In Limbo

Well, we finished watching Weeds. BTW don't read the entire Wiki entry it HAS SPOILERS! but we watched it, ALL of it! Season 3 disks one and 2 came in the Netflix mail, so we plowed through that in 2 evenings. Then, yes, sadly, I ran to Blockbuster and got the rest of Season 3 and all of season 4 on Saturday afternoon. And by Tuesday (impatient me) we even finagled (?) the cable company to give us Showtime for free for 6 months so we could watch Season 5, which we tore through by Wednesday night. All I can say is "Croquet Mallet? SWEET!" Now, how will I wait until 2010 to see Season 6? it's pure torture!
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Shock of the day - Jenji Kohan is a woman. WOW, for some weird reason I assumed the show was written by an Asian dude. Whoops! We figured this out after watching the special features on one of the Weeds DVDs.
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So why do I love the show so much? WITTY DIALOGUE, FABULOUS acting, HILARIOUSness, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. Watch some (if you have Netflix, you can watch Season 1 and 2 entirely on the instant play online). Not to mention all the little nuances and innuendos and double meanings. The town they lived in was called Agrestic. If you look it up, that word means "uncouth" - HA!
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The weekend was mostly indoors watching Weeds (due to the crappy weather we had been having), but on Saturday I managed to escape up to Bahama Breeze for lunch with my mother-and-sister-in-law. Fish Tacos - yum!
Found some cheeeeapy sunglasses to replace my stolen/missing/walked-off-on-their-own pairs from previous blog post. Charlotte Russe has them 2 for $10. You can't beat that! I got a plastic black pair, and a plastic Mauvey/Yellow pair. So far so good! They also have some awesome funky rings 2 for $8. I got some nice flowery ones. Spiffy!


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We ran out of Centenario Rosangel Tequila yesterday. I tried to find another bottle, but even the best package store in town didn't have it. DARN! I will have to keep looking. If you see one, buy it for me? I will gladly reimburse you!
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We signed up for a YMCA membership (well I renewed mine, but added Matt on there). We've gone about 5 times in 2 weeks, which is pretty darn good. I'd like to get to the point where I go EVERY morning (except not weekends assuming I'm doing something else active on weekends). My right leg was super sore last night though, so I took it easy today.
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New obsession (other than working out in the mornings) is True Blood. Matt is just totally in love with the oboe music that comes on anytime there's a scene with Bill the vampire. I just like the storyline, the lighting, etc. Very interesting! Perfect timing before Halloween too!
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In Limbo: waiting for Weeds Season 6, waiting for more Rosangel, waiting, waiting, waiting. I hate waiting. :-D
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The Office - Premiere's TONITE!

Friday night, happy hour at Tijuana Joe's to celebrate Jeff's new job! Jeff's one of Matt's co-workers. They decided to do shots named after girls, so we did the "Dirty Girl Scout" and "Red-Headed Slut" shots. This while I'm trying to sip a cultured and fancy bit of tequila. Thank goodness we went home right afterwards!
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Saturday I took Sport to the Red Bandanna for a "Dog Wash for Charity" event. He basically "took one for the team" and had a bath there. He hates baths. And then the money we paid for the bath went towards the AHIMSA House charity. YAY Sport! you did a good deed today!
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Saturday night was girls' night out at TAP. Yummy! We were hanging out with Ruth's sister who just returned from Swaziland and the Peace Corps. She mentioned another Peace Corps buddy was coming, and guess what? It was a girl I hadn't seen in years! Maggie! So we all caught up and had a nice bite to eat. What a small world. I had no idea these girls all knew one another.
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Sunday we went to a friend's house to watch Formula 1 Monza (Italy), and dine on Italian food. Delish!
Sunday afternoon-evening, (after we got Alex hooked on it too), we continued watching Weeds. We got all the way through the last episode of Season 2, and then AHHH! IT was a CLIFFHANGER! We all voted to watch just the first episode of Season 3, so we could actually sleep (even though it was LATE for a Sunday night). But lo and behold, Netflix doesn't have Season 3 on instant play. ARG! So we had to put it at the top of our queue and wait a few days to get it in the mail. NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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Tuesday we had a surprise/impromptu dinner with an old friend (our dear Kymry) who is finally back from Boreway (aka Norway). We dined on scallops in basil pesto sauce and beef marinara sauce for the carnivores in the house, spinach salad, and lots of vino (of course).
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Wednesday, we had another impromptu opportunity to see her again before she left town, so I went over and we did girl's night at her friend's house. YAY for KY! I do hope she settles down into her new job soon, so we can plan visits and all that jazz.
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The OFFICE Premiere's tonight! I'm super excited about this.
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Weeds Season 3 has arrived, so it's ON like Donkey-Kong!

