I’m getting coal for X-mas

Because even though I haven’t been that naughty this year, I have been a bad/lazy blogger.  I have the time, but to be honest, I’ve been kind of down and preoccupied.  Anyway, it’s Christmas Eve and I haven’t even posted part II of my home bar with full on pic, but I promise you will see the finished product before NYE.

Now, enough of that – Since it’s Christmas Eve I thought I would show you a few of my favorite things about this holiday so keep reading if you feel like smiling…

Ok so, I’m not the biggest fan of this song…but this is freaking awesome and I want to hug whoever put this together.  I dare you not to smile while watching this!

Being a kid, Christmas morning was possibly the most exciting morning of the year for many of us.  Sometimes it was a let down, but sometimes when Santa brought you exactly what you wanted it was like winning the megamillions while eating cake and getting a massage at the same time.  This Youtube video makes me wish that either, I was a kid again, or that I will one day buy the best present ever for a child and hopefully their reaction will be similar to this. 🙂

Kittens singing Christmas songs….need I say more?

I hope you enjoyed these videos and that you have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow or just a great day in general, if you don’t celebrate it.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!

Late Night Laughs

Ok, so instead of apologizing and giving excuses about why I haven’t been writing lately I have decided to make you laugh instead…enjoy.

And just so you know, I laughed for an inappropriately long time at this.

Run For Your Life!!!…My Love/Hate Relationship With Running

So, I’m sitting here at my computer in full workout garb fully intending on going for a run….you know, after I’m done procrastinating by writing and editing this post.  Not to mention that I got up at 8 AM with the best of intentions but sat on Pinterest and Facebook “for a few” and it is now 12 in the afternoon.

Running is the one excersize that I love AND hate the most.  When I’m running it’s like I am the fiercest, strongest, baddest bitch in the world…I can go forever, and then I hit my second mile and I’m pretty sure I’m going to die.

I will say running the best therapy.  Pounding the pavement, or the rubber track on the treadmil in my case, clears my mind and gives me one of the best endorphin highs I have experienced, and I feel so damn accomplished when I run a full 3 miles.  It’s like I can outrun all the zombies and Kenyans in the world.

Not only is it good for my mental health, but (DUH!) it’s good for my waistline and overall healthy too!!  Out of all of the workouts I have done over the years – running flattens out my tummy faster and more effectively than anything else (I haven’t tried swimming, but I’m sure that would be pretty good too) I just feel good when I am running on the regular.  So why don’t I keep it up you ask?

The downside for me is that it’s hard.  It’s hard and I’m lazy…that’s not an excuse, it’s just the sad truth.  If I could just buckle down and keep it up – even if I’m tired or lazy, then I know it would be a piece of cake (maybe I shouldn’t use the word cake….mmm), so I’m going to give it a try…I’m going to challenge myself – I promise, I Julia will run AT LEAST 2 miles 4 times a week.  That’s not a lot so I should be able to pull it off.  Wish me luck people!! I’ll need it!

Insomnia, What a D*ck.

Sometimes, I just know when I don’t have a chance in Hell at falling asleep. Sometimes, my insomnia will just sneak up on me around 1:30 AM, talking smack like “Oooh you thought you were tired did you??!!  Well, think about this – can you make a mental list of all the meals you want to cook this week?”  or “What if the zombie apocalypse started tonight?  Are you prepared? What’s your plan?” or “Hey, what if you or a close loved one got cancer?  Feelings? Ready, set, go!”  What a f*cking douche-bag right?

If my insomnia were a person, I imagine he would wear Affliction tees, have a steroid problem and take issue with strong independent women.  Maybe he has a gambling problem too….and he’s a dead beat dad, yeah.  I bet he parks in handicapped parking spots, or no, better – he’s the guy that parks his BMW diagonally across three spots in the lot so no one “dings” his door (side note: if you are someone who does this, and I happen upon your vehicle, you are in serious danger of having your car keyed the F up).

Do you know when I thought this description up?  If you guessed between the hours of 2AM and when the sun began slowly rising in the morning sky, congratulations, you’re right!

