Wednesday, October 22, 2008

This is an outrage!!!

Washington Post reveals that Tysons Corner Center has fired Santa! The real one! He has worked at this mall for 18 years and then poof - he is replaced despite a contract until the year 2012. What the Wahington Post does not mention but that you find out in the Washington Times is that he has hired a lawyer and a PR firm to get his job back and his money. Oh and he makes $175.00 an hour - the mall alleges that is 10x the going rate - that means someone is doing it for $17.50 an hour.

Wow - hard times are falling on everyone.

PS - I called the mall office to verify the story and spoke with Anna Northcutt - she vaguely said the story was true - she said they legally notified Santa that he was out of a job. The thing I forgot to tell her was "You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Read the story here .

Monday, October 20, 2008

I'd rather not talk about it

I like to update my blog at least twice a week - once talking about the weekend and once talking about some random fascinating thing during the week. So my last update was Tuesday - here goes.

Tuesday, Wed, thursday - I worked, ate, slept all just great stuff.

Friday was terrible - it's work related. It's the state of our economy, our financial markets, blah blah blah related. But the matter is these are my friends that are affected - my really good friends, people I have known for years. People I will miss a lot - a lot.

Saturday and Sunday - I spent a lot of time in bed, just literally dreading today. We watched movies (nothing good), I read some, I stared out the window at the pretty fall weather.

and now today is here - and so am I. and the rest I just don't want to talk about

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Weekend with my mom

Late Wednesday night, my mom called to see if I had plans for the weekend and would I like for her to come for the weekend. Her next door neighbor was coming to U of M to see her daughter - also named Meghan. My mom arrived about 8:00 or so Friday night. We unpacked her bags, she had brought down lots of fruits and veggies and groceries from New Jersey. Around 10, I was exhausted but my mom wasn't so I gave her a whole pile of books to read.

Saturday morning we were up and out early for a day of bargain shopping. There was a yard sale advertised in Bethesda for a clothes addict - there were a lot fof clothes and jewelry but unfortunately not quite anything for us. We hit a few more in Bethesda and then headed to Olney. I ended the yard sales with a christmas book (.10), the book tuesdays with morrie (.10), some new toiletries and such (17.00),

We then headed to Gaithersburg to go to a consignment shop that I had found on the internet. It was amazing - they had so much nice stuff - all good designers, all in perfect shape, and well all priced accordingly. They had the Louie bag that I have been dying for - it retails for $1000 for $650.00 - yes a good price but $650.00 is still more than my car payment. I did not end up purchasing anything from the store but I do intend to visit again. We hit another consignment shop that we stumbled upon by accident and I did get a Lilly P cardigan sweater in bright pink (will look adorable with my vera bradley pink pinwheel collection).

Back in Laurel, we went to my usual thrift store - it was packed both with people and with merchandise. I got a gorgeous cotton rayon sweater brand new with the theory tag still on it that says retail $195.00 for $6.98, some men's origins products, and a magazine. I normally go there on Monday's but I think I will have to go there through out the week. This was the store where I scored the Daring Book for Girls for $1.30. I know someone that works there and she says they don't put new stuff out on Sunday's and Mondays so a good day to go is Tuesday. And I swear when I say their merchandise is always changing.

We pretty much relaxed the rest of the day. My mom did me a huge favor and hemmed a pair of pants for me. Ernie went to the grocery store and got a great deal on steaks and cooked dinner for mom and me - which was a great treat.

My mom headed out about 3 on Sunday and I swear I laid on the couch the rest of the day.

It was a great weekend.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Randomness

Shay Shay tagged me again! This time wanting to know 5 random things about me.


1. First, there is nothing random about me - my tongue does not touch my nose, my ears do not wiggle, I have not competed in any crazy contests, I am not in the Guiness Book of World Records, I have only been to - I am Randomly challenged.

2. Wait - I thought of something - about 5 years ago - I took a class to learn how to shoot a gun. You know in the movies where the girl fights and gets the gun away from the guy and then doesn't know what to do with it - I did not want to be that girl - so I learned a little about guns - not sure how much I remember.

3. I don't have cable (therefore no channels at all) at my house - I gave it up in March of 2007 and I have never looked back. I rent movies from Redbox, I can watch some TV shows on the internet - but it is on my terms - so one Saturday I might watch a whole season of a show while scrapbooking.

4. Twice in the last 5 years I have grown my hair over 10 inches with the purpose of cutting it and donating it to locks of love. It is not totally altruistic - I am really just lazy when it comes to getting hair cuts.

5. I participated in a colon cancer march in washington DC and walked 40 miles in 2 days raising over $3000 for colon cancer research - Ethan Zahn from Survivor also particpated. It was what my dad died of and I wanted to make a difference.

Wheh - it was hard work to think of stuff - I guess I will have to make it a goal to be more random!

I now tag Mel, Peg, Heather and anyone else that reads this and wants to share! Niki - your blog is already the defination of random!

PS - I remembered one more thing - I went to the Miss America Pagent one year in Atlantic City. It was the last year that it was televised. Our seats were way far away but it was cool to say that we did it once.

PPS - I have sat in the front row at a major concert at least 5 times, Tim McGraw, Madonna, Faith Hill/Tim McGraw, Dixie Chicks, and Sugarland! Only madonna would not let me bring my camera.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

My gazpacho recipe!

