Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Good Evening, Kittens! What a weekend!  It was definitely too short.  At least this coming week is only a four-day week for me!  and a four-day weekend!  BUT, enough looking ahead.  Let's look back and reflect ... My work week was pretty much the usual exercises in clusterfuckery.  I did have a phone interview.  We'll see how that goes.  I think the job would be interesting.  And I think it will pay more.  Not sure if I impressed them during the interview or not, though.  Oh, well.  We'll see ... I also got the bid for my kitchen remodeling project - $15,000.  Not including appliances.  My parents were supposed to be helping me pay for it.  But, after talking with my mother tonight, I'm not so sure I want their help.  Although I'm also not sure how I will pay for it otherwise.  Ugh.  There was too much "that's too expensive" and "you should find another contractor" and "you should get lower...

Good Evening, Kittens! And, suddenly, it is Monday again.  How the heck does that keep happening?  Oh, well ... I am back to fill you in on all the fun and excitement of my weekend ... On Friday, after work, I had a date.  With someone new.  Let's call him "T" ... We went to El Chucho in Columbia Heights.  They have delicious margaritas.  He doesn't drink.  I had two.  They also make tacos and other foods ... which were pretty good.  He is also vegetarian. That is nice.  Dating vegetarians is easier than dating Omnivores.  I'm sorry.  But, it is.  He drove me home.  We kissed good night.  Good times. On Saturday, I woke up (eventually) and went to the Whole Foods.  And, then, I went to the Likker Store.  But it wasn't open yet.  So, I stopped by Marshall's.  Where I found a pair of Lucky Jeans.  In my size.  For only $35.  I bought them. Then, I went back to the Likker...

Good Evening, Kittens! What a fun weekend had I!  On Friday, after attending a fun environmental/green building symposium, I met SCGB, Bobby, Tomokito, and Eric from Baltimore at Nellie's for happy hour.  and, then, we went to a really yummy (but, probably over-priced) Thai restaurant for dinner. And, then, I staggered home.  Yay! On Saturday, kind of overhung.  BUT, my co-worker, Dana, and I went to this local eco-design business (which we had learned about at the aforementioned symposium).  She was looking at backsplashes, and I am thinking of having them design/build my new kitchen.  Yay for new kitchens! Then, I walked up to the Whole Foods, shopped, and had lunch at Adega.  Yum.  Once home, I made a metric shit-ton of hot sauce (using chili peppers from our CSA). For dinner, I made corn on the cob and green bean in a walnut miso sauce.  YUM! Saturday night, I watched "The Bubble," an Israeli film about a Palestinian/Jew...

Good Evening, Kittens! This week at work, I've been participating in some sort of Walking contest sponsored by the Occupational Health and Safety Office.  I got a pedometer and have been wearing it from 9 to 5 as I go about my daily bidness. The annoying thing is that I start work at 7:30.  BUT, I guess they want to make the contest fair-ish. Fair or not, I am still losing. On Monday, I walked 5,661 steps ... about 2.5 miles, maybe?  That night, I found out that K also has a pedometer.  So, we decided to have a little contest on our own (Tues-Thurs, b/c he's going out of town for the weekend).  The loser would become the Personal Sex Slave of the winner for ALL TIME!* On Tuesday, I walked 7,740 steps.  K did not walk that many. On Wednesday, I walked 13,401 steps. K did not walk that many either. I also did laundry.  And, then, when I went to cook dinner, I sliced open a delicata squash from our CSA.  and the seeds were all rotted an...

Good Evening, Kittens! First off, my horrible week at work filled with much stress and dread turned out to be not so horrible after all.  I am still proceeding with caution, but I think the worst might be over.  YAY!  Still.  I need new jerbz.  Must get out of the craziness soon. On Friday, I left work after lunch to head to Ann Arbor, MI.  My co-worker drove me to Greenbelt Metro, so I could catch the express bus to BWI.  I got to the airport super early.  I had time for a couple of glasses of wine before boarding.  Yay! Once I arrived in Detroit, my superfantastic cuzin had arranged for a car service to drive me to her house.  Yay!  Easy!  Convenient!  Comfortable! We quickly ate some Chinese take-out.  I freshened up.  And, then, we all worked our way over to GayProf's BF's house for GP's Tenure Party!  Yay for Tenure!  The party was full of boozy good times!  And lots of delicious food!...

