Friday, January 28, 2011

Wha...what is a weekend?!?!?


Ok so I admit it I am a closet Masterpiece Theater junky, Alistair Cooke has always and will always be my boy, heck if it’s on PBS I’ll probably watch it, though I guess after blogging about it everyone will now know my secret. But I have to share openly now because over the last three weeks I have been COMPLETELY hooked on a new mini-series Dowton Abbey, I thought I was probably the only person in America under the age of 50 watching the show until CashMoney alerted me to the fact that NY Mag  had done a whole article about the series, in particular Maggie Smith’s absolutely pitch perfect performance as Lady Grantham. The production is rich (I think I read somewhere it costs something a million pounds per hour of television to produce eeep) and unlike Julian Fellowes usual film work where only key story lines for the servants are brought to light, here the whole political landscape of both upstairs (those who are to the manor born) and downstairs (the ladies maids, and cooks, butlers, and footman etc) are completely brought to light. And seriously back to Maggie Smith she is honestly given some of the best zingers in the whole show (particularly when one character explains that he has a job as an attorney, how very middle class, but will have plenty of time to attend to something at the weekend…to which she replies with great trepidation “Wh…what is a weekend?” )and delivers them with such dead pan I can barely keep from falling off the couch laughing (now this is coming from a true masterpiece lover) but I ensure you, you will have trouble stifling at least a giggle.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Breen Breen the Dancing Machine

So Blair’s mom was in town this past weekend, unfortunately I was a bit under the weather on Saturday evening and wasn’t able to make it out to dinner with the group at Abe and Arthur’s but made up for it with a two hour dance party at 1G as pictured above…no one belts out tunes into a “microphone” (aka Swiffer Wet Jet) like this girl…see above. And yesterday I was lucky enough to accompany Momma Breen to her final treatment for breast cancer, she underwent 6 weeks of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation and yesterday was her last session of radiation, so the whole family headed out with her and they had her bang a gong to signify the end of her treatment, what I wasn’t at all surprised to hear (but it’s still always nice) was that all of the staff that she saw on a daily basis would miss her terribly, and what a posterchild for good attitude she was throughout her treatment, nothing keeps you healthier than having a smile on your face and laughing as much as possible, and my mother is certainly living proof of that. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of said gong ceremony because I was a space cadet and forgot I could take one with my blackberry, luckily my aunt has an action shot which I hope she posts on facebook!

PS. And for those of you who did not catch the incredible handi-work I did with the title of this post, Gene Gene The Dancing Machine was a recurring skit on the Gong Show and with references to gongs and dance parties in the same post I thought it only appropriate

Friday, January 14, 2011

This changes everything...again


So I pose a question to all, I have for the past 3 or so years been dying to get an iPhone…despite the fact that when I am pretty much all thumbs when it comes to texting on the thing, prepare yourself for some humdingers, I think once I tried to type “That sounds fantastic” and ended up with something to the effect of “thank you hippopotomaus” damn autotext thing, imagine how well that went over…I’ll tell you how…like a lead balloon. Anyway so do I bite the bullet and jump like all the rest of the Verizon beholden and get the thing Feb 10, every fibre of my body wants to run out to the Verizon store now and get in line (well not really I think people who camp out for anything be it Twilight or Harry Potter or the newest release of Call of Duty are just losers with a capital L…newsflash Edward Cullen is not real and Robert Pattison has no interest in dating you..ever..he’s with angry old Pot O Stew…please don’t be mad Chrissy). That being said do I buy the phone immediately as in during normal daylight hours on February 10th or take the really lazy route and have it mailed to me, or should I wait at least a week or two to see if the thing totally sucks. I mean already I know that Verizon’s technology is such that you can’t use more than one application at time, and this won’t be available until the iPhone 5 comes out NEXT YEAR…seriously a whole year….and seriously Verizon haven’t you wanted the iPhone since like the dawn of Christ how come you didn’t have your technology aligned perfectly so that when Apple gave you the go ahead you coulda been like cool man we’re ready. Anyway that’s neither here nor there, I will definitely buy the iPhone 5 when it comes out, but do I wait a WHOLE YEAR (jeez I can’t really believe that’s true) or suck it up and buy the iPhone 4 with a 1 year contract (paying more obviously) and upgrade next year, I have to think that anything even a slightly lower functioning iPhone will be superior to my current it’s actually painful to browse the internet on it and I only do it in dire circumstances Blackberry, what does everyone think? I know what I think…I want the iPhone so badly I might die….is that enough to justify it??

