, so there was also romance in the air.  Lub.  Since our trip, she has actually moved back to Houston, so Texas has definitely cheered up.

4) I left my job downtown to go work at the Channelview plant, which I actually liked, other than the fact that my Nomex was pretty snug after 3 years of cubicle life.  I only lasted 2 months before I left, though.  Because...

5) Aneil and I got engaged in December.  He totally surprised me, but I said "no doi."  Seriously, that's exactly what I said.  He was cute.  Things are looking up.

6) Decided to end my mid-life crisis by quitting my job (which, if you were to ask Barack Obama, was a stupid idea), and moving to Austin.  I am on Day 2 of Real Housewife of Travis County life, and it's okay so far.  I probably need to get a job ASAP, but am sort of enjoying this mini-vacay.

Okay, that should bring the blog up to speed.  Promise to post more soon.

XOXO,

Shells

ROOOOOOO!

3 DAYS UNTIL BONNAROO!

(i am so excited)

Here we are now, entertain us

This weekend marked the debut of darling brown boy’s 90’s cover band, My So-Called Band. Niiice name. The first show was a Memorial Day pool-side BBQ at the drummer’s apartment complex. Here is my attempt to chronicle the event. Keep in mind I have piss-poor photography skills.

Check out the setlist (which I got autographed). Lots of rockin’ oldies but goodies. Strangely, “Bombtrack” turned out to be the biggest crowd pleaser, especially among the 40+ demographic. Interesting. My take on it is that it was obvious that the band loved playing that song the most. And lil Amy, the singer, managed to scream “Burn Burn!” with admirable gusto.
I gotta say, I did not know all of these songs by heart. During the 90’s I was sort of really poor and couldn’t afford cds, thus managed to miss out on the bulk of the grunge movement. My friend Lauren and I would check out 60’s and 70’s cds from the library and make tapes of them (ah, tapes). I think this explains my love of classic pop, my bubbly demeanor, and my obsessions with David Bowie and The Beatles. Ha. At any rate, if I was in a cover band I would either choose 60’s all-girl or 70’s glam rock. Comment below on your cover band of choice. But this isn’t really about me, is it?

Moving on, here is a pic of Sommer, the hot chick bassist. She is not intimidated to play bass in a band with Aneil, so you gotta give her props for that. Plus she’s real nice to me so we must love her.

Sommer is married to Jim, who is a much much better significant other than yours truly. He had a fancy camera (a la Bo) and ran about getting artsy camera angles. Here is a shot of him taking what is likely a far superior photo than I could take. Think of this as a photo within a photo. Like Hamlet’s play within a play, but more grunge. Although, if you think about it, Hamlet is pretty freaking grunge. Oh, the angst!

To reiterate Jim’s superior husband skills (I almost typed husbandry and it made me think of A&M’s excellent ag dept), here is a link to the website (!) he made to put all his superior photos. There are some really charming shots of Aneil, so it is worth a click if only for that. Well, I guess the whole band is attractive, but like how we all have a favorite New Kid on the Block (mine? Jonathan. I know, lame in retrospect, right?), Aneil is obviously my favorite My So-Called Band-er.

Click here for much better photos.

Here is my completely non-artsy photo of Aneil, in which he smiles at me. It reminds me of the time me and the brown gals went to New York and Maria, fresh out of a photography class, kept getting annoyed with Neha for making us smile and wave in front of landmarks rather than taking candids. This photo does not necessarily represent the essence of the band, but I like to think it expresses Aneil’s undying devotion and constant willingness to amuse me and/or humor me.

Here is the only decent photo of John that I took. He has one of those slick yet disconcerting electric drum kits. I’m not sure if Fro approves of those, but will ask him next time I see him. At any rate, John is Aneil’s BFF and he is real cutie and funny and managed to survive a Spinal Tap moment during setup when a pillar fell from the apartment staircase and almost crushed him. Scary.

Kenneth plays lead and he is also one of Aneil’s close friends. He actually showed up to the show wearing a cropped sleeveless Megadeath tshirt, so I dunno why he changed. Didn’t get a photo of the original outfit (sorry ladies). Kenneth is lovely and likes to hug and makes me laugh a lot, so he gets a thumbs up from this critic.

Amy is the hot singer girrrl. She has one of those husky slightly affected voices that I really wish I had rather than my limp Jewel-like instrument. She held her own on the mostly boy music that was played (apparently the Lillith Fair did not occur according to this 90’s band…good/bad? Discuss.) Plus she is wearing shorts with roses and skulls on them and that’s pretty rock n’ roll.
Here is a pic of a dude who came out on his balcony to check out the band. At first he seemed confused, but he sort of got into it. A fan!
Here’s some of the crowd around the pool.

Also, I kept making fun of a couple of dudes who kept eating kielbasas, like the entire afternoon. Seriously every time I saw them they were getting more food. I thought this was freakish until I was later told that they had competed in a triathalon earlier in the day. Ha. I’m such an asshole sometimes.

Sadly/awesomely, some cranky neighbor called the cops and the show got shut down with only 2 songs to go. Doh. I think the band felt validated in a way, so that was good. Plus the cops were very nice about the whole thing.

Most of the rest of my photos are blurry, so that's it from me. If I wouldn’t have been so delirious from the heat, I would have thought to get everyone together for a band photo, but alas, we will have to wait until next time.

