In light of the passing of one of my surrogate kitties, Button, I thought I would take a moment to remember my babies that have gone on before. I wish I had pictures of all of them to share, but I don't have any of Missy and Ginger to post at this time.

To all the furr babies that have enriched my life...

Missy

Ginger

Cookies&Cream


TigerButter


Gizmo


Squirrel Killer

mood: It's almost FRIDAY!
listening to: nada

neopets member since: July 16, 2001 (4 years in a couple of weeks!)
games played and scored: 49 (must increase that for the new avatar)
avatars: 105
neopets:
- Cornflower_Abby: Elephante
- Frett_Draco: Scorchio
- Iatyh: Aisha
- ZammyII: Grundo
other accounts:
-firithmundowen
-strwbrrycwgrl77

erin got me sucked back into playing again by offering to help me sell off all the items i had collected for the packrat avatar that are now cluttering my sdb. i put the stuff into the store, and she does all the pricing for me. i love it! i absolutely hate pricing stuff on the shop wiz...i'm too lazy. ^^

as that stuff sells, i opened my gallery (yay for that being a new feature!) and put my illusen and green faerie items back into it. i also made a new list of potential items for the gallery and now have a checklist to track my progress on collecting. i am a bit peeved, though, that one has to pay to expand their gallery like the regular shops. :p that's going to cost as much as some of the items. *rolls eyes*

when i first logged in from home this afternoon, however, i FOUND a decorative negg on the floor...and the cheapest i saw one going for was 14,000np!! i am currently auctioning it in hopes that ppl will fight over it a bit and i will get more than on the shop wiz.

mood: meh
listening to: clickity clack of the keyboard




73% scored higher (more stupid),
4% scored the same, and
23% scored lower (less stupid).

What does this mean? You are 23% stupid. This means...

You are far from stupid. Congrats on a great accomplishment!

1. First, it's pronounced AWS-TUN. It doesn't matter how they say it in other places.

2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Austin has its own set of traffic rules. There's no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them.

3. All directions start with "Go down Mopac...'cause you don't want to geton I-35’." No one knows for sure what 'Mopac' means.

4. Burnet Road, Braker Lane, and Lamar Blvd.have no beginning and no end.

5. It is impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a scenic drive.

6. The 8:00amrush hour is from 6:30am to 9:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 3:30p to 7:15pm. Friday's rush hour starts on Thursday morning.

7. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Austin. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a burnt-orange hue. This is Longhorn Country, after all.

8. If you like being an individual, don't even think of working for Dell. You'll be branded like cattle and made to walk all over town with your Dell Tag around your neck or clipped on to your belt loop. Ninety-eight percent of the people within a 200 mile radius work for Dell. When someone says "Michael Dell", Dell employees are trained to face Round Rock, hit their knees, put their face to the ground, weep, and rock back and forth.

9. Just remember that Mopac IS Loop1; Capital of Texas Hwy IS 360; and U.S.183 IS Research Blvd., AndersonLand, Ed Bluestein Blvd.and Old Bastrop Hwy; 2222 IS Northland Dr.or Allendale Rd.or Koenig Lane. Don't try to figure it out. Just accept it. If you question the intelligence behind this naming convention, people will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you.

10. If moisture is determined to be rain, and not sweat, all traffic must immediately come to a screeching halt; ditto for daylight savings time, a femal UT student applying eye-shadow across the street, or a flat tire three lanes over. Rubber-necking is considered just as enjoyable as plain old necking with the steamed up car windows.

11. DO NOT attempt to access any road after an apocalyptic event like snow, a UT football game, UIL weekend, the Republic of Texas motorcycle rally, a parade for Lance Armstrong, cycling event, another 10K run or the SXSW (South by Southwest Music Convention). Construction on I-35 AND U.S. 183 is a way of life and a permanent form of lifetime entertainment. Get used to it and start saving up your toll road money!

12. Attn: All telephone solicitors...DO NOT correct my pronunciation when I say I live in Manchaca, TX. It's pronounced MAN-shack (just like a man living in shack). Also realize that the city of Manchaca (MANshack) is in Hays and Travis Counties, and there is also a very long street in Austin named Manchaca (MANshack)! The city of Manor and Manor Rd. are pronounced 'MAY-ner'. We don't like corrections on that either. And, for God's sake, DON'T pronounce the 'E' at the end of Guadalupe. It's Gwada-LOOP and we like it that way!

13. Burnet Road is pronounced BURN-it, not Bur-NET. Koenig Lane is pronounced KAE-nig not KOE-nig. The old airport (Robert Mueller) is pronounced Robert Miller and is on Airport Boulevard. The new airport (Austin-Bergstrom) is no where near Airport Boulevard. It's in the city of Del Valle pronounced Dell Valley!

14. Keep in mind that the sloppily dressed 'hippie' in worn-out sandals and earrings is probably the latest IPO millionaire around here.

15. Stay away from the Congress Ave. bridge at sundown if you do not like the thought of being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. (Largest Mexican Free Tail Bat Population in the US)

16. And, yes, we all know that there's a man in a teddy and a tiara on Congress Ave. It's Leslie and he probably makes more money than you do. (Surely, you have a homeless, celebrity drag queen that likes to run for Mayor where you live, too, right?)

