Not Lovin' It

Saturday we went to the drive-in for my birthday.  We were running later than planned and hadn't eaten, so we stopped at McDonald's.  We ordered food, and Mom & I both wanted kids' meals but with water to drink.  She said she still had to charge us $1 for the drink, so we said fine - just make sure they are large waters.  We get to the window and my sister asks for honey mustard.  The only thing we had ordered that was allowed a dipping sauce was my nuggets and I already had BBQ so she said it would cost.  At this point we'd already spent $2 on water, so my sister just said never mind and we started to leave.  As we were leaving, Dad looked at the chick in the window and said, "I'm not lovin' it."

I know, I know.  This is one of those 'you had to be there' moments, but it was freaking hilarious.  I wanted to document it so at least I'd remember, even if you can't appreciate it.  :)

Dammit.  I really shouldn't set deadlines for myself.  Soon, I will catch up.  Promise!

This is me.  By which I mean I've been incredibly busy lately.  I am going to try to set aside my hectic social calendar this weekend to catch up on some blogging, and share some pictures of my Hawaiian vacation!!!  I'm not making any promises, though...

Cinco de Mayo!!!

 

This picture doesn't do much to demonstrate anything about the day, but it's the only one I took.  For Cinco, we went to the new(ish) Jose Pepper's in Liberty.  It was actually really fun.  Ashley (my cousin's wifey), was managing so she brought us free tequila shots, and there was a band playing crazy 80's covers.  A coworker of ours was actually standing in as well, as it was his old band.

The lady in the band was a total nutjob, and she reprimanded Sarah for flipping someone off.  It was actually quite hilarious.

Green Room

 

My friend Jenny is moving into my spare room.  It will be good, because I need more money.  She decided she wanted to paint it, which I was fine with seeing as it was actually the only room in the house I hadn't painted since moving in.  We painted it green.  You can see the color in the picture above. 

  

Here it is with the curtains and the trim all done.  It looks dark in this picture but it's really not.  It turned out quite well - I am pleased.  :)

He Has Risen!

 

Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!  If you know me, you probably know that I am not at all religious, but I enjoyed watching all of the little kiddos search for eggs and dye eggs, and I enjoyed some mimosas.  All in all, a good day.  :)

You are victorious.

 

I finally got the yard mowed!  Even the crazy long dead-looking 'grass' that grows out by the barn.  I feel as if I've really accomplished something.  Now for a beer.

Marco (not Polo)

 

We played some Cooking Mama, and turned it into a drinking game.  Actually we made the game a long time ago, and we didn't follow it very closely this time...  Anyway, if you use the same character all the time on the game, it makes it so you can't use him for one round, and when you try to select him it shows him on the screen all fat, and he says 'What? What's happening?!'.  We always use Marco.  You can see Fat Marco in this picture.  

Dressmaking 101

 

I look like a doofus, but whatever.  I MADE THAT DRESS BITCHES!!!!  And, it wasn't even that hard.  Although Jenny did struggle.... 

(To find the tutorial, go to Talk2theTrees - thanks to her for this great idea!!!)

Domino's Luv

While stumbling(upon) earlier this week, I came across this story of Domino's Delivery Instructions.  I had never thought of anything like that, and was envious of the guy who did.  However, I fully intended after reading it to steal his idea.  

Last night I was a little drunk and offered to buy some delivery for Andy.  I remember eating it (it was delicious), but not a lot beyond that.  Then I woke up this morning and saw the box, and remembered I'd written this special instruction: Draw a dancing unicorn on the box.  I have to say, I'm impressed with the artwork.

 

Happy Birthday!

 

One of my coworkers, Kathi, turned 50 today.  We decorated and brought her a cake.  Hopefully she had a splendid birthday.

