personal blog about various interests: fargo, north dakota, boston, finance and markets, travel, airlines and hotels, volunteering, nutrition, family and yoga and other things i like.
And so is my painting!! What do you think?? I love love love it. I can see where I could've spent more time on things and done things differently, but at the same time, I'm glad to be done. Phew!
If I can post two pictures, I willl... The other is a flower I painted for me mum...
robyn is becoming one of my new favorite artists. she even gets called out at the beginning of a ramble! check her out. she dances cool, too. i might try to learn her moves. they're stylin.
anyway, i really liked this video about oscar nominations that should've happened.
i agree with a lot of them... especially drive, shame, girl with dragon tattoo, hanna, 50/50... oh and young adult (ha!)
so yesterday was a weird day... i really really wanted to see the artist before the oscars tonight, so at 4:15pm i bolted out of my apartment to utrecht to take advantage of 25% for the day. i got some new paints and disposable palettes and a few other things... i then took the t to the movies and, of course, it was sold out. grr! so i walked home and then watched nikita with my roommate. i spent the evening painting and it was great. i'm doing a lot of "prep" right now - painting backgrounds, putting tape on and then taping that section, etc. its taking me a long time to finish... but thats ok. i painted until 1:45, BUT i thought it was 1145. when i got into bed i watched smash while falling asleep. my plan was to go to yoga at 1030 today because i am picking up my little at 1 to go see hugo and then dropping her off and heading to watch the oscars. of course, i woke up at 1045! oops!! totally was NOT expecting that. so i missed yoga, which is kind of a bummer.
i'm pretty sure i have some work work to do this weekend, as well. ugh. there's never enough time for everything!
ok, i have to finish breakfast (eggs, brussels sprouts, and sweet potato tots!) and pick up my little...
so i was at work until after 10pm last night. it was a long, long day and i was super tired. at 7pm i saw my coworker was still there so we popped open a bottle of bubbly and chatted for a bit (i keep some spare in my desk, of course). i took a cab home after a few more hours of work. i came home and chatted with my friend in ma-nil-a (not mi-lan). that was a good chat. then i got ready for bed and hit the sack. i think i put criminal minds on to watch as i fell asleep and i think i woke up in the middle of the night holding my glasses. AND i didnt set my alarm until 7am, and i woke up before it! zaz!
so anyway, yesterday at work i booked a trip to cal-i-forn-i-a in 10 days time. headin out for some work. bo yah. the hyatt i stay at was sold out, so i called my special diamond line and they FORCED THEM to give me a room!! so now i get to stay there. where i want. AND i got a suite - bo ya! bo yah? boo yaaa? hmmm... so that worked out. hopefully didn't kick some poor schlep out of his room.
this weekend i have a whole lot of nothin planned. trying to see my little. then i think i'll do some more painting - oh, here is my updated pic.
[blank]
nope. dont have it on here. will have to post it from my phone separately. and my fancy new phone app!!
oh, right. i'm going to watch the oscars at kc's house. and do some yoga. sunday is always busy for me these days. i should probably do my taxes, too. and an expense report. although, to be honest, i am fairly caught up on those. and maybe some more work. good idea me.
argh! now i'm mad at blogger!! i can't change the stupid font for fachee. UGH.
i dont know why i'm on a rampage today. i have no idea. oh wait. yes, i do. my clients are making me upset, people are not doing their jobs properly, UGH.
i need to think of things that will make me happy... painting is making me happy. have i shown you my picture recently? its this big project i'm working on... hmmm... how do i get it HERE? i have a copy on my phone and on my computer (at home) and my ipad. hmm... email it to myself from my phone, you say? brilliant!
omgosh i'm an idiot. i just sspent a bit of time looking for my phone - it was in my cell phone cleaner that i got for xmas. silly me!
ok, so here is a picture of my painting thus far. oh, actually i just realized it isnt the most recent. i have since painted the green dude. the ampelmann. i'll have to take another picture later.
and this is making me happy - i got some calendar prints framed (paid beaucoup d'argent for it!) and my roommate suggested we hang them in the hallway! how cool do they look??
i feel slightly better. what do you do when you're in a bad mood?
