Happy Halloween!

It my favorite time of year! Halloween! I'm passing out candy tonight for the first time in a long time, and I'm pretty excited about it. I love little kids in costumes. They're so cute!

Anyway, I crocheted some Halloween costume accessories this year, and I thought I'd share them.
This first one is a hat I made for my niece. It's a witch hat with dangling spiders. I got the pattern out of an issue of Crochet Today.

The next two pictures are of pieces I made for my own costume, which was a gnome. I'm afraid of gnomes, I think they're creepy and that they come alive at night. But I thought I'd face my fears and dress up like one for Halloween.
Here's the hat, which is simply the witch hat, minus brim:

Here's a flower necklace (from a pattern on Ravelry):

And of course, here's me and my boyfriend. He, of course, is a Flint Tropics player from the movie Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell


And finally, this is a little pumpkin my mom and I put together. I made the hat on a round knitting loom.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable night! Happy Halloween!

Lions Design

I'm not sure I 100% like this format, but it'll do for now until football season is over. Maybe I'll tweak it again at some other future time.

ASUS tablet cozie!

I thought I wrote a post about this, but apparently not!! So here we go!

A few months ago, I bought the ASUS eee pad transformer. I love it. But that's beside the point. I needed something to put it in to protect the screen until I could buy a case.... which I finally did today, btw.

I used some of my Bernet Cotton Stripes yarn that I bought on clearance at JoAnns a while ago. I figured that would be the best choice, because the cotton thread seemed less likely to scratch the screen.

I can't remember what size hook I used, but it was probably H. I used double crochet, and just made one long piece, then (badly) sewed up the sides, and added that little flap with holes to be held down by those two green buttons.  Yes, I'm not happy with the way I sewed the sides together. I think I was being lazy and decided to crochet it instead of whipping out the yarn needle and doing it nicer. But oh well. Life goes on, right?

There it is, open and closed. I mostly like that it's pinks and white, which gives something I picture being a boy-ish product a little bit of a feminine touch. Not to mention my "flower in the water" background. Ha.

On a side note:

GO DETROIT LIONS! While they still look a little pitiful sometimes, like getting 245984938725 penalties during the game and not REALLY playing until they get to the second half, they still won, and they are still 5-0 and they still have now won 9 games in a row (including the four last year).

I think I'm going to modify my blog right now to go with the Lions colors.

Fluorescent Light Survey

I'm doing a research project for my business writing class about fluorescent lights. If you're reading this, and want to help me out, I would LOVE if you could take this survey. It's 25 questions and anonymous.

 Thanks so much in advance!!

  Fluorescent Lights Survey

Poof Ball Hat

Feeling much better than I was a few days ago. I had a called about an interview for a place I really wanted, and they asked me to come back for a sort of second interview, where I will get a little training so they can see how well I would work, I guess. That's tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

Thursday night, after Mike passed out from eating five pieces of stuffed crust pizza...



I made a new hat. I followed the boy beanie pattern from Stitch and Bitch: The Happy Hooker, at least for most of it, and modified it a bit, made the poof ball, ear flaps and the little strings hanging down from the ear flaps.

Here's the picture:

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. And of course it's bright and happy. Yay.

I'm also trying to work on my Lions afghan, which should be interesting. I'm losing my patience with carrying yarn, so I think I'm at the point where I'm gonna start cutting ends and weaving them in as I go. Alternatively, after it's finished, I could always get some fleece and sew it onto the back of it, leaving the stupid ends wherever I felt like, and you wouldn't even be able to tell. So I'm keeping that as an option as I go. Pictures to come later.

Day 2

I'm on day 2 of feeling more depressed than normal. I understand that even with medication, these times come along anyway, just to be pains in my ass. But its interfering with my ability to apply for jobs, as I keep getting rejection emails (which frankly, I'm sick of), and of completing my homework, which I'm falling behind on this week. I have been spending too much time staring off into space not being able to see any possible future. My thoughts are plagued with darkness, that only help with making me feel worse about myself. I'm also feeling lonely, even though my brother is home all day and my parents came home last night. Didn't see Mike yesterday, but I'll see him today. But will it lift the loneliness? Who knows.

