An emotional, historical night..

On the eve of a historical day in our country I sit impatient, excited and curious like most. In 24 hours we should know who will lead our country for the next 4 years. Through out all this election I have gone from aggravation to acceptance. Regardless of the outcome I am positive about this election. How exciting to watch two men from different generations and backgrounds who want to change this passionate country of ours. Although I am voting for one specific candidate I will be positive about whatever choice is made. I never thought I would say this but I like both candidates for different reasons. Whatever the outcome is I really hope we all unite a little better than we have in the recent years. We all have our histories and reasons why we choose what we do. We should all respect our judgments and learn from one another, not hate. I love how passionate some of my friends and family have been about their choices. I love how respectful most people are to our differences. I enjoy laughing at the jokes at my party. It’s okay, if we can’t laugh then what is there? But some people have gone over board. I was bashed on a personal level from some of my loved ones. Being told I am stupid, my knowledge is bullshit, my opinions are crap, etc. and embarrassing me in front of family and friends is beyond unacceptable. This is why I am being quiet and not talking to anyone for a while. It is best for my health and state of mind. I have been hurt badly (and btw, no one that reads this is any of these cruel people). I have every right to voice my opinion, argue it on an intellectual level with folks that think different and respect my loved ones own opinions. But we should all respect one another on a human, adult level.

This past week has been a stressful and emotional rollercoaster. Fathers Day 2007 was the last time my dear Poppop ever spoke. His passion in life was politics and when he was ill all he asked was a radio so he could listen to his talk radio. He couldn’t sleep unless he had Fox news in the background. It was a bit crazy, yes.. but that was him. So what did he say the last time he ever spoke? He sat up and reminded all his family to vote this election and of course told us who to vote for, haaaa. Tomorrow morning when I walk into that booth, with my dear Poppop’s spirit with me, I will vote for a man who loved his country and couldn’t be here to do so. I feel for this bittersweet moment for Sen. Obama who also lost his beloved grandmother before this election. Although, I will not be selecting him tomorrow his life story really touches me and I was hoping his grandmother would be here to see all her dedication paid off.

Goodnight, good luck and remember to vote!

oh man i really do suck don't i!

Several of my new readers have been asking me where the hell have I been and why have I left my beloved blog ONCE AGAIN!!!!!! Yeah, I suck. I'm that person who says I will make you a copy of a cd and never get around to it. I have new ideas for this blog so it.. umm... works with my "special" personality. So much has gone on and so much to tell!!! I just have to think up something new for this blog as I haven't kept my promise :( be back soon! XOXOOX

Ugh... the week...

So the week of July 21-25 I wasn't feeling well so I didn't do many new things so I am going to CHEAT and give you 5 new facts about me... BE PREPARED!! SOME OF THIS STUFF IS GROSS, but I owe you the best! haaa.

July 21st : Ice tea is one of my favorite drinks (OJ, then Ice tea, then ginger ale) but I LOVED the taste so much that when I was a child I use to take a small cup of JUST THE MIX and eat it. Yeah... and I still think to this day it would taste good. LOL

July 22nd : I do not like the singer Pink. Never have, never will. She really bothers me. Perhaps it is that I am from the Philly area and know where she really came from (upper middle class) or maybe it is just that she looks like a man. LOL. So no, don't play her music for me and I won't be joining you to a concert of hers.

July 23rd : Since it is Olympic season I should add this fact about me... I once wanted to go to the Olympics as a synchronized swimmer. I actually started to train for it when I was in middle school and my swimming coach had actually been in the 88 Olympics. The dream and training soon ended when my family had to move to Europe and there was no coach for me:(. I still can still do a killer oyster move.

July 24th : After seeing a photo of Suri Cruise picking her nose and a caption stating she eats her buggers and poo I guess I should mention that when I was Suri's age I also scoop out my nose nightly and mushed my findings with my Flinestone Vitamin. Yeah, I guess it was some bizarre 3 yr old grooming technique. I can state I NEVER ate my poo, chalk or glue - just eww!

July 25th : I have never seen popular 80s movies such as Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles. I however have seen The Breakfast Club, so there is hope for me!

Chocolate... need I say more??

Went to Philly today just to try out the Naked Chocolate Cafe which is said to be the best chocolate place in the Philadelphia area. I purchased $20 worth of chocolate.. mmm!:)

I have to be honest that their signature pieces... I have had better. But the melted chocolate that you sip/scoop (it looks like hot coco) is TO DIE FOR as is this piece of chocolate that had hot peppers in it, YUM!:)

Great day for a .. Indian Wedding

J., I and a bunch of our friends were invited to a wedding last minute (see CK dress a few days ago). So today I attended my first Indian wedding. Well... I didn't attend the ceremony because the directions were wrong and after mapping it, even with a GPS unit, I still was 2 towns over from it. But we made it for the recepition and it was very interesting with some great music and even better food!:)

Check out my HOT shoes on the left.

This is your will....

There is this really kind older gentleman that comes into my work, studies the Bible and has kind conversations with others. He mystifies me because I feel as if he is some sort of angel with his kind manner. He even drives an older mint condition white Mercedes. Once in a while he will inform someone that something good will come to them soon and it always comes true. I always wonder if he will ever tell me something. Today, when we were closing he was hidden in the magazine area and he spoke with me. He told me things no one could know and I left with tears of joy. Lets just say he called me a title and told me it was my will. I don't want to tell the world as it was so special to me, but if you ask me personally I will explain.

He so reminds me of Morgan Freeman in the Almighty movies.

Fact Card

Since I seriously didn't do anything that I haven't done before (got my vehicle checked, did T-shirt decoration w/ the teens, etc.) I am going to pull a fact card.

Fact: I do NOT like red roses. I do like black magic ones, but classic red roses No! One of my favorite flowers is actually carnations. I find red carnations pretty, just red roses to me is boring. I actually requested NO roses for my wedding, but ended up having to have them due to the season.

CK 1!

This Saturday I will be going to a wedding and wanted a new dress to wear to this event. I met up with another girl that is attending this wedding and went dress shopping. Although I had ordered a couple of cute super-sale ones from NewportNews I wanted to have a back-up in case they didn't find it. Well, I ended up buying, ekkk!!!! My first Calvin Klein dress! I always wanted one and was suppose to have a simple one for my Sweet 16 (when CK1 scent just came out). It was on super sale and the size was great (CK runs really big, so I got a size 10!). Here is a photo of the dress and the black slash can be undone to wrap other ways.

Endless amounts of shoes...

I have heard about endless.com and what heaven it is to shoe loving women everywhere! Free overnight shipping, plus they pay for you to ship back if you don't like. Since Im going to a wedding this weekend and don't have nice shoes I decided to try their service and see what I like. I order 3 pairs of different beige heels to try out and as usual... order early Monday morning - got them today! I may keep the one pair but I have to wait to see.

What heaven it is for a woman to come home to a package of shoes!

Sand... no Sun...

