I Suck At Hanging Out With My Favorite Sister-In-Law

my bff (kerry) spent last night at my place.

when kerry left for the day to go to her nephew's birthday party, i figured i'd start my man weekend. so, i started playing around with my trusty table saw and some pieces of wood. at one point, i actually had saw dust all up my arms and all over my clothes. what can i say... i like wood. (insert the "that's what she said" line... just kidding.)

after cutting the pieces of wood, applying pre-conditioner to them, and then finally staining the multiple pieces of wood, i received a call from my favorite sister-in-law (janine). i suck at hanging out with my favorite sister-in-law. janine and my brother-in-law (pj) invited me over to their place for some margarita fun.

apparently, my friend (bill) who happens to be the brother of my other friend (jen), was stopping by their place to talk about the kid marketing machine known as disney. janine and pj are going to disney this year with their children, so they wanted to ask bill about certain disney related items because bill is a frequenter of the kid marketing machine known as disney.

anyway, bill brought with him the ever popular margarita machine that belongs to his sister. might i add, the margarita machine... is huge... not that size matters of course. i imagine storing the margarita machine would be a little difficult if you didn't have the counter space in your kitchen. luckily, the yummy goodness that flows from its veins is enough to mask the size of the machine. okay, i did partake a little in the yummy goodness. it's tough to resist when the tequila calls out your name. (the fact that i refer to margaritas as "yummy goodness" may also be proof that i do indeed have a drinking problem.)

as an interesting side note... someday, i want to have a tequila shot with the worm... and eat the worm after the shot. my original plan was to go to tijuana, mexico for authentic wormage... knowing my luck and my penchant for all things fermented, i probably would end up face down in a mexican gutter... dead... with a mariachi band playing over me... so it's probably not a good idea.

needless to say, all of us hung out tonight imbibing from the veins of the margarita machine. it was actually quite fun (and no, it's not the booze talking).

I Still Suck At Veronica Mars

my bff (kerry) spent the night last night at my place.

unfortunately for kerry, the bed and breakfast known as my place was missing its usual pancake chef (karen) this morning. karen and my friends (hot amy and jen) are taking a little vacation together to visit one of two states where self-service filling of gasoline is prohibited... new jersey (oregon is the other state according to my friend wikipedia).

so, with the usual pancake chef's absence, i tried my hand at making pancakes... and not just any regular pancakes... blueberry pancakes. (i couldn't sell kerry on the morningstar bacon or sausages.) unfortunately, the pancakes did not turn out that well. i had accidentally dropped a whole bunch of blueberries into the pancake batter. (next time, i'll make sure to just grab a handful of blueberries as opposed to shaking the container of blueberries until they fall out.) the pancakes were a probably 20% pancake batter and 80% blueberry. in reality, i probably should have called this post "i suck at making blueberry pancakes"... because i did today.

needless to say, kerry humored me and ate the blueberry pancake concoction. she claimed that the blueberry pancakes were okay... but she's too nice. she is my bff after all. i'm a perfectionist when it comes to my cooking much like she is a perfectionist when it comes to her baking.

speaking of baking, after breakfast we finished making kerry's nephew's birthday cake. more appropriately, i watched as kerry finished making her nephew's birthday cake. she applied the frosting and covered the cake in m&ms. the cake actually turned out pretty well, considering it was looking a little sad last night with all of its burnt pieces removed. while kerry was putting the final touches on the cake, i was wrapping her present for her nephew. (for anyone curious, she got her nephew a snoopy sno-cone machine... i haven't used one of those in ages.)

shortly thereafter, we did what any bffs would do with free time... we watched more episodes of veronica mars. it is such a good show... and yes, i still suck at veronica mars. i think both kerry and i are becoming a little obsessed with the show. we took a very quick break from watching the show to eat lunch, only to quickly return to the couch to watch more episodes of the show. (lunch, by the way, was also not a good cooking experience for me. i grilled hot dogs. the hot dogs came out okay. the hot dog buns, however, were a little dry... no rachael ray yum-o sound today... sad.)

anyway, kerry eventually had to leave for her nephew's birthday party. i hope she had a good time at the bed and breakfast. i actually had a blast with kerry... but of course, i normally do when she spends the night. i must admit, i am looking forward for her to spend the night again so that we can watch more episodes of veronica mars.

addendum:
(pictured below is the m&m cake. the picture came complements of kerry.)

