Coffee Break!

Since my coffee maker broke and thus, broke my heart, I have been trying to make do with other remedies. Why-you might be wondering-do I not just buy a new coffee maker for $10 at Wal-mart? I don't know. Laziness? Lack of caffeine perhaps? So I have been unsuccessfully trying to make coffee via other pathways.
#1) The Italian Coffee Maker
Not working for me. You fill the bottom part up with water and put the coffee in the "waist" of the thing and put it on the stove. The water boils, the steam rises through the grinds and viola the 1/2 cup of coffee is magically finished in the top compartment. How about no. There is no timer, I usually burn it, and there is a cloud of coffee grinds in the bottom of my tiny cup. This is not working out for me.






#2) Single Cup Coffee Filter
This has been something that has not worked, then worked. This little guy sits on top of the coffee mug. you put a cone filter in it and fill it up with hot water and it will drip down directly into your mug! It has only taken me 5 tries to finally get the ratio of grinds to water to make a good cup. I was so thrilled with my work this morning that I needed to blog about it. Mind you, this is the first relatively good cup of coffee I have had in about 3 weeks...today, I am a happy camper.

Do any of you have any other coffee-making alternatives? Let me know!

Movie/Book Reviews in a Nutshell

It has been ages since I have posted anything on my blog. Usually, I only blog when I find something interesting to blog about. Since my last post, I have read a bunch of books and caught a few flicks. I usually put my two cents in about each, so here's a quick recap.
This was given to me by Stephen's dad. It was ok. It is not in my usual genre of books I enjoy to read, but it was interesting enough. Joel C. Rosenberg is basically a young Tom Clancy writing fiction based on current events. The Last Jihad, in short, is about the idea of going nuclear on Israel and whether the decision is a good one. Another long story short, it ended where I would have expected it to climax. Mr. Rosenberg's most recent novel "The Twelfth Iman" is in my "to read" stack and I have high hopes for that one.
Couldn't put it down. Loved it. If you like love stories, READ IT! It is the most interesting twist of fate. Claire meets her fated future husband at the age of six in a clearing behind her house. Henry is a time traveler. They fall in love and it is beautiful. I don't want to give too much away, but oh my gosh, I cried, laughed, and felt such a real connection to these characters. It is beautifully written and is a story of how true love literally stands the test of time. Read it.

*I read a few quick books by Gemma Townley. Not much worth an entire review, but I enjoy her work. :)

I saw it and like it. I didn't love it. It was exactly like the book I read and loved years ago. Maybe I didn't love it because I knew what was going to happen? I don't know, but it is a great Rom Com.


I saw it. I liked it. All I am going to say about it is that if you like LOST, then you will like this! It was pretty cool. That's all I'm saying. Don't let anyone spoil it. Takes away the fun :)

It was awful. The only good part....

Welcome Home Iran!

My mom's fiance moved home last night from Florida! He wasted no time in getting back into his routine of lovingly tormenting the animals. This morning he was annoying my mom's cat Mercy so much so that she reached out and swiped him one good! This leaves Iran holding his bleeding finger defeated, mumbling "Bitch."

Welcome Home!

HAHA!

"Shattered Bass"

A fellow Gossip Girl fanatic across the country asked me to reveal what I thought about EVERYTHING about tonight's episode, "Shattered Bass." If you do not give a hoot about GG, I give you permission to stop reading. You have been warned. So here goes....

First thing I would like to say is that I LOVED Blair's engagement party dress! I wanted this episode to be solely about Blair because of this dress.

Continuing on the subject of Blair, I think that she might be making a huge mistake by marrying Louis, the Prince of Monaco. Ok, sure, so she's super happy, but is she really? No, of course she's not because she is meant to be with Chuck. I will be devastated if she is following her dream of being an actual princess and doesn't follow her destiny in Chuck Bass. I realize that I take their fictional relationship way too seriously. Deal with it.

Next, I would like to point out what a crazy floozy Charlie is. She trashed her crazy pills?! She's going after Dan (her cousin's ex-bf/step brother - strange) and to top it off, she is attempting to replace Serena. Cuckoo! This is Serena's dress fo sho. Look familiar? Dan is getting retarded by trying to do whatever he's doing with this girl. Not smart. Serena must not be messed with. She will bring them down. Obviously. She's gotta go.
Next, I discuss what is going on with Chuck...besides his good-looks and chic wardrobe. I swear the man 1) Doesn't own a T-shirt or a pair of jeans, 2) Wouldn't be caught dead in flip flops, and 3) Cannot throw a football. No one else could exude nearly as much confidence while introducing themselves as Chuck. "I'm Chuck Bass." Not even Hugh Jackman could do it.
Poor Chuck. He's always getting caught in a bad business deal. Someone is always trying to bring down Bass Industries and he is always in the throes of a scandal. Someone is always going after the love of his life to bring him down. It would be better if C and B were just together for good ruling Manhattan and blackmailing others. It's what they do best!
I do not like Reyna's character. Nor am I a fan of her father, but at least they clear Bart's name on setting that fire! Nate needs to get himself out of that mess PRONTO! Nate is better than all this. He needs his own story soon. I'm ready to get some Nate drama. Bring back Bri Buckley please!

