It is Tuesday...

It is Tuesday and let us all just assume I had no idea today is Tuesday until I checked my email today... despite my boss always has tomorrow off and I know that so you would thing I remember the day before being Tuesday.. so would I... And guess what- We are both WRONG!! I have a lot going on and a lot on my mind...

Nicky if you deserved to be punished I believe I do as well :) Haha a little late never hurt anyone.

Okie dokie- The Olympics, first let me say that with my hours available to watch the Olympics, i have become increasing interested in Archery. I managed to watch both male and female team archery... and the men are far better and more entertaining (and stressful) to watch. Secondly I get very amused watching my Facebook wall filled with people that are unhappy with the coverage that NBC is doing... I haven't seen enough to know except I wanted to watch the sync. diving and they didn't ever show it on TV. I love watching the Olympics because I know those are things I can never (with out an act of God and not my current life) do. Speaking of things I can never do. Gymnastics. I love watching all of it (Germany and China's male teams are having a hell of a time). And I did not get to see it but Jennifer Pinches (I do hope i spelt her name right) did the Nerdfighter gang sign on live television (I saw it on John Green's Twitter). Here is the picture

http://effyeahnerdfighters.com/post/28416305221/colfr-jennifer-pinches-the-nerdfighter-gang

I think it is so incredible! However I am glad America is doing well (in my point of view) thus far.

Second I assume we are doing both Olympics and favorite drink. I love Pepsi... love love love it. I am not addicted to caffeine but I need my Pepsi every day. However speaking in a matter of Adult drinks (over 21 in America) I must say my favorite drink is Jack and Coke. Whiskey is delicious and the Coke makes it sweet so i can drink it without feeling the need to kill myself (thus why I don't like most beer). Saying that I had my first Irish Car Bomb a couple of nights ago and it was delicious... and I found out I could chug beer which I didn't thing I could. In addition twp those drinks I love milkshakes!!!! Chocolate is my favorite but I like unique flavors as well!

I need a milkshake... or Jack and Coke... huh...

Hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful day/night/ or other wise.

DFTBA

Erin

Bitter Lemon Olympics

This post is late due to the suckiness of work. Punish me as you see fit!

So I'm going to talk about two things. The Olympics, because it's very hard to ignore, and bitter lemon, because I've successfully managed to ignore most things Olympian, and the second theme is 'favourite non mainstream drink'.

With the exception of beach volleyball this afternoon. This raised the question: what's up with the huge break between points? Also, what happened to decor? Also, why do commentators of events like the opening ceremony instantly assume that no-one knows anything?

Anyways, as GB typically messes up their home Olympics, I realise that one thing has been missing in my life for too long- bitter lemon. It's one of those simple drinks that's not mainstream that is just no-one really drinks but everyone should.

And I always have such strong memories around it. Like winning a bottle as a kid and enjoying that taste all freaking day. Then hunting for it for years, until I finally come across another bottle and I drink that, whilst watching Mighty Ducks.

And now I know what I need to buy tomorrow.

Also, I need to try me some Happiness...

Happiness

Okay, so maybe, admittedly, I forgot it was Friday today (it happens, don't judge me), and maybe, I don't have a planned recipe becuase I DIDN'T forget, I just didn't remember. So, here's a makeshift recipe and hopefully a semi-flushed out blog post.

HAPPINESS (can be made in cookie or cake form)

Ingredients:
marshmellows
chocolate
Graham crackers
a thin stick

Instructions:
1. Stab a hole in the marshmellow with the stick.
2. Place a piece of the chocolately goodness inside the marshmellow.
3. Hold the marshmellow over a fire (can be done over a gas oven, campfire, or funeral pyre)
4. Wait until the marshmellow is blacker that Sauroman's soul
5.......still waiting.........almost there..........
6. Take the piece of coal out of the fire and carefuly remove from the stick.
7. Put what was once a marshmellow inbetween two small piece of graham cracker.
8. commence to eat, or feed to dog, or use for decoration (this would require edible glue in case one gets hungry later)

Yum? Yes indeed :)

Now, I get to go to work :P So here's a picture of kittens to cheer everybody up.


(and suddenly I'm late from looking at kitten pictures to long)

TGIF,
Avent-Garde

Easy Things to Cook :)

Happy Wednesday, everyone! :) I can't wait to try out the awesome recipes Erin and Nicky, they sound really great!

That being said, I'm not the best cook but I really enjoy cooking. My favorite thing to make is probably spaghetti, because it doesn't take much effort to make it taste okay, and I like to make it when I'm babysitting or cooking because it's pretty easy. 

I'm pretty sure you all know how to make it, but I'll put the directions (or at least, what I do) anyway: 

 

First, get out a pot and boil water in it. I usually add salt too, but I honestly have no clue why -- it's something I've seen my parents do when they're cooking.... (Note: I just looked it up and apparently salt increases the boiling point of the water which helps the pasta cook better, and it adds flavor. Neat!)

Once your water is boiling, add the spaghetti noodles. If you want to mix it up, try using a different kind of pasta like the kind that's shaped like little bow ties. :) 

While you're boiling the pasta, begin to heat up your spaghetti sauce. I usually just buy some from the store and add mushrooms to it because I like mushrooms. Feel free to try different types of sauces or add other kinds of vegetables that you like! Continue to heat the sauce but don't set it at too hot of a temperature or else it will start bubbling and going everywhere (I know this from experience). You can also add meat, but I usually don't.