Tonight was a really nice night and I ended up going to the beach (or "down the shore" as us Jersian's say!) with a friend of mine and laid on the beach. I have been on a beach and splashed in the water at night time. But never did I lay out a blanket and just look up at the sky with the sound of the endless ocean crashing just foots away.

Fact Card

Just driving back home so thought I would pull a fact card today...

Most people's favorite flavors of ice cream range from chocolate (which btw, makes me gag!) to peanut butter. Mine is.... bubblegum! A close 2nd is Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie.

Bikini Car Wash Girl

J. had brought his fancy sports car to Buffalo and decided to wash it at the house. Since it was a beautiful day out I decided to offer a hand. Wearing just my "hoochie" halter top bathing suit I washed that car like a bikini car wash girl pro! I even got down in the tires scraping out the dirt in the rims! I tried to pour soap like the professionals do but J. stopped me short of it reminding me that the soap could ruin my bathing suit. It was hilarious and I had so much fun. What a great workout and a way to feel... kind of sexy!

Carrousel Galore!

Referencing back to my new love that I found on Monday my in-laws and I went to the Buffalo area Carrousel Factory Museum (http://www.carrouselmuseum.org/). There I learned about the history of carousel's such as do you know a 100 years ago it was considered the thrill ride (like a loop roller coaster today) and a lot of people were against it! I learned about the way animals were crafted and this history of amusement parks. It was fascinated and I got to ride a working carousel from 1916.

mangiare!

My mother-in-law loves when I produce an Italian-American dish to her dinners. Our first Thanksgiving together I made spaghetti since in my family that is what we have with our turkey. So this time around I created a very simple tomato and cucumber salad - the common side dish at my family's summer meals. However, like many of my dishes I made it by just guessing the ingredients from the taste, texture and looks of the dish I saw before. Thankfully I was right on target and it tasted super yummy.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

So as a librarian and a girly girl this is going to come as a shock... I have NEVER read any chicklit! I normally read non-fiction and sometimes a deep fiction book. I had bought a copy of Undomestic Goddess while in L.A but never got past a few chapters. So the first few days of my vacation I took time here and there to read my first ever chicklit book and I was hooked! I actually loved it so much that I had J. and my mother-in-law go to the stores to look for another copy by the same author. Unfor. all they had were hardbacks or no books, which is surprising since Kinsella is a well-known author. I will have to catch up when I get back to NJ. Yeah, I loved the fact that I could read something that is a no brain, yet read 400 pages super fast (I am a slow reader).

Picture this!

The only cameras I have ever own were good ol' Kodak. So today I visited the founder of Kodak, George Eastman, house in Rochester(http://www.eastmanhouse.org/). The museum had some interesting exhibits on African costumes and other such things. Miss Em and I took a tour of the house from a woman who really passionate about her tours, yet ran us through it like a racehorse. It was a beautiful house with endless rooms about photography and Eastman. One room that fascinated me was the small library since every librarian must always look at one if there is one in the vicinity. (Yes, J. and I went through 2 libraries while on our honeymoon.. dorks LOL). So Em and I were excited to view the library, when the passionate tour guide pretty much pushed us through! Haaaa. But that wasn't my new adventure for the day (I've been yelled at for being loud in a library... as a librarian, lol). But exploring this fascinating man's house was something I never experienced. Also, as a 2nd new thing... I met Miss Em's sweet parents and relatives. Also, tried sweet peppers on pizza, super yummy!

Ridin' The Wild

My mom's favorite amusement park ride is the carousel. I never understood why because I use to just sit in the sled on the ride and go around and around. The ride just wasn't cool to me. Although, I do own a 14K gold carousel charm in honor of my mom's love of it. Today Miss Em and I went to Seabreeze amusement park (http://www.seabreeze.com/default.asp) in Rochester. So at 19+10 years old I finally rode on of those horses that go up and down. I can't explain it. But the old fashion music and the wind in my hair on top of a fiberglass horse hit something deep inside. I was in love and now have a goal to go on any carousel I see. So after we left the park we ended taking a nice stroll at the local pier and behold they also had a carousel, which I so had to ride! This one had exotic animals and I rode a moving ostrich! I was in heaven... just species away from a dodo.

Off to...

Okay, so I will be gone this week on vaca visiting my girl Em and my in laws. I guess you can say Sunday's new thing is that I will get to spend my 1st night in Rochester. Can't wait to see Em and go out on the town. I will be back in a week to update you all!:)

I lost my... what???

So I was walking in the mall today when I touched my belly to discover the balls of my banana hoop had fallen off and all that was in my skin was the metal piece. I was so shocked that I actually said out loud "I lost my balls".. I thought it was so funny that I kept saying it all day until I replaced the hoop. Yes, I guess I lost my marbles too...

Happy Hoochie 4th

Today I attended my cousin's annual big July 4th celebration and every year I have a goal to wear like a bikini or something slinky. But I never get to due to not loosing the weight I seek to do so. I am not getting any younger! So this year I finally wore something "hoochie" - a coco brown LOW cut (think JLO low cut) bathing suit w/ matching cotton dress. Yes, my chest was all out for to see. But I think the greatest feat of it all was I finally wore a bathing suit that showed off my chest scar and I didnt think anything of it. I was told I looked hot!:)

Yeah! Movie Night!:)

I FINALLY got to show a movie at the library tonight. I really thought I wasn't going to get the chance ever at my current job since the permit for a library to do so is fairly expensive. But they approved it and I showed Men In Black to the teens at the library. 10 kids was a success and I served popcorn, icees and more yummy stuff. :) Hmmm... I wasn't scared of the aliens in this movie though (see previous post).

Fact Card

Okay, here is my weird fact card about me for this week...

I am terrified of aliens. Pictures, movies, etc. of aliens scare the living $#^@ out of me. Yet, I am fascinated by stories of them. I can't watch movies w/ them in it (like Signs) as it creeps into my soul. I know it sounds weird but I have no idea why I fear the thought of aliens or UFOs. It started when I was really young. So no ET movie nights for me... LOL

Mexican Food, FINALLY!

Growing up I always asked my mom to make tacos for dinner. What a simple, yet cool dinner. It took her like 9 years to finally make my dream come true. I think she was afraid to mess them up?? Not sure why. I just always though making Mexican food would be fairly easy and still real yummy. Yet, even myself I never really made much Mexican food even though its one of my favorite kind of food. Ive made simple cheese and chip nachos or some killer veggie chilli in the past. But that is about it. So when I was having my friend Melissa, whom I met at the ACHD conference (and lives 10 mins away, lol), over I wanted to make something yummy, yet good for you. Spaghetti was on my list, but I wanted to make something different than what I usually make. So, I created in my head some killer quesadillas! I finally made my first official Mexican food dish. I made it of course with a twist, which I tend to do. I made them with wraps, shredded cheese, chopped veggie burgers and sliced shrimp. I baked them in the oven and they were extra crispy. For dipping I used ranch dip, creamy salsa and olive spread. It was DELICIOUS and surprisingly the olive spread tasted devine with them. Yum!