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills...


Oh Hai, I took a week off, not from life (or work L) just from blogging because I told everyone I would post pictures of the new digs and frankly the place is simply not ready to be photographed. Sure we have all the essentials:

Couch: Check
Beautiful brand new 42’ flat screen (thanks again Dad and Mia): Check
Paint (you saw that debacle in my last post): Check
Beds (yes Cash Money’s bedroom is no longer styled by Jacobim Mugatu his Derelicte collection): Check
Garbage Can (yes we sold out and forked over probably way too much for on of those stupid Simple Human ones, can someone please explain how they manage to justify charging $50 for their cheapest model, what does this trash can do??): Check

We’ve actually started decorating as well, we have the kitchen almost fully done, wine glasses, dishtowels, hand towels in the bathroom and (drumroll) a full bottle of handsoap. However, the one thing that has completely confounded me for the last two weeks is hanging my darn curtains, I have them all, both for my bedroom and for the living room, and Alli was kind enough to lend us her drill, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the screws into the wall, in fact I almost lost an eye last week when I decided I would just apply enough pressure with the drill to force it into the wall and it came flying back at me, so I gave in and said fine you win screw, I will use the drill bit to put a hole in the wall and then place said screw into the hole, no such luck. I am seriously a drilling reject, I need remedial drill class, does that exist, I refuse to pay someone to put these curtains up, I was able to put my last ones up at 1G, I do not understand how my tool using skillset (albeit limited) has deteriorated to the point that I can no longer use a drill, I mean I’m not trying to use a chainsaw or anything, and thankfully I can still handle a hammer and nails, but I feel seriously less than not being able to put up my curtains, so I will utilize my better developed skillset, being domestic in the kithchen, i.e. I am willing to cook dinner for anyone willing to assist, that doesn't count as paying right, it's kind of of like just whoring out my culinary abilities (ha), with Cash Money as my pimp (oh what an approrpriate pimp name) since she wants these darn curtains put up too!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

You can do it, we can help....adventures in home "improvement"


Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you for paying for my college education and encouraging me to take a job in an office as my construction and painting skills are really quite deplorable if they exist at all, believe me Loyola College was the best 120 K you ever spent.

Love,
Danielle

After this weekend I have a new found respect for painters, carpenters etc, holy eff painting, assembling and moving things is exhausting, I have actually never been so physically exhausted in my entire life and would in no way be cut out to do it professionally (the desk/tv console we put together definitely lists a bit to the left, we’re blaming it on the floor being slanted, but really I’m questioning the construction of the actual thing). However, we are all moved in and save a few last things, hanging curtains, frames and finding pillows for the couch I am basically unpacked, I still am not entirely sure where everything is, but I’m working through it and enjoying the extra “space” I have in my new room, I’m sure you all know that my specialty is living in teeny tiny small rooms, ever since freshman year of college I have always had to find ways to get creative with small spaces. For example sophomore year the room I shared with Jody was affectionately referred to as “The Nook” really gives the idea of grand sweeping spaces right? And senior year the room I shared with Jessica was so small I had the head of my bed in one of the closets and my desk was relegated to the common room and used as a TV stand with the justification that I didn’t use it enough to keep it in the bedroom (fair enough). Post college at least my tiny rooms have been all my own and I have learned to deal with and love the challenges of having a small space, like taking closet doors off etc. There is definitely some upside to having a small space it FORCES you to stay very neat and organized, which is helpful. Either way, we’re hosting our first “dinner” tonight, I wouldn’t even call it a dinner party because it only involves 4 guests, but I’m psyched, the kitchen is unpacked and I am raring to go (with moving and not wanting to buy groceries and having packed up the kitchen early on at the old place I haven’t cooked in like 2 weeks). I will definitely post pictures of the new digs once we’ve finished snazzing the place up with some decorative accessories, but at least we have paint on the walls, mostly courtesy of Cash Money and her lovely parents (proof above, though that dazzling smile had definitely faded by the time we were done with the living room).