Weekend picture blog

Kind of. Just pictures of the game. :)

Saturday I worked 7-3 and rushed home so dad and I could get to the Brewer game. We saw an AWESOME game. Ryan Braun won it with a walk-off homerun in the 9th! We had an awesome time and the older couple next to us enjoyed my random comments. lol

Sunday I was up early and ran, literally, to the grocery store for granola bars. I showered and got stuff ready to go. I stopped at Cool Beans and got a famous Kelly-O caramel latte. I put it in a thermos so that it would stay warm until I met up with Nadine. I listened to my music and met up with Nadine and then drove to Miller Park. I showed her around Miller Park and saw some things I hadn't seen before! We each bought a beer and sat down. She's not really a baseball fan so the game wasn't her first choice of a Sunday hangout with me, but we talked through most of the game. We stopped for ice cream and I dropped her back off at her car. I drove home through some nasty weather. I would have pulled off at one point since I ran into heavy wind AND rain, but there was nowhere to pull off. I was going through that one stretch where there wasn't an offramp for about 10 miles. I got home and hung out with the parents. I went out with Lindsey and we met up with Trevor, Luke and Josie. I made friends with the porcelain god at the Comeback Inn. NOT fun.

But most of the weekend was fun. :)

Tired

Weekend picture blog to come soon.

Yesterday was horrible. I woke up and felt like poop. I quickly went back to bed for a couple of hours. I got back up and tried to eat some crackers. That came back up. I went back to bed for a couple of hours and then tried jello. I didn't throw up, but I wasn't able to eat much. I went back to bed and after a few more hours I was able to have oatmeal. God Bless oatmeal - it's always there for me. I took it easy for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Dad showed me pictures from his and mum's trip. I'm thinking my whole sickness was more than just a hangover. If it was just drunkness I would have felt better way earlier and would not have puked again and would have been able to eat before 4:00 p.m.

Today I was up just past 6:30 so I could be to work by 8:00. It was a very busy day. I worked until 4:00. Now I'm doing random stuff. I may take a quick snooze since later I'm going to Sam's and we're going to watch a movie. I'll try and have a weekend picture blog later tonight or tomorrow.

Random thought: Less than 7 Brewer games left this season. :(

~Nicole

Clopening...kind of

I work 2-close tonight. I closed Wednesday and we were out of there by 9:45 so I'm hoping for about the same tonight. I don't open, but I work at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow so essentially I'll be coming home and going straight to bed. Won't happen that way though. I thought about leaving as soon as I get up tomorrow and buying a scone at the farmer's market, but I'm going to try and sleep in a bit and have the Tim Horton's donut that mum and dad brought me back instead. I can always have a scone next weekend.

The weekend is gonna be busy. I work tonight. Tomorrow morning I work and then I'll hurry home and probably take a quick shower before dad and I head to the game. Depending on how long the game is we'll be home before midnight. We'll of course visit with mum for a bit and if I get to see Trevor Hoffman for the save I'll basically freak out like a school girl and be hyped up for a bit.

Sunday I'll try and get up early for a short run or walk. I'll shower and have breakfast before heading to Cool Beans for a Kelly-O caramel latte for Nadine and I. Then I'm meeting Nadine and we're going to the game. After the game who knows what we're doing. We may hang out for a bit or we may part ways. If I get back to Madison at a decent time I may karoke with Lindsey et al.

Random thought: Pumpkin butter and peanut butter sandwich for lunch on the bus. Why not?

~Nicole

Sippin' on a beer post-work

Is fun to do every once in a while.

It's my last night home alone before mum and dad are back tomorrow. They'll probably be back by the time I get home from work. I think the house is in decent shape. The fridge is pretty bare, but there is stuff for them when they get home. Or else we'll just order a pizza or something.

Today was good. I went on a run/walk, almost 6 miles. I showered and ran some errands with Tim. I got him to buy me breakfast. lol After Tim left I lounged around the house for a bit before going to work. I got home just after 10:00 and am now watching a movie and finishing my beer.

