Apparently I only take pictures of my puppy.

For Example, sometimes puppies don't want to get up in the morning


And sometimes puppies are too tired to stand and drink at the same time


and someone pointed out that now that I have a camera again why don't I take pictures of Michael AND Simon. Brilliant I tell you, Brilliant!

Whiskey Sour

No not the drink, the book!

If you are looking for something to read this summer, might I suggest the Jack Daniels mysteries? Jacqueline Daniels is Chicago cop with an HSN addiction, maxed out credit cards and a crazy cat. She is basically the smarter, more intense, more capable version of Stephanie Plum. She is just doing her best in a crazy world and it can be hilarious.

Basically if you enjoyed the Janet Evanovich books and you want an easy read that will make you laugh out loud along with a good mystery these are for you.

This is one of those books that I picked up at Borders on the Bargain Table for like $2.99 and really enjoying. Just goes to show you that price does not equal quality (just look at the full-price Twilight books).

I believe the series order is as follows:
Whiskey Sour
Bloody Mary
Rusty Nail
Dirty Martini
Fuzzy Navel

Enjoy!

Seriously? You Think THAT would be a Good Middle Name??

So I was looking at my blog reader statistics (yes I can see how many times you read my blog muahahaha) and one of the cool features is that I can see what people are typing into google that leads them to my blog. There is a lot of variations on "Middle Names for Victoria," "Victoria Middle Name" and for a while there last year the popular search was "Middle Name for Logan." Yeah I had a problem there for a time.

Mostly what comes up if you do google that is Yahoo! Answers questions where people are looking for god middle names. Here are some of my favorites from people who I'm pretty sure weren't joking:

First, my favorite question: What are some good middle names for Victoria ?
I just need ideas, whatever goes best with our last name will probably be the chosen name.
Additional Details
By "our" I mean who ever the fathers last name is, I am eleven, I just love the name Victoria.

Seriously? And on to some of the answers given...
Victoria Lashaye
Victoria LaShawn
Victoria Krystyle (I'm assuming you mean that to be pronounced like Crystal?)
Victoria Destiny
Victoria D'jonet (de jon ay)
Victoria Nevaeh (pronounced: Nah-vay-ah) heaven spelled bkwds
Victoria Samiah
Victoria Shaylin
Victoria Devyn

And the one person in the world who is actually thinking straight:
Victoria Claire (my favourite)

I also had someone recently type in "Middle Name for Kailey" and my personal favorite from the Yahoo! Answers questions was the person who suggested this:
Kailey Leigh
(you do realize that those are pronounced the same right? Even though they are spelled differently?)

Best Wedding Cake EVER!

You know you want it. Don't even try to lie.

All the Meat You Can Eat

Let me preface this post by saying that Michael hates the phrase, "all the meat you can eat" and so I will do my best not to use the phrase when talking about all the meat I could eat or all the meat he could eat or all the theoretical meat that you could eat.

So saturday was our anniversary and we decided to go to the brazillian steakhouse for dinner. Those of you not familiar with a brazilian steakhouse (should read this because it is hilarious), you pay a flat amount and then get all the meat you can eat. But is isn't like a buffet, dudes in gaucho pants run around with meat on swords and slice it directly onto your plate. They had like 4-5 different kinds of beef, lamb chops, leg of lamb, pork loin, pork ribs, and their menu online says they have chicken but I never saw the chicken guy and quite frankly, I didn't want to see him. I was there for all the meat I could eat - and um to spend a wonderful evening with my wonderful (ahem) boyfriend of the past year.

Michael really enjoyed the lamb, I'd never had lamb before and I thought it tasted interesting but really the filet mignon guy could have stood next to our table all night with his sword and I would have been happy. As it was, I think I had three servings of filet mignon, plus a bunch of other stuff, and it was all the meat I could eat. About five minutes after Michael had all the meat he could eat he decided he wanted more lamb so obviously we both had favorites.

The next morning I got up (oh so) early - stupid daylight savings - and made cranberry muffins from scratch and they were delicious! Word of advice though, make sure that your thawed bag of cranberries doesn't have a hole in it or you might end up spilling thick cranberry juice all down the front of you. That didn't happen to me, nope nope nope, but I've heard that could be an issue.




Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries (I used thawed, frozen ones and it was fine)
* 2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
* 1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted
* 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

We're not in California anymore....

Camera Time

I'm finally in possession of a real camera again and of course the first picture taken is pure adorableness...

Can We Talk About Dollhouse for a Second?

It has been getting a bad rap because everyone expects it to be as good as everything else that Joss has done and it isn't (like when Pixar released Cars). I like it, that is to say, I enjoy it. It isn't anywhere near the levels of Buffy or Firefly or Dr. Horrible but it is entertaining and interesting, if not innovative or awesome. I'm still watching and probably will continue unless it goes totally downhill which I trust Joss enough not to let happen.

It doesn't help that it stars Eliza Dushku, who I'm not a huge fan of. Luckily for her all the "people" she plays in the show have an element of hardass to them which she is incapable of acting without. When she is Echo (the blank) she doesn't look "blank" she looks like she is trying to look blank so I'm drawn out of the story for those few scenes at the beginning and very end.

My real problem is that the show takes place in this reality and is believable as this reality. There isn't an element of absurdity or whimsy that is usually present in Joss's realities (space western? musical super villians? teenage cheerleader fighting vampires?). Lets just say I wouldn't be 100% surprised if someplace like the Dollhouse actually existed, I see it and I understand it and it doesn't feel new and exciting. It doesn't feel Whedonesque. In fact it felt Cameronesque to me at first. I mean a programmable, petite, brunette recklessly riding her motorcycle through the darkened city streets? My first though was, "Wow, Dark Angel much?" Then I get hit in the face with the nerd stick when Michael responded with, "What is Dark Angel?" Sigh.

That is a typo right?

Saw this product while at the Asian Grocery store looking for curry ingredients.

It is supposed to say Grape right? Please tell me it is supposed to say Grape...

Songs I Almost Like

Sometimes I hear something and I really really like it, then I hear it again and I'm not so sure, and no matter how many times I hear it I still can't decide if I like it or not.

The first time I heard this song I didn't hear it all the way through so I never got to the Lil Wayne part. The Lil Wayne part annoys me (scares me even when watching the video) but I enjoy the rest of the song. The video is atrocious, it is like 1986 barfed up a concert version of an ipod commercial.


I had the volume turned down low the first time I heard this song so I couldn't really hear the singer... I liked it a lot more that way. I enjoyed the sound of the song but I don't think the lead singer is quite good enough to sing it. It needs a slightly more manly (deeper, stronger) voice to really be able to keep up with the music. I vote for Chris Daughtry, his voice has that slight rasp that I think would really improve this.

The Countdown Begins

Since it is now officially March I'm allowed to start getting excited.

26 Days til my Birthday!!!!

Treating Myself

I got my tax refund sometime in the last couple of days ( I didn't notice it because it is deposited directly into my savings account which I don't check often) and I decided to splurge on myself a little bit. I splurged by going to the grocery store* without a list and letting myself buy whatever I wanted AND I got name brand stuff that I would normally buy the not-quite-as-good store brand version of. I spent about 50% more than I normally do on a major shopping trip but as I sit here with my brownie bites, I'm cool with that.

*I would rather not discuss how slightly sad it is that "splurging" consists of grocery shopping. I'm a poor college student and I don't get lucky charms a lot.