Eggcellent!

Remember the days when you would get together with your siblings a day or two before Easter, and your mom would set out cups of dye and some boiled eggs and you would see who could leave one of there eggs in the longest? . . . No? Maybe that was just my family.

Well now we're all grown up, and 2 of my siblings don't even live in the same state, so we don't really see each other on Easter, let alone get together to dye eggs.

However, I live at home again (temporarily), and my older younger sister drove up from San Diego, so we decided to dye eggs. EXCEPT we decided that egg dye was stupid and lame. The eggs can only absorb so much, and when you decorate eggs that way it's really just putting eggs into a cup and waiting. Sure it was amazingly fun when I was ten, but I've matured so much since then, and my sister and I wanted to decorate eggs like grown ups.

We decided to go with acrylic paint. That's right! Real paint, with paint brushes! The possibilities were endless!

So, I bought some paint, my mom boiled some eggs, and when my sister arrived we were ready to get creative!

Now, I'm not going to lie, thinking of designs to paint on an egg is not as easy as it sounds, and my sister and I started out by dipping our brushes in some paint and hoping a design would come to us once the brush touched the egg. This is why my first egg was just purple. This is also why most of my sisters eggs were ugly.

But eventually we got the hang of it. Here is a list of the names we gave some of the eggs :

1.) Crying Jesus Egg - this was basically an egg that I put some red spots on, which made me think of blood, and then inspiration struck. I turned it into an egg with a crown of thorns. BRILLIANT!

2.) The Madelyn Egg - this egg was done by my sister and is by far my least favorite egg. Basically she was trying to paint the San Diego Chargers symbol. She thought it would be soooo easy, I knew it wouldn't but she insisted on trying. The bolt she painted was no good so she turned it into a painting of me with short hair. (sigh)

3.) The Cow Egg - This egg was specifically made for my mom who LOVES cows. She'll deny it up and down, but they are her absolute favorite. If you ever want to get her something, just buy anything with a cow on it. Anyway, this was basically just an egg with brown spots on it . . . you know, similar to spots a cow would have.

4.) The Charger Egg - My sisters efforts to make a Charger egg failed multiple times, so I decided to give it a go. Of course it came out perfect.

5.) The Clover egg - Working on these eggs was taking longer than we thought (or wanted). About an hour and a half in, we still seemed to have a lot of eggs left to paint, not to mention the work we had left on the ones we had already started. So I began putting nonsense on some of them. THe first of these was the clover egg.

6.) The Music Egg - The second of the nonsense eggs

7.) The Bowling Pin Egg - The third and most brilliant of the nonsense eggs. It started out as a bowling ball. And actually it's both a pin and a ball . . . the ball being on the side you can't see in the pictures below. I'm very proud of this egg.

8.) The Clown Egg - this egg took a lot of time because it involved a lot of in between drying time. I had no planned design for this egg, I would just pick it up and add to it. In the picture, it's the egg next to the bowling pin egg, and below the purple egg. My sister said it reminded her of a clown which is how it got it's name.

9.) The Purple Egg - I already talked about this egg and I think it's pretty self explanitory.

The other eggs were painted by my sister and they don't really have names other than "The ugly Eggs" a nickname given by me. I can't really tell you what her thought process was during the creation of these designs, but perhaps we will be lucky enough for her to leave a comment in which she tells us exactly what she was thinking.

So here they are, my egg masterpieces, and the ones my sister painted. Let me know what you think.

3 truths and a lie

How well do you know me? Lets find out. It's time for another game of "Three Truths and a Lie"! Can you guess which one is the lie.

1.) I have what some might call a nervous tick. Whenever I am at work, and I walk by a fellow co-worker, instead of looking at them and smiling, I look at them and close one eye. I can't tell you why I do it, it just happens.

2.) I was so bored the other day, that I got my skateboard out of storage and attempted to do tricks on it for about 10 minutes, before giving up.

3.) Last week my boss told me he was going to start calling me "Cup Of Noodles" because I always eat them on my break.

4.) Although I have lost almost every driver's license that I've ever had, I still have my very first one.

Hopefully, I will stump all of you. I think I still owe Cadiz a prize for getting the last one I did correct. Don't worry Cadiz, you will have your prize.

Good Luck!

Driving and Easter and Nicotine oh my!

Yesterday was April 7th. On April 7th of 2000 I was officially given permission to drive a car alone. I would use the word, but every time I try and spell it it never looks right. It's a hard word to spell. I mean, is the c first, or the s. Sure I could just look it up, but I'm pretty lazy these days.

Easter is only 5 days away, and thank God! The things I gave up for lent have been tempting me everyday. I rarely give something up that I struggle with the entire time. So it has been a good challenge. I know they say you are allowed the things you gave up on Sundays, but I personally consider that to be cheating. Cough, mom, cough.

It just seems to me, that if you are going to give something up, it needs to be all or nothing. It's not like people who quit smoking can smoke every Sunday. But maybe that's not a fair comparison, what with the nicotine and all.

