The Last Beer

As I am writing this, I am having my last beer. No, not my last beer forever, but the last beer at home. At least for a while. I have noticed lately that I've been consuming way too much beer. I figured if I didn't have it at home, that would drastically cut down on my consumption. Originally, I was going to stop drinking beer all together, but that seemed to drastic. Especially since I love beer. How much do I love beer? I had beer on my Frosted Flakes for my 21st b-day (I don't recommend doing that). I don't remember the last drink I had other than a beer. My main goal in doing this is to not turn into the chick with the big beer belly. No one wants to be that chick with the big beer gut that she acquired through one t0o many frat parties and keg stands. I noticed that my metabolism isn't what it used to be, so I need to lead a slightly more healthy lifestyle. Ever since Christmas, I've been a junk food-beer drinking junkie and it needs to stop. Gone are the days where I can pack away the food without any consequences. Let's face it, I am not 25 anymore. Hopefully, this works out. It is so tough, though. I love drinking beer outside during the summer. Cerveza, no es adios, es hasta luego...

What's wrong with this picture?

Take a good look at this picture. Did you figure out what's wrong with it? Take another look.... Ok... give up? The LINGERIE department is right next to the FURNITURE department! HA. Hey, I'm getting a new couch, let me pick up a powder blue negligee to go with it. I find it really funny that there's a wall of silk negligees and robes right next to the ugliest, most bachelor appropriate furniture ever made. The lighting (which is hard to tell in the picture) was odd,too. Way too lounge like. Darker than normal. Odd spot lights. This whole set up wouldn't have been quite as bad, had there not been a wall of negligees. That was the kicker for me. Plus, this entire display is just way too provocative for JCP. They are such a family -friendly company. How family-friendly are they? They won't feature a man and a woman together in an ad unless they have wedding rings on. And here they are promoting a romantic rendezvous to shoppers in suburban Detroit. To see a display like this was shocking. I had to stifle my giggles. Leave it to JCP. It's all inside. Unwrap the magic.

The Girl with the Green Thumb

After 29 years its finally happened: the gardening gene hit me. My family is huge into gardening. My Dad has the most beautiful yard ever. He has over 3,000 Daffodils, shrub roses, daisies--you name it, he has it. My Grandpa Voelker lived on a small city lot in Chicago. He still managed to grow zucchini the size of my head and plant tons of flowers. My other grandparents have a large garden that takes up a good chunk of their backyard. When we lived in Illinois, my parents won a beautification award from the city of Park Forest for their yard. My relatives are always swapping plants across state lines. Everyone always jokes with me about when I'll pick up the family hobby. I usually reply with some smart ass answer, like "I live in the city. We don't garden." I think, though, I knew deep down inside this was inevitable, you can't fight what's in your blood. Well, yesterday the family hobby caught up with me. I went to Home Depot to purchase impatiens for the flower boxes out front and marigolds for the pots. I decided to just start small. Part of me wanted to do something big like make a new flower bed. I kept myself under control. With everything I do, I tend to take on too much. I am also not a pro like my Dad.

It was actually fun to do some planting again. Growing up, I would always help my parents plant and water flowers. I am thinking I might have to go get some more flowers for the other pots I found in the shed. Of course, we'll see how long it takes for me to kill the plants.

Captain Obvi

I don't watch Larry King very often. and I don't think I'll be watching him anytime soon. I watched him on Friday only because he had the top 10 finalists of Idol on his show. He's horrible. Such awful interviewing skills. He asked the worst, most obvious questions, like, "Blake, what color is Jordin's top?" and "Phil, what's your name?" Ugh. He's pretty rude and not very nice to his subjects. I was really shocked. He's supposed to be this great journalist but a monkey could ask better questions than Larry King. Maybe back in the day he was good, but now he's just pretty lame.

Where is the Queen of Procrastination?

I have to admit that I have spent a good chunk of my adult life as a procrastinator. I honed this skill in college. I was the master of the night before paper writing or test cramming. I found many others like myself and we would spend many happy hours avoiding our homework. We'd watch movies or late night television, go flower picking, make Taco Bell runs, have fashion shows, and perform secret covert spy operations in the dorm. I would even help others write papers before I'd write my own. In graduate school, my procrastination become worse. I was just so good at it. Today for one of my first times in my almost 29 years on this planet, I am not procrastinating. Shocking, I know. I have started to get myself organized for my trip to Motown next week. My suitcase is out, I've made lists, and I've been to Super Target for toiletries. My usual packing style (for trips or moving) is to wait until the last minute and just throw things into my suitcase, or in the case of moving boxes. It always works out, too. This time around I am going to try being a little more type A. So far, so good....

Mr. Tuxedo Towel

I think everyone needs one of these in their bathroom. The hotel I stayed at over the weekend had this on the counter next to the sink. It seriously made me laugh every time I went into the bathroom.

Mr. Tuxedo Towel: keeping bathrooms clean since 2007.

It's Time to Make the Donuts

I live in such a donut void. I know that there are a lot of Krispy Kremes, but that doesn't count. I grew up on Dunkin' Donuts. The real donut. They make Krispy Kremes look wimpy. So many different kinds. The powder sugar donut filled with a vanilla or whipped cream filling. The classic jelly filled and covered with sugar. The Boston Cream. So good. When I was little I loved the strawberry jelly filled donut. I always made such a mess. I managed to bite into the donut at the wrong spot and squirt a stream of jelly all over. Or I ended up with jelly all over my fingers and face. We'd have them on the weekends as a treat. I loved it at church when we'd have Dunkin' Donuts after church. In my Advanced Journalism class we had them every Friday. I've been craving a good Dunkin' Donuts donut for quite a while, and there isn't one in the Twin Cities area. It's just so odd. If you go to Chicago, there's a Dunkin' Donuts on every corner. There are even 24 hour Dunkin' Donuts. So, why isn't there any here in Minneapolis? Where did all the Dunkin' Donuts go? And don't tell me that I should go to Krispy Kreme--it's not the same. Byerly's don't cut it either. Only Dunkin Donuts will do. Yum. A Donut and coffee.

