Videos and pictures... finally!

WARNING: If you are hungry, do not continue reading. There are gratuitous pictures of lots of food! (and some sweets, of course!)

Some of the pictures I had previously promised. From dinner with MK at a Korean restaurant. That is a grill you are seeing in the middle of our table. Someone came over and cut the beef and cooked it right in front of us. We could turn it, cook it to the temperature we wanted, then eat when ready. All the plates around are fixings that went with it. Some were oh so good... and some: not really my cup of tea. Fantastic experience!Watching them cut the beef.

Our grill

And a video of dinner cooking! :)

From the Ethiopian restaurant I went to, back when I was here visiting and interviewing for internships. It was a platter to share. You roll of the sourdough bread pancakes and eat with your hands.

And a picture of a dinner I cooked myself. Stir fry and rice.

And of course, dessert! (This moment brought to you by Magnolia's and Sex in the City) Apparently, it's a bakery mentioned in the show, although I don't remember ever hearing the name. Supposedly they're a big deal. Their chocolate icing is oh so yummy!

Paul!
What, do I have chocolate on my face?! Side note: we're eating just outside of Central Park... go figure!

Random skyline shot on a cloudy day from the pier where I work.

And, on a different day. Much better!

My new winter boots

My new brown winter boots! The more I look at them, they kind of remind me of construction boots ....
Opinions?

Pictures from Halloween... a bit late. In this one it's kind of hard to see, but the guy was dressed up as KING OF THE CASTLE! HA!

And one of the only gallery shows I've had time to go see. I LOVED this show! Olaf Breuning was the artists name. He was showing drawings, photographs, and sculptures. That's talent... and he has a sense of humor! NICE. I highly recommend his work. It's nice to see there are artists that don't give off a pretentious vibe.

The image below, they actually have printed on canvas totes for $15! :) I LOVE IT!

Tell me that photograph isn't awesome! And it was printed ate least 5 feet big!

For those of you wondering... those are boobs in the bucket.

And I'll leave you with a video of Keona at the dog park on a chilly 28 degree 8am morning!! :) Not snow yet, but there definitely was frost and frozen water! :)

Good thing...

I'm an optomist (cynical some of the time, but DEFINITELY an optomist). :)

I got called off from work again today :( I considered going in to beg someone for their shift, but then decided I didn't feel like going out in 40 degree weather to be turned down and have to walk back having wasted hard to come by free time. So, I took the day off and ran with it! :)

Not to mention, there's a photographer who wants to pay me to do some office managing type stuff for her, which is why I wasn't so stresed about taking the day off. Things she wants me to do include:
e-mail lists
newsletters
helping with a project that will be displayed at a museum in Germany in 2010
archiving 10 years of a photo project
helping with a book publishing! :)

So, hopefully that will help some with the days I get called off from the chart house.
What did I do with my day off you ask? Pretty much nothing. And it was ABSOLUTELY wonderful! I finished a movie I started last night, which by the way I rented from the library (I get that from my mom) ;)

Ah! There's a story! About a library.. ha! Anyway... there is this library that is LITERALLY across the street from me. But technically I don't live in that city zone. So, I have to walk about 13 blocks (thank goodness they're short) to get a card from the Union City library. THEN, I can walk back to the first library across the street from me and get a 'courtesy card'. At least I finally have it and can now take advantage of their dvd selection. Betsy, they have a GREAT view/terrace for photographs outside of their front door!!

Back to today. I tried fixing my living room curtain which has fallen down. The wall are apparently made out of plaster and nothing will bite into them unless you drill a hole first. I tried the molly bolts, dad. I just made bigger holes! :) I spackled them, and am anxiously awaiting you and your drill's arrival! :)

Next on the itinerary: a stop in at my landlady's apt. down the hall. She had apparently made a big batch of soup she wanted me to have some of. Plus, she was on a trip recently and brought me back some coconut candies! How great is she? Oh wait, it gets better! I was telling her I was considering buying an espresso machine or something similar that will go on the stove. Nothing too fancy, but that will get the job done. So she says, "I have one I don't ever use. You can have it." Niiice!