I also still don't know if I should go to Kohl's and ask for my job back. I probably should, since I have no other prospects. But I'm afraid of making decisions because so many of my big decisions have ended up being terrible decisions, most of which I'm still trying to deal with, such as going to school for something enjoyable instead of something useful. And even going to Western in the first place. So many things just adding up to where I am now, which is nowhere. I don't even know if I should be back in school or not. Will it even help me?

Little bro brought home pizza. Going to indulge. With coffee.

Flower Hat and Scarf

I feel entitled to complain a bit here, so I'm going to.

Been having one of those blah days. No motivation to do anything, and I could pretty much sleep all day... and all night probably. I'm feel depressed about the whole not having a job and not sure what to do about it/still waiting for HP to quit being douches (which apparently will be in November) and I've been stressing about if I should go back to Kohls or not. It's not fun. And it's bringing me down. I also feel lonely, as my parents are gone, my older brother is in Chicago, my little brother is passed out on the couch and the boyfriend is working late tonight. I'm so lame, I don't have the TV on or music playing as I sit in my computer chair and list around on the internet.

So anyways...

Over the weekend I finished a hat/scarf set for the 14 year old daughter of my friend Amber. I love the colors she chose, though my hands have suffered from using so much Red Heart Super Saver (I didn't buy it, so I can't complain). But still, I'm proud of the way the project turned out, if not the pictures. Couldn't get the lighting right and I was using my phone.



Yes, as you can see, it's not the best picture, but you get the gist. I actually really enjoy crocheting flowers, so I was glad that the flowers on the scarf turned out okay, except for the one that only has 5 petals instead of 6. But Oh well.

Hopefully she enjoys it, since winter should be upon us soon.

Its-a Me! Mario!

I started this project in September of last year, and finally finished a few weeks ago. I've been too lazy/busy to post anything on here, but here I am at last, being a little more productive than usual (and avoiding working out for the moment).

This blanket is made up of 234 little 4" granny squares, that I sewed together with a yarn needle using various left over colors to minimize the amount of random colors seen in the seems. Ha ha. Seen in the seems. Anyways, I'm pretty proud of this blanket, and hope that one day, when I have my own place, it will sit in a place on honor on the back of my couch, that is, unless I actually complete my attempt at making a Detroit Lions afghan, which will then hold a place of honor.

It's big enough to fit completely over my double bed.

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On a semi-unrelated note, my mom and I have been making Scarves for the Special Olympics, and I have managed to complete one so far. This one, I used a size N hook and doubled up on the yarn. Hopefully I can actually make more than one, but we'll see.

Knooking!

I finally found the Leisure Arts Knooking kit at Wal-Mart when I was shopping before my trip to New Jersey. I was excited, so I bought a skein of Red Heart Super Saver (Yeah, I know) in pink so I could mess around with it.

Needless to say, I had a little trouble getting the hang of it. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out which way to put the hook through the loop on the string. Finally, I had to watch a video on their website and I got it. Then, I would keep forgetting which way to wrap the yarn.

Also, I have trouble figuring out how to count rows in knit. Crochet is easy. =-P

So I frogged and knooked and frogged and knooked. Finally, I decided to try making a scarf out of the stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row) just to see how it goes. I did manage to drop a loop, even though Knooking boasts no dropped stitches. But I haphazardly added a stitch in the area that I lost the stitch, and kept going. I used a piece of thread and sewed up the loose loop and now, you can barely tell that I messed up. Yay!

Here's a pic of what I have going on right now...



After doing that much, I have decided that knooking is fun, but I think I'd still like to learn how to knit better. But I will finish it the scarf. :-)

Mystery Plant!

We have a deck in our backyard, and ever since we moved here, there have been this giant, unruly bushes growing on the other side. Finally, my mom and dad ripped these bushes out and planted normal plants. It really opened up that area, and makes it easier to see my nieces and nephew playing in the backyard from the deck.

This summer, though, we noticed that there were three plants growing in the flowerbed that no one had planted. There were two growing in the flower bed, and a third, little one, growing out of one of those long flower box things that you can put under windows or whatever. The technical term escapes me. We wondered and wondered what could possibly be growing there in that flowerbed. And the plant seemed to be growing quickly. Here are some pictures.




