Advertizing Really Works

For the last week or more The Pickle has run an ad for Meloni's summer salads. At least once an hour or more, the obnoxious jingle for this restaurant is played and I listened to the descriptions of three very tasty sounding salads.

Last year these commercials were pure torture, because I didn't know where the damn restaurant was. This year I do. And this year I decided I was going to try one.

The salad that really has been tempting me was The Bird Of Paradise. It's a half a pineapple with chicken salad and fruit. It's also pretty pleasing to the eye.



It was a pity to have to eat such a gorgeous creation, but it was worth every last bite. Yum. The tiramisu was tasty too.

My ever expanding ass would like to thank 99.3 The Pickle for the ads that lured me in. Damn them and all their restaurant commercials.

Songs To Cry To

My last post got me to thinking....there are a lot of songs out there that bring a tear to my eye.

2 songs quickly come to mind, Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat? and Justin Hayward's Sometimes Less Is More.

The first never ceases to make me cry because I sang and played that song constantly for my kitty, Misty back in December when she was dying of cancer. It was a horrible week for me. Every time I hear that song I can see her tiny grey body wasting away from the horrible disease. I can feel the pain of knowing that she wasn't going to get better and knowing that I had a decision to make and it's one that would mess with my head afterwards. I'm thankful every day that Misty chose to pass away at home, before I had to make the call to the vet. I loved her so very much. Just writing about her has brought a fresh batch of tears. My sweet little kitteh I loved her so.

Justin's song is just something that reminds me of my own stupidity. I should have heeded the advice in the lyrics and not got to carried away by the promise of something that wasn't likely to happen.

"This time I'm not going to go so crazy...I'm not going to let it phase me."

Ah Jus, why didn't I listen to you?

"And if it's real a heart will know all the time...and come the spring it will grow or die upon the vine. But if it's love, love will come knocking at the door. I do believe it now...sometimes less is more."

~wipes the tear~

From now on I listen to Jus...

"Oh heart you've learned your lesson...love is not obsession."

I needed this song...

I found myself shedding a few teardrops tonight for silly "girlie" reasons. Then I remembered the song from George Harrison's Somewhere In England CD.


(click to buy @ amazon)

Teardrops was one of my favorite songs from this CD. If I remember correctly it openeds side 2 of the vinyl album. Yes, I still have vinyl. I'm pretty sure I wore out one of them just because I played that song over and over, though it was always one of my favorite Harrison albums.

I shed a few tears when it was reissued with a different cover. I'm not fond of the picture that replaced the original.



This was the original and the only cover, changing it seems like someone said there was something wrong with the original, and that's not the case.

This was a beautiful cover and George looked so...well like George. The new cover is just a picture. There's nothing exciting about it. I'd love to know why the switch was made.

So I've been listening to the album, and it's actually made me feel better. My own teardrops have stopped for the time being, which is a good thing. I've even found myself singing at the top of my lungs to a few of the tracks on this one. So all in all, my tears weren't for nothing. (This time)

Top 5 On Friday - Week 129

This week's topic brought to you by "me" @ Music Memoirs

Top 5 songs that mention things in the sky in the title. (This could be anything...stars, planes, birds, clouds....etc)

1. Justin Hayward - Silverbird
(This was probably one of Justin's first solo songs that I fell in love with a few years back)

2. Martin Gore - Lost In The Stars
(I had a hard time choosing between two versions of this song. I love Martin's version and Elvis Costello's version of this Kurt Weill song. This time Martin wins)

3. Paul Revere & The Raiders - Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon
(Too fun not to love.)

4. Paul McCartney - Jet
(Did you think I'd forget this one?)

5. The Beatles - And Your Bird Can Sing
(I fell in love with this song when I first heard it on the Beatles cartoons when I was a kid)

Big Squee!

I bought a new tankini today at K Mart. Yeah you read that right, K Mart! And it's cute! And even better than that, it looks good on me!

Hell has frozen over!

Apparently Jack's has worked in some way. I've got a flat belly! I even look like I have...gasp....CLEAVAGE!

There are some serious icicles in hell right now.

This purchase means that on Monday, July 2, the day of my 33rd b-day (SEND PRESENTS), my nephew and I will be at Idlewild Park. I will so be sporting my new tankini at the Soak Zone. Life will be good, so long as it doesn't rain.

