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January 28, 2007

Makes A Better Turkey Sandwich!

Finally catching up! I guess I forgot how hectic college can be. I also didn't realize how far behind I am on entries, so I guess this will be an all-encompassing entry to not-so-fully describe the past week or so. First, while I was still at home, my mom and I tried to bake bread. My mom had successfully made it a few times herself, but it was a complete disaster this time around. I have a couple shots of the process because I was hoping to have a "Try this, here's how!" kind of entry... but no such luck. Our bread came out completely.... flat? I don't even know how to describe it, but it 1) didn't rise and 2) well, there isn't really a 2, it was just awful, so that can be 2.

I would have put this picture up and described how we had to heat up milk with yeast:

Then I would have showed us putting the dough in the bread pan:

And the final result... which should not look anything like this:

In conclusion, we successfully discovered one way to not make bread. The bread came out really "dense" with no air in it at all. Oh well, we tried to swallow a couple pieces of it (covered in jelly to mask the taste) but ultimately gave up and threw it all away.

Also before coming back to school, we got our first real snow in Greenwich! I was so excited that I ran around taking a bunch of pictures in various places outside but, luckily, decided to spare you the 18 shots of what snow looks like on grass. The answer is white, it looks white. Here are a couple (still useless, but less redundant) shots of the snow:

Back at school, I moved in and found my camera about three days into the process (hence my lack of pictures). I still have no idea how I fit all my stuff into this little, tiny dorm room. I've made the best use of my space possible but still have a number of permanent fixtures in the middle of my room like my desk chair (that doesn't really fit under my desk) my garbage can, a fold-up turquoise table, and my fan. I keep telling myself I'm going to find a place for everything eventually, but the fact of the matter is that there really isn't a place for anything. I live in a prison cell without bars (only because I'm 3 floors up). For the most part, I think I've done a good job with my room, though. Once I neaten up, I might do a tour of my room entry so that you can see some of my favorite things like my purple shag carpet (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen brand, of course).

Moving on.... One of my favorite recent purchases is the Philosophy Microdelivery Peel. I got hooked on the Philosophy product line recently and have been trying to get everyone I know to start using it. The microdelivery peel is the best facial product I think I have ever used. I read an online review of the product, and it's actually rated as more effective than dermatologist/plastic surgeon administered microdermabrasions and it's definitely way cheaper. It's a two step process, first you put on a vitamin C slash microcrystal scrub and rub it in for one minute, then you put on this peptide activating gel that makes your whole face get warm and start fizzing and you rub that in for 2-3 minutes. After you rinse everything off, your whole face has brand new skin! What it does, is it gets rid of the top layer of your skin so that any sort of discoloration, dullness, scars, wrinkles, etc. disappear. Most of all, my skin feels so incredibly soft and my makeup goes on much better now too. Anyway, I got mine at Nordstrom but you can get it here on Amazon too.

Philosophy Microdelivery Peel:

Of course, a blog entry of mine wouldn't be complete without a couple completely random, unnecessary pictures of Brent and me, so here they are!

This is my favorite, although it sorta looks like Brent is trying to strangle me:

And again:

Finally, I have a funny story that proves that you can sell me anything. Brent and I went to CVS the other night because I had to get new soap, exfoliator, etc. I was walking down the shower products aisle when something new caught my eye! Right in between two different brands of shampoo/conditioner was something called Miracle Whip! I was fascinated by the packaging and thought it was absolutely adorable that they called their product "dressing" rather than conditioner. I had no need for new conditioner, but how could I pass up such a clever idea as hair "dressing" called Miracle Whip! I examined the bottle and would have put it in my basket to try it out if I hadn't at the last moment noticed that it said "Makes a better turkey sandwich!" Oh, apparently it was sandwich spread that someone put back in the wrong place:

Oh well, isn't this what The Blonde Excuse is all about? Anyway, I hope you all had a great week and I promise to keep on top of my blog a little better now that I'm slightly more organized. Goodnight!

Posted by lauren at 10:38 PM | Comments (5)

January 27, 2007

Guest Blogging

I know I really haven't been keeping up-to-date with my blog lately, but I have had a lot of boring school stuff going on. I promise to post again soon, but until then, check out Jocelyn's site, Rock Star Diary, because I just guest-blogged for her while she's away in Vermont for a while. I put up a bunch of embarrassing drunken pictures from the past two and a half years of college. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by lauren at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2007

Back To School

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but I've been busy moving back into school and getting my room organized. Anyway, I left off with the last week of my vacation when I went to Woodstock, VT with my parents, Brent, and Brent's parents. We all stayed at The Woodstock Inn which is one of my favorite places. My family on my dad's side has been going there since the 30s or something and we're not about to break tradition.

