Practice makes better than you did before

English
Aden

Tigrinya
http://depts.washington.edu/llc/olr/tigrinya/v_TIG_001/mov/v_TIG_001_113_ref.mov
http://depts.washington.edu/llc/olr/tigrinya/v_TIG_001/mov/v_TIG_001_169_ref.mov
http://depts.washington.edu/llc/olr/tigrinya/v_TIG_001/mov/v_TIG_001_104_ref.mov

That should be right...haha

Peoples Drug

TGIF. *Sigh*

Tomorrow, Chris and I are going down to Wilmington for my sister's graduation. I've only been there once and it was more of a drive through with a pitstop at UNC-W. And of course you all know how much I love the beach, so being that close will just make me tingle. Like a jelly-fish hug.

So, tonight should be tame. The spring semester has come to a close and I had the rude awakening that in less than two weeks, I am going to start summer classes. If at all possible, I hope to take a...a...um...oh, yea, a break.

Ooooh, i have some Pinecroft in the fridge.


My parents just told Chris about how I would pronounce the Arabic word for refrigerator like "apologize" when I was a kid. I was such a trip.

Elizabeth's Pizza for lunch today. We might see Tom! I already perused the menu, as usual, and picked out some options. The only other time I went there was with MM a whiiiiile ago. Today's task: tiramisu.

I just had a sudden, weird feeling about prioritizing that task above all others.

Last Sunday, Chris and I went to Natty Greene's to have lunch with my parents. I basically forced them to go there because it's so Greensboroish. I was utterly confused by the menu; I apparenly had the old menu imprinted in my brain because I couldn't get around the new menu without stretching first. It was a sad afternoon, finding out that my favorite T&A was off the menu (replaced by the Turkey Razz), but I ordered it with avocado and my usual cheddar cheese and continued to love Natty Greene's soon after.

We continued our spending spree of non-existent money at Sticks and Stones for dinner. We met up with some old friends and went back in time to when that corner was all about some Wild Magnolia. It was one flashback after another! I guess when you have a sanitation score lower than the legal drinking age, you have a problem.

I didn't like any of the pizza. *Sad face*. But, I am totally willing to try something other than what I had. The rosemary garlic fries were too...powdery...but the fried mozzarella with pesto was great. The restaurant looks great inside, which I enjoyed even though I was shivering like I was in an ice hotel.

Hmmm. Let me look at that Elizabeth's menu again so I don't take an hour and a half to order.

More than Enuf

Man, Harris Teeter has some real Unreal Deals this week.

This is going to be an entry mainly about food.

Well, this morning, I was around N. Church way before my shift started, so I drove around trying to find somewhere to go for lunch(hmmm...wonder how much gas I've been buying lately). I squeezed through State Street and cruised around State Street Station and Cornwallis Court. Then, I saw it...well, I forget what the place is called, but it was a smoothie shop! I thought about it for hours.

And all for naught. I walked up the stairs in the Court (about 30 seconds of exercise) and stood in front of the shop's windows and the closed blinds. I tried to open the door...and tried a bit harder, just in case. No luck. Man, I was genuinely sad. Like a kid that let go of her balloon.

I zoomed down Cornwallis with no real destination in mind. I was hoping that I would just come up on something interesting. I did stop to stare through the windows of Carolina Coffee & Tea, but for some reason I was too anxious to go in there. I almost sneaked into the Golden Gate HT. But, I resisted.

And ended up at the Gucci Teeter instead.

I didn't mean to, though. I was still looking for a smoothie (and no, I never go in the Golden Gate Starbucks...or any Starbucks). I knew that there was something on Lawndale, but I found out that it was just another Juice Shop. Boo on sherbert*.

I swung around to Green Valley, blew a kiss to the IHOP, and dashed down to the MegaMonsterTeeter. Ah, sweet relief. Oh, Friendly Teeter, you and your indulgent selection. I almost got the turkey meatloaf (no blue cheese, yay!) with some black bean corn salsa (try it!) but I was also eyeing the sushi counter. I patted myself on the back for the two bananas, two kiwis, and container of raspberries* I got to round out whatever else I got. But as soon as I got that $3 cutie-pie plastic container of raspberries, I knew I'd spend more than I should. I have been spending way too much money on "lunch" these past few (many) weeks. I ended up getting the veggie spring roll wrap thing and was proud of my avoidance of staring into the eyes of Little Debbie the devil.

