Quote of the Day while walking back from lunch

"It's like EFY all over again"

Mixed Metaphor of the Day

Touch Base + Check in = Touch in

I think I need more sleep

Go Postal !!!

Due to my new-found freedom, I have been filling my time with things other than blogging. However, now that my travels are done for the year :( I have time to get back to it. I will post the Bama pictures shortly. Until then, here's the latest news:

I have been working quite a bit on my application for graduate school. Things are starting to come together which makes me simultaneously giddy and nauseated. I received my new passport last week, as well as my official transcript (which means my diploma is probably not far behind :). I have two professors on board to write letters of recommendation. Yesterday, I sent them all the info they asked for so they can write a glowing review of me and my amazingness. So all that remains is to write my final application letter along with another essay about why it would be awesome for the school to help me with some of my tuition. As soon as that's all together, the application is off. The school says I should be notified of their decision within 10 days. So, for those of you who see me regularly, be prepared for a few days of anxiety-ridden text messages. I will keep you "post"ed. (That was for Alex. For the rest of you, I apologize).

As I alluded to at the beginning, I recently went to visit E in Bama. It was a lot of fun. We ate some yummy food, saw some crazy football fans, and watched us some Buffy. Good times were had by all.

This is not news so much as a side comment, but my friends rock. Sara participated in a triathalon this weekend so she kicks ass in the literal sense. Brandon, Alex and I went to support her. Sitting on the sidelines, watching athletes on a beautiful Saturday morning was hard work, but we managed. We ended up sitting by two guys that seemed to know quite a bit about the event so we learned a lot as well. Whether any of it was true we will never know, but we feel more well informed and that is what it's all about really, right?

That evening, we went to the Bayou to eat a bunch of greasy food and have a few drinks- no pear cider though : ( . I choose to document the following story purely to embrass Brandon. He had to leave before the rest of us due to prior party plans. He asked for the check and, when the server gave it to him, he got pissed off because she had not included a pen. So he asked the girls at the table for one but found no success. Catching the servers eye proved difficult as well so he just stewed in his annoyance for a bit. When she finally came by, he asked her for a pen and she was happy to oblige. It wasn't until Kelly caught Brandon surruptitiously sliding his credit card into the bill folio that the whole story came to light. He had not given her his card yet and therefore had nothing to sign with his much-needed pen. To those of you absent from the proceedings, this may not make you giggle quite as much as it did me. His eagerness to hide his embarassment upon discovering his error was as great as my desire to make sure everyone heard the tale. That, my friends is true schadenfreude.

The Name of the Game

When you have a name like mine, you get used to people misunderstanding it. "You know. Like Christmas" tends to be the most successful way to get the message across. Most of the time, people ask for clarification and, after hearing it, still look at me with a thoughtful gaze. This look, of course, betrays any attempt they make at appering to understand the words coming out of my mouth. So then they just call me Nicole. Yeah. My name IS NOT NICOLE! Phew. That felt good. That being said. Here are some other names that I have been called:

Murell
Marvel
Mella
Mellow
New-well
Nora
Laura
Ma-low
Melissa
Melos
Melat
Paige
Mel-el
Merlot

What do people call you?

Update:  Brundle.  Yeah, another name.  WTF?

New for this week: Millow, Llewelyn, Holly and Melanie

And for this week: Melar and Norell

11/23: Kim

Cali

Things that made me happy this weekend:

Once a year or so, I try to go to San Diego to visit my sis. Here are some pics from this year's trip.

Cami at the wonderful Persian restaurant we ate at

This puppy is quite easily the most adorable creature of all time. She is perfect. Perfect size, perfect personality, perfect hunting skills....kind of. Well she tries at least. The above picture is her pouncing on a lizard in the bushes. And below, she is attacking a stuffed hedgehog type thing from the comfort of her bed. Spoiled pup.

Friday morning, I rented a bike and wandered around by the ocean. It took a bit of time to get used to riding a cruiser but I got there eventually. It's been a long time since I had to use my feet to brake. I kept grabbing the handlebars and panicking when there was nothing there to help me stop. Luckily the first place I rode to wasn't very crowded.

After riding around the bay, I wandered down to Mission Beach, up through Pacific Beach and near La Jolla. The ride was lovely. Due to a slightly overcast sky, the area was not overly crowded so I could take in the views while I was riding. The houses along the seafront are beautiful. The owners take great pride in their ocean-front views and have decked out (ha!) their patios appropriately.

After lunch, I returned my bike and made my way to the water. I love wandering along the beach. There aren't many things more soothing than the roar of the ocean. The weather was perfect for me (overcast and a few drops of rain) but these sun-bathing Californians did not agree. A few sprinkles of rain came down and the whole beach emptied in about ten minutes. Bliss. I had the whole beach practically to myself. And because they had left so quickly, I was able to take advantage of the vacated dry spots. So I sat and finished my book, Going Solo, by Roald Dahl.

I hate seaweed. Fiercely. But I thought this was pretty. The beach is loaded with piles of the horrible stuff. But I've never seen it glitter before. Looking up close, there are hundreds of teensy shells parked on this leaf (frond? pod? not sure what its called really). It really did shimmer in the sun.

This link is in no way related to the following pictures, except that it mentions brain surgery. I kept thinking about it the whole time we were at the prehistoric brain surgery exhibition. That's right. Prehistoric. That means rocks. Brain surgery and rocks. It is as bad as you are imagining.

Please note that the area labeled "1" shows a hole being scraped out with the mostly blunt edge of a rock. Through a skull. Awesome.

And now for better uses for the brain...the art market in Balboa Park. The art varied significantly between booths. Everything from clay, to jewelry, to woodwork, to dresses made of board game pieces. We liked this guy a lot though. His materials are free (color cards from the paint section at Home Depot cut into tiny tiny pieces) and he makes beautiful mosaics. He said he had been working on this piece for about a month so far.

Being the fan of dessert that I am, I had to share this with you. I present: The Poached Pear in Caramel Sauce with Pistachios. aMAZing!!! We ate this at the Persian restaurant referred to at the top of this post. Pears are delectable anyway, but put an incredibly light, fragrant caramel sauce on top and you just might die. Now if only i could find a recipe....