Sooo Busy....too much to do before Saturday....I know I'm getting coal in my blogger stocking, but I'll update ASAP!

I Just Woke Up...

Because my Christmas break has officially begun. Yahoo! No more class or tests for a month. I'm so pumped!

In other breaking news...

MY PCAT SCORES ARE IN! My composite score was 83. That is 3 points higher than the average score of applicants to UAMS last year. I'm so relieved.

I'm so ready for Christmas! My sisters from Colorado are coming to visit and we're gonna have tons of fun. On Monday I'll be starting the Christmas baking extravaganza. I'm working up all the plans right now. Since I'm on break I can do a lot of hanging out with you Little Rock folk too. Yea!

Busy As a Bee

I don't think I could have crammed anything else into this weekend!

Friday:
I started the day with off with a five hour super endurance Christmas gift shopping spree. It was hard, but I'm glad to only have 3 gifts left to purchase. Later on I met up with Brooke and company at Reno's Argenta Cafe (her cousin's new restaurant). I had a fabulous sandwich and some very tasty potato salad. Then we went back to her house to play card games and throw back some beers.

Saturday:
I decorated the mini-tree that I purchased while I was out on Friday. I think it is so cute. (It's color coded of course, cause that's just how I am.) I even bought two little stockings for Blue and I. Since we don't really have a real mantle, I just hung them on the tree.

Sunday:

Blue woke up with the worst flu ever, so I took care of him most of the day along with studying for my upcoming finals and cooking for the Survivor party. I made southwestern chicken salad in corn tortilla cups and a chocolate peanut butter tart (see below). The dessert turned out really well if I do say so myself. It was the first time I tried the recipe. It's definitely a keeper. Thanks again for hosting Karl and Kat!

As I mentioned, I've got finals this week. I have one on Mon. and two on Wed. (one of which is my cumulative Organic Chem final (stinkey to the max!)). I've been procrastinating on the studying, so I'm probably gonna get stressed out and am likely not to post again until after the tests on Wed. Till then...

Just a Taste...

Well it snowed here in C-town, but we don't have much to show for it (see pics below). To me, this is just a dusting of snow. I mean come on, the streets weren't even affected. I'm used to waking up to 3 feet of snow from my time spent up North. But hey, beggars can't be choosers. I'll take whatever I can get at this point. So, if you have snow where you are, go out and play in it!

Let the Baking Begin!

Now that the PCAT is over, I'm ready to dive into Christmas preparations. I'm in charge of baking the Christmas cookies for my family's celebrations this year. I'm planning on doing a big tray of several different kinds of unique cookies in order to create a fabulous presentation. The only problem is I have a list of 11 different kinds of cookies and I can't decide which ones to cut. I need your help. They are listed below with a photo of each. Let me know what you think looks good and what you think I should leave out. Yea for Christmas!










Maple Pecan Thumbprints....................................Cranberry Orange Cookies










Creme de Menthe Truffles..............Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars










Chocolate Vanille Creme Cookies.......................Fig Swirls










Elf Bites (shortbread squares w/
colored sprinkles in the dough)........................Cherry Rum Ribbons













Chocolate Peanut Butter
Shortbread.........................................................Almond Wreaths

Vanilla Walnut Shortbread Sticks

Ahhhhh! The PCAT (re-test, those jerks) is tomorrow!

Don't you just hate getting attacked by the post office?

I was out running errands today and stopped off at the post office. As I was walking in, somehow my hand hit this large piece of metal sticking out near the door. Man, was it painful! It was one of those moments when there is a loud sound and everyone turns to look at you, so you have to keep a straight face and carry on about your business so people don't think you are a clutz. My eyes were watering as I tried to keep myself from yelping in pain. Then I got to go stand in line for ten minutes while the ugly bruise to your right developed on my hand. No fun!

On the sunnier side, another one of my errands included picking up some pictures from some old 35mm film that I found the other day. Turns out it was like 3 years old. Along with some pictures of a trip I took to California and Halloween from two years ago was the picture of Mozart shown below. I'm still laughing! Its a wonder PETA hasn't tracked me down and started protesting outside my house for all crazy things I make this dog do.

Mozart Phone Home!

The Things We Do For Love...