Good Evening, Kittens.  It's been awhile since my last post, so we have quite a lot of ground to cover.  I'm going to skip the Giant Cesspool of Crap which is my job and focus on the Fun Stuff. On Wednesday, after work, I headed over to K's condo for an Adult Sleepover.  He made caipirinhas (I am not sure I spelled that correctly ...).  I brought over most of my CSA vegetables, because I would have no opportunity to use them.  And, then, to use one of Mush 's favorite phrases, he fucked me through the bed.  It was quite lovely.  And, luckily, my back seemed to hold up ok.  It was a little twingy the next day, but not too bad. Thursday evening, I did laundry and packed for my trip to New York City!  The Very Large Apple!  Yay! My train was super early (6:30AM).  On the plus side, it meant I got to Uni-Qlo right when it opened.  No lines!  No crowds!  It was a beautiful shopping experience, except I had troubl...

Things That Are Awesome: (1) Me (2) This scarf, which was knat by the fabulous Chelsea and all I had to do was send her a couple of pieces of pottery . YAY for Internet Friends!  YAY for knitting! Happy happy dance dance *smooches*

Good Sunday Morning, Kittens.  I can't believe I haven't updated all week.  Remember when I used to update daily/several times a day?  Yeah, me neither.  ANYWAYz, work has been work.  Everything is spiraling down into a cesspit of despair.  One colleague put in her two week notice, and the rest of us are frantically looking for different jerbz.  I don't think my situation is as shaky as some others', but, still, the handwriting is on the wall ... Besides work stress, I did go running 3 times this week.  Yay!  I am thinking of waking up early in the morning to run, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not.  It would involve me getting up around 4:20AM.  Which means, I will need to go to bed around 8:30 or 9.  That seems ridiculously early. I may give it a try for a week or two to see how it works.  I'll let you know. On Thursday, I took a long lunch and met Carolyn and Kristen.  We haven't hung out togethe...

Good Evening, Kittens!  I hope your weekend (and the last of last week) was full of fun and excitement and delicious foodz.  Mine sure was! On Thursday, I made like an animated rat and made ratatouille.  The photo on the left is the Pre-Cooked Ratatouille.  I found a recipe in my Mark Bittman cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian , which included instructions for a stovetop version.  It was super easy.  And really yummy.  Yay! Plus, it used up almost all of my CSA veggies for the week. On Friday, I *finally* had my hairz did.  I missed my last two appointments because of my back and the training I went to.  SO, it had been almost 12 weeks since my last cut.  UGH.  My hairs were driving me crazy.  On the plus side, I suppose, is that you can now see what my actual natural hair color is ... So dark!  So gray! Fortunately, an hour or two later, I was restored to my full blond glory ... My Natural Color...

Oh, hai, Kittenz! Apparently, none of my local Kittens want any of my crappy pottery, so I guess I am going to be forced to leave it on the side of the road or throw it into Sligo Creek as a gift to the Pottery Gods.  Oh, well.  Crappy Pottery is so unloved. (Alternatively, it could be that there are no Local Kittens, but the thought of that gives me the sadz.  Begone Sadz Thoughtz!) When you last read VUBOQ things were peachy keen and we were on the Cusp of a Brand New Weekend.  Well, that weekend was chock full of fun and excitement. On Friday, I had Happy Hour with my co-worker, Tomokito, Bobby (formerly known as Steveandbobby), and Jerry at Nellie's.  My co-worker left and the rest of us were joined by Mike (Who Makes Cakes) at Alero, where we had many, many margaritas.  At least, I had many, many margaritas.   Saturday, I made marinara sauce.  And sliced up watermelon. Because I had early Sunday morning plans, I stayed in, an...

