Coveting

cov·et

 /ˈkʌvɪt/ Show Spell[kuhv-it] 

–verb (used with object)

1. to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another's property.

2. to wish for, esp. eagerly: He won the prize they all coveted.

I want. I want. I want.

OK, I don't need for anything. And I want for very little.

Just a few of those things?

These cookbooks:

 I think I've said it once or twice: I can live without Martha, but her people are amazing.

This pantry:

Over here at Apartment Therapy...the jars. I love the jars. Something about looking at nice clear, uniform jars full of cooking spices and ingredients is so appealing to me. 

Side note: did you know that Apartment Therapy was my first blog to read? Yes, it's true. My friend Stuart introduced me and life has since been remarkably different. Then came Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen and Cake Wrecks and many, many others.

A house (and if we're talking about something I would covet, why not go big?!?):

Just a tiny place out here in Durham. The small price tag of $699,900 is nothing, right? That's completely do-able on my dainty budget. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Anyone want to go in together? We are talking about six bedrooms. Can we talk about the kitchen though? Seriously? Seriously. If I'm being honest, the kitchen is what I covet. Ahhh! To have a kitchen with a gas stove, large enough to move in and actual storage space!?! A dream come true. 

Last, but not least, a dog:

MG says I can't get anything with any Pit Bull in it. I'd take pretty much anything though. Especially some sweet mutt out of the pound. Except, I want a big dog. A nice, big, friendly, cat-loving, people-loving dog. If I were in Kansas I'd get one of these from the Lucky Dog Program which I think is amazing. 

I think that's all for now. Except I do covet some mad piano playing skills. 

Exactly.

Musician?

I watched this video.

(I will put a bit of a language warning out there on this one[especially after my earlier post about disliking the f-bomb, oh the irony]...sorry Mom.)

Then I decided I want to marry a musician.

Preferably a good one. 

Thanks.

I know you're still passing out my email ever since my plea for help.

Really? You're not? No, I didn't notice my completely empty inbox.

You don't know anyone with whom you'd like to introduce me? Well...BOO.

Things I Dislike, a non-alphabetical list

• sirens in songs. Who thought it would be a good idea to include emergency vehicle sirens in music you play in your car? EVERY time I have to check my rearview mirror and search for the emergency only to find that it's in my radio. 
• cat hair; love the cats, hate the hair
• pooping at work
• beer, yes that kind and that kind too, it tastes like rotten grossness to me
• cold, dirty dishwater
• raw onions
• body odor
• expensive things I want
• Ke$ha
• doing my taxes
• whiny-whiners
• hotmail
• jumpsuits/jumpers for adults
• running
• throwing up
• mother nature (just once a month, if you know what I mean...)
• ill-fitting clothing
• 10-year high school reunion...now, I have yet to attend one of these, but it scares the bejeebers out of me. 
• bad communicaton
• confrontation (I'm working with this edge)
• many, many rainy days in a row (I like a few, though.)
• Moody-McMoodsters
• closed-mindedness, you can have your opinions and beliefs but it's a big world out there, can I please have mine too? and can she have hers? and his is valid as well, right?
• the f-word
• incorrect usage of: your/you're, their/they're/there, to/too/two
• guns and violence in general
• hate

People

I need more people in my life.

Because I have cats.

And I keep taking pictures and talking about these cats and I am starting to have a small, tiny, itty-bitty seed of fear that there aren't people in my future. Only cats.

It's quite scary.

Early every morning, around 6:00 am the cats get up. And they want to play. And they want food in their bowls-NOW! And they are generally annoying.

By 8:00 am, they are cute and cuddly and sleepy. And they are generally adorable.

I woke up this morning to all three in my bed. I think they've only been joining me after their morning romp, but I'm a sound sleeper, so who knows what the night looks like.

I opened my eyes to Sweet Tea.

