Farewell, Nikki ... Hello, Illinois

Fun fact of today?

If you were anywhere near Google today, then you know today's the 100th anniversary of the standard crossword puzzle. I searched several unrelated things throughout the day and was met with the interactive banner several times before I actually obliged the thing...

tempting... temptiiiiiing...

I eventually gave in and clicked the blue play buttong... and proceeded to spend the next several minutes attempting to decode insinuating clues to words and abbreviations I never would've known. So, with the moderate assistance of Yahoo! for this one [is it strange that I felt like using using Google itself for this was somehow unethical? haha], I managed to decipher the hints I couldn't grasp on my own. For an English major, I am apparently not that versed:

Now, I had no problem at all with clues like "little bit," "Cleveland's lake" and strangely even "Start of many exclamations," but I really don't feel guilty for not knowing that 'KTS' is an abbreviation for "Chess Jumpers." So uhh, anyway, thanks again, Arthur Wynne!

And because it was Friday, we naturally had our weekly lunch, provided for by the bosses: Nikki's "last meal" as we sadly coined it. Elisa suggested Piada in Hyde Park, and we voted collectively yes.

the carnage....... we were hungry? (:

My first experience eating Piada was today and I have now added it to my official list of YES, PLEASE places here in the Norwood-Oakley-HP area. Speaking of good food, today happened to gift some other edible Christmas cheer in the form of Chipotle gift cards!

yes, please. yesssss, please.. & thank you!

Man, I'm blessed (:
That being said, we celebrated Nikki's last day in style, complete with lunch from Piada, a box of the decadent Express toffees, and some bittersweet farewells at the very end of the day. We'll see her one more time next week on Friday when she stops back by, but I know the office really won't be the same without her. Sad... sad face ):

Once work was out, I hopped in my car that I'd packed up last night and made a beeline for the highway. Fast forward 4-5ish hours and here I am now, in Illinois at Rob's house. He and Jesse rolled in the driveway right after I did; Jesse just left but we're in for a nice run of five days before I head back to Ohio.

*Yawn.

I'm done here, folks (:
Christmas is in .... five days, ya'll. Whoa.

xo | cmd 

& A Bunch of Random Stuff I Find Online

Every once in a great while, I find myself saving random articles, pictures, tutorials and creative project/recipe ideas off of whatever source they originated. I discovered today that they're starting to overrun space on my desktop; not that there isn't ample room there to share, but it's looking cluttered.

So here's an entry where I use my blog as a personal remember-this-for-later type board..

First things first:
FOOD. [Don't act surprised]:
[also, click on the pictures to enlarge, if you can't see .08 font ;) ..]

1. Banana Burritos ... or, if you're in Asian mode, Sushana:

things to try with syd!

2. Jelly Worms [these look tricky.. but fun .. for Fall & Halloween!]

wiggly...

3. Casseroles. You can so rarely go wrong with giving me a casserole recipe. The fact that there is an entire stick.. of butter, makes me want to prepare this for and send it to Marianne. Haha.

"curse youuu, paula deen!!!"
[and jk, i don't think is a pd recipe...]

4. Cookies. Don't ask. Just make.

things i promise to only make once a week.. at work...

These things are gonna make me start drooling... I'm such a foodie.. not to be mistaken with critic.. just a fanatic.. of food.. more specifically, eating it. No shame. Haha (:

This one made me laugh. A random number called my cell phone while I was at work, so instead of answer it, both for the obvious reason of my being at work, but also because I didn't even recognize the area code, I let the voicemail pick up. I later Googled the number; apparently G+ thought I needed help pronouncing it... assuming I know each sound component of the English alphabet letters already.

ohhhh, so that's why english-inept speakers sound so strange to us:
"fahyv" ??

^ Really? Twenty-six letters to memorize, but you've not yet done 1 through 10? Hmm. "Fawr, fohr." I think I'll start handing out my number in that format. "Eyt,... too,... fawr..." Yikes.

And then there's this... making me appreciate cotton and satellites in ways I probably never would have before:

thank you, buzzfeed.

Yyyyup.

Lastly, for today at least, I found a shirt that I wouldn't mind owning. It makes no sense, which is part of the quirky fun about it, but it's part of a tshirt company whose claim is in the printing of fun stuff specific to various parts of the Midwest [USA]. As someone who hails [mostly] from the MW, I have to say that many of my non-MW friends certainly do this.. a lot. This made me laugh especially after having lived in Illinois, to which nearly everyone would immediately reply, "Illinois? Ah, cool! Chicago!" ....nnnnnnnnnnnnnn...o.

want.

^ Looking at that, I realized I should probably start forming my birthday and Christmas wish list... more for myself than for anyone else.. haha.

Anyway, that's enough menial stuff for today.

xo | cmd

ONE MORE DAY!

I'm totally spent.

Craigslist did its due diligence again today; I picked up a microwave for the new digs after work and got that, along with the rest of the kitchen fully assembled and in working order. The dishes are clean, shelved, and the appliances are all in their respective nests. Gosh, I love new used things (:

newest addition to the kitchen (:

The bathroom is clean, put away and ready to go, too.

It's been a long day.
TOMORROW............

recognize anyone?? ;)

^^ That's a screenshot Ali sent me a few months back, that I'm not sure I shared yet. If so, for the sake of repetition, sorry. If not, well, let's just say we had a goooood laugh over the fact that:

1. Ali was Google searching "Ginger Lumberjacks," but more and most importantly,
2. On that third row down, third picture from the left, is definitely a fluffed up, goofy shot of Rob, that I took one night at Bindy's.

