5 things on my BRAIN

1. I have decided to start a 2-drink-per-evening max rule. I think it will apply through the end of April with the exception of 2 birthday parties. I have tried before and failed, hopefully this time will be more successful with a less lofty goal.


DON'T DRINK MY BEER (Panama Canal, 2008)

2. I have been drooling over this couch for the last week or so. Well, much much longer than that, but in the last week-ish I have determined that my life will be over if I don't have said couch.
3. Now that I have purchased my jumbo-sized television, I really, really need a Wii. Hopefully Craigslist will pull through for me.

4. I finished The Swimming Pool yesterday and really didn't like it, but I had to finish it to see what happened. I don't recommend.

5. I've started carrying my camera with me again - after football season it needed a little rest (so did the paparazzi, that sucker is heavy!)

The end.

Looking back at this list, it actually quite accurately describes my hobbies and how I spend my time. Drinking with friends, socializing, watching television on my couch, playing video games, taking pictures of everything and everyone and reading. Who said I wasn't well-rounded?

Tweet to Win

I've been a winning machine recently, and I'm not really sure how this happened. I have the worst luck in the world. Up until a few months ago, I could honestly say I had zero luck when it came to winning things. I remember at the Girl Scouts Father Daughter Dance when I was in 2nd grade my dad asked if I wanted a raffle ticket and I basically told him "What's the point?" That's basically been my mantra with raffles & drawings since then. So, imagine my surprise a few months ago when I won a writing contest. So what if it was 100 words or less? I still won! And then, shortly thereafter, I won tickets on Twitter for the Battle of the Burgers!

Just last week, I found out I had won a prize package from the Fox Theatre. Wanna know what I won? 2 tickets to see Messiah Rocks! at the Fox, 2 tickets to the Fernbank & iMAX, $75 in restaurant giftcards, and a night's stay at the Hyatt Place. All for following them on Twitter and letting my followers know that I follow them. My mom and her friend thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I'm really excited to use the giftcards, hotel stay, and Fernbank tickets. I LOVE the Fernbank, seriously!

And now, I've won tickets to go see RENT at FabreFaction. I'll be 100% honest and say I had never heard of Fabrefaction before White Provisions tweeted about it, but now I have the chance to check out a new place, see a show I love, and it's such a personal victory for me when I win something.

I can't WAIT to tell you guys all about RENT, either. I'm taking a girlfriend and maybe we'll even use one of thsoe giftcards beforehand...!

So, in case you are like 3 years tardy to the party, hop on over to Twitter, get yourself an account, and start your following. You'll never know what you could win until you do it! And PS - if you need some good people to follow, check out my list of people I'm following to get some ideas!

Tweet Tweet!

Eating Organic

A friend recently posted a link to this article, discussing which fruits and vegetables are the most important to buy organically (because the most pesticides and chemials are used) and which are the least important to buy organically.

I am not an organic shopper. I consider it a successful day if I have consumed something green, not because I don't like green things, but because eating healthy is hard, and it takes up valuable time. I am also not an organic shopper because I find that, more often than not, buying organic is more expensive, and in my experience, the produce goes bad faster. But, because I'm open to other's opinions and suggestions, I thought I'd post the contents of this article in list form for the whole world to see. And who knows, maybe I'll convince myself by the end of the article to buy organic something.

What you should buy organic:

Celery

Peaches

Strawberries

Apples

Domestic blueberries (not foreign... domestic only please.)

Nectarines

Sweet bell peppers

Spinach, kale and collard greens

Cherries

Potatoes

Imported grapes (the fine grapes grown in the US are a-okay!)

Lettuce

What you could get away with not buying organic:

Onions

Avocados

Sweet corn

Pineapples

Mango

Sweet peas

Asparagus (really? PHEW!)

Kiwi fruit
Cabbage
Eggplant
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Grapefruit
Sweet potatoes
Sweet onions

So there you have it folks. If I were to be an organic shopper, I think I would buy organic eggs, strawberries, blueberries, rasperries, celery, and meats. But alas, I am not. As I commented to my friend, it's just not in my priorities right now. I think it's great for other people, and I will happily eat organically at my friends houses ifi that is how they choose to cook, but they will be eating chicken & pesticided veggies at my casa. Anybody want to come over for dinner tomorrow night?

PS - I'm feeling incredibly guilty for not buying organically. Just thought you should know I guilt-tripped myself.