Stoner Owners

I don't know the story behind Northern Lights Pizza, but I have always suspected that some raging potheads started/own the company.  That was confirmed today, when I saw this ad for their 'taco pizza':

 

 

Prior to this, I had the following to go on:  

1.  I'm pretty sure it was founded in Iowa.  Odds are good that anybody starting a pizza delivery business in Iowa smokes pot.

2.  It's called Northern Lights.  For those of you not in the know, that's a highly coveted type of 'bud'.  Also, were it referring to the actual Northern Lights (aurora borealis), it would make no sense because a) We are in the Midwest, and haven't seen them, and b) What the fuck does it have to do with pizza?!

3.  Their calzones are called Scooby Snacks.

4.  They have 9 different crusts.  That's just excessive no matter how you look at it.  And a poppy seed one?!  C'mon now...

I had also heard a rumor that they delivered until 2 AM on the weekends but that is so far unconfirmed.  

Now I think I already had a pretty solid case built up, but this taco pizza was the proverbial nail in the coffin.  It sealed the deal for me.

I don't know about you guys, but lettuce, tomato, and Nacho Cheesier Doritos, does not make a taco pizza in my mind.  Also I don't understand the correlation between warmer days and taco pizza, but that might just be me.  Perhaps others crave taco pizza when the spring months arrive, I do not know.

 

(All of this aside, their food is actually pretty good.  Although I think I'll pass on the taco pizza for now....) 

 

 

Well... I WAS going to mow today....

Spring is Springing!

 

Even with all of the crazy weather patterns we're seeing, the flowers are starting to bloom!  This makes me happy!

B-E-A-You-tiful!

 

This is my hand after the Queens of the Stone Age show.  Since I am of age, I got a B on my hand (presumably because we were at the Beaumont Club).  Today, Andy kissed my hand and then looked at it and said 'B for beautiful.  My beautiful baby!'

Awwww....

Queens of the Stone Age

 

For Andy's birthday, we went to see Queens of the Stone Age at the Beaumont. What a great show.  It seriously exceeded my expectations.  We got there early enough that we were able to find a decent standing spot on the 'balcony' (more of an elevated bar area really).  We went with a couple of our friends, and met up with a friend and former bandmate of Andy's.  The boys got these sweet x-ray posters that are already worth far more than they paid for them (Thanks to Miguel!).  

Anyway, the show.  Josh (Homme, the frontman) didn't interact with the crowd as much as I expected, especially not at first.  I later read some articles that said he'd been ailing that week, so perhaps that was why, I'm not sure.  He might just not do a lot of that anyway.  The good news was, he didn't really need to.  The show was incredibly tight, and it was all about the music.  This tour was to mark the re-release of their debut self-titled album, so they played that in its entirety, with "The Bronze" tossed in there.  After they played that album they essentially did 2 encores: 1 of requests, and 1 that acknowledged Songs for the Deaf (their most popular album...ya know, the one with "No One Knows"), and also included "Make it Wit Chu", much to my delight. 

All in all, it was a great show.  When I think back on it, it's almost as if I were in a trance.  I remember dancing and enjoying myself, but it's all kind of one blur.  It might have just been that I was about to pass out from the heat, though.  

Two thumbs up!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Today, the love of my life turned 41.  For the next 4 months we are 16 years apart, from a numbers standpoint.  Despite that technicality, I feel closer to him than anyone else on earth (with a few close followers, but those in a purely unromantic way).

Happy birthday darling. I love you lots.  :)

B(E)LT!

Jenny texted me this morning, offering to buy me breakfast at either YJ's or Succotash.  How could anyone say no?!  We went to Succotash, and I had the B.L.T. (it's called that on the menu but it also has an egg on it), and the Cubano (fresh juice - pineapple, cucumber, apple, mint - YUM).  The half of sandwich that's left over is going to be SO good for lunch later this week.

 

 

I feel like I should also include that since Jenny has now mentioned YJ's, I will be needing to go there soon.