XOXO, Groupie Girl

"I Believe" that "This Is My Now" because in "A Moment Like This" I wonder, "Do I Make You Proud?"

Hi there Upper East Siders,

Today my coworker and I could not stop talking about the stellar American Idol finale and our weirdly overwhelming crush on the winner, David Cook:

Seriously, this dude started the season with a strange comb-over hairdo (I believe streaked with magenta?) and a sad lil soul patch and now he's Dreamy McDreamerson. It's amazing what a decent haircut and growing a beard can do for you. Plus he loves crosswords. At any rate, my American Idol loves are typically not everlasting (i.e. I never actually purchase any of their post-Idol records, albeit I downloaded at least 3 Kelly Clarkson songs back in the day). But I dunno, I spent all night fantasizing about my dream wedding to David Cook (obviously he would serenade me with his strangely awesome cover of Mariah's "Always Be My Baby"). Ha.

Not to be outdone, Aneil pointed out that he is a better boyfriend than the Idol ever could be, as he has never had an ugly haircut, and his beard is far superior (both true):

I guess he has a point. Besides, based on the Idol's profile, he loves Our Lady Peace (ha) and he sang that stupid "Dare You to Move" song as his singer's choice, so obviously he has questionable taste in music. Aneil trumps him on that too. Ha. (No doi, Aneil, I love you the most!)

The other highlight of this week was getting to see Amee (!) and her sis Megha (now a doctor) and her friend Tianna. I had been yeaaarning for girlie hanging out time, so Monday was ideal. We feasted at Lupe Tortilla, talked smack about our frenemies, giggled, then came to my house for Abita! Strawberry beers and the premiere of "The Bachelorette." I was so excited!!! I miss Amee so.

Also I worked out 4 times this week already...am still averaging a 13 minute mile, though. i.e. sloooow. I had to start icing my leg...running sucks.

In other news, this weekend I will be in Austin for hanging out fun times, a birthday party, Aneil's mom's Indian chicken (yum), and the debut of Aneil's 90's cover band, brilliantly named "My So-Called Band". I'm ready to get my jam on!

In summary, this week I hate: my stupid apartment and its stupid noises, Algebra II, and no "Lost" this week.

This week I love: the new American Idol (le sigh), Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Scrabulous, and cookies.

XOXO,
Shells

No way you're never gonna shake me

I think I am having a mid-life crisis...it's one of those disconcerting times when I can't figure out what I'm doing with my life. Not panicking yet, but mostly just restless. It's time for a change.

Not to worry, for now I am coasting along and keeping myself more-than-occupied with the backlog of novels and movies that I neglected during those 2.5 years of business school (it is so weird that I am already done with that!). Nonetheless, this can only last a little while longer before I start needing some forward momentum. Presumably, that would include living in the same town as my brown boy, but we are at an impasse right now (who moves?), so I am trying to not fixate on that aspect of life. Maybe I just watch too much "Made" but I kinda want to try something new...

Enough of that, though. In maintaining the status quo news, I have been reading trashy fiction (mostly) devoid of literary value, watching lots of tv (well, mostly "Idol" and "Lost"), and trying to make a dent in my Netflix queue. The running is not going well, as I sneeze constantly if I go outside (nerd alert) and I run like a duck on the treadmill. I can go about 4 miles...that is very very short of the 13.1 I need to do. Ugh.

My lovely bff's birthday was last week (huzzah!) and brown boy's is this Friday, so there's lots to celebrate lately (thank God those 2 were born!!!).

At any rate, I am out of charming things to say...hopefully your comments can add to the substance of this entry until I get around to more meaningful topics. In the meantime, here is my week in review:

This week I hate: my upstairs neighbors and/or most things about my current apt although I appreciate the fact that there are no bugs, the information-overloaded NFL draft coverage, and family dramarama.

This week I love: Ben from "Lost", David C. from "American Idol", Aneil from "Austin, TX" and oreos from "Nabisco".

You know you love me,
S

Hi I'm Back.

I decided to re-open the blog to the internets (it got me in a lil trouble last month). So hope you enjoy the more ambiguous info to come.

In recent news, brown boy and I are going to Lollapalooza!!! We are really excited, not to mention getting to visit my lovely Amee in Chi-town (yes, I insist that we refer to it as Chi-town).

Hope you are all doing well, and expect more posts soon.

xoxo,
S

The World That I See Is Beautiful

Hi bunnies!

Just got back from Austin, and had a wonderful impromptu SXSW weekend. Maybe it lacked the star-power of my momentous 2002 experience, but it was just as delightful in many ways.

I sort of gave up on SXSW a couple of years ago when Amanda and I attempted to go to some shows, but were turned away in favor of badge-wielding hipsters (in their defense, we were badge-wielding hipsters back in 2002). So this year, I really only planned to hang out with Aneil and maybe try to get into one low-key show. (Thus I did not bother to bring my camera, so no photos…I will simply borrow Pitchfork’s show pics for the blog).