Here are a few things around Woodstock, VT.

The library:

Some cool building:

Brent hiding:

Brent liked this door at the local art gallery:

To keep occupied, my parents, Brent, and I went to the Simon Pearce glass factory where we got to watch glass blowers:

Brent and I went somewhere below the glass blowing floor to check out the hydroelectric generator... because I'm a huge dork and asked if we could:

I have no idea:

Waterfall outside:

Video so that you can see it better:

What would a trip to Vermont be without a covered bridge?

Me by the waterfall:

Brent by the waterfall:

Well:

We thought this house was cool, it looks over the waterfall:

Brent and me (trying to take it ourselves):

And with a little help:

Mom and Dad:

Clearly, it's Brent's job to take unflattering pictures of me (I think I was looking at the lamp above me):

Brent:

Some other house we liked:

Brent and I went to a local bookstore later that night where we saw this beautiful black cat named Mr. B:

That night, we had dinner at Bentley's, our usual spot, where I had maple mustard chicken and Brent and I split the most gigantic brownie sundae ever. Back at the inn, Brent taught me how to play chess and then we all went to bed because we had an early morning the next day. Brent, my dad, and I went to Killington to ski for the day where we had a lot of snow (something we haven't had much of this year in CT):

Brent fell asleep on the way back to the inn:

There's probably more to say but I've gotten behind, yet again, so I'm going to end this here. Needless to say, we had a very nice weekend with a good day of skiing. Goodnight everyone!

Posted by lauren at 08:36 PM | Comments (2)

January 17, 2007

Moms Date

So, back in elementary school, Cathy's mom, Molly's mom, and my mom used to get to see each other a lot but now that we're older, our moms don't get to hang out quite as much and they miss each other, so we all planned a Mom Date at Penang Grill right off of Greenwich Ave. for the three of us and our moms. I don't think we were really invited... but Cathy, Molly and I didn't want to miss out on a free dinner on our mommies.

Cathy's mom, my mom, and Molly's mom:

Molly, Cathy, and Me:

We shared a lot of Asian food that was all delicious so I definitely recommend going there or getting take-out!

Posted by lauren at 07:43 PM | Comments (2)

Dangerfield's

Last Monday, I went into the city to go out to dinner and a comedy club with a bunch of my friends. Ali planned everything for us and met Vanessa, Molly, and me in the city with her boyfriend, Greg.

Before I get started, these are my new Marc Jacobs shoes that I wore for the first time that night:

First, we all went to the East River Cafe where we all had different kinds of gnocchi and a really good wine that Greg picked out.

Ali, Greg, and Vanessa at the restaurant:

Molly and Me:

After dinner, we walked across the street to Dangerfield's, the comedy club, where we met up with two of Greg's friends from home. The seven of us got in, ordered drinks, and waited for the show to start. Molly and I both ordered the most disgusting cosmos ever. They were entirely clear, there was really no color whatsoever, so they were obviously way too strong. We drank them anyway. When the show started, the comedians made fun of everyone in the audience. I don't remember everything they said, but they made fun of Vanessa's laugh, yelled at Vanessa, Ali, Molly, and me for laughing about nothing, and called Molly and me "'The OC' girls who are too busy with thier lipgloss to know what's going on." Oh well. It was a lot of fun and I think we'll end up doing something like this again soon.

Dangerfield's:

Molly and me showing off our shoes:

Molly being Molly:

I'd like to say that this picture has something to do with this entry, that it's a speeding train on the way home or something, but it's actually a picture taken on the highway on the way home from Geoff and Kari's but I liked it too much not to put it up:

My vacation is winding down and I don't have a lot to do now that almost all of my friends have gone back to college, so hopefully I'll be caught up soon with blog entries. Have a great day everyone and wish Jocelyn well after her surgery yesterday!

Posted by lauren at 10:59 AM | Comments (4)

January 16, 2007

Second Christmas

So I haven't blogged recently because I've been in Vermont with my parents, Brent, and Brent's parents skiing.

Anyway, last Sunday my parents and I went to Geoff and Kari's house for second Christmas. We weren't able to see them on actual Christmas, so we had another Christmas celebration with everyone just a little late. Kari's parents were there, too, which was especially nice so we got to see the whole family.

