The week in review...

Yes, this week has proved to be quite a good week in reality TV. First, on The Next Food Network Star (yes, I DO watch it and yes, I DO like it), my least favorite contestant got the boot. She was just such a... drip. That's a bad descriptor word, but really, I can not think of any other way to describe her. She lacked emotion and all she wanted to cook was 'healthy' food. What a bore. Oh, and then there's Evette... Sweatheart, seriously tone down your latin flavor... I'm all about ethnic cooking, but if I have to hear about sofrito one more time... She uses it in EVERYTHING. Even in her "Tortilla de Papa y Carne de Cerdo con Espinaca" which she made this week. What's that, you ask? Oh, apparently that's spanish for Omelet. On the other hand, Evette is adorable and everything she makes really does look good and looks pretty darn easy as well. Then, on The Amazing Race, the 'pinks' got kicked off. All I have to say about that is it was about time; I wasn't sure if I could bear another week of watching these girls with their annoying accents and all-pink clothing and their boy-crazy talk. Next week, I hope the old people arrive on the mat last.

Aside from television watching, I really have been keeping busy. I have packed up a ton of my stuff and have been trying to organize a bit so I'm ready for my move. I can't believe I'll be in my new place in just about 3 weeks. I've also been pretty busy with my work too, which I'm actually working on late tonight, in hopes that I don't have too much to do over the weekend. Well, really hoping to not have to work at all over the weekend.

In blogging news, my dear friend, Todd, has finally started a blog in which he'll be posting his rants about people who 'annoy' him. I'll post the link to his blog shortly. I eagerly await reading his tirades, as he infuses his writing with a level of hilarity I can only dream of matching... Also, a warning: this blog may not be the one for reading at work; profanities abound and are actually part of the URL.

Bubble Pop Electric

As I pack, I simply cannot resist the urge to pop the bubble wrap bubbles. It is possibly the most fun (and only fun) aspect of packing.

Mamma Mia!

Had such a great weekend. Not only was the weather amazing, but on Friday I proved my "Boggle Queen" title by beating my challenger, Brian, almost by double. That's right. I believe the final score was something around 117 (me) to 59 (Brian). I was especially proud of my score (and perhaps gloated a BIT too much) since Brian is such a smarty-pants. He may be king of triva, but I remain reigning queen of boggle.

Saturday was even more beautiful than Friday- I even got some sun- and I mean I had tan lines where my shirt was! Almost forgot to mention, I found an apartment. It's a nice two bedroom place in Arvada; close to the city, really close to Danielle. ;) I really like the location and am very excited to have a place to call my own. Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing Mamma Mia! at the Buell Theater. Danielle, Bill, Brian, and I had a great dinner at Vesta Dipping Grill beforehand. Danielle introduced us all to Endamame, which are soy beans doused in salt- sooo yummy. Bill refused to eat them because they were covered in salt and he claimed it would make his taste buds explode; I didn't listen. I ate a bunch of them and later that night realized that some of my tastebuds had indeed exploded... For dinner, I had seared tuna that was accompanied by 3 tasty dipping sauces. I have been wanting seared tuna for so long. Last time I had it was probably over a year ago at Branmor's (which I highly recommend getting it there as well). The only thing I can suggest is order it rare- I ordered it medium-rare thanks to the suggestion of our high-as-a-kite waiter, but really had wished I just got it rare. It was still super good and tasty though. I also tried duck for the first time, which is what Danielle had- very yummy as well.

After dinner, we saw Mamma Mia, which was fantastic. It has been so long since I have been to the theater- I think the last time was in college when I saw Les Miserables. And I saw in the program that Sweet Charity is coming here next winter with Molly Ringwald starring- I have GOT to see that! It is quite odd here, though, the wide variety of clothing people darn for the theater. I saw everything from flip flops and jeans to sparkly evening dresses. Next time I go, I'm wearing my party dress.

Following Mamma Mia, we went to Corridor 44 (or is it 45?), a champagne bar in Larimer Square. It's a really cool bar and they have all of these yummy champagne cocktails. Think martini's but instead of vodka or gin as the main ingredient, substitute champagne. For example, I had one called a Raspberry Truffle that had champagne, Godiva Liqueur, and raspberry vodka- very yummy. Overall, it was a fantastic night. OH! and how could I almost forget to mention- on the way home, we took the HOV lanes on 25, (my first time) to truly make it a night I'll never forget.

