RIP Davy Jones

December 30, 1945 - February 29, 2012

I am saddened to hear the news of Davy Jones.  I have been an avid Monkees fan since I was a kid and have carried it on with me into my adulthood.  They were a big part of my life and still are.  My mom always told me I was born in the wrong era.

I used to save whatever birthday or allowance money I earned just to run to Suncoast and purchase episodes of their series on VHS. I remember, the VHS's costs me $14.95 every time.  Only two episodes at a time. Eventually Suncoast (like most of the other stores in the mall) closed down and I couldn't find them in any other stores. I probably gave Suncoast most of their business. I was short all but two of their albums (cds), I had the box set, the movies, shirts -- I acquired quite the collection, even down to the green wool hat that Mike wore.

The Monkees were my first concert when I was only 12. My dad drove my sister and I to the Star Plaza Theater in Merrillville, IN one sunny Friday afternoon in 1998, and I was blown away.  The venue was small. They let people go up to the stage, to possibly get a handshake during a song, or perhaps a rose from the bunch that Davy was holding. I remember being so close that I could see up Peter's nose as he beat a song out on the keyboard. I couldn't have been happier -- I could see up Peter's nose...What a delight. I was staring at his gray/blond hair bouncing in the light as he played. I was starstruck. Peter, Micky and Davy were simply 3 feet away...almost at an arms length.  Davy was dancing about, Mick Jagger style, tossing roses here and there, and much to my disbelief, one flew at me in slow motion. I went back to my seat in a daze. Mike didn't show at this concert, which was disappointing for me.  I kept hoping throughout the night that he would come walking out on stage, waving to all of our grinning faces staring back at him, but he did not.

In fact, before the concert started, I was actually imagining the boys from 1966 running out in their red polyester shirts with 8 gold buttons and gray bell bottoms. I knew they were much older, but my imagination got the best of me. Gosh, I loved them - and I still do.

I still have that rose. It's potpourri now, but I have it.

My heart broke today when I learned of this news.  All of his fans have heavy hearts to see him go.  As Mike Nesmith put it today, "I wish him safe travels".

Good-bye Davy, Rest in Peace, my friend.

Love, Peace and Hugs always.

The Melting Pot

I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews about this restaurant.  I've heard it's not that good, I've heard it's amazing, blabbity blah blah.

 We went on a double date here with our good friends for the first time and we are fans. We made reservations for 8:30, but got there around 8:00 and were sat right away. We started with the featured Sam Adams Boston Lager fondue. You are given small cups of a variety of bread cubes, cauliflour, broccoli and apples for dipping. Our friends got the swiss fondue. The waiter actually prepares the cheese at your table (make sure you take note of this).  Our cheese was made with a half cup of Boston Lager, a few dashes of tabasco, bacon, and scallions. It was amazing. Simple to make, but sometimes it's the simple ingredients that make the best tasting dips. I mean, it's a bowl of cheese, how do you screw that up?  I guess you can though because our waiter accidently put a bit to much nutmeg in the Swiss fondue they ordered, but it was still good. I'm not a big fan of swiss as it is, so I stuck mainly to our pot of deliciousness.

After the fondue, you get a salad. I got a wedge salad, which delighted me. I love the crunchy part of the lettuce that you can eat like an apple, but that's beside the point. Wasn't the best salad I'd ever had, but obviously this is a fondue featured restaurant, not a salad bar. I also didn't realize that goronzola was a moldy green cheese that tastes like farts and smells like feet. If you are not a fan of farts and feet, stick with the cheddar.  Lucky for me, I have a fiance who enjoys the sour yet bold flavors of this abomination of cheese. It dissapeared off of my plate and into Ben's stomach before I could say 'hey, get your face off my plate'. Either way, you are kind of dumb if you go there just to get a salad. Seriously.

For the entree we got was called the Fondue Fusion which was strips of steasoned steak, bbq pork, shrimp, buffalo chicken, lobster tail and mushroom stuffed pasta (I don't like cooked mushrooms normally, but these were good). You also get new cups of vegetables with your meal.

