*grumble*

i have a feeling that apartment living is going to be putting quite the damper on my love for all things online shopping. i've ordered a few things since moving... dexter season 3 dvds, that were just shoved in my little mailbox, a halloween costume, that i ended up having to go to the post office to pick up, and some makeup that... apparently will never be delivered, as it needs to be signed for and they are just not leaving me anything to sign. i mean, if you aren't home, doesn't ups usually just leave a little slip for you to sign, saying it's okay to leave with the buildings office or something? i really want my makeup!

supposedly, a third delivery attempt is going to be made today. i'm not leaving the apartment until my buzzer rings and i can go sign for my damn package. good thing i have loads of cleaning to do.............


PS. speak of the devil... UPS just came! i guess my whole rant is now semi-irrelevant. although, i'll be thinking twice before ordering online for awhile. what a pain!

so, apparently it's november?

why? IT. IS. COLD. i don't think it even pushed 70degrees today. what the fuck? it's only 48 right now!! i hate it. although, at least the sun decided to come out today, after being rainy and miserable for the past few days. it's supposed to be summer... i NEED warm weather for at least another few weeks before fall rolls in! uuggghhhh

anyways, enough whining.

i've decided that my favorite thing about madison is that there always seems to be something, or several somethings, going on. usually i don't know about it, and just stumble across it. for example, dave and i decided to go walk and find lunch this morning... and, there's some huge bike ride event thing going on right outside our builidng. apparently, it was "ride the drive". they shut down john nolan drive (MAJOR road in madison) and all the streets that go around the capitol... and, everyone was just riding their bikes... and enjoying some fun summer music... and eating grill food. fun! now i really want a bike..........

the other night, we decided to go for a walk to the grocery store and came across "jazz at five"... which, apparently happens every thursday during the summer. each week, a different band sets up shop in this little band shelter just off state street (pedistrian street running from uw-madison's campus to the capitol, for those of you that don't know madison) and everyone and their mother sets up camp chairs and brings wine. FUN! they also have folk bands playing on state street every saturday from 1 until 3. we discovered that when we were on a mission for an afternoon ice cream cone.

I LOVE IT.

apparently there were several other little festivals going on this weekend, but we missed out since we hid inside from the rain. oh.. and the farmers market. THE farmers market. this thing goes aaaallllllll around the capitol square, and is so packed you can hardly move. but, it's awesome... i've never seen anything like it. i'm pretty sure i've mentioned it on here before... but, yeah.. the ULTIMATE farmers market.. and, i am one hell of a sucker for farmers markets.

i was talking to my mom on the phone this evening and she said to me, "i've really been missing you since you've moved to madison!"

to which i replied, "but mom, you see me like three times as often."

"i know, but you're so busy that you don't have time to sit on the phone and talk to me all day!"

sorry mom... i'm having one hell of a time getting out and enjoying this amazing little city!

oh hey... guess who got a job?

THIS GIRL!

more details later... the husband and i are headed off to, yet another, MBA bbq. sorry for the lag in posts... it's been pretty busy around here this week! i'll be sure to get a "real" entry posted tonight or tomorrow. but, yeeeeah... I HAVE A JOB!!! AND A MEDIUM COOL SOUNDING ONE, AT THAT! haha

i hope everyone's been having a great friday!

bliss.

have i mentioned yet that i LOVE madison?

dave and i had a wonderful weekend, spent mainly getting to know the other people in his mba program. everyone seems extremely nice, and i'm sure by the time his program is done, we'll be walking away with some great life long friends. friday night, we went with a group of people for beer, wine, and a concert at the terrace, part of uw-madison's union. everyone got good and liquored up and an excellent time was had by all. saturday night, we went to a bbq at a fellow mba'er's house and it was another great night. sunday turned out to be a GORGEOUSLY sunny and 75degree day. we walked to lunch and then relaxed down by lake menona, and i ended the day by hopping on the back of my cousin's motorcycle for a nice long ride. he's a sophomore at madison, and my mother would be horrified to know that i got on his bike. but, i wore a helmet and i LOVE going for a cycle ride, all dangers aside! all in all- perfect weekend.

and, WIN for me... perfect weekend carried into perfect monday! one of my favorite friends, who lives in milwaukee, decided he was going to take a day trip to madison and ride his vespa the whole way. it took him almost 3 hours to get here, since he had to take all back roads, which is hilarious because milwaukee to madison is normally a 1 hour trip. we grabbed some iced latte's and caught up a bit, before spending the day shopping (i impulsivly bought 4 headbands from urban outfitters and this AWESOME wooden cat sculpture from a little boutique on state street), and ending with a late leisurly lunch.. a beer for him, some wine for me. probably the funniest thing about hanging out with this particular friend, is that he is a total rocker... and, i'm not. he's in a hard rock band and was dressed in black skinny jeans, a black band shirt, and motorcycle boots with his hipster rocker hair... and then there was me in my floatly little banana republic skirt, lacy cami, and little sandals. odd couple galore! but, we always have an awesome time when we get together.

