Buffaloaf!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Eric and I went to Mia & Grace on Saturday before leaving for Lansing.

While we were waiting for our food, an order of surprise escargot came out to us! We were surprised, but it's not unusual for Jeremy to send food out to us, and I didn't think anything of it...

until I heard the waitress at the table across from us (after we already dug in), say that their order was brought to the wrong table!!! Talk about feeling like an idiot! But, this was soooo good, and it had cloves of garlic on top, and the crackers are just heavenly. But, whoops.

Before ordering, which was pretty easy this time around, we decided that pork on pork action can never steer you wrong. So, Eric ordered the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin.

This was so good - it had a red wine sauce, and it was delicious. They actually ran out of it while we were there, so it was good we went when we did.

I was intrigued by the "Buffaloaf". Apparently, they get buffalo meat from a farm near Fremont, and then mix it 80/20 with bacon. They had me at the word "bacon". This was so good - it was very lean, yet had that yummy comfort food quality. The sauce was a mushroom sauce, and was so good.

And of course, dessert. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake. Heavenly...

Again, if you're in Muskegon EVER - GO THERE!!!!

Astounded...

Eric wanted pizza for dinner last night - which now also reminds me that I have to blog on a recent visit to Mia & Grace...hm, that will be my next entry.

Anyway, we went to DeLuca's here in Lansing. I've heard from many people they have great pizza, so we decided to try it (I've been there once before, and had spaghetti - way too much food for one serving!!!)

The pizza was fantastic - it was busy last night, but it wasn't too long of a wait, and we weren't in a hurry. However, I don't have much more to say about the food.

There was a family sitting near us - it looked like a 11 or 12 year old boy, a 5 or 6 year old girl, mom, dad, and maybe grandma? Anyway, at one point, I happened to look over at the boy, whose dad was coming back to the table, and the boy starts whispering to dad from across the table "Dad, there's gay people over there!" Of course, Dad couldn't hear his son, so he said "talk louder, I can't hear you." To which the son replied "no, but there's gay people over there" in his loud whisper.

I'm going to guess the boy was talking about a table where there were two men, drinking red wine - oh no!!!! My first thought was "I cannot believe this kid is saying what he is!" My second thought was "Why is his mother sitting there just letting him say this?" (she was right next to the boy)...my third thought was "Um, I know you're 11 and all, but how in the world do you KNOW they are gay?"

In addition to being shocked, it just made me think about how people jump to conclusions based on what they think they see - I'm guilty of it too. I think we're all guilty of it at some point. And, I know kids say things, but shouldn't the parents be there to tell them "that's not appropriate?" Sigh, maybe I'm wrong...

2008 Book Update...

For those of you who have been loyal readers for a long time, you'll remember that at the beginning of the year, I put together a list of 50 books to read this year. Well, this is the update, and it isn't pretty. I read a total of 12 off the list.

() The Fall (Camus)
() American Creation (Ellis)
(X) Man Gone Down (Thomas)
()World Without End (Follett)
()The Pillars of the Earth - re-read (Follett)
(X)Gentlemen of the Road (Chabon)
(X)The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon)
(X)The Other Boleyn Girl (Gregory)
()Team of Rivals (Kearns)
()The Mascot (Kurzem)
(X)Then We Came to the End (Ferris)
()The Russian Concubine (Furnivall)
(X)Jane Eyre (Bronte)
()Thunderstruck (Larson)
()Schulz and Peanuts (Michaelis)
(X)A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini)
()Tree of Smoke (Johnson)
()On the Road (Kerouac)
()The Savage Detectives (Bolano)
()Midnight's Children (Rushdie)
()The Fortress of Solitude (Lethem)
()A People's History of the United States (Zinn)
()The World is Flat (Friedman)
()Kabul Beauty School (Rodriguez)
()1776 (McCullough)
()My Life (Clinton)
()The Myth of the Rational Voter (Caplan)
()A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
(X)Eat Pray Love (Gilbert)
()The End of Poverty (Sachs)
()The Plot Against America (Roth)
()Ragtime (Doctorow)
()Parting the Waters (Branch)
()From Beirut to Jerusalem (Friedman)
(X)Clapton: The Autobiography (Clapton)
()What is the What (Eggers)
()White Teeth (Smith)
()Breakfast of Champions (Vonnegut)
()The Inheritence of Loss (Desai)
()The Good Earth (Buck)
()Boom! Voices of the Sixties (Brokaw)
(X)Daughter of Fortune (Allende)
(X)The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz)
()Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer (Swanson)
()The Guns of August (Tuchman)
()Catch-22 (Heller)
()The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway)
()Marie Antoinette (Fraser)
()The Crimson Petal and the White (Faber)
()Emma (Austen)
(X)A Free Life (Jin)

The good news is, I still read 41 books this year:


Daughter of Fortune (Allende)
The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood)
Away (Bloom)
Jane Eyre (Bronte)
Debbie Harry Sings in French (Brothers)
Gentlemen of the Road (Chabon)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon)
Clapton: The Autobiography (Clapton)
The Chocolate War (Cromier)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Diaz)
One for the Money (Evanovich)
Two for the Dough (Evanovich)
Then We Came to the End (Ferris)
Mistress of the Art of Death (Franklin)
The Serpent's Tale (Franklin)
Eat Pray Love (Gilbert)
The Constant Princess (Gregory)
The Other Boleyn Girl (Gregory)
The Nick Adams Stories (Hemingway)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Hosseini)
A Free Life (Jin)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Lindsay)
Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Marquez)
No Country for Old Men (McCarthy)
The Book of Lies (Meltzer)
Twilight (Meyer)
New Moon (Meyer)
American Nerd (Nugent)
Snuff (Palahniuk)
The Golden Compass (Pullman)
The Enchantress of Florence (Rushdie)
Persepolis (Satrapi)
Naked (Sedaris)
Child 44 (Smith)
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Stein)
Man Gone Down (Thomas)
Tell Me Where It Hurts (Trout)
Chasing Harry Winston (Weisberger)
This Common Secret (Wicklund)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Wroblewski)
The Book Thief (Zusak)

