Gingie Update

My bonsai Gingie has really sprouted. I read that I'm supposed to take off some of the leaves, so I did that today. This photo is from before I took off the leaves. My ginkgo has three different shapes of leaves. Some are shaped like fans, some  have a split in the middle, and a lot of them have a notch in the middle. The notched leaves look like butterflies.

Last night I got a new travel mug. I had my last one since 2005 and it cracked. I wanted one just like the one I recently got Ross. It is a neat mug because you can write on the inside with a dry erase marker or put paper between the stainless steel cup and outer plastic part. I was trying to think of something to draw on the cup, and was thinking of drawing a dragon. The problem is that I'm not very artistic and the dry erase marker is not easy to work with on the stainless steel. I was going to give it a shot anyway when Ross suggested I just draw some ginkgo leaves. Instead I just put a few of Gingie's in between the metal and plastic layers. I didn't glue them down, so they kind of look like they are just floating there.
  

My Introduction to Medieval Times

I hung my head in shame every time someone asked me about my weekend plans. You see, I was planning to go to Medieval Times on Saturday night. Yeah, that place where you eat while people parade around on horses and the servers talk to you in fake English accents.  I only went because our friend Richard asked me so nicely. He was in town from San Antonio and wanted us all to meet up at Medieval Times.

There were seven of us all together. I think we all enjoyed it. I'm not sure most adults would go there if there wasn't alcohol. I had a pina colada, and it was good. The food wasn't bad. I'd been expecting something barely edible, but the food was good, and I actually really enjoyed the dessert.

The horses were pretty and did some nice tricks. I liked the ring joust, but could have done without the choreographed jousting and fighting. The whole story/drama thing was so hokey.  Oh, they did have a falconer, and the falcon flew and swooped above the audience. I know Ross enjoyed that part.

I tried to be a good sport, and root for our knight--the red and yellow knight. He ended up winning in the end. Silly as it is, it felt good to be sitting in the winners section. Ha!

After the festivities at Medieval Times we headed over to Dave and Busters. I didn't like it. I was dehydrated and all the noise and mix of smells was not making me feel better. I don't remember Dave and Busters having tickets. I just remember spending money to play games. Now they give you tickets, like at Chuck-E-Cheese. Apparently Richard has like 68k tickets! We gave ours to Ainsmar, and accidentally brought some home.  Oops. I think I would have had a little more fun there if it had not been so crowded and I had not been so tired.

People are Lazy

People are lazy. I don't know why that's so hard for me to accept.

You see, I pay lots of money to park in a garage at work. For a few reasons--mainly because I love my car and I don't want it sitting outside on the street. Every morning I see people parking in the garage, but in the uncovered spaces, or going up to the uncovered roof of the garage when there are still plenty of parking spaces available in the covered areas. "Why?" I always ask myself. Well, because they are lazy. The covered spots aren't right next to the elevators, so they don't want them. It boggles my mind that they pay so much money to park in a garage, but then park in uncovered spots.

I don't know why this bothers me. I just need to accept that people are lazy. They take the elevator to go up or down one floor--when the stairs are right next to the elevator. I beat the elevator every time. And if people park in the uncovered spots, that leaves more covered spots for me. So there. I should be happy they are lazy!

Krav Maga

Krav Ma-wha? Krav Maga. The hand to hand combat and self defense system employed by the Mossad and Jack Donaghy alike. Last night I went to my first Krav Maga class. Very interesting. Krav Maga is more attacking to defend yourself rather than using blocks or such things to defend yourself.

I'm surprised I liked it. It was very high stress and confrontational. Two things I really don't like. They got our heart rates up and got us all stressed out so it would be more like a real life situation. I learned how to do palm strikes, kicks (to the groin of course), and how to get out of a front choke hold. I definitely feel more confident--just after one class--that I could defend myself were someone to attack me.