Can I get a Squee from the peanut gallery?

Oh and if you folks have strong eyes and stomachs...I might even manage to get a picture of me in said tankini to post here.

I'm In Another Funk

Finding those stupid pictures sent me into a bit of a depression. I can't say how much I miss Fish as a friend. And yes, it was my fault that I'm on thin ice with him, so to speak. I overreacted. I acted like a fool and I can't go back and fix things, and now he'd rather see me in hell then communicate with me.

That's the story of my life.

What's funny is...I wanted friendship more than I wanted anything else. I wanted a real honest to god friend that I could talk to (or email to) that wasn't half a world away.

Forgive me, if I can't see most of my online friends as little more than people that leave comments here and I share an ocassional email with, or that I comment on their page, etc.

We bitched about our jobs...I rambled about family and other stuff, but ultimately now, none of that matters. I was totally insignificant. As always. It was too much to ask that someone actually "like me" enough to be a damn friend.

I'm heartily sick of being lonely. I'm sick of all my friends being invisible beings inside a plastic box. I'm sick of relying on the damn computer for friendship. And I'm really damn sick of shedding tears over someone that never has a passing thought for me.

There's been no communication between us in about a week. I probably shouldn't call in a request, but I likely will. Its part of a routine for me now.

And if someone asked me what I wanted most for my b-day this year...I'd have to say that it would be my friend back.

I Hope His Face Didn't Freeze That Way

I should never ever go to The Pickle's website. EVER! Last night I was bored, and tired, but unable to sleep, so I clicked on my link for WPKL here on the blog.

I'm always amused by what shows up on the photo wall, but when I saw this picture, I collapsed in laughter.

I mean, Fishy, what kind of face is that?

I guess his mommy didn't tell him that if he made faces like that it would freeze that way. Lordy, I hope it didn't freeze that way. That would be such a shame cos it really is a cute face.

Damn. Why did I go and say that?

Oh wait, because its true. Fishy is cute in the geeky goobery way that I tend to gravitate towards, but don't tell him I said that. Cos I'm on thin ice with him as it is. And anyhow, I told him that I had put aside the first part of the year. I hallucinated that huge crush I have had on him.

However all was totally lost when I found this picture.



It's a Fishbutt! Methinks the Fish needs to buy some jeans that fit just a tad bit better then those do.

Anyone care to join me in a giggle or two?

And while I'm at it, can I have the camera person's job, because all the shots are horrid and unflattering to everyone involved. If you want proof of the awfulness of the shots click here and you'll quickly understand. Lordy but I could do a better job...and I'd only hit the Fish once or twice during an outing..and I'd be really nice to the poor human in the parrot costume.

The Nectar Of The Gods

I'm down to 1 can of soda a day, however I'm compensating for it by drinking at least 2 iced coffees. I think that's still only half the calories of one can of soda though. I don't use that much creamer and no extra sugar or anything else.

But let me say this, I love me some iced coffee, even if it makes me bounce off walls, and it does make me bounce off walls, more than any soda could ever do.

Right now I'm tripping on french vanilla, but I have a chocolate caramel creamer in the fridge waiting for the other one to empty out. Perhaps I'm drinking more of the stuff because I want to get to the other flavor? Hmmm. That's a possibility.

Another nectar of the gods that I don't get very often is bubble tea. I thank my lurking friend Jennifer for introducing me to that one. I swear the Beehive in Pittsburgh is the only place that has it, and that makes me sad. I don't often get the chance to wander through the south side of Pittsburgh and just stop for bubble tea or a quick sandwich. My trips to the city are always well defined. (Go to Phipps, eat dinner at Station Square etc...etc.) PAH!

Now I want some bubble tea, and I have no way of getting it. I guess that means I'll be drinking another iced coffee. If you see something zooming by at hyper speed, that's probably me on my iced coffee high!

As Things Slowly Crumble

The best laid plans of mice and men...etc. That line is so true. I had planed on going to Jack's to work out last night, but nope, the storms seemed to want to get here then, meaning I get to go to Jack's on Saturday morning.

BLERGH!

I ended up spending $33 on CDs because I went to Amazon to preorder the new Nick Lowe CD that comes out next Tuesday. I've spent entirely too much money this month. Someone needs to put a stop to me.



