Ok, so here’s last year’s real tree:
Not horrible but not great and certainly no Blue Room tree. Did you see the First Lady’s tree?!?! It’s so beautiful. Like *tear* beautiful. See it here.
Then here’s this year’s tree:
Hmmmm. I think I still liked the real tree better. I should try to take a picture in similar lighting for a better comparison, right?
When I was growing up, decorating the tree was like a sacred ritual. Although we never had a set day to set up the tree, when it eventually showed up in the yard, we knew it was close to time. Real trees were the route we always took, on several occasions even going out to the tree farm to pick our own.
We did a little decorating outside the house but left the major light displays to the folks across the street. They were a great landmark when giving directions to our place. Inside, the windows that faced the front got some spray snow and the banisters got some garland, but the crown jewel was the tree. I watched in awe as my mom would transform a plain old tree into a piece of art.
There were two key components to the tree: bubble lights and the chirping bird. Bubble lights are straight 70s and they rock so hard it should be illegal. Can you imagine that bubbly goodness on your tree?!?!
I wish that I could upload sound so you could hear what the product description calls “the joyous sound of a bird chirping”. It’s not joyous really. It’s pretty annoying after a while but that never stopped us from hiding it in the center of the tree like it was a little bird’s nest. People were always amazed by it too. We all just found that to be hysterical.
My mom would decorate and I would hand her the ornaments and as I got older, I was allowed to place some ornaments or add the final touch of icicles. I believe that I was about 14 or 15 when the honor of fully decorating the tree was bestowed upon me. No pressure!! Welcome in OCD.
With this great task upon me, I was so careful to place each ornament just perfectly to try to live up to the standard of trees before mine. I’m proud to say that my trees were all beautiful. My tree OCD, however, never left.
Fast forward 20(!) years to current day Christmas where I’m solely in charge of the tree. For the last three years, we’ve been buying a fresh cut tree because I love the scent of pine when I walk in the front door. I’m not so sheltered, though, as not to realize the importance of our natural resources. This year we bought our first fake tree.
Obviously, I didn’t immediately fall in love with this idea nor the looks of the tree when Kiddo and I first started putting it up. It came pre-lit with various colored lights. They’re bright. Really bright. While the family photo albums have already been handed down, the Christmas decorations have not yet. My tree is without bubble lights and chirping birds. Sadness. It is full of pretty red and silver ornaments with some splashes of other color here and there.
What I’ve learned this year is that fake trees are heaven for those with tree OCD. It’s taken me three days now to finish decorating the tree. Partially because there’s just so much life to take care of outside of the tree, but mostly because of the OCD. Every ornament must be hanging down perfectly straight. Yes, I’m off my rocker. But the fake tree is AWESOME for this!! If an ornament isn’t hanging properly, I can bend its branch or the ones around it to make room! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Also, I need to have the amounts of red and silver be in just the right balance. Icicles can’t be clumpy and have to be just the right amount and spray snow can’t be overdone. I need help.
I am hoping that I will be able to finish the tree tonight and put away my tendencies for one more year. If I do, I’ll post a photo. I know that I’ll never be fully satisfied with the tree’s appearance, but that’ll do pig, that’ll do.
Preface: G$ is Garen Gueyikian, formerly Granian, currently the frontman for Kill The Alarm.
I love live music. At any time you can give me a guy or gal with a guitar and a mic and let him or her have at it and I’ll listen for hours, providing said performer is good of course. Back in 2001, before I left for parts unknown, AKA Club Med, I did my best to fill up my MP3 player (not iPod, I wasn’t that cool yet) with as much music as humanly possible. One of the songs I happened to download was “Whole Again“, but, it was mislabeled as John Mayer so I still didn’t have the full knowledge.
Fast forward about two years. Still in parts unknown, just different parts with different people. My roommate, Ant, at that time was someone I knew from almost day one of my Club Med days. (Shout out to I Fly!) One afternoon, we were chilling in the room, listening to some music when “Whole Again” came on. Ant went over to make sure he was hearing what he was hearing and then asked me how I knew of Granian. Completely confused (although G$ really has a COMPLETELY separate sound than JM) as I was under the impression that I was listening to JM, I requested an explanation.
Proving once more that the world is indeed quite small, Ant went and pulled out Hang Around and played “Whole Again” again. Having already been in love with one song, I devoured everything else Ant had by G$. In an awesome twist of fate, it just so happened that G$ was coming to visit us at Club Med to do a little performing and a lot of hanging out and having fun.
