Re: No one is into all kinds of music

A friend of mine made me want to lay out a couple of things for you.
Go ahead and judge me. I dare you. 

--

I drink decaf coffee because coffee caffeine makes me jittery.
(Chocolate caffeine and soda caffeine do not.)
Lately, I like caramel cappuchinos with caramel drizzled on top.
And I like them better in the "for here" mugs.

I won't touch Red Bull or Monster or Rockstar or any of that crap.
But i love Vitamin Water and water in pretty bottles and Arizona Green Tea (esp. with Mandarin)

I really don't listen to country music.
But my favorite driving song ever is "Feels Like Today" by Rascal Flatts.
And it's very hard for me to hear Blake Shelton's "Austin" without tearing up a little-- just because I think it's fantastic.

I love checking the mail.
Apart from CD's from DaniLin, catalogs and magazines are the best.

I can watch basketball. Soccer. Hockey. And football.

And enjoy it.

Not baseball.

I don't watch scary/horror movies.
At all.
Ever.
And I won't. No, not even with you.

I love eating breakfast.
Bacon. Toast. Pancakes. Waffles. French toast. Bagels. Pastries. Muffins. Hash browns. Cereal. Fruit. Oatmeal.
Eggs. Scrambled.
With cheese.
And sometimes salsa or ketchup.
But I don't like sausage.

I can do without condiments.
Sometimes I want them, but sometimes I just want to taste the meat and bread.

Musically,

I hope Whitney Houston makes a comeback.

I hope Britney Spears does not.

(Britney does need to make a comeback in life though.)

Fish are fine when they mind their business.
Or when they are on my plate, cooked*, WITHOUT a head or eyes.
But I do NOT want to touch them.

I like my tuna medium rare and my steak medium/medium-well.
I could eat red meat in some form every day. I think it's amazing.

If I had to learn any instrument, 

It'd be piano,

Then drums,

Then guitar.

I think tapdancing is badass.
If I knew how to tap dance, I'm pretty sure I could perform the "Moses Supposes" number from Singin In The Rain...
I've seen it that many times.

When it comes to most varieties of Stout Beer and Sauvignon Blanc;

I'm gonna have to go with No.

Sweet > Salty > Spicy

I always listen to the lyrics.
ALWAYS.
If I can't understand them or if they don't mean anything or if they mean something stupid and meaningless--
I probably won't like the song.
I think that's why I like musicals.
Clear and clever storytelling via lyrics.

You think I'd listen to more country music...

...that's all for now. :)

*thus far, tuna is the only sashimi on the GO list.

Hips Don't Lie?

"If the world was crazy, you know what I'd eat?
A big slice of soup and a whole quart of meat,
A lemonade sandwich, and then I might try
Some roasted ice cream or a bicycle pie,
A nice notebook salad, an underwear roast,
An omelet of hats and some crisp cardboard toast,
A thick malted milk made from pencils and daisies,
And that's what I'd eat if the world was crazy..."
-Shel Silverstein

I'm thinkin I better be on the lookout for that lemonade sandwich... because in addition to all the really crazy things going on in the world today, I was told today, by someone who owns a modeling and talent agency* that if I want to do runway work, I'm probably gonna need to LOSE A LITTLE WEIGHT IN MY HIPS.

To which I (internally) responded "You're kidding, right? Do you know how much steak & chocolate cake I've had to eat to even get THESE?! Or have you not seen me enough to notice that I'm a half-black woman fully entitled to whatever curves I choose/am able to maintain?!?!"

I mean, she didn't say it disdainfully, she's a nice woman. And she's been in the business a long time, so I guess she would know...

But... have you SEEN the skinniness that is me?! Because I have. For 23 years now. And I'm perfectly happy with my weight AND my hard-earned little hips, and have no desire to ever appear malnourished or skeletal. Hence my intense but healthily moderated devotion to beef and cookies.

Man... good thing I don't have a passion for fashion. Or body image problems, for that matter! If I did, I sure wouldn't have gone straight to Fat Mo's after taking my headshots...

Next to anything from Red Robin, that might be the best cheeseburger and fries I've ever eaten. :)

~lady j

*Yeah, I finally signed with an agency. After years of being asked about it, it seemed like a good move. I'm hoping to make some $$$ to pay off all my retarded school loans... but judging by my diet, I'm probably the worst model ever. Hehehehehehe! :)

36 Hours of Awesome

I can't believe I haven't told you about this!!!

Okay, so Monday was Saffire Cleaning Day. Which meant I had to be at work at 10am. That, combined with the fact that last weekend there was a Grace Chapel Baptism Bash, and that I'd been thinking about getting some writing done, persuaded me to relinquish the idea of a day trip and stay in Franklin rather than drive all the way up to Mt. Juliet to spend Sunday at the lakehouse.

(Backstory: Swanny's friends with a lady who lets him stay at her beautiful Real World-esque lake house, and use her beautiful speedboats and water toys, so long as he cleans it all up for her. Last weekend, we found out about 4pm on Saturday afternoon that we were invited to come up and play.)