I Suck At Veronica Mars

karen and my friends (hot amy and jen) are taking a little vacation together to visit bon jovi's home state of new jersey, where they will meet up with my other friend (pam). subsequently, that means i have this weekend all to myself.

so, i started my man weekend doing what any guy would do with his free time... i spent some quality time with my bff (kerry). we started off with dinner at one of kerry's favorite establishments: the halfway cafe located in marshfield. (cue rachael ray's yum-o sound because the steak tips in their "buzz" sauce with sweet potato fries... delicious.) kerry, being on the emailing list of the halfway cafe, received a coupon for the place. so, we couldn't let the coupon go to waste.

shortly afterwards, we had a whirlwind tour of cvs. (for anyone curious, the reason why cvs is "cvs" is because the initials originally stood for "consumer value stores".) and by whirlwind tour, i mean we went to the cvs in marshfield and the cvs in hanover. kerry was actually looking for bags of plain m&ms. it seems like the plain m&ms are a hot commodity, much like hot amy's prius, because the cvs locations were pretty much sold out of the plain m&ms which were on sale. we did, however, manage to acquire one bag. the other bag we ended up getting at stop & shop. the reason why we were looking for plain m&ms is because kerry was going to bake a cake for her nephew's birthday tomorrow and cover the cake in plain m&ms.

might i add... kerry is very detail oriented when it comes to baking. i had the pleasure of watching her bake the cake at my place. she likes to make sure there are no burnt cake parts, going so far as to remove almost an entire layer. that is dedication. personally, i would probably leave the cake with all its burnt parts in tact... which is probably a good thing for hot amy to remember in the event hot amy ever beats me in a challenge and requests a cake... or if for some bizarre reason she requests a cake for her upcoming birthday this month.

needless to say, it was interesting watching kerry bake the cake. after watching her bake, i can see why kerry's baked goods are usually tasty. (this would normally be the part where i would add "that's what he said"... but today, i will refrain.)

unfortunately, kerry couldn't finish making the cake today. apparently, there was something wrong with the frosting. so, we did what we could.... which was sort the plain m&ms into bowls by color. and for anyone curious, each of the two bags seemed to have a larger number of blue and orange m&ms in comparison to the other colors.

finally, after the dinner and the baking... we started what we had planned for some time... watch veronica mars. now, i suck at veronica mars. i have never seen the show, but i have always heard such great things about the show from tv critics and whatnot. consequently, i requested the first season of the show as a present because my curiosity was peaked. plus, the fact that the main character is blonde doesn't hurt either. what can i say... i'm attracted to shiny objects...

anyway, after mentioning to kerry a while ago that i had the first season of veronica mars, i discovered that kerry likewise was interested in the show. she had never seen the show either and wanted to see what the show was about. well, finding a time where we could both watch the show together proved to be a little difficult... until today.

so, we watched the first three episodes of the season tonight. and might i say... veronica mars... love the show! that is good since i did have some concern that neither kerry nor i would like the show after we started watching the first few episodes. (at least, i think kerry liked the show. she dozed off partly through the last episode we watched because i think she was tired.)

i am so looking forward to more episodes tomorrow. my bff should stay over more often.