If you’ve ever met G$, you already know that he’s one of the most down-to-earth people around. None of that I’m-a-rock-star attitude crap. He sat around with us, played, sang, and completely caught me off guard when I was singing along (quietly) and he abruptly stopped playing, trying to catch me singing. Ha! No I will not sing in front of the professional!
G$ came to visit a few more times (that I got to be a part of) and never failed to provide us with great entertainment. It is because of him that I will now play the hell out of “Shape of My Heart” by Sting and “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel and I’m not afraid to say that I like G$’s versions better.
If you haven’t yet, click on one of the links above to get the G$ Experience. You won’t be sorry.
Look! I don’t write anything for 2 weeks then I give you 2 posts in one day. Que exciting, non? (I know you like my FreSpanglish)
This past Saturday afternoon, Lovey and I took a journey over to Merrick Park, which is basically the mall where I can’t afford to shop. No matter, though, for Merrick Park houses what could very well be my new favorite restaurant, The Yard House.
Lovey and I had tried once before to come to this place, but it was on a Saturday night and it was jam packed. Neither of us is big on crowds and we really just wanted a drink and maybe a snack, so we took our business elsewhere. I am not, of course, faulting them for being busy. We knew that we needed to give it another shot and let me tell you, they really came through.
Being a sports/beer bar, the two things you might notice first upon arrival are, well, the tons of televisions and the huge bar. The hostess even asked if there was a specific game on that we wanted to watch so she could put us next to that television. Quality.
Service was above average. Our waitress was knowledgeable (which is no small task considering their beer menu alone!) and friendly. We only had to look for her once and that was more because we were dilly-dallying and not her.
Let’s talk food!
I’m not a foodie. Basically, if it tastes good, I like it. You know how things taste FANTASTIC when you’re hungry? Well, I was hungry but I’m fairly certain that the food was also just really good.
We started with their Spinach Cheese Dip. By their definition it is baked with feta, jack cheese, parmesan and cream cheese served with crispy flat bread. It’s hard to mess up a dip. The Yard House needn’t worry. They do this well. Truthfully, the dip isn’t that spectacular, but the flat bread really makes the dish. When they say crispy, they really mean it. It very well may have been fried but it had no greasy texture at all. Sorry, no picture of this one.
Because TYH has a gazillion beers on tap, they have a six-pack sampler that allows you to (ever so slowly) work your way through their selection. They’re even nice enough to change it every Tuesday. Those are the six that we had over on the left and they included: Erdinger Hefetrub Weisse, Shock Top, Brooklyn Lager, Murphy’s Irish Stout, Highland Gaelic Ale, and Dogfish 90 Minute IPA.
As far as beer goes, I’m no connoisseur, hell, I can barely spell that. I do, however, know what I like and do not like. Two beers fell into the “Oh hell no I’d never drink that again” category , two were “Hmmm, I’d try it again I suppose” and two were “Damn, that’s pretty good”.
The good:
Erdinger and Murphy’s Irish Stout
Honestly, I was surprised at the Stout. I went in fully expecting to not like it. I was wrong. It doesn’t have that fizz of beer but it still has a nice kick. Seems perfect for dropping a shot of Bailey’s/Jameson into. The Erdinger, well, if you have a chance to, I suggest you try it. It’s brewed according to the Bavarian Purity Law. It’s smooth and tasty and a 5.3 kick compared to the Stout’s 4.0. (Stout is the upper right corner mostly hidden and Erdinger is center hidden.)
The not-quite-bad:
Shock Top and Brooklyn Lager
There are some things that I just don’t care for and citrus flavored beer happens to be one of those things. I don’t want a lime in my Corona (when there’s absolutely nothing else available), nor do I care for Micheladas. That said, a beer with orange flavoring isn’t likely to win my favor. Granted, the Shock Top didn’t totally disgust me and I’d think briefly about trying it again if I were in that fram of mind. Oh, and it’s cloudy. I don’t like that. Brooklyn Lager I’ve actually had before, but I didn’t remember until I tasted it. Some things I recognize by their bottle. It’s a little strong and bitter for me, but I’d still drink it again to try to give myself some culture. They weigh in at 5.2 each. (Shock is in the back row, left, and Brooklyn is front and center.)