Ropes made out of snakes...

I had never seen an Indiana Jones movie, nor did I have a desire, until I started to date J. I saw the ones he had on video over several dates and enjoyed them. So when he asked me to see the newest movie in the series in the actual theater I didn't hesitate... besides that young Shia hottie is in it. Can't be half bad with that eye candy! haaa. So I went and saw an Indiana Jones movie in the theaters and it was good. Now if only I can get into the mood to finally watch that other famous movie series, ya know.... oh, well that will be another new thing later this year.

Extra Extra!

So I love my breakfast, my news and my coffee. Like my breakfast I don't feel stable if I don't update myself daily on the news. I visit a list of news websites up to several times during the day. I even read the news online occasionally while eating a quick breakfast. But in all my years, I have NEVER sat down and had breakfast and read an actual paper newspaper. Yes, my parents get the local newspaper where they are at and sometimes I read the front page. The movies always show a loving couple sitting amongst muffins, fruit and coffee reading the newspaper together. I never have experienced that. So this morning I woke up and went to my local Quick-Chek, picked up a blueberry flavor coffee, a pound cake to share with my guests and a copy of the New York Times Sunday paper (which btw, I didn't know cost $4!). I made a point to sit down and spend almost an hour flipping through it and reading some really interesting articles. I didn't even dent the magazine, which many of you know Im a magazine whore. So I saved it to continue to flip through during the week.

I really felt more normal... more established that I did this simple task.

June 28th

Dear Readers,

Of course I will be honest and state that I am writing this 2 months later. I have been busy and honestly have not been keeping up with my project. .... so instead of going ALL the way back and try to remember the new things I am going to cut this fresh and start all over again. It would take me half a day to remember and try to document all the things the past 2 months, so I really hope you don't mind! Yesterday was a year since my dearest Pop-pop died and I have grown emotional over this past year. Loosing him was the worst thing Ive dealt with and also a fear of mine since I was a little girl. He wasn't just my grandfather or even my godfather.. he was the first man I recall that showed me that there are really good guys out there. He was someone that was one of a kind and there would never be another like him to walk on this earth. So, in honor of your life and death my dear Pop-pop I promise to keep my promise to enrich my life and try something new, in hopes to grow, everday until a year from now. Although I am not scared to turn 30 (I am so planning a disco themed party!) I feel his death is more significant than any age number. So lets see how the 1st full year goes after his death...

There will be days that I may not feel well or just couldn't find the moment to try something new. That is Okay.. I am flexing the rules a little bit. Amber recommended posting facts about myself that many may not know. Since I love the game truth or dare I thought this would be fun! So on days I don't experience something new I will reveal something about myself that most may not know. There is a limit - I can only use up two "fact card" per week. I am am striving only once a week.

Since April 21st I have experienced some wonderful and life changing things. Here is a list of what I can recall:
1. I attended my first conference for adults with congenital heart defects. For the first time in my life I have met people with my defect, which is tetralogy of fallot. It opened so many doors for to attend this 3 day event. I learned so much about my past and future.
2. I was a lamaze partner for my friend who's husband could not make the meetings. I can tell you after attending them I am not as scared about birth! Nor as grossed out!
3. I discovered some of my close relatives are not as kind and honest as I assumed they would be. That has been a difficult situation and one that I am mending still. I had fights with people I never thought I would. This really pushed my beliefs.
4. I finally started to really use my MP3 player and hooked it up in my SUV and listen to my music via that now (Coldplay baby!).
5. After listening to the full book of Matthew in the Bible I was able to pinpoint verses from it when someone quoted it. It was a really interesting experience.
6. I learned about genetics and DNA, something that I always had questions on.

There are many other wonderful things I experienced or learn but those are the major ones I can think of right now.

Thanks again to all my readers and I promise I will keep this up now!

will update soon

Dear Readers,

Sorry I havent posted for a bit. I have been super busy with conferences and as usual... I am ill. I will update all my new stuff later this week. xo

It's my birthday and I'll meow if I want to!!! #50

Today Miss Charlotte Elizabeth, my beloved tuxedo cat, turns the big 4! Her adoption papers said she was born in April 2004 so I gave her Charlotte Bronte's birthday of April 21st. I threw her a kitty birthday party.. .filled with balloons and some of her favorite stuff animals. Plus her cool gift of a "pull my tail I run away" mouse toy. Here are the photos from the bash, which of course ran all night long!

The birthday girl arrives on the bottom left. All her friends are lounging out on her kitty bed. Going clockwise we have Charlotte, Rosa the Sock Monkey, the birthday cake piece for her human Mommy to enjoy, Charlotte's new toy, "Freaky" tuxedo cat neckwrap (Charlotte doesn't like her but she was kind to her and there was no "cat" fight), balloon, hairy cave man toy and "Stuff" Charlotte rag cat doll.

Next Charlotte checks out her gift and embraces it with kisses.

The party went ALL NIGHT LONG and so the Birthday Girl took a well deserved break... allowing her kind guest to relax on her precious kitty bed.

Are we really the 5th Element? #49

Continuing from #48 I decided for J. to select another movie that I have never seen but him and his friends love. So I watched The Fifth Element for the first time and really enjoyed it! Of course the two best parts were the dinosaur robot aliens and of course the Diva. Ruby got on my nerves after 5 mins. But all in all I really enjoyed it. I had fun analyzing things and brought major points to J.'s attention that he said he never saw, even after the 20th time.

Goonie is gone forever #48

For the longest time J. has been telling me how great the 1980s movie Goonies is. It seems like everyone I know has seen it and loved it. Perhaps because I was born in the last year of the 1970s that is my excuse of not seeing it. Then again...The Breakfast Club is the only 80s movie I have ever seen in full. Never seen any of the girly 1980s movies in full.. only brief parts. I guess I should do a marathon of them as a new thing to do! Anyways, he has asked me several times to give his favorite childhood movie a chance. Seeing I only enjoyed like 2 Steven Spielberg movies, I don't like obnoxious little boys and I am not into 80s movies the odds of me liking the movie was not high. I really hoped that I would end up loving it, I swear! So he put it in and I gave it the 10 mins I promised and then asked for it to be turned off. The turning point is the fact that I would have to waste another hour and half of my life watching and listening to Corey Feldman as a child. Didn't anyone ever get him tested for his mumbling? Ugh.. I gave Goonies the 10 mins I promised and turned it off. The End.