So, me and my trusty old Toyota Camry spent the latter part of the evening towing Blue's car behind us through the streets of Conway. He was out doing deliveries tonight when he called me at around 9:30 and told me his car had broken down (he drives an '82 Nissan 280ZX). He then proceeded to convince me to come and meet him (he was at a gas station on Oak street for those of you who know Conway) and have me tow his car home with my car. I don't know why, but I agreed to it. He tied the cars together with the webbing (flat, rope-like stuff that I used when I used to rock climb) that I brought, and then I proceeded to drive through the town with a dead car in tow. It took about 30 minutes for us to get home (about 1 mile). I know you guys who are reading this probably think this is no big deal, but I'm not used to doing weird stuff with my car, so I got a little stressed. Luckily, we made it home in one piece. It's either the alternator or the battery. I guess we'll find tomorrow when he shows off his mechanic skills. Boys!!

Shhhh! I'm blogging in class!

Thanksgiving break was fabulous. I'm still eating Thanksgiving dinner. (My mom sent me home with about 50 pounds of left-overs!) We did the usual dinner thing on Thursday, and then we went to see Harry Potter that evening. Like everyone else has already said, it is the best one yet--soooo goood! Friday I met up with all the Little Rock kids and had a fun time. I got to see Blake and Matty P., both of whom I haven't seen in quite a while, so that was good too. Saturday I stayed in and rented movies. If you haven't seen Bad Santa, you should. It's one of my favorite movies to watch during the holiday season. I rent it every year. HI-larious! It's a little raunchy, but hey, it also makes you laugh. We also rented High Tension and watched it last night. DO NOT rent this movie. First of all it's totally gross. Second of all, it's totally unbelievable. No good.
Man oh man, do I have Christmas fever. I've already started planning out all the stuff I'm gonna bake this year. So...don't be surprised if there is a lot of Christams talk in the upcoming posts. Happy Holidays People!

Yea! My Thanksgiving Break has Officially Started!

Sweet! Because I don't have class on Tuesday, I get to start my break one day before everyone else at school. I love it. I have a lot in store for myself this break. I plan on reading three novels, knitting four scarves, baking four desserts for my fam's thanksgiving dinner, writing two papers, seeing the new Harry Potter film, and preparing for the PCAT (again, ARRRGH!). Whew! I better go to bed early tonight. For all of you who will be traveling, be safe. Happy Turkey Day everybody!!

Grey's Anatomy Fans, Take Note...

So, you know how they've put out a "soundtrack" to the show? It actually has some really good songs on it. I'll be honest, I didn't go out and actually buy it. I downloaded the songs. It actually worked to my advantage to do it this way because there are a lot more song from the show on the internet than there are on the CD. So, if you have some spare time and file sharing software, I recommend getting these tunes. (Or you can be the responsible, copyright observing citizen and go purchase the disc.) Either way, it's good stuff.

On a side note, What's your opinion:

Should Dr. McDreamy dump his annoying wife and get back together with Meredith
OR
Should George confess his true feelings for her (Meredith) and then they will eventually fall in love, but in the mean time cause lots of drama?

P.S. Thanks to those who left comments of support concerning my PCAT debacle...somehow I'll make it through.

Un-FREAKING-Believable!!!!!

Check out this e-mail that I got today:

Dear PCAT Examinee,

Due to a courier service handling error, Harcourt Assessment did not receive your scorable answer documents from the October 2005 administration. We have made every effort to recover your answer documents. In consideration of the difficulty of this unfortunate situation, we are rescheduling a makeup exam on December 3, 2005 at the University ofArkansas testing center. The makeup exam will be at no charge to you and will allow 3 additional weeks for preparation and review. We will expedite scoring so that your transcripts and personal reports are delivered quickly.

If you are not available to retest in December, we will be happyto reschedule you for our January 21, 2006 exam. The reporting location and time are listed below:

Reporting location:
Dickinson Hall, Room 100
2801 S. University Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72204

Reporting Time: 08:30:00 AM

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Rest assured that thisi s not a common occurrence and the cause of this one incident is being thoroughly investigated. Should you have any questions, please email us atScoring.Services@harcourt.com, or call us at 800-622-3231.

