Weekend Recap

Just to keep this from being an all dance all the time blog, here's a quick run down of my weekend.

I was feeling itchy and claustrophobic in my apartment on Friday so at the advice of the Scotsman I headed over to his place, making a pit stop at Trader Joe's and the liquor store along the way. Since I got to his house kind of late, we spent Friday night noshing on chips and queso and watching cheesy action flicks.

Saturday we spent the day checking out various tattoo places in The Scotsman's area. The Scotsman has a hankering for two new tattoos (he currently has one of a dragon on his left calf); one of the Celtic Tree of Life [similar to this image, only without the outside border], the other of another dragon, with more detail. The Celtic Tree of Life he'd like to get on his right shoulder and the dragon on his inner left forearm. So we went to about three different places, checking out the portfolios of different artists and getting price quotes. In the end, he decided to go back to the place he got his first tattoo, and so today at 4:00, he's getting the Tree of Life done on his shoulder. I am bummed that I can't be with him, but he's wanted this Celtic Tree of Life tattoo for close to 15 years, so he's antsy for it.

After our tattoo excursions, we headed to Temple of Gaia (the Scotsman's coven) for a full moon ritual. The ritual was supposed to be closed and I was content to just stay at the Scotsman's house and wait for him to come back, but I think he felt bad about leaving me for 4+ hours. So he asked his High Priestess if she minded me coming, and since they were only doing the ritual and no lessons and only expecting one other coven member to attend, she said it was fine.

Sunday we headed to New Hope and spent the entire glorious day in the sunshine shopping. Remarkably, I had never been to New Hope before. We had a great time, and I spent my money a little too easily, but managed to buy things I really needed. I finally found a chalice for my altar and got a second emergency back-up chalice (for travel mostly, since my main chalice is ceramic and easily breakable). The chalice was the main thing I've been missing and despite all my searching had been unable to find one that "felt" right to me.

After coming back from New Hope, we spent Sunday evening in the Scotsman's back yard, just hanging out and talking. He lit a fire in his fire pit, lit all his tiki torches and we sat in the garden with drinks and a few clove cigarettes. It was a lovely night, not too hot, with lots of stars in the sky.

Monday morning The Scotsman's Tae Kwon Do club was marching in a local parade, so I went along and walked the parade with them, handing out fliers. It was hot out there, and every time the parade stopped, the students would do their forms and demonstrate self-defense moves. The Scotsman was leading them (he is quite handsome doing Tae Kwon Do, I must say) and sweat was just pouring off of them all. The parade went for over 2 hours and we were beat by the time it was done. We spent afternoon in the air conditioning, napping on the couch and watching episodes of True Blood. We had a cook out that evening with yummy summer foods.

Hope you all had a lovely Memorial Day!

Happy Valentines, A Day Late

Happy Valentine's Day, you guys. Being minus a computer at home means you get this a day late, but trust that I was thinking of you all. Because as you can read from years previous, it's not about being with some body per se, but it's about appreciating the love you have in your lives, in whatever forms it comes: Friends and family.

As for me, I had contented myself on not seeing the Scotsman, since he had his daughter this weekend. But Saturday morning I got a phone call asking me if I'd like to attend a Scottish and Irish Mid-Winter festival with them on Sunday, and hell yes was my answer. And the Scotsman, making all my dreams come true, WORE A KILT. When I saw him walk in the door of the convention center, I literally froze and was breathless for a moment. KILT. GUH.

"You're wearing a kilt," I said, stating the obvious.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said.

Of course, since his daughter was there and, you know, we were in public and all, I couldn't really take advantage of the situation properly. Still...s'nice. We had a lovely day together, enjoying the music and dancing. There was a ceili session and the Scotsman and his daughter both Irish danced* with me, which was across the board AWESOME. And also possibly the way to my heart.

Evidence of the kilt (and believe me, I was kicking myself for not bringing my actual camera):



What can I say? Kilts give me a lady-boner.

So my Valentine's day was cozy, perfect, filled with kilt-wearing men, dancing, happiness and some roses. I hope yours was equally as satisfactory.

*He was pretty good at the ceili dancing, actually. He also Scottish Highland danced a bit for me. ALSO AWESOME. Swoons, people. Swoons.