The ugly (for me):
Highland Gaelic Ale and Dogfish 90 Minute IPA
Oh my. These two are not two that I will be revisiting. I’m sure there are people out there that like, maybe even love these beers….it’s just not me. These two are bitter, bitter, bitter. I guess that’s “hoppy”. Dogfish has been called the best IPA in America by Esquire magazine, but maybe my palate just isn’t ready. To keep with the flow of things, though, they come in at 5.8 and 9.0(!). We were buzzed before the food came. (Highland is front left and Dogfish is front right.)
On with more food!
Lovey had the Mac and Cheese which I did not get a picture of because he was busy tearing it up. I had a bite. It was pretty good for mac and cheese. It also had chicken, mushrooms and bacon and it’s just so hard to go wrong with bacon.
I had the Chicken Enchilada stack shown at the left. I guess it looks kinda gross, but it tasted fantastic! When I ordered it, the waitress asked if I was okay with spicy food so I was expecting a little mouth burn. That was probably my only disappointment in the entire trip. It wasn’t spicy at all. Or maybe it is to some people, just not those who worked in a Tex-Mex restaurant for four years or lived in Mexico for a couple. It’s got chicken and pasilla peppers (which I had never had before but wow are they good) along with a garlic cream sauce and the mandatory tortillas. Also, it doesn’t look huge, but I barely got through half of it and the other half was even better the next day!
Part of the reason I only ate half of my entree is because I LOVE DESSERT! It is, by far, my favorite part of any meal and I will skimp on appetizers and my entree to leave room for it. Priorities? Whatever.
The dessert menu isn’t huge, but the portioning is perfect. It’s enough to quiet your sweet tooth, but not so much that you feel like a total hog for eating the whole thing. That little baby over there is a creme brulee. Only my favorite dessert EVER. On the side and the top there are carmelized bananas. Under the bananas was the delicious goodness that I was waiting for plus a surprise I wasn’t expecting. You see, well, no you don’t, but anywho, on the bottom was a layer of chocolate which was a nice touch.
Overall, I’ve nothing to complain about from TYH. It was a mildly expensive lunch but hey, we’re stimulating the economy. If there’s one in your area and you haven’t been, get on your horse and ride!!
Well folks, after all that counting down, it’s finally over and done with. In the beginning, I had a lot of lofty goals but as we drew closer, I came to a more realistic goal of just finishing. I’m happy I brought it down to that because that’s a goal that I accomplished.
The organizers kept saying that there was record attendance for the Turkey Trot this year. I believe it. There were tons and tons of people there. 4000 was the number that they were quoting. Out of those approximate 4000 people, I fell into about the 770 range. And you know what, for my first time out, that’s not too bad. I was 32 out of 99 in my age/sex group. Overall, a pretty decent showing.
It rained, hard, for pretty much the entire day before the race. Know what that means? Puddles. Everywhere. One that was basically a lake. That lake puddle? We saw it when we walked in and purposely avoided it. Didn’t matter as it was part of the course and everyone was forced to splash through it. Ouch blisters from running in wet shoes. 🙁
I found out (the hard way) that the course I had been running to train is actually a half mile shorter than the full 5K distance. Recalibration of the Nike+ has already occurred so I know what I’m actually up to from here on out. In an odd turn, I jogged the 5K this morning at a pace only slightly slower than I ran it Thursday. Stupid me, getting off my pace in the race.
Wait, I guess that I don’t have a pace, per se. When I run in the mornings, I just go. I know then what feels comfortable and I do it. This was my first time running with other people. You see, I have a little bit of an issue with being competitive. That’s partially why I love group fitness classes. I will push myself until I bust a blood vessel just to not be the one that quits. Well, I let my competitive nature get the best of me and rather than run at what was comfortable, I stepped it up a notch to keep up with those around me. Bad idea. At around 2 miles, I had to come to a complete walking pace because I was just beat. I’d say I maybe walked for a quarter mile before I got back to running. I now know that I need to train with a group so that I can be more used to what I need to do on race day.
Now that I have that all behind me, I’m ready to train harder, better, faster, longer. There’s another 5K in 2 weeks but I don’t think I’m going to play in that one. If I don’t, though, there isn’t another official race until January 17. That’s a tough call and very little training after returning from vacation (only 25 days left!!) and some seriously heavy tailgating on 1/3/10 but we’ll see.
Thanks, as always, for stopping my and seeing what I have to say. I hope your holiday weekend (if it was a holiday weekend for you) was fantastic and that your upcoming week is even better. 😀
Hep!