I am so jittery.

I had a headache today, so I took an Excedrin Migraine. Then I followed it up with not one, but two Mocha Frappacinos. What was I thinking?

Happy day

Yum:


Yummer:


Yummest:


And a birthday cake complete with niece-prints in the icing.


Also, my dad washed my car, which is something I generally rely on the rain to do, we played pinochle and movie trivia, and we watched the NFL draft. (Jets fans are never satisfied.) Now I'm off for an evening of fun with P, M, and J. Getting older is awesome.

My day of fun in pictures

I had a day off today so I planned a day of fun in Pittsbugh. I started out in the Strip District where I saw some sexy hats.


There was also an amusing sign about growing older, which made me realize that I will soon be at a point where I've been driving for half my life.

I went to the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, which is like Conzatti's on steroids.

They have pretty Italian sweets...

...a magificent selection of olive oils...

...and an olive bar that would make you weep.

I ended up here, the original Primanti's.

My usual: the steak and cheese, #2 best seller. They never do tell you what the #1 best seller is...

I'm not even going to comment on the time elapse between this photo and the one before. It's appalling.

After the Strip, I headed to the shops in Shadyside. The Shadyside Curiosity Shop is wonderfully colorful. I bought an old fashioned slide puzzle. I also went to a thrift shop and found a great old faux bamboo end table. It looks hideous now, but wait till it meets up with some high-gloss white spray paint. It's gonna be fabulous.


Next I headed to one of my favorite places in the world!

Ikea is more than a store, it's an experience. Because you may be spending hours there, they have a cafe. I had never eaten there before, but this time I was a little hungry, so I thought I'd try some Swedish meatballs. What can I say? This was a mistake. They are not great, but they're better than the mac and cheese, which was just dismal. The guy covered everything with gravy, and that terrifying pile of red stuff on the edge is lingonberries, which is like Swedish cranberries. It all went in the trash. I suppose not everything about Blue Wonderland can be perfect, and the imperfection is the heinous food. But the soda was great. Their carbonation levels are perfect. I drank that right up.

After my meal misfire at Ikea, I went to a place where I knew I could get something tasty. I want to be buried in a pile of Chipotle vegetarian burritos so I can eat my way out. And the employees there are so nice, they'd call the police for you if you were to lock your keys in your trunk. And the North Fayette Police Department is really awesome at helping people out of jams like that. Or so I've heard.

Next stop: Station Square and a ride up the Mon Incline...

...to end up here, the second most beautiful place in America. Interestingly enough, I'll be seeing the most beautiful place in June.

This evening was perfection. It was nice and warm, and there was a light breeze blowing.

I had so much fun, and now I'm off to bed to dream of my birthday meal tomorrow.

So, Amanda is famous.

If you're looking for a wedding photographer and you've considered the services of Ms. Michelle Misner, you've probably seen my famous friend Amanda and her sister Jess' wedding party. They grace the covers of newsletters and advertisements everywhere. Aren't they stylish?


Amanda's lovely mom calls this "the most famous bridal party in Cambria County." If they start charging for autographs, I'll make a fortune off the notes Amanda and I used to pass in Physics class.

I can be an environmentalist, if there's something in it for me.

Today is Earth Day. I know this because I went to Google and there was one of those cute little drawings there in place of the normal Google logo. I am not an environmentalist. I mean, I don’t wish harm upon the environment, but I am a documented destroyer of planets. Basically, I am selfish and lazy and I just don’t give much thought to my earth-ruinous habits. I’m not proud of this, but there it is.

But! There is hope! If being environmentally friendly can also be fun and cute and helpful AND satisfy my enjoyment of shopping for online goodies? I’m totally on-board. Behold, the Rume reusable grocery bags. I bought six of these last year at Delight.com, one of my favorite shopping websites, and everywhere I go I get compliments on how smart and lovely they are. I mean, how much better would your wretched trip to WalMart be if it ended with someone telling you how fabulous your bags were? And even better, each bag holds more than twice the amount of a WalMart bag AND you can sling them over your shoulder, resulting in fewer trips from the car to the house lugging in groceries or books or whatever crap you’ve been buying because you shop way too much. And until I can afford that chauffeur/personal valet to cart my stuff for me, these will have to do.