Happy Halloween...

..from Miss Piggy.





And just because it's the best crossover ever:

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Sláinte chugat, people.

I myself cannot behave in a stereotypical manner tonight, seeing as I have rehearsal. However, thanks in part to Kelly, I did start my day off right:



Apologies for the crappy cell phone pic. Kildare's was running a special for an Irish breakfast + a pint for only $10. I can neither confirm nor deny if I had the pint, as it would be wrong to have one for breakfast and then come into work. *Wink I did have a coffee and Bailey's, which rounded off the entire thing nicely. It was grand.

It did make me really miss Dublin, though. Arriving at Kildare's this morning it was gray, chilly, and slightly damp. A good stiff sea breeze and it would almost be like I was there again. I want to go back, guys.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone.

Happy Valentine's

I say it every year: No matter if you're single or attached, today's a day to appreciate the people in your life you love. And when you stack it up, I've been very lucky in love.

I'm spending Valentine's Day on the couch, hungover, with kitties and movies.

For me, I want to give special shout outs to Renee and Maggie (who are hopefully having romantic days!) and Sarah Rose (who got me hammered last night).

I love you all. Have a wonderful day.

Happy Halloween

From Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock's The Birds.

Halloween Help

YOU GUYS HALLOWEEN IS LIKE 16 DAYS AWAY AND I AM PANICKING. PLEASE HELP ME THINK OF A COSTUME BECAUSE I'VE GOT NOTHING.

Requirements - Has to be appropriate for multiple parties, namely: Office party, Rosemont Party, Pagan Party, and Luke and Leslie's party. Vaguely sexy is OK (i.e., like last year's), but down and out slutty is not cool. I am not a whore and I don't want to be one for Halloween either. Please do not suggest Sarah Palin, like everyone else has, because NO.

April Fools...

... from your friendly office Goths.




Poor Miss J looks so bewildered in this photo. While the rest of us are ready for TEH DARKNESS.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Tabhair 'om póg, is Éireannach mé!

Sin sin, níl aon scéal eile agam.

Sláinte chugat.

Hallmark Holiday

There are a lot of arguments against Valentine's Day: It's a made up day, overly commercialized by Hallmark and jewelry stores, designed to make you feel bad about yourself if you're single and to put pressure on you (and your wallet) if you're attached.

Which is basically true.

But it's also a day when people stop what they're doing and remember to express their love for one another. Which is a sentiment I can really get behind. Even if it's just the love of friendship or family.

So with that in mind, I would like to tell you that I love you guys. You're all lovely.

And for those anti-Valentiners out there, have a bloody Happy Valentine's Day anyway:

There are worse ways to ring in the New Year

Standing on Baltimore Harbor, watching the fireworks, having just eaten one of the most decadent, not to mention expensive meals, of my life. Wearing a sparkly dress and satin heels. Flute of champagne in my hand. Huddled with Nina, Tipsy Dave, Mike, Al, Teresa and the blueberry (awww, blueberry!). Still all warm and heady from the fabulous wine and cocktails. Wearing one of those cheesy tiaras that say "Happy New Year" in glittery cardboard. Noise makers going off everywhere. Looking forward the creme brulee that's waiting for me at the table, which after champagne, will be my first taste of the New Year. Feeling very, very happy, but fondly thinking of all of you, wishing I could hug each and every one of you.


I hope all of you had fantastic new year. I love you guys.

So long 2007!

Last year at this time, I wrote something along the lines of "Kiss off, 2006! You sucked!" I had promised myself that 2007 had to be better. And so it was.

2007 was sort of a rebuilding year. And that was fine by me. It wasn't the year of Broken Hearts like Miss J thought (although I did put a number of slashes on that post-it, most of them in hindsight complete knobs) or the year of Awesome Money or anything like that. It was filled with stress, career changes, some sadness at losing a roommate (2 blocks have never felt so far!), and educational challenges.

2008, I feel, is going to be huge for me. Just look at those round orbs! '08 will be great! (OK that was lame I know.)

