Touristy Trip to Ellis Island & The Statue of Liberty

A few weeks ago my grandparents were here. My grandma had never been before and my grandpa had been here in 1957. I took 2 days off of work and got all kinds of touristy with them. My feet have never hurt so much! They wanted to go everywhere and everywhere we went.

The Saturday of their trip they reserved tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry. I’d never been out to either, just been to Battery Park where I look from afar…and that was ok with me. The Statue of Liberty didn’t really blow me away, but one of the views from there was of all the ships waiting to make their way up the Hudson or East River. It’s crazy to me that they essentially have to stop and wait in line. Who knew!

Ellis Island was interesting in that looking out the windows of the main building, it doesn’t look like the rest of the island/buildings have been kept up and seem to be in pretty poor condition. The main room everyone had to congregate in while waiting to get into the country was pretty. I’m glad I went and did these things once, but I don’t think I’d do them again any time in the near future.

Dick Chicken

I have no idea.

I was recently on my way home from somewhere. This is close to my apt and I found it funny. On the side of the USPS Storage Box, someone had written DickChicken. Hehe.

Recent Etsy Finds

This week while looking for birthday presents for tbf’s sister I discovered the shop, Seja B. She has some really pretty pieces. We bought his sister this necklace, which I think can be nice and neutral:

I also found this one that I want. I love it, it’s beautiful, I’d wear it all the time!

Through following Etsy on Twitter I also found the shop Clemantine Rex this week. They make laser cut bamboo necklaces and I really want this one:

This necklace really reminds me of Charlie Brown, because when the characters get mad or something they get a little cloud like this over their head. (Right? Even if they don’t, it still reminds me of Charlie Brown.) I love love love this and really want to buy it for myself…but I won’t. *frown*

I also found this necklace there, and you can choose from multiple colors for the background. Light blue, sage green, red, and maybe black? I think it’s really pretty.

Finally, I’m really into the idea of aprons lately. I want to buy everyone I know an apron for Christmas. Hah. Maybe I should just buy myself one. Earlier this year I found the shop Boojiboo that has some pretty silhouettes, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for this week, so I went looking for more. I found the shop Aprons and More that has some really pretty aprons. They’ve found some really pretty fabric to make these aprons with. They also have some really great holiday aprons.


I bought this last one for one of my best friends for her birthday.

Movie Marathon Day

Today I had a movie day. It was supposed to be rainy outside all day and I never see any movies anymore, so I decided to go see a couple movies I’ve been wanting to see.

First, tbf and I went and saw Couples Retreat after meeting up with his brother-in-law for brunch. The movie was cute. It never made me laugh out loud, but lets be honest, not much (on tv or in movies) makes me laugh out loud. I thought it was cute and would definitely watch it again. I enjoyed the cast full of familiar faces, although I didn’t buy Kristen Davis’s character’s (Lucy) relationship with her husband and what came of it in the end. In the end, I definitely enjoyed this movie and wished I had seen it second.

Then I did a bad thing. For the first time ever I snuck into a movie!

However, I saw the Invention of Lying second, and I don’t think I would have stuck around to see a second movie if I had seen this one first. A few weeks ago, Ellen had Jennifer Garner on her show promoting this movie. I a. developed a giant girl crush on Jennifer Garner, and b. decided this movie sounded so funny. Then she had Jason Bateman on to promote the movie as well. Ironically, he was in both of the movies I saw today. The idea of the movie sounds cute. No one in the world has even thought to lie and can’t conceive of it, but the main character, Mark Bellison – played by Ricky Gervais – manages to lie to his mother as she is dying to comfort her about the afterlife. I promise, I didn’t just ruin the movie. He then realizes what he can get out of lying to people and basically makes himself rich and powerful to get the girl, Jennifer Garner, who is not interested in him. It ends in a cute way, but overall, I was disappointed and didn’t find this movie to be as good as I was expecting. It seemed to be express someone’s opinion and dislike of religion and seemed to have too many untertones to me. Too bad — it seemed to have potential.

Bed Bugs – Working from Home

I was going to post a picture with this until I google’d Bed Bugs, hit images and was thoroughly grossed out!

Regardless, that is not my point. My point it that tomorrow while you’re all at work, I will be in pj pants, on my couch, watching tv with my lap top on my lap. Our building has bed bugs and my floor and one other floor were asked to work from home tomorrow and Friday before the floors are sprayed on Saturday. Sweet! I’ll take it!

Sodium

I believe it to be a well known fact that canned products tend to contain a great deal of sodium. I just want to start out with that. If you don’t know this, google it, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a ton of information about the uprising over the last year of people opposed to these sodium levels. Oh, I should also include things like microwavable meals in this category (think tv dinner types – i.e. Lean Cuisine).