So I just discovered blogger app for my droid. This is AWESOME and will totally revolutionize my rambling and your blogging experience. I can't type a lot right now bcs the bus is coming so I will add this trinket for today:
While getting ready this morning I actually paid attention to the u2 song and its really frickin depressing "I can't live with or without you." How crappy is that??? So basically you just can't live. Nice song, u2
once again, i've been saving articles and various things about my homestate. as such, here they are:
audio (and transcript of audio, actually) on npr about the oil boom in western north dakota - fracking, the lack of housing, etc.
audio (and transcript, again) on npr about honey bees and nodak
america's 25 coldest cities - as a side note, i was in ohio last week and it was in the 20s. i FROZE. i was sooo cold. it was soo embarrassing. i felt like i was an imposter. a non-north dakotan. maybe i shouldnt be living in boston anymore. its taken my edge away.
the first article about a guy cycling through nodak
another article by the same cyclist in more eastern nodak.
i dont know what to say about this ad... i wouldnt' have looked twice but a lot of people think its dorky. thats sad. a friend in boston tweeted me and it at the same time. someone from ENGLAND sent it to me. how did they see it??
another sad/weird thing: a lot of people were talking to me months ago about nodak not being a state. how weird is that?? i'm from no country!!!
et... finalement... le piece de resistance! nodak is the best place to live!!
if i had planned ahead i would have some sort of cool vday thing for you guys today. i'm indifferent to the holiday. if it means people pay more attention to their loved ones, go for it. my dad sent me a text and so he is my valentine. or wait. i am his. hmm... is that different?
anyway, working today and then tonight i have NO PLANS. woo hoo! alice has plans and invited me, but i think i'm going to just hang out in my awesome hotel room and paint or something. that should be fun. can't wait to post some more pics of what i've painted!! i'm totally digging this paint thing.
oh, also, it turns out that we have successfully found a date for my sister-in-laws baby shower. easter weekend! which means i'll take that whole week off and then go directly to hawaii from fargo. woo hoo! i have to figure out what i'm going to say at the wedding, too. hmm... anyway, baby shower theme ideas, please. (that is, send them to me!) i'm really excited about this baby shower for some reason.
i was trying to find some sort of ballad for today that i love but i cant really think of too many love songs that i like and listen to. but then i came up with this one.
and then i found this video which was cute:
happy valentines day! oh wait. what are you doing for tonight?
so i'm writing this while watching the end of the grammys... BORING. sooo uninteresting.
whatever.
anyway, alice came over and i gave her this painting. actually, FIRST she said she liked it and then i said "really? you do?" and she said "yeah, i walked in and i thought 'wow thats really nice'" and i was like "great! because i made it for you!!" so here are the pics:
i REALLY like it. it looks so good in person. its really cool. my first painting gift!!
here are some pics of my hotel room since i promised i would post those, too...
greetings interweb. greetings from columbus, in fact. normally i dont write and post, but i think i am going to right now (unless i get distracted which is about 86% possible). i am here for work. got here yesterday because tickets from sun-wed were $1100 and sat - wed were $500. figured i could save my company a dime or two, so might as well come early. aside from my room not being ready when i checked in (at 3:45, AFTER the 3pm checkin, mind you) and having to call housecleaning to have them re-clean both the shower AND the bath (hairs, eww), everything has been really good. i got some tuna from downstairs and ate that in my room with my free wine vouchers that they gave me since i had to wait for my room. i did a TON of cards and did quite a bit of work work while i watched snl. it was a pleasant evening overall.
today i had a haircut, here it is:
but that doesnt really show the color. here it is:
and then met alice's parents who are in town visiting her. we went to get jenis ice cream and that was good. then we stopped at a few stores and now i'm back in my room painting. i think i am going to paint something for alice. if she likes it she can have it. if not, no biggie.
here it is so far:
i'm waiting for it to dry a bit before i paint the bottles. i'm copying a calendar picture, so its not like i just made this idea up. i'll take a picture of it when its done and post it here no matter what it looks like.
tonight alice is coming over and we'll have some thai food and each do some work while the grammys are on in the background. oh, i have an AWESOME room. i'll take pics and post them for tomorrow maybe... its a sweet suite. ha ha. easy grammatical joke. layUP.
i'm here until wed for work. tomorrow i have a lot of non-ohio-related meetings which is always difficult when you're at some other clients' office to work on a different client. tuesday should be easy and then wed some other peeps are coming for some meetings. should be good. v-day in c-bus. oh! i bought a cbus tshirt today. its cute. i wonder if it fits. ha! i should try that. i will not be doing anything on tues night, which is 100% fine. actually, i just looked at my planner and am planning on working that night. fun fun!
ok, so thats all i've got. going back to finish painting. how was your weekend?