Cook the pasta until it's tender, but make sure you don't cook it for too long because then it'll get too mushy and that doesn't taste that great. You can do this by pulling them out with a fork and tasting them. Also, there's another way that you can test to see if the pasta is ready by throwing the noodle at the window. If it sticks, it's ready. :P 

Once the pasta is ready, use a strainer to drain the water out, then put the pasta back into the pot and add the now-heated up sauce. Stir it, and then it's ready! Just put some in a bowl to eat. :) I like to add shredded Parmesan cheese on top of mine usually.  

Another fun thing to make that's pretty easy is lemon cake. Usually I just buy the lemon cake mix from the store and follow the directions on the box (so original!). Something you can do to make the cake really moist and awesome-tasting is to get some lemon pudding mix and add it to the cake. :) If you have one of those circular cake pans with the hole in the middle, use that to bake the cake in. 

One of these things!

While you're baking the cake in the oven, squeeze several lemons and add powdered sugar to the juice until you have a slightly thicker icing. It should taste sweeter, but not too much. It's up to you to decide what the ratio of sugar to lemon juice is, because that's what I do. :P Once the cake is cool, just pour the icing over the cake, and you have a lemon cake! It should taste really moist and yummy! 

Anyway, I hope those directions make sense!






 

Choice overload

Hey y'all!

First off Nicky I hope you are feeling better and your recipe sounds delicious!

Next I did not get the time to write this blog like I wanted to (there were going to be pictures) because of a thing called Restaurant Week in this blessed city (not a big fan) and because it has been going on for five days and five more days to go (my out look is bleak) I have already had sort of a fail puppy day.

However!!!! I am still giving you a list because as soon as my fellow bloggers agreed on this topic I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I MUST PICK?!?!?! I really have a favorite recipe in every department, and in every sub department of pastry and desserts (my major in college and my job). However I believe I have picked three of my favorite Simple (ish) recipes that I love.

1. Chicken and Dumplings (because I REALLY want them right now but I have no time to make them... it is on my to do list for Thursday (may day off)).

• boil chicken with vegetables until the chicken is done (or you can use cooked chicken and just use chicken stock with water). Generally when the chicken is cooked you can remove the vegetables.
• roll out biscuits (you can use biscuits out of a can or make biscuit dough yourself) and cut into strips
• when the chicken and stock are boiling add biscuits strips
• cook until biscuits are cook fully but not mushy
• season with salt and pepper
• ENJOY

2. Blueberry Cinnamon Graham Muffins- they are super delicious and easy to make and SO much better then the muffins out of a betty crocker bag
 You need 18 low fat cinnamon graham crackers finely crushed
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 egg
 cup of milk
2/3 cup blueberries   Mix the dry together and beat the eggs with the milk. Add dry mixture to the liquid and mix until combined and stir in blueberries.Spoon into 12 paper lined muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes at 350 F

3. Lemon curd- I tend to geek out when I make this just because I like the science behind baking and I like to watch the eggs thicken the mixture and it is JUST SO COOL ( I am sorry  I really want this to be better but I have a headache and I am tired and ... my day has pretty much sucked and ... ok yeah I am sorry lets us continue)
egg yolks 4 oz
sugar 6 oz
lemon juice 4 oz
lemon zest .5 oz
butter, softened 4 oz
(just got sick so I am going t o wrap this up and make a mention in my next post)
Mix the first for in a bowl and cook over a pot of boiling water until it has thickened or reached 170F

Sorry this is ending shortly and a rather sucky post but I figured no post was worse and I would like to be able to pull the weight of one post a week...

DFTBA

Sarah Phillipa and Holly look forward to all of your favorite recipes!

Pork and rice, NEVER BEANS

Having just finished reading Speaker for the Dead, I think it's safe to say last week gave me plenty of helpful suggestions on what to read next. I've just got to figure out where to start...

Although it's probably going to be 50 Shades of Grey, for a future post/video.

Anyway, this week we're talking about our favourite recipes, and mine is pork and rice. Why? Because it's quick and awesome.

Ingredients-Pork, rice, soy sauce, black pepper, water. Amounts vary depending on how hungry you are.

Instructions:
1. Put the rice into the pre-boiled water (kettles are your friend) ,and rub pepper into the pork.
2. Dice up the pork then fry, pouring some soy sauce over the pork after a couple of minutes.
3. After 10 minutes (depending on the rice-you can use quick cook rice if you want, but that can get a little too rushed), check on the rice, give it a quick stir and take off the heat. Turn the heat down on the pork to the lowest temp.
4.Add some soy sauce to the plate/bowl then pour on the rice, mixing it in with the sauce. Take the pork off the heat, add to the rice, and boom! Instant awesome.

Not exactly Gordon Ramsey quality, but seriously, very tasty :D

Forgive the lacklustre  blog, my heads killing. Can't wait to hear you guys recipes :)

Second Star to the Right

I have a wide interest in books, ranging from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman to Delirium by Lauren Oliver, to anything Tolkien (Glorfindel FTW!), and ending with The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. It's hard to pick a favorite book when your reading ranges so much.

I have always had a love for the Simple Love story's most of all, especially ones focusing around the story of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I remember reading Wendy by Karen Wallace in middle school and loving it! Just this month a new book called Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson has arrived on shelves and it tells the story of Peter Pan as a sidenote to Tiger Lily's story.

 

I just finished this book a few days ago and it might feel premature to call it my favorite just yet, but it is very high up on the list. I loved the characters, especially Tik Tok who stole my heart from the beginning, and Tink (who is telling the story).
It shines a more realistic view onto Captian Hook and why he hates Peter Pan and how Wendy really came to the island (not by flying unfortunately). It also shows an interesting view of missionaries through the Sky Eaters (Tiger Lily's people) view.

