Monday, February 28, 2005

Oscar Weekend

I've been completely and utterly lazy this weekend. As I noted on Friday, my workshop was cancelled, so I decided to forget there was such a thing as school. I didn't touch my homework (which kind of screws me for tomorrow), but I spent a lot of time catching up on my Oscar nominated movies. I don't really know why I watch the Oscars. I think they are a lot of fun, but the people I want to win seldom do. Here's my quick critique of just a few awards:

*Best Actor should have gone to Don Cheadle. Granted I didn't see Ray, but Hotel Rwanda was just an amazing movie.

*The Aviator won entirely too many awards. It was alright, but being 3 hours long, I fell asleep for the last half hour of it. I do think Cate Blanchett deserved her award, though, she was excellent.

*I would have liked to see Best Actress go to Catalina Sandino Moreno, but I was not surprised to see it go to Hilary Swank. Million Dollar Baby was a good movie.

*Although I didn't really think it stood a chance, I was really hoping Best Picture would have gone to Finding Neverland. At least The Aviator didn't get its hands on that award, too.

Overall, an enjoyable Oscar experience. It was nice that it ended before midnight, but some of the formatting changes were a little strange. For example, some people didn't get to go on stage when accepting their award? Poor people kinda got shafted with that one. Also, I would have liked to have seen the silent snipets of animated shorts and what not. I think it's interesting to get a glimpse of what they are about so that I might be more interested in watching them.

Anyway, enough of my rattling on. Good night and...

Happy Trails...

Friday, February 25, 2005

Just the facts, ma'am

1. Snow day today means no workshop! (That's a good thing)
2. Only I can have such bad luck with glasses.
3. I ate lunch at 10:30am.

Number one needs no explanation, but you might be wondering about two an three. I have broken glasses after falling off of a carousel (don't ask for any more on that), lost a pair in the Atlantic Ocean while I was jumping in the waves, and now have managed to make the lenses peel after a simple cleaning. Jusy my luck! I was happy to find out, though, that Salve's student health plan actually has vision coverage. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. So tomorrow I am going to the eye doctors and then I am going to pick out some new frames. :) How exciting!

Now for my early lunch. I was actually craving breakfast, but we don't have any breakfast foods at the apartment aside from cereal right now. I wanted eggs and bacon, maybe even hashbrowns. Mmm. Well, the more I thought about a hot meal, the more I thought about throwing something together that we have here in the apartment. I came up with angel hair pasta, teryaki veggies, and chicken. A little homemade lean cuisine-esque meal. Not bad. I didn't even realize until I sat down to eat it that it was only 10:30. Oops.

Alright, well, nothing really else to say. Haha, not that I had much to say up there, either.

Happy Trails...

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

March is official craft month??

At least that's what my JoAnn's e-circular says! Woohoo! As you know, because all of you have read my profile, I love crafting--crocheting, kniting, quilting, sewing--I love it all. Of course, I am sure they are saying it's craft month to promote sales and stuff, but whatever, it's all good. :) The only problem is my local JoAnn's Store sucks. I don't know if they are constantly cleared of merchandise because of in-store sales or because they don't know how to properly stock their shelves. I was really disappointed to do a store locator search to find that the closest JoAnn's SUPERstore (not just Store) is some 75 miles away in Connecticut. We used to have one in Newport, but that was turned into an Old Navy sometime last year. I really need to find a novelty yarn store somewhere in the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area. I know they are more expensive, but selection is going to be soooo much better. Anyone have any suggestions? I know there has to be one around here somewhere.

I'm currently knitting a bikini. It's more for practice than for use right now, though. It's my first true knitting project actually, but I don't have the proper elasticized yarn to make one that's usable. That would be nice. I really have to expand beyond scarves, though. Right now my repertoire consists of hats, scarves, mittens, a shawl, and the beginnings of an afghan. One day, when I finish the afghan, Mike will love me even more. He's been waiting a while... I have a problem finishing big projects, though. I get bored easily. I love to experiment and try new things. Like two Christmases (is that how you pluralize it?) ago I made scarves for everyone in my family. Well, just about everyone. But anyway, each one was a different design. I taught myself some different stitches and threw together some fun patterns and whipped 'em out in no time. Scarves can be easily finished in a day. I like that about them. Afghans, though, take some time. They are no more difficult than a scarf. In fact, they pretty much are scarves. Just over-sized. After I get started, though, and see what the pattern will look like I start thinking "Huh, well that was easy. Cool, I can do this. Let's see what else I am capable of." And the afghan gets put aside for a new, exciting, and often more challenging project. Like I said in my first blog--I need to work on my staying power.