Bradley on TV!

For the first time since I was in high school, Bradley University was in the NCAA Tournament! It was awesome to be able to watch my alma mater on TV and they did surprisingly well, making it into the Sweet Sixteen! Of course, the one game I go out to a bar to watch the game, in my Bradley sweatshirt, they lost, but it was still fun nonetheless. Let's hope they can pull it off again next year!

Adventures with Mommy

Saturday night, my mom arrived from Chicago and apparently brought the dismal, grey Chicago weather with her. It seems to be that every time she comes to visit, she does not get to enjoy the wonderful weather that Denver constantly brags about and she never gets to see the mountains. After picking her up from the airport, I brought her to a little Irish pub for some pints and appetizers. We spent her time out here apartment hunting, shopping, eating, and of course drinking. We had a fun night at Fado with Clancy boys. Got to introduce my mom to some loud, Irish drinking songs and even showed off my skills on the drum up on stage. As always, it was a blast at Fado. And I even got a cool T-shirt for playing the drum. Gosh, it seems like so long ago that she was here now, I started writing this post last week but have been so busy with various things that I never got around to finish. We also went to Boulder for lunch one day, watched the Sopranos, watched The Amazing Race, had High Tea at the Brown Palace Hotel, watched more TV, packed, had coffee with Danielle, and there's got to be lots more. The week went by too fast. Good news is, both of my parents are coming out here for Easter, so I will get to see both of them in no time!

Word of the Day

Keep this word in mind for your St. Patrick's Day hangover:

crapulous: sick from, or marked by, excessive drinking.

Cold again.

So, the past week has been dominated by snow and wind and chilly temperatures. I hate it. I have been so extremely spoiled by Denver's weather that when we actually get winter weather in winter (who would have thought?) I get all sorts of crabby. I have to say today it was in the low-50s, which would have been great, but there were horrible winds that totally ruined it all.

Anyone watch The Apprentice? On this week's episode, did anyone happen to notice the stack of 6 bagel halves that Brent prepared with cream cheese and then proceeded to eat? I loved how the cameras zoomed in on the stack of bagels. I also love how everyone hates Brent.

I guess it's been a while since I've written... This weekend was cold, so stayed in quite a bit. But, I am now a stout beer aficionado. Well, at least that what I like to think. Went to an Irish pub in Boulder and taste tested Guinness vs. Murphy's. And ... the verdict is... I like Murphy's better. I still like Guinness but I think I like the taste of the Murphy's a little more. Anyways, now I am ready for blind taste testing.

On a sour, very sour note, my laptop went all ape-shit on me two days ago, and I ended up having to reload the whole darn thing and starting anew. Spent an afternoon waiting for my Apple Genius Bar appointment, only to get called up to the bar, and apparently I (emphasis on "I") fixed the problem. I guess I'm an apple genius now too. The genius (might I add he was wearing a kilt- a utilikilt!) I was working with at the apple store offered me an application. Of course jokingly offered it, because the geniuses there are quite pompous and higher-than-thou geniuses. They like using words and phrases like "kernel panic" and "catalog hierarchy". Anyways, I'm still having issues with my applications working correctly, but have my old desktop up and running now, so I've been tediously working between my laptop, desktop, external hard drive, and back up CD's. It looks like Apple threw up all over my table. After spending all day trying to fix things AND get some work done, I realized at 930pm that I was still sitting there in my pj's and it was time to take a shower and relax for the rest of the night. So, I'm currently drinking a Budweiser and catching up on my TV shows.

I am sooooooo excited for the upcoming holiday this weekend. It is St. Patrick's Day and for the first time ever, I have a party to attend. Can you believe an Irish girl like myself has never had a St. Patrick's Day party to attend or host? Well, it's true. I will be eating some yummy Shepherd's Pie and Irish Soda bread, as well as numerous other Irish treats, I'm sure, and, did I mention, beer?? I'm so excited. You just can not beat a combination of potatoes, beer, and soda bread.