On A side Note:
I have always loved story's like Peter Pan or Narnia, the kind you grow up with and hold a special place in your heart. If your 21 though, and reading those stories for the first time, of course they are not going to have the same effect. They are meant for imaginative children, not boring adults who pay bills all day! That's why book have age ranges! And before you do a review you really need to pin down the audience for the book, maybe you didn't like the princess love story okay, but your 30 and the book is meant for thirteen year olds! See why you didn't like it?!

      
“You know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That’s where I’ll always love you. That’s where I’ll be waiting.” - Peter Pan

____________________________________________________________________


Simple Love is only one of my top two Genre's, the second is Dystopian with a twist. Delirium falls into this catagory, and though it is a great book, my favoirte for this genre would be Angelfall by Susan Ee.



This is a great out-of-the-box book with Neil Gaiman creativity. It's Post Apocalyptic where the angels came back for the second coming of the Lord, but the people get spooked and gun Gabriel down. So in retaliation the angels go on this huge killing spree, basically, and that's how you get your apocalypse.
It follows Penryn, the main character, after her sister is taken by the angels, so she kidnaps one to 'torture' information out of. They ebd up teaming up begrudgingly and go to find her sister. Oh, and her psycho mother who sees demons follows them along the way.
All in all, one of the best books I've ever read and another at the top of my list.

“My friends call me Wrath,” says Raffe. “My enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What’s your name, soldier boy?” -Angelfall


___________________________________________________________________________

    


I know Wesleycat already mentioned Cassandra Clare, but I love her books and she's always been so nice to her fans (which matters, alot). My favorite series of hers is The Infernal Devices.:)
    



Well I hope that gave you an idea of my favorites and some books to read in the future! Can't wait to read your posts next week everybody!





"Never say goodbye, because goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting." - Peter Pan

TGIF BFTBA and TNG (This is Not a Goodbye),
Avent-Garde

Books I Love

This week we're writing about our favorite books, but since I'm pretty much hopeless when it comes to picking a favorite anything (it doesn't matter if it's favorite song, movie, or ice cream flavor, there are always so many I like that it's impossible to single *one* out as the best!), I'm going to list some of my favorites instead. :) First out are... 

Jane Austen's books 

At first I was going to pick one of her books to write about, but I've been sitting here for a long while now trying to decide which one I like the most without getting anywhere, so I think I'm just going to give in and write about them all! :) I'm pretty sure the most famous one is Pride and Prejudice, and I'm actually rereading it right now. I love her books so much. They're so smart and well-written, and her characters are so easy to relate to. The stories just draw you in. :) I think it's amazing that even though they were written 200 years ago, and even though society has changed a lot since then, they still feel relevant. We still fall in love the same way, and we still have parents who can occasionally embarrass us. Some things will probably never change, haha :) 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams) 

This book is a bit different from the books I usually read, and I was a bit skeptical towards it at first, but it actually is really funny. :) It's about a man called Arthur Dent whose best friend manages to rescue him off Earth before the planet is demolished to make room for an intergalactic freeway. After that the two kind of have to hitchhike through space, and meet a lot of bizarre characters on the way. It's about as silly as it sounds, but it'll most definitely make you smile. :) 

The History Of Love (by Nicole Krauss) 

This story is a bit complicated as it skips back and forth in time a bit, and it's also told from the point of a view of a few different characters. The three main ones are an old Polish man in New York, a writer in South America, and a young girl called Alma. At first it seems that these three vastly different people have nothing to do with each other, but as the story unfolds you realize that they're all connected. It's really hard to describe what this book is about without giving too much away, but it's amazing. I really liked it. :) 

This was a great topic to write about, guys! I have so many new books I want to read now, it's really exciting! :D Looking forward to your post tomorrow, Holly! 

Philippa 

Favorite books!

Hey guys! Today I get to write about one of my other favorite things in the world, which is reading books. As you can probably tell, I don't have a favorite book, but a lot of favorites, so I'll make a list. :) 


Before I begin, I'd just like to say that I really REALLY love Harry Potter, but I'm not going to put it on this list since I can go on forever about it and everyone talks about it anyway. :) 


Okay, here we go....

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 It's probably obvious that I love John Green books, since I'm a nerdfighter and all, but I have to say that The Fault in our Stars is probably my favorite book of his that I've read so far. I know a book is good if I get really attached to the characters, and I definitely did in this book. I highly recommend reading it, because it's so good! And the characters go to Amsterdam, which is awesome, and there's a lot of philosophical thinking and pure awesomeness.

Seriously, you need to read this if you haven't already. 

•  Going Bovine by Libba Bray

I ended up reading most of this book when I was babysitting one night last summer, and I loved it. Libba Bray, in my opinion, is one of those authors that can write about just about anything and make it work. Going Bovine is about a 16-year-old guy that gets mad cow disease and ends up going on a road trip with a midget and a lawn gnome, and I think it was also influenced by Don Quixote (well, it references it in the book and starts out the chapters like Don Quixote so....). I think I also just love Libba Bray's writing in general, because I've read all of her book so far and enjoyed all of them. I also read her blog last summer, and realized that not only can she write, but she's an awesome person too! She's also coming out with a new book series coming out in September that takes place in the 20s, which I am really excited about too!

