Put on the Glasses

I took the day off of work and how did I spend it? Watching horror movies of course! I watched the first Insidious movie this morning and then went tot he theater to see the sequel. It was quite good and an excellent sequel. Often, if you try to watch a sequel right after its predecessor, it is a jerky experience filled with holes and changing actors. Not so in this case. It was seemlessly done. If you saw the first insidious or like a good ghost story, go see this film.

Another cool thing I picked up in New York was this cool Freddy Krueger toy, which makes me smile: Freddy even has the controls on his arm for he videogame death sequence from Freddy's Dead. Many Nightmare on Elm Street fans don't like that film, but I do. It brings back good memories of staying up late and watching horror movies in my parent's basement as a teenager.

The coolest item I picked up in New York was this monkey skull for my collection: I got it at Obscura Antiques and Oddities, a store that is featured on the show Oddities on the Discovery Channel (it's on Netflix). I never would have known the store was there had it not been for that show. And I never would have owned a monkey skull, which would be sad. Here's the trailer for the show if you are curious.  If you haven't seen it and you like oddities as much as I do, I highly recommend it.

Our second day in New York was quieter. We spent a lot of time shopping. Brian practically bought a whole new wardrobe. Sadly, I didn't get many pictures. I did get a shot of Brian buying some candy in an obscenely chipper store: I also got a couple of dim shots from our evening, which was spent at the Brandy Library drinking fancy Scotch. In this dim picture you can see Brian and Jorge's Scotch tasting sets on either side. In the center was my drink: a straight up Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or. It's a classic that I love but never have wanted to pay for a whole bottle.  Here's Jorge and I at the Brandy Library: Here's a shot of the library of Scotches and other liquors that I could see from my spot near the fireplace: It was a good time, and it was great to see Jorge. 

Brian and I went to New York for a vacation. It was crazy how much it felt like home. We hit all of our favorite bars and neighborhoods. First, we hit the Thirsty Scholar, which was always one of our favorite bars, with our favorite bartender who still works there: Then we headed to Williamsburg and grabbed some coffee from our old favorite bakery. Here's a happy Brian: Here I am: We went to the bar that always reminded us of home, the Ontario: We went to Barcade: We met up with our friend Jorge and got some tacos from a truck: Then we capped off the night with a late dinner at the Thai restaurant, Sea: It was an excellent day in the city.

I snagged this Lego minifig today, the lady scientist. I love it:

I went to my parent's house today for two reasons. First, I had to use their washing machine (see yesterday's post). Second, I got to put a Lego set together for my mom. Occasionally, my mom buys Lego sets for me to build for her. Often, they are sets for sites she has seen. Today, it was Big Ben: Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me wash my clothes and put Legos together!

My washing machine died today. Rest in peace, old buddy: I don't think it's fixable. Online sources seem to point to a motor issue or maybe the transmission. Now the ads are tempting me with fancy features like steam, 4.3 cubic foot capacity and high efficiency. Advice is welcome, though you better act fast; I will be shopping for a new washer/dryer ASAP.

Brian and I went to the Vikings game today. We lost the game but Brian and I still had a good time. We were in the absolute last row of the Metrodome, which was not nearly as bad as it sounds. We thought the view was actually better than when we were down closer to the field. Brian clearly enjoyed himself: We've had so much fun at games this year, I might have to start saving my pennies for season tickets once we get the new stadium.

Brian and I went to our friends' wedding today. They held the wedding in an antique store in Minneapolis. Totally original and totally them. Here's the lovely couple having their first dance: Here's a shot of Katie, the bride, with my old high school friends Sarah and Tanya: Here's a bonus shot of their adorable wedding invites:

Every day Leela stands by the window looking at me like this until I cave and let her outside. How can I resist that?

I found this new to-do list pad on clearance at Target and I am obsessed with it. It's the perfect format for breaking up my long list of things I need to do at work vs. the things that are top priorities.