To many perfumes... to little nose #47

Since I have developed some nasty allergies I am now allergic to many of my fancy perfumes (I may be giving away half to full bottles of some, so if you are a perfume whore like me let me know!). I can't do anything floral or spicy. I am stuck with mostly fruity and citrus. I always find my perfumes by just smelling them on someone else or happening to be in Victoria Secrets at the right time, etc.... I had a gift certificate to Macys and a sinus free nose. So I went to the department store to spend over an hour sampling perfumes to find something new. I knew I wanted something sweet and youthful for the warmer months. I surprisingly ended up taking the advice of a 14 yr old and got Can Can from Paris Hilton. So I guess I did two things I never did before and never thought I would... I went on a serious perfume shopping (similar to shoes and purse shopping, haa) and I bought perfume designed by Paris Hilton! I got a bunch of free stuff because I got it.. from a traveling perfume stick to a full size white purse! It smells like cotton candy and I felt it was a good diet move.. smell it, dont taste it. LOL:) Now the only thing I need to try out is to see how long I last outside with out bees attacking...

Show me the money!!! #46

While reading CNNs news I came upon their recommendation of websites to see if there is missing money that is owed to me. So I typed in my name and my family's into http://www.missingmoney.com to see if we are owed any money.

Nope...

The library is a disco! #45

When you think of the word library quietness comes to mind. There was once a patron who came in and screamed on top of his lungs just because he always wanted to try that. We let it go and laughed. Then today an hour before we closed my reference librarian went in the back of the library and BLASTED Beyonce Crazy In Love on the radio and he started to dance around. I decided to join in the fun and danced crazy sexy to the blasting music as if I was in some club back in the day.

It felt really good!:)

Mmm.. smell the flowers #44

I always say that when I own a home I am going to have a little garden in the corner in the backyard. The weather has been a perfect spring like week and the sunshine and beautiful blooming flowers really make me happy. I live in a garden style apartment and have a nice balcony. I went out and looked into getting one of those window/balcony baskets to put flowers but I didn't know how thick my balcony is. So I actually ended up purchasing a hanging basket and some potted orange wild flowers and assumed common sense and potted the orange flowers into the hanging basket to hang from the ceiling of the balcony. Thus far they look okay and healthy... lets see how long it takes me to kill them.

Goo!!!!!! #43

I am one of those people that abide by most rules like second nature. I can not sit in a car seat with out having a seatbelt. I always use my foot to hit the handle on public toilets - never touch them with my hands. So I guess if its good for my overall health I make it a habit. My biggest pet peeve is manners. I can not stand rude people. If you cut me off in traffic send me a wave to thank me for not crashing into you. If I open the door for you say thank you, don't just walk in like I am your servant. This is why I love the South... they know manners more than most of the rest of the country. So in my manners section of habits I always make a point to spit my used gum into a tissue or remove it with my finger tips and place it in a garbage basket. So tonight I really went against my rule-abiding ways and did something DISGUSTING!! I took my used gum and stuck it under an old bench like kids do. I wanted to experience what it feels like to be so gross, haaa. I felt like a bad 9 yr old boy doing it. The funny part was my gum wasn't sticky enough and it fell onto the floor, so I ended up picking it up with a tissue and tossing it the RIGHT WAY.

Yum

Juicy! Yum #43

Earlier this week I bought my 1st whole pineapple. Thankfully it came with directions of how to cut it. I cut my 1st pineapple. It was pretty easy but I feel with the lack of experience and not great of a knife I missed a lot of meat and it wasn't as pretty as the classic pineapple chunks. Either way, it tasted so good!

There was no Oscar #42

Since I was a teen I always make a point to watch the movies that win the best awards and I have always agreed with them. So this year I watched No Country For Old Men and liked it, but J. didn't. I decided to give There Will Be Blood because Daniel Day Lewis is my favorite actor and I just wanted to see the movie. I ended up thinking, for the first time, that the Academy was wrong. WOW! That movie was fantastic. It was slow and deep, but that is what I feel really wins the awards.

Ewww Boys! #41

One of my guy friends had a wedding to go to near my home. So he asked if he could save $ and stay over our home for the night. I have had female families and friends stay over, but never did I have a guest of my own that is the oppisite sex. He isn't J.'s friend, he is mine. It was pretty cool! Went out to Stuff Yer Face and watched tv.

A new fave... in architecture #40

I fell in love with the house of architect Andrea Lenardin Madden which was illustrated in the March08 issue of Domino. Discovering that she also did the Sprinkles cupcake cafe in LA I wanted to know more about this creative lady. So I googled and researched everything I could find about this young architect. Her website, http://almproject.com/, is a great start but I found that some of her outlined projects needed to be researched in order to understand why in the world she had floating photos of 2x3 wood shoes on her website.

Although I have a favorite female artist, Dorothea Tanning, I never thought of having a favorite female architect. Now I do. I loooooooove her modernism and clean lines and devotion to the simple life. If I had lots of $ I would have her do my future home.

I the people won! #39

Today I recieved a box at work. I opened it up to find out that I was awarded a special collection of books from the American Library Association and NEH. I had entered my library into this contest to be one of the 3000 libraries in the country to win this special collection.

http://ala.org/ala/ppo/programs/currentprograms/wethepeople/wepeople.cfm

The business of cups and cakes #38

If asked what kind of business I would have if I had to start one what would it be? I would either have a soap/lotion one (like a hip Bath & Body works) or a cupcake bakery.

In order to know the business you need to know the history... So I read up on the history of the cupcake businesses - from Magnolias in NY to Sprinkles in LA.

P.S. Don't those cupcakes look yummy??? I got a better picture than before!;)

My new hang out... the pharmacy #37

I am sick with the worst sinus infection I have ever had. In the past 24 hours I ended up visiting the pharmacy 3 times. 3 times to pick up different prescriptions. The first was to pick up a renewal of my blood medicine, then another to pick up some stuff my nose and finally after I went to the doctors I picked up my antibiotics for my infection. Yum.

Open my heart to new people #36

As some people know I was born with a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery before my 2nd birthday. With all the years of going to hospitals and doctor visits I never met anyone with a congenital heart defect (that I know of) as an adult and today I met a group of people with them. All of them had different defects.

I met them at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to do a tour of art with heart as a theme. The first painting, a portrait of Philadelphia surgeon Dr. Eakins, was of an open chest surgery. It was very emotional, as was meeting people similar to me.

One, two, three... OUCH #35

For over a year I have been contemplating on getting my ear tragus piercing. I have gotten as close as walking in the piercing place and walking out soon afterwards. Then last week I saw a woman with three lobe piercings have beautiful large crystal studs in each hole. I thought it was really classy with some funk. I thought it over for a few days and decided to get my 2nd and 3rd hole instead of my tragus. I always wanted someone to come with me, but I ended up going alone.

I went to the Piercing Clinic that I went to as a child. It is ran buy an actual medical doctor who does the piercing and has been in business in 45 yrs. The piercing is a bit more expensive than going to the mall. But I went to him as a child after the mall piercing was very crooked and of course I got my 2nd holes done and they were also crooked. So I went to fix my 2nd hole and get new 3rd holes (I was born on 3/3... 3 is the perfect number).

I went in and it was just like a doctors appointment! Click, click and it was all done. My 3rd piercing is sore, but I guess because its next to cartilage.

