Où es-tu mon amour?

Last night I saw a beautiful tuxedo cat with a fluffy tail prancing down the sidewalk by Due Amechis.  I'm sure it was Penelope Pussycat, Pepe Le Pew's girlfriend.  I imagined he treated her to a romantic Italian dinner and then tried to kiss her lips.  Ahhhh but Penelope doesn't love Pepe like he loves her and she tried to get away from his stinky breath.  Pepe went lookinjg for Penelope saying "Où es-tu mon amour?" 

The Christmas Wedding

The other day I saw a book that intrigued me.  the cover was a picture looking down on a beautiful bride holding her bouquet.  It was The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson.  I've never read any of his books before and quite frankly had not heard of him.  Most of my reading is in Christian Fiction.  I picked the book up and scanned the back for the summary.  I'm a sucker for romances and to top it off...a Christmas wedding!  Oh the magic of the holidays!  I'm a dreamer!  What can I say!  I put it down and went about my business.  I came across it on audio cds.  I thought this might be a better choice as I can listen to it while I'm driving.  I had a previous book on cd before and enjoyed it.  This package stated that it was read by 4 different people, 3 women and 1 male. "Oh this will be great!  maybe they're going to read it in parts."  I thought to myself.  When I got to my car I popped the first CD in.  A light jazzy Christmas song played.  I immediately began to think my dream Christmas dinner party with friends when I'm married.  I can see myself with hair done, make up on, a soft creamy cashmere sweater, pearls around my neck, dressy jeans, and of course some great looking heels!  In the middle of my day dream, this woman's voice begins to read.  It's not the most pleasant.  It's not raspy or deep...I just can't put my finger on it but it's not one I enjoy listening to that much.  I found myself thinking "my word when will her part be over?"  And so the story begins.  I'm about half way through it now.  I like it when the guy and one of the other ladies read but there are the two ladies that I just don't care for when it comes there time to read.  It's not read in parts.  Each reads a couple of chapters and then it switches.
When I read a book, a develop an image of what the character looks like, what they sound like.  The characters become real to me.  Having this book read to me has been tough.  I can't quite grasp what they look or sound like.  The first lady who speaks has become who I associate the mother in the book with.  Which makes me wonder if the mom smokes.  It hasn't mentioned that, but because the ladies voice is somewhat deep I now imagine the mom to smoke.  The other reader tries to make her voice deep when she reads a man's part.  Oh this grates my nerves as it distorts the image I have in my head of the character.  It's not a real mans voice I'm hearing.  It's a woman trying to sound like a man.  It's fake, annoying, and sometimes creepy!
I've finally started to get an idea of what some of the characters look like.  Last night I saw a commercial for the book...The bride looked younger than what I pictured which caused me to think could there be a twist to this story?  It's very much possible if it's what I think it is.  Also, it shows the 3 suitors....Not what I had pictured.  The Rabbi wasn't as good looking as the book makes him out to be.  I know this is all fiction, but it just ruined it for me.
Halfway through the cds and I'm loving it.  I'll let you know what I think once I'm completely done with it.

I'm too sexy....

A few weeks ago I attended Girls Night Out at the mall with my mom and our friend Dorothy.  We arrived early so we would be among the first couple of hundred that would get a goody bag.  It was smaller than some of the others we had been to and the line was well...non existent!  We sat at a table and chatted.  A group of people came in to set up their booth.  They seemed to be from a salon as they were dressed in all black and one had a spike Mohawk.  The Mohawk intrigued my mom to the point that she went over to the lady and asked her how she did her hair.  Dorothy and I looked away as we didn't know her at this point. ha ha.  Mom came back thoroughly impressed.  We joked that she should do her hair like that for Jim.

The line began to form and we quickly decided we needed to get up there.   As we walked through the entrance we were given a pink boa.  Feathers were flying everywhere.  I stuffed mine in my goody bag as it clashed with my red sweater.  We went to what few booths were open as nearly half of their vendors had not shown up.  I walked by the booth with the Mohawk lady.  I happened to hear they were doing free makeovers.  Ding! A light went on in my head!  "Free makeovers?  I love to get my makeup done and try new looks."  I thought to myself.  I waited.  I saw the Mohawk lady and I thought "Oh, I really hope I don't get her."  Everyone was looking beautiful as they left.  Finally it was my turn....Yep that's right...I got the Mohawk lady.  She asked me what type of look I was going for.  "I've never had a smokey eye before!  Let's do that!"  I said. She asked me if I wanted it in blacks or browns and I told her I wanted the blacks.  She began to work her magic.  Someone from a magazine took my photo.  I'm not sure if I'll be in it and if I am I think it's a parenting magazine.  I do wish they would have had regular brushes instead of disposable brushes.  I just don't think you get quite the look you want with a flimsy brush.  My mom and Dorothy were a little in shock with the final look.  After all I had chosen blacks and there was more eyeliner on the bottom of my eye.  I was not used to that as I don't wear eyeliner or mascara on the bottom part of the eye.  We decided to go eat dinner at Olive Garden.  I wasn't too happy with the look as it wasn't what I expected but I smiled and told her she did a good job as I didn't want to hurt her feelings.  After all it was free.  If I had paid for it that would have been a different story.  When we got to the car I took off my sweater (I had a tank top on), wrapped the boa around me and had my mom take a picture of me.  It was as if I had my own little photo shoot in the parking lot.  For me it was daring and fun!    I ended up blending it a little more before we went into the restaurant.

Opa!

