strike a pose
i don't remember a weekend in recent memory where marshall and i have done nothing. since moving to our new apartment a year ago, we've ceased to have an empty weekend. we've either got places to go or things to do, both of which usually get us out of the house by 9am. this weekend was no different...
saturday
unfortunately, we had to skip out on the breakfast club in the morning to head up to belmont (where i work) and meet with a photographer. the ONE bridal fair i went to the first weekend in january i won a free engagement photo session (+ a free portrait) with a photographer i don't even think i met at the fair. we played phone-tag since i called her in mid-january and at some point managed to settle on a date and time. last week i was worried we wouldn't make it due to the bad weather planned for this weekend. we were lucky and the rain moved to sunday and our saturday morning was rain-free and sunny (still cold, though). we met up with her at 10am and we chatted before the snapping started. she has been doing weddings for 20 years and has been shooting in the particular park (a park where my MOM used to play as a kid) for the same amount of time. her studio is actually at the entrance of the park, which is rather convenient for her. so anyway, we spent the next half-hour taking photos all around the park. we took some against a fence, on a log, on a bench, against a mossy wall, across a bridge, pretty much anywhere we came across that caught her eye. it was really fun, actually. she only had to give us minimal direction and she just let us do what we felt comfortable doing. she took a ton of pictures, even running out of space on the memory card she started with. i'm sure she took 100+ photos. i really can't wait to see them, actually. we get one as a free portrait, but i'm sure she'd give us the "proofs" and let us do our own printing. we could use some updated professional photos around the house. the 2 we have were from our photo session at sears 2 years ago, where we had a 16-yr-old telling us what to do. they're cute, but definitely not "professional".
it was still super early after all was said and done, so we headed south a bit and walked around ikea (seriously - the only place we could think of to waste time). we're looking to replace the floating shelves in our living room with new bookcases (seriously - the shelves on one of the walls have been sagging since we put the DVDs on them...). marshall also wants to find a bookcase for the bedroom on which to put all the books currently in the office. we also are looking at something to replace the bookcase we're using in the dining room as a pantry with something a little nicer. for the living room, we're looking at a combination of narrower billy and the benno. probably 2 bennos and 2 billy's, depending on how much space we can create. we're also looking at flipping around the living room and putting the couch where the TV is and vice versa. for the kitchen, we like the expedit, which we've seen in our friend's apartment and really like how it looks. they also have these cabinet doors you can put over some of squares, which would be awesome for turning that into an actual pantry-type thing. so yeah, we've got some changes coming our way and i think they're going to be pretty awesome.
we were hoping to have lunch at the flea st. cafe, but they weren't open for lunch. the food there is supposed to be great, so maybe one night when we're feeling fancy we'll pop up and see how it is. so, instead we headed home and had lunch at taco bell. :) we had plans later that night for dinner with one of marshall's college friends and then a movie afterwards, but before then marshall needed a nap. i played some WoW while he napped and soon it was time for dinner. marshall's friend, martin, brought along a guy who just started at his work, who's new to the area, and the guy's girlfriend. the guy is from new york and his girlfriend is from florida. they're totally new to the area, so we were giving them pointers of where to eat and have fun. we had a good dinner and then headed to the movies. martin's coworker and his girlfriend weren't feeling our choice for movies, so they went their own way to see taken, which marshall and i had already seen (very good, btw). martin, marshall and i went to see push. it was actually kinda cool. overall an enjoyable story and film. it's like a glorified caper/heist movie. i liked all the actors in it, INCLUDING dakota fanning. she's not NEARLY as annoying as i thought she'd be. she's not cutesy or girly, she's kinda raw. so yeah, and the "human torch" plays the lead role, so i'm sure some of you might just see it for the eye candy. ;) it's definitely a rentable movie, i wouldn't really see it for $10+, luckily i had a gift card from christmas, so it was perfect. :P there was a possible plan after the movie to join up again and have drinks somewhere, but by the time our movie ended, martin's coworker and girlfriend had already gone home. no worries, though. we all had a good time, which is always nice.