Remembering 09/11/2001 - Did you wear your Red,White,and Blue today?

Photo Credit

...and in the face of humor...

Mad Men character, Roger Sterling Quotes.

Flavio "Piquet" a tattletale driver?

HOT DAMN!
Nelson Piquet's Statement.

BUT WAIT:

"It's believed that Symonds and Briatore aren't disputing the fact that they had a discussion about a deliberate accident to assist Alonso, but are adamant that it was Piquet Junior's own idea and they didn't ask him to do it.

Piquet's claim is understood to be that Symonds and Briatore asked him to crash to bring out the Safety Car. So there seems to be little dispute at all that it was a pre-arranged accident, the only area of contention is - did he jump or was he pushed"

EVASIVE?
Pat Symonds (Renault technical director) looks like he doesn't want to answer specific questions. Not looking good.....

The Case of the Missing Sunglasses

Ok Nancy Drewz and Hardy Boyz - if you see my sunglasses, gimma a hollah! More on that later.
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WEEKEND UPDATES:
Thursday - we were invited to go see Inglourious Basterds with some friends. I'm a huge Quentin fan, and I enjoyed the movie, although I was confused about the ending. Up until then, I had no idea this was an "alternate history" and not "based on a true story" - hmmmm. If that had been real history, WOW! Matt said he was bored with it. I guess everyone had a different take on it. Oh well.
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Friday afternoon - Impromptu happy hour with coworkers at Con Sal. The bartender there was out of my dear Rosangel, but he is designing a new "Tequila Flights" menu for tastings, and he gave me small samples of Corazon Anejo, Chinaco Blanco, and then of course I had some Asombroso. The Chinaco Blanco was very unique. He described it (and I agreed) as having essence of Sandalwood, and then afterwards your tongue tingles. Sort of like a minty freshness but not a minty flavor. Love it!
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Friday night, we had the lovely pleasure of dining at Mina & Chris's house. We dined on shrimp cocktail, salad, butternut squash, marinated spicy beef yakitori, grilled asparagus, grilled peppers, and later tiramisu. Then of course we paired each part of dinner with different imbiberies, such as Sauvignon Blanc from Marlbourough, Red Wine, Rakia, and a small tasting of Centenario Rosangel. Pure Delishioushness!! There goes my diet again. darn it. but I'm not "really" complaining. ;-D
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Saturday, I slept in (sore back), while Matt biked on his new bicycle for 13 miles. Boy did I feel lazy, but it was worth it to get that rest. Then, Matt & I headed to Get Coffee for some light breakfast, then met up with our dear friends The Blairs and another friend Jeff for some Bone Garden fare. What-do-you-know? Bone Garden had Chinaco Blanco, so I introduced Matt to the minty freshness. Bone Garden is known for it's EXCELLENT and REAL Mexican food (corn masa, tamales, etc). Thankfully, the menu is mostly tapas style, so you can order little bits of everything and share. Very educational! The Blairs' daughter Ella was there (she's 10-12 months old (something like that)) and just CHERUBIC! We had a blast hanging out with her. She's such a good-natured, all-around pleasant baby! Then we hit Sam Flax (Matt has taken up sketching and needed supplies), and then we had a lovely nap at home.