RIP Drive 105

I was very upset the other day when I turned my radio to Drive 105 and I heard elevator music. Apparently, Drive 105 is no more. It's Love 105. Playing the best music of the 60's-80's. Do we really need another easy listening station? I loved my Drive 105. It was such a good mix of old school alternative with new. I know that I can still listen to the Current, but I don't like having to listen to the weird and bizarre for fifty five minutes until they play something I enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Current, I will just miss how Drive 105 fit more with my personal taste in music. I don't enjoy crazy jazz or hippie dippy folk rock. These two genres always seem to fill the Current's playlist. Drive 105 was much less pretentious, too. I looked forward to Homegrown on the Sunday nights. It was a great look at the local music scene. I got the sense that the hosts actually enjoyed the local bands that they played. Sometimes with the Current, I get the sense that they aren't playing the band because they like them, they are playing them because they are trendy.

I know that Drive 105 wasn't doing well in the rating, but I'd like to believe that I am not the only one who enjoys good alternative music. The Twin Cities is a pretty big city and should have an alternative radio station. Heck, Milwaukee, which is a much smaller market, has an alternative radio station. I guess for now, I'll have to put up with the randomness of the Current or just listen to Cd's.

I heart Blake

I have to admit that I have a silly totally teen crush on Blake. Shhhhh.... don't tell anyone! He's probably the most original and talented contestant on "American Idol." I was so impressed with how he totally reworked the Bon Jovi song and made it so much better than the original version. Wow. Plus, he can play the keyboards, dance, sing, and has fabulous fashion sense. Did I mention that he sang one of my favorite Cure songs? I really, really hope he wins Idol. He totally deserves it.

If You Ask a Stupid Question....

Tonight Jen and I went shopping for shoes to wear to the rehearsal dinner for Nikki's wedding. We were in a store that shall remain nameless that pretty much sells nothing but shoes. They do have some accessories, but not a whole lot. The sales person comes up to us and asks, "What are you looking for?" Jen replied, "Shoes." I had all I could do to not burst out laughing. What else could we have come in there looking for? Toilet paper? Maybe some underwear. Or jeans. What kind of question was that? Seriously. "What kind of shoes are you looking for?" would be far better or my favorite, "Can I help you find anything?" As Jen put it, if you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. And that is why Jen is my friend. She's a smart ass and straight forward.

Musical Hell

For the past couple of hours the radio in my head has been playing nothing but Bon Jovi. Ugh. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Can someone make it stop? Please. It's driving me mad. I somehow think watching "AI" will not help this situation...

The Woman Who Sold the World

It looks like Courtney Love is at it again. Is nothing sacred? Can we just let poor Kurt Cobain rest in peace? This time Courtney has decided that she is going to sell all of Kurt's possessions. I guess she's tired of having the house look like a shrine to Kurt. I can sort of understand that. What I don't understand is she is donating 1/2 of the proceeds to charity and the rest goes to her. Does she need anymore money? What does she plan to do with it? Get her botched lipo job fixed. Buy some more drugs. Some bad designer clothing. I think if you're going to do anything with his belongings, it should either go to charity or be donated to a museum. That's just me. The money could go to an organization that helps people with depression or drug abuse or funds music programs for kids. Something. Anything but in her hands. Frances Bean will receive one of his guitars, the sweater that he wore for the MTV Unplugged New York special, and a flannel. I am not a big fan of Courtney Love. Never have been. I did like the Hole song "Doll Parts" and her rocker chick style of the early 90's. I loved the baby doll dresses with the mary jane shoes. But, I don't like the mess that she has made of Kurt's posthumous life. Selling his journals. Poor taste. Causing the huge fight between the remaining band members. Very Yoko. I just don't like her.

Also, I wonder what kind of person would want to buy one of Kurt's old flannels or his signature cardigan sweater. Personally, I find that sort of thing disturbing. It's creepy. What would you do with it? You couldn't wear it. Put it on the wall in your living room. Make a quilt. I just don't get it. I am not into morbid displays of celebrity worship.

While I am not the Kurt Cobain expert, I don't think he's the type that would want people buying his stuff. I think he deserves more than a rummage sale of his belongings.

Where Does My Time Go?

I have never been fond of people who whine and moan about how stressed out they are. In college it drove me crazy when people were complaining about how they had five ten pages papers to do and all this other stuff. Just shut up and do it. I also think in a lot of situations people bring on the stress themselves. That brings me to my own life.

Recently, I have sorta been unhappy about how my own free time seems to slip through my fingers. I don't know what happens to it. I have to admit that it has left me feeling sorta stressed. I have just spent the last four years of my life working full-time and going to school full-time. I think I had a better grasp on my free-time. Now, I spend my days off or days that I don't work until later sleeping or being lazy. I have a lot of things that I need/ want to be working on, yet I don't have time for it. What gets in the way of this? Household chores like dishes and laundry. I seriously need a 48 hour day. I don't even want to talk about my screenplay. It is so horribly neglected. I feel like I've lost focus with it. Free reading? I've got about three books that are partially started piling up on my nightstand. Journaling? I haven't done that in eight months.

Now that I've complained about this problem. I've got a a solution. I think I am going to start setting aside 15-20 of "me" time where I can read or work on my screenplay. I really need some sort of creative outlet on a daily basis, or I head towards the point of insanity. It's not like I'm never creative. I always have tons of things going through my head, the ideas never get down on paper.

Whew... I feel so much better.