I Suck At Going to New Jersey

today, my friends (hot amy and jen) and karen are taking a little vacation together. their destination: bon jovi's home state of new jersey.

as much as i'm sure the three of them would like to visit and meet bon jovi, they are actually going to new jersey to visit my friend (pam). pam, her husband, and her children, moved to new jersey some time ago. pam's husband (ed) works for verizon and a job opportunity came up out there. thus, they moved to new jersey.

now, i suck at going to new jersey. i wish i could say i always wanted to go to new jersey. sadly, new jersey has never been a place that i had ever wanted to go visit... probably because i don't know what is in new jersey outside of atlantic city, which is known for its casino gambling. since i'm not a big gambler, atlantic city never appealed to me... and subsequently, i guess new jersey never appealed to me. don't get me wrong, even though i'm not a big gambler... i can still whup hot amy's sorry butt in any wagered competition. (and really, those competitions are not gambling per se because it's almost a given that i'll win those. with hot amy's genetic predisposition to lose, the house always wins.)

that said, i'm hoping the three of them have a good time in new jersey. maybe when they get back and i hear about their little vacation, perhaps it'll change my desire to visit the home state of bon jovi. (interesting fact, jack nicholson was also born in new jersey. that explains a lot about him... just kidding.)

in the meantime, i get to have a man weekend! i can do manly things. plus, i get to spend some quality time with my bff (kerry).

I Still Suck At Chauffeuring

today is my last day... of chauffeuring.

i'm retiring my little black chauffeur's cap (not that i actually own one) because i still suck at chauffeuring. so as of this moment, all of my miss daisy friends will have to use the very reliable... very comfortable... public transportation system known as the mbta. very sad, i know.

anyway, i offered to give my friend (hot amy) a ride home today as i normally cut through boston. as is quite typical of my behavior, i generally bolt out of the door when it's closing time at the office. so, i didn't know if hot amy took me up on the offer or not.

knowing hot amy does not like to sweat, i assumed she would want the ride. plus, truth be told, i was hoping she would want the ride. commuting home from marblehead... very boring, especially when you have to sit in traffic by yourself for over an hour if you're lucky. it sometimes drives me crazy (assuming i was not crazy to begin with). needless to say, i was hoping for some company on my long commute home. and actually, i thought it would be nice to see hot amy again. i don't think i've seen her in quite some time. i don't remember the last time i did see her. so, i thought it'd be good to catch up on things.

as it turns out, i arrived in downtown boston fairly early. hot amy didn't want to fleece the taxpayers of the commonwealth by leaving too early (although if we went shopping, that probably would have been acceptable). so hot amy declined my offer for a ride home. thinking nothing of it, i decided to call my friend (aimee). i was in town anyway, so i figured i'd see if aimee would leave early. plus, i haven't seen aimee either in quite some time. (it seems like i haven't seen a lot of people in quite some time.)

well, aimee and i chatted for awhile. she finally convinced me to wait a little while longer so that it would not be too early if she left for the day. so, i drove around a little to pass the time. i contacted hot amy again to see if this time she would would want a ride. as i was waiting for aimee, it would not be as early so hot amy took me up on the offer. i then called my friend (carlos) to see if he could leave early too. unfortunately, he could not... stupid job.

anyway, i started to get hungry. seeing a van drive away from the curb, i parked my car in the recently vacated spot. i looked at the meter and thought... great... there's still time left in the meter from that van. woo-hoo!

thinking nothing of it, i literally walked down to cvs, walked down the candy aisle, picked up a bag of watermelon pull 'n peel twizzlers, picked up a bottle of powerade, got in line, paid for the items, and walked back to the car. when i returned to my car... there it was... the little orange ticket! my entire trip to cvs could not have taken more than 5 minutes.

needless to say, i was a little disappointed. after reading the ticket, i saw that i was cited for parking in a no stop zone. i then looked around and saw the sign. d'oh! what a bummer.

anyway, i picked up aimee and hot amy and we headed off to the mean streets of quincy.