It was so good. ;_;

•  The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

Okay, so I know this is a series, not a single book, but it's so good! Cassandra Clare is really awesome at writing sort of dark fantasy books, so if you like those then you should definitely give this series a try. :) This is another one of those books where I get way too attached to the characters, and become really sad if something bad every happens to them, even though I know that the author is just developing the story.... sigh. Cassandra Clare also wrote another series called The Infernal Devices which is in the same world as her previous books, but in the Victorian Era! I love the Victorian Era, so that's awesome! 

This is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series. Read it now!

• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I read Ender's Game for the first time when I was in 8th grade, and I really liked it. I'm not usually one to read sci-fi books, but this was definitely an exception. :) Even if you're not into sci-fi, I think you should read this book -- although, you probably already have read this, since it's so well-known! I also liked reading Ender's Shadow (which is like the same story but from a different character's point of view), and the series about the character Bean that took place after it. One of the cool things about this series is that the sequel to Ender's Game is completely different from the first book, and good in it's own way. Speaker for the Dead takes place about three thousand (I think) years after Ender's Game and is more philosophical and slower-paced, but still really good!

And there's a movie coming out next year! I'm so excited!

Well, that's all that I can think of. There's a lot more books, but I can pretty much go on forever about it, so I'll just stop here. :) Nicky and Erin, I really liked reading about your favorites, and I can't wait to read Philippa's and Holly's posts! You guys rock!

Love, hate, dark and twisted :D

Howdy everybody!!

(I am going to attempt to make this my most put together blog yet… fingers crossed because all of mine up until this point (especially the last one) has felt very disorganized to me.)

Nicky I look forward to picking up the first book in your series, it sounds very interesting.

My favorite book, well I have more than one. I eventually had to break down the books into other categories to have favorites in, because I cannot just pick one book. However the book I will share my love for must definitely be Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte! It is not an unknown book which I could educate everyone one but it is a great classic.

Now I will admit I probably would have not picked up the book if I did not have to read it for school because I read Emily’s sister’s book Jane Eyre that I repulsively hated (no offence to anyone who likes the book I just cannot stand it). However I took and extreme liking to Emily’s book.

As I said my other posts have been SO disorganized and I realized (mostly at work) things I really wanted to put in the past posts. Moving forward though as I will try not to go to far into the book (for those of you who have never read the book) , but you need to know I am the most HOPELESS romantic person you will ever know. But the great thing about this book is it is a love story but it is also a hate story, between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.  One of my favorite quotes in the book is (reading this page I want to type it all)

“You loved me- then what right had you to leave me? What right- answer me- for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will did it...”

The whole story is twisted and demonic I love it so much. I hope you will give the book a chance even if love stories are not your thing, because it is not your typical love story, it is actually quite sad. And on another hand entirely I am throwing a fit the entire time of the actions of the characters (and yes I know I get far to emotionally involved in the book). If you do not like the book I would love to hear why. The debate tends to make for wonderful conversation!

DFTBA!!!

Erin

The wheel of Ka

I've been kicking myself ever since last Monday. How on Earth could I forget about notebooks?!?!?!

My favourite book isn't one book. It's not even several, really. Having spawned both graphic and ordinary novels, the story of The Dark Tower by Stephen King transcends ordinary literal works, and it sits on the highest level of the Tower.

Okay, yes I realise I'm sounding like I'm overdoing it, but if I were to pick a story to read for the rest of my life it would Roland Deschain's quest for The Dark Tower and given all the work around it I would never be bored.

It's often hard to describe books without giving spoilers because at some point you naturally have to start talking about the plot, but it's hard to do even that with this book. Based on Robert Browning's poem 'Child Roland, to the Dark Tower came' the main bulk of the story is contained in seven novels. It starts with Roland Deschain, last of the Gunslingers (a kind of Western take on the knights of old), walking a beaten path through a desert in Mid-World, a place of King's imagination after watching one too many Westerns. Over the 7 novels he picks up companions, traverses through worlds and time, deals with the magical and real, all on his quest to find and climb The Dark Tower. A lot of the supplementary books and graphic novels deals with Roland's past and the destruction of his home city of Gilead at the hands of The Good Man, John Farson, and all are just as good as the novels.

It's hard to know why they hold a special place in my heart, if I'm honest, apart from the incredibly creative and intelligent way it twists and turns, and the brilliant way in which King writes everything so brilliantly. In the end, I think it's characters, who from the first page are so believable and engaging that you find yourself laughing and crying and running and tensing with them; not at them, having had something tragic or wonderful happen to them, but with them. It feels more like a true story than some true stories, to me at least.

Anyway, there you have it-my favourite story is The Dark Tower by Stephen King. I look forward to seeing all of yours, and hopefully add to my reading list ;)

Singing to the Radio and Notebooks

Great posts so far everybody! This week was a little difficult because I had to thing about my Pet Peeves a bit, I don't have them on a list in my head, and I had to greatly narrow the Things I Love so as not to write a novel. :) Anyway, here's what made the lists. :)

PET PEEVE'S

1. Okay, so I am 100% with Nicky in that one of my pet peeves is people moving my things! I am very OCD with my organization and I hate it when some one borrows something and promises that they'll put it back in the right spot, but they don't. Or when they do put it back in the right spot only it's stained with spaghetti or chocolate and they thought you wouldn't notice so they don't tell you. I wouldn't have cared if they just TOLD ME (it adds character)! It's not telling me that reallllllly gets on my nerves.

2. When relatives come over and they feel the need to clean your home or rearrange your furniture! Do I go over to your house and rearrange it? I don't think so.