American Legion, Claycomo

Tonight was the celebration of Andy's late cousin.  His birthday falls on Monday, the same as Andy's.  His mom decided to have a birthday party of sorts.  It was at the American Legion in Claycomo.  I didn't even know this place existed, but it's actually only about 2 blocks from where my aunt & uncle used to live, when they were first married.   It was a divey little basement bar, where I paid $3.50 for a PINT of Beam & water!  By the end of the night it had gone up to $4.50 and gotten weaker, but even then it was a great deal!

A night out with the Mays is always fun, and this was no exception.  It was also cool because my parents came.  We watched some of the most ridiculous karaoke ever.  The highlight of my karaoke watching was an old gentleman who, as my dad aptly put it, had "a church voice".  He sang songs by Englebert Humperdinck and he shook his old man hips, and he was adorable.  The lowlight (also a highlight in its own way) was probably the one Andy called Quasimodo.  He was a strange looking guy, wearing biker leathers with blue flames on them.  He 'sang' George Thorogood, and it was as if he'd never heard the original songs.  I later found out that he rode in on a scooter - not a cool Vespa even, but more on level with a moped, which added that much more. 

  

Andy's aunt & her BFF, making the DJ uncomfortable (yeah, a crappy picture...the only one I took, though!)

Wine Tasting @ Gomer's North

 Any time Gomer's has a wine tasting on a Monday or Wednesday, I make every attempt to go.  Since Andy was at the farm and I had a reservation for 2 I brought Jenny this time.  It was an exceptional tasting - wines of the Pacific Northwest, as well as one 'special surprise', a Napa Valley wine called Shafer Relentless, at a super marked down price.  Even at the marked down price, I shouldn't have bought it, but I justified it by calling it a birthday gift for Andy.  A yummy birthday gift.

 

Besides this the other standout was an Oregon pinot noir (of course) that I can't remember the name of offhand!  I'll add to this post when I remember/check!  

Highly Coveted Beer Treasures!!

Right before Valentine's Day, Boulevard and Christopher Elbow (a renowned local chocolatier, if that's a word) collaborated and came out with a chocolate ale.  I believe I mentioned it in my V-Day Recap.   Kansas City went batshit-crazy over it, and rightfully so, as it is delicious.  We were lucky enough to catch a few glasses on tap.  After it was totally official that I wouldn't find it anywhere in town, I started calling friends out of town and asking if they could find it.  Long story short, Erica found some in St. Louis and bought 4 bottles for us!  Mi Ángel de la guarda!  

While we were in Rolla for St. Pat's other beers distracted us from making the switch, but when she came to town this past weekend she brought them, wrapped up in her underwear in an incredibly heavy backpack.  

 

Yum. 

 

WyCo Armored Truck

 

 ....need I say more?

Children & Random Cheap Shit

After the previous night's Dark Horse power hour, I had a bit of a headache.  Erica was in worse shape.  But being the dedicated and lovely people we are, we were off to Lil Reggie's birthday party at Fun Run in Liberty.  I'd post a link, except I never want to go there again.
In my mind it was going to be like TunnelTown used to be.  I say used to be, because as far as I know the only one left around here is in Lee's Summit, and that might as well be the opposite end of the earth.  If you don't know what Tunnel Town is, you must have had an awful childhood.  It's basically a building full of a maze of tunnels, and rope bridges, and all of the fun things that come with tunnel playgrounds.  It was not uncommon to find a small child in there sobbing because they could see their parent through the porthole but not get to them.  Pussies.
ANYWAY, in reality it was a strip mall space full of inflatables.  You know what I'm talking about, shit like this.  There was also a 'town', which some poor sap built from plywood and labeled with Sharpies.  In the town was a jail, a fire station, and a Build-a-Bear-esque shop which I believe they called a 'pet store' but I could be wrong on that one.  Apparently there was an arcade on the other side, but I didn't venture that far.  They had a snack bar, and the people who worked at it were all assholes.  I didn't go to the bathroom there either, but I was told by hungover/pukey Erica that the toilet didn't work.  When she went to tell an employee they said "Great."  ALL OF THIS FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF $7.50/child!  If I didn't have such lukewarm feelings toward children, I believe I'd buy a large metal building and fill it full of those eyesores and only charge $6.50. I should probably say here that I'm sure the place is lovely if you have children.  I just don't think it measures up to Jungle Jim's Playland from the days of my youth - yeah, you remember that?!  Apparently there is still one in Utah - luuuuckies.