[song by sharon jones and the dap-kings. AWESOME. check them out. i love them. her. them. whatever.]
unlike most americans, i have known who jean dujardin is for a long time. he starred in this tv show i used to watch in france that i LOVED. i havent seen the artist yet, much to my chagrin, but am def planning on seeing it soon... until then...
so something really cool happened yesterday. i've already teased my family about it and am announcing it here...
swear to god, this is no joke.
i won a car.
yep, i entered a drawing at this sushi restaurant i go to all the time and they called me yesterday to tell me i had won a car. a honda fit, in fact. here is a picture of it.
kind of sporty, no? i wonder how much it retails for... obviously i dont need a car in boston. holy crap. i just looked it up. its worth $17,000! i obviously have no concept of cars and how much they cost.
so isnt that wild??
here is what happened. i am a member of this frequent buyer card for this restaurant i love, mikunisushi. i got a voicemail from them yesterday "hi danielle, this is michelle [btw, i love it when other names rhyme with mine] from mikuni sushi. i'm calling about our promotion and to confirm your address." so i call back and she asks where i live because my address on my account is in boston. mikunis is the restaurant i go to in sac all the time when i'm there for work. "oh, i live in boston, but i'm in california often for work." then she says "oh, well, we drew your name to win a car in our vegas promotion, but i think its only for california residents... let me check. hold on." so she puts me on hold. i had no idea i had entered a contest for a CAR. i thought it was for a trip to vegas or some free sushi or something, so i was trying to convince her that i would be in california soon to collect my prize. "hi, danielle, yeah, i'm sorry to tell you but the contest is for california residents only. i am so sorry!" "eh, thats ok." i honestly didnt really care. it was kind of funny to me. so i won a car. except i can't have the car. then she said something REALLY hilarious "well, thank you for frequenting our restaurant as much as you do when you are in town!" which is funny because i go there
all
the
time
when i'm in town. i think i went at least 3 times a few weeks ago.
in this case, contrary to the stupid abba song, the winner does not take it all. but i'm not bitter. and i'm actually serious. i thought instantly "this will make an AWESOME blog post!" here is my convo with my roommate about it:
8:39 PM me: hey
8:40 PM i won a car today
8:42 PM Ryan: excuse me?
me: i did
but i cant accept it bcs i'm not a resident of CA
it was a honda fit
Ryan: lol, what are you talking about
me: mikunis, the sushi resto i go to in sac
drew me to win a car
Ryan: ROFL
8:43 PM me: but they called me bcs they saw in my profile that i live in MA
Ryan: want me to go to sac to pick it up for you
me: ha!
i wish
Ryan: they were like "hey you won... but you can't have it" ?
me: so she left me a msg
and said "i'm calling from mikunis to confirm your address" or something like that
8:44 PM so i called and told her that i lived in MA, but am in Sac often
bcs i thought she was calling about free sushi or something
Ryan: lol
me: and then she said "we drew you to win a car, but i think its for ca residents only. let me check"
and then she put me on hold
Ryan: ROFL
me: and came back and told me that was correct
Ryan: thats so bizarre
8:45 PM me: yeah
but the thing is
i didnt enter to win a car
Ryan: and something that would pretty much only happen to you
me: they had some promo to get a trip to vegas or something
and i entered that
Ryan: haha
me: apparently this was part of it or something
lol
why do you say would only happen to me??
Ryan: were you supposed to drive the car to vegas?
is that the "trip"
haha
me: i dont really know... i should find it online
8:46 PM dante was upset that i didnt try to get her to give it to him
Ryan: lol
me: which i WOULD HAVE tried
BUT he is not a member of the koki club
Ryan: i can't even listen to this
me: DESPITE ME TELLING HIM TO JOIN MULTIPLE TIMES
Ryan: lol
me: i find it very humorous
doesnt make me mad at all
8:48 PM Ryan: oh, i'm sure. i think it's hysterical
me: pretty much
8:49 PM makes fpr a great blog post!