Speaking of addiction. . . what's up with candy? I think there might be nicotine in there too. I guess the FDA is only interested in double checking for that type of thing if the product contains tons of different chemicals and carcinogens. Well I for one want answers!

Okay, so maybe there's not nicotine in candy, but I'm pretty sure its in Red Bull.

Oh and here's another question. If they can sell the nicotine in a patch without the tobacco, then why can't they sell the tobacco without the nicotine. It seems to me that is what they should be pushing the tobacco companies to do. That way, if people want to smoke they can't blame nicotine for why they keep doing it.

I'm sure there's an answer out there, I'm just to lazy to look it up.

Oh the Frustration

As most of you already know, I am a server. Yes, I do have a college degree, but whoever said all you need to do in order to have a good career is go to college was a liar . . . okay maybe not a liar, just not a fortune teller. Back then (and by then I mean when my parents were my age) this degree would have gotten me a lot farther. Now I need experience too. COME ON!

So here I am, 25 years old, still serving tables, and once again living with my parents. (insert sarcastic tone here) Life is good.

Sometimes I feel like people use the state of our economy as an excuse. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good excuse, but sometimes people take it a little far.

For example, if you think you can afford to eat out, but then feel you can't afford to leave a proper tip, then you can't afford to eat out!

Lately I've been getting the worst tips I have ever gotten in the history of my serving experience. And yes, I know the economy is bad, but maybe you could've just gotten one appetizer instead of two, or maybe you shouldn't have ordered that second round of drinks. It's simple logic really.

Servers are not there for the minimum wage they are earning every hour. They don't "Love" what they do. They are there for the tips.

T-I-P-S : To Insure Proper Service

I'm not going to lie, I don't always give the best service. But when I do, it drives me insane to see that I was left 0 -2 dollars on a 60 dollar check. No, I'm not exaggerating here. This is my reality.

I'd have to say one of my worst experiences was yesterday. I had a party of ten. They were a fairly easy group, and I knew I could also add gratuity* onto the check. Unfortunately, when the time came, I completely forgot to get it added and I dropped the check. A few minutes later I realized what I had done and tried to calm myself down.

The check was 116 dollars. They gave me 93 in cash and 2 credit cards. On one they wanted 12 dollars, on the other $15. When I saw this I became even more enraged. I've had it happen several times before. Everyone puts in money and they just assume the tip is taken care of as part of it. So I specifically wrote on the check 93 + 12 +15 = 120.

Apparently this didn't phase them. They left no additional money. Even 10% of that check would have been $7.60 more than they left me.

The message I am trying to send today is this: Everybody enjoys eating out. There's just something about being waited on hand and foot that makes you feel special. However, none of this would be possible without servers, so YOU NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THEM! Because once again, they are NOT doing it for the minimum wage.

* Just because I know gratuity will be added does not mean I don't try to give them the best service I possibly can.

Everyday

Everyday I think to myself "I really need to post today" so I sit there, and sit there, trying to think of what to say. I've even started a few, but quickly deemed them unworthy. Who knows if this one will even make the cut?

I often consider writing about my life as a server, but I think everyone knows how I feel about that.

I think about updating you on Penguin Palace, but, I have no pictures to show you.

I've tried posting about my thoughts on exercise, but then I get bored just typing about it.

Finally, I've tried posting about my recent obsession with "Frasier", but then I just feel pathetic.

Today

Who decided that if you aren't wearing green on St Patricks day you deserve to be pinched?

I'm not even Irish.

Why is green so important to these people?

What if I don't like the color green? Does that mean I have to go out and buy a shirt just for today?

I'm not really sure what is being celebrated today, nor do I really care. I'm pretty sure it's just another excuse for people to drink themselves stupid, only today they put food coloring in the beer.

Well I will have none of it!

On July 4th, we don't go around injuring people if they don't wear red white and blue. Okay, okay, maybe it's because it's asking a lot to wear three different colors, but still, what if I started a tradition where I kicked anyone who wasn't wearing those colors on that day.

It all just seems a little ridiculous.

I'm sorry if you are Irish and I have offended you.

Chicken on the Bone

Has reading my blog become a bore?

Have I let you down in some way?

Are things less interesting now that I live in Ventura?

My recent visitor activity is way down. So these are the questions I have been asking myself lately. I know you are all patiently awaiting pictures of Penguin Palace, but I can only do so much during my time off. For instance, I can visit San Diego. Which is what I'm doing right now.

I realize that the Palace should be my top priority, but it's been a rough ride and I sort of need a break from all the projects. Plus I missed San Diego, so I came during my two days off.

So far it's been fun. Caught up with some old friends, went bowling at Mira Mesa Lanes . . . my favorite place to bowl. And now I'm just relaxing at my sisters . . . you know . . . wearing her cat as my scarf, playing with the cat, cuddling with the cat . . . the usual.

So I'm sorry that my blog has gone down on your list of priorities, but I can be better, I promise, I'll change! Whatever it takes. Just tell me what I have to do to make this work.