I have no idea how that made it onto Google as a qualified image for that search, but it's still funny. The point of it though, is that that certain ginger lumberjack, in all of his not-really-a-ginger awesomeness, is coming to visit me for the weekend, starting tomorrow.

I. Am. SO. Excited!
Now cross your fingers it doesn't rain on Saturday; City Flea & camping with M&B, here we come!

xo | cmd

Doodles, Birthdays, & Sunglasses 8-)

Click Me. 

I had fun with that today.

There's a whole bunch of these fun lil' Olympic-themed guys. Haha
Yeeesh. Haha.

*****
Do ya one better though on the daily highlights:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!!!

russia & china! haha.. happy birthday!!

^^ Happy birthday, friend!! This is one of Joe's best friends from back home, and he's a riot. Hope today is the best birthday yet - we hope to see you soon, JB!! 

****

swag! LOL... 

Oh, and here's a silly thing from today that made us laugh at the office: Each of us staffing consultants have that handful of "favorite associates," the ones who will snag last minute assignments, grueling labor work, odd hours, and fill-ins. They're reliable, work with great urgency and ethic, and are predictable, in a good way. Today, I landed an interview for a long term position for one of my best associates, and he showed up with a token of gratitude [no fear, this wasn't a bribe, and it was clearly in a non-creepy context]. He lived in Hong Kong for quite some time, and had some knock off numbers - you can't tell by looking at them, and they're not typically in my range of style, but I thought it was pretty thoughtful.. and a reminder of the fact that my job is in fact affecting people's lives :). Pretty funny. 

P.S. - I'm on a whopping day 3 of INSANITY.
Slowly but surely... and sweaty, too. (: 

Happy midweek! 

xo | cmd

Prunis dulcis: Mini Exposé

Prunis dulcis?

[whaaat?]

codename
the almond

.: Hello, beautiful little thing!

It's not a secret that I'm a bit concientious of both my and my family's dietary habits. I'm a huge proponent of eating things as fresh as they can be, and I love everything about [truly] organic-based products, be they edible or not.



wonderful, indeed!



One of my favorite little snack buddies is the almond. I love everything about almonds. They're portable, they're virtually crumbless, and they usually have just enough texture to satisfy all regions of my midday taste pallet. I've always known they were good for the body, but I hadn't really bothered to do much digging into the hows come? of it all...

... 'til now.

Here it is, folks. Pass it on.

For starters, almonds grow on trees. It might seem like they should grow on a small plant or stalk, but no. Trees. Botanically speaking, they're actually considered drupes, not nuts. From what's most known of them, they started somewhere in the Mediterranean regions and with the help of human hands, spread their way out into the world. As of 2009, the United States was listed as the top-producing country for almonds, with 1,162,200 tons. That was a slight 880,100 more than Spain, the second highest producer. Here in the U.S., California is the metropolis for almond production.

As with any raw food, there's a much wider range of naturally-occurring almonds than most of us care to consider; they come in different colors, sizes, shapes, and even levels of tartness. There's not much that can't be fashioned out of almonds; their culinary capacity ranges from the raw form all the way to liquid [almond milk]. I personally am a huge fan of almond milk, almond butter, and especially just the original, plain ole' almond. :) Did I mention they're jam-packed with nutrients? Well, they are. Go check 'em out for yourself if you don't believe me!

If you feel like taking me up on that offer, or if you're just curious like I am at times, Wikipedia did a pretty good job on this one [kudos, Wiki!], and there are plenty of other references. 

So bring it on, Prunis dulcis. Nom Nom Nom.....  ;) 

xo | cmd 

Lazy Little Larunbata

Larunbata!

Translation?
  = Saturday. 
[Kinda cool, yeah?]

Here's one of the [many] benefits of proactively using search engines like Google. This simple example today stemmed from the fact that our Saturday today was relaxing nearly to the point of laziness, which I won't protest nor resent, because it was ideal. I wanted to include the word lazy in today's title, but for the sake of alliteration, needed a corresponding synonym for Saturday. I consulted my every trustworthy Google, and found Larunbata! Not only was I excited to find a consonant-appropriate alter-ego for the first official day of a standard weekend, but I went on to read up on the origin of the word Larunbata. Here's what I found:



compliments of magellan geographix, a google affiliate
[of course ;) ]

Larunbata is the Basque word for Saturday. I wasn't entirely sure if and where that language was still spoken, so I followed a Wikipedia link and in doing so, educated myself. The Basque language is used by the Basque peoples [shocking...] whose ancestors are documented as being among Europe's earliest residents. There are 6 basic dialects of the Basque language: Biscayan, Guipuzcoan, and High Navarrese (in Spain), and Low Navarrese, Labourdin, and Souletin (in France). [*Last line copied directly from Wikipedia in order to maintain reference links!]

I've not had much experience or exposure to early European languages, but I find it fascinating just how many there are within even just one region. The world in which we live is a couldron so vast and so blended with cultures, I'm almost ashamed that I don't do more on a frequent, consistent basis to learn something new every chance I have. My sister speaks fluent Dutch, and I'm still working on that one.

Whew! :) How's that for an entry pertaining to absolutely nothing related to how my day fared? [Really though, my day was event-free, and I embraced it!]

Church tomorrow, and so far promises for a much busier day.

See ya then!

xo | cmd