Oh Fortuna!!

Brian and I seem to notice that this opening song from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" is always in a ton of commercials. It's a very scary-sounding, Latin chant that seems to make it's way into commercials about hockey, movies, and many other products. It seems quite silly to me. When I was in tenth grade, I sang "Carmina Burana" with the the Louisville Youth Choir and the BACH society. We sang this hour-long cantata with a ballet troupe in front of us performing to the music. To me, "Carmina Burana" is really cool and definitely interesting, considering that it is based on medieval poetry, but I still cannot stand "Oh Fortuna."

The trivia night was really fun and was held to fund a scholarship for students in Marlborough. Our team was doing pretty well until the third of four rounds and I don't even know what we placed. However, our team did win the bonus round and that was cool.

I worked this morning, where the branch was very busy. This is normal for Saturdays, though. Brian and I went out to home depot this afternoon and then to Price Chopper (the most expensive and yet the dirtiest grocery store ever) for some shopping. I'm trying to avoid Hannaford grocery (a Maine outlet and my favorite grocery in the 'Boro) for a little while because of the breach in their security system. We had shrimp cocktail, steak, and asparagus for dinner, which was good and satisfying. Now I'm doing laundry and that is about it.

Energetic day!

Okay, perhaps text messaging isn't so terrible. I just think it can be rude and I don't really want to pay for the service with my ever-rising phone bill. In some situations, it can be very useful, just not in school or at a restaurant when you're only eating dinner with one other person and decide to text message the entire time.

I went to the gym early this morning for some fast walking on the treadmill and now I'm watching the Peter O'Toole film "Venus" before going to work. For the first time ever, I will have to turn my brain on for my job tonight by participating in a trivia night to sponsor a charity (?). To be honest, I really don't know. Whatever it is, it's for a good cause.

The Angels wanna wear my red shoes!

Even though the weather is kind of cool today (about 55 degrees outside), it stills look like spring has come to New England. There are crocuses growing where I work; this is either because of the weather, or because they spend way too much on landscaping. However, it's going to snow Friday, but that's okay because April is just around the corner.

Anyway, I had such a wonderful weekend. Last Friday, Brian and I woke up at the crazy hour of 3:30 am to go to the airport in Providence, Rhode Island. Poor Brian-- he didn't have school that day and he still had to get up early to take me to the airport. I like flying out of the T.F. Green airport in Providence rather than Boston's Logan Airport even though it takes about fifteen minutes longer to get there because it's just easier to get to Providence, there aren't any tolls, and it's less busy. PVD also reminds me of Standiford Airport in Louisville. Anyway, my plane took off right at six, I landed in Cincy and had a twenty-minute flight to Louisville, and landed ten minutes early. In a perfect world, all plane rides would be this way. Grandad picked me up, we went back to Vale Circle, and Mom and I went to Friday's on 4th Street with Eliot, Graham, and Sarah Honaker. I know Friday's is a chain, but I still love it! That afternoon was totally a gorgeous day, the prettiest day of the year and mom and I did a lot of errands, including going to Papers Unique (our invitation spot), Plehn's Bakery, the Summit, etc. I bought a spring trench coat at the Gap, which I was not quite satisfied with, but regardless, I needed a coat. For dinner, we had a tasting at the Standard Country Club, where our reception is being held in August. We sampled five appetizers, three chicken dishes, and a filet. My mom and I decided on ahi tuna on a cracker, eggrolls, and toast points with tomatoes, mozz. cheese, and pesto for appetizers and chicken teriyaki and beef tenderloin for the main courses. I'm hoping the food is as delicious in August.

Saturday was the day of my bridal shower. Mom and I got up early to go walk at Oxmoor Mall; I know, we are such dorks. We arrived at my Aunt Diane's house before eleven and there were around twenty-six people at the shower, plus children. For the shower, I planned my outfit in advance and wore a cute silver/grey dress and beautiful red peep-toe shoes from Nordstrom. Like Carrie Bradshaw, I love shoes and though I wear plain shoes most of the time, I would rather wear fabulous, colorful shoes than wear black ones anyday. I think everyone had a lot of fun and the food was great, especially these sausage pinwheels my aunt made. I also had about four glasses of the mimosa punch! All of my gifts were wonderful and I am so grateful for all of them.

My mom recently bought a new condo in Louisville and we went to see it along with Patty, Georgia, and Sarah. The condo is really nice and suits my mom well. Hopefully she will be able to bring the outdoor cat Spotty to live with her at the condo and convert her to an indoor cat.

