One Month Later

Hello! I am super-lame and lazy.

Although I can't use the shoe girls excuse of falling off the grid this weekend to read Harry Potter (I'm not sure if you heard, but the last book of the series was released this weekend)... I have been a bad blog owner.

Here's a rundown of updates:

Music -- bought the new Chris Cornell, Smashing Pumpkins, and newer Amy Winehouse. All were welcome surprises of enjoyment. Also gave D the new Paul McCartney, and E the current MCR. Happy rocking out all the way around.

Movies -- actually have seen more movies (at the theatre) in the last couple of months than I have in the last year! Shrek in May, then Transformers and Harry Potter book 5 here in July. Transformers was entertaining enough, though I thought the robots' use of "my bad" was their bad. HP5, while nice and dark, was too short of a movie for the length of the book. And I was seriously disappointed they didn't make Sirius' death more emotional.

He's Gary Oldman, for goodness' sake!

PS: I really don't like Helena Bonham Carter any more after this role.

Jason Isaacs, however? Oh my!

TV-- not a lot of TV watching, since I've been carrying 20 hours at the store. Fortunately, that will taper off for a few weeks, then likely kick back up again once the pregnant girl goes on leave, and another goes back to college. I've been having to use HBO.com to keep up on Big Love.

Books-- still chugging along on Wicked. Will still use the store as an excuse. Angela and Dani are reading the new Harry Potter book. So I'm looking forward to hearing all about it from Angela on our 6am walk in the morning. In fact, I would not be surprised at all if she finishes it sometime Sunday.

For all of the hours I've been working, we have been able to take a number of day trips in the last month:

Independence, MO-- initially went for the Truman home and museum tour. Ended up spending a lot of time at the historical trails museum, with a wagon ride around Bingham-Waggnon (??) house. I want to have a place like that, someday.

Ottawa, KS -- unfortunately, Cowboy Days ended up being washed away in a torrential downpour. We did check out a huge antique mall, and ate some tasty food at an El Mezcal restaurant that looked like the Las Fuentes restaurant by work. The guacamole was pretty wimpy.

And here's just some random updates:

Steve and Barry's: made the pilgrimage up to the Olathe mall specifically for this store. Reminded me a lot of Old Navy. Excellent prices, but I didn't have much luck for me. It also didn't help that we had a big lunch at Chipotle prior to shopping. But oh man, that was so dang tasty! Double bonus for being a reason to hang out in Lawrence with Donna. It was good to catch up with her.

Chipotle-- just discovered this place a month ago. I could find myself becoming very addicted to them. It doesn't help matters any, either, that you can order a beer or margarita with your meal. Their guacamole will make you stand up and slap somebody, it's so good!

Ruby Tuesday -- good food, and seemingly just the right amount of it. My steak was cooked perfectly. However, pretty pricey, and much too expensive for liquor. Especially when it's a bunch of shoe girls throwing a baby shower. We have added the Ruby Relaxer (Skyy vodka, Malibu rum, peach schnapps, pineapple and cranberry juices and orange juice) to our list of "oh my, YES!" drinks. Their mojito was quite lovely as well, with a garnish of raw sugar cane.

So there you have it. What excitement you've missed, eh? That's what I thought. Here's what we have to look forward to, in the next month:

McLouth threshing bee

Monster starts high school (oy!)

I really need to finish the North Carolina scrap book... it's been a year!

My resident rock star adds "music video director" to his resume

And the end of August, Angela and I go to Portland, OR to visit Wendy, whee!!! We are so geeking out about it.