Random thought: Drink(s) post-work with Lindsey tomorrow. :)

~Nicole

Photo blog of the day

These past few Mondays have been my "chore" days. With the parents not home it's when I get stuff done around the house or run errands. Here is a photo blog of the day.



Making cookies for Laura and for Tim & Janice:



Making my lunch of an egg-and-mushroom sandwich:



Visiting with Kitty, the neighbour cat:



Making dinner:




Sharing dessert with Brandy:


Cheering on the Crew:


Random thought: Brewer game with Nadine on Sunday! :)

~Nicole

Jimmy Johns is good, but has the worst commercials

It's true - youtube them.

Friday I had to work at 7:00 so I took the #15 bus so I wouldn't have to be up as early. The bus was a bit late so I was 5 minutes late to work, but it was not a big deal since Katy opened. I'll just take a different bus next time or drive if I have a 7:00 a.m. start. After work I went home and did stuff around the house. I went out with Lindsey and Luke for a bit. I had a vodka-cranberry made with crap vodka, but it was cheap so I'm not complaining.

I was up just before 6:00 Saturday so I could go to the Farmer's Market. Val met me there and we walked around twice. I FINALLY bought my unpasteurized apple cider. I know a half-gallon would have been a better deal, but with it being just me in the house AND I'm the only one that drinks it it would go bad before I used it all, even with mum and dad here. I bought some spicy greens, which I had for supper tonight. I also bought an apple, and a scone for breakfast. Work went well; not as busy as it was the previous Saturday. After work I went home, fed the cat and Lindsey and Luke picked me up to go shopping. After shopping I grilled dinner for us and went to the store for meow mix.

Today I slept in until 6:55. I went for a run, a little over 4 miles. I showered and had a quick breakfast. Lindsey, Luke and I were going to go to the outlet mall in Wisconsin Dells, but just past DeForest we ran over something and we saw small pieces of metal fly off of Lindsey's car. We pulled over to the side and I called AAA since I have a membership. While we were waiting a roadside assistance truck pulled up and hooked the car up and drove us to a gas station to wait for AAA. After waiting for a bit we were picked up and dropped off at the repair shop Lindsey goes to. Liv picked us up and we went to Luke's to grab his car. Since it was too late to hit the Dells since Luke had to work tonight we went to Little Amerika. Cheap prices for decent rides. Not too big, but it's good for locals with little kids that want to go to an "amusement park" for a relatively-cheap price. After hanging there for about 30 minutes we stopped for lunch and parted ways. I watched a bit of the Brewer game and took a nap. I woke up at the end - we won! After waking up I played with Allie, the 3-year old neighbour. It was so cute. She came inside with me and I was going to put my shoes on without untying them, but Allie told me she'd untie my shoes for me. Thanks hun! After we played I did stuff around the house and now I am watching the Primetime Emmys.

Random thought: I hope Nadine and I can go to that game!

~Nicole

Tiredness

I've basically worked and did random stuff around the house this past week. Last night Lindsey, Luke and I made a kick-ass pizza. Tomorrow I'm waking up early to go to the farmer's market; Val might come with me.

In other awesome news my brother proposed to his girlfriend of four years and they will be getting married. :) I'm the last cousin on both sides to get married/be engaged. I'm not worried; I'm only 22. Plus I haven't met Andrew Ranger yet. ;)

Random thought: I want to sleep.

~Nicole

Picture blog

Laura thinks it should be a good idea if I use pictures in my blog like I did last week. I won't do it every day, but I'll try every once in a while.

Yesterday I was up early so I could catch the for work. The first couple of hours seemed a little slow, but the rest of the day went quick. After I got home I fed and went for a . After I showered I visited with my neighbours. I made dinner, which was aloo gobi. . It wasn't my favourite, but I ate it. I watched the game, a loss unfortunately.

This morning I went for another run and ran errands. I am now having lunch. Dinner tonight is going to be something with a porkchop and pineapple and this cowboy/Texas caviar.

Random thought: Like a lot lately, I'm tired.