Sincerely,
Post-Secondary Customer Relations
800-622-3231
888-211-8276 fax

I'm speechless! (though I will say that several swear words are continuously running through my brain)

This made me laugh today so I thought I'd pass it along:

Nice dress George.

Weekend Update

Nothing amazingly exciting...just a good all-around weekend full of fun times.

On Friday, I had a dinner and a movie date with my mom. We went to see Shopgirl. I highly recommend it--very good. It is one of those movies, though, where you have to want to watch it because it's pretty deep, but in a good way. It hits you right there.

Then we went to Cozymel's for dinner. We both had delicious salads and to top it off we swung through Shakey's for pumpkin custard on the way home. I love all things pumpkin. The stomach ache was totally worth it.

After that I met up with Elizabeth and we spent some time at Pizza D's drinking beer and catching up on all the goings on.

Sat. and Sun. were a mixture of homework, knitting, cooking, and cleaning. I finished a new scarf (see below) (it's for one of my sisters for Christmas). We also had some more blooms on some of our other rose bushes. (I know I put up pictures of roses on my last post, but I love that they are blooming again and I love flowers, so just humor me.)

A great way to end the week...

Princess Mozart!

(And I wonder why we don't get along.)

On another note, I am soooo pleased that another cold front has finally moved in. Hopefully this time it's here to stay. With all of this crazy unseasonable warmth we've had recently our rose bushes were tricked into blooming one more time. Check it out. Insanity!

Skoowel is Kroowel!

School is still taking up all of my time and I know you don't want to hear about it so this is what I've got for you...

Check out my Superhero profile:

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Rocket Gorilla Your Superpower is X-Ray Vision Your Weakness is Salt Your Weapon is Your Air Bazooka Your Mode of Transportation is Portal

What's your Superhero Name?

I think I should definitely have a t-shirt made that has my Superhero name on it---it would be totally sweet! I would wear it every day. The only thing I don't like is that my weakness is salt. I love salt! I put it on everything! (I'm sure there'll be an upcoming post about how I've developed hypertension because of this. :) ) Is your superhero name as good as mine??

Eeeeeeewww, Grooooossssss!

I HAVE RINGWORM! AAAAHHHH!
This morning when I got out of the shower, I felt a sudden itchiness on my arm. I went to scratch it and noticed two bright red rings. I've also noticed this weird round red patch of scaley skin on my left hip. After consulting WebMD, I made the official diagnosis: tinea corporis (ringworm in laymen's terms). I've never had this before and it's making me cringe everytime I think about it (cringe!). I don't really know how I got it. You have to come in contact with it to catch it (cringe!). Blue doens't have it. I'm thinking it came from Mozart (cringe!), but he doesn't have any of the signs of canine ringworm. The kind that you get from animals tends to be more severe(cringe!), so hopefully he's not the culprit. I did learn that the name is a misnomer. It's not actually a worm at all. It's a type of fungus (cringe!) that lives on the surface of the skin and according to some of the pictures that were shown, if you don't treat it, it can get pretty icky. I thought about posting a photo of mine (cringe!), but I figured it might make some of you out there gag (mine's really not that bad). Anyway, as soon as I got out of class today, I went straight to the store to purchase some super-duper strength antifungal cream which I will be applying for the next two weeks (it's supposed to go away in a few days, but you have to keep treating the infected areas so that it doesn't come back). Grossola!!! (cringe!)

You'll Never Guess What I had for Dinner Tonight...

That's right folks...I had one of the classic 1950's fried chicken TV dinners that comes with corn and mashed potatoes. Who would have thought! Anyway, here's the story behind it all. So, I was at the grocery store picking up the usual...dog food, tea, fruit...when I started thinking about what to have for dinner tonight. Fried chicken crossed my mind and sounded good since I haven't eaten it in about a year, but then I thought no, because it's so messy to make. I happened to be in the frozen food isle and saw the frozen dinners out of the corner of my eye. I haven't had one since I was like 6, so I figured what the heck. Surprisingly, it was good (in a sick kind of way.) I'll probably be waiting until 18 more years from now to have another one though. What'd you have for dinner?

I know, I know...

I've been a bad blogger lately and deserve to be punished! Not to make excuses, but since there are only 6 weeks left in the semester (Yea!), my professors have decided to pile on the work. I'll get back in the swing of blogging soon, I swear. Don't give up on me!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I'm still recovering, so this is all I can give right now. Have a good one.