A Message I Received on a Social Networking Site

I still remember the first time someone complimented my feet. I was 17, in Myrtle Beach, and my best friend & I were in the hot tub at our hotel because it was covered and an afternoon storm had rolled in. Two (really cute) boys got in with us, and I had popped my toes up out of the water. One of the boys told me I had the cutest little toes he had ever seen. I giggled incessantly as any 17-year-old-girl would. Then they proceeded to tell us they were the son's of the owner of the hotel and that we should join them in the penthouse for a party later. Of course we believed them, got all dressed up, and went to the elevator, only to find out there was no penthouse, only a top floor, and obviously chain hotels don't have owners. Hello idiot 17 year old girls. Anyway, back to the point. Apparently my feet precede me, as this gentlemen had no so much as seen a picture of my feet before he sent the following:

him: im startin a foot/shoe modeling website and Im looking for models and just thought I wuld ask if your interested

me: seriously? (at this point i think this is just a lame attempt at a pickup line via the internet)

him: yea??

me: i have big feet (now i'm expecting him to turn this into a sexual conversation)

him: big feet is a good thing

me: you dont even know what my feet look like (why am i being logical?)

him: i dnt

him: i mean r they pretty

me: well i think so but i'm a little biased (i'm really reminiscing on that moment 7 years ago in the hot tub, i can still remember the color of my toenail polish)

him: do u have a pic

me: of my feet? (no katie, of your favorite roller coaster ride. YES YOUR FEET!)

me: no (i'm sure homeboy is thinking 'finally, this girl must be dumb or something')

him: well u could take one

me: they aren't polished right now, i need a pedicure something fierce (100% truth, although now i am only continuing conversation because i think this will make an excellent blog post)

him: man u have every excuse ha

me: i'm just telling the truth, although i can't lie and say i don't think this conversation is a little weird

him: well dnt talk to me? (i thought you'd never ask!)

me: alright, have a great night!

For the record, my feet:

Fun Fact Tuesday

A little bit of trivia for you on a Tuesday afternoon. I have been unable to keep my eyes open since lunch, and I thought this might help some of the rest of you make your afternoons a little more bearable! I added a few of my own comments [in italics after the fact] Enjoy :)

1. Did you know the Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons" has a name? It's Jeff Albertson. But that wasn't the decision of creator Matt Groening.

"I was out of the room when [the writers] named him," he told MTV in 2007. "In my mind, 'Louis Lane' was his name, and he was obsessed and tormented by Lois Lane."

2. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (Ken's last name is Carson.) [my sister should name her child Barbara Carson in tribute]

3. Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch. His ship is the S.S. Guppy.

4. In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty's real name is Patricia Reichardt

5. Snuffleupagus has a first name -- Aloysius. Want more Snuffleupagus trivia? In a Sesame Street scene that never aired, Snuffy's parents announced they were separating. But in testing, children were too devastated by the news, so the idea was scrapped. [children devastated by news of divorce on TV? must have been 1956]

6. The Wizard of Oz rolls off the tongue a lot easier than the man behind the curtain's full name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. From Frank Baum's Dorothy And the Wizard in Oz:

"It was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence." [mean joke, parents. first you have to spell that whole name, and by the time you've figured out how to spell it, everyone else has moved on to calling you pinhead.]

7. Mr. Clean has a seldom-used first name -- "Veritably." The name came from a "Give Mr. Clean a First Name" promotion in 1962.

8. In a deleted scene in the 2006 Curious George movie, The Man With the Yellow Hat's full name was revealed as Ted Shackleford. (Since the scene was deleted, perhaps the last name doesn't count.)

9. The real name of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags is Milburn Pennybags.

10. The policeman in Monopoly has a name, too. You can thank Officer Edgar Mallory the next time he sends you to jail.

11. On Night Court, Nostradamus Shannon was better known as Bull.

12. On Entourage, Turtle's real name is Salvatore Assante.

13. Sesame Street's resident game show host Guy Smiley was using a pseudonym all these years. He was born Bernie Liederkrantz.

14. The Michelin Man's name is Bibendum. [naming these characters might take the cake for best job ever]

15. On Gilligan's Island, Jonas Grumby was simply called The Skipper.

16. The Professor was Roy Hinkley.

17. The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name -- Norville Rogers.

18. The Pillsbury Doughboy's name is Poppin' Fresh. He has a wife, Poppie Fresh, and two kids, Popper and Bun Bun. [oh phew, i was worried he was single!]

19. The patient in the classic game Operation is Cavity Sam.

20. The true identity of The Lone Ranger was John Reid.

21. MacGyver's first name? Angus.

22 & 23. OK, these last two aren't fictional, but just in case it comes up, Bono was born Paul David Hewson, and The Edge's name is David Howell Evans.

All fun facts taken from CNN.com :)