a while ago and recently

currently listening: these things - she wants revenge

alright folks...im almost caught up...just be patient w/ me.

monday - 09.25.06
cheap date night at the angelika! but first, dixie and i satiated our south indian vegetarian craving at madras pavilion. mmm....palak paneer (or as i commonly refer to it as, saag paneer). delicious! arrived a little late to the angelika where gwang, vi, stanley, and christina had already found their seats to watch the last kiss. jeremiah waited patiently for us latecomers and we all grabbed some free popcorn and soda and quietly found seats behind our posse. the movie was ok...not something i'd put on my top priority of movies to watch. it's hard to like a movie in which all the characters act like idiots and you are constantly wanting to grab them by the shoulders and shake them to death (or until some sense popped into their thick skulls).

tuesday - 09.26.06
tuesdays are always hard for me to remember. i think i came home from work and immediately proceeded to take a 2 hr. nap. when does a nap stop becoming a nap and turn into full blown sleep? 3 hrs? 4 hrs? also, why are pineapples called pineapples? b/c they taste like apples that look like pine cones? they certainly look like pine cones...but definitely dont taste like apples. sorry, that was random.

wednesday - 09.27.06
volunteered to represent cornell at the college fair at CLHS (my old high school!) after work. was told to get there by 6:30pm...and that the other cornell alum would be bringing the materials/brochures to hand out to prospective students and their parentals. 6:45pm rolls on by...other alum still has not arrived...many people have stopped by the booth now wondering why i have no material. "come back in 10 mins" i say nervously. it is now 7:00pm...still no one, im sure all the parents are super impressed w/ cornell now. 7:10pm, raymond finally arrives (he accidently went to clear creek high instead of clear lake)....brings goodies and we set up the table. parents and students flock to our booth and about an hour later, we were wiped clean of all our handouts. packed up around 845pm and headed home.

thursday - 09.28.06
rock climbing w/ dixie and jeremiah. was only able to complete 2 runs out of maybe 5. lots of times i got stuck and couldnt reach the next hold or lost my grip and ended up suspended in the air. if only i had 6 extra inches of reach! blast. was still fun and throbbing of the forearms and back muscles felt good, in a masochistic sort of way. headed over to onion creek for beer and food. met up w/ leesa, luis, danny, and alyssha...chatted and chilled and then headed back to dixie's around 11:30pm.

friday - 09.29.06
contemplated working out after work...left the office and started driving towards the gym...accidently made a left instead of going straight and before i knew it, i had unconsciously taken the road that lead back home. was too lazy to turn around and head towards the gym, so ended up going home where i promptly "rested my eyes a bit" on the bed. karishma called later on...i woke up and realized it was 8pm already. whoa...second time this week i've taken a 2 hr. nap. k wanted to know if i was up to anything that night. told her no but didn't really want to drink and there were no good movies out that i wanted to watch. somehow she convinced me to go out for just one drink. ok..."just one drink", i repeated. she picked me up around 10pm and we made our way to molly's. once at molly's, k asks what i wanted to drink. preferably a light beer b/c my beer gut is getting bigger by the day and i already had a mini-drink fest last night at onion creek. k suggests we do a shot first...and proceeds to order 4 (FOUR!) chocolate cake shots. oh my. i half-heartedly protested...but im pretty sure anything i said would've been futile. we do our two shots each and k leaves it up to me to order our next round of drinks as she runs to the bathroom. not to be outdone by her, i ask the bartender for a shot suggestion. she suggests some italian apple shots...i request 4 of them. k comes back...we toast our 2 shots and then k orders a pitcher of beer. ok ok...that's it...after the pitcher, im done. halfway through our first pint, a guy strolls on over and sits down next to us. he starts up some small talk...asks us for our names (i was jennifer for the night, and k was katie). the bartender (who has our credit cards and thus, knows our real names) had to hold back a chuckle/smirk and slinked away before she blew our cover. riley wasn't leaving anytime soon...so k kept making me chug my beer w/ her. 10 mins. later, i finally finish up and we scoot on out, leaving riley alone w/ our bartender. the last time i hung out w/ k, we made a pit stop at taco cabana for queso and tortillas, and she's been craving them since. so of course, we stop at tc, order a large queso, a dozen tortillas and begin to chow down as we chatted. this dieting thing isn't going so well. k brings up the fact that she got tickets to the ellen show in LA in october and asked if i wanted to go. AHH!! DO I WANT TO GO??? OF COURSE I WANT TO GO....but....i'll already be spending a good $600 to go to mexico for vi's bachelorette party in october....and i really need to stop spending so much money...but i have good friends in LA that i could visit...dilemas, dilemas! anyways, around 130am, we decide to head on back...except k really really wanted to watch some episodes of nip/tuck that she had recorded...but since i was on the rag (maybe that's why the guy came over and started talking to us...he could smell my pheremones!), i needed to make a pit stop back at home to pick up some things. we got to her place, i changed into my pj's and we watched nip/tuck til we fell asleep.