My Library THANG

Everyone is doing it, so I thought I would do so to. I had opened my account a couple of days ago and now have started to enter a list. It is very basic and need to update, but you get the idea.


I started to catalog my personal collection at library thing.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lipstxlibrarian

Out to lunch #33

I have taken out friends and family out to a meal, but never a coworker. I took my coworker out for lunch to thank you for her help and also for her birthday. She selected asian food and I had some spicey soup becaue I have a bad sinus infection. It still was very yummy!

I can't even see dead people #32

A month ago J. and I were doing our taxes when a question asking if one of us were legally blind came up. He jokingly teased me that one day I would say Yes to that answer. My eyesight is BAD. On my contacts box my prescription is -8.5. I have never met anyone worse than -7.0. So today I went for my eye check up and finally asked "what is my natural eyesight number?" I know 20/20 is perfect.. but what am I? 20/40000? I found out there is no number for my sight because with out my glasses or contacts I am legally blind!! Well, I am not technically sight disabled since I have corrective lenses, but if I didn't I would be able to function. I only see fingers and everything else is a blur. I am so bad I can't get lasik as of right now. But the good news is my eyes are stabilizing.

To give you an example here are two photos of what it kind of looks like to me when I don't have my glasses/contacts.

The flower/tire photo that is blurry is still a bit clear than what I would see. The other one is what the roads at night look when I am in the passenger seat in a car and take off my glasses. I always wonder if VanGogh was a bit nearsighted because his stars in his paintings tend to look like what lights in the sky looks like to a poorly sighted person.

I am not an accident... #31

I have been dealing with some self realization in my personal life lately. It comes when you realize you are an adult (shock!) and creeping on the borderline of 30, eeek! So I have been trying to figure out what I want in my near and far future. Pretty much I am starting my mid-life crisis 10 yrs early... Didn't I just get over my quarter life one a few years ago???

So I had this cough::crazy::cough patron come into the library with the title of a book written on a scrap piece of paper that someone had recommended her to read to find herself. It was the classic, best selling book of 2003 "A Purpose Driven Life". She told me that if reading it didn't do it for her she would be back to get the book on cd. I checked to see if we had it and yes we had it in, but she didn't check it out. Instead I did.

I was driving down for the night to South NJ and thought it may be something different to listen to rather then my usual Britney Spears music. It tells you that you should only take on one thing per day and there are 40 points that you need to work on. My 1st "self help" book and I start off not listening to it and go ahead and listen to the first 4 points. I have to say I do like some of the points the author states. I also like how non-scripted the recording is. At points you can hear the authors digital watch alarm go off and also him crying when its an emotional point. It usually occurs when he ends a sentence with "God".

I am going to finish listening to the book to see what the outcome is.

Selection 08 #30

Today I read all about the Presidential canidates and did online survey tests to help me decide.

I have secured my selection for Obama.

He didn't just say what I thought he did...

Sorry I have been lacking posting all my escapades. I promise to post them up in a day or so. Tonight though I could not wait to inform you all of what I experienced. I went tonight to Macy's to use up a gift card my mom gave me. I was browsing through ladies shoes and costume jewelry when I overheard two guys speaking as if they were in a pub how the one got drunk, got some oral from an unknown girl and the next morning wokeup not knowing where his boxers were. I recall asking myself "Did he just say blow job in Macys?". I turned around to discover it was two male employees talking! The woman that was helping me at jewelry saw my expression and asked what was up. I decided that I was so grossed out that someone needed to tell them to shut up. So I told her what it was and she was kind, yet freaked out about it. I didn't give my name or info because I didn't want to get involved nor wanted to let anyone get fired. But I did want someone to tell them to shut up because people were getting offended around them. So the woman told me to go online and write up what I experienced anonymously and that it should be taken care of. She then proceeded to call the store manager and I walked away because I didn't want to get involved. I did go home and sent in an anonymous message to the store telling to speak with the guys, but that I wasn't look for anyone to get fired.

I have never created an online poll before and always wanted to. So I created an online poll for my readers to comment on what they would have done in the situation. Your answer is anonymous and you can vote once.

If I overheard Macy's male employees talk openly about getting BJs I would....
	never be caught at a Macys in the 1st place
	have ignored it and walked away
	do just what Jaimie did
	approach the guys and tell them they are gross
	approach the guys and ask to party with them
	Go all Deborah (my mom) on them and phone the police, store manager and President Bush because I am emotionally damanged
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Surprise!!!!!! #28

The past 3 years this weekend has been my surprise bridal shower weekend. In 06 it was my shower and I was surprised. Last year was Jaimi's surprise bridal shower which I organized and hosted. This year was a different one... I was in charge of getting the bride, my sister Jade, to the shower. Let me tell you, the most stressful duty of them all! I didn't eat for 2 days because I was so nervous that something was going to go wrong and she would find out.

It got intense when we were only 15 mins away from the place - 20 mins TO EARLY! So I had to stall by going the longer route, going slow and even "accidentally" missing the place to catch an extra 5 mins. All my work paid off and it was a great time! Of course, like most brides, she had an idea due to some accidentally hints my mom made.

Frebreze and FORGET IT! # 27

My sister Jade is staying over tonight, so its my mini-cleanup time.

I changed up the regiment to include febrezing everything to make it smell extra fresh. Yes, I febrezed everything from every blanket to counter tops to door nobs.


MMMM BREATH IN!!

Here is a book and a brownie #26

Like most librarians I have a handful of regular patrons that come to me to help them out. Yes, I feel all fuzzy and warm inside. Last week a patron of mine came in just to give me a bar of gourmet orange chocolate, mmmmmmm!!
So to show them how appreciative I am of them I handed out candy or brownies to them. Most of my patrons are single girls from my age upwards to 80s, so of course none of them refuse free chocolate!

We should totally have a patron apperciate day... yes! I am going to start that holiday:)

Bag it bitch! #25

I have already established that I am a purse whore. But there is one purse I think is such a fashion no-no...

The garbage bag looking purse.

It all started with Missy Elliots WORST OF ALL TIME AWFUL GARBAGE BAG JUMPSUIT

and ended last year to this nasty creation, the black garbage bag (price tage of $1000s) purse

I am really trying to apperciate everything I don't like, so I toted my stuff in a white garbage bag - even using the handles as straps. It felt okay with it around, but jeez was I embarrished to be seen with it. Didn't even take a photo of it.

Go and Hike It! #24

NJ is suppose to not have that great list of hiking trails. Since I plan to try some of them out when the weather gets better I looked up one that I had been told about. Some amazing sights to see, ecspecially this particular one...

http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=HGN141-018
http://www.njskylands.com/odhiketripod.htm

Don't try this at home... #23

When I was in art history school were studying Mary Cassett's paintings of mothers with their children. I recall one of my fellow history friends told us how one piece reminded her of the stories her mom told of holding her as a baby while trying to clean the whole house. So I decided to try doing some basic tasks around the house while holding Charlotte, my tuxedo cat, like a child.

