Best of 2003

Movie: Big Fish
Book: The Lovely Bones
Song: Hey Yeah, by Outkast
Restaurant: Chip Shop
Concert: The Doors 21st Century

Accomplished in 2003.

Married for two years and together for 7 to the most wonderful, positive, funny, supportive and patient man.

At my job for five years.(Knock Wood)

Started my blog.

Started writing again.

Started writing three children's books.

Began taking courses to be a party planner.

Tried cooking a variety of foods.

Got to travel a little bit.

Started a very small company making frames and planning to expand to other things.

I won’t make any resolutions. I don’t keep them. I do have ideas for what I would like out of 2004. You just have to keep reading to see what happens.

Hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year!

I forgot to mention what one of the items I bought from Bed, Bath and Beyond many weeks ago was. It was a candy thermometer. Niel and I gave out gift bags for our holiday party. I made peanut brittle and Niel made pepperment bark. The candy thermometer worked very well. It told me how hot the sugar got before I could put in the peanuts. I should have put in more peanuts but we ended eating most of the peanuts in the jar.
I decided that I need another book case for my office/guest room. I knew I needed it for a while now but as always other things came up that needed funding for. So I hope sometime this weekend we will venture out and purchase one. I plan on happily organizing the piles of papers on the bed and my desk. It will really help me in the long run. Disorganization is yucky. It makes me feel all out of control. I have tons of ideas but have a hard time focusing with the piles in different directions. I did pick up a few more supplies at Michaels for more frame ideas I have.(Thanks Erin) I also hope the frame site will relaunch this weekend. I am so excited at how it will look. I really enjoy celestial themes but the new site is going to be beatiful and hopefully easier to see and navigate.
We also need to get frames for some neat pics that Niel found in Seattle and of a funny picture we posed for.
Our little apt. is more and more being a part of our collaborated tastes.
I also started to read The Burning Tigris which Erin(thanks again) gave me. Lucky for me because I ofcourse find the subject of the Armenian Genocide interesting and I also misplaced one of my school books. I was so close to taking the second test and until I find it I will be absorbed in The Burning Tigris.
I made Cioppino last night. Holy crap was it good. Any seafood lovers out there must try it! The mussels I bought were so fresh, they were bubbling in the water I had them in. We never ate seafood so fresh.

I saw Big Fish and Calendar Girls yesterday. Out of all the movies I have seen the past week I enjoyed Big Fish the most. Tim Burton is a genius. His movies are beatiful and candy for the eyes. The story of course was wonderful. It was a moving movie about a relationship between a father and son.
We picked up a pretty neat rug at Urban Outfitters .

The holidays were nice. They passed by way too quickly though. We gave some cool gifts and recieved some cool gifts as well. We ate awesome foods and enjoyed ourselves. I saw a lot of movies such as Something's Got to Give, Cheaper By The Dozen and Peter Pan.
Something's Got To Give was funny but ran too long. Cheaper By The Dozen was a sweet family movie. Peter Pan was watching magic be born. It really is not for children though. At least not this version. But the way the movie was marketed the theater was of course packed with kids. I plan on trying to see Calender Girls and Big Fish. Niel is away upstate with Mike and Kelvin visiting Mark or The Jedi. So I have a lot of free time to watch movies and clean. I also accidently ate some moldy cheese and have a bit of an upset stomach. The only excuse I have is it was dark and I had the munchies. Niel besides working on his Seattle story is making over my frame page. Since we got this new computer(thanks Kelvin)there are neat programs for page designs. It is going to look just lovely. Of course the problem is time. So it might take a long time but it is worth it.
The site was down for a few days. I was evaluating if I enjoyed writing it. And I do. Of course I don't write everything on this blog. I keep some things for me. Such as my secret plan for world domination and how to find ways to hurt people. Because that is what I am all about. This niceness is a front because I am really evil. Heh heh heh. Like when I am walking down the street I think to myself is there a baby I can take candy from or an old man whose cane I can swipe? Or if I am in the supermarket and I see something I really want and I am short a few cents then I can just steal it right? I really enjoy the attention so I try to be as troublesome as possible. Hee Hee Hee. Some of you know I am joking and others I just don't really care if you do. Well Happy Holidays! Do I really mean that? Hmmmm...........
When Niel returns tonight we are going to venture to Ted and Maria's for a holiday party. I am looking forward to it.
I bought a necklace (a Christmas gift for my brother's girlfriend Christine) from Sibling Rivalary. It is a jewelry company in Canada run by two sisters. Check out the site. They have some nice things.

