The Hills

So... to all the naysayers out there that don't believe "The Hills" is real, here is a quote from tonight's show. After a date with Stephen, Lauren said, "Being with Stephen makes me feel like I'm in high school.... but ... I'm not in high school anymore." That is proof that this show is real. Seriously people! I do not believe that some jaded, cynical Hollywood writers could come up with something that heartfelt!

Freakin' A train

The most dreaded words.

30 Rock quote of the week (4/24)

Okay, this week I was able to narrow it down to two, so I don't have to rewrite the entire episode like last week.

Both from Jack.

"Hugging... is so ethnic."

"Once they cast Clay Aiken in Spamalot, I knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up here."

The Office quote of the week (4/24)

Dwight and Michael are walking around the NYC nightclub, and Dwight says: These women look like white slaves.

Tagged

Anne Lise tagged me.

Book Tag
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

The closest book to me is called "Serendipitous Outings Near New York City." My plan with this book is to rent a car one day, open the book up randomly, and go to whichever destination is on that page. So doing this tag is actually similar to the purpose for which I got the book in the first place.

Here is the quote: We settled for the three most famous locales and were well rewarded for our hikes through some rough terrain.

I wish I was on a serendipitous outing right now instead of at work.

everyone loves mac and cheese!

Look who else went to Hill Country on April 12! When we went there, there were signs up that the place would be closed at 12:00 for a party and I remember thinking "Who starts a party at midnight?" Now I know.

Cape Cod

Over the weekend, I went up to Boston to visit my sister and her family, and my parents who were there, as well. We spent Saturday in Cape Cod, which was so lovely. We had beautiful spring weather and the sky was perfectly clear.

We went to the Sandwich glass museum, where they had a glass blowing demonstration. Thomas was so excited, and I know this because he said, "This is so exciting!" several times. He got to be the special helper for the glass blower and he could not have been cuter! When asked how strong he was, he said, "I'm five."

After the museum, we went to the beach where the kids decided 40 degree water was perfectly fine to trudge through and Greg had to go out to catch Maureen several times because she wanted to get all the way in. When it was time to go, she went totally mental. She's a wimp about the cold, like all of us in the D family, so we were surprised she went in at all.

The Office quote of the week (4/17)

This is an episode that felt like a throw back to the British version --the final episode.

Michael: Everyday I get a little more desperate and desperate situations yield the quickest results.

30 Rock quote of the week (4/17) Dennis Returns!

This was such a great episode, and what made it even greater was that there were so many quotes that remind me of my peeps! So tonight, I'm doing something different and dedicating some of my favorites to different people. (in order of how they appeared in the show)

For Esther: a quote from Jack --"I'm helping to organize a little fund raiser for John McCain this weekend and I need some women to attend so it doesn't turn into another giant sausage fest."
and this one from Dennis -- "Thanks Mayor Bloomberger..... Stern rules! Baba Booey!"

For Jill: a quote from Liz Lemon --"Food network doesn't have a news show."
and this one from the "Republican Celebrity" -- "We used to call this room the Jew room."

For LT: a quote from Dennis --"When I say subway, you say hero... Subway...."
and this one from Tracy Jordan --"Black people. Don't vote! Just don't do it. In the amount of time it takes you to vote, you can play three games of pool."

For Val and Lise (both Friends fans, like me): another one from Dennis -- "We're like Ross and Rachel, just not gay."

For Jeremy (who also makes some political comments on his blog): After Kenneth tells Jack that he writes in the Lord's name for President, Jack says, "That's Republican. We count those."

For Greg --“My Sabora de Soledad? I only have Spanish delis in my neighborhood!”

And I'll claim one for myself! Jack said to Liz -- "Save that for your iVillage blog."

A Room with a Vew

I love the window in my office, and it's especially lovely this time of year because of this beautiful tree. Honestly. It makes me so happy.

When our building was still being renovated, my coworkers and I went and picked out our offices. As soon as I saw this one, I knew this was the one for me, but was too afraid to say anything because I figured everyone would want it. I was the lowest on the totem pole, so I figured I wouldn't get what I wanted. But everyone liked different things about their offices -- one person picked a different office because it was about one foot wider, another person liked the view from a different office (although I think she just wanted to be at the opposite end of the hall from our supervisor). So when it came down to it, we didn't even have to fight over them and I got the one I wanted. Then we moved in and unpacked our boxes and thought we'd never have to move again (this was our third move in less than 5 years).

Two years later... we were told some people from our department were being dispersed and a new program was moving in. It was just me and my supervisor that were left, and we knew they'd be a terrible program to share a floor with. We thought about moving to another floor. In fact, it was my supervisor's idea for us to move. But in the end, I couldn't part with this window and talked her into staying. Now only 18 months later, that program has also moved out.

How glad am I now that I am so stubborn and that I get stuck on material things?

Now they are replacing the windows in our landmark building, which is a huge ordeal, apparently. I had to pack and move out of my office (again! but only temporarily) until they have finished the work. But I don't even mind this time because now my window will be even better because it will open, which will be wonderful on days like today (70 degrees out).

A celebration we can all get behind!

Did you know that April is Grilled Cheese month? I just learned this information today. If you want to post your favorite experience about eating grilled cheese, you can do so here on Wednesday. Believe it or not, I don't know that I have a favorite grilled cheese experience. They are all equally good!

April is also Child Abuse Prevention month. If you notice the Empire State Building lit up in blue lights this month, it is for this reason. Here's also info about my agency.

Happy Birthday Jason!

