Halva

My sister just got back last night from a 10 day trip in Greece and brought back halva which I had never had before. It's so delicious if you've never had it here are some directions on how to make it at home.

The fourth of the Seventh Month

I honestly hate fourth of July. I think it is the most stupid un-American over rated holiday ever. I always get bored way to fast and since I'm not as criminally brain dead as other Americans watching things explode and bright lights doesn't get me excited past like the first one. Are the fireworks supposed to represent like "the bombs bursting in air" if so.. what a stupid thing to celebrate and re-enact? Why would we want to make it look like we are in war again.. which we are. Not that I'm "un American" or anything i just think that fourth of july doesn't even have to do anything with celebrating the united states anymore it's like one day where rednecks come out and wear their red white and blue bandannas and soccer moms in their flag old navy shirts. Shouldn't you be celebrating your country more so on EVERY other day but fourth of july which kind of cancels out patriotism and why do we buy all these things on fourth of july for picnics and apparel that all have made in china stamps on them... seriously.
Anyway guess I'm kind of cranky.

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Jury Duty

This morning I have jury duty.
Except last night I slept for an hour and a half
because my tonsils are so swollen I was having trouble breathing.
Now i have to drive a half hour to the courthouse.. this should be interesting.

Your Fashionable wordpress powered blog

I hate trying to figure out all the html I need to design my blog. Even when I do get all the pictures and layout together there’s always some small thing wrong with it I keep having to go back and tweak. I’ve tried searching the internet for places that offer free blog templates but most of them are really poorly put together. Finally I came across one that seemed promising at first and then I browsed around a bit more and they TONS of awesomewordpress themes for wordpress powered blogs that are actually trendy. I’m so glad that

Top Wordpress Themes makes it so easy. You can preview the look and then simply download the layout to apply to your blog. I am loving this design! Go check out there free designs you can get a nice clean and simple or a complex trendy design for any subject blog.

Loss of Brain matter

I saw this trailer when I went to go see Wall-E tonight.
I started crying in the middle of the trailer because I was laughing so hard.
This has to be a joke! What happened Disney! Seriously WHAT would posses
you to put this movie out?!
I can't even speak.
Their slogan is "50 Percent Warrior 50 % lover .. 100 % chihuahuas

Things I fell in love with over the weekend

1. In Bruges
2. The Freebie Blogger
3. Wall-E
4. Sunshine
5. Olay Quench Body Lotion
6. Man Babies
7. Phantom Planet -Our house

Janet Taylor

I found the following post on The Nodding Tree Remedies Myspace. They are a local band from Salem and pretty good. Anyway I just thought I would repost it here because it made me laugh out loud ..
currently in Salem we have a mayor named Janet Taylor who I happen to be incredibly against and somehow she just won our current election again. What a shame.

So enjoy this propaganda brought to you by The Nodding Tree Remedies minds.

"Salem's mayor, Mrs. Taylor, is a heartless hoebag.
Her reign of power has been going on for too long.
Our children are not safe in Oregon's capital, Janet Taylor feeds on thier blood.
She's been spotted swimming the Willamette river with a dead puppy in her teeth.
She is immune to Salem's rising pollution problems due to the deadly acid that coarses through her veins, therefor she has no concern for a cleaner Oregon.
Janet Taylor does not support the local music scene, she approved the destruction of the kiosks( round billboards) off downtown Liberty street, and has openly attacked independent business(the heart of the Salem music scene) in Salem by supporting the surge of multimillion dollar, non local business.
Janet Taylor is hurting our community and threatens Salem's future with intentions of personal benifit. Mrs. Taylor's wealth and power cannot stop us, but if we all wake up dead one morning we will have a prime suspect, Janet Taylor.
She supports war and President Bush.
Her agenda is obsurd. She caters to the rich with the construction of overpriced plazas and convention centers, while many of the low income residents get the short end of the stick.
Her veiws and ideals are Reaganistic and immoral.....
....and she kills minorities, supports the meth trade, police brutality, and is a sex addict( not the good kind). Her soul is a swamp of ignorance and filth, etc,etc.....
Mrs. Taylor is too strong to defeat, we can only hide our children for so long.
Run for the hills, Janet Taylor is an evil witch and is not fit for her position of power.
Nodding Tree Remedies say "no" to Janet Taylor.
Pray for her wretched soul.
In Salem, the Man is keeping us down and has a name,
Janet Taylor.

God help us"
Click Here for original post

Freebie!

New Shoes make everything better.

I haven't left my house in 3 days and some twisted way I ended up with Strep Throat. This makes it the 5th time this year so far and that means
TONSILLECTOMY
that word is so warm isn't it.
a 15 min procedure for a week and a half's worth of recovery time.
Has anyone had this done as an adult? What was the recovery like for you.
I've been having trouble breathing cause my tonsils are touching.
The only thing that brightened my day today was the shoes I finally ordered from
Nordstrom came and I ripped open the package and was extremely excited
then realized that the shoes in the box that I had received would have been able to fit
the jolly green giant. They were 2 sizes to big. Before I checked the size on the shoe i seriously
questioned the size of my feet. Now this normally would have only made my day a little sad but
these shoes have been sent to The Rack and now I can't even exchange them!
I have been waiting for these shoes since decemberish when we got them!

scheming

There's a big giveaway coming up! So stay tuned!

I'm giving away something juicy
Something Coture

Who Killed the muesli eaters?

I will admit I'm a Muesli junkie! But, the last few times I've gone to the grocery store I have not been able to find it anywhere. I look up and down the aisle and yet they have a huge granola section and even a giant array of kashi cereals you think they'd have one tiny spot for muesli. I'm I the only person left on earth that eats it? I swear I have never had trouble finding it before.

it's a very weird moment indeed when you realize
that the people are you closest to in your life have started
to drift away not only from you but from everyone else as well
when your small close knit group of friends has somehow turned into a ripple where
everyone spreads farther and farther out.
Is there a way to reverse it?
Do you move on?
Do you follow them so you can stay close.
What if it's like the only people you've ever met that make you
feel truly like yourself when you are around them.