Some quick resolutions:

1. Travel more. This morning, we all sat around reading our horoscopes for the new year and while Virgos are going to have a year of BIG LOVE, Taurus-like people should be prepared to greet some foreign soil. Which is A-OK by me. I'm all ABOUT that. I'm hoping it's the soil of the UK and Ireland, so I can finally get this jonesing, which has been plaguing me for months, sorted. Of course, the problem with going to the UK is that I seriously might not come back.
   
   
2. Work at keeping in touch with loved ones. Too many fantastic friends and family members fell by the wayside this year as I got all wrapped up in myself and my activities. Leading to far too many conversations of "I haven't talked to you in FOREVER!" and "I've missed you so much!"
   
   
3. Be more fabulous. This means accepting myself for who I am and embracing it. It could also mean acquiring some elbow-length satin gloves and perhaps standing around fireplaces with dashing young men named Reginald and dramatically throwing crystal flutes of champagne into the fire after a few sips. I'll leave it up for interpretation.

Hope you guys have a brilliant new year. Catch you in '08!

SANTA'S COMING!

It's that magic hour. Late Christmas Eve, full from dinner, post vigil mass. We're about to head off to see some of our oldest friends, but before we go, we're just hanging quietly in the house. The tree is lit and decorated. Everyone is relaxed and quiet. But the air is full of anticipation and possibility.

I hope wherever you are and whatever you celebrate you are with loved ones and are merry tonight.

Turkey is in the hizz-ouse!

Ahhhh....

How relaxing to be at home, cuddled up, drinking copious amounts of coffee, enjoying time with the fam. The house is filled with lovely smells, lots of onion and sage. In about 20 minutes we're going to depart for my aunt's house where we will feast, drink, feast, snooze, play music, laugh, feast, chat, feast, play games, and feast. It's going to be a good day.

There are two small dampers on our Thanksgiving, though -- my brother is ill (he's hacking and coughing on the couch as I type this, yet he's in good spirits) and for the first year ever my cousin Sean will not be with us as he is in Ireland at University of Limerick becoming an Irish music rock star. I feel so bad for Sean at this moment, because while I know he's enjoying school and having fun bashing around Ireland, I imagine he must be quite homesick today. Thanksgiving is such a significant holiday for my family. I can't remember a time when we haven't been all together, enjoying one another's company and acting crazy. Certain traditions center around Sean specifically too (my Uncle Mike always snatches something from his plate, the music sessions post-dinner), I know we'll be feeling his absence.

Wherever you are and whoever you are with, I hope you have a happy delicious day.

Yeah, Halloween was yesterday...

But I'm still in a spooky mood. We have far too much candy left over, the smell of fall is in the air, and we have two fat (uncarved) pumpkins in our kitchen.



Also, I'm not ready for it to be November yet. So there.

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat from Twister!



My facial expression in this looks kind of gooberish, but whatever. I don't care. I am a goober.

I am doing my best today to be kicky and have some 'Weenish fun and trying to take a break from STRESSING THE FUCK OUT, which is like my default setting right now. I'm going to ignore how far behind I am in just about everything, how much I abhor the new iMovie '08 version 7.1 because it's a fragging piece of crap, how I have a paper due this evening that is not finished yet, how I have to go filming in 15 minutes but haven't heard anything from my actor yet nor do I have props ready and I need to find a potato STAT, because you know what? Fuck it. It's Halloween, bitches. I'm treating myself to a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and kicking back with Kelly tonight and an Asian horror flick I rented.

Everybody, RIGHT HAND GREEN!

Wheeeeekend Recap

Friday was a long-ass day. Aside from being ridiculously busy, an announcement was made that means more Big Upheaval, and if I didn't see the writing on the wall before, it's damn clear now. Omens, people. Pay attention to them.

Anyway. This is about Baltimore. Baltimore was fun. Mike came to pick me up and our ride down was fairly uneventful, save the Finnish Metal music that I just couldn't handle. Somewhere in Maryland I snapped and plugged in my iPod and forced to Mike listen to real music.

We were the last to arrive, everyone was already gathered in the kitchen when we arrived, sipping beers and being jolly. Al was cooking. Lauren was helping. Nina and Dave were speaking at the decibels expected should one of them be in North Dakota, arguing about God only knows what. Mike joined right in. Teresa could do nothing but laugh. And I hauled out my camera immediately.