Good Evening, Kittens~! Happy Thursday! All is well here in VUTOPIA ... Except, a couple of days ago ... or was it yesterday?  I may have been a little tipsy.  I suppose the actual timeframe doesn't matter, because, there was a Death in the Family.   And, then, there were two Yeah, I am down to only two martini glasses.  Ok.  That is kind of a lie.  I do have 3 ... ok ... 7 ... ok 10 others, but I kind of hate them and never use them.  3 of them are the overly decorated "specialty" martini glasses that you give as gifts for birthdays and such.  The other 7 I just don't really like.  I should give them away or sell them at a yard sell or something.  So, let's rephrase.  I am down to only two usable, sturdy martini glasses that I can keep in the freezer. In other news, my two days of LEED training went well.  I learned a lot.  Now I have to study a bit and then sit for the exam.  Assuming I pass, I wil...

Good Evening, Kittens. My weekend was pretty good.  On Saturday morning, I got up and helped my neighbors repaint our parking lot lines/numbers.  That certainly was fun.  Then, I bought some groceries and had boozy lunch at Adega.  They have a veggie burger now.  It is yummerz. Later that afternoon, Dana and her BF picked me up and we went to a happy hour event with our former co-workers.  It was Boozy Good Times.  Very good to see some people who I haven't seen in a long, long time.  When I got home, I took a nap.  and made dinner.  And then I passed out. On Sunday, I went to brunch, along with Tomokito, (No Longer a Baby) Baby Hana, and Tomokito's Husband, to the German and His Hot Wife's place.  That was fun.  We (and by "we" I mean "I") had lots of mimosas.  I didn't do much for the rest of the day after that. AND, today, I was off as well.  So, I got up early and went to the Trader Joe's.  Then, I ...

Good Friday Evening, Kittens!  I may not have had a lifetime of nothing special (yet), but this week was mostly nothing special ... with a few minor exceptions. On Tuesday, I met Eric (Not From Baltimore) for happy hour.  We went to Central.  I had a yummy cocktail.  It was like a French 75 (gin, champagne, lemon) with the addition of cucumber and Benedictine.  Tasty.  Boozy.  Durnk. On Wednesday, can you guess what I did?  I'll give you a hint:  It starts with an L and rhymes with "raundry." Then, on Thursday, I met D (the guy recently out of the 20 year relationship that went all batshit crazy on his ex.  Remember him?) for happy hour.  And, let's just say ... he's still crazy.  Of course, he still wants me.  But that shit ain't happenin'.  Really.  I don't need that kind of crazy in my life right now ... or ever.  I did have many many margaritas though.  and cheese dip.  And that's alw...

Good evening, Kittens!   And Happy Monday (Thank goodness it is almost over)! I had a superfun weekend, even though I spent most of it on my back (and not in the *bow chicka bow bow* kind of way).  During the times when I felt I could be vertical, I was very productive.  Yay me! On Friday evening, I watched the latest Muppet movie, The Muppets .  It was cute.  Funny.  Sentimental.  I say everyone should go out and watch it now! On Saturday, I did some major cooking ... even though I'm not sure if it is still "cooking" if you don't turn on the stove ... First, I pickled jalapenos (see photo).  I also made gazpacho.  And, then, I made vegan pesto, which I suppose could also justifiably be called "basil puree."  I was texting with M that day and was telling him about the jalapeno pickling process and he wrote back, "Mmmm.  jalapenis." Which I believe should now enter the World Lexicon and mean "a very HOT guy,"  a...

Good Morning, Kittens! As further proof that (if there is a God) S/He hates me, on Tuesday my back was almost entirely pain-free.  Not 100% better, mind you, but close ... maybe like 95%.  I was ecstatic.  I made all sorts of plans for the weekend ... like going for a short run.  And, well, that was it.  I was going to get back into running. And, then, Wednesday happened.  I awoke at my regular time (5:15AM) and tried to get out of bed.  "Tried" being the operative word.  WTF?  My back was in excruciating pain ... AGAIN!  SRSLY.  I am totally over this whole Bad Back Thing.  At least this time, I knew to get up and move around.  But, still, I have been in mucho pain the past couple of days.  I have left work early every day just because I can't stand it and I want to come home and be horizontal.  Hello, Heating Pad, my old friend.  I've come to lie on you again ... But enough about the sharp stabby...