Well the birthday/holiday get together we had for Niel this past Saturday turned out pretty good. The food came out well and thank you for those who came over. I had various dips(salsa, pepper, veggie, and hummus) and chips(regular potato, onion and chives and tortilla chips). We had various cheeses, pigs in a blanket, veggie sushi, spring/egg rolls, wings, and devil's food cake, cake shaped like trees, snow flakes and stockings. We also made candy. Peanut Brittle and Pepperment Bark. I could have put more peanuts in the brittle. I think that was all the food. I would have made also Potato Pakora's but couldn't find Garam Masala anywhere. I also wanted to make Empanada's but didn't have the time. Maybe this week? I am happy to have left overs though!
My office is supposed to have a Chanukah luncheon. I'm still waiting!! I wanted some Latkes.

Happy Birthday to my sweetie! May you always have happy birthdays, may they be very many and filled with good times! May life be kind to you and bring you health, happiness, success and wealth.
I am so very happy that you were born and we met. I love you and I hope you have a fun day and an even better year!

Ran around town like a chicken without a head today. Still got more to do!

Happy Chanukah to all that celebrate it!!!

I find the commercial for Citibank funny. The one where the guy is sitting in his robe at home and a valley girl's voice comes out. I don't think identity theft is a laughing matter, but that commerical was funny because it was well done. I thought for a little while that was happening on Niel's blog. Until I realized it was bored people. Even after we found out who they were I still did not find it funny. Give me Rowan Atkinson a la Mr. Bean, or Judy Dench a la As Times Goes By and I will find that funny. But the crap on his blog. Nope not funny at all.

I think I am in some tourist's picture. Or the Asian mob is following me.

It was soo windy getting into work this morning. It was a struggle to cross the street. I work in the best building in the world. The Bubba Gump Shrimp company opened a restaurant in our building and the smell of cooking shrimp permiates in the lobby putting me in a good mood. That of course soon ends as I walk in here. I guess I am lucky to be working and smelling shrimp.
I am thinking of selling some things I have never used and did not know why I bought. Niel was right. I would grow tired of them. So I will try ebay first and then a yard sale.
I made a yummy dinner last night. I found a recipe for baked chicken(we usually always bake ours). I put 4 large chicken parts, you can also use 8 small ones, in a zip lock plastic bag, I added a quarter cup of bread crumbs, and powdered ranch dressing. I shook it all together and let it cook for about an hour at 375. Holy smoke was that tasty. For a side dish I nuked 6 potatoes, peeled them and mashed them up, I then put in 8 ounces of cream cheese, a quarter cup of sour cream, 2 large egges, chives and 1/4 cup melted butter, smashed it all together and popped it in the oven until the top was golden brown. Oh my I wish I made that for a Thanksgiving side dish instead of my three onion mashed potatoes. The three onions over took the flavor of the potatoes.
I put our Habenero plant in the living room. Big mistake. The leaves on the poor thing fell off so fast. I put it back in the kitchen. Why did I move it? The plant was doing well there. The only plant that seems to be growing well in our darkly lit living room is a huge plant I bought from home. I don't know what kind it is. God how I love potatoes.

I took a philosphy class in college. I found it very mind opening. Sometimes I regret it though and wish I wasn't as perceptive sometimes.

I hope I get to eat Korean, Malaysian and Thai food again. I have only had Korean twice and I can still taste it. That is how memorable it was. Malaysian I have only had once and it was terrific. Thai I had twice. The first time it was a dissapointment and the second it was fantastic. I am glad I tried at different place.

Lately I have had such a sweet tooth. I don't always crave sweets. I prefer meals, but once I started I just can't seem to stop.

Also Kudos to System of A Down who is trying to get legislation passed in Congress to recognize the Armenian Genocide. I have info about both on my side bar.

It was nice to speak with someone who finally understood some of the things in me. I was surprised I could talk to some one whom I thought I had nothing in common with. I really resisted speaking to her, but she has a charming way of making people open up. Although she will never read this (and I was surprised just talking to her felt so good) it was nice to get it out. So thanks Estelle.