Al, because he is a frickin' genius, made The Best Damn Sangria I've Ever Tasted. I'm sort of kicking myself for forgetting to get the recipe from him.



Notice how it is GONE. We drank 2 pitchers of this stuff. It was light, sweet, refreshing, and most importantly, alcoholic. Al made chorizo con queso, which I think was made with Mexican sausage, cheese, and awesomeness. He made an out-of-this-world bean dip, a fiery salsa that caused Dave to cry, and the fixings for both chicken and beef tacos. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If Teresa hadn't already nabbed him, I would so marry Al and live out my days eating anything he cooked and being a jolly fat woman.

Speaking of Tree and Al:



They're rather adorable. Hosts with the most! Anyway, Dave came with a play he's written and asked us to do a table reading to help him iron out problems. This allowed for Mike to perform his Orson Wells impression and allowed Al to showcase his old timey-radio voice. As you can imagine, this led to a lot of laughter.





Or maybe that was just the sangria. After a lot of eating, drinking, and chatting, we made our plans for Saturday and headed off to bed.

Saturday morning brought about some girlie time, and us ladies headed off to an Herb Festival at a local park.



Plants were everywhere, Teresa bought at least half of them, we confused fennel and dill, Lauren nearly became orgasmic smelling the Mexican sage, I took a frillion photos, and we had a fabulous time. As we were following the path through the park, we turned a corner and suddenly OWLS.



They were just there. And really close. And having lived all my life in the vicinity of owls, strangely enough I've never been really close to one like this before. It was kind of cool. Lauren called them "cat birds" because they were so alert and...wiry. It felt like they were about to pounce at any second. There was a wee tiny screech owl that I wanted to keep in my pocket.



After all the herbs, we headed back to the house and began planning the rest of the day. Al decided (okay, okay, we begged him) to make homemade Dark Chocolate Rum Walnut ice cream (I KNOW) and this led to Lauren and I accompanying him on a quest to get the ingredients. When we got back, Al began cooking again (bless you Al, bless you) and we went to the back yard/park to play frisbee.







Plum tuckered out from frisbee, we came back, sat on the front porch and feasted on organic hot dogs and hamburgers, with the aforementioned ice cream for dessert.

Sunday, after a big breakfast Dave and Lauren left us (losers) and the remaining cool kids headed to the streets of Baltimore for an art festival. More precisely, SoWeBo -- South West Bohemian Art Festival. And here my camera exploded because I took SO MANY pictures.











After the arts fest, we went off to grab some dinner. We went out for Egyptian food, which was fantastic. I had fata with lamb. I am still unsure what exactly fata is, but whatever the hell it was it was delicious. Then we walked around a local book store (of course I bought 4 books, Jesus) to kill time before going to see a movie.

A word about the movie. I had already seen the movie (Pirates) with Jim and Stephanie on Thursday, and I didn't mind seeing it again. However. I was beyond fan-girl excited that we were going to see it at The Senator. See, The Senator is the last big movie house in Baltimore. It seats a thousand, and the interior is all art deco and cool. But I knew about The Senator because it's the theater my boyfriend worked hard to save and has many of his movie premiers/fundraising screenings there. So when Tree suggested we go to see a movie there, the very first thing that popped out of my mouth was, "That's Edward Norton's theater!" Outside of the theater they have squares of sidewalk showing the movies that have premiered there, designed to look like the movie titles and such, with the key actors names signed in the concrete ala Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I may or may not have reached down to briefly touch one of the obviously fake EN signatures. Shut up.

Shut UP, I tell you.

The theatre was great though. I'd forgotten what it's like to see a movie with that many people -- I vaguely remember seeing some movie as a kid in a theater like that. I'm sure it was soon replaced with a multiplex. It's a whole different energy in a place like that. It was grand.

Monday Al, Mike, and I headed to more bookstores for good deals (...and I bought 4 more books...leave me alone) while Nina and Tree planted the plants purchased at the herb fest. After book goodness (Atomic Boooks was closed due to holiday, bah), we ate Indian food and headed back to PA.