The class also had a lecture section. Most of the stuff I already knew from my dad. Stuff like don't flash your money around or stand out like a sore thumb. The lecture basically described the perfect victim, and how we can control most of that to keep from being a victim.  I'm going to look into going again.

If I did this, yoga, and trapeze once a week each, I think I'd get really fit. I wish that I had all three really close to my house---despite all the money I'd be spending.

Back Flip

Ross said I should post this video of me doing a back flip.

Second Trapeze Lesson

I've been sucked into Sweepsland all week, but Friday night we went down to DC for our second trapeze class. It was our first full class--2 hours. We got 6 turns I think. Maybe 7. We did the knee hang, learned to do a back flip off the trapeze, and started practicing a new trick--the heels off. My first two practices with the heels off were fine, but when I went to catch--disaster. The first catch attempt, I just didn't do anything when it was time to release. The second catch attempt I did a back bend instead of just bending back my neck--and my heels ended up floating off the bar. Oops. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't catch. Hopefully next time. Ross did get caught--from the knee hang.

Our class was 830-1030. I think that's a bit late for us. I think we'd have a little more energy earlier in the day. We didn't get home until after midnight! The outdoor rig opens May 1st, so I think we'll schedule our next class after that. I think we'll also try another silks class.

I'm sore. We both are. We are bruised and scraped up, but that doesn't stop me from wanting more.....

Sweepsland

I won a few things from Lucky Magazine and a couple of other places. I kept entering the Lucky giveaways, then moved on to other magazines, and now I've totally gotten sucked into sweepsland. I enter at least 50 giveaways a day. I've become totally obsessed.

I like to enter giveaways for kitchen things--hello, give me a new kitchen aid mixer! And I like to enter to win ipads and kindles. Hey, I want one, but I don't want to pay for it.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. If I don't win anything by July 1st I'm going to cut down and just go back to entering Lucky Magazine giveaways.

Restaurant Review: Rasika

We had dinner at Rasika last night. The place is so popular that we made reservations two months ago. That was the soonest we could get in--2 months. Rasika is upscale Indian food. Unfortunately we couldn't eat any naan or gulab jamun (it's Passover.) Still, everything we ate was divine. We had crunchy spinach--that kind of tasted like a crunchy salsa. I had a lamb curry, Ross had a green chicken curry, Nicole had cod, and Ryan had duck. The green chicken curry also tasted a little like Mexican Food. Oh, and I ordered a side of potatoes and eggplant in a tomato sauce--super yummy.

The food was spicy, but not overly so. It was spicy enough that I ate almost all of my rice. Oh, drinks. I had a cucumber vesper, Nicole had the mango cosmo, and Ryan had a pisco sour. My drink tasted like cucumber rocket fuel until the food came. It was much better with the spicy food.

The food is so good that we've already decided to make reservations right away for our next dinner there. We'll see if that's two months from now.

Rasika is great, but I don't think it's the best restaurant I've ever been to. And I'm not sure it's the best Indian food either. I've had some great meals at Taj Palace in Austin.

Because I'm super picky I have three complaints.

My three complaints:
1. There was no toilet paper holder in the bathroom. Come on people. If I'm eating in a restaurant of that caliber I don't expect to find the toilet paper on the back of the toilet. The toilet paper holder is broken--so run out an get a standing toilet paper holder.

2. The waitress at first said that one of the dessert choices was mango pepper sorbet. When she returned and I asked her to repeat the sorbet/ice cream options she said "Mandarin Orange Pepper Sorbet." When I clarified that it wasn't mango, she said "No, it's orange."  Well, guess what, it was mango. Luckily I like mango, and I'm not allergic to it.

3. Ross's iced tea was gross and his chai was bland. Messing up tea is really bad. The iced tea was flavored, and we couldn't place the flavors. Ross said it tasted like menthol. The chai was really spice-less. That's better than it being overdone with spices, but you think they'd have something in there.