THEN, on Saturday, my mom is coming for a little visit. I have lots of fun things planned for her visit including an evening at Fado's to sing-along with my Clancy boys, High Tea at the Brown Palace Hotel, and I will finally take her to my beloved city, Boulder.

Other than the computer angst, my week has been flying by. I have been looking for apartments, which I have realized is a totally daunting task, especially when you aren't really sure if you want to become a city-chick or stay a suburbanite.

Random Thoughts

•Hamburger Helper doesn't taste as good as I remembered.

•I think someone should do a study on mass merchandiser's patrons and their speed of walking. For instance I think the walking speed of a Wal-Mart customer is about 1/3 the walking speed of a Target customer. I walk at a normal pace, perhaps a little faster than normal, and was at Wal-Mart this evening behind someone with a 3.5 foot wide ass (so, I couldn't get past him) walking slower than a herd of turtles. That just annoys me to no end. Not only is the person rude for not staying to one side of the aisle, but also is completely clueless that he may be causing a traffic jam. Lately every time I go to Wal-Mart, I think to myself, why did I come here?

•And my last thought: Budweiser is good. And a side-note to this one, it looks as though there is someone who works for Coors Brewery moving in. They drive a Coors van. I need to make friends with this newcomer. ;)

The highlight of my ebay career

I have an auction listed right now with 40 people watching it. FORTY!

Freshest Coors Light (outside of the brewery)...

This is a liquor store kiddie-corner from the brewery- loved the sign on the outside. I also forgot to mention that after the brewery tour, went to explore downtown Golden, CO. It's really quite cute and there is even a General Store with penny candy! I had to get a couple of my favorites- Mary Jane's, Pop Rocks, and Lemonheads- so yummy!

Face to Face with Buffalo Bill.

Another gorgeous weekend in Colorado. Springlike weather inspired the planning (and execution) of a tourist day. On Saturday, I visited Buffalo Bill's grave up near (or maybe on??) Lookout Mountain, which lies just west of Denver and is also host to a slew of radio towers. Quite interestingly, my mom had visited his birthplace in Wyoming many moons ago when she was on a family trip to Yellowstone as a little girl. The gravesite is located high above Denver and there are many lookout points to see the city and plains, and the Coors brewery- it's really an awesome view (if you can see past all of the radio towers!). Of course, I had to visit the giftshop where I picked up an awesome Buffalo Bill magnet and perused the countless tchatchkes (think plastic cap guns, Native American figurines, slices of trees with a lovely image of the Rockies decoupaged on, lots of polished rocks, shot glasses...).

After paying my respects to Buffalo Bill, we headed to the Coors Brewery for a tour and, more importantly, free samples. I got to taste the freshest Coors Light available during the middle of the tour, then at the end of the tour, there is a tasting room where you get 3 free beers. I had to have another fresh Coors Light, then also had a Hard Punch Zima slushie, and a Blue Moon. So fresh, cold, and tasty. Good stuff. And of course, I hit up the gift shop to pick up a magnet in commemoration of my consumption of the freshest Coors Light in the world.

Oh gosh, how could I not mention my Friday night. My friend Kimberly had her birthday celebration at the Purple Martini downtown; quite a swank little bar. Apparently our reservations got screwed up, so they placed us in the infamous Ladies Lounge, which I heard so much about after Danielle was here on New Year's Eve. This is like a little side bar with it's own door, seats, benches, etc. that is right next to the Women's bathroom. Normally only women are allowed in this area, but this night, they let the boys in... I had planned on trying a few different types of martinis, but after having my first "pink panties" martini, I was hooked. My pink panties (the drink not the undergarment) also led to many dirty jokes for the rest of the evening. Topped the night off with dinner at Wazee Supper Club. Had some great pizza there and my only non-girly drink of the night, a beer.

Sunday was also beautiful outside. Relaxed for most of the day, took a walk, and even got to watch my alma mater, Bradley University, get slaughtered in the Missouri Valley Conference championship basketball game vs. SIU. It was so sad to see them do so badly, but I was thrilled to actually get to watch them on TV for once and they were oh-so-close to getting into the NCAA tournament. Actually, they still do have a chance from what I understand, but their performance in Sunday's game most likely nullified that opportunity.