we got home, though, and i totally crashed. i didn't feel tired on the way from the movies, but for some reason, exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. i was also super frustrated with the fact that i stepped on BOTH cats in the span of 3 minutes, wash was freaked out a lot while zoe really wasn't phased at all, and then i wanted to do the dishes (hoping it would take 5 minutes) but seeing as i had to empty the dishwasher too, it took much longer than expected. i don't know why but all those things added up to me feeling almost angry. i put my sweats on, caught up on facebook and while reading slowly felt my body get heavier and heavier. i was going to play WoW, but ended up crawling onto the sofa and falling asleep in a manner of minutes. marshall woke me up 2 hours later to move me to bed. i had both cats on me, too, and it was really rather comfortable.
today
today started out slightly earlier than yesterday. we had a wedding registry event at crate and barrel, which started at 9am. we got there on time, got our scanner and a quick intro by one of the crate and barrel employees and we were on our way. we registered for glasses, stemware, flatware, a few linens, bakeware, serving platters/bowls, and a few other items. overall we registered for 35 items. i think total, combined with our macy's registry, we have about 80 items. there's plenty for our guests to choose from and plenty gifts which are within a reasonable price-range. we want to do some touch-ups on each registry before we make them known to our guests.
after crate and barrel we did a little shopping. we hopped over to the mall so i could pick up some make-up items. back over at best buy, we researched home theaters (we're looking to upgrade our current one, which is my CD-changer/stereo). we found we liked (**UPDATE: just figured out there are no HDMI inputs/outputs with this system, which means we couldn't hook up the PS3 to it - lame...guess we're back to the start), so we headed to fry's to see if they had it for cheaper. they did and if we buy from fry's, we would save $15. the one draw-back...fry's only had an open-box model. it's not the floor-model, but certainly close, in my opinion. we thought we'd give circuit city a chance, as well, seeing as how we could easily save money buying from a liquidating store. they had it, but it was also an open-box model (no surprise there) and we couldn't tell if it had all the components. also the model they had was the step-up from the one we wanted, so we would be pay an extra $40 from the price at best buy. the one thing we couldn't figure out was whether the system came with an ipod dock. the one we tested (the same upgraded model from the one we actually want) had one, but the one at circuit city didn't seem to have one. this was disconcerting, considering that was the selling point for us. for parties and get-togethers i want to play my ipod, rather than CDs. anyway, we ended up walking out of circuit city and realizing the best thing is to buy from best buy. we will get what we actually want and we also have a few gift cards for there, anyway. :)
lunch was an experience. a couple of years ago, they opened up a hooters down the street from us. i was curious, but it never came up as an option for food. marshall has been a few times to other locations, but i had never been before. we decided there was no time like the present and we went in for lunch. we were greeted at the door by practically a child ("hi guys - welcome to raisins!") and she showed us to our table. our waitress was a petite blonde with cleavage and a pretty nice ass. totally expected, of course. what i wasn't expecting was the two-shades-too-dark nylons all the waitresses were wearing. i guess it's their "cold-weather" uniform, but considering all these girls are white as can be, the dark brown nylons really don't match with the rest of them. i also chuckled at the single and groups of guys there. i was one of 3 girls actually eating there. the rest of the patrons were guys and you could tell they were all having a great time. i also noticed the waitresses paid more friendly attention to single guy tables. since they're known for their wings, i got a plate of them. i could've gone hotter (their medium is nothing), but they were tasty. it's a good place if you want wings and a beer, but it's over-priced for a meal. at least i can say i've been, right? :P
the rest of the day has been regular sunday stuff: groceries, petco, cleaning, cooking, etc. i tried a new recipe from giada tonight: rigatoni with butternut squash and prawns. it was pretty good, but very filling. the prawns i got were rather big and i think this recipe would work better with smaller ones. also, i'm not a huge fan of rigatoni (too much pasta, in my opinion), so next time i'll use smaller tube pasta (like penne). it was really good and i'll definitely make it again. it doesn't even need the prawns, really, to be a nice pasta dish. it's perfect for the cold weather. so yeah, i was pleased with it. i have extra squash in the fridge, though, so i'll have to figure out something with that. perhaps soup? :)