3. Wesleycat hit the nail on the head when she said tailgaters. If your in such a hurry, just pass me, and get caught by the police. :)

4. People who think I'm a high school drop out just because I work in a grocery store.
    Seriously, I had a dad come in with his daughter the other day talking about how she needed to get A's or she'll end up working in "a place like this". To which I really wanted to tell him that grades were not everything, I graduated high school with a 1.8 (I needed at least a 1.6, I was very proud). Went to Community College, became bi-lingual (SO close to tri-lingual it almost hurts!), and now have a scholarship to attend Grad. School overseas. I work because I need money for things like car insurance, and food.

For the record: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH WORKING IN A GROCERY STORE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! Some people love it, and with out those people, you would have no food. So stop insulting them.

Deep breath.
Rant over.
Moving on.

5. The number one thing I can't stand, is when you're driving in the car with some one and they feel the need to sing along with every. single. song. On the radio. AHHH!!!!!!!! I can understand one or two, there are songs that were made to sing to, but Every. Single. One. Will make me push you out of the moving vehicle, and into high speed traffic. My mother and sister-in-law (whom I like to refer to as Melkor, another story for another time) do this ALL THE TIME!!!!!


Okay, so at first I had a lot of things that I loved, but after reading Phillipa's post I realized they weren't really things I love, but things I liked. so it got me thinking, what would make me sad if it were to leave forever? Sure I like things like Converse, but would I cry if they stopped making such a shoe? no, probably not. So, that is how I came up with the Things I Love. :)

Things I Love

1. Wheat fields.
I've always lived past the city limits, if not on the very edge, and to me wheat fields are more beautiful than snow covered mountains or tropical islands. 

2. Polaroid photo's, especially ones I didn't take. It's like owning a piece of some one else's memories.

3. Notebooks, to record my own stories and ideas. I am the proud owner of two hundred and thirteen notebooks containing fifteen novels, a full television series concept, class notes, and countless sketches. I wrote more in high school than anything else (hence the 1.8). What can I say, I've always had a love for words, and when I ran out of English ones, I went looking for Italian, Japanese, and Arabic ones.

4. Books, but fortunately, that's NEXT WEEKS TOPIC! A whole post on books! (I might write a book just talking about them ;) )

Great posts this week everybody! Can't wait to read your post on Monday Nicky!

Have a Great Weekend and DFTBA!

Avent-Garde

FAILURE!!!! Pet peeves and loving somethings

Hello everyone! My internet went out Tuesday morning and was turned back on Wednesday evening (when my awesome boyfriend stayed to meet the cable guy while I was at work.) Then I talked to my lovely fellow bloggers and this is as soon as I can post, hence the failure part of the subject line (after coming home from work and running a few errands). So let us act like it is Tuesday and not some ungodly hour of Friday morning :)

Lets begin like Nicky Sarah and Philippa have (start with the bad and end with the good):

Pet peeves:

Shirt tags sticking out of back of the neck collar (as my boyfriend is reading over the screen and pulls his tag out to mess with me)... I am a little OCD and I don't know what it is about it but it just drives me crazy and I tend to have cold hands so I scare a lot of people when my hand reaches out (I can't stop it) to tuck the tag in.

Know-it-alls being pompous asses- if you know everything on a topic with someone who does not, take pride but there is proud and there is just rude.

Computer/Internet/ Technology Issues- I repel technology and having my Internet or computer not working makes me feel very inadequate.

Being talked down to- Whether it is in a condescending way or because I am uneducated in the matter at hand

Not knowing- either being in the dark with a situation, or not knowing information (my pet peeves do sort of connect a little bit.

And people coming into the restaurant 5 minutes before closing.. REALLY REALLY!!!! It is a fine dinning restaurant why do you want to eat at 11 o'clock at night????

Things I love:

Food!!! I love everything about it. Eating it, cooking it, learning about it. Everything!!! I love the science that is in cooking. How temperature changes the texture, and the taste. How you can add flavors and layers to the food. I love the smell of a kitchen and touching food as you make it (I am a big lover of bread!). I love having flour on my hands. I also love creating my own recipes and especially in the field of specialty baking like gluten free and sugar and allergy free baking.

My boyfriend. Now with this said i do not usually go around flaunting my love life or anything like that, but due to many different back stories and details that would take far to long to type, and the fact that he has calmed me down after work to prevent me from making this a long rant, he makes the list. Not to put down my family or friends but there is a lot to him that  I wont share his life story with the blog but he is a very special person and I am glad I have him.

And to sum up the rest, being a nerd! I love reading, writing, and music. Without my love and obsession for book I never would have found Nerdfighteria and would not be making this blog that I am very excited about writing every week.

DFTBA!

Erin

The ocean and my pet peeves

So this week's topic is to write about pet peeves and something we love. I'll start with my pet peeves like Nicky and Sarah did, it feels so much better to end the post with something nice. :)

Pet peeves: 

- People cracking their knuckles: or any of their joints really, it just sounds so painful!

- Intentional bad spelling/text speak: I'm usually not a grammar nazi at all, but this is something that really annoys me. :) In Swedish it's becoming increasingly common (at least among young people) to just spell words the way they're pronounced rather than the way they're actually spelt. I'm going to sound like an old granny now, but ahh, I think it looks so so horrible, haha :) I find it really hard to take a text seriously when it's written that way.

- My hair: it just never seems to want to behave, it never wants to lie the way I want it to. On the rare occasion when I get it to look alright, something always happens that messes it up as soon as I step outside the front door, like a sudden rainstorm, or a massive gust of wind from a passing car. Argh


Now on to something I really love, which is the ocean!