I tell her I can't just take it from her. I'll borrow it. But she insists saying that if I take it, she'll have more room to store her pots! I haven't used it yet, but I have read some reviews. Most rate it as being so-so, but there was one review that sounds like the guy had some tricks up his sleeves to make it work. So, I'm excited to give it a go.

And then, a chat with Martin on MSN (he's been in Sweden for about 2 weeks now) followed by another movie. I've yet to finish it, but I need to so I can give the pooch a bath!

I just realized that I haven't taken pictures of the fall colors... well, not many anyway. Sad story. I guess I've been too busy enjoying them. I'll definitely have to take some of snow. And yes, a video of Keona's first encounter for Nicole!

I was going to post the pictures I promised earlier of the boots and new food experiences, but Dad's been doing some work on the computer and apparently there's something funny with my card reader. So, that will have to wait.

I apologize for the randomness of the post. I was trying to get back to my movie quickly.

:)

They're not as often, but I'm still posting. Hoo-rah! There is hope!!

laundry theif?

Apparently, Sunday is a pretty popular day to do laundry (one I will be avoiding from now on!).

One load... that's all I wanted to do! They made it through the wash ok. They even made it into the dryer without a hitch.

I just realized this story needs is some back story!! :) So, Sundays the restaurant has brunch. For the dinner shift, you're scheduled to go in at one of two times: 2:30pm or 5:00pm. When you're scheduled for the earlier shift, the earlier you get there...you get to choose what section you want. Lately, I haven't been doing so hot at work, so I wanted to get there early to get a good shift where I could make a nice chunk of change.

So, back to the story... I'm trying to get ready early. I go to pull my clothes out of the dryer, only come to find out someone has moved them. Apparently the lady put her card in and pressed the button for the dryer my clothes were in. So, she thought it would be ok to take them out and put them in the dryer above. Only, I'm hearing all this from a second lady, because apparently the first one doesn't speak english! I kind of look at them both and think.... "really? do you THINK it was ok, that you touched my clothes and moved them?!" So, I kind of shrug my shoulders and say I guess not... because really, what am I going to do at this point? Tell her to go back in time and tell her to think reasonably. Perhaps something along the lines of:
-open dryer door so your time doesn't run with my clothes in
-wait, because I'm OBVIOUSLY coming back SOON as my clothes are done drying
-THEN proceed to close the door again to start drying your clothes when I've gotten mine, so you don't touch my personal belongings......

Who am I kidding.. that makes SENSE! Why would anyone do that?!

So, I get back upstairs to my apartment and notice that, yes, it has become a problem. One of my shirts is missing! I go BACK down stairs to ask her to look through her load to see if it was mixed in with her clothes. But of course she's not there. AND I'm starting to run late. Plus, I've noticed that I don't know where my time card is to clock into work. Great, I probably left it in the shirt that's now missing. It's probably flopping around the dryer that this strangers clothes are in!

Do I rifle through her stuff? In my defense I wouldn't have had to if she wouldn't have touched my stuff because I know I would have gotten everything out. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
So, I'm sans one work shirt, a time card, and I didn't make it to work early, so YET again... I only came home with $70

car, boots, food and an election... nothing too exciting :)

... the car showed back up. Apparently the owner is ok....? But why would you leave your car running for a day and a half, have it towed, then put it right back where it was?

Bought some winter boots today, 2 pairs actually. When I'm up to it, I'm gonna post some pictures for feedback :)

Also ate at a Korean restaurant tonight where the food was cooked on a grill built into your table :) Which reminded me... when I was first visiting here, I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant where you ate with your hands. Both of those new dining experiences I have pictures of (to be uploaded in an upcoming post).

Listening to live election coverage in the background. Hope my absentee ballot got there in time :\Can't wait to see how things turn out.

That's it. Those were just some random tid bits I wanted to post :)

And because I don't think I included enough of them, here's another one for you:
:)

Just as I was about to post... Barack Obama was announced President-elect. So, there you have it....