My teeth hurt now. The luscious avocado tricked me into fighting with every other crunchy vegetable so cutely sliced in there. My mouth hurts. =(


*Wow, I didn't know there were two ways to spell sherbert/sherbet. Gross either way.
**After my initial jubilee that I could finally get a bottle of Enuf at the Friendly Teeter, I was shocked at the 47 grams of sugar. I wish I didn't look. =( Got fruit instead...mmm sugar AND fiber. Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

Carrot Town

We may not have celebrated poblano-style, but we had a nice night out for Cinco de Mayo. Oh, besides the thunderous storm.

After class, I caught up with peoples at El Carretón/Carrot Town/The Wheel Barrow. I was entirely anxious because of (1) the rain, (2) the thought of trying to find parking because (3) I knew it'd be super crowded.

It was a nice, short night. Chris and I left pretty early and I got way more sleep last night than the night before but I thought it was odd that I didn't crash at all yesterday after only three hours of sleep the night before. I think I had the most energy yesterday than in recent history. I hope it went to good use.

I tell you what, I used some of that energy to ravenously inhale 640 calories of innocent peanut butter cups of a brand that I will not name for it is the name of the devil. *Sigh* I tried to make up for it but buying a bunch of those SoyJoy bars on sale at one of my lovely CVS-es. I don't even like those, I don't know why I continue to wait for them to be on sale. I mean, look, I get the whole whole food soy bar thing, but what is the purpose of Parmesan cheese in this thing? Tacky.



I guess what's tackier is that I ate them all at once. Or, within a couple of hours. That was way healthier than my dinner choice, which I am actually way too ashamed to describe here. So, in place, I will describe what the guy in line in front of me at the Harris Teeter was buying: a 12-pack of Busch Light, 2 24oz. cans of Icehouse, and a Marie Calendar's chicken pot pie.

Whew. I feel better already.

Low On Ink

Let's calculate how Aden will run on three hours of sleep between now and well past 9PM tonight.

Math can be ugly.

Cute Food

I can't believe I thought that I had a power train in my mouth. I just realized that it's a power chain. Either way, it sounds cool. And, either way, it's been hurting like craaaaaazy. Ibuprofen for dinner, yum.

Do you know why I love Karen? Because we have both, apparently, been visiting food blogs. And not just any food, but cute food.

http://epicute.com/
http://www.cakespy.com/
http://veganyumyum.com/

And so on.

El mundo es un pañuelo...(you know the rest)

HealthServe on Cone has exceptional reading material in its waiting room. Bravo. I can do without the Better Homes and Garden*, but I can't complain.

I rushed from my shift there to the orthodontist for my monthly metalworks and to explain in shame that I busted my wires. I couldn't wait to get out of there--don't get me wrong, the ortho's office is quite nice--but I was looking forward to all of the food I could inhale that had a texture harder than water.

I think that this odd taste on my lips now is...orthodontic assistant blue glove powder. It's making my smoothie taste terrible. Oh, so I did actually get a smoothie. Despite my dreams of mild crunchiness and prudish chewiness, I actually got a smoothie since I had been craving one since the weekend.

I was on my way to my normal smoothie-ing hole, The Fruit Bar, but in my dilemma to get either the 16oz. or a craving-satisfying/hunger-teasing pastry and/or brownie at Spring Garden Bakery, I made a quick right and tried something new. More or less.

I still got the pastry and the smoothie, but I finally stopped by The Coffee Break to check it out, hoping for the best, and I got pretty good! I eyed the decent assortment of sodas (including throwbacks** like Nehi in glass bottles)and cakes, pastries, cookies, brownies, and, well everything else I have been trying to avoid. Wondering whether they took debit or not, I decided to either buy whatever would amount to at least $4 or walk out. Tate St. Coffee has trained me well. I saw the smoothies on the menu, made sure that there was no moo in them, and then ordered a Guava-something-something-Blast, small. I decided to also get something to gnaw on, tempted by the other sweets selection, outside of the refrigerated case. I was surprised to see some mmm mini-cinnamon rolls...but they, and the mini-brownies, looked suspiciously (read: exactly) like the minis at Earth Fare. Not that I don't love them, but suspicious. Since I knew I loved those, I tested a cheese danish instead, against the ones I got at Deep Roots and Spring Garden Bakery. This is how I get my kicks, people. Sad.

Anyhow, all in all, it was a good experience. The smoothie was watery and no-real-fruit-sadness, but for one made from a mix, it was OK. Less sweet that Tate St. Coffee's but less thick than the one from Manny's. Maybe I should find the parts to my fake Magic Bullet so I can make these things homemade again. With real fruit.

*Thanks for the tip, BH&G. Get a $5 chair, it's a steal! Looks great, but get that $90 chair cover to complete the look! Right.
**I felt awkward using the word throwback. It just didn't feel right. Whew.