My hometown, Stockholm, is located really close to the sea, you're never far from the water there. I think that's one of the main reasons why I love it so much :) When I was younger my family and I also used to spend every summer in northern Sweden at my grandparents house by the sea. Every year, when we arrived at the house and my dad stopped the car, I'd fling the door open and rush straight down to beach and just throw myself into the waves. It was like being reunited with an old best friend, haha :) Then I'd feel the freezing water wrapping me up, and for a few seconds the cold would always shock me, and I'd struggle to get out of it, haha. My family would all be watching me with their arms crossed, shaking their heads. I think my grandpa understood me though, he loved the ocean too. Every year he tried to teach me what he called "sailor things", and it was always stuff like how to build a stable wooden pier or how to tie complicated knots. When I was about 14 he decided I'd make an absolutely awful sailor (I wasn't too sad about that ^^), and that was the end of my rope-tying lessons, haha :) But he continued to take my sister and me out in the boat and taught us how to drive it. He died a couple of years ago now, and I haven't tried to drive a boat since, but I still love being out on the water. I just think the ocean is so amazing! It's so full of life, and I love how it can be so ruthless and so gentle at the same time. I even love how endless it seems and how small it makes me feel. It has some strange calming effect on me. When I'm feeling down, or have a tough decision I need to make (I'm a really indecisive person), I always go down to the water and sit there for a while. It helps me clear my mind. :) And this is going to sound really strange, but if I'm ever feeling lonely and I go down to the water, it actually helps, haha. :) I don't know why. I find the sea such a lovely thing, and I hope I'll always be able to live close to it. :)

I'm really looking forward to reading your posts, Erin and Holly! :)

I'm back in Texas! Yay! Except now I sort of miss Europe. Why does it have to be so much prettier than where I live!? 

Anyway, since I have access to a computer now, hopefully my posts will be better quality, and I'll try to add in pictures and stuff to make them more interesting as well. :) 

Pet Peeves

1. I'm not sure if this really counts as a pet peeve, but I don't like drinking after people. I'm usually okay with food, as long as it's not something like yogurt, then I can't share because that would be too gross. I know, I'm weird like that. 
2. When people tailgate me when I'm driving. I go the speed limit, okay? D: 
3. When people scream really loud close to me. Like in high school when I'm walking down the hallway -- that used to really get on my nerves. Thankfully I'm out of there now!

That's really all I can think of right now! 

Things I Love

I decided to start this post with my pet peeves so I could end it with stuff I really like! 

• Music. I like both listening to it and playing it. :) Currently, I've been listening to a lot of indie-folk sounding music, but I also really love the band Muse (Matt Bellamy plays the piano like a GOD) and listening to classical music. My favorite composer is Chopin, and I was lucky enough to see his grave when I was in Paris last month (I know, I'm a nerd) which resulted in a lot of music-nerd joy. Once I figure out how to get pictures from my camera to the computer, I will definitely show you guys a picture of it, because it was awesome! I play the piano and French horn, which are awesome in my opinion, and this next semester in college I will be learning how to play stringed instruments and upper woodwinds, which I am very excited about. If you want to hear some of my favorite songs you can click  here, here, and here. I could go on and on about music, but I think that's enough for now!

 I love Chopin Nocturnes!

• Libraries! Being able to check out as many books as I want for free is one of the best things ever, in my opinion! Summer is the best time to go to the library for me, because I have way more spare time to read. As you can probably tell, I really love books. :) 

• Knitting. I've been knitting for awhile, but it was mostly scarves, and I've just recently started to learn how to knit hats, which is really cool to me. :D I really love knitting because it's a great stress reliever, plus you end up with really neat-looking (well, usually) scarves/hats/awesomeness that you can either use yourself or give away as presents! Plus, it's really fun to combine different yarn and stitches to make something really neat. I highly recommend that you try it, because it's so much fun!
• Traveling. As you can probably tell already by my having been in France while I was writing my first few posts, I love to travel! Going new places and experiencing new cultures is really awesome to me. Plus, I really loved the trains in Europe, and I hope that I can go back and ride them again sometime, because that was awesome. :) At some point, I hope I can go to Australia and New Zealand, and maybe China or Japan, because they look cool too!

 

 Going to as many countries in Europe would be awesome too!

That's it for now! Nicky, I really liked your last post, and I can't wait to hear from Philippa and Holly later on this week! :) Sorry for posting so late too!

DFTBA! 

Pet peeves, geekiness, and my mum

Avent, although I don't quite have the Arabic alphabet stuck in my head, I am convinced you need a t-shirt that says 'Bakery Girl To The Rescue!' That most definitely needs to be a thing.

So anyways, this week we're gonna talk about pet peeves and something we love, subtly hinted at in my title. Given the day I've had, I guess it'll be best to start with my...

Pet Peeves

Now, I'm the first to admit, I'm not perfect, and I have a lot of pet peeves, including:

• People moving my stuff
• People touching my stuff
• People telling me my organisation sucks
• People being right about the above point
• People touching my hair
• People slamming doors
• Baked beans

But the biggest one, without a doubt, is an unanswered phone. It's almost as bad as Navi from Legend of Zelda.

Okay, maybe not quite as bad...

I think part of the problem is that it's such a drilling sound; repetitive and loud, even when turned down.

It's especially bad in an office around 3 when NO-ONE answers the phone. Seriously, don't ring the office after 3. The receptionist goes home and no-one answers the phone til the last minute.

Geekiness

Rant over, lets talk about something I love :D. Since it's far too easy (and mushy) to talk about my mum, I'm gonna talk about how much I love geekiness.

Geekiness brings me soooooooooooo much joy. Being a geek to me means little in-jokes you share with a massive community (The cake is a lie!), finding the strangest things hilarious, and of course, Nyan cat.