I got the two Spring in New York sets, but the Fall in New York are lovely, as are the red ones they brought out for Christmas. The gorgeous new metallic bags should only be used if you are uber-fabulous and can carry them off.

Figgy, come down from there, please. I promise not to kill you.

"Awwww yeah..."

So, I joined Twitter today, and it's already paying off. I signed up to follow Michael Ian Black's Twitter stream and what had he posted three hours before? THIS! MTV is finally, finally, releasing The State on DVD. Our long national nightmare is over and we can enjoy Science Fiction Laboratory, Monkeys Ain't Natural, and The Barry Lutz Show to our hearts' content. Alas, we must wait until July 14th, but we've been waiting sixteen years, so what's a few more months?

Sixteen years? Man, that's a lotta puddin'.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I weep for you.

Felicitations and good wishes

Today is my Dad's birthday. Also Hitler's, but what are you gonna do? Dad is celebrating by taking Mom out for a fabulous dinner at The Allegro. (Jealous!) I think I will celebrate by getting into my pajamas immediately after work, ordering Chinese food, and spending the whole evening in a state of luxurious indolence. Also, I will watch Buffy DVDs

Happy Birthday, Dad.

There are some television depths to which even I will not sink.

"My lips of death are coming for you..."

So, we've established that I have somewhat trashy tastes when it comes to television. Even now, I sit here watching the Rock of Love Reunion in which the constestant who may or may not be a transsexual just punched out the contestant who collapsed in a drunk, crying heap on a speed bump and stayed there, drunk and crying, for an hour. Classy!

But I will not, WILL NOT, be watching the upcoming Daisy of Love, starring the runner up from the second season of Rock of Love. There will be drunken antics, there will be wackiness, there will be hijinks aplenty, but I will not see any of them. Every time see a commercial for this trainwreck, I'm afraid her collegen lips are going to come through the screen and smother me. It's terrifying. Also, I'm frightened watching the show could cause viewers to contract some sort of hideous disease. It's not worth your health, people.

Stuffed and happy.

Well, we had Melis' birthday meal and I am stuffed like a turkey. Mom and Jen made grape leaves in addition to the lasagna because they are awesome.

Here's how my cake turned out. It collapsed in the middle like a souffle at that finale of Top Chef held in Denver, but it was totally delicious.


Julia is running around like a child on a sugar high, which is what she is, and I need a nap.

Birthday madness begins!

Today is Melis’ birthday. I’m not going to say which birthday because if you’re a family member, you already know, and if you’re, like, one of her students or something, I’m not spilling the beans. Anyway, she looks many, many years younger than she is, so it matters not. Also, she sometimes acts like a twelve-year-old, like when she jumps out at me and causes me to shriek in horror like a little girl. Maturity!

So, when the Stombaugh girls have a birthday we get to choose a birthday meal; anything we want. (FYI, my standard is roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and white stuffing with onions. Next week, it will miraculously appear before me and I will be so happy. Jen pointed out that Uncle Jimmy and I are the only ones who eat stuffing with onions, which made Jimmy and I look at each other in wild-eyed delight in anticipation of how stuffed we’re going to be.) Melis’ birthday meal is happening tomorrow because she and Brian went to the fabulous seafood buffet at Seven Springs tonight. She chose lasagna for her meal tomorrow. I was kind of wishing/counting on her choosing grape leaves, but whatever, it’s not my birthday. In order to not impede Mom and Jen with the oven tomorrow, I made Melis’ cake tonight. Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting – everything made from scratch. Yum city. It’s kinda my signature cake. Take a look:

Mixing the batter:




Into the oven...