Like I said, we are going back because the food was good. I don't give a crap about ambiance. I care about the food. It was good and so was the service. Good thing it isn't close by, cause it is pricey.

Nicole's take on dinner, with photos.

Movie Review: Raid Redemption

I saw Nicole's review (but didn't watch the trailer) and I instantly wanted to see this movie. I was really disappointed to learn that the movie wasn't playing anywhere in the Bmore area.  Nicole suggested that we add the movie to our already planned dinner in DC, so last night after a great dinner with Nicole and Ryan at Rasika we all went to see The Raid Redemption.

Yeah, the movie is so good that Nicole and Ryan wanted to see it a second time, and they are now contemplating seeing it a third time. The movie is so intense that I'm not sure Ross could handle seeing it in the theater a second time--he would stop breathing during the fight scenes, and there were many, many, excellently choreographed fight scenes.

I don't know how to describe this movie. It is the most awesome movie I've seen in years. Best fight scenes ever! I think originally this movie was only showing in DC, LA, and NYC. Ross checked last night, and it is now showing more widely. This move is very violent. If you don't mind violence and like martial arts movies then this is a movie for you. If you are looking for a complicated story line and character build up, then you will be disappointed (this movie does not have, or need them).

I give this movie 2 thumbs, and two freakishly large big toes up. Go see it!

Gingie's First Leavess

Gingie is sprouting leaves. So cool. Today when I got home even more leaves had unfurled. 

Dollar Bill Origami

A couple of year ago we were flying somewhere and at the back of the airline magazine there were instructions for making a peacock out of a dollar bill. It was a good way to spend the flight. I actually managed to make the peacock and I still have it. The thing I really liked about the instructions is that it showed the steps with a real dollar bill. There are plenty of landmarks on a dollar bill, so it made it easier than folding with a blank sheet of paper.

My dad bought me 2 dollar bill origami books for my birthday. On the flight to Denver last month I took one of the books--which came with practice play money---and tried to make an eagle and a double crane. Unfortunately the instructions do not show the steps with a real dollar bill, just with a green rectangle. Still, I was able to make the eagle. I wasn't as successful with the double crane. I just couldn't get one of the steps--so I ended up turning it into a camel! I'll have to keep practicing. Eventually I'd like to make the koi---it looks awesome, and really, really hard.

Hot Dog!

This weekend when I went to the grocery store for Valerie I happened upon a cat toy I just had to buy: Hot Dog. Bailey has had her Hot Dog for years (5 maybe?) I just couldn't resist buying her a new one. The new Hot Dog is brighter and cleaner than her old Hot Dog. And the new Hot Dog has ears!

I caught Bailey playing with her new Hot Dog yesterday. She was so excited, kicking and biting it, that the picture I took came out blurry. The new Hot Dog also came with a Teenie Sardini. We'll see if she likes it. I know she loves her Hot Dog, but she preferred to play with him on our wooden floors.

Visit with the Luster Girls

I headed over to visit Valerie and the girls on Saturday afternoon. Troy was out of town and Valerie is gimpy after knee surgery, so I went to help out. It was good to see the girls and hang out with them. Evelyn was very helpful and Julia had me reading to her a whole lot. Those two really wore me out. 

On a side note--I went to Target to get some new panties for Julia. They had too many options! Low rise, boy cut, bikini.....and briefs. Heck, I was wearing granny pantie briefs until after college. Now the kids get low rise and bikini?!? Too bad I forgot it was April Fool's and didn't buy some thongs and give those to Valerie for Julia. That would have been a good laugh.

Springtime at Longwood

Ross and I went up to Longwood Garden on Saturday morning. It was a little misty, but not enough for an umbrella. The conservatory was, as always, impressive. The tulips and other bulbs were blooming. We finally took the plunge and bought a membership. We will definitely go back when my parents come visit, but hopefully we'll make it up there before that. 

Oh, and they were having an orchid sale. Orchids for only 15 or 25 dollars. I resisted!