When I first got my kitchenaid blender/food processor gadget (which I love by the way) it came with a little recipe book. In there was a simple gazpacho recipe. Since tomotoes are plentiful in MD and NJ, gazpacho was a practical use. The thing I have learned through trial error and frustration is blenders need liquid in order to work properly - so you need to add tomotoe juice or V8 but if you aren't going to add that - for a thicker gazpacho then just make in the food processor.

Loosely - my recipe this time was tomotoes 3 large ones and ripe!, 1 cucumber (no skin) , 1 onion, 1 jalopeno, whirrred in the food processor. Then some oil (i have been using sesame oil lately for salads and such because pioneer woman told me too and she knows good cooking) and some wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and then the secret to all yummy cooking - Spike.

Do you know about Spike? Spike is an all natural seasoning that just makes everything more yummy - I use the salt free one. It is good on veggies, meats, deviled eggs, scrambled eggs, and gazpacho!
The great thing about gazpacho is you can make as much or as little as you want and if you have other veggies you can add them too. I think carrots or celery would give it good crunch. Lots of people add green and red peppers but raw they don't agree with me that well.
Now this summer, I went to Jaleo, you know the tappas place in Bethesda and they do a gazpacho sampler platter of 4 of them, one was white and one was green, I can't remember the other two and they are strained so no chunks and that was not really my thing. But they have a whole bunch of other stuff that is really yummy. But the gazpachos were really pretty to look at.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Up and at 'em!

Good monday morning! Good weekend! Friday night (which right now seems days ago) I went to a Silpada party at my friend Robin's house. I had gotten the catalog a few weeks ago and marked all the pages of stuff I loved and had a tough time narrowing it down but finally decided on a pearl and black number - I think it will look great with my winter clothes! Ernie went to dinner with his parents - his Mom cooked at the Moose and he was a happy boy (he loves his momma's cooking - lucky for me she is always willing to share recipes!)

Saturday morning, he was up EARLY for work, so I got a good start on yard sales. I hit Piney Orchard Community sale and it was packed - with sellers and buyers! I only picked up a few things, this tin heart thing, some books. Next was over to Savage, where my friend Melissa was selling stuff at her church - well every church in Savage was having a sale so it took me a while to find her. Few things there, a DVD (Secondhand Lions - if you have never seen it - you should it is cute) and some picture frames I plan to alter. Last stop was a community sale in Laurel where I bombed - not one thing I needed. I came home, slept, read, ate and played on the computer. Ernie come home beat - to let him sleep - I went out to Savage Mills (needed to drop off a card for Patti), drugstore and groceries. Came home made dinner, relaxed and went to bed early.

Sunday, Ernie and I went to the farmers market and then the Columbia Mall - I have sort of fallen into a Vera Bradley thing. All my friends know I love pink and green - sbers know it is because of CE, and non sbers just think it is my own obsession. Well last year for my birthday I got a Vera Bradley bag (huge) in Pink Pinwheel from my boss (well actually his lovely wife picked it out for me) and a matching beach towel. My friend Luann had picked up the umbrella for me. So I thought well, I have this nice lovely set, I might as well get a small bag (you know to hold all the essentials that could get lost in the big bag. So I went to the mall yesterday to check out the pieces and picked up a cosmetic bag and the pocket folio - I loved it a pad of paper and a place for coupons - I plan to use it more for the slips of paper you pick up. But I really need to the wristlet - of course the store I was in did not have it. So now I have a small pink pinwheel Vera Bradley obsession. How cute will I look on a rainy day at the beach!

Last night I made gazpacho - I love gazpacho! I like mine with little bits of veggies - no straining for me. Also made a really good salad. And finished off the day with some raw cookie dough. Before I went to sleep, I was complaining my stomach hurt - then I thought of the crazy foods I had eaten all day and thought well no wonder!

Fun weekend - filled with fun shopping! And up early this morning - even washed two loads of clothes and cleaned up the kitchen. Of course I forgot to take dinner out of the freezer!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

My summer reading list...

This summer I read 18 books! I think that is a lot. I always had a book going and I read just about every night. This was the summer I found Jodi Piccoult. I started the summer reading Change of Heart which was amazing. Also by Jodi I read Nineteen Minutes, Picture Perfect and Vanishing Acts - all good but not like Change of Heart.

I also read Three Weeks with my Brother by Nicholas Sparks - which I loved - it is a memoir and learning so much about a man that writes truly great love stories was so intriging. Which led to a whole Nicholas phase, Nights in Rodanthe (I did not even know that a movie was coming?), A Bend in the Road, & The Rescue.

It is not summer with out a few trashy ones - Pink Slip, How to Sleep with a Movie Star. Belly Laughs by jenny McCarthy - I wanted to love it because I have always liked her - I HATED IT. A little mystery with Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich.

One that was surprising was Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld - that a man could so clearly understand a young girls psyche - it was fascinating.

Another surprising author that I found and really enjoyed is Alexander McCall Smith with No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and The Kalahari Typing School for Men. The dialect was hard to understand but in the end I liked that I had to work a little harder to become absorbed in them.

One thought provoking one that I already blogged about was The Next Thing on My List. I finally read the five people you meet in heaven and found that soo interesting and so thought provoking.

I finished the summer with The Daring Book for Girls. If you have a 10 year old daughter get her this book - it is filled with information that every girl should know.

All of this reading has made me really want to join a Book Club - does anyone know of a book club looking for members or one that I could just try for a month? Does anyone else want to maybe start a Book Club?