How does watching this NOT fill you with joy??

And of course, with geekiness, I would never have found Nerdfighteria, and without that, I wouldn't be on this blog.

Also, Joel McHale.

Can't wait to see what you guys post :D

A Day in the Life of Inmate 200

It's Friday!!!!!!!! And my first actual day off in........a very long time. No school AND no work! Whatever will I do with myself?
So my schedule varies a bit, I work a closing shift in the bakery weekdays, but weekends I either work morning shift (12:00 A.M. - 8:30 A.M.) or if  they DESPERATELY need a Night Checker, I do that too. I'll take you through a weekday since those are the ones I do the most. :)

A typical day starts with waking up at 8:00 to the lovely sun burning a hole through my skull as I have no air conditioning. I glare at it in revenge, and then I get up and don my super suite to do the daily four mile morning bike ride.

I get back around 9:30ish and take a shower because I smell like I've been biking way to long in 90 degree weather.

10:00 ish, I get my lovely books and begin to study. This usually includes a nice cup of coffee from the best family owned coffee shop in the world.  Twice a week I take my study party on the road and actually go to this wonderful coffee shop. Tuesday's I go to an Arabic Study Group where we find stuff like this to help us "learn":

Okay, so maybe we're WAY past the alphabet, but hey, Sesame Street!

12:30 I put on my Prison Uniform (commonly known as my baking uniform)! It's black and blue so to blend with my skin after dealing with other inmates all night. The clever Prison Warden thought I wouldn't notice.

1:00 I leave the nice peaceful place called home, usually to the tune of  awesome!





1:29 - Someone tries to kill me in the parking lot, I mentally criticize myself for my possible last thoughts being "Great, now how am I going to find out what happens to Jem?" Admit it, you've had those moments too.

1:30 I clock into the Prisonyard. I say hello to The Dealer, not by choice.

                                                       THE DEALER
                              Sentence: Life in Prison for repetitive drug use.

I actively avoid The Visitor Center, (They're never happy, ever. EVER.) which takes me past Arts and Crafts, and on to the Bakery.

1:00 - I bake the cookies, organize the remaining donuts, (NEVER buy from a doughnut case, you will not believe the horrors I have seen kids do to the poor things inside.) Take out the back stock, wave to The Butchers, markdown day old bread, and hurl harmless insults at Produce.

2:30 - Take out the first batch of bread, roll, pound, slice, and put in proofer. Take cookies out of oven, package cookies while sharing gossip with Cake Decorators. Rejoice because the last manager goes home and they didn't yell at me. (I actually have really nice managers, if not a bit OCD)

3:30 - Take out second batch of bread, roll, pound, slice, and put in proofer. Package the pies, through extra cookie dough at the Midday Baker while he sings along to the rock version of "My Girl". (Seriously? Who makes a rock version of My Girl!?!)

3:45 - Put first batch of bread on the sales floor in which customers are angry that the fresh 4:00 bread did not come out at 3:00, and in which I give them my signature "Are you for real?" look.

 


4:00 - Talk to the poor checkers up front and get up to date on more gossip while pretending to fill the bread baskets.

4:30 - roll, pound, slice, and proof the last batch of bread. Begin cleaning the floors.

5:00 - Take my lunch! yum! And be the unfortunate victim of Blondie and Hellgirl's discussion on what they do with their boyfriends. *shudder* They're only 16 years old!

                                                                  BLONDIE

                                                               Possible Hooker

                                               Juvenile Delinquent tried as an adult

                                                                 HELLGIRL

                                                             Juvenile delinquent

                                                                   on parole

Possibly see the Bread Boy (who doesn't work in the Bakery), and a very angry Wonder Woman (who Bread Boy is hopelessly in love with but Wonder Woman hates with a passion. Isn't that how it always goes?).

                                                               BREAD BOY

                                                         Delinquent student loans

                                    Could be a lifer, to early to tell if he'll make parole

                                                         WONDER WOMAN

                                                                Prison Guard

                                                                     Lifer

 Make a point to avoid Ginger Bread Man, (Bread Boy's old man. Prison runs in the family.)

                                                 GINGER BREAD MAN

                                                    Thinks he's the Warden

                                                Manages the Visitor Center

                                                         Lifer, no parole

5:30 - Lunch is over, cry.

6:00 - every one in the Bakery but me goes home.

6:15: Put out six o'clock bread because no one feels the need to bake it while I'm at lunch. customers yell at me. Do the roll/bagel discounts. Clean the floors. Argue with customers who feel the need to order a cake for 8:00 in the morning and have to explain why we don't have a night time cake decorator. Get a returned/half eaten carrot cake because it had to many carrots in it(? I know).

Retail work

7:00 - Discount donuts. say hello to bread boy, and make another hunger Games reference that he doesn't understand. Clean the doughnut case. Consider a Bakery Girl Superhero comic pitch.
 *Insert Superhero Music Here*

                   BAKERY GIRL TO THE RESCUE!

                            Saving the world from Anorexia one doughnut at a time!

Bread Boy says the pitch needs help. I don't think he has enough vision.

8:00 - second/first break depending on how busy it is. Read a book.

8:15 - Go back to work. Empty the bread baskets up front. Wrap the bread, and do the dishes. Throw a dish rag at Banana Man for scaring the crap out of me.

                                                             BANANA MAN

                                             helps transition inmates back to reality

                                                                      lifer

9:00 - If needed, take second break. Continue reading book. Bread Boy goes home which means I get a hug if the next day is his day off.