Ben and I got the pot of broth for cooking, and our friends got the oil. I have always had a fear of raw meat, so I was pretty skeptical on the 'cook your own dish' scenerio, but you get the hang of it after a few minutes. In fact, when he set the plate down I had a secret panic attack and kind of felt like running away -- but the food was great. I loved the chicken and shrimp. You also get two different kinds of batter for your meats. It's fun to experiment, and you can't really mess anything up. Everything pretty much goes good with everything. If you're a worrier like me and can't even touch ground beef to make hamburgers in the summer, then just leave the food in longer. Better to be a little overdone then underdone right? Plus my worrying made my friends laugh, so everyone wins right?

They also give you 8 different sauces to work with. I loved the greek goddess sauce. I even ventured into my wild side and spooned a little bit of the bleu cheese sauce onto my steak. The greek goddess is a creamy dillweed/cucumber sauce that you can pretty much slab on anything. Well, I can anyway.

For our chocolate, we got the PB&J. Probably the best thing ever. Strawberries and bananas in a PB&J chocolate? (Homer drool).

Overall, the food was good, our waiter was very nice, and I had a great time. It's a bit pricy, but thankfully, we live too far away to go all the time;-) So basically, if you have no personality, no sense of humor and hate life, I would not suggest going, because it's a great time!  I would also highly advise against it if you are trying to watch your calorie intake because you pretty much take in a days worth in the hour you are sitting there.

So over the summer I ended up quitting the gym completely and took up hula hooping.  I lost 10 pounds in the duration of the time that I was hooping (probably a month and a half), and really loved it.  I got pretty good at it for the most part, but never got my nerve up enough to record myself doing it. I watch these videos on YouTube of these chicks who are amazing, and put me to shame.  Then our laptop broke and I couldn't watch the tutorials anymore to learn more tricks so I didn't spend as much time with it.


I ended up feeling empty after that and rejoined the gym. I figured if I was going to be hooping that I could skip out and try something new for awhile. I also got tired of being stalked by the same guy every morning, and I just got sick of the constant bickering from the same onslaught of people.  The stalker would try to be nonchalant about his stalking, but the attempts were just irritating.  There are timed dials all around the gym that work the ceiling fans above the different work out areas.  Stalker Steve (I have no idea what his real name was) would come over to the cardio equipment where I happened to be biking, and would turn the fans on above me as if they were going to cool him off on the opposite side of the gym where he was doing squat thrusts or whatever. This became a repeated occurrence. Finally one day, he came over and turned the dial on the fans (which were already on) and then made his move. He started talking to me and asking me why I left at 8:45 every morning. I told him I have a job. His response was something that made me think that he thought I was in high school. Even creepier considering Stalker Steve was probably in his 30's. Let's just say I was not overly nice about his annoying and pathetic advancements. This went on for about 3 days.  I was not nice to him. In fact, I will admit I was flat out rude, but come on. Get the hint already. I'm convinced that had he flat out asked me on a date and I told him that I was married, he would have asked me when he could pick me up for our date. It's even more annoying when guys hit on you that you're not interested in, but you're not wearing any make up on top of it, and sporting baggy sweats, a men's t-shirt with pit stains, and wal-mart shoes. Ok, now you KNOW they are just desperate. Gosh.


Maybe I was just being over cynical of them but I needed a break. I didn't want to work out after work because that's when all the high schools over take the place.  Did you ever notice how high school boys act at the gym? A majority of the time, when they aren't tickling each other, they are flexing in front of the mirror and giggling...I witnessed this a majority of the time when I did work out in the afternoon and it bothered me.


So I rejoined after that month and half or so. A lot changed in that time I was gone. Half the morning people quit or transferred gyms, so I didn't have to listen to that anymore, and Stalker Steve seemed to have nabbed himself a girlfriend who shows up in his car now and again and works out there.  He won't even look at me now and I couldn't happier.