Ryan: lol, i assumed, yeah so yeah. thats pretty cool, non??
my friend e.lb and i were at the two door cinema club concert a few months ago and this song came on and i was like "i have NEVER known what that song name is!" so i just looked up the video (she found the song by using shazam which seems awesome - i need to use it. do you?)
and the video made me happy, BUT left me with a bunch of questions:
where was this filmed?? at first i thought sweden, but now i'm pretty sure its germany. those crazy germans.
i just looked up that darude is finnish. i bet that was filmed in finland now that i think about it. never been.
i guess #2 wasnt a question. nor is this point.
what was in the box?? i can't believe they didnt show us! talk about no pay off.
something else that made me think i had enough questions for three bullet points, but now i cant think of them...
do you like this song? (maybe that was my other question)
there is no snow. i have only seen it a few times this year. i have only worn my boots once. maybe twice. its sad. its messing with my mojo. i want to see a picture like this
i think that would make me happy. where oh where has the snow gone?
i also hope this doesn't mean that we'll have a super hot summer. that would be the WORSTEST.
ok, so i'm not ACTUALLY live blogging, but as I think of things, i'll write them here.
ok, so i'm a little behind... its 7:02 and i'm at kc and the sunshine bands house. but we're behind in the game. did the game start at 630? i'm not sure. i think so. right now its 2-0... i think its just a few minutes in. something about a safety? i'm not really sure... i got here late because i went to yoga (hear that, boys??) from 330-5 and then took the bus to work and did some work then packed up my laptop and came over here. am going to "work" while i "watch" the game... really i'm just hoping to see some cool commercials. so far here are our thoughts:
fun hyundai commercial with the vampires. fun! loved it. super appropro. apropo? hmm... idk how to speel. i've already forgotten the other commercials thus far. but they just had a close up of all the refs. are they all white? are there not any minority refs in the nfl?
so kc are really watching the game. comments like "is this just a really good passing game, so far?" make me wish for some special teams.
ugh. tom brady is so ugly.
oh right. k just reminded me of what we thought about the other hyundai commercial - the driving one with the jaguar (or was it a cougar?). it was missing a very specific driver: ryan gosling. i mean, they really should have thought that through a bit more.
why dont they make beer commercials for women?? stupid beer commercials. that wasnt even funny.
i liked the m&m commercial. was that meryl streep's voice?
not gonna watch the apprentice. just not going to.
we did our own boxes the three of us. c got upset so he has one extra. if the game ends right now he would win. so lets hope it doesnt even though i think i want the giants to win.
polar bear commercial - too safe.
apocalypse commercial... this might be erin's commercial. of course twinkies survived the apocalypse. gross. but funny. and the frogs. i dont get it, but thats cool. we're still behind time. madonna for half time? i dont know how i feel about that. has she done anything besides get divorced recently? oh she made a movie ro something, right? yeah, its 7:16pm and we're at 6:57 in the game. i hope my family doesnt text about the game. i'd hate to know what happens. not really. dont care much. i'm drinking bubbly. aside from this live blog,, that is one of the best things baout this game.
ugh. tom brady is ugly.
oh and can we talk about how the pats had 12 players on the field? i mean, dont they pay someone to stand around and count players? they could pay me to do that. i'd do that. i count good. this bridgestone commercail is boring. but troy aikman is cute. and i always like ddeon/dion/deonne? sanders. hes funny.
boring lexus commercial.
i'm thinking about this cute actor in the liam niesen movie. something about transformers but not really. i wonder if he is sitting at home with his family waiting for that comomercial. he looks like a new actor who is about to make it big or fall flat on his face.
wh ois this dude with the long name and the sleeve tats? they look uninteresting.
how much do the players get for winning the superbowl? just a ring? how much would the ring go for on the market? oooo. good block. good job blue helmet dude.
i dont really get why the budweiser symbol is these clydesdale horses, but thats pretty cool. way to stay in your theme. apparently thats a whatchamacallit commercial - steve buscemi or something.