Sometimes this jerk turns me against other people, like my boyfriend (anyone sleeping near me while I’m wide awake will do).  He says things like “look at this asshole fast asleep ova here!  He’s dreaming peacefully while your staring at the ceiling.  Don’t you just wanna ‘accidentally’ slap him while you’re ‘rolling over’??”  or “How dare he snore! He’s the one keeping you up, not me!  Why don’t you just give him a quick jab with your elbow to shut him up?” 

I’ll admit, he gets the better of me most nights.  Just when I think I’m in the home stretch and my eyelids begin to feel weighted, my cat will give him a helping paw by hopping up on the bed, sitting on my chest, kneading and purring loudly in my face.  That’s when my insomnia will rear his ugly juice-head.  Any excuse to keep me up, torturing me with my own thoughts and imagination.

It’s not all bad though; sometimes I get the best ideas in the wee hours of the morning.  Actually, I thought about starting a blog during a sleepless night and I wrote my about section at around 5:15 in the morning.  If only my brain could be as productive during the day as it is from 2AM-6AM, maybe I would be a billionaire by now.  I guess that’s something I can ponder later, while I’m trying to sleep.

Much Like a Gremlin, You Should NOT Spill Water on Your Laptop.

Sorry I’ve been MIA on my blog lately, but as you can probably tell from the title of this post, it’s surprisingly not due to procrastination, but rather because I knocked a glass of water onto my laptop.  Fortunately, I was able to get it fixed, but it did take a few days to get it back.

This should teach me an important lesson on how to take better care of my stuff, especially the more expensive and delicate items.  Sadly though, I know myself better than that.

I am a hot mess when it comes to taking care of my things.  I lose jewelery and iPods and just about anything else that isn’t nailed down or attached to my body.  In fact, Tom likes to make fun of me because I’m really good at losing my glass of water in our 900 sqft apartment.  I recently got a surge of “DIYness” and made a pair of jean shorts out of a pair of old denim – I realized later that my $90 Bose headphones were right under said jeans before I whipped out the scissors and cut them right in half.   My last laptop really got hit really hard by me….right after I purchased it, about 7 years ago, I spilled red wine all over it (while it was closed thankfully) and stained the outside but, it didn’t cause any other damage.  Then, about a year ago I dropped it on my bathroom floor and cracked a piece of the bottom right off.  I kept using it even though I was constantly getting stabbed by the jagged plastic edges.  By the time I finally brought the poor thing in, it was covered in electrical tape, the entire motherboard was exposed and it was covered in stains and scratches.  I told myself, “Self, with this new laptop, I’ll be careful – I’ll by a case, and a keyboard cover, I swear!”, but did I do that?  Nope.

I am going to try to be better with taking care of my baby now though.  It was sooo hard annoying to live without a computer for a week and a half.  I mean, sure I have a smart phone – but it’s just not the same.  How am I supposed to write a blog from a smart phone?! I mean, come on!

Plus, Tom and I had a hell of an adventure trying to bring the Mac home yesterday.  We picked it up and dropped off in the trunk of the car so we could grab a bite to eat.  When we got back to our spot the car was no where to be found.  My stomach dropped.  I was already picturing masked bandits making their getaway, high-fiving and whooing while haphazardly waving my computer out of the sunroof – the computer that I just payed $100 dollars to fix….Then I noticed the small red and white sign that stated NO PARKING from 2PM – 6PM…the car was towed.  We spent the next few hours locating the car, getting to the tow yard by bus, and then waiting on a nice long line to get it out of impound.  Fun day.

I know I’m still going to eat and drink while I’m typing, watching TV and talking  on the phone.  I know that I will still carry my laptop with one hand while narrowly avoiding tripping over my cats.  I know that I’ll absent-mindedly leave it on the edge of the table and then walk away, but maybe this time will be different.  When I got home from the debacle that was yesterday, I hopped on amazon, in hopes to prove to myself that I can be a responsible adult, and bought a (really cute) hard case and keyboard protector.

In the future I’ll try to be more mindful with my things, but for now, I’m just glad Gremlins aren’t real, because you better believe I would be spilling water ALL over them too.