Out of the books I read, I would have to say my favorite was "The Art of Racing in the Rain". I read this book while I was on vacation for a few days in Cleveland, and it was hard for me to put down. I fell in love with the main character Enzo, who happens to be a dog. It made me laugh and cry, and I highly recommend this book to everyone.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to make a 2009 list, or just say that I'm going to try to read 50 books. I noticed during the year that my reading tastes change quite a bit, and I did expand my horizons by reading some books I wouldn't normally read. In the process, I've come across some fun reads (such as Janet Evanovich and the Twilight series).

I will keep y'all posted!

An interesting end to the year...and a look forward!

While I've been off of work the last couple of days, I've had a chance to finally take a breath, and figure out what's been going on - I still have lots to do, but laundry was at the top of my list.

However, what's been really odd about the last couple of days is that I've found out that a lot of people that I'm friends with are having various difficulties here at the end of 2008. It's made me think of my year in a little bit different way - it hasn't exactly been the easiest year, but I've had it pretty good. I'm only hoping that this positive feeling and outlook will carry me into 2009 and through it!

I also still have to do a review of my 50 Books to Read in 2008. I didn't do so well (I'm pretty sure I only read about 12 of them), but I did read quite a few books that weren't on the list! I also have to look forward to what my 2009 list might look like...granted it probably won't be 50 books!

I'm also looking forward to serving as the 81st President of the Lansing Jaycees. I believe it will be a huge learning experience for me, and I only hope that I can help our organization be better - because I believe there's always room for improvement.

But that also reminds me that I have to remember to take time for myself, and not let things overwhelm me, even though that's inevitable. I'm lucky to have enough people around to ground me and help me think about things in a different way - which always helps.

So, I hope everyone had a happy holiday season, and makes the most of the new year! I know I will be trying to!

When something sticks with you and you can't shake it...

A few weeks ago I wrote about learning curves. Everyone makes mistakes at some point or another. What I'm trying to work on with that, having been the mistake maker, is to learn from my mistake, and take in the situation and decide what I would have done better, what can happen in order to avoid the mistake in the future, and also remind myself that how others handled it is not necessarily how I would have handled it.

Fast forward to today - I'm attempting to reconcile that I still feel like an ass for making a mistake, and how to let that go. One of my goals for the new year, among many, is to let things roll off my back. Now I'm just trying to figure out what the best way for me to do that is...

Days like today

Days like today remind me that I need to take time for myself. Whether that is staying home with the dog, reading a book, watching a movie, or making a new item, it's very important that I take time for myself.

One thing I want to add back into the rotation is working out in the evenings. And I say evenings because I know myself well enough that I just won't get up in the mornings to do it. I'm more of a night owl than an early morning person. So, I have to put some time aside to get on the exercise bike, or start doing yoga at home. I've been meaning to put aside time for yoga in the evenings, other than my classes, but work has been kicking my butt these last two weeks. Though, lame duck should be over soon (crossing my fingers!!!)

Maybe I can fit that in tomorrow...

Might have to have a higher caffeine intake...

Today has been one of those good days - even though my brain was scattered, I was still very productive and got a lot of stuff done. Though, I meant to exercise tonight, and that didn't happen, but it's all good. Even my dog has been good tonight! She's kept herself occupied for two hours with a bone!

Tomorrow night is our holiday party at work. It's being held at Harem in downtown Lansing. I'm curious to see this place, since I haven't been there, and luckily, we're having our party there before they actually open for the evening. It should be interesting.

I'm hoping this week continues to go well. So far, so good! Though, I'm going to have to increase my caffeine intake...

Sleep?

As it's now after 11:30pm on Thursday night, I started thinking about how I've started staying up later in the last few months. Last night doesn't count, because I didn't feel very well, and went to bed around 9:30pm. But, I used to go to bed between 10 and 10:30pm. It was pretty regular.

The last month or so (maybe a little longer), I haven't been getting to bed most nights until 11 or 11:30, sometimes even a little later. I'm not sure what's causing me to stay up. I'm tired by these times, but I just force myself to stay awake.

I think I'm going to have to roll back my bedtime very soon...

Fighting with myself...

Recently, I've been having an argument with myself about how to look at things. I tend to be a critical person, and can border on negative at times. However, one thing that I try to do with everything is look at it from different angles. I recently just had an exchange with a friend of mine about this. I was told "ah, grasshopper, it's all about mindset."

I've also had a recent yoga practice where we talked about looking at things from a different prespective. Many of the poses we did were variations of the traditional poses. The whole idea was to be able to frame things in a different way.

Unfortunately, I still catch myself thinking negatively. I think it's just what I've always done and am used to. But, I will definitely be working on changing that the rest of this year, and in 2009.

This won't be a happy post...

I was in a good mood most of the day. Now I'm home, and I'm just peeved and annoyed. I have things to do, but really just want to go to bed. Hm, I think that's what I'm going to do.

Getting back into the swing of things...

Yesterday got to be one of those days where everything I hadn't done that last few days caught up to me. By the time I left Muskegon to come back to Lansing, it was about 7pm. And by the time I got back to Lansing it was after 9pm because of the weather.

But there is no end to the to do list. In fact, it keeps growing! This week, my plan is to get all my stuff organized, and clean up my apartment. Here's hoping I am successful in that.

This past weekend, I did get laundry done, I didn't end up reading anything until last night, and I did watch a movie. So, not much done in the vacation department...