Later, we went to Von Maur to buy a baby gift for my cousin Hunter's baby, Anne Miriam. While there, I found this fabulous red spring coat that I decided to purchase. I returned the Gap coat soon afterwards. Mom dropped me off at Phil's house after the mall and we went to Mojito's for dinner. My favorite restaurant in Louisville is Havana Rumba, a Cuban place that has excellent plantains, yucca, empanadas, etc., and the people who own this restaurant opened Mojito's, a tapas restaurant. Even though I had an excellent Passion Fruit mojito and crabcake-like sandwich, I still like Havana Rumba better. Kyla, Joelle, Celeste, and Celeste's friend Anne also met us at the restaurant. We went over to La Bodega for a nightcap and had more mojitos. A couple of Kyla's friends met us there as well.

It's quite funny when you run into people from high school who are still as pompous as ever, yet work as a bartender. I don't really understand, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with them everyday. Oh never mind, I do have to deal with that most of the time, but not for very much longer.

On Easter Sunday, mom, Grandad, and I went to St. Francis in the Fields (me in church?), the church where I am a confirmed member, and enjoyed the service. There was a lot of music and that is always pleasant. However, I woke up with a sore throat and that is never pleasant. Easter dinner was at my mom's cousin Robin's house (my second cousin) in Georgetown. I love Easter dinner, but there are always several dishes with loads of mayonnaise in them. However, I love the pineapple casserole (kind of like a pineapple bread pudding); I could eat it all the time! The best thing about any holiday in Kentucky is seeing everyone in my family. I'm a very lucky person to have such a great family!
Originally, we planned to go see "The Other Boleyn Girl," but we were quite tired and instead, I went to Katherine's parent's house to meet up and look at mineral makeup. I bought some loose powder and it is great. Now, I've just got to get rid of these under-eye circles. Katherine, Eric, Jayne, and I picked up my mom and went to Cheddar's for dinner. I miss that place, too! All we have is the 99 Pub and Applebee's and I'm not too keen about either one. Except Applebee's blondie dessert-- that is good!

I was quite tired but managed to watch the Home Makeover show with Patrick Hughes from Louisville, who was born without eyes and also without the ability to straighten his arms and legs. Patrick's story was totally inspirational. He is a person born with physical setbacks, but he is so completely positive about everything. And he is a wonderful musician. I never watch this show, but this was truly a great show. So much better than other reality shows.

On Monday, Mom and i met Eliot for breakfast at Panera and then we went to the mall again to walk. We were going to meet Natalie in the afternoon andd see her new house in Shelbyville, but she was not feeling well, so we are going to go next time I am in town. Natalie is feeling better now, though, and so is her baby. Since we had some time, mom and I went to Cafe Lulu (I don't know how to add links, but I definitely would here). As you can tell, I love to talk about restaurants; a few of my dream jobs are food critic, travel writer, bakery owner. Lulu is a vibrantly cute lunch/dinner place with a Southern flair. They also have pizzas and calzones. Cafe Lulu has nice memories for me because some of my friends held a going away party for me two years ago when I was leaving for Massachusetts.

I ended up getting back to Providence ten minutes early on my flight. What a fortuitous thing to have two early flights in one trip! Brian and I have had an okay week, but he has been busy making a video for a band concert next week and I'm just writing thirty-four thank you notes for the shower. Written correspondence is great, though. I just think it's a lot more personal than e-mails or text messages. Don't even get me started on text messages, especially since some guy on the South Shore had a hit-and-run fatality while texting someone while driving. That is really stupid and awful. Writing letters is old-fashioned, yes, but a nice and sweet way to keep in touch.

I hope to leave you with a more positive thought but I can't because I have a big secret! Yes, it does involve a family member (or two), but I have to wait a little while. I'm quite delighted!

Marlborough, what a town...

I just want to say thank you, Marlborough, for making life so pleasant.

By the way, I'm being sarcastic. I went out to my car this morning and saw that it, along with about four other random cars in the parking lot, was vandalized by graffiti. There were two words on my car, one beginning with an "f" and the other was just "u." I think you get the picture. On another car, 666 was scribbled, as well as peace signs, etc. I called the police right away and they came out and wrote out a report and took pictures of the vehicles.

There was a learning experience in this and that is graffiti is pretty easy to remove from your car if you remove it early. I was able to purchase a product at the hardware store and remove all the graffiti with a rag. Take that, scumbags of the world!