Birthday Boy (:

After dropping Erica off at Union Station and a failed attempt to visit the WWI Memorial, Mom and I went to Red X.  Now there's a link worth posting.  Red X is the kind of place that you have to set aside an entire day if you really want to experience it all.  It's a store, sort of.  It's almost like a combination liquor store/discount grocery/flea market/hardware store.  They have an area of weird off-brand shit, where I found a genuine BADGER toothbrush, they have an area of cheap t-shirts, lots of groceries, tobacco products, a huge liquor selection, and it's also where bells go to die.  I probably should have taken a picture of them to demonstrate what I mean...It just seems like every time a bell (we're talking large bells, church bells & such I assume) around town is no longer going to be put to use they drag it over to Red X, where there are at least a dozen large bells outside.  I wonder if there's a story behind that.

They also have fun house mirrors.

Project Inspiration

Okay, so I found something I want to do.  Of course, all project ideas are on hold until we return from our Hawai'i vacation, so I snapped a picture in case I forget.  

The strand of Christmas lights on my back porch has officially stopped working.  Whether it was the elements or the fact that several bulbs have gotten crushed by the bathroom window, I am not sure.  In any case, I need to take them down.  I was getting sick of looking at them anyway.  There are 3 light fixtures on the porch, but they are just too bright for drinking/partying, so I was trying to come up with some sort of easy & cheap way to get some 'ambient' lighting out there, when we went to Dark Horse for Power Hour.  (Erica came to town!  HOORAY!  We didn't do a whole lot (read: just drank), but I had a blast.).  I've done this many many times, but I've never sat at the bar before, which we did this time.  Above the bar they have these lanterns:

  

...Made from Patron bottles!!  By golly, I think we've got an idea!!

Neet Stofed Bison

 Andy's parents are cleaning out their basement.  We've acquired some random things throughout this process, including a framed painting of a tree from Andy's high school years, a Star Wars sing-along .45, and a slew of unique coffee mugs.  They've gotten to a point where they have most of the big stuff gone, so now his mom is sorting through pictures and other bygone memories and divvying them up between Andy and his sisters.

So tonight we were sent home with a small box of old photos, slides, newspaper clippings, and whatnot.  Among all of the awesome pictures of Little Andy (honestly he looks exactly the same only shorter...it's creepy), we found a 'book' of sorts.  I'm unsure of the backstory - was this something he had to do for school?  Was this a way for him to pass the winter afternoons?  Nobody seems to remember, but whatever the story behind it, the book made me laugh so hard I thought I would pee my pants.  

Here is a page from it:

  

We're guessing first grade-ish.  He says I have to mention that his spelling has improved vastly since then.  Check.  I just imagine a miniature Andy, with his itsy beard & mustache, painstakingly sounding out these words, and it makes my heart melt.  So fucking adorable.

Pillow Sniffers Anonymous

 

I'm Angie, and I sniff my pillow.

As you can see, I inherited this odd habit from my Mother.  

Are we alone in this??

The Fullest Moon Evar

 

...It probably would have looked cooler if this wasn't a drunken camera phone shot...

Overall, I thought it was a lot of hype and generally disappointing.

Bathroom Graffiti

 

So true.

Ready for Rolla

 

Well, my bag is officially packed for the St. Pat's pilgrimage to RollaMO!  I am crazy excited, and the fact that this is what my packed bag looks like makes me even more so!  I can't wait to be in the land of green beer!!!!  

PARTY GRAS!

