Category: Uncategorized (Page 12 of 13)

Melissa's favorite things.

December 19, 2008 / melissa / 0 Comments

Yeah yeah, It’s the 19th and you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping. You’re freaking out and while you know you don’t want to know into super debt, you still feel you need to put something under the tree. I know that feeling. Truth is, I haven’t finished my shopping either.

So what do you do?

Here’s some help from ME!

I saw this in Smorgasbite, It’s a girly girl flask that’s green with pink flowers.

girly flask.
LOOK!
I’m also a fan of Fiestaware. Those are some sturdy and cute dishes. You can find buttloads of old dishes made in the past (30s and on) but you can also get the new straight from the factory dishes at department stores. They have a classic line that look nice but don’t necessarily scream, “I got these dishes in 1986” They’re timeless.
Food of the month clubs. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Here’s a bacon of the month club. Personally, I’m drooling over the cheese of the month club. CHEESE. OYEZ. FROMMAGE.
This might not be necessarily favorite thing but I live in a place where I don’t have access to some of the foods that I loved in DC. So if you are internet savvy, you might want to consider getting some of your friend’s favorite foods from far away. A lot of places will deliver food via fed ex. FOR EXAMPLE!
1. Artisanal Cheese will deliver cheese anywhere so I can get the brie.
2. H and H bagels, the New York bagel company (sorry folks but bagels from new york taste different and a lot of what you buy in the supermarket labeled bagels aren’t bagels) will deliver. So will Katz’s Deli.
3. Giordano’s out of Chicago will deliver it’s famous stuffed pizza
4. You can always look on amazon.com food section for groceries that aren’t necessarily placed everywhere like “Utz’s potato chips“
Runningwise, I am all over my Nike + ipod sport kit. It’s a little sensor that you can place on your shoe with a sensor that attaches to your ipod. It keeps track of your time, pace, and distance. If you enter your weight, it will give an estimate of calories burned. It is all that and a bag of chips and probably the best thing I bought for myself all year. If you look in this picture, you can see the sensor on my running shoe.
Books. I love books. I always have to recommend some.
1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. (of course this book screamed that I’m doom to be a failure due to my poor white trash upbringing. THANKS!)
2. The Watchmen. Yeah it’s a comi—err graphic novel but it has multiple layers and has a lot to say.
3. Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey into the Inferno of American Justice by David Feige. This guy was a public defender in the Bronx and this book is about his experiences. It’s riveting and gives great insight into the whole criminal justice system.
I’m still loving my red Old Navy coat. They still have the grey version left. It is CHIC!
Okay for me personally, I would love gift certificates to Star of India restaurant.

Can you tell that I am writing this before dinner and I skipped lunch? I can but I’m keeping it.

I miss DC

December 18, 2008 / melissa / 2 Comments

Even though I was born and raised in Arkansas, Washington DC, the federal district and last plantation in America (ha), is the place that has always felt like home.

I miss the diversity. I miss the streets and the row houses. I miss the pedestrian friendliness of it all. I miss my 1920s Art Deco apartment building with long winding halls similar to the Shining inside.

I miss the ethnic restaurants and the museums. I even miss the snarky Washington City Paper and knowing enough about the local business to get all the jokes. Sometimes, I miss the goofy stuff like the exploding manholes or the fact that it takes several hours to get anything done at DMV.

I miss the educated and curious about the world people. There were lots of runners and running clubs. I always got a kick how they would have this TV show called “It’s Academic” on Saturday (or was it Sunday) morning which was QUIZ BOWL. That’s right QUIZ BOWL on television. The most amusing part is that the school’s cheerleaders were there. Cheerleaders for quiz bowl. Now that is RICH! There was free classical music at the National Museum of Art.

I miss the crazy influx of interns in the summer who walk around thinking their hot shit. I miss playing frisbee on the mall and watching the people play tennis on the public court in Adams Morgan. I miss the chuckling at the UPS trucks double parked on the street with the parking ticket stuck under the window.