saturday
unfortunately, we had to skip out on the breakfast club in the morning to head up to belmont (where i work) and meet with a photographer. the ONE bridal fair i went to the first weekend in january i won a free engagement photo session (+ a free portrait) with a photographer i don't even think i met at the fair. we played phone-tag since i called her in mid-january and at some point managed to settle on a date and time. last week i was worried we wouldn't make it due to the bad weather planned for this weekend. we were lucky and the rain moved to sunday and our saturday morning was rain-free and sunny (still cold, though). we met up with her at 10am and we chatted before the snapping started. she has been doing weddings for 20 years and has been shooting in the particular park (a park where my MOM used to play as a kid) for the same amount of time. her studio is actually at the entrance of the park, which is rather convenient for her. so anyway, we spent the next half-hour taking photos all around the park. we took some against a fence, on a log, on a bench, against a mossy wall, across a bridge, pretty much anywhere we came across that caught her eye. it was really fun, actually. she only had to give us minimal direction and she just let us do what we felt comfortable doing. she took a ton of pictures, even running out of space on the memory card she started with. i'm sure she took 100+ photos. i really can't wait to see them, actually. we get one as a free portrait, but i'm sure she'd give us the "proofs" and let us do our own printing. we could use some updated professional photos around the house. the 2 we have were from our photo session at sears 2 years ago, where we had a 16-yr-old telling us what to do. they're cute, but definitely not "professional".
it was still super early after all was said and done, so we headed south a bit and walked around ikea (seriously - the only place we could think of to waste time). we're looking to replace the floating shelves in our living room with new bookcases (seriously - the shelves on one of the walls have been sagging since we put the DVDs on them...). marshall also wants to find a bookcase for the bedroom on which to put all the books currently in the office. we also are looking at something to replace the bookcase we're using in the dining room as a pantry with something a little nicer. for the living room, we're looking at a combination of narrower billy and the benno. probably 2 bennos and 2 billy's, depending on how much space we can create. we're also looking at flipping around the living room and putting the couch where the TV is and vice versa. for the kitchen, we like the expedit, which we've seen in our friend's apartment and really like how it looks. they also have these cabinet doors you can put over some of squares, which would be awesome for turning that into an actual pantry-type thing. so yeah, we've got some changes coming our way and i think they're going to be pretty awesome.
we were hoping to have lunch at the flea st. cafe, but they weren't open for lunch. the food there is supposed to be great, so maybe one night when we're feeling fancy we'll pop up and see how it is. so, instead we headed home and had lunch at taco bell. :) we had plans later that night for dinner with one of marshall's college friends and then a movie afterwards, but before then marshall needed a nap. i played some WoW while he napped and soon it was time for dinner. marshall's friend, martin, brought along a guy who just started at his work, who's new to the area, and the guy's girlfriend. the guy is from new york and his girlfriend is from florida. they're totally new to the area, so we were giving them pointers of where to eat and have fun. we had a good dinner and then headed to the movies. martin's coworker and his girlfriend weren't feeling our choice for movies, so they went their own way to see taken, which marshall and i had already seen (very good, btw). martin, marshall and i went to see push. it was actually kinda cool. overall an enjoyable story and film. it's like a glorified caper/heist movie. i liked all the actors in it, INCLUDING dakota fanning. she's not NEARLY as annoying as i thought she'd be. she's not cutesy or girly, she's kinda raw. so yeah, and the "human torch" plays the lead role, so i'm sure some of you might just see it for the eye candy. ;) it's definitely a rentable movie, i wouldn't really see it for $10+, luckily i had a gift card from christmas, so it was perfect. :P there was a possible plan after the movie to join up again and have drinks somewhere, but by the time our movie ended, martin's coworker and girlfriend had already gone home. no worries, though. we all had a good time, which is always nice.