6/18/2008

I'm still secretly kind of crying about the short hair.
I hate it. Its not so much that I mind having the short hair,
although I admit I miss my lazy pony tail, it's just the cut that I hate.
I don't know what possessed the stylist to cut two pieces in the front like an inch and a half
shorter than the rest of my hair and make it all piecey when I told her I wanted
it all the same length? And when I walked in with hair to my shoulders
I specifically said I don't want it much shorter than it is now
maybe like.. half an inch shorter. Now I have it to my chin...
I must have the worlds shortest neck indeed.
I was hoping the weather would be nice today but in traditional Oregon fashion
it's a gloomy day.. IN JUNE.
Yesterday I went up to the rack and I was so excited I found the pants that
I was looking for and i got to buy a size smaller than usual! Woo.
That's always exciting but now I'm kind of freaking out because most of my clothes are too big and I don't have the money to afford a new wardrobe. Frustrating.

Down Under

Today is my first day of my two week vacation from work.
I'm already "dying" of boredom.
I slept in late got up ate some food looked out the window then
watched a terrible movie called Catacombs.
What a waste of time.. plus who puts the singer PINK as a lead
role in a movie??!
Atleast the main girl (shannyn Sossamon) had super cute hair.

quote of the day

Take it to heart.



"death is not the greatest loss in life. the greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live."
-norman cousins

Hello Summer

Goodbye hair!


The first bits of summer showed themselves today, finally a nice day on my day off.
I signed up for summer classes today
what a way to spend vacation.
So, I thought I would chop of my hair
i lost 5 inches!

have a good summer!

Bvlgari!

I've always loved Bvlgari perfumes! I will admit though that some of them are a little TOO old lady for me though. I decided that i would check out Bvlgari watches and couldn't believe the prices at my work! I browsed on the internet and came across Concord watches . The site is filled with tons of luxury time pieces at affordable discount prices! They even have a clearance section for all you frugal shoppers. Not that you'll really need it because the watches that the Watchery offers are made to last. They offer a great variety of classic pieces and very trendy pieces from all of your favorite designer brands like Michele, Gucci, Chanel and Bvlgari ! What girl doesn't dream of having a Chanel watch on her lovely wrist? The Bvlgari piece that I've pictures above is one of many Bvlgari jewelry watches the Watchery carries and just happens to be my favorite from the site! It's so clean with a little bit of attitude with such a fantastic shade of green. I love how well the green strap (which is like the hottest shade of green for this summer!) offsets the green mother of pearl in the center. It's discounted down almost 40 percent! What a steal for something you're going to love. As if it couldn't get better The Watchery also offers you a free watch with most purchases and if you don't want one of the free watches they offer you can select from a set of 80 percent specially discounted pieces!

The end

The last bit of the funeral stuff wrapped up today. It was really heart breaking saying good bye. How do you say goodbye to a 12 year old .. as a permenent goodbye? My aunt is being so strong I'm so very proud of her. At the burial today just for family my aunt tried to get matthews favorite hannah montana cd to play but it wouldn't work and all seven of us tried to get it to work! I guess he just really didn't want to hear any hannah montana. It's going to be so weird having no cousins all of a sudden. My grandparents only grandchildren now are my sister and I. My heart is broken for them and my aunt and my entire family. Every fall we all get together and go rent a beach house. I've gotten so acustomed to having Matthew there it's going to be so weird! I remember some of the first years he came when he was born even which houses we stayed in. Anyway, I just wanted to post some of my memories with him:

The last memory I have of Matthew is playing sponge bob monopoly! He beat me at it too! I thought it was awesome he got all of the jokes in the game with the naming of the properties and he loved getting "snail po headquarters".

He was the smartest kid that I have probably ever met. He had a real passion for learning all these crazy facts which must run in the family because i'm the same way. The only difference is that he would remember ever single word, Every fact and he was just amazed by everything and wanted to understand it.

This past fall at the beach house Matthew and my dad had a giant jawbreaker eating competition. He was restless to give up even though only about a quarter of the jawbreaker actually fit into his mouth haha. We played a game of poker and he was beating all of us!

I remember when he was born my sister and I used to FIGHT over who would get to spend time with him because we were young and we don't have any cousins younger than us really and this was our first cousin on the dads side of the family!

My heart goes out to the rest of my family and all the classmates of Matthew Chester.
Thank you so much for making what little time he had here the best that it could be
and i know you did because it showed in his smile.


We always knew that he was sick and that someday this time would come but I always pictured it as a slow decline and that we would know. But I guess that is foolish to think because life doesn't work like that. Spend every minute possible with the people you love because in the end that's all you have and it's all that matters. He died in his sleep very suddenly from complications due to Pulmonary Hypertension. A disorder that effects the heart and lungs.

I'm going to miss you so much, i only wish I would have spent more time with you and not thought that i would always have a long time to get to know you. I love you more than I ever got a chance to express.

Great gift idea

The other day I was looking for good fathers day gifts and trying to figure out something to get my hiking/rafting enthusiast father for the occasion. I came across La police gears 511 Shorts and thought they would be perfect! They have 7 pockets that are extremely durable for all those rocks and knick knacks he likes to collect on his trips! Now these shorts are made for military/government workers like the army or police force but they are such a great steal and you can wear them too, they also have them in kids sizes. What a great idea for all those summer trips! A few select pairs are going for as low as 12.99 right now so better snatch up the great deal for any of your favorite service men or that special father of yours!