I was up unusually late last night. Luckily I had the chance to catch Leno . I don't prefer one late night talk show over another, but Leno had more interesting guests last night. David Arquette was the first guest. I found him very nice and shy. He didn't even have the same voice as the goony characters he is cast as. Of course that could be because he seems as quirky in real life but not as far out and one dimensional. I hope him and Courtney Cox are happy.
His next host was a old woman knick-named Sparky from North Carolina who has an interesting hobby. She makes crafts from gourds. My favorites were the Santa Claus and chicken gourd. The chicken gourd was apparently on North Carolina t.v. for over 17 years to promote a fair. I wish I could recall her name. The NBC site does not have it. Drat!

I am looking forward to some movies that have already come out and that will come out. I really want to see Somethings Gotta Give, Cheaper By The Dozen, The Lord of The Rings, Peter Pan , Triplets of Belleville , Calender Girls , and Big Fish . I think that about covers it.
The last Matrix was a huge disapointment for me. I only really have loved the first one. I do also want to see Finding Nemo which is already out on video. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean three times on various flights while on vacation(Ahhh sweet vacation how I miss you). I have to admit I finally liked it the second time I saw it. I ended up watching it three times because I ran out of reading material and I thought Johnny Depp was marvelous. He is an awesome, quirky actor and I know he has been typecast in these parts of odd men. However I also think he enjoys playing them. He was also very good on 21 Jump Street. Captain Jack Sparrow is a funny character.
Gilmore Girls have been on reruns recently so we have been enjoying The Tracy Morgan show. It is a very funny and the youngest son on the show has the best lines.
Our luggage is finally home. Yay! They had a longer vacation then they did. YAY!
Has anyone heard of Alkaline Trio? They are awesome!

Dear Winter Grandpa,

What I want for Christmas:

Health for family and friends and whomever else needs it

For people who are looking for work to find it

World peace

An end to homelessness

An end to world hunger

Cures for diseases

Mutual understanding

People to find purpose in life

And a selfish one for me that my frame business does well and can expand.

Well didn't find any vanilla almond soap. But the hunt is still on.
I started wrapping Christmas presents last night. It was a lot of fun. I wrap presents pretty badly but it was fun none the less.
I also need to send out my Christmas cards. I am very far behind this year. Bad Ani, bad.
We went to a fish monger for the first time on Sunday. It was pretty neat experience. Usually we just buy them prepackaged. We got a whole fish with head and a tail. But the monger cleaned it for us. I made broiled trout with lemon and rosemary. It was wonderful.
We watched a good episode on The Food Network last night. It was hosted by Rachael Ray and showed how different people in various states celebrate Christmas. They had two recipes in particular I wanted to try.
I found it funny that people in Illinois called sauce gravy when the two are totally different.
I made a really good chicken and potatoes last night. We both really enjoyed it. I found the recipe on cooking.com.
Enjoy!
1 roasting chicken, about 5 lb

1 lemon, quartered

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt to taste, plus 1 teaspoon Salt

Freshly ground pepper

12 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons plus 3 tablespoons dried oregano

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons coarsely cracked pepper

6 white boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into large wedges

1 cup water or chicken stock, or as needed

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley




Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.


Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Rub the chicken inside and out with the cut lemon quarters, 1-2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and ground pepper. Place the lemon quarters, 4 of the garlic cloves and the 2 teaspoons oregano in the chicken cavity. Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan.


In a small saucepan, combine the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the oregano, the coarsely cracked pepper and the 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 3 minutes to blend the flavors. Remove from the heat and set aside.


Place the potatoes around the chicken and sprinkle them with the remaining 1 tablespoon oregano and the remaining 8 garlic cloves. Spoon a little of the simmered lemon-oil mixture over the chicken. Pour 1 cup water or stock evenly over the potatoes and place in the oven. Roast for 15 minutes. Baste the chicken with some of the lemon-oil mixture and reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Roast the chicken, basting with the lemon-oil mixture every 10-15 minutes, until the juices run clear when the thigh joint is pierced or an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of the thigh away from the bone registers 165 degrees F., about 1 hour.