You can see how big it was already. Since then, it has grown even more, and we finally have fruits growing. Now, I had HOPED that it would be a pumpkin plant, because I thought that would be awesome to have homegrown pumpkins. But, after some research into the leaves of various plants, I finally have to conceed that it is not a pumpkin plant. This is what we have:



Butternut Squash. I'm trying to remember if this is what I decided I liked at some point last year (when cooked right) and I'm still not sure. It might be. Anyway, the plant just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and is starting to grow into the yard and onto the walkway from the deck. It's climbing over all the other plants that are in the flowerbed. Hopefully it doesn't choke them out.

It's funny and exciting to have a random plant growing so well away from the rest of the garden, and if this IS something I like, maybe we can grow some more like this next year.

Pod B!tch

Who knew that when I started dating Mike, I would become immersed into his world of paintball. I go to his practices (on the occasion that I can), attend tournaments, and even take weekends to go to national tournaments. At these national tournaments, I am on their roster for the team, so that I (and a few others) can be in the pits with the boys, cleaning off hits and filling up pods so they have enough paint to play. The running joke with the woman I do this with is that we are "Pod Bitches." One, Wendy, even has that on the back of a shirt, which is awesome.

Amber, yet another woman in this group, is ordering me a custom bracelet from Wrist Band Connection that will have my name, as well as the words "Pod B!tch."

Going from this idea, I crocheted a hat. Here it is:



And here:



To make it, I copied the pattern, mostly, from the "Boy Beanie" pattern that is in the Stitch and Bitch: The Happy Hooker book. I ignored the rows of HDC and made them all double crochet rows. Then using a graph paper notebook that I bought, I mapped out the pattern of the letters (which is the first time I've ever done that). I'm pretty happy with the results, but I'm not sure that I would actually wear it...? Maybe. Depends on the weather in New Jersey next week I guess.

My next goal is to make one that is in a single crochet, because I think the letters couldn't be so stretched out. Also, I wanted to learn to knit hats (scary) and then maybe make one that way as well. While I love crocheting, I have to admit that when it comes to text on a hat, knitting gets the point across better.

Does anyone know how to knit a hat without double pointed needles? I have a couple of sets... but... I'd rather not. Haha.

You'd think she'd know...

A while ago, on Ravelry, I found these really cute Angry Birds patterns for crochet. I didn't realize it at the time, but apparently you had to pay for these patterns.

Now I'm pretty sure this person was not a part of the company who had the license to sell Angry Birds products and make a profit off of them. You'd think she'd know, as I believe she is a frequent seller of patterns, that you can't make money off of something that is the likeness of a copyrighted product.

So now, those patterns are unavailable because she was asked to stop selling the patterns for a profit. Why was she selling them in the first place? If you look on Ravelry, there are tons of other patterns of people like Mario, characters from Despicable Me etc... and these patterns remain on the site. Because no one is making an illegal profit off the likenesses.

I hope that someone else comes up with the patterns and doesn't try to sell them so I can make them.

I feel bad for ranting about this person, but I mean, come on!

The House on Tradd Street - Karen White

Ah, a day off. Time to get laundry done, and make those cupcakes I've wanted for two weeks now, but have been afraid to try. Cause of the finger. But we have a new mixer now, a nice fancy one, so hopefully all goes well, when I get around to it. Also, I'm expressing my nerdy-ness by playing Star Wars Galaxies, a game which Mike got me into. Woohoo.


Anyways, last night, as for several nights, I've been experiencing insomnia. Didn't get to sleep till 4, and even then it was restless, fitful sleep. With odd dreams. But, on the plus side, I was able to finish a book (with my new LED book light, which is awesomely bright).

That book was The House on Tradd Street by Karen White. I've never read anything by her, and I just happened to pick up the book off the steps. My mom bought it on Amazon as part of their, "You bought this, so you'd probably like this" feature.

At first, I thought I was going to hate it. The main character is basically a Sandra Bullock type character. Single, almost 40, up tight successful business woman. And of course as skinny as a rail and can eat donuts without repercussion. Bah. But I stuck to it, because it gives me an ugly feeling to start a book and never finish it. I STILL think about a book I gave up on YEARS ago. But anyway...