It is a bit hard when the sound of sprays and vacuum scares a cat out of its wit. I really tried, but couldn't go beyond wiping down things. Once the Dirt Devil came out she was doing back flips to run out of my arms.

So to celebrate the fun I thought I would post this silly photo of a poor cat...

Who would play me in a movie #22

I have seen a lot of people play around with those "what celebrity do you look like" things. I remember playing around with one once but I never took it serious and tried it. So the question is... who would play me in a movie? (um, wheres Rachel Weisz?)

Easter Dinner Is Different #21

I take my holiday traditions seriously. Easter dinner is at my grandparents with ham, cheese and wine. This time around Grandma changed it around for me. Easter dinner was changed drastically..... delicious lasagna and baked artichokes. Yum.

60 is the new 30 #20

As hinted yesterday I went to pick up something special for a special person. I went to floral shop and ordered a special ordered flower arrangement for my mom who turned 60 today. In the past I only had someone else create an arrangement or bought something premade for a quick grab-n-go flowers. So I found a beautiful flower shop and I gave them some ideas (60 flowers, etc.) and they showed me an arrangement they were working on but I didn't like. I ended up selecting an original flower plant.. very beautiful.

So I brought over the plan today, just to find out the arrangement they were working on was the one my dad bought! Haaa.

Tonight my sisters and I took my mom out for an expensive dinner. In all my years I have NEVER bought my mom a meal. So I was so excited to get the chance to buy her something she loved... blue fish. Yum.

It is a surprise #19

Shhh!!! I can't tell you much of what it is. As weird as it may sound... I never have gone into a certain place where they sell fresh grown things and ordered something special for a very special person. I've done it over the phone and I've bought it premade. But never went and order something so special. I ended up getting something totally different than what I had in mind. Its beautiful though... and will last longer than if it wasn't attached to some brown stuff. It's color consist of white, pink and beautiful navy blue.

It is being picked up tomorrow at 4pm for a very significant person in my life. With out this person I wouldn't be here... literally. SHHHHHH DONT TELL!:)

Global Warming Messed Up My SUV #18

This is going to be short and to the point because I don't want to relive this event. THIS IS WHY WE ALWAYS WANT TO THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS! THE SECRET (the book "the secret")DOES SEEM TO WORK - EVEN IN BAD WAYS. Driving back from the Tilly concert I had this freakish fear come over me of my car just stopping in the middle of the highway. I wondered, what would happen if that did occur? Would someone slam into me? I did not know but I was soon going to get the answer.

I was just getting off the Walt Whitman bridge, going through construction zone in NJ when the crazy wind knocked something black and hard into my suv. 20 feet later my car started to die in the middle of the highway. I was able to pull over in the construction cut off shoulder. The state police were called. The guy was not nice and I never thought in a million years I would so feel like a stupid 3yr old girl. Nothing was found he told me. Tow trucks were trying to be called. 45 mins later someone finally came to pick up my truck. Thankfully he was very nice.

I ended up having to call out of work for my night shift. I also ended up having to fish out over $800 for a busted fuel pump and now have a beautiful dent in my fuel tank.

Isn't that a beautiful piece? Should be in a museum. Everything is fine now. I am okay, as is my passengers.

Because of the dead of the night and perhaps the rudeness of the SP I will never know what truly knocked me up.

The End

Twinkle Me Tilly #17

Okay, I already have seen Tilly and The Wall in Philly a year and half ago. I also brought along Jaimi. The band came back again into town to play at a new place. This Tilly concert was different.

This time I took my love for Tilly seriously. Never been done before with any concerts or like events. I brought along another friend to introduce the band to and I also met up with another serious Tilly fan at the concert to gush about the band and dance around the place with. I am an official fanatic fan, in my terms.

The sound was better this time around, but the room was smaller, people stunk worse (If you can afford $14 for a ticket, you can afford $1 for deodorant), and I ended up in the way back looking like a fool dancing by myself.

All in all the concert was good because it's Tilly. I take it any stinky, warm night of the year.

Venus Zine had an awesome article about the concert. Check it out!
http://venuszine.com/articles/music/live_reviews/2714/Tilly_and_the_Wall_grows_up_in_Philadelphia

Wrong Order Twice Over #16

I have this really bizarre addiction to the vegetarian luncn special called a "tiffin" at this poor take-out Indian restaurant named Monsoon Express near my work. Their lentils with butter is to die for. I can not stand their service and roller coaster price changes (one week the lunch specials are $5, next can be upwards to $8 for the same meal!). As much as I complain about everything I still seem to go back. There isn't any other fast Indian place with in 10 mins of my work so I just bite my lip, call up the guy that doesn't understand English and cross my fingers that the delicious taste will get to my mouth sometime in the next 20 mins.

Last time I tried to order I couldn't understand the phone ordering guy and he told me that he would call me back when my food was ready. Plus, it would be a little different food then what is listed on the menu. Nope, not going to happen dude. I take my tiffin lunch specials very seriously. No changes. I canceled it.

So this time I had a coworker do the talking and call in. You may be asking by now why the heck do I go through all of this commotion and why is the food so darn addicting. Well, when you forget to bag your lunch and you want to avoid over fried Chinese and Wendy's the only lunch place that offers actual hot, fresh meals you are going to bend a little to get something good. I actually boycotted the place all of the winter after they hiked their prices for the same lunch $2 and didn't inform me of the change till I got to the place.

So I went to pick up my food and there is of course a new, rude guy and I have to wait 5 mins extra while he gets me my free condiments and my cash change. Yes, the price went back up $2 from the last time I got lunch from there 2 weeks ago. Everything was done and I went back to work to eat my delicious lunch. I sat down and that WAS IT!

They gave me some weird skinned pork or chicken in red saucy. Totally not my vegetarian lunch that it was suppose to be. So, I finally got the guts to complain and boy did they get it! I called up and explained and the guy told me to come back and pick up a fresh lunch that I ordered. Normally they take 15 mins to prepare it. I told him he had 7 mins. to make it and that this was ruining my lunch. I also explained how I was a regular customer and that everything is going down. I get to the place and to my surprise everything is ready. I even got free naan. He offered me the wrong lunch to keep to give away. I checked to through the clear container to see that it was in fact the correct order.

I get back to work 10 mins later, open up the container just to find out it LOOKED like the correct lunch order, but in fact wasn't. I was jipped.... try curry over potatoes and mashed up eggplant. Far from the mixed veggies and malai kofta I was to get.

I hope I finally learned my lesson!

I should after all these WONDERFUL reviews online:
http://www.searchindia.com/search/restaurant-reviews/monsoon-express.html
http://local.yahoo.com/details?id=33241848

Betty's baking #15

I have never been one to fall for product advertisments. Lately I find myself curious to try products after watching commercials. I tend to watch infomercials and then research reviews on their items which always come back with bad ratings. Thankfully I haven't fallen for anything to expensive - only gum or toothpaste.