Back in maybe 2003, I bought a charming LP by a completely random band based on a quick sampling at Good Records in Dallas. Band was called Snowglobe, and they were vaguely Elephant 6-ish, thus fitting right into my genre of choice. I wasn’t sure where they were from or why they never toured, but I loved the album, and went on to put one of their songs on the first mixtape I made for Aneil (to dazzle him with my indie cred). He later managed to find a used copy of another of their later albums, but to my knowledge, none of our friends had ever even heard of these dudes. Much to our delight, they were playing a SXSW showcase this year, plus it was at Opal Divine’s, which was far enough down 6th street to not draw crazy crowds. Our enchanted evening started off with shockingly easy-to-find parking, easy-to-get-into show, and chit chat with the adorable band. It turns out they are roughly our age, and are essentially just like our friends. Ha. They even told us that they don’t tour because one of the guys is in med school, so apparently med school DOES ruin everything for everyone! And we purchased their other LP and the bassist was so glad that we were fans that he went and got the rest of the band to sign our copy. Plus they kept chatting with Aneil (he is real normal and charming with bands, whereas I am slightly nuts). It was a really satisfying experience.

The singer looks an awful lot like the lead singer of The Shins, no?


Aneil charmed the bass player:


Then Saturday we had a charming picnic with friends at a park along the water. I convinced Aneil that Popeye’s chicken is the quintessential picnic food (seriously, my family always did that!) and we bonded with one of Aneil’s BFF’s girlfriend (she is adorable) and several of her friends, all of whom were incredibly nice. Then we decided to walk over to this free Garden Party at the French Legation (some random historical area). They has $1 cans of PBR and free popsicles, and we got to hear 3 decent shows. (Sadly we didn’t know that one of my random bands of the moment, Noah and the Whale, played a few hours earlier, but ah well.) We got there in time for Thurston Moore, She & Him (Zooey Deschanel’s band), and Okkervill River (Aneil loves them). Was laid back and fun, and it was sort of cool to see indie screen goddess, Zooey D. take the stage, seeing as I consider myself a super-fan after sitting through all 6 hrs of “Tin Man” (for the record I love her minimalist AM pop collaboration with M. Ward). We topped off the afternoon with Freebirds, so I was a happy bunny indeed.

She & Him



The Him


The She - Man, is she adorable or what? That's it...I am going to have to grow out my hair and get me some adorably 70's style chunky bangs.


Our plan was to head back downtown to catch a free Snowglobe show, but we were awful tired after our day of fun in the sun and we didn’t want to push our chances at snagging another great parking spot, so we just headed to a random bar on Congress with Aneil’s bandmates (they are a 90’s cover band named “My So-Called Band”) to watch some random tribute bands and hang out. The Beatles tribute band threw me over my Beatles cover limit (after last week’s lame American Idol theme night) but I really enjoyed the delirious commitment of the Devo tribute band that played later. Ha.

So that was my weekend in Austin. Lots of sunshine and hipsters and music and fun. Just gave me more reasons to want to move there (besides the fact that darling brown boy lives there). We’ll see how that goes…

In the meantime, hope you all have fun this week…it’s almost spring!

This week I hate: Houston traffic (I hate this all the time, but it was particularly annoying last week), George W.’s apparent loss of his remaining grip on reality (did you hear about his strange Western sing-along last week?), and my apartment’s cell phone reception (yes friends, this is why I don’t tend to call you back or catch your calls for that matter).

This week I love: that a fun weekend could make me forget the previous week’s crankiness, free music, dancing, and mac n’ cheese.

xoxo

Sea of Love

So the Valentine's party was a success. Sadly, our co-hostess Maria caught the flu, so there was a clear drop in the level of sass at the party, but it was still fun. Even Sean commented that he initially thought the idea was stupid, but was real excited about his goodie bag. An excellent variety of cards, play-doh, candy, etc. Plus everyone played along and seemed to have a fun time. We even got to meet new friends, and all was glorious. I love parties! No, I didn't take any pictures, but Sean did so I will try to retrieve them soon. I have been pathetic about picture-taking lately, not sure why.

I was down in the dumps last week, as I saw no friends all week, and essentially watched American Idol then went to sleep every night. By Thursday I hit my limit, and just yearned to have a conversation with a best friend. It seemed like so long since I just dreamed up theories and thoughts with someone and didn't bother with exhausting discussion about our love lives or futures or careers or whatever. I dunno, maybe that's why people start book clubs. Heh.

At any rate, I am feeling much better now, and am embracing my American Idol lifestyle this week. Anyone watching it? There is this incredible 16 year old kid that is just so talented and utterly adorable, he makes me giggle incessantly. It's sort of amazing. Everyone else is meh.

Quick thoughts about the Oscars:

I love Jon Stewart.

I can't get over how beautiful Marion Cotillard is.

My only moment of genuine excitement was when Marketa and Glen from "Once" won for best song. I was happy to see that the soundtrack is the top album on iTunes now. Also, did those songs from "Enchanted" suck, or what?

James McAvoy is tiny and has the same accent as Fran from Travis. Cutie.

"No Country for Old Men" was excellent, to be sure, but it made me feel blaaaah. I actually liked "There Will Be Blood" and "Juno" better, although "Once" was definitely my favorite movie this year.

Is it lame to think George Clooney is hot? I dunno, he's so Cary Grant-ish. Dreamboat.

At any rate, that's about it for this week, gang. I apologize for being boring, but I am just laying low for now. It's actually not too bad, but I am so used to being constantly busy and tired that it's just sort of strange right now. I am trying not to be restless. I can do this. Luckily I have approx. 26 hrs of Idol to watch per week, plus 1 hr of "Lost". Couch potato. Actually, I look like a lil red potato when I run, so maybe it's a theme.

