P.S. ~ I'm vacillating about what to do here. I'm currently spending somewhere between $25 and $30 a month on coffee and closer to $40 during the harsh winter months. I know that's not a great habit but don't judge. Anyhow, Starbucks is currently having their annual Home Brewing Sale and I am seriously considering buying my own espresso machine for next year. Starbucks even gives thorough in-store demonstrations on how to use the equipment and make your favorite Starbucks drinks (Almond nonfat latte! Nonfat peppermint mocha!). I definitely wouldn't buy one from Starbucks ($399--I don't think so), but even if I do buy a cheaper one and then have to buy the espresso and the milk and the flavored syrups, I can't figure out if it's worth it. What do you think?

Oh boy...today was a tough one, let me tell you. After last night's trip to Dominick's to celebrate spring and my inevitable overindulgence on sangria, I felt quite a bit shy of 100% today. Red wine and I are not friends and I must make serious note of this fact. I'm hoping hitting the hay early tonight will help me be back on my feet for tomorrow.

I actually wrote a quick little post last night and it got erased (I think my little Dell has a bug!) but I'm struggling to remember exactly what I wrote. I do remember rejoicing that spring has sprung and also noting that I am dead last in our small NCAA tourney pool. I could pull forward and beat Hal if Illinois takes the title so I'll be crossing my fingers for a win on Saturday and Monday. By the way, go Spartans! Even though I bleed maize and blue, a little Big 10 camaraderie won't hurt anyone :)

Not too much else is new. I just thought I'd check in and say hi. The plans for this weekend are still pretty hazy (besides basketball, of course) but don't forget to "spring ahead" one hour on Saturday night (actually 2 am Sunday morning, to be exact). Losing an hour of sleep = bad. An extra hour of daylight = sweet.

Sweet dreams.

xoxox

Thursday = flirting with the weekend

Thank goodness this week is flying by. I figure the faster the days feel now, the sooner I'll be enjoying the lazy dog days of summer :)

I've done a few fun things in the past few days. Namely, I completed my first ever FAFSA application. Yes, I somehow miraculously avoided that infamous application through 4 years of college but my parents said that all bets were off for grad school. Fair enough. It was kind of fun to do anyways.

I also got to have breakfast with my Daddy at Angelo's yesterday morning before work. He was in the area fixin' to leave for his annual "Snowbirds" golfing trip down in Myrtle Beach for a week. *sigh* I envy him the sunny, 70-degreed forecast but it is a high of 43 today and I only wore a sweater and my fleece to work. Woo-hoo! Anyways, I got a delicious strawberry Belgian waffle and it made my day.

Also, I saw National Treasure at the cheap movie theater last night. Wow. Talk about epitomizing a good $2 movie--zero character development, cheesy one-liners, and a totally unfeasable romantic side story...but perfect for the cheapies. I may be a total film snob when it comes to going to the theater or renting but I have no shame whatsoever at the good ol' Village 4.

That's about all I have for now. I'm not sure what the plans are for the weekend besides going back to GR on Sunday to have Easter brunch with the Wanstens. I have a nagging feeling that I'll be hanging out a lot with the Sweet Sixteen these next few days and that's fine with me. Let's go Illinois!

Later gators.

xoxox

I was touched by this article today on MSN. It is a series of 5 letters from a young father fighting in Iraq to his two young sons back home. I really appreciated the way he challenged his sons to tackle these profound ideas on human nature and complex life situations and still managed to use accessible--not condescending--language. I hope I'm this good of a communicator when I'm a parent and can share my experiences with my children in such a real way.

Well hello, me lassies and laddies. I'd like to wish you all a Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day! I'm sure you all spent the day commemorating the life of St. Patrick who made it his mission to convert the native Irish pagans to Christianity...or you just drank a lot. Either way, I hope it was a good one.

I realized last night that I'm getting slightly too old (or perhaps just becoming too much of a working stiff) to enjoy going out on week nights. Yes, "week nights" includes Thursdays, all of you students. I'm just too tired from work during the week and subsequently find it impossible to be productive for 8 continuous hours the following day at work if I go out. I saw a commercial that said something along the lines of "if you're just waiting for the weekend to have fun, you're wasting 5/7 of your life." Clever and very true--but I think I'm fine with a 28.6 weekly drinking average for the time being.

And now that I've publicly admitted to being a total prude, here is another list of observations and occurrences to round out this week:

1.) The luck o' the Irish was definitely on my side yesterday when I went into our leasing agent's office to resign my lease. This being Ann Arbor, I naturally assumed that my rent would increase; however, the company is running a rent special (for which I didn't think we'd qualify) and my rent actually went down $60 a month starting in September. Yay! Erin go braugh!

2.) I lost my absolute favorite watch last weekend and have been feeling completely discombobulated ever since. I rarely lose things and I never lose important things like my watch. *tear. It was so cute and unique and I literally cannot live another week without a new watch. I'm thinking about this one. What do you think?