The frosting. It's called buttercream for a reason.




I will frost it tomorrow because we're watching a Thin Man movie tonight. Love!

Happy Birthday, Melis.

Teeny-tiny/Fabulous

I recently moved into a new, larger apartment, and just as I’ve been reveling in all this extra space, I stumble upon people making lovely living spaces in the tiniest of places. Apartment Therapy, the best substitute I’ve found since the heartbreaking folding of Domino magazine (please, I can't talk about it), hosts an annual contest for “Small Cool” places. There are four size categories: Little, Small, Tiny, and Teeny-Tiny. I’m loving the Teeny-Tiny places. Most of them are smaller than my bedroom alone, but they have sweet little kitchens and clever features like a Murphy bed that, when folded into the wall, is covered by two sliding bookcases. Just look:

Lovely bookcases.


Ta da! Bed!

Brilliant! Personally, I think the dude living in the 89 square-foot miniature house with a toilet-slash-shower is taking things to the extreme (my Barbie Dreamhouse was about that size), but most of these people are doing fabulous things with the space they've got, and I love that.

Kris, you should totally be in this contest!

Happy Easter, everyone.

Happy Easter to everyone in the family who isn't here celebrating with us. We miss you.

And Happy Easter to all my friends. Eat too much ham.

Who are they gonna bring in? Coy and Vance?

So, I think I have it figured out. ABC is the evil network and NBC is the stupid network. I do not watch Law & Order: SVU, but plenty of people do. At least for now. NBC has decided to see if they can’t drive away their remaining fan base by considering the elimination of Detectives Benson and Stabler from their lineup. Have we learned nothing from The Dukes of Hazzard? I love John Munch just as much as any girl, but I know who can carry which shows and who cannot. The network needs to just bite the bullet and give them the money. I’m not really sure what kind of leverage NBC thinks they have here.

Further, they continue in their efforts to submarine Kings, the only place I can currently get my much needed Ian McShane fix. Clearly they must be stopped!

Between this, the cancelling of Pushing Daisies, and the meddling Fox is doing with Dollhouse, I’m beginning to wonder why I bother with television at all. These executives are all lunatics. Lunatics, I say!

Sick, sick, sick.

I am currently being held together by a (hopefully non-lethal) cocktail of antibiotics, pseudoephedrine, and caffeine. I may have to take myself out of the line to hold Weston this weekend.

Blargh.

Well, that was unsettling.

Have you ever looking in your rearview mirror and thought to yourself, "Oh, that guy is definitely a serial killer."? I have. Just yesterday, in fact. I looked up and saw reflected in that rectangular piece of glass a man who looked like the biologically impossible love child of John Wayne Gacy and the Unabomber. Seventies-era car spray painted flat black, Stars and Bars hanging from his own rearview mirror, beard like Uncle Jesse (the Dukes’ uncle, not the Tanner’s uncle) had stuck his hand in a light socket, dark sunglasses even though the day was dreary and overcast, and a scowl that screamed, "I brake for knife shops." It’s a pretty chilling sight when you’re just out and about and on the way to Wendy’s for a spicy chicken sandwich.

Has anyone disappeared in the West End lately? If so, I just described your suspect.

I think the pressures of the recession have caused the Showtime advertising staff to start smoking crack.

Okay, so this is the poster for the new season of The Tudors. Can somone please explain to me why Jonathan Rhys Meyers appears to be sitting on a throne of naked people? That's ridiculous all on its own, but let's also remember that this is season three. The Jane Seymour season. Jane Seymour was rather conservative. Jane Seymour was so conservative that she limited the actual number of pearls her courtiers could wear on their persons. She didn't want people getting all flashy with the pearls. She was Tudor England's version of Martha Stewart, if Martha Stewart had shunned the decorative arts and entered a nunnery. Jane Seymour would have been mortified by this picture.

Seriously, ad people, why is he SITTING on a throne of naked bodies?