Halloweens Past...

I was feeling nostalgic last night and decided to look at photos from past Halloweens. Though it's not a complete history, here are some of my get-ups from years past.
1999...















Yes, that's right, I was Kurt Stein. (We were dating at the time...let's just not go there.)

2001...













On Friday night I was Marla from the movie Fight Club (Yes, my hair is black...at the time I thought it looked good???)..........














And then on Saturday night I was a princess who apparently liked to drink champagne!

2002...













Here she is, Miss Minnesota. This photo was taken at the mother of all Halloween parties that Brooke and I threw at our house that year. It went down in the History books, folks. The cops got called, but I worked for them the previous year, and luckily one of the officers I knew showed up. I smoothed things over and we continued partying into the morning hours!

2003...
Apparently I sucked this year when it came to taking pictures because I don't have any of me even though I had two pretty fabulous costumes that I made myself. I found them in a closet and took photos of them to share:

FrontView..................................BackView

This year I was a Southern Belle the first half of the evening, and then (after a costume change during which I ended up cutting out two chunks of my hair around the crown of me head(requires too much of an explanation))...



















I spent the rest of the night as a flamenco dancer. What a night!

2004...Sucked.
I don't even remember what I was. I'm planning on taking tons of pictures this year, so look forward to being bombarded!

Good News!

The word is in...I'm healthy! All my test results came back normal.
My physician thinks that the hair loss was just due to my recent high levels of stress. She can't give a concrete explanation for the curly hairs, but her professional opinion is that my straight hairs will not all turn curly. My fingers are crossed!
Have I mentioned how excited I am about Halloween this weekend? Blue changed his mind about his costume and currently does not have one, so we're working on that. I made the final preparations for mine earlier today. I can't wait to see what everyone else will be dressed as. Yea! Halloweeeeeeen! The second best holiday of the year!

I'm Free!!!!

I'm finally free of the stress that is PCAT. I took the test on Saturday morning. It took 5 hours and my brain was fried by the time I was finished, so it's hard to know how I did. The test was difficult, but I hope I made a decent enought score not to have to take it again in January.
Yea!!!! It's the week before Halloween. Double Yea!!! I'vc come up with a decent Halloween costume for the party on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it.
Side note: Still no news on my health. I'm definitely calling tomorrow to find out if the lab results are in. Oh yeah, and it looks like I'm once again going to have to join the workforce. (I guess it is about time seeing as how I haven't had a job in about the past 5 months.) Funds are dwindling and I don't want to dip into my savings, so anyone know of any part-time, non-demeaning positions available in Conway???

Quick Update during a study break....

I'm still waiting to get the results back from my blood work, so no medical news yet. Maybe I'll get a call today. I'm studying myself to death for the PCAT, so you can bet I'm looking forward to the Survivor party tonight. See you there!

Relief is in Sight!

I've got two big events coming up this week, and when they are finished I hope to feel much less stressed. The first is my aforementioned doctors appointment on Tuesday morning to try to determine why my hair follicles are freaking out. And then, (cue Jaws theme song) on Saturday morning at 8:30 AM, the long awaited PCAT will commence. (You can taste the sarcasm.) I'll keep you updated on these events throughout the week (unless I decide to run away and disappear on some small island in the Pacific.)

A fun way to waste time on a Friday

For all of you who have a digital camera, take a head shot of yourself and go to this website. It analyzes your facial features and tells you what races you are made up of. It's pretty interesting. I consist of 38% East Indian, 35% Anglo-saxon, and 26% Southern European. It also tells you what celebrity you most resemble. My match was Jessica Biel. Blue's was Quentin Tarantino. (I made him do it too :) ) Try it, it's cool!

Food Finds

Yea! It's clementine season! If you've never had the pleasure of eating one of these cute little citrus fruits, you've got to try them. (Brooke can attest to there delicious qualities. We used to split crates when we lived together.) They have a unique flavor. They're a little more tart than an orange, but not bitter like grapefruit and have a gentle sweetness. They should be in the produce section of your grocery store for the next couple of months. They usually come in a crate (see above) or in a mesh bag. They are a little pricey ($6 to $8 a crate, but you usually get about 30 pieces of fruit), but this is most likely due to the fact that they are imported from Spain and North Africa. They are also easy to peel. I've been eating 2 or 3 a day!