First, here are a couple pictures from the car ride to Geoff and Kari's in Pennsylvania. These are my new Kate Spade shoes that I love:

And some pretty clouds:

Brady with the ATV I got him:

Mom and Brady:

Dad and Brady:

Kari and her mom:

Group shot:

Brady with his two grandfathers:

The cat, Simba, climbing into the Mickey Mouse chair from my parents:

The delicious dessert Kari made:

Brady standing up:

Geoff and Brady:

More pictures soon, I promise! I'll try not to keep getting behind like this, goodnight everyone!

Posted by lauren at 09:56 PM | Comments (2)

January 11, 2007

On Little Cat Feet

I was trying to come up with a title for this entry that would involve both fog and cats (to go along with the pictures I took) and it made me think of that Carl Sandburg poem that goes "the fog came in on little cat feet." Anyway, as usual, I'm behind on entries, but nowhere near as behind as Brent who is over strep throat, back home from San Francisco, and no longer has any excuse not to be posting right now.

Frisky happily napping on a heated blanket:

The fireplace at the yacht club, still decorated for Christmas:

On the way out from the club there was really thick fog everywhere and if it hadn't been nighttime, I would have taken some really cool pictures. I did get this one though of the yacht club:

Posted by lauren at 09:46 AM | Comments (1)

January 07, 2007

Sand In My Shoes

So I went to the beach with my dad and our dog, Chloe, a few days ago. The weather has been so crazy lately, yesterday it was 70 degrees and sunny in JANUARY! I would love it if it weren't for the fact that I have a ski trip coming up next weekend that requires snow. But back to the beach... this is a very similar entry to last year's The Beach in Greenwich entry with pictures from almost exactly one year ago.

At the beach, Chloe had on her flannel jacket (yes, our dog has a very extensive wardrobe) despite the warm weather:

Not the only dog at the beach:

Don't litter:

Self portrait, of sorts:

Rock stacks:

I'm sure these were made by random people, but there actually is an artist who uses nature to make beautiful art and then photographs it and he has been known to do (far more extensive) rock stacks such as these.

Chloe and my dad:

Greenwich Point or Tod's Point (it's called both) has a lot of beautiful white bridges:

Very similar to a picture I took last year:

Shells covering one whole part of the beach:

We have a beautiful view of the New York City skyline from our beach, but the day was a little too hazy to see it well so I used PhotoShop to take out the color and kick up the contrast so that you could see better. Here is the original followed by the high contrast shot:

Me, Dad, and Chloe (the little sliver on the right):

When my friend Jim and I were little, we thought that Yoda from Star Wars lived in this rock and spent countless hours trying to break him out. We were that cool:

Cool trees:

Many a kite has come here to die:

Barge:

I've been busy lately and have gotten behind on a few entries, but I should be caught up soon. Just to give you a quick update, I've gotten together with all my high school friends a lot lately and we've been watching scary movies, namely The Descent which got us all screaming. Unfortunately, Alberto had to go back to college already, but everyone else has about a week left so hopefully I'll get some good pictures before we all go back to school.

Posted by lauren at 03:17 PM | Comments (6)

January 03, 2007

Happy New Year 2007!

I spent this New Year's Eve at home with my parents, my grandparents, and Brent. Before posting my pictures from our little party at home, though, I have a video of our dog, Chloe. Chloe is a basenji which is a really weird breed of dog. She can't bark (she yodels instead), she has a curly little pig tail, she can supposedly climb trees, and apparently she licks herself clean like a cat. We had read somewhere when we were researching breeds of dogs to get that basenjis clean themselves like cats do, but we had yet to see it happen... until now:

Isn't she cute?

Anyway, later that night, my grandparents arrived with this giant DAR platter. We call it the DAR platter for obvious reasons... but also because my grandma uses it for her DAR luncheons:

The ham my grandparents brought over:

Delicious bread:

My dad opening some champagne:

Pink champagne:

The cream puff cake that I picked out for us:

Poppy reaching for the cake:

Grandma and Poppy:

Brent and Me:

My dad:

Brent:

Poor Brent has strep throat now. I didn't even know you could get strep throat after elementary school, but apparently you can.

Fireworks outside:

And finally, the really cool Star Wars pajamas I made for Brent:

Best girlfriend EVER.

I haven't taken my camera out with me recently so I don't have any newer pictures, but these past two nights I've spent with my friends watching movies and talking. I'm definitely going to miss everyone once we all have to go back to college, but at least we all keep coming home to the same place.

Happy New Year!

Posted by lauren at 11:40 AM | Comments (3)