                                                                             (This may as well be my laptop….)

Just a thought…about my Keurig

If you’ve never heard of a Keurig machine you are in for a wondrous surprise. It is a magical piece of technology that sits atop your kitchen counter and offers up a steaming hot cup O’Joe at your every whim.  For someone as lazy as I am (pretty lazy…) it’s especially exciting.  There is no pot to clean, there are no paper filters to add or grinds to scoop; there is just a cute little k-cup to pop in and in less than 30 seconds later, BAM!! You have a hot mug of happiness.

There are those of you out there who don’t share my affinity for coffee, I can relate. For years before I entered into the corporate workforce, I too scoffed at the remarkable powers of caffeine. And maybe some of you just don’t like the taste – for you, there are a dizzying array of choices that will undoubtedly make you fall for a piece of machinery that doesn’t open up Facebook (or live in your bedside drawer).  Teas and cocas and ciders oh my!!!  There are even iced drink options.

Even now that I’m unemployed I enjoy the ritual of popping in a K-cup flavor of my choice, breathing in the aroma and eating my breakfast with an iced glass of coffee (or hot, depending on my mood).  It just makes my meal feel more complete.

There are coffee snobs the world over that I’m sure would be appalled that I enjoy my coffee from a Keurig, but I don’t mind and I really do enjoy the easy way out. Besides, there are some pretty good options (I love the Sumatra Blend by Green Mountain) and, even more importantly, Dunkin’ Doughnuts just came out with a line of pumpkin coffee K-cups, which I happen to love so who cares what coffee snobs think?!

As I finish up this post and take a sip of my coffee from my leopard print iced drink cup, I hope you can all enjoy the small things in your day that just make it that much better.  Also, I think they should come up with a machine that doles out single serving wine….then my life would be complete.

Just a Thought…About Robots

I was watching A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas, (which by the way, was much funnier than I had anticipated) when an adorable robot named “Waffle Bot” stole my heart.  It wasn’t just his willingness to dole out hot fresh waffles and syrup at your every whim, (don’t get me wrong that’s freakin’ awesome…) but the fact that he had real human emotion is what gets me all misty eyed.  I would have rather seen all of the people in the movie die a horrible, bloody death than see Waffle Bot in any kind of distress. And that’s when it hit me….I LOVE robots.

Just to be clear, I don’t like real life robots, because they creep me out (have you ever seen that Japanese robot looks like a “man”???!  Eek!). But anytime you add a piece of machinery into the plot with human-like emotions, I’m sold.  Take my childhood favorite for example, Johnny 5 (ALIVE!!!!), all he wanted was input! That’s all he wanted! And people were so mean and they made him so sad.  I cry every time.  All I can gather from that is, people from 80’s movies were a bunch of jerks and nice robots should be coddled and loved.

There are so many examples of lovable robot characters; Wall-E, R2D2, The Iron Giant, that one from that movie with Will Smith that time…the list goes on and on and I eat it up every time – I get emotionally invested like a child and their pet.

I don’t have the answer to why I love robots so much, I just do, and in the end I really don’t care why.  If they ever do create a loving, sweet robot you can keep as a pet, doesn’t creep me out or have secret plans to take over earth and destroy all humans in a murderous rage, sign me up.  For now I’ll just keep loving my cats and watch Batteries Not Included on Netflix.

The Start of a New Season

Hello there!

Today was the first day back to school for kids in the New York area, signifying the end to an amazing, but scorching summer.  One of the (few) positive things unemployment has allowed me, was a summer of freedom.  For the first time in almost 15 years I was able to feel like a kid again….a kid with money, an over 21 ID and no parental guidance. It. Was. Awesome.

I was so used to hating the summer from years of being stuck in an office with pale white skin, and commuting through the overbearingly hot trenches of Hell AKA the NYC Subway system; that I’d forgotten how fun it could be to relax on the beach sipping a cold drink – all of course while posting pictures of my daily heaven on Facebook  (and my Instagram) to torture all of my gainfully employed friends. 