Saturday evening, we took a bouquet of roses over to Baba Stefka's birthday party. Baba Stefka is our dear friend Stefka's grandmother, who lives with Stefka's parents here, and she turned 88. Wow! Much Bulgarian feasting and fun was had by all.
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Sunday, Matt was trying some new lighting techniques, and so I dressed up for a short photo shoot. He's going for cinamatic-style photos now. Photos that sort of tell a story or hint that more is going on outside the frame. He was inspired by a scene in Inglourious Basterds when Shosanna is in a red dress, looking out of the cinema and down onto the Nazi's below with a myriad of emotions in her expression. I did the shoot but channelling more of a "Ashley Judd in DeLovely" sort of mood.
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Sunday afternoon, we had an online meeting for the Staff of The Voyeur Magazine to discuss upcoming issues, articles, ideas, etc. Very fun!
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Sunday evening
We went to McPherson Beach for some End of Summer Party. Mina & Chris & baby were there, and Erika & Ben came along also. I got to play with the baby quite a bit to give the parents a break. :-D. If you have never heard of "MacBeach" as it is called, you have to see it. A wonderful, and quite eligible bachelor friend of ours has made a beach PARADISE in his back yard. Click on the link to see photos and the documented history of his imaginative and creative Oasis.
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Monday, Erika and Ben had slept over with Radley (Sport's girlfriend), and I made green chile breakfast burritos smothered in ranchero sauce and sour cream. New Mexico Pinon Coffee was the order of the morning also. Yum! Later, our friend/model Ruth and her sister stopped by for a visit. Ruth's sister is fresh out of the Peace Corps from Swaziland. Interesting to pick her brain about Swaziland and all of the drama over there.
Erika came back for a brief visit, and then we were off to Cafe Intermezzo to close out the evening.
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THE CASE OF THE MISSING SUNGLASSES:
I must be losing my mind, but I had 2 pairs of sunglasses in the glove box of my car. Both were in individual black drawstring bags. One pair of sunglasses was black/grey animal print style, and the other pair was a maroon/blush color. I know I wore the maroon pair on Saturday when I had lunch at Bone Garden, and I remember putting the sunglasses back into the glove box and into it's special bag - that evening on the way to Baba Stefka's party. Both pairs were in the glove box at that time. However, Tuesday morning, when I looked into the glove box, both pairs of sunglasses and black bags are missing. I totally do not remember bringing them into the house, or taking them to Dave's. I wore a different pair to Dave's. SO WEIRD that they are just GONE. Matt says perhaps I forgot to lock my car when we went to Cafe Intermezzo, and perhaps someone got into the car but just took the sunglasses. It's true that nothing else valuable was in my vehicle. I travel light I guess. C'est la vie. At least they were only 2 pairs of $10 glasses each, so I'm only down $20 I suppose. Darn it. I really really liked the maroon ones. Damn!

