The Beauty and the Mess

I just discovered Where the Locals Eat. It's a list of the top 100 restaurants in a lot of major US cities. Just for fun, here's our list. I will bold and comment on the ones I've been to. Feel free to play along!

( Top 100 Memphis Restaurants )

Based on a shocking discovery I made about Evan yesterday, here is the following poll:

[Poll #435061]

We just had a soup cookoff here at work. They do it every year as a fundraiser for cancer research. I had about twelve little cups of soup (I voted for the clam chowder) and a few pumpkin bars. I have so little self-control with food these days. :( My aforementioned Green Tea Diet has done nothing but make me hungrier all the time. I know it's the tea, because my sister is also doing it and has noticed the same results. This might be a sign of my metabolism speeding up, which would be a good thing, but it seems like it's just defeating the purpose. Last night at Bible study I ate a big brownie. I'm not sorry, because it was amazing. Evan kept saying "It's just a brownie," until he realized it's probably been years since I had one that wasn't low-fat.

Anyway, they also had karaoke at the soup event, and Joe Birch (local news personality) came to read the number for a raffle. Then he disappeared. I guess he had another story to cover. :)

I have added comments to all my user pictures. That's a pretty cool feature. I also made some new icons. I would have made more (and uploaded some bridal shower pictures and stuff), but I have serious mouse arm from our database project at work. So please be patient while I heal!

Tonight we're going to the Agricenter corn maze. I've always wanted to go, so it should be fun! It's going to be a very Halloweeny weekend, since I also have a Halloween party to go to and am volunteering at our church's Festival of Melons and Gourds on Sunday night. Oh, and it's also fall-back weekend. Normally that's a very sad time for me because it means I hardly see the sun for several months, but it might be worth it to not wake up in the dark anymore. By the way, we may set a new record high of 86 degrees (F) today. :P Happy almost-November, everyone.

FYI: My friend Lance told me about electoral-vote.com. It's a conglomerate of all the polls...very interesting.

This icon is a picture from Hollywood Beach, Florida, where I spent almost every Saturday when I was younger. My best friend Kristi and I would "surf" and play in the sand and walk on the boardwalk all day. I'm missing the ocean a lot lately. I was looking online for things to do in New Hampshire, and there's a whale-watching tour that guarantees a whale sighting! I'd be so happy. :) Evan thought it sounded cool, too, so maybe we can go.

I am finally forced to admit that I've become addicted to Quizno's. Turkey Ranch & Swiss on rosemary bread. It's what's for dinner. Er, lunch. Plus, they're the only restaurant I know of that has Vanilla Coke on tap.

I'm spending the next three nights at my parents' because they're going out of town and didn't want to leave my brother alone. I don't mind staying out there- it's nice and quiet and I can do laundry. Unfortunately, my mom had plans for Kevin and me, which I can't do because of flute practice and my hair appointment. Now she's irritated, but at least I can spend all of tonight with him. Evan is coming out to the house so we can watch American Idol together. I'm sure Kevin will be glad to see him. They're buds. Oh, and tonight is Evan's last class of the semester! It's already Study Day week. Where does the time go?

It's still kind of weird at the house without Bun.

You know, I got a neat star guidebook for Christmas and I've only tried to use it once. I want to take that to New Hampshire, too- we can probably see a lot of stars there. The thing is, how are you supposed to use it? It's dark when you're looking at stars! Do you take a flashlight, or just memorize the map of the thing you want to look at before you go out there? What do amateur astronomers do?

This is a good day. Today was our company's Soup Challenge, which is my favorite work activity all year. About twenty teams cook soup, and then we get to sample them all and vote for a winner. The proceeds go to charity. I love it because a) it's tasty and b) I get to play food critic, so I'm very serious about my soup sampling. I sit there tasting, with my list of soups, and make professional notes (i.e. smiley faces). I also get very full. There are always some bleah soups, such as one that had a peanut butter base (can you imagine the fat content?), and at least five chilis, none of which get my vote because I don't like beans (sorry, Helen :)). Anyway, it's a lot of fun and today was a nice day for it. The temperature is back to 75-80 degrees. Don't ever move to Memphis if you like your weather constant.