Thanks for reading this drivel.

This week I love: home-cooked meals, surprise presents in the mail (lub-dub!), and girl scout thin mints.

This week I hate: achy shins, the complete lack of CampFire girls in the Houston area...I'd rather support them than our rival Girl Scouts...my "Camp Fire" secret name was Re-Mi-Ho...I can't remember why.

I'll try to be more charming next week. There will be Rodeo BBQ, Wilco shows, etc to talk about!

XOXO

I love the Power Glove. It's so bad.

Hello friends.

Big news of the week: I met childhood crush FRED SAVAGE. Sadly, I did not have my camera with me, as Aneil told me he wouldn't be there. Jealous much? Ha.

We went to a screening of the 1989 classic Nintendo movie, "The Wizard" starring Fred, Christian Slater, Beau Bridges, and the adorable Jenny Lewis. Remember this one? Emotionally disturbed little brother is awesome at pretty much every Nintendo game so he travels with his brother and a cute redhead to California to compete in Video Armageddon. And there was the evil kid with the Power Glove? And they premiered, wait for it...Super Mario Bros. THREE! At any rate, the director, the actor who played the "wizard" himself, and Fred were at the screening and did a Q&A (sample audience question: "Who was a better kisser? Jenny Lewis or Winnie Cooper?") and autograph signing. Needless to say, I made Aneil wait with me in line so I could meet Fred and get my poster signed. (Yes, I bought a glow-in-the-dark Wizard poster.) He was really nice and adorable and essentially looks exactly the same. Seriously. I got real nervous and could barely speak to him but I did say that I loved him all through grade school. Aneil asked him whether Rilo Kiley came to be because Fred knew Jenny Lewis and his brother Ben knew Blake Sennett from Boy Meets World, but sadly it was not true. It did make him laugh though, and I'm pretty sure I swooned. Ha.

I didn't realize how super-fan I was, but apparently I was the only person in line who could even remember the name of his short-lived sitcom, "Working" and had seen "The Boy Who Could Fly" about 50 times.

In other "the more things change the more things stay the same" news, apparently it's not just Fred Savage who looks the same after all these years. About a month ago I went jogging with Aneil in Hermann Park, and we stopped to stretch next to the road, and a guy I knew from high school, who I haven't seen in about 10 years, recognized me from his car and yelled out the window at me. Apparently even while jogging I look identical to how I did in high school (albeit chubbier). Then yesterday I was walking to my car from work, and as I passed a Starbucks another guy yells, "hey didn't you go to my high school?" And it wasn't even a good friend, I vaguely recognized him, but he was like, yeah I thought you were familiar. Seriously? Do I look exactly the same? Ha. Anyone who knew me in high school who reads this lame blog should leave me a comment and let me know.

In other news, Maria and I are having a Valentine's Day party this weekend, so I'm really excited. It is supposed to be a best friend love free-for-all but SOME people (read: Erik) think it's a "couples" party, so that's lame. I have vowed not to hold hands and/or make out with my boyfriend the entire time, so if you happen to be in Austin this weekend, be sure to stop by and maybe I will hold YOUR hand instead.

Lost is getting good again. I will avoid spoilers for you folks who are not caught up this season, but I love the new sassy Ghostbuster guy and the new awkward guy. In other tv news, who do you guys like on Project Runway? I strangely love "fierce" Christian. Ha.

This week I love: Lucky Charms, American Idol's "Hollywood Week", and candy conversation hearts.

This week I hate: the fact that it gets dark at like, 5:30pm, the lack of chemical plants in Austin, and that Make Me a Supermodel show.

Anywho, hope you all will be my Valentines!

XOXO,
S

Yoda = Best MADE coach ever?

I'm having an extremely nerdy week..."Lost" premiere tonight (eeeep)! We will finally find out who the heck is on the mysterious "freighter". Whatevs, I'm lame.

I also Netflixed "The Empire Strikes Back." I know I watched it when I was little, but most of the Star Wars trilogy is a mish mash in my head, and I just felt like viewing it as a grownup. My favorite character, even now, is Yoda. He's almost like a zen cousin of Jim Henson's Fraggles.

Also, the whole Jedi training sequence really reminded me of an episode of MTV's "Made." I mean, here's this stupid kid who seeks out a "coach" and essentially says "I wanna be MADE...into a Jedi." But then halfway through his training he just starts whining and not listening and being annoying in general (i.e. the MO of every single kid on Made). Then Yoda has to give him the whole "Do or do not there is no try" speech. Awesome. "Return of the Jedi" is on its way via the USPS, but I'm not worried, because in every episode of Made the kid always has an epiphany and eventually beats the odds and learns something about themselves. I get the feeling lil Luke will beat the odds, finish his training with ol' Yoda, and maybe just maybe defeat the empire. Maybe.

Not much else going on. My eyes are doing great and almost feel back to normal. It's pretty weird to be able to see without glasses. At least now I know if I am ever stranded on a deserted island inhabited by hostile natives/polar bears/black smoke monsters at least I will be able to see without worrying with glasses or contacts.

Work has been busy but I have lots of free time now that school is done. I'm trying to fill my time with running and watching movies but I am probably going to need to come up with a new project soon. Luckily M is back in town to save me from my humdrum existence!