saturday - 09.30.06
woke up around 8am...k doesnt sleep in. had to get back home to shower and make it in town to lankford grocery & market for brunch w/ phil (my chinese-brazilian friend...when he speaks portugese, i melt), who happened to be in town from phoenix for the weekend visiting his grandparents. since i had to go straight from meeting w/ phil to the ballet, i had to get all dressed up for brunch. there was much flattery from phil when we met up and he kept telling me how beautiful i looked (i think he was too used to seeing me in sweats and hooded sweatshirts w/ greasy hair and not in a skirt and heels w/ make up on...i must've looked awful while at cornell). d'aawwww....shucks. (dont get the wrong idea, he's got a girlfriend that he loves). we caught up w/ each other and talked about work, life, love, and all that other fun stuff. i hadnt talked to him in awhile so he wasn't entirely caught up on all the events in my life. well, he did know the major change with me since we last talked b/c jnet accidently slipped it out to him...but i didn't know he knew...so i got a little nervous and flustered when he asked if i had finally found someone worthy of dating. im sure he was trying to pry it out of me....as he proceeded to tell me how he always wondered why it seemed so difficult for me to find anyone suitable. so the truth finally came out...yes, not into guys. oh, that explains so much...yes, im dating someone now. she's intelligent, has a great sense of humor, has a great personality...and the looks to match (not that im shallow or anything...did i mention the blue eyes w/ the dark brown hair?? b/c apparently i told dixie about 10 times how awesome that combination was the 2nd time we met, while slightly inebriated)...i wouldn't settle for anything less. there was much smiling as phil said he could tell i'd finally found someone i actually liked (as opposed to me trying to force myself to like the guys from my previous relationships). we finished brunch at around 1230pm...but i didn't have to leave for the ballet til 1:15pm, so we decided to head over to empire cafe for some coffee and more conversation. we chat and bond some more and the meet up ended w/ a huge hug and a promise to keep in touch and update each other on major events in our lives on a more consistent basis.




reunited!

awww, doesnt he look like woodstock from peanuts??

i was a little late leaving to pick up leesa, so we had to rush over to the wortham for dracula and find parking, all in 15 mins. we run up 2 flights of stairs and get to our seats at exactly 2pm. luckily, the show didn't start on time and we had a few mins. to sit back and get situated. unfortunately, all that running and rushing caused my heart rate to go up, which in turn caused my body temperature to rise...which brought on the uncontrollable sweating. i dont think i actually cooled down and stopped sweating til the 3rd act...which was 1.5 hrs. later. on the other hand, leesa was cold and wrapped up in her jacket during most of the show. to my dismay, the old guy sitting next to me slept through most of the first act (a mighty pricey nap if you ask me) but finally started paying attention in the 2nd act. the ballet was very entertaining but i was a bit disappointed w/ dracula's choreography...i mean, he IS the main character...and he's got the coolest costume...why didn't he also have the coolest dance moves? his servant guy had awesome jumps and turns (i swear, the guy has a 5 ft. vertical leap) and the other male character had awesome lifts and spins...and then there was dracula running around w/ his cape. come on! give him something more to do than run around flashing his cape.