I know this may be just some other isolated incident, but I really don't like living in this town, especially in this part of town. We have about seven months left in our apartment and I cannot wait to move out of here. In fact, if this happens again, we're just moving out straight away. I'm tired of the parking situation, the noise, people smoking in the hallway, and now, most of all, random acts of vandalism.

Otherwise, we had two choir concerts this weekend that went very well. I received my new red shoes in the mail (which are beautiful) and hopefully, we will have a nice pizza for dinner. There are a few bright spots.

It is always fun doing a quiz on a rainy day, when I should be getting ready for a choir concert (la, la, la, la)...

1. Spell your name as it sounds.
gre-ta, no difference, except in Japan they say, gu-ray-ta

2. Are you available?
no

3. What's your favorite number?
8

4. Favorite color(s)?
blue

3. Does your home have a bookcase?
no, but we have a lot of books

THE HAVES:
1. Have you ever been to Canada?
yes, to a few places in Ontario; this summer, we're going to PEI and Nova Scotia

2. Have you ever gone fishing?
I think in eighth grade in Oklahoma

3. Have you ever seen a celebrity?
I saw Geena Davis at the Louisville airport once and she wasn't wearing makeup. I shook Matt Lauer's hand in NYC.

4. Have you ever been on a motorcycle?
no

3. How many jobs have you had?
too many to count

4. How tall are you?
5'4''

THE LASTS:
1. Last person you kissed and why?
Brian, because he was there

2. Last thing you yelled out loud?
Thriller!

3. Last person you were in a car with?
Brian

4. Last time you ate at McDonalds?
I couldn't say.

5. Last thing you had for dinner?
pizza

6. The last thing you bought?
wine

7. Last person you saw?
Brian

8. Last time you cried?
Actually, I can't remember that either. I've become tougher having to deal with the people in the North.

9. Last time you laughed?
watching the Muppet Show this afternoon

THE WHATS:
1. What is the temperature outside?
cold.

2. What time did you wake up?
8:04

Random:
44. Do you have a best friend?
yes.

45. What goes best with a soft drink?
a burp

46. What did you do two nights ago?
went to choir and watched youtube videos until midnight; I was trying to learn the dance to Thriller

49. Is your birthday coming up?
not for six months

53. Where were you at 3:02 AM this morning?
sleeping.

59. What was the first thing you thought this morning?
no clue

61. What are your plans for this weekend?
choir concerts and "Fiddler on the Roof" on Friday

64. Coke or Pepsi?
diet coke; puh-lease, I don't drink pepsi

66. What do you dislike at the moment?
mayonnaise (no, I hate that all the time)

67. What did you dream about last night?
entering a loan application

68. What's the last movie you watched?
Dan in Real Life

69. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
even though I love my engagement ring, my favorite piece of jewelry is the blue topaz ring my mom gave me

70. Name 1 person on your Top Friends who is the most like you.
Abby or Marianne

74. What is your favorite frozen treat?
gelato

75. How many piercings/tattoos do you have?
sometimes there are four piercings, no tattoos because I don't want to have a muffin top (never mind)

76. Where's your favorite place to be?
the beach

77. Is there someone you haven't seen in a while and miss?
all of my Louisville friends, whether they are in Kentucky or otherwise

78. Who was the last text you sent to?
probably Phil; i don't really believe in text messaging

79. Do you care what people think about you?
not as much as I used to

81. Last text you got said, and who its from:
probably something from Phil

82. last person to comment you on myspace?
Nora?

84. Last person to make you cry?
not sure

85. Who can you tell anything to?
Brian, Abby, mom

86. What did you do today and what are you doing later?
went to get gas for vehicle, attempted to go to the florist, bought groceries, watched television, getting ready for choir concert tonight

88. Do you think you'll be in a relationship 3 months from now?
well, I'll be married in four

89. What color is your pillow case?
light blue


92. Do you wear a bikini during swimming in school?
we didn't swim at school

93. Have you ever been to California or Chicago?
yes, both

97. What is your favorite fruit?
mangoes, blueberries, grapes, raspberries

98. What do you want to do today?
be somewhere warmer

99. Are you cold?
no

100. Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call or text but don't?
not really anymore; I'm going to be honest, people just aren't as reliable as they used to be, but I can also say the same for myself.



Haha, I just want to say that I really do hate mayonnaise. And is there any kind of nutritional value in a mushroom? I guess I could wiki it.

If anyone is interested in performing a choreographed dance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with me at my wedding reception, let me know!!