I miss the four stories of escalators in the courthouse. I even miss the court security which was the same people for the entire time I was there. I always forgot I had a camera in my purse. It was to the point that I had a permanent “hello my name is” sticker on the back of it. (or course this means it wasn’t digital).

I like how there is enough of a willingness for intellectual debate that when a church group puts up ads on the metrobus, an atheist group will pop up and purchase some ad space for atheist propoganda. Yes equal time.

Dupont Circle.

And snow. IT would actually snow once in a while with a bonafide good dusting.

I miss the craziness of having to call work or school to tell them that you will be late because a Presidential motorcade is blocking your route.

Sixteen tons and what do you get?

December 16, 2008 / melissa / 1 Comment

Bellesouth says that I tagged her on facebook for this meme but she is sadly mistaken. I haven’t done this meme anywhere and since it’s Holidailies, I thought I would amuse you with these snippets.

The Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 random people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.

I actually keep a large and annotated bucket/things to do before I croak/goal list. There are hundreds of things on there
I want to finish a marathon
Even though I am from Arkansas which considers itself the South even though the coasts consider it the Midwest (these are some fighting words y’all), I do not like fried catfish, sweet tea, boiled okra, deer hunting, the Arkansas Razorback football team or watermelon. I’m afraid the state might revoke my driver’s license, “Sorry hon but you’re no Arkansan of mine!”
Once upon a time, I had a website and I wrote an entry about how I was so horny I could cry. A reader sent me a vibrator for Christmas. God bless the internet
I love the writing of William Faulkner and want to read everything he has ever written
I was able to name 111 countries on this website
I was inspired to take piano lessons from a Bugs Bunny cartoon involving Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
I still want to be able to play that song
One of the most amusing memories of my brother is when he put an egg in the microwave to cook it. I believe I was 12 and he was 10. The egg exploded and blew the microwave door wide open.
I have straddled the equator in Kenya
When I’m on my own accord and not bound my societal conventions or legal obligations, I curse like a sailor.
If it’s possible to have a diet Dr. Pepper addition, then I definitely need join Diet Dr. Pepper Anonymous.
I want to ride on camel while looking at the pyramids in Egypt. I need to hurry up, I hear acid rain is making them erode away
I’m scared of snakes
I like taking photographs. In another life, I would be a photojournalist
I turn into a babbling baby talking idiot whenever I see a kitty cat or a tiny puppy dog. Seriously, someone is going to shoot me someday.
I lost 30 pounds this year. GO ME!

This isn’t actually facebook so I’ll just tag anybody who reads this and needs a holidailies prompt.

Fish and Chips

December 15, 2008 / melissa / 0 Comments

Fish and Chips

Originally uploaded by melissathegoofy

There are a lot of religious fundamentalist in Arkansas. The “Jesus Fish” is seen on lots of cars. There are also lots of fish with the word “evolution” in the center. This is the first fish I have seen with the word “n chips” in the middle. It brightened my day.

Something that pisses me off.

December 11, 2008 / melissa / 0 Comments

From Jezebel

A new study in Psychology of Women Quarterly explores the double-edged sword of being both female and ambitious. Women who, like men, approached job interviews with confidence and ambitious were, like men, viewed by interviewers as “highly competent.” Unlike men, they were also seen as lacking in social skills… a reason often used for not hiring them. Of course, women who displayed modesty and cooperativeness were viewed as less competent, and not hired for that reason. Men were more likely to get hired than either type of woman. [Eureka Alert]

I don’t even know where to begin. Of course, we saw this play out in the public sphere with Hillary Clinton and even, Sarah Palin.

Yes I have seen this play out. Throw in the need to be a “southern lady” into the mix and you got a hot mess of fuck. And yes it’s not a good thing.

Rest in peace Bettie Page

December 11, 2008 / melissa / 2 Comments

Bettie Page, pin up queen with the hairdo imitated by a gazillion hipsters, died today at 85. She was one of the first women to pose nude in Playboy and one of the first women to pose in bondage photos. She managed to be sexy, beautiful, and wholesome at the same time. She was as described by Hugh Hefner, “the bad girl next door.”