(Like this one…and yes, that IS a boob sculpture we created)

But that’s not really what this post is about.  This post is about the Fall, and more importantly the awesome television shows that start up again in the Fall (Yay!!!).

Now, don’t get me wrong I like other things about the season – delicious seasonal beers (Oktoberfest anyone?), boot wearing, HALLOWEEN, multi-colored leaves and pumpkin flavored coffee just to name a few, but nothing gets me over the depression of it getting dark at 4pm like watching hordes of zombies take over a farm, or corrupt politicians and mobsters in the 1920’s being complete badasses and having blatant disregard for the law.  Who’s with me people?!  So that being said, here is a list of my favorite TV shows that are starting up again.  I can’t wait to start watching them all (hooray for DVR!!)

1. The Walking Dead – I was watching the season finale of Breaking Bad (the best show on TV in my opinion, oooh Walter White you are one badass motherf*cker!!) and a commercial for The Walking Dead came on.  At first I didn’t realize what it was for, I just saw a group of dirty looking people huddled together…and then I heard it, the telltale moans of the encroaching walkers.  Panic set in.  My pulse quickened, my hands clenched into fists and my body stiffened, then…they showed the zombies and I yelled “Noooo!!!!!!”  Then the The Walking Dead title filled the screen and I quietly (and slightly manically) said “Yesssssssss…” and that pretty much sums up how I feel about this show.  The beginning of the 2^nd season was a bit slow for me but the second half was filled with zombie killing action filling me with as much anxiety as it did joy, I’m also pretty stoked for all the new characters being introduced.

2. Boardwalk Empire – With heavy hitters like Scorsese and Buscemi how can you go wrong?  Throw in a little mafia killing, illegal booze trafficking and nudity and you’ve got yourself another HBO gem – the writing isn’t half bad either!  Some people say this show is too slow, but for me the pace is methodical and makes it easy to be caught off guard by the sharp turns in the plot – I love it.

3. 30 Rock – Sadly it’s the last season of this hilarious comedy and I’m sure it will be as tear inducingly funny as the last 6.

4. American Horror Story – What can I say?  I enjoy being scared and slightly freaked out – especially this close to Halloween.  I’m looking forward to the crazy  plot twists and intertwined story lines that American Horror Story is just so damn good at, plus it’s based in the 60’s this go around, so that should be fun.

5. Dexter – This one is a long time favorite and while I fear they are swimming dangerously close to jumping the shark, I am still quite entertained by Dexter’s murderous obsessions (I’m not as crazy as I sound – I promise).

6. Modern Family – The comedic scripts combined with the comedic timing and personas of this entire cast will always keep me coming back for more.

7. Grimm – Ok so this one is a little cheesey, but that’s exactly what I love about it.  I always loved the Grimm Fairy Tales as a kid and I thoroughly enjoy how they’ve modernized the stories (even if it is a bit wacky).

8. Suburgatory- This show is adorable and I always have a smile on my face at the end of each episode.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and my list of Fall TV faves – let me know what your Fall faves are, and if you think there are any shows that you would have included that I left out.

Welcome to My World

Hello there, and welcome to my blog!

My name is Julia (in case you didn’t get that from the title of my blog) and I have been wanting to start blogging for a while now, especially since I’ve become umemployed and need SOMETHING to keep me sane.

I can’t promise you this will be the best blog that you have ever read or will keep you rolling with fits of laughter, give you inspiration or make you interested in my life in any way, but who knows? Maybe it will (hey, a girl can dream…),  I guess we shall see.

I can promise you photos of food that I cook and/or go out to eat (nommms), photos and stories of my daily shenanigans, attempts at fashion and things that interest me in general, and I’m sure on more than one occasion I will post stuff about my cats and how cute and furry they both are (they really are both of those things), links to cool stuff I like, ZOMBIES (ahhhhhhh!!!!!) and probably a whole lot of grammatical errors (I’ll try to keep it at a minimum, but really I’m awful….maybe blogging will make me better??….I hope)  So stay tuned, or keep reading or whatever it is you blog readers do…and ENJOY!!