I made plans to see my friend, Jason, on Saturday. Before meeting up with him, I remembered that his birthday is someday this week, but couldn't remember the exact date. I asked him what day it is, and he wouldn't tell me, which led to me asking him as casually as possible just about every five minutes. For example, he was telling me about a friend from college that has the same birthday, and I said, "Oh really? What day is that again?" Later, I was talking about my recently purchased JM tickets, and my disappointment that he won't be performing on my birthday again this year, and I slipped in, "What are you doing for your birthday, Jason, and when is that again?" He didn't fall for my tricks, though. So the next tactic was to try to wrestle him to the ground and get his wallet out to take a peek at his driver's license. We decided not to do it, since we happened to be sitting in a very crowded part of Central Park and it might be a little conspicuous. But that did not stop me from continually grabbing his rear to make him think that I was going for the wallet. My next brilliant idea was to send a text to Julia in Utah asking her the date. Her response? "I'm not allowed to tell you." WHAT?? How did she know??

We decided to take him to dinner, anyway. Since Kathy had to make a stop at H&M and it was Saturday in New York City in the beginning of the spring tourist season, naturally we went downtown, but not too far downtown. This put us in Chelsea, which put us near Hill Country, a restaurant I've been wanting to try (as reported in a previous entry). When Kathy suggested it, I acted all casual, like, "Yeah, Hill Country, that's a place I've been wanting to try. That sounds cool. But since it's your birthday, Jason, you should pick. What day is your birthday again?" He still didn't bite, but agreed that BBQ sounded good and I thought "Yes! I win again!"

So, we sat at our table and were given our "Meal tickets." This means you have to go stand in line to get your food. I ordered the brisket and was handed some meat in a piece of butcher paper and a sticker for my meal ticket. Then I got in the next line for side orders, which came in a paper cup. We all got something from the side order stand to share, so we had to scoop it out onto our butcher paper. I, of course, got the mac 'n cheese for my side. And I'm here to report that it is quite good, but not eatery good or Hudson Cafe good, or even Chat 'n Chew good. But better than Virgil's. And all the barbequed meat was great. We all agreed that we don't like the gimmicky meal tickets, however, and would prefer to have a regular dining experience of ordering our pounds and pounds of meat and carbs and eating off of plates like civilized people.

It was a good night, even though I still don't know when Jason's birthday is.

Only in New York...

Only in New York would you hear, "It's such a nice day. I just want to do something. Let's go to a movie."

30 Rock quote of the week (4/10)

Ah! 30 Rock! The love of my life returns. The part of this show I loved the best was when Vice President Cheney called to congratulate Jack on MILF Island, and Jack was disappointed and mouthed, "I'm gonna kill you!" to his assistant.

But the quote goes to Kenneth: Everyone knows the weight of a lie makes your soul so heavy that you can't rise up to heaven... and you don't look good in jeans from behind.

His "prayer" was also classic.

The Office quote of the week (4/10)

The return of "The Office" and it did not disappoint! I think this was the best episode of the season by far, although I did have some trouble finding one good quote. This one made me laugh out loud, though.

Michael: Snip Snap! Snip Snap! Snip Snap! You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies has on a person.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Today is the second time that I went online to check movie times for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and once again found out... it hasn't been released yet!! I did the same thing about three weeks ago, and then again today. I really thought today was the day. So, now I know it is next Friday and I will be there. In the meantime, I came home and watched this instead.

The celebration continues -- Let's get baked!

A few weeks ago, a new place opened near my office called Royale. As soon as I walked past it, I gazed in to see what their wares are... and guess what! Cupcakes and other baked goods. I practically sprinted away. I really don't need more temptations. Heidi was not so good. She walked in, chatted up the owner, got free samples and became a regular customer. She found out that they carry products from the cupcake place Baked which was recently featured in this article about the best cupcakes in the country. She found out that they only have variations on vanilla and chocolate, but begged to try the sweet and salty cupcake described in the article. The owner obliged this week. It actually has salt sprinkled on top of the frosting. I also tried their Lemondrop cake a few weeks ago and it is amazing!

Summer tours

The following are the shows I will be seeing this summer:

June 10 -- Death Cab for Cutie

July 9 -- John Mayer at Jones Beach (#23)
July 12 -- John Mayer in Boston if I can talk my sister into going with me
July 14 -- Ricky Gervais (stand-up, not singing)
July 15 -- John Mayer in NJ
July 28 -- Bruce Springsteen
July 31 -- Bruce Springsteen

(Bon Jovi is performing on July 14 & 15 at MSG. I would be going to that, too, if I didn't already have plans.)

The celebration is bi-coastal

Esther took her cupcake assignment to heart. If you are interested in reading about it, you can do so here.

Celebrating cupcake week

After watching Martha Stewart this week, I decided to get into the spirit and bake some cupcakes on Saturday. I invited some friends over to eat them, so I was stuck--I really had to make them. I chose to make the Meyer Lemon Raspberry cupcake that was featured from the Vanilla Bakeshop in Santa Monica. The first modification that I had to make is that when I went to the store to buy vanilla bean, I found that it was $16 for a bottle that contained 2 vanilla beans. So.... no, that didn't happen. I like my friends, but not that much. The second modification is that I decided not to buy the sanding sugar to dip the frosting in, or the raspberry to put on top, because I figured that was more for decoration than taste. The third modification happened because I started to make the lemon curd to put in as filling and it was so complicated and I was already running late... so I didn't make that either.

So, in the end... I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and not as vanilla as it would be if I had used vanilla bean. Whatever. Here's a photo.

People are saying...

Some people think that there is a resemblance between one of the aspiring models on America's Next Top Model and the Dickerson chicks. What do you think?