Wow, the Democratic debate is pretty rowdy and star-studded tonight...did I just see Rob Reiner? Ha. I wish Oprah had aligned with Hillary, if only to give her a makeover. Otherwise, Obama is more appealing in general. Wolf Blitzer...not so appealing.

Anywho, that's all I've got going on...see? You didn't miss anything all those months I wasn't blogging. In the meantime, have a fun Groundhog Day.

xoxo,
S

Can't Take My Eyes Off You

So on Friday I had Lasik surgery. Don’t let anyone fool you, it doesn’t “hurt” but it is terrifying nonetheless. They numbed my eyes and gave me (apparently useless) valium and put me in a chair. I felt some pressure on my eyeball, and was supposed to look at a light until…everything went black And a horrifying burning smell ensued! Oy, it was terrible. And that was only phase 1! The second part was worse, as you could sort of see the outline of these little instruments apparently pulling back your corneal flap. Then you have to stare at a light while the laser corrects your vision. Then the doctor strangely squeegees your eye. They gave me a stuffed dog to hold onto while this went on, and I was gripping him for dear life. It was all very traumatic. Luckily, darling brown boy was there to take me home and essentially dote on me for 2 days. I woke up around 9pm…no pain, but still fuzzy. I can currently see pretty okay, but everything is hazy (I am praying this is part of the normal healing process). I go back to the doctor on Wednesday for my checkup.

The best part of the whole ordeal was that the doctor who did my pre-op and post-op exams looked like a doctor version of my friend K. So A and I kept referring to him as Dr. K and it made me feel strangely better. Also, when I woke up at 9:30pm and announced that I wanted spaghetti, A went out in the rain for takeout, thus validating his #1 best boyfriend status.

In other news, I have resorted to watching NFL games due to lack of college football. Did anyone catch the NFC title game? Fun stuff, and although I normally love old man Brett Favre, I gotta say I was happy for the littlest Manning. Poor guy, can you imagine if your older sibling was one of the all-time best (name occupation here) and you happened to do the same job but people think you will never be as good as your sibling (or parent, for that matter)? At any rate, I will be cheering for the Giants in the big game, as I can’t get over how android-like Tom Brady is. Seriously. He’s freaky. Plus they’ve won tons of Super Bowls. Boring. Next.

A and I officially signed up for the Rock n’ Roll Marathon in San Antonio in November. This means we have 10 months to go from being a chubby (yet adorable) okay-couple into a lean, mean (still adorable) super-couple! Seeing as his profession requires organizational and planning skills, A has devised a workout plan for us that uses a spreadsheet (which of course I love and will therefore utilize). Apparently I have to run/walk at least 4 days a week. Luckily Tuesday (i.e. American Idol performance day) is a Rest day!

Also, oh man, the news about Heath Ledger completely caught me off guard. Like, I gasped and had to hold my heart, I was so shocked. (I've officially decided that CNN is basically a glorified version of InTouch magazine, due to their idiotic coverage of the story.) I was so super stoked about his performance in the new Batman, and I have actual affection for the movie "10 Things I Hate About You." I just keep thinking about that heartbreaking part in Brokeback Mountain when he sobs and holds onto Jake Gyllenhall's shirt. Oy. So sad. Also he's our age. Creepy. I was going to post a photo for ya, but it's too depressing.

To end on a happy note, here is some good news from our friends at the ol' CW. Starting next Mon Jan 28th you can start watching "Gossip Girl" from the beginning with a replay of the pilot, PLUS bonus scenes and interviews. Joy of joys! At least this can tide us over until Thursday's premiere of "Lost".

In summary, this week I hate: dry eyes, the premature end of Gossip Girl due to the writer’s strike, and the devastating loss of a true talent.

This week I love: boyfriend, making new goals, American Idol, and Maggiano’s meatballs.

XOXO,
S

Ooooh! It feels good to be free!!!

Hi! I have been inspired by my love for "Gossip Girl" to reboot the blog.

Sorry I fell off the planet after June, but I was sort of frazzled. Here's the 2nd half of 2007 in review:

July - Let's face it, I think I was suffering from a wee bit of anxiety. Also took an awful summer class that stressed me out big time. I also started clenching my teeth in my sleep...weird, no?

August - Took a much needed vacation with my gal A. Visited all the West Coast darlings and drove from San Francisco to San Diego. Precarious but completely beautiful! Finally stopped clenching the teeth.

September - Got to attend the ACL festivus. Bjork rocked my socks.

October - Tons of people got married. Lots of love all around. Visited DC. Fun stuff.

November - Pretty much did school work for a solid month. Endured the worst teammate of ALL TIME. Still managed to pull it together AND turn 27

December - I GRADUATED!!! Also, festivus was fun, of course. I love festivus and I love seeing best friends all in one place. If you missed it, try again next year!

Okay, that brings us to the new year. I didn't make any resolutions, but I will try harder to update ye old blog. I am super busy at work, but now am without schoolwork so I have a lot of lag time. Yesterday I convinced Aneil to train for a half marathon with me in order to keep me busy. If the past 3 weeks are any indicator, without schoolwork or college football to keep me busy, I will literally spend entire evenings playing FreeCell and watching reality tv.

Anywho, moving on, here are the pop culture things I am currently nuts about:

1) Lost (watched all 3 seasons on dvd and am all caught up...have a crush on Sawyer)
2) Law & Order: CI (it's so lame but wonderful...read: have a crush on Vincent D'Onofrio)
3) I had a dream I was dating Daniel Day-Lewis but kept calling him David Alan Grier. Either way, have a crush on DDL.
4) Gossip Girl!!