I can't believe that I bought this one. It's the CD that has the two new Justin Hayward songs on it, Celtic Heart and Earth & Sky. I said I wouldn't buy a CD for 2 songs, but for $10 I had to do it, because I love Justin.

The other CD that crept into my cart was this one:



I'm getting a brand new copy of Tom Petty's Let Me Up I've Had Enough for under $5

So really I was getting a good buy and I can at least use the excuse that they were early b-day presents for myself, right? Right?

Seriously, if the weather hadn't been so awful last night I would have gone to Jack's and thus been too tired to search amazon for deals.

Damn weater!

Your Wildest Dreams

For some reason today I've had a remarkable number of people showing up at my blog to see what is stuck in the tree in the video for The Moody Blues Your Wildest Dreams.

Obviously none of them thought to go to You Tube.

Duh



If you look closely in the beginning of the video, there's a scooter/motorbike of some sort in the tree. At least that's how it looks to me.

Do I get a cookie or something for solving this mystery? Does Justin Hayward come to buy me wine? Does John Lodge bring the Krisemma? Probably not..but oh well, one of life's mysteries is now solved.

Random Stuff and an Meme

~ Found this on Lodgey's official site and just giggled up a storm.



Lordy but he's such a cutie and a silly willy.

~ Mom has her monthly check on her pacemaker tomorrow. Each month its a wait and see thing to see if she's going to have to have her battery changed or get her new pacemaker with the defibrillator. It makes for a lot of nervous tension in the house.

~ The Melting Pot sent me a coupon for a free chocolate fondue for two with a dinner purchase. I need a two dammit. Where's a two when I need one. Looks around for anyone that wants to take me to dinner.

~ crickets ~

Fuqua. I always miss out on good stuff because I haven't a date. Pooh!

~ The Traveling Wilburys Deluxe Edition arrived at my doorstep yesterday. (Happy DANCE!!)

~ Take Me Back Tuesday from Music Memoirs! It's the beach edition.

A day at the beach....

What's the best music to chill out to for a day at the beach or the pool?
For me I like stuff that's a bit dancey or new age to chill out in the sand. Examples of my favorite chill out music:

Banderas - Ripe


(click to buy at amazon)

Sarah Brightman - Dive


(click to buy at amazon)

Erasure - I Say I Say I Say


(click to buy at amazon)

Do you have any favorite summer/beach themed songs?
I have a lot of "summer" themed songs and songs that conjure images of the beach that I like.

Duran Duran - Rio
Fountains of Wayne - It Must Be Summer
The Wallflowers - Feels Like Summer Again
Bernie Barlow - Golden
Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday
Jimmy Buffett - Who's The Blonde Stranger

I could go on and on.....

What's the best place to turn up the "Heat" for summer music in your area or somewhere you've vacationed? (ie concert venues, clubs what have you)
Nothing in Pittsburgh that really turns up the heat for me anymore, but Bally's on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City has a great beach bar. It's right on the beach, actually and the drinks are great and they have a live band on the weekends. Bliss!

What song best epitomizes a day at the beach for you.
Cliff Richard - On The Beach

The Heat Is On

For the next two days the weather in my tiny hamlet of Charleroi On Mon is going to be HOT HOT HOT! The temps should reach 90. They made it there yesterday.

One word to that, BLERGH!

Right now I'm envying anyone that lives near a lake, ocean or beach of some sort. I live near the lovely Mon River.



And it is lovely, but I wouldn't stick my feet in those waters. Nope. No way. Not sure if I'd get all my toes etc back if I did.

I'd much rather stick my feet in these waters.



Heck, my whole body longs for those waters. (That's the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic City)

But if I can't have that right now, how about the fresh mountain water of the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle?



See I'm not picky!

Random 10 - Week 110

From "me" @ Music Memoirs

10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

Random stuff this week, because I had the Zen on shuffle everywhere I went.

Def Leppard - Two Steps Behind
(This is quite possibly my favorite Lep song and when it came on, I was singing at the top of my lungs)

Tara MacLean - Evidence
(I listened to most of Silence the other night. It's a wonderful CD. I recommend it highly)

Jimmy Somerville - Never Can Say Goodbye
(His falsetto is so good, this version blows away the original)

Elvis Presley - I Can't Help Falling In Love With You
(Blame 99.3 The Pickle for this one. I had the radio on in the car and my dad and mom love WPKL. Oye!)