You know what I've always wondered about? Those "De Colores" bumper stickers. I used to think this was a cool Hispanic pride thing, until I noticed that most of the cars sporting them belonged to people who were definitely not Hispanic. As Seinfeld would say, what's the deal with that? It makes about as much sense as me slapping a "Sweden Rules" sticker on my car.

Evan is the best boyfriend ever. Apparently I can't let a day go by without reminding the world of this. Last night we watched West Wing together and ate an insane amount of Pumpkins and Reese's Pieces. Tonight I get to watch my Thursday shows with him. I am happy just to be with him.

Does anyone else think the marshmallow guy on Homestar Runner is creepy?

Happy birthday, joy_unspeakable and jjustj! I'm glad to know you both. Wow, lots of October birthdays around here.

Today I am very tired. I went home yesterday and cleaned for two and a half hours. Then I exercised. Then I watched the Dolphins play the Chargers while working on a project. All night I was overemotional about different things- the San Diego fires, the bleach spot on my shirt, my weight, etc. Just before bed I had to take one of my 800 mg ibuprofen for my wrist. I read the information and got seriously freaked out at all the possible side effects. I did not want to take it, but I knew I had to, so I did. It was not a good night. Tonight will be better- it's my McAlister's With Ryan night, I don't have to clean anything, and I get to see Evan. The longer we're together, the more I miss him when we're not together. I am very pathetic.

I still haven't called my long-lost friend Miriam, with whom I reconnected a couple of weeks ago. If I don't call her soon, she'll forget about our meeting or think I don't want to talk to her. I'd like to hang out, it's just hard to fit someone from the past into my current life. I don't know how much fun she'd have with my friends.

My co-worker gave me a bag of candy corn and peanuts this morning. If you eat them together, it tastes like a Pay Day bar. I had never heard of this before, but it's pretty tasty.

I got the REM Greatest Hits CD. The packaging is complicated but cool.

Gee...I wonder if anyone would notice me napping. :)

Happy fall, everyone! I'm glad that fall is finally here. I'm ready to wear jeans and sweaters, turn off the air conditioning, eat a lot of soup, and go to barn parties. Apparently the soup part has already sunk in, because earlier I was seized with a desperate craving for broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl. So Ryan and Chris and I are going to McAlister's after work. I get so excited, anticipating food. In fall I'm usually hungry all the time. Oh, let's face it- I'm always hungry all the time. It's a wonder I don't gain 200 pounds.

I'm very happy to welcome raysofhope to the friends list. I have long admired her from afar. :)

Yesterday I had my first tutoring session of the year with Yolanda, and it was excellent! I had concerns, because at the end of last school year, she was mysteriously angry at me and said she didn't want me to be her tutor anymore. But over the summer, she's apparently forgotten whatever it was. She's much cheerier and willing to work. We worked on a TCAP math pre-test, and she flew through it and did a great job! I was impressed and proud. I have a renewed desire to help now that I've been through tutor training. They showed us some statistics from the middle and high schools that these kids attend, and they were staggering. The Memphis City Schools as a whole are failing miserably, but these were especially bad. It takes most kids an average of five years to graduate from the high school. I can't believe the government lets that continue. Anyway, I'm blessed to work with Yolanda. I felt so refreshed after our session.

Lately I'm worried about the difference in my contentment level pre- and post-boyfriend. I should be content in God, not in another person's love. Is it bad, then, that my happiness has skyrocketed in the last few weeks? I mean, being with Evan has eradicated a lot of problems besides frustration at not being with Evan; things like being left out by my friends, feeling hopeless about my future, feeling lonely in general. I don't have to worry about those things now. :D In the past few days I've been slightly annoyed about work and cleaning issues, and it was almost a relief, like "Oh, good, I can still get irritated." Being too happy makes me nervous. I feel like I'm depending too much on a person for happiness, and not enough on God. Am I making any sense?

Okay, now I've definitely talked long enough. :P So as not to end on that crazy note, here's a non-crazy item: we moved Gandalf's cat tower near a window that gets more sunlight. When I went home to eat lunch, he was curled up on the tower, napping in the sun. It was adorable. He hasn't done that since he was a tiny kitten. :)

Wow, it's past 2 and I haven't updated yet. Okay.