At any rate, I promise to be back soon. If you have any suggestions for projects I should be working on now that I am a free woman, leave me a comment.

Hope to be back in top blogging form ASAP. You know you love me.

XOXO,
S

1 2 3 4 tell me that you love me more

Hellooooooooo friends.

I am assuming I have lost a lot of readers due to my extended hiatus, but I have been super lazy lately. Or super busy. It depends on how you want to look at it. My summer school class (Human Resource Management) is pretty easy but the pace (test every week!) makes for some intense study sessions. Just think, after I graduate in December, you will have more blog entries than you’ll know what to do with!

There have been many, many events since last post. The weekend following the Philly trip I headed to San Antonio for Amanda’s graduation. She was lovely, of course, and I felt like a proud parent. This has all been well documented in other blogs, but here are some of my favorite photos.

Amanda had to wear a floppy beret (oh, the irony!):

We started drinking around 6:30pm after feasting on Korean BBQ. Oak Hills was the scene, and it was jam packed full of newly minted doctors and lawyers, including these folks:

I FINALLY got to hang out with Carla, who was drunky and newly engaged and utterly adorable. Check out her blog in the new link on the right of the page. Anywho, here she is with her fiancée, Michael, who had this really great Biggie shirt, complete with bedazzled sequin bling:

Obligatory Best Friend Photo:

Okay, so the next weekend I headed back to Austin (with family in tow) for Memorial Day weekend. We did lots of grilling and feasting with Aneil’s parents, and we even made a day trip to San Antonio to hit the boardwalk and make memories. We feasted at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk. We also saw the worst 3D movie of all time at the IMAX theater. I blame Aneil and Fro for choosing it. But check out how cute we are in our glasses:

The next weekend Aneil came over to hang out with me and provide moral support when I cut my hair. Here we are waiting for my appointment at this cute bookstore with funny stuffed toys next door to the salon:

Here’s my new hair:

We also got to hang out with Maria/Casey and Bree/Travis at Kelvin Arms and held our first ever appetizer party! Appetizer party rocks my socks. Aneil and I crafted little tomatoes filled with hummus, ham swirls filled with onion, and mini corndogs. Everyone brought 2-3 appetizers and they were all delicious…THEN after a night at Kelvin, we came home and snacked on the leftovers…brilliant!

The following weekend I headed back to Austin to see Aneil, since he was leaving for Bonnaroo the next weekend. I stupidly had school on FRIDAY NIGHT. Ugh. So I didn’t leave until Saturday morning, but we still managed to a) go the mall, b) eat at Thundercloud (oh California Club Sub how I love thee), c) drive out to the middle of nowhere to pick up Aneil’s repaired stereo from this kooky fella who was sort of like a hippie high school physics teacher who loves electronics, and d) boogied with Neha and Jules and Aneil’s other friends at da club. The only thing missing was an appetizer night, really.

The next weekend was super sad, as we had to say fare thee well to our little Lamonica. She moved to Portland last Friday and I’m already bummed because I have no one to call up to drag to random shows or have dinner with or anything. It’s super dumb when best friends move away. At any rate, we threw her a bon voyage the Saturday before she left (complete with appetizers of course) and then we partied it up in Rice Village. Lamonica got super drunky, so it was fun of course:

Okay so that just about brings us back to the present. Last weekend we just watched tons of Veronica Mars (have you all started watching this yet? It’s so awesome!) and celebrated the fact that I don’t have to take my Management final, so no more school until July 5. Hurrah! So I am spending lots of time planning for Amanda and my trip to California (!) in August and doing math puzzles. It’s glooorious. Not much else to report so here’s my list of things I love:

1) Macaroni and Cheese
2) Red seedless grapes & white cheddar Cheez-its (I eat them at the same time!)
3) Boggle tournament with Aneil
4) Travel guides
5) Visits from Anthony
6) New Feist album I purchased at Waterloo with Chad (seriously, how can you not think this song is great? and the video is ADORABLE!)



Here’s my list of observations I made while listening to FM radio on the way to Austin:

1) “Light My Fire” is probably the hottest song containing an organ solo ever recorded
2) Oldies stations should really play more Zombies and Bowie and waaaay less Rush
3) The fact that 80’s and 90’s is considered “oldies” makes me feel like an oldie
4) Hearing a live version of “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads on the radio makes me yelp with joy
5) I don't understand the appeal of the new Rhianna or Justin Timberlake song…I am ready to find my poppy summer anthem, but haven’t heard a good one yet. Am I going to have to re-use "Big Pimpin'"?

Here’s a random list of reasons I like Aneil:

1) He likes to challenge me to Boggle tournaments.
2) He did not think it was stupid to drive all over town looking for Veronica Mars disc 6 to rent, then give up and just go buy the whole season at Target…in fact, he encouraged it.
3) He thought that going to Katz’s Deli for 2 meals in a row because it was so tasty the first time was a great idea!
4) He worked really really hard on a classic rock playlist to enter this contest: XM & VH1 Contest
5) He holds my hand even when I’m smelly or boring.

Anywho, I have also added new links to the right of the page so you can check out some stuff that I am interested in and/or endorse.

If you're studying for a professional exam of any sort I am sending you good brain vibes. I love you all and promise to be more bloggy from now on...