 

It wasn't as wild as the title implies, but I had a great time celebrating Fat Tuesday.  Andy & I decided to have a shrimp boil, since that was probably our most Louisiana-style option in the house.  It was of course delicious.  We made fruity booze concoctions, and spent the evening flashing each other for beads.  All in all, a successful way to celebrate Mardi Gras when you're poor and have to work early the next day!

Ride 'em Cowgirl!

 

Went grocery shopping with the whole famn damily.  Unsurprisingly, it ended like this.

Doin' it Up, 21 Style

Tonight we went out for Miss Miriam's birthday.  We went to The Final Approach, a (lame) bar near the airport.   When we got there, Danny was a little bit drunk already.  About an hour later, Danny was REALLY drunk, and they cut him off at the bar.  Just a few minutes later, he fell out of a chair, and was then kicked out of the bar.  About an hour after that, Miriam fell and was kicked out of the bar.  SO by 11:30 it was all finished.  Jenny & I came back to the house for a power hour.  We're practicing for St. Pat's!

P.S. While we were at the bar, KC's "Best Country Rock Band" was playing.  I certainly hope they're just putting baseless claims on their flyers.  I hate to think there's no better 'country rock' band than them...

 

The Big 2-1

Happy 21st birthday to Miriam!  To celebrate, we all went bowling.  We bowled until she was too drunk to bowl anymore, and then headed home.  The big celebration is Saturday.  We shall see what's in store then!!!

 

 We had the pleasure of being a part of THIS on the way home today.  It took us a painfully long time to get home after an accident on I-435.  

Get 'Em While They're Young

The boys entranced by the gee-tar

 

YUM

I got my tax refund today!  I know I'm spending it on our Hawaii trip, but when everyone was going to Piropos for Robert's birthday (Happy birthday Robert!), I couldn't resist.  I had a delicious steak and asparagus and chipotle mashed potatoes.  Piropos is muy excelente....if you've never been you should go.  It's pricey, but worth it as a splurge every now and then!!  I prefer the Parkville location over the Briarcliff, and that's where we went.  Andy's friend also tends bar there, but I don't know him well enough to approach him when I'm not with Andy....Anyway, that is all for today.

 

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks 2 years since Andy & I got together (read: did it on the first date)

Here's to us!

Let the Light Shine In

 

I got these supersweet curtains off of eBay.  It was hard to get a good picture of them with the light behind it.  Anyway, they match my kitchen wonderfully (it's a dark orange color), and they also match my sweet mushroom canisters.  I love them.  And they were less than $15, which makes me love them even more.

P.S.  You can see my trashy asshole neighbors' car/lawn ornament in this picture - bonus!

Fiiiii-re (dun dun dun)

The weather has been so wonderful this week!  Next week it's supposed to be crappy & snowy again, but to take advantage of this spring teaser (and to get rid of the many boxes we accumulated through online Christmas shopping), we had the family and a few friends over, grilled out, and burned shit.  These are a few of my favorite things!

 

 

I have to get back to being proactive about this blog.  Honestly, I don't remember what we were doing when I took this.  I know that Andy is wearing my Harry Potter readers...

Yeah, crap.  I got nothin'.  I believe we were watching a movie, but I can't tell you what it was.  OH!  We were watching Modern Family.

Hey, be glad I remembered that much.  

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Candlelight & Romance

 I'd love to start this post by telling you how much I hate Valentine's Day.  I really would.  I'm well aware of the fact that it's an obscenely commercialized "holiday", but c'mon, nobody (read: not enough people) hates on Christmas for that!  At least this one has a thinly-veiled genuine reason!  Thanks to estrogen, I love the idea of a day that revolves around letting people know how much you care about them.  I'm a firm believer that you should do that all the time, but let's face it: sometimes the people you love really piss you off.  This one day you can ignore all of that and be cheesy.  And it ain't easy bein' cheesy!  Although Andy & I do make it look so.   I also love holidays that allow me to eat like the raging fatty that I am, and so far we're 2/2 eating like kings on the infamous VD!