after the ballet, we hit up warren's inn for some pre-dinner cocktails. chatted over two cocktails before we headed to t'afia for dinner. we shared the quail, striped bass, chicken dumplings, beer battered mushrooms and each had a glass of watermelon fortified champagne. the waiter came back w/ the dessert menu...we couldn't resist and leesa had a cappucino and we split a delicious bittersweet chocolate bread pudding w/ cherry compote to top off the evening. magnifico!




t'afia had a nice small and cozy setting.

leesa's ready to dig into the quail.

mmm...watermelon "fortified" champagne...tastes just like...champagne.

leesa looks like a little kid!

i love bread pudding.







after dinner, we decided to try out another bar suggested to us by her friend nato. we drove around trying to find decent parking and when we finally did, we stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk and leesa immediately gets shat on by a bird. we run into the bathrooms of the rice lofts, where she washes her hair w/ some soap in the sink...poor girl. she should buy the lottery, what are the odds of getting crapped on by a bird?

we walk around and finally find the little hidden gem in downtown called the whiskey bar, which is located inside the icon hotel. it was upscale, dark, and very intimate. i loved it...but it also made me very sleepy. we talked and talked and towards 11:30pm, our conversation slowed down, mainly b/c i was getting tired and when im tired i tend to get quiet. leesa noticed and suggested we head on home, even though the night was still young. im not sure how many hours of conversation i had that day...but it was a lot (begining w/ phil and ending w/ leesa) and my voice even got hoarse by the end of the night. karishma called earlier and invited us out to participate in this indian dance called garba that was taking place at the reliant stadium. i REALLY wanted to go, b/c karishma said she'd go in typical indian attire...which meant she'd be in a dress and i'd get to see her bust out her indian dance moves. that's like a once in a lifetime experience...however, my body was not up for it, so i politely declined and took leesa home. before dropping leesa off at her house, she suggested we take a little 3 minute detour to check out these 10 feet tall sculptures of 12 of america's presidents that are on display in this gated lot in front of some sculpture place. i was very intrigued and more than happy to check out what i pictured in my head to be a mini-mount rushmore times 3. we pulled into this really sketchy parking lot and i was instantly creeped out by the huge statues of 12 preidents heads all lined up and staring at me. right as i pulled in, a train passed by and the sound of the train's horn along w/ the sculptures, and eerie atmosphere gave me the chills. it didn't prevent me from taking some pics though before we busted out of the place. maybe it's different if you go during the day instead of during the middle of the night. came home, was about to crash and go to bed but sara was online and i hadn't talked to her in awhile. we ended up chatting and i decided to update my blog...

presidents taft and roosevelt?

part of lincoln and someone else lurking in the background.





sunday - 10.01.06
slept in...had a very disturbing dream. not disturbing like psychotic and gruesome...but disturbing in the fact that it involved gwang and vi doing things that would never happen in real life (no, not w/ each other...or w/ me!). still...it was a little perverse and i was really really weirded out when i woke up. shook that feeling off, took a shower and had lunch w/ the rents.

later on in the afternoon, i looked at a bunch of townhomes and bungalows in the montrose/midtown area w/ the parents...the selection and quality of places we've been looking at have been getting progressively better and better. the last time we went to look at houses, we left feeling a bit depressed b/c we didn't find anything even remotely good. still holding out for a place that has just the right price and just the right floor plan...good things come to those who wait, right?

had niko niko's w/ the parentals (yay, free dinner!) afterwards and then headed over to dixie's to say hi. she spent the weekend in dallas for her sis' bday. yes, im pathetic...i dont see her for 2 days and i feel sad. shuddup, let me be. we caught each other up on our weekends (she really has no need to read this blog entry, since i gave her the verbal run down just a few hours earlier)....watched some tv and then i headed home. about to jump in bed and face another exciting work week. blah.

yayy, all caught up! wow, it's already october....please, crisp fall weather come quicker.
gut nacht!