Motownphilly back again...

Hello! I just got back from a long weekend in Philly with my BFF from Bayport: Kim, Dona, and Val. We shipped Val up there, well technically to Delaware, about 1 year ago, so we got to check in on her and her doggies and experience as much of Philly as possible in 2 days. Kim is originally from South Philly (think: Rocky’s neighborhood) so we got the local flavor tour as well. Here’s my best effort at a synopsis.

Continental serves strange foods courtesy of SkyChef (which I think is owned by Lufthansa so I am blaming the Germans!). Our “meal” consisted of a small pizza topped with ranch dressing, chopped steak, and goopy cheese. Why does this food item even exist? Also, we watched “Music and Lyrics” on the plane, which I was just SURE I would love, even though Maria and Casey gave it 2 thumbs down (I mean come on, I love Drew and Hugh and the 80’s and pop music!). But they were right after all, as the movie was exhausting and sort of soul-less. Kim pointed out that it made the plane ride seem even longer. Blah.

Friday we headed to Philly to do all the tourist-y stuff. We ate DELICIOUS pizza at this place called Grotto’s, which apparently is a popular chain serving “boardwalk/beach” pizza. Northerners and Midwesterners are sort of weird about their pizza and its geographical origins, but “beach pizza” gets my seal of approval. This was simply the first of many many “Meals Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats.”

Here’s the Liberty Bell. Apparently it had a casting flaw which was “repaired” at some point, then when they tried to use it again the “repair” cracked even worse and left it non-operational. I dunno why I thought it would be HUGE because it was sort of little. Here’s me and Dona taking our turn at a snapshot:

Also Ben Franklin is a big Philly celeb, so we saw his grave, and the place where his house was (the only part of it still intact is the privy…eww), and his post office. I love Ben. You should read his autobiography. He’s sort of a wack-a-doo.

Then the girls let me drag them to University City, where all the colleges are, so we could stop by the World Cafe HQ. World Cafe is significant to me and the brown boy and played an integral part in the story of our lub, so I was excited. Lots of hipsters were there enjoying happy hour, and a DJ played some tunes. Sadly, no shows that day. Here I am making my delighted muppet face:

So then we were off to enjoy Meal Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats #2 at this place called Tony Luke’s. It was sort of situated under the highway, adding to its off-the-beaten-path appeal. I ordered my cheesesteak with American Cheese and Onions and it was pretty good. Yes, I ate the whole thing. We then had to walk off the cheesesteaks so we wandered around Penn’s Landing and saw some sights. We also saw what appeared to be the equivalent of Midtown, i.e. yuppies galore, but it was somewhat charming. We headed back to South Philly for the best Philly treat ever: WATER ICE. I have always made fun of Kim and her insistence that water ice is somehow different/better than snow cones, slurpees, shaved ice, etc. But she was RIGHT. It can only be described as ICE that is like WATER, or WATER ICE. Apparently it is a secret scientific phenomenon that creates water ice, and only certain places know how it is done. Here at Italiano’s I opted for the Gelati, which was water ice layered with vanilla ice cream. Oh water ice, how I love thee:Okay, also there is this other strange northern phenomenon called Wawa. Really, it’s just a convenience store without gas pumps. But EVERYONE goes there. They have dozens of flavors of coffee and they sell tons of packaged cakes and little sandwiches. I honestly don’t understand the love for Wawa but I appreciate it nonetheless. Here I am with Kim selecting a Tastykake:

Northerners also love their Dunkin Donuts, as there is one about every few blocks, probably more than Starbucks. I tried a couple, but nothing can ever ever top Nelson’s Donuts in Lake Charles. Between the donuts and tastykake, I managed to keep my saturated fat equilibrium constant until lunchtime. Check out Frankie Avalon and Fabian in this mural!So we headed to the Italian Market, where there are lots of butcher shops and produce stands and smelly fish and whatnot. We spent a while in a cutie kitchenware store and Val bought us some fresh pasta to cook for dinner. While there we of course had to hit Cheesesteak Valhalla, i.e. Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s. We wanted to compare/contrast, so we got 2 of each and split them amongst the 4 of us. I was complimented by a local on my ability to utter the words, “Whiz Wit” with a straight face and therefore properly order my sandwich. Cheese whiz, although seemingly a terrible idea, was actually delicious on the sandwich! I can’t really say which place was better, although Geno’s tasted less fat-tastic, but it may just be the lack of Whiz on my sandwich from there. It was very confusing, but I give Meal Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats #3 the edge over Tony Luke’s, I think because the sandwich bread at these 2 places was delicious. Also grease ran down my arm and that’s FINE.

Geno's?

Or Pat's (in the background behind me & Val)?

Then we headed to Jeweler’s Row, which is basically a couple of blocks in downtown with tons and tons of jewelry stores. We window-shopped a lot, and a quirky old man told us some long-winded yet charming stories about Philly, and I want to say he talked about how he knew Albert Einstein. Anywho, I spent an exorbitant amount of money on this necklace (it’s a black pearl done up with little diamonds and white gold meant to resemble a sea anemone). I am craaazy about it:

So freshly adorned with jewels, we decide it’s time for more WATER ICE, so we head back to Kim’s neighborhood to sample the water ice at Pop’s. This time I opted for orange dream with soft serve ice cream and it too was GLORIOUS. Post water ice we headed home, where Val made us an excellent meal consisting of fresh pasta, olive oily garlicy delicious sauce, bread, salad and wine. YUM. While she cooked, we strangely watched “Center Stage” which apparently all of my friends secretly own on DVD/VHS. So weird. We also discussed how the movie is TERRIBLE in every way yet weirdly entertaining. Kim astutely pointed out that at least it was better that “Music and Lyrics”, which was just a little sad, considering one of the co-stars is Olympic figure skater, Ilia Kulik.