SPA, Art, and BBs Burgers

Not to be outdone by the other busy weekends this month... Last weekend was no exception.
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Friday we celebrated 2 co-worker's birthdays with lunch at BB's Burgers. I had the Bison Burger with PepperJack Cheese, and a few onion rings/sweet potato fries.
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Later that evening Matt and I drove down to Castleberry Hill for the Art Stroll. We went early so we could visit one of our favorite galleries. Of the entire stroll, our favorite pieces could be seen at the Besharat Gallery Exhibition for Merab Gagiladze. Then we went over to No Mas for dinner with friends. As seems to be the recent case with every Tequila Bar I hit, they were out of the Centenario Roseangel, so we each had a sipping shotglass of the Centenario Anejo. Later I switched over to the Asombroso La Rosa Reposado (my 2nd fave tequila) and Matt decided he wanted the Cabo Wabo Anejo. We had a lovely dinner with friends, and then we went over to Elliott Street Pub to see what was going on. You may or may not know, the APG or Atlanta Photographer's Guild meets every other week at the Elliott St. Pub, and it is (in and of itself as well as nearby several) prime photography location(s). Although, we weren't there on an APG meet night, we were able to show our friends, the lovely view of the city from an old abandoned bridge. Trains still go under the bridge, and it appears to be in stable condition (for walking), not so sure if I'd ever drive on it. The moon was shining down on us all, and (although it may be a local secret), they do let you carry your drinks with you while you are near the pub (on the bridge, etc). I was at least somewhat smart enough to have switched to water by this hour of the evening, but it was still a lovely night to be outside. It is just now starting to cool off a little bit in ATL.
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Saturday was the Taste of Chamblee and the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival. Matthew surprised me this week by buying himself a bicycle, and has actually been riding it nearly every morning. Saturday morning, he even got up EARLY to meet a friend and go riding on a local biking trail. I was shocked albeit pleased to see him working out again. Not to be outdone, I walked the dog down to the lake and back. YAY for health! After he returned home, I made him some breakfast with Kona Coffee (thank you Erika and Ben!), and then we ran some errands, etc.
Saturday evening, we couldn't decide what to do, and very late in the dinner hour, I finally decided to whisk Matt off in the car to a new restaurant as a surprise. We went to Aomi in the Forum. Aomi is supposedly Japanese for Blue Ocean and YES you guessed it, they serve SUSHI! We had a lovely dinner, and then back home for movie night. We rented I Love You Man, and laughed our way to bedtime. In hindsight, yes we missed the festivals, but we also had a lovely day together.
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Sunday was the big day for Formula 1 SPA-Francorchamps (or as I like to say "Frank-uh-shauuuun"). Everyone was very surprised that the Force India guy (whose name I will not even attempt to spell) got Pole in Qualifying on Saturday, so it was a "drama" filled race. As I was hosting a Belgian themed party in honor of the race, we did Belgian "burgers" (yeah like I'm going to serve Belgian mussels when 14 people are coming over. hee hee), Belgian Fries (french cut, thus they claim they created the "French Fry"), Godiva Belgian Chocolates (thank you Perimeter Mall!), and a smattering of Belgian "heavyweight" beers to sample. We decided since the beers themselves were each unique and expensive, we'd set them out with tasting cups, and let people try a bit of each. And then of course we had some "Hoegaarden" on hand. Silly us, we forgot Stella is also a Belgian beer. DOH! Anyhoo it was fun. In all the comraderie, I jokingly suggested we get that sparkling jello stuff to make "Fizzy Jello" in the shape of a "pole" for the Force India guy, but thankfully that was just an idea. I seriously don't own a jello mold, not to mention a POLE shaped one. ha ha ha ha. Anyway I digress. Lots of jokes when you have funny-named drivers and Belgian food. I think the naughty joke of the day was "honey can you put your Francorchamps in my Belgian Mussell?" yeah yeah yeah.
I also made a side salad of mixed greens, strawberries, and balsalmic vinegar dressing. For the ladies who did not drink beer, I made the "St. Hillaire-ious" (aka: Prosecco with a few drops of St. Germain liqueur, garnished with a strawberry.)
As so many of our parties often do, an afternoon lunch party turned into an evening party, and by the time all the Prosecco was gone, we ended up ordering pizza, playing Apples-to-Apples, and then watching Duplicity just before bedtime. Cute movie, but it was sort of missing something. hmm. Francorchamps? hahahahaha!
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Monday it was back to the grindstone.
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Tuesday, my dear friend Lee told me where she FINALLY found a place that sells Centenario Roseangel. So I went out on my lunch break and got me some!
Also, Tuesday I woke up with that very tired, achy, blah feeling, and was worried I was coming down with something. Nothing a little Airborn fizziness, echinacea, and liquids cannot fix. I promptly nipped that little bug in the bud. By evening-time I was feeling right as rain.
Alex made us dinner (Gorkem says this is now the 2nd time he has ever cooked for her). He is actually a very good cook, he just says he doesn't enjoy cooking, thus he does it rarely. He made us ground turkey spaghetti. It was spicier than most Spaghetti's I've had, but SUPER yummy. And then we had some Ferrer Roche (those Italian chocolate thingies) for dessert.
And to end the perfect evening - we watched another movie (of course). Have to use up my NetFlix right? We watched Taken with Liam Neeson. I am usually tense when I watch these kind of movies, but with Alex and Matt joking about the plot and how "lucky" Liam Neeson's character always seems to be, it helped me enjoy the movie without getting too involved in it.
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I bet it was the spicy spaghetti, the small nip of tequila, and the wonderful Airborne/Echinacea that fixed my bug. I was feeling GREAT on Wednesday!