The basic premise of the book is that this woman, Melanie, inherits this house from a man who's grandfather was a friend of her grandfather. Its an old house, which is what Melanie specializes in selling in the real estate world. But she hates old houses. Why? Cause she can see and talk to ghosts.

Before you scoff, she tries to hide this fact. And it's not overly ridiculous, like trying to watch the show Ghost Adventures or any number of shows like that. Every once in a while, throughout the book, she'll see someone no one else can see. But she tries to ignore it.

But she can't once renovations begin on this house she inherits. There is this long mystery attached to the house and the family, and all sorts of moving parts and whatnot.

What Karen White does well is creating this long line of suspense. Pretty much through most of the book, you're turning pages thinking "what'll happen?" You're just waiting for the break in the story, and for the characters to finally solve the mystery.

And part of my loves this book because I've always wanted an old house with mystery and intrigue so I could solve the ancient stories of the house. No such luck, yet...

Cons of the book: Melanie seems to have a turning point at the end of the book with another main character, Jack, who she keeps at an arms length through the whole book, but whom the reader is charmed by. But the publishers make the mistake of putting in the first few pages of a companion novel at the end, and she's right back to being her normal, stuck up self. So that was disappointing.

Also, there's another male character who you know is up to no good through the entire novel. And you except this big blow out. No. Only a punch in the jaw, and it's all over. I wanted an explosion. And the only explosion you get is one that crosses the line from mild fantasy elements to a full-blown spiritual spectacle, that I had a hard time accepting, because it was, shall we say "too easy."

But overall I'd say this book was pretty good and worth the read. Not all the characters are lovable, but at least she had the right frame of mind to put in a cute little fluffy dog, which no one can resist.

Story and Butter Chicken

It's been almost two weeks since my cooking accident. While trying to use an emulsion blender to mix butter and sugar for strawberry cupcakes (i already broke our mixer at this point) I stuck my finger in it to scoop out the butter and accidentally turned the thing on and got my finger stuck in the blade. I had to ride in an ambulance to the emergency room so they could get the blade out, and ended up with four stitches. I got the stitches out last week, and I'm still wearing this plastic thing over my finger to protect it, and I can't bend it.. yet. So right now, I have a fear of mechanical spinning blades.

But anyway, as I have not written in a while (finger makes it difficult... left index to be exact) I'll write about the kitchen success I had last night to balance out my finger accident.

Last night, after much searching, I found a recipe for Butter Chicken- Americanized. Apparently most butter chicken comes as an indian recipe with lots of curry, and this one doesn't have any of that.

It was super easy to make. You just take a couple of chicken breasts, soak it in egg, and coat it in a mixture of buttery crackers (I used wheat ritz crackers), garlic salt and pepper. I have this seasoning kit from Little Ceaser pizza kits, one of which is Garlic Pepper Pizzaz. Perfect for the mixture.

Then you put the chicken in the pan, and put little slices of butter around the chicken. Bake it for about 40 minutes on 375 and poof, delicious chicken that my very picky boyfriend enjoy, ate all of and took leftovers for lunch today! And I emerged from this cooking adventure with only a little burn on my finger from bumping the hot pan. Oopsy. haha. I can't leave unscathed.

Just Go With It

Last night, Mike and I went to see Just Go With It. On moviefone, the critics supposedly said "skip it," but since Adam Sandler is one of Mike's favorite actors, and I kinda like Jennifer Aniston, we went and saw it anyway.

The premise of the movie is that Adam Sandler is a plastic surgeon who wears a wedding ring, makes up fake wives who are horrible to him just to get in bed with other girls. But finally, at a party, he meets a girl whom he feels he really connects with. Of course, she finds his ring, which causes him to create this elaborately complicated story about a divorce and kids and all that, which causes him to involve his assistant and her children into the story. All so he can get in with this girl.

The plot takes the group to Hawaii, during which lots of crazy antics happen, and different situations that make the lies even more complicated. And of course, Adam Sandler's character has a change of heart etc. I won't go into details about the end, because I don't want to give it away.

The nice thing about this movie is that it wasn't a bunch of slap stick humor like a lot of Sandler's movies. And he talks like a normal person and not someone who might possibly have some sort of mental disability. You all know what I'm talking about (Waterboy, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore...)

The movie is more about situational humor and different things happening to the group that just makes you go "oh no!!" and then laugh.