ok, this camero commercial was pretty funny. it ESPECIALLY makes me think of the HEATED CONVERSATION i had with my father when i was leaving for college and he told me that i couldnt have refridgerators in my dorm room. it was a good hour-long fight about fridges and having the ability to hide beer in them. now that i think about, you could just hide the beer under your bed. you dont need a fridge to do that!
did the guy just say that he enjoys building "turds"?? a partner ad - budweiser and ge. interesting. boring commercial.
we're trying to catch up so i'm missing some commercial. taxact.com. crap. i need to do m y taxes. ohhh i just remembered the other commercial we liked: elton john and pepsi. good job. loved the shoes. loved flava flave. it was awesome. favorite commercial so far.
i dont know if i have EVER read a dr. seuss book.
the volkswagon commercial was great. i loved that dog!
oh hfamous people on the tv. steven tyler. how did he score ticks? ha. tix. tickets. everyone here laughed at the 2nd audi commercial with darth vader that i didnt get. we had to pause it to explain it to me. oh wow. number 75 is big. he needs to run on the treadmill.
illegal huddle?? what the heck is that?? is someone going to jail for it?
yep. absolutely no issues with the beckham ad. i could watch that all day looooong. in fact, i just might tomorrow. i have the day off.
superbowl rings are kind of gawdy. not to be confused with gaudi. i wonder if i would be impressed if i saw one in real life. probably not. just another one of my flaws.
ok, not sure how much longer i'll be doing this... apparently my outlook isnt working at work. it means i can't work as effectively as i normally would be during a superbowl.
oh. hm. what is this movie? rdj chris cell phone dude. samuel l. scarlett. the avengers. so basically a movie with a bunch of pretty people. i'll go to it. i love this woman's black dress. super hot. i'm ...
lol. i was going to write about that other commercial but i just busted out laughing at this skechers commercial. i dont know why mark cuban is in it, but the dog wiht the shoes was cute. i'm not sure we're actually going faster with k at the remote. we seem to keep going backwards to rewatch the beginning of the commercial.
ugh. now i'm annoyed that i cant connect to work.
fight! fight! fight!
..................
ok i paused for a while. now its the halftime show.
hmmm... why is she the halftime act?
i like the dancing. ouch. that looked painful. its called the dance floor. and heres whats in store. do we think she's actually singing? and is that the vogue magazine? i wonder if they had to get permission to use that. rita hayward gave good face.
i wonder how many concerts she has ever done. and is this the biggest? it might not be.
i really dont love this music makes the people come together song.
ok, that whole walk on the people dancing thing was pretty cool. ouch. is he jumping on a WIRE? crazy. i hope he's ok. ok, he's cool. wild hair. oh is this lmfao? hmm... who are they? i wonder how many times they practiced this whole routine.
ohhh... i'm sexy and i know it guys. ok. i like that song. yeah, madonna, we get that you're fit. another wardrobe malfunction.
nicki minaj is there. ok, thats gives me a bit more ... whatever thats called. i'm more impressed.
what is this song? i havent heard it. give me all your love? i like nicki minaj.
oh and ceel o! i like him too
life is a mystery.
oh wow. madge has had some work done.
i have a coworker at the game. i wonder if she has one of those light things on.
ok, that was a cool disappearing act for her. i am more impressed than i have been in a long time. ok, end of part 1. not sure i fthere will be a part 2 o rnot...
and to end, here is a fun new video by ok go from bostinno
i woke up a bit ago and kept laying in bed thinking "i'll fall back asleep. i will. i'll fall back asleep." and then i thought "well, it must be time to get up soon... i'll just lay here until the sun comes up..." but i knew. deep in my heart, i knew. and i was right.
its 3:34am. i should not be awake. UGH.
i just want to be asleep but i can tell i'm not going back to sleep any time soon.
grr!
ok, i was going to write more, but i just want to go back to sleep, so here are some more pictures of my art instead.
so this post is for my brother homie who has had an awesome day - may they just get better! he and his wife had an ultrasound today to check on the baby's status. SHE is doing fine - great! in fact. here is a picture of HER:
thanks to my doctorate in baby pictures, i can safely say that she looks pretty good. all healthy! woo hoo!
in addition to the ultrasound, homie launched a fb page for his bank - check it out here and follow their twitter here.
Posts