Anyway, this being said, I'm thinking I may start a new blog just to talk about my craft projects. That way, if anyone is just bored to tears by them or would rather see me as the young woman I am as opposed to the old-lady hobbies I love, they can separate the two. At least in blogs. In person these two are one in the same. Sorry :)

Happy Trails...

Oh! PS...Would anyone be interested in starting a crocheting/knitting circle? I'm not sure if I really have the time for it or not, but I'm kinda curious if there would be interest for it. Also, I really am just a beginner, MAYBE advanced beginner, so I wouldn't really want to be in charge. Maybe I could co-lead with someone or something. Let me know your thoughts.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Today's excitement is...

Mike got in a car accident! I was woken up at 8:54 this morning from an Emergency Room phone call. Luckily he is ok, minus a big red bump on his forehead and a slightly banged up knee. I don't know all of the specifics about the crash...something about a car plowing into his rear passenger door. Unfortunately, Mike was at fault. In the early morning sun he couldn't see what color the stoplight was on. Turns out it was red :/

Bad news is he took the Jeep today instead of my crummy minivan. Either way we're still down a car for a few days. I guess we'll be renting one soon. Everything is such a headache, though. Because the Jeep is a lease, it needs to go to the dealership. It's a big ol' pain in the booty moving the car from the place the tow truck took it to the dealership. Plus, we need to get the rental from the dealership too, as far as I know at least. Blah.

Anyway, I am just happy he's alright. Besides, I like taking care of my baby :)

Happy Trails...

ps...Tina, sorry I went back to the small font, but the larger font broke up in places. Did you notice that whole lines went missing unless you highlighted them? Maybe you can offer some advice on that one, I don't know...

Monday, February 21, 2005

Amy the Food Critic?

At the suggestion of my good friend Tina, I have upped the font size. (Update: Feb. 24--I changed the font back because I couldn't stand how the larger font wasn't loading properly.) To any of my loyal following (ha!), sorry I haven't posted in so long. I realize it's been long enough to make people lose interest...oops! Nothing much has been going on lately, though. Last time I wrote about the upcoming break which would have been great except for a few small eating disasters...

Saturday night Mike (my bf) and I headed down to Newport to visit our friend Dave. Because Newport is the land of a thousand restaurants/bars, I wanted to be adventurous and try something new. I pushed for Salvation Cafe, a kind of fun and quirky eatery. We ordered the satay trio to start. Decent, but very small. I was originally thinking of ordering it as a light meal. Unless you want really light, don't do that. It was a shrimp, a piece of chicken, and a piece of steak on separate toothpicks with some peanut dipping sauce. Tasty, but tiny. Dave ordered the Blue Corn Chicken Salad. It was decent and the portion size was pretty good. He reported slightly dry chicken and was unimpressed by the lack of dressing choices. I ordered the Codfish Wrapped in Rice Paper. The codfish was cooked well, flaky like fish should be. The side of cilantro mashed potatoes had good flavor despite the green color, but they were a little cold. Poor Mike, however, ordered something that I would not recommend to ANYONE. Balsamic and Herb Marinated Beef Tenderloin. He likes his meat medium rare. Ok, so I'm not a fan of pink and bloody, but whatever floats your boat. His beef came cold and unsatisfactory. He was unhappy with the sauce as well. A mere three hours after eating it, he ended up in the bathroom with problems at both ends. Sorry, I'm trying to put it as nicely as possible. I guess I should just say food poisoning. He was ill for the remainder of the evening with lingering bathroom issues even now. I might go back to Salvation for drinks one day (the Lime Rickey was excellent), but I'm definitely wary of the food.