But then, I realized that there's one more Baptism Bash to go before summer ends. And then Jared and Handsome Rob hand delivered our "new" washer and dryer, which crossed one more thing off my list, and then Jared also decided to go to the lakehouse. That made the lakehouse roster Swanny, Matty, Jake, Jared, Holla & Kish. So, seeing as how 2/3rds of T3 does not a Trizzo make, and feeling as though I would probably miss out by staying home, I packed two days worth of summer clothes in about fifteen minutes, left my stuff with my roommates, and headed to work. Then, following a less than profitable Saturday night at the 'Fire, I jumped in my car and traveled a little less than an hour North to the lake house.

It turned into the best 36 hours of-- probably the whole summer.

I got there and everyone was hanging out on the upper deck, above the boats. Kish & Matt were talking in the grass, so I climbed the scary spiral staircase (which I later learned was covered in massive spiders. It's amazing what you'll do when you don't know what you're doing.) And listened to Jake play guitar and watched Holly jump off the deck into the dark lake.

After an hour, we went back to the house so Jake & I could change into swimsuits. From there, we jumped into the Jacuzzi, where epic shenanigans ensued for about the next three hours. It was amazing and absolutely hilarious. Truth or Dare just never gets old.

Later that night, the boys suffered through Jammin In Jamaica, Matty & Jake left to head back to Franklintown, and Holly and I launched into another full fledged wrestling match with the Crocodile Hunter that left us-- marked, to say the least. I still have some bruises. He's feisty, that one is. Holla & I have learned our lesson 2 or 3 times over now, but we're just too stubborn to admit defeat. Me, Kish & Holla went to bed around 5:30 am, and woke up the next morning to Swanny jumping on our bed singing about flying carpets and whole new worlds. And bless his heart, he's one of my favorite people in the world, but don't look for him on The Singing Bee anytime soon. ;)

We all got up, got dressed, ate Lucky Charms and headed out to the boat where we spent the next two hours flying across the lake. It was one of the best moments of my life. It was magical. I could not pry myself off the nose of the boat. Later, under pressure of being thrown in if we dared refuse, we jumped in and swam in the delightful murky fish water. And on the way home, I let the wind blow dry my hair and it was all halfro and fabulous.

Came back to dock, since we were nearly out of gas, and made burgers for lunch. Jared's grill skills are impeccable. We tore those things up! Jared and Kish took powernaps while Holly and I went on an *adventure to round up more gasoline. After a few hours passed, we loaded up the boats again and headed back out to a spot called Two Foot Cove. Upon finding it, we cranked up Luna Halo, dropped anchor, jumped out and wandered through the crowd of Weekend Warriors, hoping to start a volleyball game on the court set up in the center of the cove. We did start a game, and we won! :) Jared,-- excuse me, Liam Westerbridge-- pretended to be his British alter-ego and we acquired Jello shots from a neighboring boater who was happy that Kish & I were representin the black population at the lake. :) Then we got back in the boat, sped across the lake and got ready for dinner.

While waiting on Jared to grill the steaks, we watched Big Brother and I played with the beautiful lab puppy from next door. Then I drank my very first Red Stripe (Hooray Beer!) and ate the best steak I've had in a long time. Holy cow, it was amazing. Mmmm!

We cleaned up from dinner, grabbed ice cream and fireworks and headed out to the dock to shoot them off. After almost blowing ourselves up/setting things on fire, we walked back to the boat dock where we all jumped in and cruised out to the center of the lake. We sat there until the water turned to glass and the stars glowed bright. Lightning 100 provided the background soundtrack as we told stories, answered questions and began to think for the first time about how much we're going to miss Swanny in about a month.

Pulling back into port, we bid the boat farewell, showered and said goodbye to Jared. Then we all fell asleep in Swanny's giant bed watching tv until someone woke up and made everyone go brush their teeth and go to bed for real.

Next morning, Kish & I headed back to Franktown and the real world, talking the whole way home about how happy we were that we'd gone. It was truly the best 36 hours I've had in a long time, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.


* By adventure, I mean Holly spilled gas all over her swimsuit coverup and it was so hot outside that I'm surprised she didn't just explode right there.

Kiss The Cook

So I may not have a large immediate family/circle or any blood-related brothers (or sisters),
And I may have never cooked for more than five people in my entire life.
In fact, cooking in and of itself is a brand new thing for me.

But I sure did just finish cooking Sunday lunch for a pack of 18 or so Narrow Gate boys. All by myself. It's all in my fridge, waiting to be taken to church en la manana. It's a hearty conglomeration of potatoes, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, beef and chicken that my House 9 roommates & I affectionately refer to as Man Food. And y'all-- it's good. I'm really pretty proud of myself, and I hope it reheats well in 9 hours or so.

Also, I can I just say that love having male friends who I can call with cooking questions? I now have two fellas in my rolodex who are professional chefs. And I'm not entirely sure what I'd do without them. :)

Mmmm. I haven't slept nearly enough the past few days. It's catching up with me.
So I'm gonna go chase it down. Buenas noches!