I am officially obsessed with the new GTAV. In the game, you can surf a fake Internet. And on said fake Internet, you can fill out a fake online form to become an ordained minister. It then displays this certificate: The level of detail in this game amazes me.

The GTAV came out today. You can expect all of my spare time to get sucked up by this game going forward.

I won my fantasy football match this week! Just like last year, I am happy that I won a match at all. I do not know much about football. Also, I've had a whole slew of injuries to players on my team. To mark this win today, in lieu of a photo, I'm going to use this screenshot of my score: Yes, my team is named the Derry Killer Clowns. If you don't get it, that is a reference to Stephen King's book It . The logo/photo for my team is: That picture of Pennywise the clown amuses the heck out of me. He looks so non-threatening. Most other pictures look like this: Sometimes I think that half the fun of fantasy football is coming up with your team's name. The other half is winning.

These two are inseparable.

I'm getting a great harvest out of my tiny garden this year. I have more grape tomatoes than I know what to do with. Today's harvest was a bundle of big beef tomatoes and onions.

We got the new Star Trek movie on Blu-Ray and stayed up late watching it tonight. Despite what other trekkies say, I thoroughly enjoy this movie. 

Brian found some older Minifigs for sale at Target today. Being the good husband he is, he correctly assumed that I would want these more than flowers: Here are the Minifigs I got:

Brian found some art on the side of the street and brought it home. I don't know if I love it because it was free or hate it because it was someone's trash: It is signed by an "H. Wilson." A quick search of Google revealed that this is most likely factory art made in China for furniture stores in the U.S. Apparently, they make these painting assembly-line style with one person painting the background, another the trees, etc. This story almost entertains me more than if it were painted by an artist in his studio.

Ever since a trip to Casa Bonita in Denver a few years ago, I have loved sopapillas. The sopapillas from Baja Sol fill my craving until the next time I can make it to Colorado. Yep, those are a whole lot of fried bits of cinnamon-sugar deliciousness. I'm glad Brian works right near one so he can occasionally bring it home.

I'm not. Here are some new ones I picked up: Two of them will make excellent Christmas decorations.

Livia thoroughly approves of the new couch and has not moved except to eat and use the litter box:

Brian used fresh tomatoes, onions and jalapenos from my garden to make fresh salsa. It was packed full of flavor:

A couple of weekends ago, Brian and  I bought a couch at the LoveSac store. Today, it finally arrived. It was delivered in boxes that took up our whole porch: Before we were even done assembling it, the cats start making claims on which parts were their territory. Livia likes the cushions, even when they are stacked on their sides against the wall: Leela likes the base of the couch: Here's a picture of our new couch in all it's glory: Now, you may be asking yourself, "What's the big deal? That looks just like a basic couch. There's nothing special about that couch." You'd be wrong there. This is a "sactional." Each section and side of the couch is held together with clamps. This means that we can rearrange the couch into whatever configuration our hearts desire. Additionally, all of those black fabric pieces are removable, machine-washable and can be replaced with a wide variety of other fabric choices if we change our minds...

I picked up these cool Lego erasers the other day at Target. I never use pencils anymore, but I couldn't resist them.

I finally took a picture of the latest skull to be added my collection: I got it at the state fair a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it cute?

We had to cover our new chair with a blanket because this cat thinks it's her new bed: Silly Livia.

A new series of Lego Minfigs has been released and I've already got five! Brian brought me this one: Lego cat! Then, I promptly went out and bought four more: Hooray for Minifigs!

I had an excellent day today. I spent the morning at the state fair and finished off the night at a fantasy football draft. A trip to the state fair with the Bernses requires some petting of goats: I had a super delicious hot fudge sundae: We ate too many fresh potato chips: We had beer-on-a-stick: And Brian bought himself a hat that drew a lot of stares: Then I finished off the night scoring Aaron Rodgers as my quarterback for fantasy football. He may be a Packer, but he's also the highest ranked quarterback. So I expect some excellent points out of him. Here's a shot of the draft board (I'm on the far right): It was a stellar day.