Good Morning, Kittens! After several weeks of being anti-social and sofa-ridden, I finally am easing my way back into life.  Yay me! On Friday, my co-worker and I had planned to go to a DC Fringe Festival play, Young Republicans, which starred a friend of my co-worker.  Well, co-worker's boyfriend decided that he wanted to go too.  Gah.  Thus, rather than be a third wheel, I took a date, L (this would be our second date).  We all went to Fado in Gallery Place for beers and snacks and dinner and then headed to the play, which was entertaining, probably could stand some tightening up ... but it's Fringe.  That's what one should expect, I suppose. After the play,we all went our separate ways. On Saturday, I had a mini-English lesson with Tomoko's niece, who is visiting for a couple of weeks.  It went fine.  We talked about fashion and astrology.  And how to use numerology to determine if you and your "crush" are compatible.  Good ...

Good Evening, Kittens! First of all, click on over to Polt's Purple Palace for a sort of guest post by moi .  It's chock full of rollicking hilarity.  For some reason, the photo I sent him isn't showing up.  Maybe it's my computer ... But, too bad if you can't see it, because I am COMPLETELY NEKKID in it. Srsly. So, anyway, I have a little filing to do this evening ... There was this guy, D.  From a few months ago.  Remember him?  The one out of the 20-year relationship, who went all Bat. Shit. Crazy on his ex and reported his car as stolen and his ex's new boyfriend's boyfriend was driving it?  Yeah.  Him? Well, he texted me.  and he was all like "I want to see you." And, I was thinking all "why?" but I said "ok." And he was all, "When?" So I was all, "I'm free on Thursday." And he was all, "All day?" And I was thinking all, "Are you a total dumbass?  I do have a job, y'kn...

Good Evening, My Sweet, Sweet, Intoxicated Kittens! Things are bubbling and gurgling here in Vutopia ... Last night, I had a date.  We went to Number 9.  They have a 2-for-1 happy hour.  I may have gotten a little tipsy.  I also may have made out with my date in the bar.  He's cute.  Smart.  Employed. Short.  Old(er ... 52). Divorced. Has 2 grown children.  Seems mostly well-adjusted.  And an OK kisser.  I think I could really be interested in him ... if Mr. Las Vegas (aka M) would ever leave Las Vegas and I could figure out how I feel about him and he feels about me and what exactly is going on there ... *sigh*  This guy (who we shall call L) asked if I was single.  I said I was.  Which is true.  But I also told him I am dating around, which is also true.  And I may have mentioned that there is a complicated situation.  Why is life so hard? In the meantime, we are going out again.  On Friday...

Good evening, Kittens. I know, I know. I haven't blogged all week.  BUT, in my defense, I think you would've gotten tired of posts that were all "my back hurts" and "work sucks" and "did I mention that my back hurts?" So, consider yourself lucky ... Of course, my back *still* hurts.  I am taking the Miracle Pills and using the heating pad and trying to do some stretches.  Let's hope it gets better soon.  I am really tired of walking around in constant pain. In other, non-back-related news, this weekend, I made pickles for the first time.  It was so easy!  and they are so delicious!  I used this recipe and some white cucumbers from our CSA farm share. I also made this super-yummy lemony green bean salad (using green beans from our CSA farm share): And, today, I drove to the pottery studio and made this: It's handbuilt.  I trimmed a vase on the wheel and quickly realized that bending over the wheel was painful.  I doub...

Good Evening, My Sweet, Sweet, Furry Kittens of Joy! My weekend was chock full o' fun and excitement, if you define "fun and excitement" as "being on the sofa, watching DVDs, and knitting." On Friday, I went to an orthopedic surgeon.  He (well, his nurse) took x-rays of my back.  And, it looks fine (so he says).  There are a couple of picky little things going on with my lower vertebrae, but they are probably not the cause of my SuperIntenseBackPainOwOwOw.  So, he prescribed physical therapy (meh) and a Bottle of Miracle Pills (aka NSAIDs).  Seriously, I took the first one and, in, like, 15 minutes most of the debilitating back pain was Gone!  I still have a nagging little twinge and am not nearly as mobile as I would like, but, OMG, so. much. better (ish). BUT, although mostly mobile, I felt I should spend most of the weekend resting.  Which I did.  It was lovely. Mike (Who Makes Cakes) came over Friday evening for a little while. On Sat...