Well, my weekend didn't start out very well. My great-grandmother passed away on Friday afternoon. She was very old- early nineties, I think- and she was sick for a long time, so we had been expecting it for a while. I never knew her very well, so I'm not sure if she was a believer, but my grandmother visited her regularly and thinks she made a decision toward the end. Anyway, as I said, we were prepared, so of course it was sad, but not a major shock. I went to my parents' after I found out, to spend time with my siblings while my mom packed to go to Miami. Later in the evening my dad and I finally took some time to order my new computer (!) online. On the way home I had one of those sudden realizations that eventually my parents are going to grow old and die. I mean, you always know this, but it's one of those things you push to the back of your mind. I started thinking about the people I know my own age who have already lost a parent, and ended up really upset without anyone to talk to about it. It wasn't fun. It was one of those moments when I would have really liked to have a boyfriend to hug me, but we all know how that goes.

Anyway, on to cheerier things. On Saturday I finally found a shirt to wear to the Clay show. Saturday night was Lawson's bowling party at Jillian's, which Debra and I attended. We were both in a dancing mood, which caused everyone else there to think we were very weird. But we had fun- thanks for inviting us, Lawson. After the party we (Debs and I) wanted to go to the dance club there, but couldn't find it, so we went back to the apartment and watched When Harry Met Sally, my favorite movie of all time. And I had a Frosty, because my bizarre craving for frozen dairy products continues. I have no appetite for hot food. (Alli's comment: "Gee, are you sure you're not pregnant?")

Sunday was typical Sunday (other than me repeatedly thinking, "Next week Danielle will be here and Evan's parents will be here.") We had lunch at American Cafe, where I actually ate some bread. I went to my friend Heather's apartment so she, Alli, and I could go swimming, but the pool was closed. I came home, took a long walk, read a lot, and went to bed early. Yay Sunday.

This morning Kathy and I did the intermediate Pilates workout for the first time. It didn't totally kick our butts, but it's going to take getting used to. While the beginner video moves slowly and contains a lot of talking, the intermediate video is efficient and businesslike. :) I'm already feeling the difference, but I'm glad for a new challenge. The beginner video had gotten really boring.

That's all.

I don't really have anything to say, but I'm posting again for several reasons.

1. I wanted to use this icon. I remembered that Brenda means "firebrand," so this is the visual representation of my name. Except now I'm concerned that I have too many icons of myself looking angry/downright silly.

2. It's tradition for me to point out that it's August 8, because I have fond memories of 8-8-88, when I was 8 years old. That was a fun day. Also, it's 8 days until my birthday. Woo hoo!

3. Since I'm not usually around on Sundays, I wanted to say Happy Early Birthday to contradictions and fraserspeirs. (I was going to add "wherever he may be" after Philip's name, but he just posted for the first time in, like, six months. Yay!)

4. I can't seem to get enough smoothies, milkshakes, and ice cream this week. They are nice and cold and make my head feel better. I also want a Vanilla Coke with ice, but our freezer still smells awful, so any ice we make smells awful when we take it out. We're kind of afraid to taste it. So I haven't had a drink with ice in my own home in almost three weeks. MaryElaine brought me a cup of ice last night, but I went to bed shortly thereafter and didn't get to enjoy the full glass. The things we take for granted.

5. I'm in the mood to lay around and watch something girly and weepy tonight. Like Beaches or A Walk To Remember or something.

6. I hope all of you have a nice weekend.

I had the most amazing cookie earlier. The cafe in our business complex is under new management, so they've been giving stuff away all week, and today it was Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. I took a freshly baked Red White & Blue cookie, which contained cranberries, blueberries, and white chocolate. I never would have thought of putting berries in a cookie, but it was out of this world.

Last night I went to a Redbirds game with Kathy and Daniel, since Bible study was canceled. It was a great game, and we won 6-0. :) Tonight I am planning a quiet evening of reading. I have to finish Wheel of Time book 2. I've never had such a hard time finishing books before, but they're starting to get more interesting. Yay.

I keep typing things and then deleting them. Nothing is interesting enough to talk about here. I hope you're all having a good day!