The two little actors, Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck, who play Jennifer Aniston's kids, did really well. They were funny, cute and witty, and I thought were a welcome addition to the cast. They worked well with Sandler, I thought.

Oh, and Jennifer Aniston is really pretty.

If any part of you likes Adam Sandler movies, this is one worth watching. There are no tear jerker moments (Click) and Mike thought it was a good movie for Sandler to return to comedy from his stint in drama.

I give it a 3 1/2 of 5 stars.

Another Writing Prompt

Prompt: Take the first line of your favorite song and write a story using it as the first line.

Picture perfect memories are scattered all around the floor. The love I once felt is hanging out the window, attached to the end table by a noose of broken dreams. Now all I am left with are tear soaked tissues crumpled into little balls in the garbage can. When it finally came down to it, those tissues were all our four year relationship was worth. To me, at least. To him, I think I was nothing.

When we began, it was beautiful. He was the perfect boyfriend. We made plans, oh, how we made plans. Trips, children, homes, and he promised me everything. Once, he said I could have the moon, as soon as he made enough to afford it. He even bought me flowers on days when I didn’t expect them. And for Valentine’s day that first year, he sent me three dozen red roses. The other girls at the office were jealous, and I felt like I was on top of the world.

A year and a half in, the spark was snuffed out. But I couldn’t let go. Even after the first time he hit me. He’d come home late on the night we had plans, and I asked him what he was doing and why he didn’t call. He didn’t say anything, but he looked at me with those deep brown eyes, so full of a hatred I hadn’t known existed. Where had that hate come from? When I opened my mouth to speak again, the blow came. Right across my cheek. Hard. My head snapped to the side and I felt the blood rush into the place where his hand left a mark. I was too stunned to move, too stunned to say anything. He pushed me to the side and went into the bathroom and locked the door. I slept on the couch that night.

Throughout the next two years, there were little patches of sun that came through the cloudy day of our relationship. Those little patches continued to give me hope that we’d be okay. When things were good, they were really just okay. He never looked at me again the way he did when we first began dating. But we were able to sleep in the same bed and have normal conversations.

The bottom broke when I caught him in our bed with another woman. They just laughed at me, and I was humiliated. Neither of them felt any remorse about hurting me and destroying my relationship. When I voiced this, the girl laughed and in this awful, gratingly female voice, said, “Honey, you destroyed your own relationship. I just picked up the pieces.”

I ran away from the apartment in tears and found a hotel room. For a couple of days, I cried my out until there were none left in my whole body. Finally, the tears stopped and I laid on that bed feeling empty and numb. Then came the knock on the door. When I opened the door to see him standing on the other side, my stomach did a little lurch, anticipating what was going to happen. He stepped around me in the room and shook his head at the evidence of my grief. When I closed the door he turned to me and pulled the slender piece of death out of his coat.

“You don’t need to be here anymore,” he said, and fired. When he left the room, he stepped over my body and left the door open. My body lays broken on the ground, bleeding. His final moment with me was to take away the life he’d already shredded. And now I’m left with nothing but these memories.


The song of course is "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum.

Buster Midnight's Cafe - Sandra Dallas

I chose this book to read after I finished "The Girl who Played with Fire" and while still in the middle of "The House of Seven Gables." It considered a "light read." And to be honest, it kind of was. It's really a straight forward book without many surprises.

The premise of the book is that two elderly women, Whippy Bird and Effa Commander, are living in Butte, Montana and decide to tell the real story of their childhood and to try and correct the lies that some other guy who wrote a book spread about certain folks from town. They allude to a murder, so when that part happens, the reader isn't really surprised about it.

Chapter 2 starts at the beginning of a friendship between Whippy Bird, Effa Commander and May Anna Kovaks. How they met and such. From there, the story progresses through their life pretty chronologically from beginning to end.

It's a nice story about friendship, love and relationships, as well as the detrimental effects of a small town girl hitting it big in Hollywood. And certainly qualifies as a "light read" in my opinion. The nice part is that it's not a teen read where it's dripping in romance and all that. The narrator, Effa Commander, leaves out most details about her romantic life. I believe it comes from her character having been raised during a time when such things weren't talked about in polite society. It deals more with the bonds of friendship between both men and women and always being there for each other no matter what.

