Sunday, June 12, 2011

Adventures in dating presents: Angry Guy

I had promised to tell my tales of dating gone wrong. I guess it's time.

My first tale deals with a gentleman we'll call "Angry Guy." Angry Guy messaged me on the dating site. After a bit of back and forth, he asked me if I wanted to get something to eat after work. He hadn't raised any red flags, so I agreed and we met up in Princeton at Triumph Brewery.

Dinner was fine. Conversation was good. I was charming. He was funny. It was all good. After the check was paid (by him), he asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Still, no red flags had been raised, so I said "sure!"

We walked across Nassau Street to the benches set out in front of Princeton University's library and sat. Again, conversation flowed easily. But then a lady in an SUV attempted to park in a street spot in front of us. She was having some difficulty, as the spot was pretty small. And the entire mood changed.

Angry Guy began berating her for being a "stupid chick driver, this is why I hate everyone who drives SUVs, people need to learn how to drive," and on and on. The language was a bit more colorful. I paraphrased.

Not knowing how to respond to this, I sort of laughed, hoping he was joking. He wasn't. After the SUV gave up, he began yelling (YELLING) at some college kids riding their bikes on the sidewalk in front of us. Apparently they were "smelly hippies" who should "learn how to share the sidewalk with other humans" They weren't really bothering us. And we were sitting pretty far from where they were riding. And also, he was directly yelling at these kids, who pedaled off, horrified.

And me? Suddenly I needed to get home, cause there was an emergency. ("Hi Charlotte it's Carrie, something bad happened." "SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED!?!?!?" One of my favorite episodes EVER.)

I got a message from him the next day. He asked how I was doing, and would I like to go out another time? I said no, thank you. He replied with a tirade on how this is the reason I'm still single! That girls shouldn't go out with a guy just once and then be a b*tch and never call again and he didn't want to go out with me again cause I wasn't good enough for him anyway! !!!

So yeah. Dating was fun only for my work bffs, Anne and Cecilia, who would hear my stories the next day and laugh merrily because they were happily married/engaged. (Love you girls. :) )

They were also integral to my screening process. If I was unsure about a guy, I would forward the profile and pics to them for approval/denial.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Knowledge Junkie

Hey everyone! Sorry I missed a few days. Two things caused the delay in posts:

  1. I had one of my life killer headaches. (It's still not completely gone.)
  2. The new issue of Mental Floss was delivered.
When the new Mental Floss arrives, all other activities must halt until I've read it from cover to cover, at least twice. It's random knowledge at its finest. I feel as though my internal random information generator has been restocked.

I started reading Mental Floss when I worked at Barnes & Noble. I was a music seller (aka music snob), and could name a song from a customer's bad singing in just seconds. Looking back, that was the best job I've had so far. It's where I was happiest. My coworkers were smart and quirky. I still talk to many of them, and it's been almost 10 years since I worked there. Maybe it's the headache talking, but I miss that place.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Web site addiction

I realize that my last few posts have been super girly, and to my male readers: I apologize. I'll make it up to you.

I spent most of my day today reading articles on the web site Cracked. I am fully and completely addicted to this site. I end up clicking every article in every article, ending up with insane amounts of open tabs. As I write this, I have 17 tabs open of just Cracked articles. I actually avoid going on the site because I know if I do, I'll end up wasting my entire day on it. It's a serious problem.

I have the same problem with The Hairpin. But not as severe. With The Hairpin, I subscribed through Google Reader and am able to weed out the articles I want to read. I had to stop myself from adding Cracked to my Reader or I would never stop reading.

Product review: OPI Black Shatter

I went to the mall today to spend my $20 Old Navy Groupon. I failed. There was nothing there I wanted. As consolation, I wandered over to Trade Secret, hoping to see if the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean Collection from OPI was in. I have Planks A Lot on my nails right now. I wanted Mermaid's Tears. They were sold out. :(

They did, however, have Black Shatter, which I have been wanting to try but has been sold out EVERYWHERE. So I got it.

These are my most recent colors:
From left to right: Black Shatter, Y'All Come Back, Hear?,
Do You Think I'm Tex-y?, and Planks A Lot
I am currently wearing Planks A Lot on my hands. It's a soft, fresh color for spring. I don't love it. (But my 3 year old niece complimented me on it. And she always has her nails done. That isn't sarcasm.)
It's a bit too pastel for my tastes. I usually go for bright, bold colors, but wanted to try something different. I added the Black Shatter.
Much better. The Shatter was easy to apply, goof proof, and dried quickly. I like how it quickly and easily transformed a color I didn't love to something bold and unexpected. As you can tell from the photo, I'm not the neatest when I do my nails, but the edges cleaned up easily after it was dry. I LOVE the effect. It definitely needs a top coat to seal the effect in and add shine. The Shatter also served a dual purpose in refreshing my week old (and starting to chip) manicure. I didn't have to start over from scratch! I'm definitely going to experiment more with this.

ADDENDUM:
Since pushing the publish button, I have changed both the color on both my toes and my fingers. I was itching to try the Texas colors.

The orange Y'All Come Back, Hear? is now on my toes. It took 4 coats for it to really show up. I suspect if I had lighter skin, it wouldn't have taken as many. It's a pretty color, but not very well suited for my skin tone. I may like it better in the daylight. I left it on. It may grow on me. If I add the Black Shatter, it will be perfect for Halloween.
Please disregard the messy-ness. Also, my camera was acting up
so these aren't very clear. You get the idea, though.
I put the very pink Do You Think I'm Tex-y? on my fingers. I love this color. It's bright, happy, and bold. Exactly what I wanted for a summer color. Like Y'All Come Back, it needed additional coats to really stand out. This may be my go-to for the summer. It will also work really well with the Black Shatter.
Again. Messy. It will be fine after I shower. That's how I roll.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Lemon Cilantro Chicken Soup

I decided to cook today. The recipe is one of my own: lemon cilantro chicken soup. I've made it before and each time it's a little bit different. I used the bare minimum of dishes (I hate doing dishes). It's SO easy. It's also celery-free, since celery is of the devil.

Ingredients:
  • 1 whole rotisserie chicken (usually sold hot at most supermarkets. I got mine at A&P for $6)
  • 1 small turnip
  • 1 carrot
  • 5 red potatoes
  • 1 package button mushrooms
  • 3 32 ounce boxes of low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro
  • 1 whole lemon
  • 1/2 cup dry barley
  • 2 cups uncooked pasta (I used egg noodles, but any pasta works)
Pour 2 boxes of the chicken broth and the barley into a large pot and set it on the stove on medium heat. While the broth is heating up, cut up the turnip, carrot, potatoes, and mushrooms, adding each to the broth as you cut them up. Cut the carrot and turnip small, and cut the potatoes into quarters. Slice the mushrooms  thick.

At this point, the broth should be boiling.

I purchased the chicken the night before so it would be cold when I needed it, otherwise it would be too hot to rip apart. Tear it into small pieces with your hands (the most fun part) and toss it in the pot. (Maya sat patiently at my feet, hoping something would fall.) Take about half of the bunch of cilantro, chop fine, and toss in. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the pot, making sure not to include the seeds.

If you notice that the soup is getting a bit thick, you can add more broth or water.

Add the 2 cups of pasta, cover the pot, and leave it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked.

And that's it! Cleanup is super easy; I only had the knife and cutting board to wash.

It's so fresh and summery with the lemon and cilantro. After refrigeration, the broth will get absorbed by the pasta, so I keep a box of chicken broth to add before reheating.