Another fun discovery that Blue and I made a few weeks ago at Kroger is the natural peanut butters produce by a company out of New York City, specifically Greenwich Village. They started as a sandwich shop, and have grown to sell their homemade peanut butters throughout the country. Their products are all natural with no refined sugars or trans fats. They have some pretty tasty flavor combos too. The one pictured above is my favorite. It tastes like dessert. They have other flavors like Dark Chocolate Dreams (which I've also tried...it's good, but the white chocolate is better) and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. Obviously, it's located in the peanut butter/jam isle and a jar will cost you about $4. It's high, but in this case your paying for quality, not advertisement. Give it a try and for more info, see their website.

Okay...Now I'm Really Freaked Out!

If you remember, a week or two ago I talked about how I've started losing an abnormal amount of hair. On a side note, I have a doctors appointment next week to see what's up. Anyway, there's been a new development and it's got me worried. I noticed last night that I now have several curly hairs. I don't mean two or three. If I look in the mirror for a few seconds I can find ten to twenty. Some of them are tight ringlets like Brooke's hair and others are wavy like Elizabeth's hair when she doesn't straighten it. Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against people with curly hair. I simply have something against me with curly hair. I've had board straight hair since the day I was born. I'm not prepared to change that. I wouldn't be myself anymore. I don't mean to sound vain, but when a part of your body may be altered in the opposite way of what you are used to, it's a little unnerving! Hopefully my whole head is not in the process of becoming curly, but my little brothers hair turned curly about two years ago without notice. He had straight hair since he was born too. Ahhhhhhhhh!

Recipe of the Week!

All the tasty appetizers we had at the Survivor party last week inspired me to post this yummy dip recipe. Warning! It is not healthy. It one of those things that is bad for you, but it taste sooo goood that you let yourself eat it once or twice a year. Here you go:

Sausage, Cheese, and Chile Dip

3/4 lb. bulk pork sausage
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
1 7-oz. can Rotel
1/4 pound extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1.) In a large skillet, fry the sausage over moderate heat, breaking it up with a fork, till well cooked, then drain on paper towels.
2.) Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 1-1/2-quart casserole and set aside.
3.) In a large mixing bowl, combine the sausage, cream cheese, and tomatoes and chiles and mix till well blended.
4.) Scrape mixture into the prepared casserole, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top, and bake till bubbly and the cheese has melted completely, about 15 minutes. Serve hot with Fritos Scoops (or your favorite corn chip).

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

WE LOVE FALL!

When I wasn't studying, I spent the weekend outside with the dog. It was fabulous! There wasn't a whole lot of action otherwise because all my friends live in LR and Blue worked most of the weekend, but it was nice to get a lot of work done and then relax.
With the new chill in the air, I decided to pick up knitting again. And...since it was just me and Mozart this weekend, he modeled some scarves for the blog. :)

I made this one last year. It's one of my favorites because of the texture.

I just finished this one. You can tell Mozart feels pretty in it!

I've given all my others away, but I just started another one so I'm sure they'll be more to come throughout the season.

I'm Spent...

This week has been madness so far! School has become grueling and I've had no energy left in the evenings to post anything new. As of today, I've also been struggling with a severe case of puppy fever in light of Karl and Kat's new family members. I think this issue is joining the list of never ending battles in my life. (Sigh) Fun Leah shall return soon! (Hopefully the Survivor party tomorrow evening will be the light at the end of the tunnel.)

Yeah Baby!

Check out those two red numbers in the upper right hand corner. That's right folks, I made a 97% on my first organic chemistry test. I rule!!

Sista', Sista'

I hung out with my little sis, Jillian, on Saturday night. We went shopping for 3 hours and had Tropical Smoothie for dinner. Yea smoothies! (She was not happy that I took this picture.)

Bring It On!!

Woo-Hoo! It finally feels like fall outside today. Unfortunately, it's only supposed to last through tomorrow and then it's back up to high's in the 80's, but you can bet I'm gonna savor every minute until then! By the way, it kind of makes you feel like camping, doesn't it?? See Brooke's blog for more details.