Yes, that's my laptop. So what if I sleep with my laptop? I happened to be watching Freaks and Geeks before I went to bed. It's a big bed. Stop judging me.

Molasses was somewhere near my feet.

He's so cute when he sleeps. He also has a UTI which might explain some of his poop-head behavior in terms of peeing everywhere except the litterbox.

Oh, Mo, if you looked so cute all the time we could be friends.

Hank was of course right next to me.

Laying on his back with his legs spread. He does that. He likes to have his belly rubbed.

So, if you'd like to come out to North Carolina so I can take your picture and we can have an adventure together, you're more than welcome. Then I'll blog about something other than cats because cats aren't exactly the most interesting of topics. I'll let you sleep in my bed.

With the cats.

What can I say? I'm a nice host.

Anatomy of a Bo*Berry Biscuit

Someone mentioned Bojangles the other day.

Then I couldn't stop thinking about a Bo*Berry bith-cuit. So, I got one today.

Actually, I got two.
And an egg & cheese bith-cuit which I ate immediately in the car because my 60 calorie yogurt and the banana I had 2 1/2 hours earlier weren't sustaining me.

All for the sake of documentation. The things I do for you people.
Sheesh.
Please feel free to sing my praises to all you know.

I think I've mentioned before how fond the ladies of the South are of terms of endearment. I pull up to the window and this woman says, "Hey, honey! How're ya doin' today?" I'm a friendly gal, so I respond politely. (My polite is usually other people's enthusiastic FYI.) "OK, sug, you just sit tight I'll have that food right out for you." "Here you are, hun, have a great day!"

Terms of endearment: I'd really only use them for small children, significant others and my potential future children. Here, they apply to anyone and everyone who is alive or dead.

Back to bith-cuits.

I'm sorry, do you like a little icing? Because these are iced blueberry biscuits. Warm, buttery blueberry biscuits drenched in icing.

Yeah, kinda like that.

I recommend milk or coffee. But not coffee from Bojangles. Their coffee is bad.

See how yummy and moist and decadent they look?

That's what $1.49 can get you.

Biscuits and a side of guilt.
Sweet, delicious, I-promise-to-walk-an-extra-mile, guilt.

Things I Like, an alphabetical list

• applesauce (homemade and preferably warm)
• babies, baked goods, baths, blogs, Body Therapy Institute, butter
• cheese, cheesing, citrus, coffee, cottage cheese, cream cheese
• dancing, dogs, Durham
• earrings, eggs, empire-waist dresses, epsom salts
• family, farmer's market, flowers, flying, food, friends, fruit
• games, gardens, glasses, Glee
• Hank, higher education, honesty
• Imogen Heap
• juxtaposition
• kinesthetic learning
• lattes, laughter, Love Actually
• Mac, massage, milkshakes, musical theatre
• Nikon, noodles
• Oliver Lake, orange juice (with pulp, please)
• photos, pineapple, pink, pumpkin flavored anything
• quirks
• red pepper flakes, rss feed
• singing, smiles, socializing, Spring Awakening, strengths
• Target, texting
• underwear
• vanilla, vegetables
• walking, water
• x is a very difficult letter.
• yes, you
• zest, Zumba

Home Alone

When I'm left home alone...I sometimes start to feel desperate.

So I'm looking at ads on Craigslist. Mostly because my friend L sent me an email after finding this guy:
1. http://raleigh.craigslist.org/m4w/1638284882.html
He says "no BBW" [BBW=Big Beautiful Women], so I don't know if I qualify or not? You know? I mean I'm too chubby to fit in the in the "I'm looking for someone fit" which means THIN, but most BBWs have a few more pounds on their frame than I have. Hmmm...so what do you think?

2. http://raleigh.craigslist.org/m4w/1637948240.html
This guy sounds like he might be more up my alley. He's a teacher (plus one). His name is Matt which is my brother's name which is kind of weird, but I wouldn't hold it against him. Thoughts?