Warren Zevon - Poor Poor Pitiful Me
(I send thanks out to Eliza for sharing this best of with me. I don't know why I haven't begun my love affair with Zevon before now. The man is so full of snarky goodness...god rest his soul)

Jane Monheit - If
(My zen tossed this one my way..I like Michael Crawford's version of this song better. Isn't it originally done by Bread?)

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Think About Me
(I love Let Me Up I've Had Enough...such a fun CD)

Midge Ure - Lied
(This song keeps coming up in my playlist...I don't know why.)

Simon Le Bon - Grey Lady Of The Sea
(Just a gorgeous song)

David Bowie - Thursday's Child
(Another favorite of mine)

And now the picture

It Was A Good Day...A Very Good Day

Allow me to list the reasons why today was just wonder-freaking-ful.

1. Cute man at the gym was checking me...or rather my butt out. (That was a real self-esteem booster.) I never realized I had a cute butt, but since he was looking at me the way I usually look at Gym Hottie....well, SQUEE! Plus cute man kinda looked like Robert Sean Leonard, who plays Wilson on House. Mmmmm...Nice.

2. Took dad to Garfield's @ Washington Crown Center. Nummy. I had my wonderful cranberry walnut chicken salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

3. Bath & Body Works sale is still going on and I still had my $50 gift card from my best buddy in Chicago (and online mom). Oh the great stuff I bought! I'm going to smell so good...people are going to want to take a bite out of me. Hmmm. If the right person wants to bite..and they promise to be gentle...Tee Hee. I'm so bad.

Like for instance...

Justin could bite



This man could not...



4. Dots and Macy's sucked about $117 from me. And woot! I got cute clothes. Yay!

5. After shopping, we stopped at Rita's Italian Ice for gelati. More nummyness. Mom and I split a pina colata gelati with twist custard and dad got a root beer gelati with vanilla custard.

6. I'm going for another long walk in an hour. Just me and my Zen. I love it!

Father's Day....

I'm hard pressed to find a good picture of my father. I think I inherit from him the gene that says there will be no really good photos taken of either of us.

My dad is an older version of Tim Allen. He's Mr. Fix-it. (Or at least he wants to be) He loves to take things apart...its getting them back together that often results in a few choice words being uttered. If you don't hear him say "sonafabitchinbastard" or "dammit to hell" once or twice during a fix-it operation, well the operation was just too easy.

He is also the one that created some of our favorite phrases...

Like "Left hand turn artists." My dad hates these people. Everyone should go around the world to the right.

He's the cat man too. The first cat we had in my lifetime, Mutchka would never have come through the doors if not for him. All of the cats we have now, love him, except Bootsie, who has something against male humans.

My dad is the type to worry when I drive to Pittsburgh....or anywhere that's more than 20 minutes from home. The oil must be checked....the tires too.

He's a great dad! Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

And here's The Mistress Of The Dark's Family....I think this is all of us



I'm standing next to my father in this shot...and for those of you that don't know what I look like (lucky you) I'm the one on the far right, holding the toddler (my nephew Wild Will)

Oh The Pain

I walked 5 miles today. Ouch. It's been awhile since I did any more than 2 or 3, but I got it in my head to pull out the full 5. I used to be able to do about 7 every other day.

I think my walking shoes gave out after the 2nd mile. That's really not fun at all. I really should have at least two pairs of sneakers. One for the gym and one for the walking path.

~ Note to self...add shoes to my next shopping list when I go to the place of supreme evil...THE MART OF WAL!!!

~ Note to self...add socks to that list too. For some reason all my socks disappear when they go into the wash. Only my nephews' and my father's socks come out. Damn that washing machine.

What I love the most about walking is the release. So much tension disappears after the first mile or so. When I'm done I usually feel 100% better about life. (Except when the walking shoes die mid-walk)

I've also found that when I'm in the mood to write, walking proves inspirational for me. I toyed with a few ideas for a story as I painfully made my way around the walking path today. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll start working on one of them soon.

The question now is....Who's going to rub my aching tootsies.

Stuff & More Stuff

~ My bad karma vibes made their way to CD Universe, because my Traveling Wilburys disc shipped yesterday. Can I get a Squee for that? Please? Thank you.