~Nicole

Playing with the neighbours

So I went outside to get some chives and Kitty, the neighbour's cat, was outside. I went to pet her and then Allie came out. I pushed her for a while. She wanted to go ask Elise, the other neighbour to play. I went over with her, but Elise was sick and couldn't come out to play. Allie was so sad and said "I just want to play with somebody." So a five-minute play turned into half an hour, but we had fun.

Today was good. I was lazy, but my last week and weekend was busy so I deserved it. This week will be busy, but a good one.

Random thought: A nap with my cat was awesome this afternoon.

~Nicole

My bed is calling me

Maybe it's because it's day 1 of my period or because today was a day off and I still did lots of stuff, but I am dead tired! I went out for a run, almost 6 miles. I then did a few things on my list before going out for a late breakfast/early lunch with some friends. After that I met Val downtown and we walked around a bit. We cheered on the runners during the triathalon. After that I did some grocery shopping. I decided not to make peanut butter since we still have some in the house. I called mum and dad and headed over to the block party. I talked for a bit and ended up playing volleyball for almost an hour. I came home, made pesto and made a lean pocket for dinner. My neigbours hooked up a TV outside so I watched the first half of the Packer game with them before coming home and doing the last bit of stuff. Trueblood is on soon so I'll go to bed after that.

My goal of trying new food/recipe has been working so far. I tried a new sushi roll last night. Tonight I was going to make a curried-apple-squash risotto, but I didn't since I was gone for most of the day. But while watching the game Taz (she's Japanese) made this real light noodle dish that was amazing so there was my new dish for the day.

Random thought: Do I want more ice cream?

~Nicole

Chocolate croissants are delicious

Just sayin'. Especially after eating 2 of them. Small ones. And homemade.

It's been a productive week work wise. I worked 8 1/2 hours Tuesday, 7 hours on Wednesday, a little over 6 hours yesterday (I was originally scheduled for 4!), 5 1/2 hours today and I'm scheduled for 8 hours tomorrow. I am scheduled for 30 next week - yes! Tomorrow I'm taking the bus to work. It'll be my first time doing that. Tim and some other friends said not to park in-or-near downtown if there is a Badger game at 11:00, which there is tomorrow. Next week I'll face the same issue, but I'm going to go down early and shop at the farmer's market. It'll be prime apple time so I'm excited to buy UNpasteurized apple cider. There's a taste difference between pasteurized and unpasteurized.

I have the day off on Sunday, but I already have a list of things I need to do! lol Some of those aren't bad, such as laundry and running the dishwasher. Actually most of them aren't, but it's just the fact that I have a decent list of things I need/should to do! I also have Monday off so I'll have two days in a row - woot!

The parents are on a two-week vacation so it's just me and the cat. One of my goals is to try a new recipe each day. Today I made this chicken-pumpkin lasagna. If I make it again I should tweak some of the flavours, but for the first time it wasn't bad. I literally thought of the recipe on the spot. I originally was going to make ravioli, but that takes time and I didn't want to do that tonight. We have lasagna noodles so I decided to make a lasagna. I layered the noodles, pumpkin, bechamel sauce and chicken and topped it with a bit of cheese. Tomorrow Luke, Lindsey and I are going to a Japanese restaurant so I'll be trying some new Japanese items. I'll most likely have sushi, but I'll try rolls I have not had before.

Random thought: Even though I am not a big fan of Fox News at least they showed the shuttle landing.

~Nicole

My day and a weird dream

Early this morning I woke up REALLY hungry; that rarely happens. When it does I can't fall back to sleep. I don't like eating in the middle of the night so I had a bit of milk to try and help things, but it didn't. I had a weird dream, which I'll talk about later. Today was busy at work. I was really tired and got really crabby for the last hour. It didn't help things that I overslept by about 10 minutes. I stopped at my old job after work for lunch and had a delicious sammich. Mum and dad are getting ready for their trip. We'll be going grocery shopping soon. My dream is below, with pictures to help. It's also bulleted since I couldn't remember every detail.