Next morning we woke up at 5:30 (OMG) for the big Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Thanks to your generosity, I raised $1130 for the cause!!!! Thank you so much! I have no idea how long it took me to run the race, however. We started late because of the huge crowds at the bathrooms, and by the time we got to the start line the walkers had already started and it was just a wall of people. I tried to keep up with Val, dodging around people, but was a little timid due to wonky knee. I did my best, but still got pretty slow by mile, like, 1.5. Ha. Nonetheless, my official time was around 55 minutes, but I am guessing that my actual time was closer to 45 minutes. I was very proud indeed and don’t worry, I will make good on my promise to send you guys official Shelley training mix tapes in appreciation for your donations. You are all awesome!

We had time for (what I thought would be) our last Meal Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats. We drove around a while until we found a sandwich shop that was open and we feasted on hoagies loaded with meats and cheeses and whatnot. They were actually pretty good, and I strangely adapted to the local cuisine, and felt like a champ. We then hit Rita’s for more WATER ICE. This place is the water ice chain, so slightly less authentic, but I did discover that Mango is my favorite flavor and I liked that they use frozen custard in their gelati. Oh Water Ice! Swoon!

Then it was time to head home, where airport dinner consisted of Meal Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats #5, i.e. Philly style pizza. I split a slice with Dona in a futile effort to save our arteries. But I mean, we got on the plane, where they served us our final Meal Consisting of Meat, Cheese, and Saturated Fats #6, which was a strangely delicious cheeseburger wrapped in plastic. This time there was no movie, so Kim and I chatted the whole way home, which proved to be much more entertaining than Music and Lyrics anyway.

So, my trip was fun and exhausting and I love my engineer gals a lot. I am currently in water ice withdrawal, and my soft serve cone from Chick Fil A today was just NOT the same. I have, however, gone vegetarian for the rest of the week, to do a little damage control, so hope that helps.

In other non-Philly news, my Amanda is done and done with law school. I don’t understand why they make them start law review classes immediately after they are done with normal classes, but maybe that’s not much to ask considering they will be making the big bucks someday. I get to attend her graduation this Saturday and I’m sure Chad and I will be bursting with pride. I am very very excited. Stop by her blog and wish her a congratulatory comment (she loves comments).

My latest tv obsession is Veronica Mars. I love mysteries, plus I love teen drama, so it was basically made just for me! She is like Nancy Drew with spunk! Aneil convinced me to watch it so I Netflix-ed season 1. I love it. It's also not as scary as Criminal Intent, so I don’t get scared at night. Ha. Why am I a 13 year old chubby girl at heart?

In other news I can’t stop eating Raisinets and I check them off as a fruit/vegetable on my weight watchers checklist.

American Idol tonight!

Love you all!

Let's bowl, let's bowl, let's rock n' roll

My most darling brown boy had a birthday party this past weekend (in case you missed it, his birfday was May 2). We made awesome party favor bags complete with Aneil's seasonal mix tape, $1 movies from half price, stickers, pencils, and candy. Ready to paaaartaaaay:

We headed to the bowling alley, where they had $3 white russians, poured from pitchers! And there were tons of friends there. I mean, most of these folks are shellzana guest stars, since they are technically Aneil's friends, so if you are interested, check out photos here. (Aneil, you should email this link to all the people on your evite...I don't have access to do it from my account.) In the meantime, here are some folks you may know and love:I bowled in a lane with Carol, Sean and Kevin. Kevin had an unfair advantage, being the high school bowling coach, and all, but we tried our best. Despite the fact that Carol was totally kicking Sean's booty at the beginning of this game, they still paused to show off all their adorable pink/redness:Aneil was so excited the whole evening, his face was achy by the end of the night. Here he is smiling with his friends Bob and Kenneth:Check out my amazing bowling score! I was tops amongst the ladies, and most of the boys. I rule:

Also check out this AWESOME ninja turtle cake:

So the party was really fun, and I am so glad that this boy was born 27 years ago. I lub him (he's handsome, huh?):

Work is super busy this week, but I am still in a happy mood. I am leaving for Philly on Thursday, and thanks to your generosity, I raised over $1000 for Race for the Cure! I am so proud/amazed by everyone! :)

In other news, I joined Netflix. My first selection was "Just Like Heaven" with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. I sort of loved it. For all you kids who are constantly irritated that I never watch movies, add a comment with your recommendations and I will add them to my queue. (I love that Netflix has put the word "queue" into mainstream use.)

I am sad/relieved about the cancellation of Gilmore Girls. While I love the girls ever so much (not to mention Jess), it is time to say goodbye, methinks. In the meantime, my current tv obsession is Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Sort of love Vincent D'Onofrio. Ha.

Until next time's Philly update, good luck on finals and graduation, everyone! This week I love: boiled eggs, Netflix, bowling, birthdays, and my dearest Aneil!