But after watching the Betty Crocker Warm Delights commercial I just couldn't take my mind off the sight of gooey chocolateness. Women out there everywhere know what I mean!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NGgT3bptXas

So I went out and purchased both the Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie to do a taste test. I actually had the Fudge Brownie the other night and decided to finish off my taste test tonight with the cookie one. Both were prepared the same way and both get an S for STRANGE in the way it is prepared. You just add a few drops of water, mix it up and pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds.

The Fudge Brownie one reminded me of the brownies you get in TV dinners. I give it a B for taste as it didn't taste exactly the way I thought it would by the commercial. But it wasn't bad either, I would have it again. The Cookie one was another story. I should have known that when I did the traditional cookie dough spoon taste and thought it was funky that after it was microwaved it wouldn't be all that different. I was right. It was really baked, yet it still tasted like it wasn't cooked right. It was blah. I give it a C-.

So there you go girls! :)


P.S. I ate my C- treat while watching August Rush. I highly recommend it. Keri Russell is starting to become a fave of mine.

The necklace for 2008 - ROAD KILL #14

What is that around your neck you may be asking..... is that my beloved Charlotte? Something I picked up off the side of the road. Or perhaps just a $10000 illegal tuxedo cat fur wrap???

No, that is my birthday gift from my in-laws this year. It is a super cute, chunky neck warmer that is suppose to look like Charlotte my alive tuxedo cat. When I first got it last week she freaked out because she thought it was another cat. It was very funny. Now she just ignores it.

So I decided to spice up today since I had to work on a Sunday. I wore this neck wrap all day - at work, around town and even out to dinner with friends. At first no one said anything to me but as the day went by people just started to get weirded out. I would caress it like a real cat. The cat did try to get away a few times by sliding off and I had to take it off for 30mins because it actually was causing me a headache.

Don't I look so puuuurrrfect?

Every purseaholic's nightmare - the test #13

My family likes to tease me about my collection of shoes (which reminds me I need to check out Payless soon, thanks!). My friend Jenny has a room just for her shoes. She also thought I was a master of shoes when I brought home 13 PAIRS of them and succesfully snuck them into my home with out my husband noticing them. I SWEAR! they were because of Payless's buy one, get one 50% off. So many of the pairs were only a couple of bucks. But what people fail to really notice is not my shoe collection (which is very calm and about normal amount compaired to most women) that I am a purseaholic. When Im in a shop I go straight for the purses. I just got ONE purse for both spring and summer (how will I survive??!). I decided to find out what my purse and purse ways say about me. I got mixed reviews.

I took an online purse quiz on ym.com and got this answer:
What's Your Purse-sonality?
Basic Bagger
You're all about the basics, which means you carry your stuff in a nice, simple bag, either a backpack or tote. You're busy, and have a lot going on, so it's filled with all your schoolwork, clothes for practice, and snacks because you're always on the go. That doesn't mean you look sloppy, though, because you keep things well organized as well as comfortable.

However when I watched this ABC video it is clear that I am girl #4 - the crazy purse lady.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=6906959

And that means.... #12

Anyone that knows me knows I am fascinated by names. Although I may not be maternal I always love playing the name game with friends who are having babies or even thought up names if I ever had a kid. A name is a word that describes a person. From an anthropological stand point it just fascinates me. I always say I should write a baby name book for parents seeking less common names (if one more baby is named Bella or Aidan I am going to scream!). I actually met an author from Montclair whom wrote such a book several years. So I guess my idea of unusual name book isn't original. I've researched thousands of names (The name Lulu which is on my personal name list means "gem" and "love" in two African languages. Jaimie also means "gem" and "I love" in two different languages, pretty cool), but never did I look up surnames.

Friday night I met up with a childhood friend who has been into ancestry.com and she showed me the free link to look up any last name's history. I looked up all the surnames in my own history. My dad's last name and my maiden name does not come up. My married name does and has an interested, well in depth Irish history.

To check out your's go to this link : http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx

Freeze! #11

I know this is old technology but I never learned how to do a screen shot of a webpage or desktop. I looked it up online but all I got was these programs, many not free, to do it. So I did a simple wikipedia.com search and got a great dummy free 2 step way. I do recall that you pressed something with print, but never knew it was the prntscm key. So here are screen shots of my shop and the dummy free tutorial.

"It's Toby Mastallone podcasting you from Hackensack, NJ" - #10

visit videodetective.com for more info

One of those 2 new things for 1 day..."Sal, call me sometime... I'm in the phone book... Toby Mastallone Hackensack New Jersey!" That is a great line from one of my favorite movies 1992's Jersey Girl staring Jami Gertz. I make all my Jersey friends sit through it (just ask Em! haaa. I made it a requirement when she moved to NJ). I've seen the movie multiple times, yet never been to the actual city it took place in NJ. Until now!I went two professional workshops in Hackensack. The second half of the workshop was learning about podcasting - which I know about. Yet, I never knew how to do it and finally learned the in and outs of it.

??????

Please comment here your suggestions of new (legal) things to try. Can be anonymous.

Mmmm good! #9

Since I am now eating pecatarian to go towards my once again attempt to vegetarianism I was very happy when my friend Jenny invited to meet up for dinner tonight at Bonefish Grill. I never been there and have been dying to try it out. Worth the wait!:) I am usually a salmon girl although I have tried most fishes. Growing up in my family you were born with a crab leg in your mouth. My mom taught us the enjoyment of eating seafood. So tonight I tried something I never have had - rainbow trout. I had theirs encrusted with pistachio and topped with artichoke hearts. The fish was delicious and it almost looked like the fish on the restaurant's sign... minus the bones of course.

Simple soup #8

Tonight's new thing is something very basic and not like the real thing I was seeking. It is technically something new though. I went to an all day professional conference meeting in which they provided delicious catering. I tried everything, of course, and tonight realized something I ate wasn't that good and wasn't feeling well. One of my favorite soups is matzo ball soup. I don't even really know whats in it (I have an idea) and I'm not Jewish. So seeing I was ill and no actual matzo in my home I made due with what I have to get the taste. I ended up making my own version (however terribly wrong it is) of basic matzo ball soup. I just added chicken broth, carrots and celery soup along with a ton of floating crackers. Tasted similar so I went with it.

So there! Tada!:)

I'll take it! In bulk that is... #7

I have visited it with another member to purchase glasses, contacts and even tires (which I highly DO NOT recommend doing!). But I never went there as a member myself and learned how to work the world of wholesale store buying.