Sandra Dallas has another book I've read called "The Chili Queen" which is about a woman who runs a whorehouse. I recommend both books for their light read quality and their occasional silliness. After reading, you'll be set to delve into some other classical literature novel.

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

I finally finished this book the other night. It took me a really long time to get into it. Compared to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it has a really complicated storyline that deals with sex, drugs, trafficking, and so many names that are Swedish that it's really difficult to wade through the all names, relationships and information.

Finally towards the middle of the book, the story picked up and it started to get exciting. There were all these connections between the characters that made you set the book in your lap and say "WOAH WHAT!?" And of course, the awful cliffhanger ending that makes you want to immediately pick up Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. And of course, all the libraries in my surrounding area don't have it, are ordering more and almost all are on hold by other people and due at much later dates. But I'll find a way. Even though I hate electronic book readers, I might just have to download the book onto my iPod and read it that way.

Anyway, it's an interesting sequel to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, though if you desire more of the relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth, don't get your hopes up too much. Mikael spends more of the book chasing Lisbeth's tail, and they don't actually speak face-to-face at all the entire 600 some pages, which leaves some to be desired, but I'm putting my faith in Hornet's nest that they'll meet again.

My suggestion for this book is to keep a piece of paper and a pen with you while reading it and write down people's names and who they are and what they're purpose is in the story. I've had to do that before with other books just to keep all the names and relationships straight, and I think it would be helpful for the serious reader of this book. Unless you're good at remembering all that. I'm not.

Looking forward to an update after reading Hornet's Nest and a whole review of the trilogy that Stieg Larsson so sadly missed the popularity of.

Zingerman's Roadhouse - Really Good American Food

I went to this place with my book club group on Wednesday January 25, 2011.

This place not only has a large inside area, but a drive up trailer outside to order (I think) the same or at least similar food to what you can get inside. Pretty awesome.

The restaurant was kind of loud, so it wasn't the greatest place to be talking about books, but that wasn't a problem.

I was very impressed by the waiter we had. We was very knowledgeable about the food, where their ingredients come from, the drinks etc. I was impressed to hear about how they acquire a lot of their foods locally.

While we were sitting around talking and deciding what to order, the waiter brought us a free appetizer. We were all surprised and flattered. What he brought us was a plate of sweet potato fries with a side of sauce. The sauce was a combination of mayo and Frank's Red Hot Sauce (which is my favorite). Now, I don't normally like sweet potatoes, but this fries have almost turned me into a believer. With the sauce, it was perfection. So delicious.

For our meal, I ordered their original mac and cheese. I wish I could remember the ingredients, but I don't. While it was a smaller portion (and my original thought was "this is is?") the portion size was perfect. I ate it all, and was satisfied. The other ladies in my group really enjoyed their meals as well.

Finally, the waiter brought us a free dessert!! It was a chocolate pudding with raspberries and a little whip cream on it. Also yummy. He was pleasant when we asked to split up our bill into 5 separate bills, and I know I tipped well. I'm sure the others did too.

I loved this experience and would recommend it to anyone who loves American food, and more importantly, wants to support a place that buys their food locally.

Zingerman's Roadhouse
2501 Jackson Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Harper's Bar and Grill- Lansing, MI

One of my best friends, Lisa, and her boyfriend Tim, wanted Mike and I to come out and visit her at her apartment near Lansing. So we headed out there (half the drive being consumed by snow). We ended up going to a place called Harper's Bar and Grill.

We got there around 8pm. At that time, it wasn't too busy. Like any college town bar, the music was loud and the drinks were pretty cheap. We went on a Friday, which meant $2.50 pints, bombs, Svedka, and Jack. We ate there as well.

The place looked like a regular old bar, but also was it's own micro brewery. I don't like beer, but I took a sip of Mike's raspberry wheat, and I thought it was okay- mostly because it didn't really taste like beer at all.

Our group had a mixed selection of food, and mixed opinions. I had a hamburger, to which I added Ranch, as usual, and tomato, lettuce and bacon. The size of the burger itself was really small, and it was over cooked for my taste. No pink at all. Also, they charge an extra $1.50 for fries, so I didn't order any. A mistake because I got hungry again quickly.