She got married a couple of times, spent several years in a mental institution, and became a born again Christian. It’s amazing how lives change but she will always be immortalized with her dark bangs and bright blue eyes and vintage underwear.

It's a murphy's law type of day.

December 8, 2008 / melissa / 0 Comments

Seriously, some days it’s just better to stay in bed and agree to wake up tomorrow.

I am supposed to be making 15 mix CDs for a mix cd exchange. Actually, it’s 15 copies of the same mix CD. When it’s done, I will have 15 mix CDs from 15 other people. Have you ever noticed that no matter how much you love the music, the minute you agree to do a mix CD exchange, you suddenly find your music dorky and completely unacceptable? Who knew I had so much ABBA on my machine?

Today, I attempt to put together something and my itunes is down. It gives me some sort of “error in quicktime” message. It says to press help. I get a reinstall notice. I press the button and there’s a “fix error” button and I press that. I do all this crap and restart. The minute itunes opens, it gives me the same button regarding “error in quicktime” Well fuck. This has been going on off and on all day.

I’m guessing the CD will be covers.

Pearl Harbor

December 7, 2008 / melissa / 1 Comment

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Here is a copy of “The World at War” taken from newsreels and Japanese archive footage.

Veterans gathered to celebrate the anniversary.

We should always remember Pearl Harbor. We should always remember that the aftermath of Pearl Harbor created Japanese internment camps and the Korematsu decision. We must remember not to let our fear and anger over tragedy turn us into that which we claim to despise.

Who am I? Who is anybody really?

December 6, 2008 / melissa / 1 Comment

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete,and a basket case, and a princess, and a criminal…
Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

I decided to challenge myself by signing up for Holidailies. This means I agree to post something every day starting today until January the 5th. Hold on to your seats, kids.

I’m going with the writing prompt since I don’t have a buttload of archives for you to see.

So who am I? Well the basics are that my name is Melissa. I call myself “Merlisser” on here because JennyBee called me that a long time ago and it amuses me. I’m a 35 year old caucasian female from Arkansas. Right now I am overweight. I used to be regular weight or thin as people used to say.

I guess I could define myself by my hobbies. I like to run, take pictures, read books, watch movies, travel (Although I don’t do it nearly enough) and write.

Would where I’ve lived help you? Arkansas, DC with a summer in New York, and Florida.

My job? I’m a lawyer. I particularly like criminal defense. You can define me by that, I guess.

Maybe listing some of the cool (or at least interesting) stuff I’ve done will help you.

Attended Clinton’s second inauguration
Worked as a criminal investigator for criminal defense attorneys in DC. It was like Veronica Mars but with a lot less gadgets
Volunteered for the Obama campaign
helped build a school in Kenya
straddled the equator (in Kenya)
Ate Pizza at Grimadli’s
Walked Race for the Cure with some friends
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for fun (it has a great view)
Tromped cotton as a kid
Used an outhouse
Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Or maybe a list of favorites.

book: Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
song: Paper Bag by Fiona Apple (although this one changes every day and I could list about 20 “favorite songs”)
restaurant: Star of India in Little Rock Arkansas. OR Zorba’s Cafe in Washington DC with City Lights of China in DC a close second.
color: purple. a really dark shade of purple.
movie: Shawshank Redemption (although this constantly changes as well. Today it’s Shawshank)
vice: driving really fast
animal: Bichon Frise dogs
curse word: FUCK
word: onomatopoeia
drink: margarita

There are some snippets. And to introduce myself.

Hi. I’m Melissa and it’s nice to meet you.

Holidailies.

The Great Breezy-nator

November 18, 2008 / melissa / 1 Comment

Breezy loves me…. and probably you

Originally uploaded by melissathegoofy

Yeah I told you I was puppysitting Breezy. There she is courtesy of my camera phone. Look at her. She is a happy dog. if she had her way, she would be outside all the time, looking at the neighbors. I had no idea she was such a nosy busy body.

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