One of my absolute favorite things to do is to get a pedicure. I love sitting in the big chair, having a back massage, getting my toes all prettied up and talking nonsense with one of my favorite people.

Oh, and reading trashy magazines. ‘Cause seriously, where else can you go to read People and US Weekly and chat about the pictures and the people with others who are there to do the exact same thing? No where.

I love my manicurist/pedicurist. She’s a couple of years younger than me, Asian-American, newly engaged, funny as hell and she knows almost everything about me. It’s fantastic.

So I’m wondering.. what’s the protocol for Christmas presents for people you see a couple of times a month? Should I just give her a really big tip?

Mecca.

Scroll all the way down. It’s lovely.

Ever wonder what happens when a cat ignores you and SITS ON THE SCANNER?

this. this is what happens.

Fortunately she’s cute. And her little white paws are cute. But seriously, I’d have tossed her off the thing if I wasn’t afraid she’d scratch the shit out of it.

Goober.

During the giant summer project from hell, I’ve come across many an entertaining picture… my dad and his first girlfriend (oo la la, but my momma is WAY cuter), my grandma in a swimsuit (with a note from my grandpa on the back that reads “you broke the camera” 🙂 ) and oh look, it’s me!

aren’t I cute at 2?

Block parties are fun little morsels of drunken goodness.

Particularly when EVERYBODY gets tanked and you spend a good twenty minutes debating if him and her and him (who snuck out for a few minutes) came back stoned. Unanimous decision: yep.

So J made white sangria and another friend of ours made (according to her, lol) coocoo juice. The one was insanely alcoholic with triple sec and wine and peach schnapps and drunk fruit, while the other was more alcoholic and loaded with coconut rum. Favorite drink? Mixing them together… ahhh. Soooo tasty.

I have a headache this morning.

But getting drunk and having an adorable little college student hit on you is a really, really great way to spend a Sunday. 🙂

My cousin called to ask why I haven’t blogged lately… and I told her the truth.

“Well, nothing’s going on, lol.”

Generally my day revolves around going to the beach, responding to emails and phone calls and going to interviews.

I’m so tan I seriously look like I am Mediterranean. (J and I debated if I could put “ethnic” on job applications… hehehe.)

Anywho, now I’m heading out to drink and watch some band.

Entertaining, no?

Oh, but good books I’ve read lately include The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

I’ve actually had the last two for several months, but between work and being sick, I never got around to them. All three are fantastic. I love Oates and have most of her books, but this one, I think, is one of her best.

So that’s your end of summer reading list… get going.

We had a ridiculous summer storm last night, filled with lightning and gushing rain… for five hours.

My bedroom has a drainpipe right outside the window. Grrr…. hence the reason I know it started aroun 10ish and continued until past 3AM. Damn rain.

To make matters even more fun, my crazy ass neighbors (who, according to my landlord who knows their landlord, never pay rent and are delinquents) decided to spend the entire time on their porch, drinking and (probably doing acid) cheering every time lightning snaked across the sky.

At about 2AM, just as I decided that not a jury in the damn world would convict me, I heard our other neighbor start yelling.

(Bear in mind, this is a really nice, quiet little neighborhood with lots of retirees and only that one apartment filled with annoyances.)

“If you don’t take your loud, foul-mouthed (seriously who says that) selves inside that door I’m going to call the police and have you evicted from this property. This is a nice family neighborhood and I won’t have any young hooligans turning it into some downtown bar.”

Surprisingly, I think the hooligans went inside. I didn’t hear any gunshots and my neighbor is a rather large construction-worker type, so my guess is they made a hasty retreat.

It’s like watching Law and Order from my living room window, lol.

Friday was my last day at the job. I’ll be doing some training of the new girl this week, but all in all, the siege has lifted and I’m finding that freedom is everything I expected and more.

My friend J’s extended family was up for a visit, so Friday night was spent at this cute bar watching her boyfriend’s band, getting tanked on vokda and dancing with her 14-year-old cousin, lol. 2AM found us incapable of driving and therefore all picking beds to crash on at her boyfriend’s house—which thankfully, is three stories and loaded with beds (particularly good since his roommate and friends had some bootycalls.. lol).

For three years J’s been trying to get me to meet her brother (who lives about 2-2.5 hours away and also came down this weekend), certain that we are perfect for each other and she’d soon have me as a sister-in-law. Then again, she’s crazy, lol.

Saturday morning found us the only two up and desperately needing coffee. (And there was never any better coffee than what I had yesterday morning… aahh.)

I then went home to shower and change and return to go to the beach with J, while he drove all the way back to his place, pulled lobster traps for the clamboil they were planning to have and then drove all the way back with 11 lobsters for dinner. Seriously, that is what I call fresh seafood…

And the clamboil her parents and aunt and uncle put together was so incredibly good. It was only made better by the blue margaritas, which I’m paying for this morning (oh dear god make the pounding go away).

I love her family—they always make me feel as if I’m perfectly welcome and one of the family. Her dad and I pick on each other, her cousin put a worm in my hair (no worries, he paid for that one, lol) and I did dishes with her mom.

It’s nice to feel like one of the family, especially when mine’s so far away.

I’m not the biggest fan of grocery shopping, as you well know, but sometimes, it’s not so bad. Generally because I find something interesting or new—and boy did I.

Did you know Ben and Jerry’s makes Dublin Mudslide ice cream?! My good god. I will never eat real food again. Seriously. Irishcream ice cream, chocolate cookies and coffee fudge swirl… I mean, is there ANYTHING better than that?

Then there’s a new recipe I found for tuna. It has lemon juice, tomatoes, capers and garlic.. so very, very good. 🙂

And last, but not least, it always makes me smile when I find out that someone I read and enjoy has been reading me as well. (Oof does that sound pornographic to you too? Erm.. sorry.)

Now typically, you have no idea who reads what. It’s a crap shoot, to say the least. So just how did I know Schmutzie was reading? She blogged about it. 🙂

My cats are mad at me.

I haven’t put in the air conditioner in the window yet this year and it’s a bit warm in my apartment and they’re both sprawled on the kitchen floor, every last inch of their bodies splayed on the cool floor. I feel kinda bad, lol, but the issue is (yes, there is an issue.. shocking, I know) that the air conditioner is massive—we’re talking 160 lbs give or take and it requires drilling and screwing and etc. to get it in the window. So logically, my landlord did it last year and I’m hoping he’ll do it again this year…

The problem? What if I have to move? I’ll feel bad because it’s heavy and probably takes an hour to put in the damn window and I don’t want him to waste his time if I’m just going to take it out again in a month. Right? That makes sense, yeah?

It’s times like these that I miss having my dad around. I somehow have no problem whatsoever asking him to come over and fix things… like my cat’s on/off motion detector faucet that I broke (yeah, there’s another reason that they’re mad at me).

This year has made me realize how lucky I am to have the dad that I do, one who’ll search for every solution to figure out what’s wrong with me and who’ll move me back home and forcefeed me bacon and peanut butter until I’m better. And who’ll come visit me and spend the entire time fixing shower doors, faucets and putting better locks on the door.

I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Whoever I marry is really going to have big shoes to fill. 🙂