Happy Birthday Carisa!

We ladies hit up Silver Cloud and Betty's Blue Star Lounge for Carisa's birthday. Oh yeah and we can't forget the 4th meal run to Taco Bell! Hell yeah!
Happy Birthday, Carisa!!

GQ OMG

My boyfriend, Rrrooodrrrigo Santorrroo, is in this month's issue of GQ. I just thought I would let y'all stare at him for awhile.

Le sigh.

Tennis 101

Angie and i spoke briefly today about tennis. The lesson she passed on to me is "Love/Love does not mean that everyone is a winner".

LOL

And the Oscar for Set Design Goes To...

We watched the Oscars at Sarah and Paddy's new condo. I LOVE how it's decorated. An orange wall!!

Well Played, Maggie

Every now and then I am reminded what a HUGE compliment it is that people say I look like Maggie G. (I'm not even going to try to spell her last name.)

Well played, Maggie. You look marvelous!

Now let's talk best and worst dressed at the Oscars! I'll start: best is Maggie and worst is a tie between J. Lo (and her creepy face) and Kelly Preston (with her WT, leopard-print frock).

Money Pit

I took my car in for an oil change today and they called to say that I should get my front brakes replaced, and the two rotars, and the air filter and the fuel filter. Sigh. I wish I knew more about cars because I totally have to trust the person at the repair shop. How am I supposed to know if I really need the rotars fixed?

This car is a frackin' money pit.

*Also, Richie's 7 month old nephew, Charlie, is having surgery today. So if you wouldn't mind taking a second to say a quick prayer, I would appreciate it. :)

Mucca Pazza

Last night, Carisa and I saw Mucca Pazza at The Double Door (where we ran into Robert, Dan and then Richie joined us). Mucca Pazza is a 28 piece marching band (with cheerleaders) that plays punk rock music. That was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. I love that Carisa and I danced to marching band music!

Gourmet

We had our team dinner on Friday afternoon, at Franchesca's. Sandy got us each a beautiful candle and a piece of artwork she got at a show in Evanston. It was wonderful to hang out with everyone again and I'm glad Sandy was able to hang out for some cocktails before she had to hop a flight to India.

Go Fug Yourself

Oh, Penelope:

You're such a delicious dish: why would you serve yourself in plain brown paper wrapping like this? It it perhaps an environmentally conscious statement on the wisdom of using paper rather than plastic bags at the supermarket? Because I was always taught to bring my OWN bag, and therefore, you should be wearing a green sack that reads WHOLE FOODS on the side. In other words: NICE DRESS, TREEKILLER.

Bad At Math?

Check out today's article on stress and math. This explains so much.

Bad at math? Worrying makes you even worse
Anxiety robs your brain of space it needs to compute complex problems

SAN FRANCISCO - Worrying about how you’ll perform on a math test may actually contribute to a lower test score, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
Math anxiety — feelings of dread and fear and avoiding math — can sap the brain’s limited amount of working capacity, a resource needed to compute difficult math problems, said Mark Ashcraft, a psychologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who studies the problem.
“It turns out that math anxiety occupies a person’s working memory,” said Ashcraft, who spoke on a panel at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.
Ashcraft said while easy math tasks such as addition require only a small fraction of a person’s working memory, harder computations require much more.
Worrying about math takes up a large chunk of a person’s working memory stores as well, spelling disaster for the anxious student who is taking a high-stakes test.
Stress about how one does on tests like college entrance exams can make even good math students choke. “All of a sudden they start looking for the short cuts,” said University of Chicago researcher Sian Beilock.
Although test preparation classes can help students overcome this anxiety, they are limited to students whose families can afford them.
Ultimately, she said, “It may not be wise to rely completely on scores to predict who will succeed.”
While the causes of math anxiety are unknown, Ashcraft said people who manage to overcome math anxiety have completely normal math proficiency.

Britney Shears

This girl has done lost her damn mind. Did you hear that last night she showed up at a hotel in L.A. without any ID, any credit cards, any money, or any friends? Oh yeah, and she was trashed. She tried getting a room but the hotel wouldn't accomodate her so TOURISTS offered her a place in their hotel room.

So she, of course, accepted the offer. Cried a bit about how nobody likes her, asked them to buy her a bikini at the hotel gift shop and then went down to the hotel pool to shave her legs.

Britney is the new Anna Nicole.

**This just in - Brit-Brit's back in Rehab!**

The Art of Cooking

Delicious.

Crossed Off

Richie and I went to the Art Institute on Saturday, to take in some culture. What a beautiful way to spend a bleak, February afternoon. (and finally i am able to cross this off of my New Year's Resolution list. yeah!!)

Breaking Records

Last night, Michelle, Tim and I checked out Moxie Motive and The Record Low at Subterranean. And before we left the Six Corners, we snacked on some late night food at Flash Taco. YUM!!

Make Love, Not War

I've been off-kilter all day today. My co-worker (and friend) and I had an argument this morning about something really silly. Work stress shows itself in many different forms.
I hate fighting. And she and I didn't really even fight we just 'disagreed', but I hated that too.

I was never good at staying mad at someone. Growing up, Angie used to TORTURE me by giving me the silent treatment for days on end. It killed me every time.

My friend and I just chatted briefly though and we both sorta said "yeah...sorry 'bout that...things are stressful...yadda yadda yadda". So I feel much better now.

Chipper

Motorola has announced the release of their new cell phone: MotoKRAZER.
There's a good chance I know the guy who created the chip inside this phone. How kick ass is that!?

Heart

I know I've posted this before, but I find his poetry brilliant and beautiful...
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

i carry your heart with me

(i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it

(anywhere i go you go,my dear;

and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear not fate

(for you are my fate,my sweet)

i want no world

(for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are

whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder

that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

***
by: e.e. cummings

Briedom

I've made up a word.

Briedom: n. The state of being free or at liberty to eat Brie for dinner, many nights in a row.

(This may be translated into other forms of cheese.)

Let Briedom Ring!!

A Coupla Monkeys

Angie took Gav-man and Max to get some pictures taken. Those boys are so cute! (And Max's hair is SO curly!)