**And you wonder why there are so many bumper stickers that say 'Keep Austin Weird'!**

mood: whee! It's Friday!
listening to: Sugarland - Baby Girl

You Are Absinthe!
You have a unique personality. Although most like you, sometimes you take some getting used to. You can be a bit strong. You are full of energy and sometimes flamboyant. You are the life of the party but if people are not careful you can knock them on their ass.

What Naughty My Little Pony Are You?

mood: blah
listening to: tv in the other room and laurie blinging me on Yahoo :)

I am kinda at loose ends right now. Mom came over for dinner, but left a lot sooner than I thought she would. I figured she would be here longer to keep me company til Erin comes over later for Friends nite. At least I have Lauries to chat with. :)

Work has been totally shitty this week...I am glad I called in sick yesterday to be with Dusty before he left to go to his Dad's in OK. We have a huge deadline coming up at the end of August, and our fearless leaders are just now figuring out we need to be doing something about...even though we peons have been trying to tell them that for weeks on end now. :
Not sure how the rest of the week is going to play out...tonite was the only nite I had definite plans. I really hope Erwina will make it over...I love Friends nites. :) I seriously look forward to them all week long. It would be even more fun tonite since D isn't here to make smart remarks about our little obsesion. *g* btw...Erwina...if you read this before our allotted time....CALL ME!! WOOWOO! :)

Gah...I am totally rambling. I should end this before all of you completely lose interest. Now I need to go try to find a new recipe to post on the other blog. Maybe the quesadillas from last nite...mmmmmm....quesadillas.

I have started a second blog called Sarafina's Kitchen. It will be a place for me to keep recipes that I have tried and love. Most will be from my cookbooks, but I have been known to find good recipes elsewhere, and I will let you know where they come from. I hope you will stop by often...I plan on updating it frequently! :)

Click Me!

Labels: sarafinas kitchen

mood: great
listening to: Il Divo

Hello all! Dustin and I are back from New York! It was a fabulous trip...I only wish we had had more time! Juls & Lee were fabulous! Lee, m'dear, it was so great to finally meet you...you are more adorable and sweet than I had ever imagined! Juls...you are a super lucky gal, and I am so glad you and I got to spend more time together. We would be dangerous if we lived closer! ;)

This will be a long post, so bear with me! :)

Saturday night D & I arrived at La Guardia close to 10. Juls & Lee picked us up and took us back to their apartment for the night. Juli made a great arroz con pollo, and we got a chance to catch up. (for pics of the apartment, click here and here.)

Sunday we were off to Midtown Manhattan. We took the train to Rockefeller Center and walked through the concourse there and out to street level. We walked down Fifth Avenue and saw Cartier, Tiffany, Trump Tower, St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Thomas' Church, FAO Schwartz, and more. We then headed to Central Park, went to Lincoln Center, and walked through the Theatre District. We also walked through Macy's and past the Empire State Building and Radio City Music Hall. The line was way too long to actually go up to the observation deck...maybe next time. We then went to Carmine's for dinner and went to the Ziegfield Theatre to see Star Wars Ep III. We finally got back to the apartment about 2am! We were all tired (after walking close to 7 miles), but it was a blast and well worth it. :)

Monday we slept in a bit, and Juli went and got us fresh NY bagels. They were the yum. :) She & Lee then took us out to Long Island to see Dustin's grandparents. They live in this adorable little community. It actually reminded me a lot of Beaumont. They had small pine trees and azaleas, and it just looked liked Beaumont. I loved it. They have a really nice house, and Grandma had snacks waiting for us when we arrived. We visited with them and went to a community party they were having for Memorial Day. They then took us to eat in Port Jefferson at Danford's. The weather was super nice down at the docks. Juls & Lee were waiting there for us and joined us for dinner. After a good seafood dinner, we went back to Queens.

Tuesday Lee had to go back to work, so Juli took D & I back to Rockefeller for a private NBC studio tour. The page that took us on the tour (Jen) was from Round Rock! She had actually just gotten back from Texas. She took us to Conan O'Brien's studio, the Saturday Night Live stage, NBC Nightly News, and NBC Sports. We were in awe of how tiny the studios were! I knew they wouldn't be huge, but they were soooo small! She took us down to the floor of the SNL studio which you don't get to do on the normal tours. It was so cool standing on that stage. There is so much history there! We also found out that the news tickers and control room images behind the desk on the Nightly News are actually pre-recorded and looped. The control room repeats every 45 seconds and was recorded back in '99. Before we left, we stopped by the NBC Experience Store and I picked up a couple of items. Then it was off to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. We were a bit disappointed because they were at capacity for the museum, so we only got to walk around the island. It was beautiful, though, and the ferry ride was great. We returned to Queens, and Juls & Lee took us to Green Field Churrascaria which served Brazilian food. There was a buffet to get your sides from, and then waiters walk around with swords full of meat and they offer you a large variety of meats throughout your meal to try. It was super yummy. :) We then got some ice cream and went home.

This is, of course, the short version of the trip, but at least you can get an idea of all the cool stuff we got to do. To see all of the pictures from the trip, click here.