All in all, a fantastic weekend. Happy Memorial Day!

An bhfuil tú dálta fós?

Uh, the answer to that would be yes.

St. Patrick's Day was everything it was supposed to be: Good times, good fun, good friends, good music, good food, and most definitely good drinks.

Kildare's was packed. Sean played fantastically. Renee, Haven, and Mike all came to hang out, plus my Aunt and Uncle. The boxty was delicious. The drinks were flowing. I danced. Cute Irish men all around. Lots of laughter. Lots of fun.

Things I would've changed, if I could:

• The weather. The snow/sleet/ice was a little bitch to us this year, causing among other things, a delay in Sean arriving on Friday and also the two (yes, two) car accidents he was in along the way. The snow prevented my parents from coming out and prevented, I think, more of my friends from coming as well. I had also planned on making a nice big Ulster Fry for Sean and I for breakfast, but since we had to dig out our cars from the ice, it turned out that there wasn't really time.
  
  
• I would have stretched before dancing. You guys, ouch. I remembered very quickly this morning why it's important to stretch before dancing, especially if you haven't danced in, oh, 4 years. Somehow, during a jump-two-three no doubt, I pulled something in my right calf. However, the one good thing about my dancing is that apparently I still got it. I was showing Haven how to ceili swing, and later a woman came up to me and told me I should go back out and dance again. When I demurred, she told me it was "obvious" that I used to dance and that I clearly knew what I was doing. Then, later at Debbie and Brian's when Brian asked me to dance, Lisa Nicole came out with, "EightK is all graceful," to which I had to scoff. I'm much more of a dumpling now than I ever was when I was dancing and competing. It amazes me that I can still get my legs in the air, much less be called graceful. Still, it makes me want to dance again. Haven was a willing learner, and they have Ceilis once a month at the Irish center, maybe she'll want to go to a couple with me.
  
  
• Kelly. She missed everything since she is Texas buying big belt buckles! What fun is that?

All in all though, it was a spectacular day. Beannachdan na fheill Padraig!

Fun and Trouble Brewing

You guys. I am SO EXCITED about St. Patrick's Day.

What are you guys doing on Saturday? That's great. You should completely bag your plans though. Screw your plans and join me and my crazy awesome boozey family at Kildare's in KOP because from 1-4 my crazy awesome talented cousin has a gig there. After 4? We'll still probably be drinking it up and rocking it out.

Are you ready? I'm ready now! Síamsa!

What time is it? VALENTIMES!

Regardless of whether I have someone to spend the day with, all romantical and lovey or not, I love Valentine's day. Yes, I know it's a holiday that's been degraded and exploited by Hallmark and jewelry stores. But I still love the idea of having that one day where you throw all caution to the wind and express what's truly in your heart -- be it to someone you're in love with, someone you've been admiring from afar, or even just your dear friends. I received a Valentine from QK yesterday that said, "You are the sweetest friend. I love you. I simply needed you to know it." And that, people, is what it is all about. The past two single years of my life I've made it a point to tell the people I'm surrounded by that I love them. I usually bring a dozen roses to work and pass them out to my coworkers. I hand make Valentines for my friends. I bunker down with my girlies in the DEATH SHELTER. Last year I gave Kelly and Mike a goody bag filled with chocolates, sweetheart candies and ring pops. Because when it comes down to it, whether or not I have Mr. Right or even Mr. Right Now in my life, considering all the wonderful people I've been blessed to be surrounded by, I am very very lucky in love.

This year, however, I've been a bit distracted. I'm not going to lie -- part of that is because I am feeling a bit lonely. But more than that, I've just been busy -- I have a 15 page writing piece due tomorrow that is in desperate need of attention, I've been working on the monstrosity for over a week. And I'm more than a little stressed about work/money issues. Last night at about 9:30 I had an I-coulda-hada-V8 moment when I remembered that today is Valentine's day. Like, I knew it was this week and all, but it really snuck up on me. I forgot to buy roses. I didn't have a chance to make Valentines. And now that we're stranded in an Arctic storm, it hardly seems to matter. But I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy Valentine's day. I hope you are all fortunate to have loving caring people in your lives the same as I do.