So yesterday I was waiting in the kitchen at the microwave to heat up my oh-so-yummy homemade chili. The girl I was waiting on pulled her microwavable bowl of Progresso soup out of the microwave, grabbed some salt from a bowl on the counter we keep condiments in and went on her way. I then proceeded to drink 5 gallons of water for her. I was amazed that someone would add salt to a canned soup and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it, so I looked up Progresso’s sodium levels for this product. Between regular Progresso and Progresso Light, the lowest sodium level I can find in one of these cans is 680 mg (in the Chicken Wild Rice flavor). It ranges all the way up to 930mg (in Minestrone).

The daily recommended sodium intake (by the American Heart Association) is 1,000 mg per 1,000 calories you eat, not to exceed 3,000 mg per day. (To give some gauge, 2500 mg is about a teaspoon.) I can’t imagine getting half of my intake in one meal. Then there’s also the question, is there anything wrong with getting less than 1,000 mg per 1,000 calories per day? I’m going to go with no, but if you can prove me wrong, by all means.

Apparently I am a jerk.

Over the last year or so I’ve been made to feel like the way I say things and the way I approach things is not the right way to do things. I’ve become afraid to make a statement without thinking it over so many times I’ve forgotten what I mean to say. I don’t make posts including my opinion anymore beyond, “Oh, I love this” or “Oh, this is cute.” I don’t talk about things I care about. I can’t even find it in myself to tell my roommate to remember to dust the tv and coffee table when he cleans for fear that it’s going to offend him or someone else.

I am who I am and I don’t like feeling like I need to change that. I am blunt, honest and to the point. I always have been. I am never malicious, ill mannered or intentionally rude. That’s not me, but I’ve learned to feel like it is. People have taken the way I communicate and have made me feel like it’s not ok. I’ve been made to feel like I need to change the way I talk to people and communicate what I am thinking. I am a blunt person. i always have been and I find it much easier than trying to muddle up what I am saying with niceties in order not to hurt someone’s (perhaps too) fragile feelings. There are so many fewer steps involved when I can just say what I mean and what I am thinking, rather than having to code it nicely, then say it to someone who has to simplify or decode what I really meant. Why can I not just say what I mean? I’ll tell you why, because I’m afraid someone is going to criticize me for being insensitive or mean. Neither of which I am.

I would NEVER intentionally hurt someone. I would never want to do that. I have always treated others the way I wanted to be treated. Always. And somehow I’ve been made to feel like that’s not good enough, that even though I would never want to hurt someone, I am mean. I am tired of not being able to simply communicate what I mean or saying what I mean and it being twisted into something I did not mean. It’s exhausting.

Oh, and by the way, when I was writing this, it was meant to be read with a melancholy tone, not a raging tone…just in case someone wants to try to make this something it wasn’t meant to be.

Foodie Goodness

This weekend I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen. It was a great weekend, except for this stupid cold trying to overthrow my health.

I made some homemade chicken noodle soup, a huge batch in fact, but forgot to take a picture. Then I made chili:

and Banana Bread, which kind of looks like a giant chocolate chip cookie loaf. I made it with some chocolate chips in it.

This week on the menu is pasta, lasagna, stroganoff and left overs – also great for lunches.

How I’m doing on my list of things to do

In January of this year, rather than making a New Years Resolution I was sure not to keep, I made a list of things to do. You can find it here. With one quarter left in the year I am evaluating how I’m doing and when I still need to do.

* see a ballet (going to see the Nutcracker – and the Rockettes, but they don’t count as a ballet)
* go to at least 4 Julliard performances (multiple more in the works)
1. Jan 13 – Chamberfest 2009
2. Apr 6 – Juilliard Orchestra
3. Oct 14 – Juilliard Jazz Ensemble
* snow ski at least once
* visit Boston
* visit DC
* visit San Francisco (Prob going to be 2010)
* Chicago for Easter
* Houston for Memorial Day or 4th of July but actually in March and again for the Tech/Texas football game)
* read at least 10 books (I need to get on this)
1. Atonement by Ian McEwan
2. American Wife by Curtis Steppenfield
3. Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
4. An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady (Laura Bush) (This was a follow up to American Wife, to see how much of it was actually truthful and how much was fiction.)
5. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max
* knit my first pair of socks (one done, one to go)
* knit my first sweater
* participate in the race for the cure
* get below 130 (129 counts)
* be able to do the splits again
* work a job where I don’t feel like I’m recessing
* see the Frick collection
* Go to the MOMA
* Go to the Guggenheim
* Go to Brooklyn for more than taxes (Explored Prospect Park, ty very much!)

Also walked the Brooklyn Bridge, which wasn’t initially on my list, but was added in about March. I think I’m doing pretty well, but I still have a lot to do.

Greenpots

I got an email from Daily Candy today about Greenpots; They are chemical free, enameled cast iron pots that evenly distribute heat.

They have pots, skillets, saucepans, specialty pots, etc. They are all oven safe and I think they’re awesome. How great would the green pepper pot be for a quiche or the pumpkin pot for a pumpkin cake? I want them all!