I'm not sure that Craigslist is the best option for finding someone to date. Please send help before I do something I might regret.

(Let's be serious for a moment though: I am a pansy. I will not email either of these men.)

I think I might bake something though. Brownies are destined for comforting single women right?

Sunday with the Wifeys

I don't know if "wifey" is a real word. I don't think it is. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be though.

Megan made up "wifey" when, well, we became her wifeys. You see, MG and I do pretty much all the shopping and cooking in these parts. Partly because we're control freaks. Or I'm a control freak. Partly because Megan is a crazy over-scheduled-working-two-jobs-and-going-to-grad-school-freak.

Yes, this is our life.

So remember back when it snowed? You know, at the very beginning of February? Well, that was the last time the three of us spent any quantity of time together. YES, we live together and we haven't spent time together in a month. We're on crazy-different schedules.

This past Sunday was an exception though! The light shone down from above and ahhhhh! we had a day where all three of us were off work! HOORAY!

We did what all 20-somethings would do.

Brunch.

Of course we didn't actually make it to Watt's Grocery until around 1:00 which meant that it was full and we had a 30 minute wait. So what were we to do? 

 Coffee.

A perfect latte. Skim, sugar-fee caramel. WITH LATTE ART. Amazing.

It looks like Wilson from Cast-away, don't you think?

When we went in the wait was worth it.

Eggs Florentine

 Bith-cuits and Gravy

 Some Special Grit Thing That I Can't Remember The Name Of

The food was fresh, delicious, tasty, simple, and clean. Not just clean in that dirty vs. clean way, but clean on your palette. No mystery flavors. I liked it.

The sun was shining so we went for a quick walk in Duke Gardens. I hadn't been there before, so I was surprised to see how huge it was. And beautiful. Everyone else had headed out for the first spring-like day of the season. The grass was brown but that didn't prevent all the people from playing catch and cuddling on blankets.

I'm not sure if you can tell or not, but this girl happens to have her thong hanging out of her pants. It was very classy. (Oh, and I know I spelled "appropriate" incorrectly, I however, do not know how to easily fix it in photoshop and am therefore justifying it with this parenthetical disclaimer. Thank you.)

This is my personal fav of our group pictures.

What? You don't see it? OK.

Only a few flowers have bloomed already, but I'm guessing we'll have more soon...

 My personal favorite flower was this little one. It looked like some small, velvety leftover from last fall, but when you looked at it from the underside you could see the fresh, new yellow blossoms. I love surprises like that!

My Sunday ended with a trip to the Durham Performing Arts Center for a performance of Spring Awakening.

Umm...LOVED IT!

If you don't know Spring Awakening here's a little ditty:

This is the actual cast we saw...I felt that they were pretty good, at times the harmonies were not exactly...tight. The actress who played Ilse (the one on the right) pulled focus frequently in the group numbers. Annoying.

I hope your weather has been amazing like ours has out here! I love being able to go outside and enjoy the warmth of the sun and the smell of spring!

Three Cats

No house needs three cats.

However, we have them.

Which can make for funny jokes.

3 girls+3 cats=ummmm.....you fill in the blank.

 

Mo and Sweet Tea would spend their lives looking out windows.

 

Sweet Tea likes to play. And snuggle. And play.

You all know that Hank is my favorite. He's my schmoopsie-poo. I love him. He was my Valentine this year. I am not his mother though. This is for certain.

This is a very happy Hank.

My least favorite cat is definitely Molasses. He is a little shit. Sorry. Pain in the butt? Yes, that too.

 

  

(This is actually a yawn, but doesn't he look ferocious?)

Reasons Mo is a poop-head:
1. He peed in my laundry as I sorted it.
2. He eats used q-tips out of the trash can. If there are clean ones out, he'll chew on those too.
3. He peed on my scarves in a basket.
4. He won't stay off the counters. (Although this is getting better unless what's going on on the counters involves tuna. Tuna...the smell is so appealing to a cat.)
5. He wakes up at inappropriate hours. OK, they all do this. Every morning around 6:00 they begin their playtime and then begin meowing until someone crawls out of bed to feed them. It is quite annoying.
6. He plays with his chicken on top of you in bed.