Mike and Lisa got two different pasta dishes. While I was not super excited about my meal, Mike and Lisa's dishes were actually really good. Lisa got a sorta of lasagna type thing, which was thick, but good, and Mike had a genius combo of pasta, three cheese Alfredo and bacon. That too was really delicious. Tim had a hamburger like I did, but he said his was alright. That can be accounted for through differences of taste.

I think the best part of our evening was our waiter. He looked like his was miles above Earth. He was very forgetful and looked like his probably didn't know he was actually at work. Poor kid, but sadly, not surprising. He was, however, a source of entertainment for the night.

The night we were there, the bar had a band who played 80's covers, afro wigs and everything. I don't know the name of the band, though. They were actually decent, and were a nice break from the overly loud Top 40 songs.

The last aspect of the night was the pool tables. It cost $1.50 to play pool, but they at least had a change machine right next to the tables. The cues were okay. And the felt on both tables were stained from games of beer pong (they had a big wood slab that could be placed over the pool tables for the game).

Overall, I'd probably go again, but not order the hamburger. And hope that I would get a waiter who didn't decide to get high before work.

Harper's Bar and Grill
131 Albert Ave.
East Lansing, MI 48823

Ruggles Cafe- Milford, MI

**UPDATE** I'm not sure when, but Ruggles Cafe has closed. From what I could tell, they tried to gain a liqueur license, and didn't quite make it. There are now signs in the window for a Mexican style restaurant.

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Mike and I went to Ruggles Cafe a couple of days ago. It's new in Milford, and we just wanted to see what they were about.

First impressions upon walking in: the wait staff seemed really unhappy. They looked up at us as we made our way through the double set of doors with the most depressed and unmotivated looks on their faces. Not the best way to instill confidence in a customer.

Our actual waitress was a little happier, but you could tell that she probably felt the same way as the others working there. Now, as a retail worker, I can relate to how much it sucks doing that stuff. I really can. But even though it's not my favorite job ever, I still have to pretend I'm happy for the customers.

The atmosphere of the place was kind of dreary as well. The walls are painted a sort of purple-gray color. There's some art on the walls, and lots of windows. We were placed by a window that obviously has some leakage, cause neither of us took our coats off the whole time we were there. It was too chilly. The room has a lot of open space, and the ceiling and pipes are all painted black (understandable) but the rest of the space just felt cold.

As for the food, however, it was really good. Mike had a hamburger and he thought it was really good. I had a turkey club with bacon and avocado which was too big for me to eat, so it became more like a salad than a sandwich, but it was alright. I also had chicken noodle soup. I did find a thick piece of chewy skin, but other than that, it was good soup- more than just soup from a can, it had veggies, thick noodles and real chicken.

The prices are reasonable. An average of $8-13 depending on what you order. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner.

I would still recommend checking this place out for the food. Maybe we went on a fluke day when the wait staff were having a bad day- but really, the food is worth it.


Ruggles Cafe
525 N. Main, Ste. 200
Milford, MI 48381

Ruggles Facebook

New Year, New Post, Same Blog

I had an interview today with a financial services company. I don't want to say much about it, except that I found it really ironic that the man said he's not a high pressure sales person, but the way I felt in the interview made me feel like I couldn't leave until I said "SIGN ME UP!" And to top it all off, not an hour and a half after leaving, the person I interviewed with TEXTED me (mind you, this man is old enough to have grandchildren) to thank me for coming in and asking if a certain day was good for coming to meet with my parents... (I had told him I wanted to talk about it with my parents.) I feel really uncomfortable right now.

Anyways-

It's been a crazy year, and thank goodness it's a new year. But if that interview is an indication of how this year is going to go... then maybe I don't want to do this year.

Let's see... had a break up, several months of partying, got together with a guy who just blows the last few out of the water, got a job (but not one I want), still living with my parents, no car- among other things.

But I suppose we shouldn't be starting the year off with a negative attitude.

In a glass half full sort of mind set, here's what has happened already: Lions won four games in a row, thus keeping themselves from being in last place for their division, I did, after all, get an interview, work has finally slowed down after the holidays, and I'm trying to write in this blog again.

So let's see how this year goes and maybe I can be more consistent about writing in here.