8 Fun Things to do with Cheese....

1) Grate some monterey jack then use a gob of it to patch holes in plumbing. I can't guarantee it won't smell foul in a few hours.

2) Cut out little circles and rectangles out of old cheddar. Using toothpicks, construct little cheese people and stick them to the top of your computer monitor at work. Periodically, when people are watching, take 2 crackers, remove the head of one cheese person and eat it.

3) Take a salad bowl and fill it with water. For extra fun, use purple food colouring. Place bocconcini in the bowl and play "bobbing for cheese balls".

4) Sprinkle parmesan (or romano cheese, if you are out of parmesan) all over the shoulders of your black sweater. Loudly exclaim (on the subway) that you are EXTREMELY disappointed with the shoddy quality of your dandruff shampoo. For added benefit, try to lick your elbow.

5) Wait until that crazy co-worker takes of their shoes, and quietly insert little pieces of swiss cheese in them.

6) Next time you are buying coffee at Tim Hortons, and it is time to pay... slowly pull out your wallet (this must be done with a straight face) and shuffle around until you find a slice of Havarti. Hand this to the clerk, smile and turn and walk away.

7) Smear ricotta on some car windshields in the mall parking lot.

8) Cut little squiggly lines out of a piece of mozzarella cheese. Make a big production out of sneezing at work, then pull your hands away only to reveal the squiggly cheese lines. Try to lick your elbow again.

Why I Should Never Drink Red Wine and other New Years stories...

Happy 2008 everyone!

I rang in the New Year with good friends, good food and not so good red wine. Ugh. Why couldn't I have learned the last time I drank a whole whack of red wine that it just doesn't end well. To be exact it ends with my head in the toilet observing red wine post-digestion.

Anyhow.... the party involved a wicked game of Scattergories, making fun of me and the fact that I can't drill into concrete (few pictures with a drill just to set things straight) and actual house party dancing! I love it! The last time I actually danced at a house party was (at my own) in Grade 13! It was freaking awesome! :)

Here's hoping the New Year brings wonderful things for me.... I think I deserve them.

Still chilling out right now, and I don't go back to work until Jan 7. Should be pret-ty nuts with the first years getting Fall grades and deciding what to do next. We managed last January.... so I should be better at it now, right? Right. ;)

Until next time..... keep star gazing and nebula-spotting...

Kids Say the Darndest Things....

This Saturday my brother, nephews and niece came over for dinner and a sleepover.

It was a lot of fun, starting from the moment they all arrived. I had planned to make chicken and beef tacos and had already started cooking the chicken. As soon as my nephew walked through the door he exclaimed how wonderful it smelled in my apartment.

Later on, I offered the kids chocolate chip cookies and mentioned that we could make smoothies later. One nephew cried: "Laura! If you had kids they would be so lucky!" Gee, thanks.

My niece was sweet enough to help me with the dishes after dinner. We had a nice chat and caught up on a few things.

During (or after) one of the rented DVDs, one of my nephews commented how I lived in a really big hotel room. LOL. *sigh* Yes, they don't visit apartments much. Or, rather, at all. :)

During the evening, one nephew asked: "Laura, did you invite us over or did we invite ourselves over?" To which I replied: "It was mutual." "What's that mean?" he asked. "It means both me and your dad agreed on it. Why do you ask?"
"Well," he said, "if we invited ourselves over, then that would be rude."

:)

Lastly, I was attacked with hugs by my nephews before they department my apartment on Sunday morning. It was touching to hear all the "Thank you!" comments and "We had fun!"

I'm really happy they came and I had a great time! Hopefully they can all do it again sometime!

10 Reasons Why the Brunnie is No Fun in Formal Wear

1) Because my feet hurt like a sonofabit** in those pointy, lethal shoes.

2) Because I look like a lunatic among all these young, college-aged drinkers in my low-cut formal black dress.

3) Because carrying a little purse AND camera on my shoulders is no fun when you're trying to dance.

4) Please see number 1.

5) Please see number 4.

6) Because people look at you like you're some sort of tourist who just arrived on earth and who doesn't know how clubbing in Toronto works.

7) Because you can't really bust a move like you normally do because you're afraid your stockings will run, you'll twist your ankle (in those god-forsaken heels), your purse will fling out and hit someone or your boob will fall out.

8) Did I just write boob?

9) (laughs like Peter Griffin)

10) Because you can't really sit down anywhere because every surface is covered in something like spooge or gunge or ick... and who wants to get that crap on their dress.

Prince George from the Top of a Mountain...

Last week I went to Prince George, BC. My old boss (and by old, I mean 'previous') was a gracious host and let me stay at her place. I really enjoyed my time there, it wasn't a crazy busy week, but really relaxing.

Lydia has an amazing dog named Kakadu, who became an incredible hiking buddy. And don't let me forget her cat-with-a-nub-for-a-tail, Mango.

Here are a few pics that briefly outline my trip to Prince George. These include a pic of Kakadu, Mango and the view from the top of Teapot Mountain.

A funny thing happened on the way to the....

So I got on the subway at Bloor/Yonge yesterday evening. There was this studious fellow across the train from me, seated, fiddling with a Rubik's cube. It is safe to assume that he had been playing with it for several stops before I even got on the train.

However, I was really impressed that he had solved the cube in only about 5 subway stops.

If you watched him, he had his eyes cast down.... heck he could have had his eyes closed, for all I know.

It was really neat to watch, and watch I did.... or rather stare. But it felt like one of those instances where it was really worth it to stare and no one really minded (I wasn't the only one staring).

So, kudos to my Rubik's cube - solving fellow passenger...

Brown Sugar Baby...

So yesterday my most bestest friends and I celebrated my birthday by having dinner at Milestones. Now this involved a lot of laughs, pictures, goody bags and some loud rendition of a Sesame Street song. Don't ask. I swear, I was at the other end of the table.

The coolest/funniest thing that happened all night was thanks to a random, blond, semi-drunk lady, visiting our table. It seems she had been drinking up enough courage to come over to our table and talk to Dwight. She asked him (in kinda slurred words) how did one young fellow, like himself, end up at a table full of lovely women. At which point, Alison replied (without missing a beat) that he (Dwight) was our stripper for the night. The woman couldn't stop laughing, and neither could we.

Ah, Dwight.... you lucky bugger you. :)