For the record, I also loved the holiday when I was single.  

To sum up our evening: We went to the grocery store.  Then I convinced Andy to go to Nick & Jake's to see if they still had some of the highly-coveted Boulevard Chocolate Ale on tap - they did!  I took a picture, but it disappeared from my phone, as if it never happened.  We each had 2, and it was everything I dreamed it would be.  Afterward we went home, cooked dinner, ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and promptly fell asleep.  What's not to love?!

Andy made me a delicious meal - lobster tail, steak, cauliflower, asparagus, AND rosemary garlic mashed potatoes

P.S.  I got a necklace, that has a heart and the band around the heart says 'Love Forever', a heart-shaped box of miniature Reese's, and a shamrock mug.  Good job, Love.  ...AND the BEST card ever: 

On the front it has metallic hearts down the side and says:

 

Words From My Heart

I don't want to control you,

or change you,

or make demands of you.

 

I don't want to be responsible for you,

or cling to you,

or need you to feel okay about me.

 

I just want to watch you smile,

hear your voice,

share with you the simple pleasures of life.

 

I want to touch your face,

hold your hand,

enjoy the comfort of our relationship.

 

But most of all, I want to...

 

And then inside it says:

 

make you my sex slave.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

5 Years

Today was the fifth anniversary of my aunt's sobriety.  To people like you and me, that sounds like a really sad 5 years.  I really don't even like to go 5 days sober, if I can help it.  However, I'm really proud of her.  She's grown up a lot in 5 years, and is a totally different (in a good way) person to be around.  We went and heard her speech, and we all had dinner over at her house beforehand.  She makes a mean soup, yo.

Anyway, it was a nice evening with the family.  My cousin Sean stayed at my house afterward.  He mostly played video games while I worked on Andy's Valentine's Day gift.  I think I got in over my head with this gift idea, but so far I'm happy with how it's turning out!

What Sara would look like with bangs, sort of.  She'd kill me for posting this, but it's the only picture I took all day...

  

Wherein I Discuss Desserts. Sort of.

Today I introduced some coworkers to Lucia's, an Italian restaurant that is a favorite of Andy & I.  It's possible I've mentioned it in this blog before, but I don't have much luck when I search it to find these things out.  In any case, we had a nice lunch.  I had the eggplant parmigiana, which is what I always get.  It's done just right, which is hard to find with eggplant dishes.  They have great homemade salad dressings, and we've always had wonderful service.  Once we were all done, he tried to coerce us into some of their homemade desserts.  Sarah started to cave when he mentioned tiramisu, and then he said something about a huge chocolate cake, and Mike decided to order it for us all to share.  Between the 4 of us, we didn't finish it. 

Booty Blaster

The frosting was like fudge.  It was SO rich, and SO chocolatey.  And I then entered a chocolate coma upon returning to work.

Moving along, Andy and I stopped at the grocery store to get some things, and I wandered to the bakery to see what kind of treats they had dreamed up for the impending Valentine's Day holiday.  I found this gem of a cookie cake:

"I'll always forgive you don't worry"?!?!  What the hell!?  It's like, 'Here baby, take this $5.99 cookie cake, which is also a free pass to do whatever shitty things you want to me and know that I won't mind one bit!'  I thought it was just the strangest message to put on a cake ever, and it was surrounded by 'TXT ME' and 'LUV U' cakes.  I should have bought it; $6, what a steal!!

Update

While I admit that I haven't been getting pictures every day, I do have several to post since my last entry.  Unfortunately, my phone is once again on the fritz and not letting me view my gallery, which I have to do in order to send pictures that are in it.  Between that and being busy with the Valentine's Day craft I dreamed up (which will likely end up a disaster), I apologize for my lack of posting. 

I hate you.

This is both how I spent my evening, and also the bane of my existence.