I feel a little like C. Bradshaw at this moment!  I love dinner parties but I hadn't hosted one in quite sometime.  Jason, a friend of mine, decided we should cook a Greek dinner and invite some friends.  I was so excited...This was a dinner party!  He planned the menu and I coordinated the rest.  I decided to go with a blue and white theme.  Luckily I still have some boxes that are easy to get to so I was able to unpack my favorite dishes (bought at Pier 1).  I thought it would be cute to do place cards.  It wasn't a formal dinner party but I had never had one with place cards. I found a stock photo of the Greek flag and printed it on the cards with the names.  Originally I wanted to write our names in Greek, but not all of our names translated and on some I'm not sure the translation was correct.
Jason arrived a little later than he had planned.  We ran to Wal-mart to buy the groceries.  As usual this Wal-mart wasn't well stocked.   We made a mad dash to Krogers to get the remaining items.  When we got home we began preparing the food.   We couldn't find all of our ingredients for our Greek dessert.  We didn't want to go with Baklava as it's so common.  Since the dessert was a dead end we decided on Boston Cream Pie.  I began to make it from scratch while Jason prepared the appetizers.  Some of the guest arrived early and helped out with the preparations.  We were scheduled to eat at 6 but because of the delay we ate around 8.  It was a fun night with everyone helping out with cooking and clean up, dodging people as we were moving about the kitchen, and telling of stories that had some saying "TMI!" ha ha.  I loved the dinner party!  I can't wait for more to come!

Everyone enjoying the food1

Jason being meticulous as he stuffs the chicken!  Great cook! Awesome food!

Me posing for the camera.  I was in the middle of making the filling for the Boston Cream Pie.  I lost count of how much milk I had already used....It was quite interesting.  It still came out good thanks to the help from Cynthia!

Alien Wasp

I was waiting to turn out of a parking lot when I looked to my left.  I saw this thing flying towards me.  I began to get antsy.  "Oh no!  this thing is fixin to fly into my car!  What do I do?"  I thought to myself as I silently screamed in my head.  Thump!  it had landed on my window near my head.  "Oh, Oh, Ohhhhhh....."  Panic came over me.  I needed to turn out of the parking lot so I wouldn't hold up traffic but I wanted this thing off my window!  "My window is up isn't it?  Jason had mentioned last night my windows were so clean it looked like I'd rolled them down...or something along that line.  Do I tap the window?  What if it's not rolled up...what do I do?"  I thought to myself while trying to decide whether to shift gears and go or battle it out with the bug.  I glanced over still uneasy and wondering if this thing was going to fly in on me.  It was lime green.  It's eerie green eyes fixed on me watching me like a hawk.  It's as if we were having a nonverbal showdown.  "I'll show him!"  I turned out of the parking lot and accelerated to a fast speed without going over the speed limit.  This sucker was still holding on and staring me down.  Rats!  it didn't work.  Of course I could only go 40.  "I'll get you!  You're fixin to fly off this car!"  I yielded at the light (there was a yield sign the way I was going).  Luckily there wasn't a line of traffic coming my way so I didn't have to make a complete stop.  I rounded the corner and began to accelerate!  "YES!  I can go 50 here!  You're fixin to die buddy!"  I thought to myself! With a smile on my face I glanced over only to my surprise the sucker was in his defense mode still hanging on fighting against the wind.  "Are you kidding me?  UGH!" I thought.  My speed was cut short as the speed limit dropped and I had to stop for a red light. I was at a complete stop.  I looked over and the thing had re-positioned himself vertically and was staring right into my eyes!  "You look like an alien!"  I said to myself.  I didn't like looking at him but I couldn't turn away.  His entire body was green. I'd never seen such a sight.  He stared me down again.  I banged on the lower corner of my window by the mirror.  Surely the vibration would make him fly away...It didn't.  The light was still read.  This time I went for it.  Despite my window being up I still had a fear that if I touched the window where he was he could still get me. I did it anyway.  I banged on the spot where he was with vigor!  bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.  Still there.  Bang, bang, bang.  There he's gone....not so fast missy!  He left the window but now he was on my door!  "Really?  Fly away you ugly wasp!"  I looked down and the top of his body more of a yellowish color.  The top part of the abdomen seemed to be moving in sequence like our chest does when we breathe.  Had I given him a run for his money?  Was he breathless?  He crawled over towards the door handle.  I kept a close eye on him but at last the light had turned green.  It was my turn to go.  "Maybe I can get some speed on this next road....fat chance!  Of all the days I don't need be stuck behind a slow person!  What am I going to do when I get home?  What if I get out of the car and he dive bombs me and stings me?  Why me?  Oh, maybe I can crawl over to the passenger side and get out that way.  Oh but if I do that I'll have to re-position the seat...is it really worth it?"  I thought to myself.  I pulled into the garage.  I looked one last time.  I couldn't see him.  A slight panic came over me...as if I couldn't see my enemy.  I glanced at the passenger door and decided it wasn't worth it.  If I was going to do this I was going to have to make a run for it.  If I got stung...then I'd just deal with it.  I grabbed my keys and slid my purse strap onto my shoulder. I cringed as I slowly pulled the door handle.  I heard the door release.  "Oh no!  what if he was near the crack and gets in?"  I swung open the door and dashed out of the car to the driveway leaving the door wide open.  I turned and looked.  I didn't see him.  I grabbed the side of the door and shut it.  As soon as I did that I chided myself for not checking the other side of the door before placing my hand on it.  I'm not sure what happened to the little guy.  I'm just glad he's gone. It was an intense ride home for such a short distance.  I don't know if it was a wasp or a yellow jacket.  the under belly was a lime green, It's eyes were lime green.  The top was black and yellow with a hint of lime green but I haven't been able to find any pics resembling what I saw.  I guess it could have been a yellow jacket that was covered in pollen.