3.) I've come to the realization that for people with (self-diagnosed) anxiety issues, having a subscription to a magazine is not fun. Josh's family graciously gave me a year-long subscription to my favorite 'zine, The New Yorker, as a Christmas present this past December. However, I didn't realize a new issue comes every week and because I've barely been finishing the prior week's issue by delivery day, I find myself cowering with fear everytime I open our mailbox. I actually exclaimed "Oh no!" this week when I got my new issue.

4.) I have a lot of housekeeping to take care of this weekend. I guess nothing outside of my usual errand-running, but maybe because Spring is on the horizon (?) I feel the need to clean up and get everything in order. Or I just have an anxiety issue (see #3).

5.) I don't know why, but I allowed myself to purchase a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. Let's just say that I've made myself sick on two different occassions since Wednesday night by shoving them indiscriminately in my mouth.

6.) I have a 1 hour massage scheduled for tomorrow morning. My headaches have been pretty substantial these past few weeks and that one from last Friday ended up rearing its head (a pun?) as a migraine on Wednesday morning. I'm hoping a little tension release from my massage, yoga, and relaxing this weekend will help.

7.) A group of us got into a disagreement last night as to which was the better meteor-striking-the-Earth movie: "Deep Impact" or "Armageddon." My vote is for the former because it's much more realistic since a part of the meteor actually hits and the entire Eastern seaboard of the U.S. is wiped out. Others claimed that because Bruce Willis dies in the latter, it's still realistic. I think we stopped discussing when we all simultaneously realized how inexcusably dorky we are.

And on that note, I have to go dilute my secondary antibody. I love science! Have a great weekend :)

xoxox

Today Scott Peterson was formally sentenced to the death penalty and the 12th U.S. execution of 2005 took place. Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

Beware the Ides of March...

It's difficult to tell whether the soothsayer in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was actually warning the Roman emperor about his impending assasination or simply advising us Michiganders to stop expecting Spring-like weather in mid March. *sigh* Needless to say, I'm feeling a little deflated after my trip to Orlando and am having trouble getting my gears turning again.

I did have a nice time in Florida despite some kind of crumby weather. This is the first time in recent years I didn't come back from a tropical winter vacation looking like I'd spent my days cooking on a Foreman grill, but it was fun to ride some great movie rides and rollercoasters at Universal Studios. Either way, a little change of scenery from the lab is greatly welcome anytime and I'm glad I got to go.

Because I've been on quite the blog hiatus, here is a little list of observations and occurrences of late to bring you back up to speed:

1.) After what practically became a foot race at the end of last week, I have secured my current apartment for lease next year through the fall of 2006. One of my entering dental student peers will be living with me and I don't have to pay a new security deposit, move all my junk, or worry about where I'm going to live the two weeks before Ann Arbor leases start. That is a HUGE weight off my shoulders so hooray!

2.) I literally laughed out loud to myself today when I read that "wedgie" will be added to Webster's Dictionary (n.--a prank in which the victim's undershorts are jerked upward so as to become wedged between the buttocks.) Ha! Undershorts!

3.) I've been missing my family a lot lately so it was a welcome surprise to see my Dad, talk to both my Mom and sister, and doggy-sit Raja all in the span of 2 days :)

4.) AJ turned 22 last Friday, March 11th! We went lazer tagging and got punished by a bunch of cocky, pubescent boys, celebrated with drinks and cupcakes/brownies at our pad, and then hit Club Oz. It was a fun night--I'll post pics later.

5.) Josh has been craving a "homemade chicken pot pie with a flaky but not too flaky crust" lately. Even though I laughed off his request yesterday, I thought it might be a nice surprise to give the recipe a shot tonight for dinner (sans chicken, of course). The veggie pot pie turned out brilliantly and I feel pretty darn good.

6.) This coming Sunday is the Spring Equinox...or the official first day of Spring. Ha!

7.) I'm trying desperately to squeeze all of my personal enrichment into these last few months of my non-student freedom. In addition to the next level of yoga, I'm thinking about taking either a ballet, pottery, or pilates class. What do you think?

*yawn* I think I could go on for a while but I must turn in for the night. Hope you have a great Hump Day tomorrow!

xoxox

Hi there. It's me and boy, am I sleepy tonight. I've spent most of the evening packing for my trip to Florida. ETD (estimated time of departure, for you non-Palits and non-weirdos--perhaps the same thing) is approximately 10:30 am tomorrow. Hopefully the sun will hold out for the few days that I'm there. I'll take fun pics and post them when I get back. Also, I just realized that I haven't posted any pics from my India trip so look for those in the near future. Here are two pictures from a rather impromptu trip to Scorekeeper's last night. Who knew it would literally be DEAD during Spring Break? I swear, AJ, Jules, and myself were the only women there (out of a total of about 30 people) and two Russian-looking men were attempting some covert deal although their big, fur-lined coats and metal brief cases rendered their attempts at being discreet completely futile. Hehe. Have a fabulous weekend.

xoxox


Me, Julia, Anandhi


Wanton y Yo