we got home, though, and i totally crashed. i didn't feel tired on the way from the movies, but for some reason, exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. i was also super frustrated with the fact that i stepped on BOTH cats in the span of 3 minutes, wash was freaked out a lot while zoe really wasn't phased at all, and then i wanted to do the dishes (hoping it would take 5 minutes) but seeing as i had to empty the dishwasher too, it took much longer than expected. i don't know why but all those things added up to me feeling almost angry. i put my sweats on, caught up on facebook and while reading slowly felt my body get heavier and heavier. i was going to play WoW, but ended up crawling onto the sofa and falling asleep in a manner of minutes. marshall woke me up 2 hours later to move me to bed. i had both cats on me, too, and it was really rather comfortable.
today
today started out slightly earlier than yesterday. we had a wedding registry event at crate and barrel, which started at 9am. we got there on time, got our scanner and a quick intro by one of the crate and barrel employees and we were on our way. we registered for glasses, stemware, flatware, a few linens, bakeware, serving platters/bowls, and a few other items. overall we registered for 35 items. i think total, combined with our macy's registry, we have about 80 items. there's plenty for our guests to choose from and plenty gifts which are within a reasonable price-range. we want to do some touch-ups on each registry before we make them known to our guests.
after crate and barrel we did a little shopping. we hopped over to the mall so i could pick up some make-up items. back over at best buy, we researched home theaters (we're looking to upgrade our current one, which is my CD-changer/stereo). we found we liked (**UPDATE: just figured out there are no HDMI inputs/outputs with this system, which means we couldn't hook up the PS3 to it - lame...guess we're back to the start), so we headed to fry's to see if they had it for cheaper. they did and if we buy from fry's, we would save $15. the one draw-back...fry's only had an open-box model. it's not the floor-model, but certainly close, in my opinion. we thought we'd give circuit city a chance, as well, seeing as how we could easily save money buying from a liquidating store. they had it, but it was also an open-box model (no surprise there) and we couldn't tell if it had all the components. also the model they had was the step-up from the one we wanted, so we would be pay an extra $40 from the price at best buy. the one thing we couldn't figure out was whether the system came with an ipod dock. the one we tested (the same upgraded model from the one we actually want) had one, but the one at circuit city didn't seem to have one. this was disconcerting, considering that was the selling point for us. for parties and get-togethers i want to play my ipod, rather than CDs. anyway, we ended up walking out of circuit city and realizing the best thing is to buy from best buy. we will get what we actually want and we also have a few gift cards for there, anyway. :)
lunch was an experience. a couple of years ago, they opened up a hooters down the street from us. i was curious, but it never came up as an option for food. marshall has been a few times to other locations, but i had never been before. we decided there was no time like the present and we went in for lunch. we were greeted at the door by practically a child ("hi guys - welcome to raisins!") and she showed us to our table. our waitress was a petite blonde with cleavage and a pretty nice ass. totally expected, of course. what i wasn't expecting was the two-shades-too-dark nylons all the waitresses were wearing. i guess it's their "cold-weather" uniform, but considering all these girls are white as can be, the dark brown nylons really don't match with the rest of them. i also chuckled at the single and groups of guys there. i was one of 3 girls actually eating there. the rest of the patrons were guys and you could tell they were all having a great time. i also noticed the waitresses paid more friendly attention to single guy tables. since they're known for their wings, i got a plate of them. i could've gone hotter (their medium is nothing), but they were tasty. it's a good place if you want wings and a beer, but it's over-priced for a meal. at least i can say i've been, right? :P
the rest of the day has been regular sunday stuff: groceries, petco, cleaning, cooking, etc. i tried a new recipe from giada tonight: rigatoni with butternut squash and prawns. it was pretty good, but very filling. the prawns i got were rather big and i think this recipe would work better with smaller ones. also, i'm not a huge fan of rigatoni (too much pasta, in my opinion), so next time i'll use smaller tube pasta (like penne). it was really good and i'll definitely make it again. it doesn't even need the prawns, really, to be a nice pasta dish. it's perfect for the cold weather. so yeah, i was pleased with it. i have extra squash in the fridge, though, so i'll have to figure out something with that. perhaps soup? :)