So today instead of going to my local Wegmans for our groceries I finally used our BJ's wholesale membership and got our groceries there instead. What started out as an aggravating and overwhelming situation where I just wanted to walk away from my cart ended up being a very positive situation. Our cart was full and as usual I didn't calculate the EXACT amount I was purchasing as I just don't do that. Well.. have a little faith in Miss J as I was able to go UNDER the budget and still obtain the same amount of, if not more, groceries. From 40lb cat litter to fist sized oranges. I suppose the real new thing was not that I went to BJs and purchased.. but that I didn't realize they didn't provide any boxes or bags to tote your items (yes, I have totes at home for this purpose, but didn't know I needed them). So it was an interesting, yet surprisingly organized, loading my suv with the said items. Cold stuff on the floor, boxes in the trunk.

A night like no other... #6

Oh boy oh boy! Not one, not two, but 3 new things I experienced this grand Saturday.
My dad was so kind to take the family out for dinner, my choice, to celebrate my 19+10 birthday this Saturday night.

As I was driving down to meet up with my family I was thinking of what new thing I would experience. I thought I would try a bite of J’s Philly sushi roll since I haven’t had sushi for over a year when I had a stomach virus from bad sushi. But, that wouldn’t really be a new thing since I always ate sushi rolls before that. Unknown to myself I was about to get my question answered – two in a row.

I was driving down rt.295 South from rt.1 when I saw something I never thought I would. A massive metal sculpture consisting of two heads on the side of the road. Seeing I am into art this was fascinating to me. I never have seen a sculpture on the side of a highway in New Jersey. I have driven rt.295 for over 10 years and never once saw this. Of course, it was in an area of the highway that I have only driven only a dozen times. But still… I never saw something like this. After doing some searching I found out it is called “Head 2 Head” by John Martini and it was positioned there to welcome guests to a local outdoor sculpture park in that area.

The wind was really bad last night. Trees were down ; power outages every where. Soon after viewing two large heads on the side of the road I had to drive in 100mph winds. My suv went all over the road and it was scary. I attempted to fight the power of high winds for a few minutes until I finally pulled over to calm down.

I successfully got to my parents home thirty minutes later and the fun was just beginning!

As with the past few years I selected hibachi for this special night. Last week I went to a placed called Iron Moto in South NJ for the first time and loved it. I decided to ask to go back to that place for this event. The 6 of us in two cars went down rt.295 south to rt.42 south in attempts to get to Iron Moto. However, due to down wires the road was closed off and there was an hour long backup trying to U-turn everyone back onto Rt. 42. It was disappointing since I was looking forward to my family experiencing a new place.

We then decided to try another hibachi house down the street from my parents home. We walked into the restaurant, about to be seated when the electricity went out in the place! After much thought we decided to stay and have our dinner prepared in the kitchen. We ended up having a hibachi dinner by candlelight. The manager and servers were really nice and provided us with free food and sake. Yum. Then when our dinner was over the electricity finally went on and the kind waitress came out with a fried ice cream dessert for my birthday. I couldn’t have asked for a better dinner experience than that!

Oh and yes, I successfully had a piece of Philly roll. So lets say 3 ½.

I give thee kindess expecting it in return - #5

I really hope I don't get any slack for this one since I meant it in the kindness of ways. My baby sister would like it.

Two years ago I read an article in which a woman went into business sending out for others anonymous snail mail cards to people with a message. Most often it were messages of dislike. Say a girl pays this woman to send her exboyfriend a card, anonymously, saying "No one likes you, you are a jerk". The thought crossed my mind several times to do it to my wonderful (sarcastic voice) neighbor who happens to yell at her husband if he trys to say hello to us. But of course I wouldn't do it.

So instead in the spirit of Easter I sent her a Bible anonymously as a gift and gester to find some lukewarm spot in her stone heart. And no, if you are wondering nothing of me was stated in the request and I made sure it didn't come back to me. It was sent to her by her. I know, I could have been mean and asked it from a certain church that has missionaries drop them off, but like I said I wanted to send a small thought in hopes to see a change. If not, it is time to send in some holy water.

I am part of the collection... check me out! #4

Seeing I work as a cataloger it never dawned on me that I am a product of the library. So I went ahead and made a basic original cataloging record about me. Yes, I even attached a barcode to myself.

Here is my MARC bib record:

BIB KEY: 168705 FORMAT: BK 1. +LD 00312nam 2200060 4500 2. 001 sop168705 3. 008 080306s1979????njua g 0 beng d 4. 020 a03031979 5. 092 a599.9$bJAI 6. 245 10 aJaimie Delora$bUxxxxxx Dxxxxxxx /$cDeborah Txxxxxx and David Uxxxxxx. 7. 250 a1st ed. 8. 260 aLivingston, NJ:$bSaint Barnabas Hospital,$c1979. 9. 300 aXXX lbs :$bcol. ill. ;$c64 in. 10. 650 0 aHuman beings.

Here is my Holding record:

HOLDINGS RECORD Enter BARCODE : 39377001655924* TITLE Jaimie Delora Unglaub Donnelly /2 COLLECTION New Adult Nonfiction3 CALL # F4 COPY/VOL 5 ITYPE New Book* ISTATS 1/ New Adult Nonfiction 2/ Generalities* AGENCY-main SOP8 AGENCY-scndry SOP9 PRICE $3.0010 SOURCE 1/ Deborah11 CHECKIN NOTE 1/ Comes with tuxedo cat and large collection of shoes and purses.12 GENERAL NOTE 1/ * ADD/MOD/CD/INV 1/ 06 MAR 2008 2/ 06 MAR 2008

Wow... I'm better than I thought I was- #3

Reading Shape magazine today they had an article ID theft and checking out your score. I had been meaning to do this for a while... but like tests back when I was in school I had a deep fear of knowing the true grade. So I gathered up the nerve to finally take a look at my credit report. I was not provided the score, as that was extra money beyond the free report. Since I wanted to check any ID theft or any issues I needed to fix that I didn't know about I won't go into details of what the report told me... only that as usual I thought was worse off than the truth. I am a very good girl:). I also discovered I never closed some unnecessary "girly" cards, so that is my task to do in the next week.

My plea - #2

Each year the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (http://www.njch.org/) awards a few selected libraries with a collection of non-fiction NJ subject based books that won outstanding awards. Any library is open to apply and my library decided to put our ticket in.

I was asked to write the proposal in attempt to win these books for our library. The winning libraries will have a fancy dinner in the fall to be presented the collection. I really hope Im going to such event:)

Super Cute!

I got this card from PETA and I just thought it was so cute. Check out Charlotte on the right hand side.

http://www.peta.org/AutomatedCards/CardFiles/Pages/funcard.asp?xmt=2787656405R5585334X

The Little Movie that Could (#1 New Thing)

Watching the Oscars last week I was reminded of several movies I desired to see or had never heard of and needed to see. On the top of my list was the Irish movie Once that has been dubbed by Hollywood as the "the little movie that could". It is a very simple story line - two muscians meet, a young girl who is married with a child and a single slightly older guy who is searching for his beloved ex. They make music together and really touch one another's lives. Its such a basic story but really touches the heart. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE as I feel everyone will get something out of it. If not, at least the music in is worth listening to.

So today on my b-day I watched Once... once.