9:15 - Restock all supplies, deep clean.

10:00 - CLOCK OUT!!!!!! Dance a little bit. Consider buying dinner/something delicious and then realize that The Dealer is still working Self Check-Out, which is the only thing left open. So instead I leave hungry.

10:30ish- Get home after missing my driveway because I was singing along to Springsteen on the radio. Raid the fridge, and find only Hot Pockets because they were on sale AND I got my employee discount on them! I'm cheap, I know. Eat a hot pocket, watch whatever show was TiVoed  (Preferably Once Upon a Time, or Falling Skies) while writing, reading, or surfing the Internet where I find awesome videos like this:

Great singer, and I love the song!

12:00ish - Go to bed!

REPEAT

That's my weekday! Hope it was....entertaining?


See ya'll next week!
Avent-Garde

P.S. Admit it, the Arabic alphabet is now stuck in your head ;)

A day in the life of Philippa

Hey everyone! :) I’m on a break from work right now so my days are a bit random, but this is what they’d usually look like:

- Wake up at around 6.30 am, but snooze until 7.30

- Panic and have to rush to get dressed and have breakfast before I have to leave for work, getting really annoyed with myself for never managing to get out of bed on time

- Walk through the city to work (I work at the office section of a hospital, I mostly just do a lottt of paperwork)

- Spend the first half of my workday repeatedly glancing up at the clock on the wall

- Lunch break at around 12.30 with a friend

- Work until 4 pm (ish)

- Walk back home

- Take our dog for a walk in the park/along the water

- At around 5 or 6 pm my mom and stepdad usually get home and we have dinner together

- After that I usually go online, read, or go out and catch up with my friends

- Get into bed way too late, and roll around for about another hour thinking about everything and anything until I drift off to sleep


I think that’s about it :) Looking forward to rading your post tomorrow, Avent-Garde, and hope you all have a great weekend!

- Philippa

Hey guys! Since I'm out of school for the summer and my day mostly consists of sleeping, eating, and looking at cool stuff (sadly, this is my last day in France so when I get back I'll probably just be sleeping and practicing piano :P) I'm going to tell you what I usually did on a school day last year.
It usually went something like this:

-Alarm goes off at 6. Hit snooze button.
-Keep pressing snooze button until it is around 7:30am and if I don't get up now I'll be late for school
-Get ready
-Freak out when it's 8am and I haven't left yet
-Get lunch and leave
-Finally get to school (usually before 8:15 when it starts...)
-Stay bored for most of the day, besides my band and music theory classes because I'm a nerd when it comes to that stuff.
-Get to leave at 2:50 because I had an off period an it was awesome
-Either go to a piano lesson or come home
-Go online or read a book
-Practice piano
-Eat and then go to bed a few hours later
-Read until I fall asleep
-Repeat the next day until weekend :)

It was kind of boring. :P I also have a band practice that I go to at night once a week, and depending on what I have going on that week what I did after school changed. Also, I tried to be better at waking up early at the beginning of the year, but that obviously didn't work. :) I just like sleeping a lot....

Anyway, that schedule will most likely change next year since I'll be in college, but I just imagine that it will be a lot of music practice and hopefully more sleep!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts so far. :) DFTBA!

A day in the life with Erin

A day in the life of Erin…

In loom of not over complicating this, know that I am a full time student, and I enjoy my summer break, however this brings up a spit feeling in my mind, so I give you my summer day or my school day… I really do over complicate things. Oh… I will do a school day (because summer days are so random).

Wake up 5:30/6 am (depending if I need a shower)

Shower (depending)

Get dressed

Gather belongings

Grab caffeine (coffee or Pepsi) and attempt to remember to eat breakfast

Forget breakfast

Forget to grab lunch

Head to college for 4 to 6 hours

Usually buy lunch in Uptown (because I forget to bring lunch)

Resist the urge to set something on fire

Remind myself it is illegal to kill people.

Get dressed for work (in work bathroom)

Work for 8 hours

Come home

Eat dinner

Do homework

Lay in bed

Mind roaming of EVERY TOPIC IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!

Still roaming

Roaming

Exhaustion knocks me out for 4 to 5 hours

AND REPEAT!!!

On Weekends I sleep about 8 to 9 hours in attempt to make up for lack of sleep during the week and try to keep my apartment from looking like a freaking hurricane ripped thought here, and try and obtain so sort of social life (though that is not usually deemed as a success).

My weekends sound a lot like my summer days and I do still work  for 8 hours on the weekends and in the summer too…

So yes! Plenty busy J

Have a great day!!!

Erin

A Day in the life of...me

So our theme for this week is 'A day in the life of' each one of us. At the risk of sounding boring, here's mine:

• Wake up around 6/6:30.
• Catch up on the news around the world and with friends (laptops are weird)
• Get up, quick clean and get dressed.
• Beat anxiety.
• Remember to eat breakfast.
• Forget to take lunch.
• Get picked up for work.
• Get to work.
• IMMEDIATELY WANT TO GO HOME.
• Get through the day.
• Get home.
• Get into pj's.
• Watch BBT/Community.
• Probably see Mia, and by see Mia I mean wait for her to turn up at my house :P.
• Complete my Moodscope score.
• Remember to take meds.
• Play some LoL.
• Actually take meds.
• Quick prayer.
• Get in bed.
• Roll.
• Roll.
• Roll.
• Sleep.
• Rinse and repeat for 4 days.

Yeeeeah working in a book publishers isn't as fun as it sounds :P

Also, laptops really are weird.

Have a good day!

-Nicky