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December 20, 2006
Romancing the Stone
December 18, 2006
Current Addiction: Comics
My brother works at Dark Horse Comics and hooked me up with some new titles, so now I’ve got a longer “to read” list besides the mainstream Marvel stuff I’ve been reading lately.
Saturday I went to Capitol Comics and loaded up. I got “The Irredemable Ant-Man” 1 and 2, which I’m pretty excited about. He was featured in Civil War 4, I think, and for a guy that teeny, he had lots of moxie. I hope it’s funny. I also got a few Perhapnauts and Scarlet Traces that I was missing. I’m not in love with the art in Scarlet Traces, but I really like the story. I’d like to find the trades of the first rounds of Scarlet Traces.
I picked up Y: The Last Man 3, which is just a great story. Does anything Brian K. Vaughan touch not turn to gold? Another current Vaughan title I’m loving is The Escapists. It’s so good (and it’s set in Cleveland) that I’m making Dave read it! 🙂 Lastly, I picked up the NYX trade, which for the first time ever earned me a “Good one” comment from the guy behind the counter. So now my current collection is this big:
Flea Market Sunday
I woke up with worse cold symptoms this morning, but I still had the energy to go shopping! We hit the flea market around noon today.
It was such a gorgeous day out, 70 degrees and sunny, not a cloud in the sky!
We found this guy selling all manner of iron antiques. He had a whole cart full of cast items.
Dave found a plant stand that he liked that was only $30. It seems fairly “cat proof” and will hold about 6 plants. It now has a new home in our sunny front room.
December 17, 2006
Saturday Night Christmas Parties
I love Christmas parties. You get all dolled up and see all your friends and everyone gets along swimmingly, even if it’s been ages since you’ve last seen them.
On Saturday, we had two parties to go to. Will and Ele, my newfound friends, invited us to their annual Chili and Beer party. Meridith and Marty also hosted their first ever party in their house. Dave got inspired and made cookies for us at the last minute, and I took about 30 minutes to make my spectacular Holiday Guacamole for Meri’s party.
Saturday we went first to Will and Ele’s. I was a little nervous because I knew we’d be meeting a ton of new people, but everyone was very nice and I was so glad we went. Will and Ele are so nice, great hosts and they seem like a lot of fun. The only weird part was what to say when people asked “So, how do you know Ele?” Ah well. 🙂
Around 10 we headed over to Meri’s. Karen, Kerri, Kelli, Mark, Beanie and some other people were there. Alissa and Chris showed up as well. They are so cute together. We celebrated Kelli’s graduation from college – she graduated on Saturday from NCCU. I don’t remember exactly what her degree is in, but she’s going to be teaching high school kids! Crazy stuff. Kerri got some people involved in a funny drinking game called Flip Cup – it was really entertaining to watch. Then we played The Name Game. It’s very simple. I say a name, like “John Hancock.” You then have to say a name where the first letter of the first name starts with H. So you say “Hannibal Lecter.” The next person has to use L in the first letter of the first name. Sounds easy, right? It’s hilariously difficult. Plus, you’re supposed to go very quickly so if you sit there with your mouth agape trying desperately to figure out a name, any name, that starts with the letter L, the group will just tell you that your time is up and jump to the next person. It was really funny and I was glad I’d switched out my glass of wine for a cup of water at that point because I kinda sucked at it.
All in all, a great night with new friends and old!
December 3, 2006
TV Land
I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately. Let me catch you up.
My current favorite is Dead Like Me, a Showtime program that is being played on the SciFi Channel. DLM was cancelled in season two. What a shame. I love Mandy Patinkin in this show, such a great personality. Ellen Muth is really cute and I can relate to her desire to just hang out under the radar all the time. I’ve watched about 6-8 shows in the last week, so that’s really rewarding.
We also watched Season 2 of The Office (BBC) this week. Tragically, painfully funny. Well done. I get so sad when I think of Dawn and Tim not being able to get together. Oh well. What’s wacky is seeing what Mackenzie Crook looks like in real life versus his role in The Office.
After we got home from our Thanksgiving trip to Portland, we caught up on House and Battlestar Galactica. I have a few episodes of Venture Bros. to watch, and Season 2 of Cracker waiting for me.
Too much time in front of a screen, I think, but what the hell. My brain is happy.
Christmas Tree Time!
We strung up the lights and then decorated the tree a few days later.
We got lots of “help” from the cats. There was only one ornament casualty during the tree trimming exercise – a glass ball shattered when Cayce pounced on it.
We strung up the popcorn garland I made last year and we were done! There’s a bit of a dark spot in the middle, but oh well.
Acne blows
One of the worst lies ever told to a youngster is that acne goes away when you’re an adult. It didn’t for me and it doesn’t for a lot of people. I finally had the good sense to go to the dermatologist and do something about it. If you know me well, you know I like to put in a good word for products and people I like, so here’s what I like when it comes to skin care.
On my face, I use Benzaclin every morning. It’s basically a bleach cream that helps cut down on excess oil. I wait about 10 minutes and then put on moisturizer for the day. I have two favorites, Olay’s Complete and Aveeno Ultra-Calming Moisturizer. At night I wash my face and lightly apply moisturizer.
On my back and chest, I use Evoclin, a true breakthrough in acne treatment medication. Evoclin is delivered in a foam so it’s easy to apply, and it won’t bleach your hair or clothes. I also use a body wash in the shower, either Neutrogena’s Acne Body Wash or Brevoxly, a sudsing peroxide-based cream.
On a related note, I have recently discovered blotting sheets. These are now perhaps my favorite beauty product. I use Clean & Clear Oli Absorbing Sheets – they come sized for your purse and work wonders! If you have oily skin and haven’t tried these, go to the drugstore now and get some! Even with the acne medication and oil-free moisturizers I use, my face is quite oily by mid-afternoon. Blot your face with one of these sheets and you can go another 4 hours looking faboo!