now, it's time to wind down with a glass of wine, the husband, and a movie. hopefully my streak of awesome days will make it's way to tuesday?? we can only hope. i have another interview, and this time it's for a job that i'm actually pretty excited for. i didn't end up getting the job i interviewed for on friday, which i was okay with... becuase after interviewing, i realized i wasn't really all that thrilled about it. so- cross your fingers for me again tomorrow!

cross your fingers!

eee! i have an interview tomorrow!

i seriously didn't think i'd have a chance in hell of ACTUALLY getting an interview for the first job i submitted my resume too. but, low and behold, they called!

i'm trying not to get my hopes up, as i know the odds of me getting the first job aren't all that high, but... oh what the hell, i'm a little giddy none the less.

cop-out post!

okay, so this is a total cop-out, but one of my best friends forwarded this email to me yesterday, and i seriously cannot stop rereading it and laughing hysterically. maybe this is a sign that i need to get out more? oh well... anyways, here 'ya go!

Random Thoughts:

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can thinkabout is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my ownstory that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realizeyou're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink tohave fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint andsticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you'regoing in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to begoing? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction fromwhich you came, you have to first do something like check your watch orphone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure thatno one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switchingdirections on the sidewalk.

That's enough, Nickelback.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I wasyounger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never beending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn'twork? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix theproblem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how tofix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. Wejust figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomesstressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutesshiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at theright parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and amillisecondearlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped onhighway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually Idecided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walkover there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that,Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out myhand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's amirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side isme. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand thantake2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to thespread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else tosay".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantrontest is absolutely petrifying.

My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquiredabout the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us."Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all Ihear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod andsmile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when a n entire line of cars teams up toprevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples,I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today Ihad to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's Gas in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow eachother?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road andinstinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure Iknow how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how theperson died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in theshower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,and you can wear them forever.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profileis public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the RedRyder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring wouldprobably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to goaround and say their name and where they are from, I get so incrediblynervous?Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be aproblem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at workwhen you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anythingproductive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't wantto have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are goingto die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me ifI want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear Idid not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watchingTV.There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if Ikeep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It'sonly a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will westill be friends after this?'

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for Chinaand USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain thatwhen Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!),but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes tovoicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and runaway?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeinganyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn'talready told me but that I have learned from some light internetstalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, thenI like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speedfor pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, butno matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still notknow what time it is.
It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not toanswer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, Ifind out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from thefact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do towith it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keysin a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my asseveryone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what wouldhappen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and thelink takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone theydrive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday orSaturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, sawthey had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words,someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think aboutit, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eatingto require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself.There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard beforedinner.

THREE phenominally easy summer dinners (pt. 1):

since i currently have excessive amounts of time on my hands, i've been spending vast amounts of it browsing through my stacks of cookbooks and trolling for recipes online. even though i hate following recipes, i like to use them for "inspiration" and then add my own little twist. anyways, here are a few of my favorites!



phenominally easy summer dinner #1:


trader joe's gorgonzola ravioli w/ baby bella mushroom and white wine sauce:

to make it, all you need is a package of trader joe's gorgonzola ravioli (aka a little slice of heaven), an onion (diced), two or three cloves of garlic (minced) a package of baby portobella mushrooms (sliced), a nice bottle of dry white wine, about a spoonful of butter, and a little drizzle of cream.

once your onions and garlic are diced, heat them in a skillet w/ the butter (make sure you're using JUST enough butter to coat the onions, you dont want them dripping with it- ew). once the onions and garlic have started to sweat a bit (they'll start getting transparent) add in the mushrooms. turn down the heat a bit and cook the mushrooms w/ the onions and garlic just until they start getting soft. you don't want them to turn into a pile of mush.

now comes my favorite part- add in the wine! i'd say... probably about a cup to a cup and half, depending on how much of a wine flavor you want. i usually just do a few swirls around the pan, until i get the amount i want. i also added a bit of cream, to give it some substance and thicken it up a bit... and then let the mixture heat together for about 15 or so minutes, stirring it frequently.

plate your raviolis once they are done cooking (i'm not elaborting on how to cook ravioli, since i should hope that's self explanitory) and spoon the sauce on top. i sliced up a few curls of basil to pretty it up a bit... and, VIOLA! easy. delicious. phenominally easy... summer dinner. added bonus- buy as many of the ingredients as you can at the market! support your local farmers!