Happy New Year! I think of you both often. Have made the transition to vegetarianism. Maybe vegan one day. It’s a process. I love the challenge to be creative and the health benefits as well. Come to Austin and visit me sometime.
Karen
Okay, so I am coming to this way late, but I just wanted to commiserate on the Money Pit situation. We are considering selling our house next year just to avoid putting in a new roof and furnace. I know I don’t want to stay in this house for another five or so years, so I know we’d never get our money back (we’d have to finance those repairs). Well, there are other reasons why we want to sell but those are big ones. As it stands now we have a huge To Do list just to get the house ready to show. Ugh.
GREAT letter! But I was shocked to see the notebook paper with FIVE HOLES! At a Catholic school? No wonder you Mount Saint Joe’s/Joe Paradox chicks were completely out of control!
I would still love to do a little “wax on wax off” with Ralph Macchio.
Ever since my Granny’s house was torn down - it just hasn’t been the same when I visit my relatives. I visualize every detail - details that they have no recollection of or attachment to ... sad. :(
I had no idea your AC was out!!!
And I’m so glad we get to share the GLEE obsession together!!
I feel the exact same way about my grandparent’s house and it has been 3 or more years since it was sold. I still can’t drive by because I don’t want to see it without the milk tin on the front porch.
That is an excellent point. Wheat and soy-based ingredients are so prevalent in vegan cuisine, so to take those out of the mix could seem daunting. And, it’s a competition, so I’m betting nerves played a part, as well.
Ok, how awesome is Rick Bayless’ restaurant to be so accomodating? That says a lot about his leadership as the owner, and about his philosophy of feeding people.
What you’re saying about fake meat products is so true. From time to time, we overuse them for protein, because they cook up fast and are easy to add to one-pot meals. The most delicious meals are the ones which feature one key, flavorful ingredient, or those that require a bit more creativity than just opening a package.
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About Me
vegan. teacher. opinionated. loves books, shoes, hanson, ‘the amazing race’, the 80s, ‘waiting for guffman’, mid-afternoon naps, musicals and breakfast cereal. four cats. one redhead. hi.
I don’t think I can say it enough. I love Ikea. With the exception of about three things, our entire house is has been furnished by the good company of Sweden. Some of my favorite new purchases include this lamp and these chairs. In red, of course.
I bought this book: Beginning CSS Web Development: From Novice to Professional by Simon Collison with a gift card over the summer. It’s fantastic! I am a complete novice with this sort of thing, but I’m learning quickly thanks to this book. Thanks to Collison, I’ll never forget to top center my background image again.
If you like playing with color and color palettes, you’ll love this site - Colour Lovers. I’m playing with a blog redesign right now and it’s the perfect place to create a palette. Fun!
Some of my favorite songs from the 80s got very little radio play, or at least I thought so because they didn’t play them 24/7 on an endless loop. I remember sitting in front of the television for hours, watching MTV and waiting for one of these videos to show up.
Howard Jones, New Song
My favorite song from the 80s. Happy, upbeat, fun.
Icicle Works, Whisper to A Scream
I adore this song. To a ridiculous degree.
Aztec Camera, Oblivious
Couldn’t find the original video to this song, but this is an amazing acoustic version. With Neil Finn. YES.
Big Country, In A Big Country
Love this video from Top of the Pops.
The Psychedelic Furs, The Ghost in You
Really, one cannot go wrong with Richard Butler.
Depeche Mode, Everything Counts
The grabbing hands grab all they can. I defy you to rid yourself of that earworm.
Duran Duran, New Moon on Monday
My favorite of all their songs.
When In Rome, The Promise
So my parents were here for a visit last week and my dad pretty much spent the entire week making up nonsense songs and singing them on repeat until we were either laughing tears or ready to punch him out.
I can’t remember the last time I wrote something here. I used to feel pretty comfortable writing all sorts of honest things on this blog, but now it just seems like an exercise in narcissism. Or something. I guess I just don’t feel like pouring the details of my life into a public place anymore. I’ve got to figure out what this space is supposed to be now, because I’m certainly not getting rid of it.
Maybe I’ll go back to my pop culture roots and make this a place for trivia and other such ramblings.
Since when does placement on a Do Not Call list mean getting calls from the same telemarketer ten (no, I’m not exaggerating) times a day? Since today, apparently. So after the tenth call and two cups of coffee, this is what they get.
“Hello, Danielle?”
“YES. WHAT.”
“This is BlahDeeBlah from Chase Services.”
“YOU HAVE CALLED HERE LIKE TEN TIMES TODAY. WHY ARE YOU CALLING HERE TEN TIMES TODAY? I AM ON THE DO NOT CALL LIST. STOP CALLING HERE.”
“I’m calling to offer you...”
“I DO NOT WANT WHATEVER IT IS YOU ARE OFFERING ME. STOP CALLING HERE. STOP. STOP CALLING. STOP NOW. I AM ON THE DO NOT CALL LIST. SO STOP CALLING. ARE YOU GOING TO STOP CALLING?”
“...”
“PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST AND SO THAT MEANS DO NOT CALL HERE. EVER. AGAIN. DO NOT CALL HERE. STOP CALLING HERE. I KNOW YOU ARE JUST DOING YOUR JOB BUT STOP IT. STOP CALLING. STOP IT. NEVER CALL HERE AGAIN. AM I ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST?”
I’d like to offer up some resolutions and I hope people will take them seriously. As we embark on a new decade, there are some things that simply need to go away.
1. “Sleeps.” As in, “Three more sleeps until vacation!” Just stop that.
2. “Made of awesome.” As in, “Last night’s episode of Glee was made of awesome.” I am sure that I have used this phrase but now that everyone in the world uses it I really want it to stop.
3. When your facebook status update and your twitter tweet is exactly or almost exactly the same. We should all agree to unfriend/unfollow anyone who does this. Put some effort into social networking for my entertainment, please!
Is this too much to ask of you, Internets? I don’t think so. Let’s all work together to make the ‘10s the best decade EVA! OMGPONIES!!!1111!!!!. <---- Make that number 4.
For some reason, the photo of the letter I wrote to Ralph Macchio in the ‘80s has been a popular click for people image searching “Ralph Macchio” over the last two days. I have no idea why, but I thought it was a good enough reason to bring back the original blog post I wrote about it. Please, enjoy.
***
OMG. I’m in the process of organizing our house and I found this in a container of things from my childhood:
It’s an unsent letter to Ralph Macchio - still in the envelope addressed to ABC-TV. I’m guessing I wrote this when I was around 14.
God, I am so glad I didn’t send that or for sure I would have ended up on some secret list of stalkers to watch out for.
Let’s see…
I open the letter by barking out orders. A nice introduction, don’t you think? If that didn’t give him the warm fuzzies, I’m sure the thinly-veiled threat that followed would have made him jump for a pen and paper! I WON’T BE IGNORED!
Next, a description of a piecemeal centerfold in Tiger Beat serves as a metaphor for the aforementioned thinly-veiled threat.
Finally, I must have realized that Ralph Macchio wouldn’t be writing me back any time soon, so I close the letter with my signature attitude at that time of what may be best described as “arrogant indifference” with just a smattering of “fear of rejection.” No wonder no one ever asked me on a date.
And yet, look how the little fangirl in me holds on to one iota of hope with that p.s. at the end. Sigh.
Not one of my finer moments, folks. But entertaining, so what the hell!