That was bad food experience #1. We ended up spending the night in Newport, so we all went out to lunch on Sunday. Brave Mike. What else can you do, though, if you're hungry? We tried the recently opened Blue Plate Diner. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for diners. I wish I had grown up in the 1950s and 60s. That could be a whole other post, though, so we'll ignore that for a moment. We started off with some cheese fries. Nice. No major complaints. I would have been happier with just slightly more cheese and Dave said the fries could have been a little crispier, but I would order them again. Lunch was a mixture of Philly Cheesesteaks for the boys with Minestrone for Dave and Chicken Noodle Soup for Mike. I ordered a tuna melt with mixed veggies and Mike and I split a plate of Mac n' Cheese. The cheesesteaks were actually made with tenderloin tips, which Mike and Dave both thought was a nice touch. They downed these sandwiches in minutes. The minestrone was lacking in substance--Dave counted the number of vegetable pieces and wondered where the noodles were. The chicken noodle looked good and Mike reported that it was ok. My tuna melt, although listed as coming on an english muffin (yummy), came on toast. It didn't look bad, but I wanted my english muffin so I sent it back. I wish I hadn't. The english muffin came out like a sponge. Maybe you guys aren't as picky as I am, but there's nothing worse than a soggy english muffin, especially for a tuna melt. I took a few bites and left it. My mixed veggies were even more disappointing. A promising mix of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans was an overcooked bowl of mush. I could have mashed them all together with two strokes of my fork. Oh, and I almost forgot the mac n' cheese! It was obviously Stouffer's, fine, but barely luke warm. Bottom line? Cool retro ambience, low prices, and large menu selection do NOT make up for food quality.

Hope I haven't bored you too much with this one...

Happy Trails...

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Moving Right Along

Yay for last day's before long weekends! As we all know, President's Day is on Monday and for just about everyone with a job or school, that means a day off. The last day before breaks like this usually drag, but not today. Maybe it has something to do with the quick start I had this morning...

I woke up at my usual Thursday time--about 6:30. Yes, that's AM. Showered, dressed for the day, and headed down my three flights of stairs to get to my 8 o'clock class on time. Outside on the porch all it took was one step. Bump, bump, bump, THUD! That was me. Falling down icy steps. Not fun. It hurt. :( My poor bum. It knocked the wind out of me, so I just sat there on the last step for a minute in pain and shock. My landlady, who lives on the first floor, heard the noise and looked outside to see what happened. Funny thing is, this is the first I've met her. She's just lucky I'm ok and I'm not the type to sue! I am a little sore, though. My butt and my back are a little achy. Could the fall have jostled my brain at all? My head feels kinda funny, too. She didn't salt the steps because she didn't think it was going to go below freezing last night. Well, I can't be entirely upset with her. It was an honest mistake. The ice on the steps was so thin that it just looked wet from yesterday's rain. But moving right along...

I got to my 8 o'clock 15 minutes late. Not bad really. Took a few notes. Went to Spanish. Took a few notes. Aced my quiz from Tuesday. (I have excellent short term memory if I cram moments before.) Now I am in the library. Two more classes--one of discussion, one that's a test. I'm happy about the test, though. Want to know why? No, I am not prepared. I did make note cards last night, but I haven't read them yet. A test means getting out early from class. And starting my weekend sooner. :) Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and, because of the adjusted school schedule, most of Tuesday as well. Bring it on baby!

Happy Trails...

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I thought I moved out of the dorm...

Oh joy. Here's the deal about me. I used to be an RA at Salve, which I think I mentioned in my last post. I quit mid-year (at the end of last semester) because I wasn't getting homework done. Too many distractions, too much extra responsibility. I moved in with my boyfriend of 3 years, 3 months (exactly, as of today) in an apartment roughly an hour from campus. We live in an 3-floor house on the third floor. There are two apartments on the third floor, the other of which has been vacant since before my boyfriend moved in back in July. Well, just recently we got a neighbor. The apartment was rented out to a girl about my age. I think this is her first time living on her own. She enjoys hard rock. I don't mind hard rock, or music in general. In fact, I love music. BUT, not when it's loud enough to seep into other people's apartments.

I have to admit, I don't take kindly to change. I need a period of adjustment and you kind of have to prove yourself to me before I will like you. I don't deny that I've had a negative attitude about getting a neighbor from the get-go, but this girl isn't making it any easier for me. If anything, she is validating my concerns. In an attempt to make me more open-minded, my boyfriend (who has met her, I have not yet) told me that when he met her she seemed very nice and said "don't be afraid to say something if I'm being too noisy." Ok, back up. If that isn't a red flag, I don't know what is.

That off my chest, I am off. Well, off with my post. I have to do a little homework and studying (if possible with the noise...) and then I need to buy some new clothes/shoes for my internship so I can look pretty and stuff. Haha.

