artykins

Hello again! I've got a few minutes before Mr. Arty gets home and dinner is well on its way to yumminess in the oven, so I'm beached on my sofa like a blue whale who just happens to blog.

Things have been going right along for me and the husband. Matt's green card process is long and drawn out, but the good news is that he applied for a social security number and they should be able to generate one for him within 24 hours. Finally! A government agency that doesn't drag its feet in producing a legal document! And Matt only had to wait 25 minutes at the social security office, which made me angry. I had to wait two hours just to change my last name when I got married and I'm a freaking citizen that votes!

All that aside, though, I'm really pleased that he'll have a social security number. It means we can do things like apply for joint credit and he can actually be added to the payroll where he works. He spoke with the woman who handles all the accounts at work and she tried to add him, but ran into a snag with a SSN (social security number). Long story short, she wasn't able to add him because he lacked a SSN, so we did some research and found out that lacking a green card doesn't prohibit a legalized alien from applying for and obtaining a SSN. Yay for us!

So that was the news of the day, really.

Matt and I are looking to buy a piano within the next two weeks. He's got his eye on a couple possibilities. Both are upright pianos as our flat doesn't lend itself to a grand piano...as much as we'd love to get a grand piano. But then again, given the price tag of grands, I don't think we'll ever buy one.

That said, the choices have been slimmed down to a Bechstein and a Sauter, both pretty good pianos. Heck, Sauters are sexy pianos. Our cousin, Diana (whom my faithful ones have heard about before), was house sitting for her boss, who is a doctor, and he had a grand piano that was a Sauter. It was HOT. The Bechstein is also a sexy little number, so the choice will be hard for Matt, I'm sure.

Both have been offered to us for a steal. To give you an idea, the Sauter we were looking at this past weekend should be retailing for between $35,000 and $40,000, but it was offered to us for much less. It's still a big hunk of cash, but it's something that'll last us the rest of our lives. And really, when it comes down to it, I don't see the point of buying a cheap piano.

Matt is an accomplished pianist and doesn't need a cheap piano to learn. He needs one that he can grow into and one that can grow with him. Regardless of what we choose, I think the Bechstein and Sauter both fit our needs. Personally, I'd really like to see the Bechstein in our ownership. There are several reasons why, one of them being the salesman pushing the Sauter was smarmy and saccharin. I didn't care for him at all. The guy who sells the Bechstein, however, is much nicer and actually has a mutual friend of mine.

Anyway, here's hoping!

The next three weeks all hold hope in them for me.  You see, the next three consecutive Fridays are going to be wonderful days.  Tomorrow my brothers and uncle are coming over for dinner and then we're all going to go see Burn After Reading.  Next Friday, Chipotle opens up it's newest location just three blocks from my flat!  I'm so incredibly excited about that!  Good news follows in that vein since the brother and uncles are coming over again to have dinner there and play some games.  The Friday after that is the really big one.  Oh, baby, it's gonna be great.

On the 10th, I'll be at Disneyland!!!!! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!

I'm SO very excited about this trip.  It'll be Matt's first time there, which I'm not all together sure he's excited about, but that's just the way he is, I suppose.  He's been to Southern California before and he's seen, smelled and tasted the delights of Hollywood.  We went to see Wicked at the Pantages there the last time we were in town.  But this time we'll be a little further south in Anaheim.  We're going to Orange County.

As it stands, we should be meeting up with Chrissy (Jeff's amazing girlfriend) and Sara (our amazing cousin).  Funnily enough, Chrissy is a freshman as Azusa Pacific and Sara just graduated from Azusa Pacific.  It would follow, therefore, that amazing people go to Azusa Pacific.

Personally, I wouldn't mind going there.  I'd also like to give Pepperdine the once-over.  Jeff was there last weekend (it was Chrissy's birthday, so he went down to celebrate with her) and wandered around the Pepperdine campus because they happened to go there one afternoon.  He said it was beautiful.  Of course, he also got to spend the day at the Santa Monica Pier and in Malibu.  Douche bag.

I'm writing to Julia this week sometime to ask her to set aside some new ta-tas shirts for us.  Jeremy wants the one that says 'Ta-tas are awesome!' which really doesn't surprise any of us.  'Ta-tas make me happy' would also be fitting.  Jeff wants just a plain one and I'm considering the one that says 'Fabulous Ta-tas' because let's face it...my bosom is glorious (that last bit is taken from Emily, a friend of mine).  Matt has the one that says 'My Wife Has Great Ta-tas' and that pleases me immensely.

If you can't tell by now by the seemingly disjointedness of this particular blog, let me say it's been penned over the series of days.  Lately I haven't been in a 'sit down and blog' mood.  It's come to me in short spurts, so this is the result of that.

THis weekend was fun.  It involved chocolate cake, champagne, celebrating my mom and dad's 28th wedding anniversary and lots of games.  The majority of our time has been spent playing Mille Borne (a French card game), but other games have included Skip-Bo and Yahtzee.  Matt actually beat my high score, the douche bag!  And what's so upsetting is that he did it only by eight points.  My high score was 520 and he scored a 528, thus my anger towards him.

The injustice of it all worked out in the end, though.  Matt failed to win a single game of Mille Borne and the majority of the time he lost to me.  There are a few things I'm really good at.  Cooking is one of them.  Cleaning is another.  And playing to win is another.  You see, my dad is a strategy shark.  He ALWAYS wins games that involve strategy.  He'll actually sit there at the table with us when we're playing cards and actually card count out loud:

Dad: "Let's see...Arty played the ace of spades, the ace of diamonds is on the table, which leaves the clubs and the hearts in play."

Me: "Just play, daddy."

Dad: "Your mother doesn't have any aces, but I suspect you have the hearts, 'cause that's the high suit, which again leaves the ace of clubs somewhere in the pull deck."

Me: (muttering under my breath) Damn it!

Dad: (calmly plays his card and smirks).

As annoying as it is, a few things have rubbed off on me apart from my dad's stubborn streak.  He taught me how to be a card shark without reservation, so you can bet your bottom dollar that if I can play a card to ruin the chances of someone else, I'll do it!  Yeah.  I'm that person you hate to play games with.  It actually proves to be amusing since Matt is a really competitive player as well.  I have some fun with him.

Come to think of it, I'm kind of twisted that way.  But I digress.

My parents get-together was nice.  It was just us, them and my grandmother.  Everyone else had prior engagements to attend, but we all met up about 9ish and had cake together with the champagne.  And let me just go on the records has saying that chocolate cake and champagne is heavenly.  The only other thing that could have been added to make it better would have been some freshly sliced strawberries.

So now I'm home, on my sofa, all showered and wrapped up in a nice, big, fuzzy robe that I got on my honeymoon.  Matt is right next to me browsing Amazon for some music.  Currently it's Cuban music and I'm approving just because I happen to love that kind of music.

I also happened to discover an amazing breakfast this weekend.  Thanks to the 'mention' Brian (Brian is one of Matt's boss people, but you'd never know it, he's so laid back) gave it, Matt continued on to mention it to me and I, having the necessary ingredients and the wherewithal to know my way around a kitchen, made it for him.  It consisted of two fried eggs, sunny side up, avocado that had been cubed and some Cholula.  

I can almost hear my tios cringing with this breakfast.  Not exactly a heart-patient's best breakfast, I know, but I had two avocados left over and I wanted to use them.

I didn't share Matt's breakfast experience.  I had an omelette with some scallions and avocado.  Still, I may have shared some Cholula with Matt. 

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some sleep.  I napped for two and a half hours today and I'm still ready for bed.  It's kind of sad, really.  Don't judge me.

Later Days,
Arty