~ I bought shorts at The Mart of Wal aka the place of supreme evil. They were the only article of clothing I bought, and I of course tossed the receipt. I go to put them on today...there's a damn hole in them. At least I only wasted $5.00 on them. But crikey I didn't get to wear em once. I don't like returning stuff without a receipt, it makes me feel like a thief. PAH! Note to self..when you buy cheap crap at Walmart..you get what you pay for.

~ I listened to one of the Tara MacLean CDs and I have to say, I loved it.



I'm finding more and more female artists that I really like. God, I hope I'm not turning all Lilith Fair on myself. I always hated the Lilith Fair...even though I have always love Sarah Mclachlan.

~ I was planning to go to the walking path today and see if I could do about 5 miles but I'm not sure if I should now.

Why?

1. The shorts issue...that's how I started my day.

2. Fucking laundry to do. (I HATE LAUNDRY DAY)

3. I've spilled orange juice on myself.

4. My grandmother sprung a grocery list on me yesterday.

I'm feeling really bogged down right now. Where did my lawn chair Saturday go? And with all the horridness that's started so early today, maybe I should just hide somewhere.

Must Listen To New Stuff

Every so often I put things on my LaLa list that I've never heard. I figure I might as well get some exposure to different artists and hey, if the CD is horrid, it was only $1.75.

That's how I ended up with 2 CDs by Tara MacLean and one CD Single. She was on the similar artist list for Grey Eye Glances. So I thought, why not give her a try.

Unfortunately they've been sitting on my desk for the last few weeks. I've just been too lazy to listen to them or rip them to the hard drive so I could put them on the Zen Vision.

Its horrible to have music and not listen to it.

So I'm going to make it a point to listen to my Tara MacLean CDs this weekend. In the past 30 minutes I ripped them to my computer so I have no excuse. I mean I hate to think that I haven't got my $1.75 worth of music. LOL!

Here's hoping it will be worth it. My ears have bled enough from bad music today. Let's see if I can avoid inflicting more pain on myself.

Top 5 On Friday - Week 128

From me @ Music Memoirs

Top 5 albums on your wishlist right now.....

We won't mention the fact that my wish list at LaLa.com is over 200 CDs.

I'm trying to sort out the ones that I want the most, because I have a b-day in about 2 weeks. That's always a good excuse to buy more music. Shall we assume The Traveling Wilburys is on my list, because I preordered.....erm...I already ranted about this, but lordy I'm still angry about it.

1. Elvis Costello - Kojak Variety (Rhino Reissue)


(click here to buy at amazon)

This is one of only 2 of the reissues I haven't bought yet. I want this one more than King Of America.

2. Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote


(click here to buy at amazon)
of course I wouldn't mind if I could get my hands on this....


(click here to buy at amazon)

I've never seen any of these in stores. I was amazed to see his Salute and Shadows CDs at Barnes and Noble, but I had no money, so I couldn't buy either of those. DAMN!

3. Herman's Hermits - Blaze

(click here to buy at amazon)

One of 2 Herman's Hermits CDs that I don't have. This is the one with Peter's version of Museum on it. It's almost as lovely as Donovan's original. I love how 60's artists shared songs, sometimes recording them within the same year.

4. Gary Puckett & The Union Gap - Young Girl/Incredible


(click here to buy at amazon)

This is the disc with Gary doing The Mighty Quinn. I'm dying to hear that one.

5. Grey Eye Glances - Live


(click here to buy at amazon) Actually the band would make more money if you bought at CD Baby

Most of these discs can be found for much cheaper prices at Half.com. Heck I think the LaLa store is cheaper on the Lightfoot discs...but hey...the amazon links are pretty.

I'm PO'd

Why am I PO'd you might ask?

Well I found out that my copy of the deluxe edition of the Traveling Wilburys reissue was backordered.



Eh.

No, more like WTF.

I preordered this release in April. You would think that would mean that I would have priority on getting one.

Apparently not.

Now why would you take orders for something if you aren't going to be able to fill them?

Fuqua!

Again I placed my preorder in April. This is June. I'm baffled by this. Though I'm sure that all the other Beatlenuts out there ordered it too, it would make sense that they would only take the orders they could fill. Am I repeating myself? Yes, I am. And I deserve to. This is just ridiculous.

I'm not happy with CD Universe right now. In fact, I have to say this may very well be my last purchase there. From here on in, I'm all about Amazon.