Mo loves his chicken. LOVE.

Megan calls it his cock.

I'm feeling rather inappropriate today. Sorry.

We're working on the pee thing. It's been better lately. He hasn't peed in anything except the litterbox that we know about. Of course, we're also being better owners by not putting boxes of stuff out and about in the house.

Quick Thoughts

I love my KitchenAid mixer. I bought it for $60 at an auction. I do have some attachments (like a meat grinder and a vegetable cutting thing) that I have never used.

I think that at least 75% of men who make good eye contact and are genuinely friendly are married.

I think that my statistics are sometimes wrong.

If you don't like coconut you are weird. Coconut is amazing.

The other day I was driving home while talking to my mom on the phone, as we were talking I gasped because I looked up and the moon was HUGE and shining through the trees (as close to the horizon as I can see out here). Unfortunately I didn't take a picture because I'm lame. And it's been cloudy every evening since. I'm never--NEVER!--going to get a picture of the moon.

I need more friends in Durham who have time to spend with me on my days off.

Do you want to move to Durham? I'll buy you a cup of coffee. (And maybe a pastry.)

At times I exhibit uncontrollable re-arranging needs. Last night was one of those times thus, a new living room layout. I'm also still feeling it, so I might have to do something in my room. Hmm....

I'm making the best chocolate chip cookies ever this week. I started them today. They require a minimum of 24-hours to sit in the fridge. They have salt on top of them. They are divine. DIVINE. (Definition of divine: of or for God) That's right, these are God's cookies if God were to want a cookie. I think God would want a cookie. They're from the New York Times and were created by Jacques Torres and many people have blogged about their deliciousness...here's one post at Two Peas and Their Pod.

Can you believe it's March? I can't. It's been a rough winter for North Carolina and I'll bet it's been worse if you're further west or north of us. We're ready to turn off the heat in our house and get the windows open. Come on SPRING! I miss you.

I have a need to cuddle and Hank is the only one who wants to cuddle with me. Wah-wah.

OK, I'm going to be productive. I start my small group from church tonight. I'm meeting new people! Yay!

Update

Just a quick update on my dating life...or lack of a dating life.

Today I deleted both my OkCupid and PlentyOfFish accounts. Here's the reason why:

I'm paraniod.

Yes, I think it might be true. You see, everywhere I go I'm worried that I'm going to run into someone who has seen me on one of those accounts. Instead of thinking, "well, that means they're on it too." I think, "AHHHHhhhhhhhhh! What if they judge me? What if they're in my room for a session? What if...What if.... WHAT IF....!"

I never claimed to be rational.

Here's the deal...I still haven't gotten one email. No one knows anyone I could possibly be interested in and would reciprocate that? No one? Really?

Depths of despair people. Depths of despair.

(That's from Anne of Green Gables for those of you who didn't get the reference.)

In other news: I want to have Jason Segel's babies. Seriously. I'm just now watching Freaks and Geeks for the first time and, yes, I think I'm in love lust.

So when you're telling your friends that I'm single you can tell them I'm looking for: Jason Segel-Joel McHale funny, Gilbert Blythe dedication, James Marsden-Hugh Jackman fathers and Josh Groban's voice.

That's all.

OK, I'd date "start talking" with someone with these characteristics: a sense of humor, loyalty, charisma, good hygiene, the ability to make an amazing latte, loves kids, loves his family (or at least has the ability to love mine), compassion, appreciates theatre, is creative and is independent.

We're just talking about talking here. Not necessarily dating. And I'm not tied to North Carolina (I just heard my mom give a "Thank you" for that), but I do love Durham.

Enough for now.
Over and out.