Happy Trails...

Monday, February 14, 2005

Oh Sleepy Day...

Why does today have to be Valentine's Day? And no, I am not getting into one of those "I hate Valentine's Day because if you don't have a significant other it just throws it in your face and makes you depressed" attitudes. I hate that people are calling it "Black Monday." Grow up. Celebrate if you want, ignore it if you want. Just don't ruin it for those of us who happen to like the holiday. I've always liked it. I think it was by far the coolest, though, when I was in grade school. Making little Valentine's holders to put on our desks and trying to figure out who in your class had a crush on you because they gave you a Valentine that had the word "love" on it.

I've strayed from my point. Valentine's Day should never be during the week. It should be a Friday or a Saturday only. I am a student. My boyfriend has a job. We don't do Monday nights. Do you know what Monday nights are for? Sleeping. Sleeping and homework. And this particular Monday night I must spend studying for a test in Bio and a Spanish quiz. I took German in high school. Can I take German in college? No. I have to retrain my brain in foreign languages. It thinks the only other language than English is German. It is whole-heartedly rejecting my attempts at Spanish. And right now I'm already tired, so by the time I get home tonight...roughly around 9pm...I will barely be able to keep my eyes open to read let alone celebrate the holiday and be all lovey-dovey.

You know what I find amazing, though? Not even a minute ago my eyes were closing. If I'd had a place to rest my head I would have been out in seconds. That's when I thought I was heading to school to begin studying. Since I've decided to post on here, though, I'm awake! It's a miracle! Now I just have to convince myself that I actually like to study and I'll never be tired again! My problem, though, is that although I may not enjoy studying, I enjoy good grades. If only I could have the one without the other. Once upon a time I could. In high school. I don't know if it's because I'm older now or because high school was a joke. Probably a little bit of both I suppose. Man, I'm sleepy again. I shouldn't think about school. It does bad things to me. Ha.

Alright, alright. Time to focus and get to work. With nearly two hours before my next class I may actually finish a good chunk of my studying to allow for some nice Valentine's Day cuddling tonight. Aww...that's a nice thought.

Well, until we meet again...
Happy Trails to You!

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Hello

Hi. First and foremost hello. I'm new to this. I guess that shows due to the fact that this is my first post. Also, I'd like to put a disclaimer on the title of my blog. I hope I haven't stolen anyone's name. It wasn't available as a web address to my site, which makes me think someone else has titled their blog "Imperfections." If so, no hard feelings. The name is probably only temporary anyway.

I suppose to gain any sort of interest or following I should give everyone a little background information. My name is Amy. I'm a 25 year old junior at Salve Regina University studying Social Work. That's the absolute basic. You know what, though? You'll all get to know me gradually as I continue posting anyway. Ha, I should probably say if I continue posting. I am a habitual starter of projects with very few actually completed. This is almost like a test for me to see if I can improve on my follow through.

Here we go. Idea. Where's the lightbulb?? Here's a list of my most recentlys for you:
Most recently...
1. Watched Movie: Shanghai Noon. Ok, so maybe that's not the best one to start with. I can't help it if I love watching Owen Wilson movies. And Jackie Chan's moves are a serious artform. But I don't want to get to deep here. It's just a fun, silly movie.
2. Listened to CD: Paint the Town Pushstars The Pushstars are an awesome Boston band. I'm originally from Michigan and saw them opening for Julian Lennon and have been a diehard ever since. Check out their website:
www.pushstars.com That's my shameless plug for the post. Only one. Promise
3. Watched TV show: Felicity. Season two. I love Felicity. Anyone else a fan? She should have chosen Noel. It kills me that she chose Ben. Still, it's a great show. It's a college show. And up until two months ago I could identify with it even further--I used to be an RA.
4. Eaten food: Lobster Ravioli and a side of corn. I'm about to partake in some mint chocolate chip ice cream as well. Weird category to include I realize, but I was running out of ideas. And who knows what you guys might infer about me from a simple meal. A correct inference would be that I love ice cream. I eat it almost daily.

Alright, well, let's see if this catches anyone's eye. You know, I used to keep a lot of journals when I was younger and at one time I always ended my entries with "Happy Trails to You." In honor of my past I think I'm going to pick that up again. So...
Happy Trails to You!