Transfer the chicken to a warmed platter. If the potatoes aren't golden brown, raise the heat to 450 degrees F. and cook for 15-20 minutes longer, adding more water or stock if needed to prevent sticking.


Arrange the potatoes alongside the chicken. Using a large spoon, skim off the fat from the roasting pan, then pour the pan juices into a serving container. Sprinkle the chicken and potatoes with the parsley. Carve the chicken and pass the pan juices at the table.


Reprinted by permission of Weldon Owen. All rights reserved.

Only 14 days till Christmas but more importantly only 7 days till Niel's birthday. I hope that he has a wonderful weekend. We have festivities planned for his actualy birthday as well as the day before. I hope his 29th year is all he wishes it to be. I hope it is also a healthy and happy one for him. I can't believe how truly blessed I am to have him in my life. He is a kind, attentitive person who listens and makes me laugh.
We have five more gifts to get for Christmas. That will be done next Saturday.
Luckily we ran out of handsoap. Why you ask is that lucky. Because this means I can now buy some almond vanilla hand soap. Something I have always wanted to have.
I wish we were wealthy enough and had enough stamina to do fun things everyday and not have to be responsible and pay bills and do errands like laundry all the time. Blech.

Well we are back from Seattle. I hope I remember to post everything. There was a terrible storm the day we flew to Seattle. We were so surprised and happy we were able to get out of New York city. The captain that flew the plane to Denver(we transferred there to get on a plane to Seattle) was very brave. He tried attempted four times to land at LaGuardia Airport before accomplishing it. Sure we did not fly at our scheduled time but we left that day. The flight was really bumpy. We were in the Denver airport for an hour before our flight to Seattle. We walked around, got a magnet, had some so so Mexican food and boarded the plane. Seattle was a little bit of a dissapointment because I expected it to be a lot cooler. I always thought it would be a hip city. It isn't. It is hilly and the people are not so nice and there is a terrible homeless problem. I know that some people could say the very same thing about New York city, but maybe you will understand better if you ever visit Seattle. There were some good aspects of Seattle. They have terrific Salmon. The Space Needle is quite amazing. It was fun to ride the trolly and the mono rail and visit Pike Market and see the very fist Starbucks. It does not look like any of the current Starbucks. The city is surrounded by gorgeuse mountains and water. I got to taste Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks. That was tasty. So the good aspects did outweigh the bad. It was a wise choice of only being there for three days. We ran out of things to do after a while. We did all the touristy things there were to do. The best touristy thing to do was to take the Underground Tour. If you do take the tour make sure Ed is your guide. He was very informative and funny! Also if you take a tour of their baseball stadium Niel would recommend that Art is not your tour guide. He was a little confused about his sport trivia information. Not good for a sports tour guide. Then we headed further North to Victoria, British Columbia for two days. We took the Victoria Clipper to Victoria. It is a boat company based out of Seattle. It was a nice two and a half hour boat ride. The town was soooo lovely. It was much smaller and all their candy and soft drinks were much sweeter. Except for the ice cream which was a bit sour. It sort of felt like we were in a bizarro America. It was the whitest town we were ever in. I mean there was a good deal of Asian culture but definetly a lot more caucasians. British Columbia and Seattle are known for having large Asian communities. We went to the wax museum, their museum of natural history, a castle, and took a double decker bus tour and at the bus stop got to taste Gingerbread Latte. Also tasty! And evern though we returned without our luggage(blame Canada!) because the hotel we stayed at failed to send our luggage on to the Clipper. Hopefully it is being fed exed to us as I type this. It was nice being away but it is nice being home to familiar surroundings.

I love snow. I really do. But a snow storm! The day before we are supposed to fly to Seattle? ARRRGGGGHHH! As Charlie Brown would yell out. All we wanted was a vacation. We haven't had one in two years. True there are worse things in life. But we get up and go to work every day. We deal with commute every day and all the craziness in our lives. We deserve to get away for a week. To enjoy all the offerings another city can provide. To go siteseeing and do cheesy touristy things. I just pray that by tomorrow at 11 or earlier ... earlier would be better this snow stops. Just until we can our plane takes off. Oh please stop snowing! Please!