(pictured below is hot amy. the picture was taken by special guest photographer... aimee.)


i drove like a bat out of hell all the way to quincy. i was slightly bummed by the ticket. and since i already broke the law once for the day, i didn't think lightning could possibly strike twice in a given day. so i figured i had free reign to break more rules of the road. pedestrians were diving out of the way... it was like the video game, grand theft auto... just kidding.

aside from the parking violation, i did actually have a good ride home. i got to see two of my friends who i haven't seen in quite some time. (of course, it'll probably be the last for a while since i won't be chauffeuring anymore.) seeing aimee and hot amy reminded me what it was like to work in town... not that working in marblehead is all that bad. marblehead is a very beautiful town. it's just that i don't have good friends to spend time up there with.

oh well. and in case anyone is curious... it was the best $75 bag of twizzlers and bottle of powerade i ever had... karen was not too pleased. hence, the retirement of the chauffeuring business...

I Suck At Going To New Orleans

last night, my favorite sister-in-law (janine) and brother-in-law (pj) got back from there little getaway with my friend (jen) and her brothers (bill and dan). their destination: new orleans.

now, i suck at going to new orleans.

i have never been to new orleans. i have always wanted to go to new orleans... not just because new orleans is known for its mardi gras party and breast exposing women (although that does not detract from the appeal).

the mass devourer that i am, i do enjoy cajun cuisine. speaking of the french influence, i tried my first beignet yesterday... courtesy of janine who brought some back from her trip. a beignet (pronounced ben-yay) is basically fried dough with lots of sugar on it. according to wikipedia, a beignet

"refers to a French doughnut being a pastry made from deep-fried dough and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. Beignets are often found in, and typically associated with, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Savory versions of beignets are also popular as an appetizer, with fillings such as crawfish or shrimp."

needless to say, i would love to go to new orleans... if not for mardi gras or the breast exposing women... then for the food. funny thing is, i actually had an opportunity a long time ago when my friend (hugh) attended tulane college down in louisiana. he would invite all of us down to stay with his fraternity every year for mardi gras. unfortunately, i never went during his four years there.

someday...

I Suck At Hannah Montana

tonight was the big night...

this weekend, karen and i babysat my niece (kaleigh) and nephew (pj) while my favorite sister-in-law (janine) and brother-in-law (pj) had a little getaway in new orleans with my friend (jen) and her brothers (bill and dan).

tonight, however, was the much anticipated night of the weekend. tonight... was the hannah montana / miley cyrus best of both worlds concert in 3-d! apparently, janine and pj had gotten the 3-d glasses ahead of time at the evil empire known as wal-mart. so, all of us were prepared for the concert. too bad i suck at hannah montana.

both pj and kaleigh seemed very excited for the concert. they kept asking when the concert would start (after having to watch a marathon of hannah montana episodes on the disney channel). disney sure knows how to advertise and promote its brand.

anyway, as we got ready for the concert, we encountered a little snafu. the 3-d glasses did not fit kaleigh's noggin. apparently, the glasses were too big. so in a macgyver sort of way, karen rigged up a strap to hold the glasses in place for kaleigh. crisis avoided. (of course, the glasses kept falling off kaleigh's head because she kept moving her head everywhere...) the glasses were a little too big for pj as well, but he didn't move as much so they stayed on his head.

(pictured below is pj, with the 3-d glasss, watching the concert.)


needless to say, we made popcorn and enjoyed the concert. surprisingly... the concert was not that bad. hannah montana sang a few songs. the jonas brothers sang a couple of songs while hannah montana changed into miley cyrus. and then miley cyrus sang a few more songs. bubble gum pop never sounded so good. throw in a few behind-the-scenes clips...

pj absolutely loved the concert. the 3-d portion made the concert because he was amazed at how hannah montana was coming out of the tv, how the guitar came out of the tv, how the confetti came out of the tv... basically how everything came out of the tv. and i must say, the 3-d gimmick did make the concert pretty entertaining. the concert was well done.

now i'm not saying i'm a big hannah montana fan or anything...