-I had some friends over. My neighbors did too so we had one big party.
-People we didn't know from down the street came. When my friends and I left the others were still here so Laura and Jason asked if they could still use our backyard.
-Then (Luke and Ashton) went to Bluephies in their Halloween costumes and I went to join them

-All of a sudden I was at a (Champ Car) race and I was talking to (Ryan Dalziel) when (Ryan Hunter-Reay) showed up and started talking to us

-After talking to them I was walking around and ran into (Ryan Braun). We talked for a bit and I kind of flirted with him.

-Next thing I know I am in a car with (Elaine) and we stop so I can buy . Then some hottie flirted with me. The end!

Random thought: Damnit Brewers!

~Nicole

The Taste and a Craigslist personal ad?!

Saturday I was up early for work. It was pretty slow, but the day didn't drag. It helped since I was the only one out front and I was constantly finding something to clean or reorganize. After work I changed and met Lindsey, Luke, Sam and CC and we went to the Taste of Madison. It's where a bunch of local restaurants have a booth and offer smaller portions of their popular items. Most items run $2-4. I had eggplant fries with a lemon aioli, veggie-mango curry and a peach-melon soup. The eggplant fries were AWESOME; I want to try and replicate those since those were amazing. Even if I don't fry it I could probably oven-bake them. The curry was okay. The soup was decent, a nice way to end the evening. I played with my neighbors for a bit before I met Lindsey and Luke. We went grocery shopping for pizza ingredients and we bought beer. We made pizza, drank beer and enjoyed a s'more.

Sunday I was up early and went out for a walk. After the walk I got things ready for the Brewer game. Mom and I went and had a good time, but our seats were in the sun and it got really warm. The game went into extra innings so by the time the extra innings started we were in the shade. We stopped and shared an ice cream cone. I fixed myself french toast for dinner.

This morning I went out for a nice run and walk. After a shower, breakfast and doing misc. stuff Lindsey and I did some window shopping. After I got back I made lunch and watched the game. Lindsey talked me into looking into Craigslist personal ads to get myself into the game. I was a bit leary at first, but after talking to her and Jen I figured what do I have to lose? Found someone with similar interests and we'll see. It's not like I'm looking for a husband and who knows, maybe I'll end up with a friend or something more. Jeremy and I have similar interests and we talk almost daily. I had a work meeting downtown so I left early and met Lindsey and Luke for a beer. The work meeting was boring, but we got pizza. I filled up the car with gas before stopping home. I might watch a movie tonight, but I'm not sure. I work Tuesday-Saturday this week so don't expect long updates.

Random thought: I felt something crawling on me and it was a spider - gross!

Canadian Bacon

I needed some comedy before going to work. Usually I just turn on the MLB Network. I'm hitting up the Taste of Madison after work so that'll be fun. I've always wanted to go. After that...who knows.

Random thought: My tummy feels funny.

~Nicole

I totally high-schooled it last night

I was going to see Final Destination 4 (in 3D) last night with some friends, but when I found out it's bloody and somewhat gory I opted out. I do not like those kind of movies. And for those of you that say how did I not know it would be that kind of movie I have not seen the first three so I didn't know what I was getting myself into. So what did I do instead? Jolie, Erica and I drove around for a bit, browsed through various catalogues and wandered around Walgreens. Was it the most productive? No, but it sure beat paying $10+ on a movie I wouldn't have liked.

The rest of the day was okay. I worked and it was surprisingly slow since school starts back this week. After work I was really craving bagels so I stopped at the store and bought some. I made myself a sandwich before mowing the lawn. Mom and I had dinner before I went out for my fun. I was in bed by midnight. I was up a little after 7:00 this morning. I ran almost 4 miles this morning and walked about another 2. I showered and had breakfast. Dad had an appointment and since the other car is in service AGAIN I took him back to work. I stopped at the store and bought some marinated turkey that we grilled for lunch. Yum! This evening I'm trying a new recipe from my Indian cookbook. I'll also watch some of the Brewer game and Top Chef.

Random thought: That beer I had while grilling was good!