The last thing I am going to say about this episode is that I am glad that Chuck and Jack seems to be rekindling something. I JUST realized that whoever plays Jack on GG, also plays on my other favorite show...DEXTER! He's Quinn! You have no idea how long I have been watching Dexter and have been trying to figure out where I know Quinn from. I kept thinking it was 90210...I couldn't be more dense! Gossip Girl follows me wherever I go! Haha! By the way, my favorite line of this episode came from Jack. Thorpe and Chuck were revealing all kinds of drama about the fire back in the day and Chuck was being the bigger man. Jack was trying to order Chinese and says, "I can't choose an entree with the Hallmark hall of fame going on in here." haha! Oh Jack....
Overall, I loved this episode and can't believe there is only one more episode this season. Blair better end up with Chuckster. Thorpe is going to lock Blair up on the roof and set the building on fire and then Chuck is going to come in his helicopter and save her. Maybe? Probably not. But Thorpe is going to get violent at C and B's expense to get back at them when he should really be getting back at Nate. Maybe that is where Nate's drama is going to come from? At any rate, both Thorpes need to go back to Chicago. No one wants them in New York.

So there you have it...my thoughts on this episode of GG! What are your thoughts?

Mrs. Fix-it

Since P*DE*Q is opening up it's shop exactly 3.55 miles from my home, I made the decision to fix up my bike and start riding to work every day! Why pass up the opportunity to get some exercise and ride down beautiful Van Ness? Step one was the fix up my sweet cruiser. I brought it out of the shed and it was absolutely filthy so I proceeded to give it a nice wash and scrub down...basket and all! Now that my sweet ride was all cleaned up, there was some rust to take care of. I tried using WD40. It didn't work. Found out later strictly not to use WD40 since it attracts dirt. Whoops! Instead I am supposed to use steel wool and it happened to work pretty great. I haven't finished getting all the rust of of my chrome fenders quite yet, but I will!

Next step was to get an attractive helmet so in case of emergency, I hopefully don't die. Check!

Needed new struts for my front fender (some assembly required, with the help of my handy brother, Trent). Check!

Blinky lights. Check!

And last, but definitely most important, a cup holder for my friend Mr. Starbucks! Double Check!
Now I'm ready to ride! Have any of you thought about how to stay fit and have fun in a practical way this summer?

Hunting for the Perfect Mixer

Why is a 60 Qt Hobart Mixer with a Single Phase electrical plug thing so hard to find? P*DE*Q, the amazing company I work for, is opening a store in the Tower District and it is my job right now, amongst many other things, is to FIND A MIXER. Why is this so hard? Okay okay, so there are a ton of mixers out there, but it seems that I cannot find THE one. I cannot find the one that looks tight and is the right price. WHY ME!!!

So, for now, the hunt continues for the perfect mixer to complete our P*DE*Q heaven.

Just a note: this guy knows what's up.

Water for Elephants

When I used to work at Borders Books backin 2006, I remember seeing this out on the new arrivals shelf. It seemed interesting and after reading the description on the back decided against it. It didn't seem like a book I would like. Years later in 2011, I saw the movie trailer for this book that I previously poo-pooed and immediately became intrigued. My first thought was "Wait a second, this is about an old circus?! SWEET!" How could I have missed that 5 years ago? Idiot moment on my part, I guess. Last week, I was in need of a book to read and downloaded it on my trusty Kindle! In 5 seconds (I am still amazed at this piece of technology) I was on the Benzini Bro's Circus train.

I could not put this book down.

I will not give anything away for those of you interested in seeing the movie or reading it, but my goodness, Sara Gruen can write! I laughed out loud, I cried while reading on the elliptical machine at the gym (multiple times) and was completely swept off my feet by Jacob Jankowski and the dear and precious Rosie. It has officially made it's way to my top 10 favorite books of all time!

MOVIE REVIEW:
I of course saw the movie last night and loved it! It was pretty true to the book with of course a few minor changes that weren't a big deal. One thing that I found interesting was that they combined two characters in the book into one. Uncle Al runs the Benzini Bro's Circus and August is the ring leader. The movie put this character into one and it actually works really well! Keep in mind that there are a few parts that I had a tough time watching when it comes to the animals, but it's all fake. No animals were harmed in the making! I give the movie my stamp of approval and definitely recommend it!

FUN FACTS:
The author of the book did a lot of research while writing the book and included some true happenings in the story. For instance, there was an elephant that would remove its stake, walk over and drink the lemonade, then walk back and put the stake back in the ground pretending that nothing happened. There was a circus that had a hippo and when the hippo died, they replaced the water tank with formaldehyde and displayed a dead hippo for a few weeks. There was also an elephant who actually killed his abusive trainer after he flicked a lit cigarette into its mouth.

This book really tugged on my heartstrings and it now holds a special place in my heart. It is right up there with Harry Potter and Outlander! I feel that I could go on and on about it, but you should really pick it up and experience the magic for yourself.