Fun Facts about December...A la Martha Stewart Living

Sir Henry Cole was the first person to have a Christmas Card Printed

Cookies originated in the Netherlands. They were called Koekjes and were considered test cakes: small portions of batter used for testing the oven temperature before baking full size cakes.

According to one legend a seventeenth century German choirmaster created the first candy canes to quite restless children during Christmas services.

Halley's comet may have a circumstantial link to Hanukkah. Records show that in 164 B.C. the first celebration took place, the comet produced an unusually spectacular show.

I thought this was a fitting poem for our times:

DOVER BEACH
By Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm tonight,
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Agean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Can anyone see our Christmas tree on this page?
There is music being played on Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It was nice to hear it on the bus going home. It was a good feeling.

Gertrude Ederly the first woman to swim the English Channel died Monday at age 98. That was a great feat for women (anyone really) for that generation and I guess now.

I heard a rumor that The Family Guy might be airing on Fox again. Yay!

One of the interns is listening to Tori Amos. A wonderfully talented musician. I got introduced to Tori in college through my friend A. Although we don't get to see one another as often as we'd like I still think of her and those times every time I hear Tori.

I want to thank Lorissa from apparentlynothing.com for linking my frame site on hers. I appreciate her emailing me back quickly and even though she did not know me she liked what she saw and linked it. There are a lot of blogs out there about women helping other women and I find a lot of it to be fake and crytical. There is too much emphasis about differences. It is nice to know that she wasn't one of them.

We put up our Christmas Tree last night. I wasn't even my usual tired self. I did feel very tired when I awoke this morning. The tree looks really nice and I hope to have pictures of it and me at the Lyons Club Flea Market.
The conducter made a funny remark at the Rockefellar Center stop. He said it was home of the big tree. I thought that was cute. The "big tree" is being lit tonight. Niel and I went a few years ago to see it. It was freezing then as well. I think I will just watch it on t.v. this year.
Another conducter was flirting with the train dispatcher. Their microphone was on and the entire train heard their conversation. We all got a good chuckle while we were in between stops.
I also picked up a magazine to read on the plane. I plan on reading, working on my children's stories and trying to nap. I hope to pick up a few items to read by Saturday. I am so excited about the trip. I like having things to hope for.
The premier of The Simple Life was last night. That show is hysterical. What makes Paris Hilton a celebrity anyway?

The previous host of While You Were Out Teresa Strasser is now a reporter for the New York Fox 5 Morning News. Yay!

Let it snow...Let it snow... Let it snow. Well it really is December. It is snowing outside. Yippee! I do like the snow. The cold I am not too crazy about but snow is fun. I can make snow angels, a snow man, and throw snowballs(the soft kind).
I ate sooo much this weekend!! I am glad to be back on a regular eating schedule. I wasn't even hungry. I just couldn't stop eating.
We were watching some award show on VH1 on Sunday Night and two performances I thought were blog worthy. "Hey Yeah" performed by Andre 3000 from Outkast . It is so upbeat and very 50's sounding. Also Kid Rock sang a great remake of Feel Like Making Love. He has a wonderful voice for country. Him and James Hetfield from Metallica . Their range is awesome.

It was sooo very nice to be off those few days from work. Now I am back and feel so very overwhelmed. I just want to cry. My coworker sent me this and it cheered me up so I thought I would put it in as a post. I added a pet peeves corner. Because if I don't I will combust.

This is an article submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinners. This won first prize.

Christmas With Louise

As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every
Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.
One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at Wal-Mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.
If you've never been in a X-rated store, don't go. You'll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, "What does this do?" "You're kidding me!" "Who would buy that?" Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section.
I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour. Finding what I wanted was difficult. "Love Dolls" come in many
different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry. I settled for "Lovable Louise." She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a
"doll" took a huge leap of imagination.
On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life.
My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more.
We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.
My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. "What ever in the world is that?" she asked.
My brother quickly explained, "It's a doll." "Who would play with something like that?" Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. "Where are her clothes?" Granny continued. "Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran," Jay said, to steer her
into dining room. But Granny was relentless. "Why doesn't she have any teeth?" Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and
no one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, "Hang on Granny, hang on!"
My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me
and said, " Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?"
I told him she was Jay's friend.
A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home. The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the pantyhose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa.
The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants. Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car. It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.
Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. Fortunately,
thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health.