Here's the recipe I grabbed today to try for dinner. Obviously, the only thing I really followed exactly was the temp and the time, everything else I kind of just threw together.

1 5 oz. tilapia fillet
1/2 cup Ranch dressing
1 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups corn flakes
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Grind up corn flakes into crumbs. Mix Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper in
with the corn flake crumbs. Baste the tilapia fillet (both sides) with
Ranch dressing. Coat fish with the crumb mix evenly.

I didn't have corn flakes, so I used panko. BF and I both agree corn flakes would probably be better, and to use a tad less parm next time.

But otherwise? HOLY SHIT this is delicious

Stolen from @Mad_Wife

1. Your detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Purple Panda

2. Your soap opera name (middle name and street you live on): Nicole East Joppa (Or Nicole Joppa? But I'm on East Joppa, so... hm)

3. Your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of last name, first 2 of middle name, first 2 of first name, last 3 of last): Carnilater

4. Superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink): Green Ginger Ale

5. Goth name (black and one of your pets): Black Mal

Sugar rushhhhhhhhhh. I really should stop eating sweets.

So BF and I are suddenly in Hawaii. Don't know how, don't know why, but bam, island. So the first thing I naturally do is text @Arenadi. While I"m waiting for him to text me back and wondering if I even still ahve the right number, we decide to go to the mall we know used to have a restaurant he worked at (which is actually going back to a previous dream I had months ago).

So we go to where the mall used to be, but there's just a vacant lot now. We park my car (how did that get there?!) and I notice the ground is kind of wet but we ignore it and go explore. We see a "cat fighting" ring, but really it's just a ton of people feeding stray cats. But for whatever reason we need to sneak past them? So we get back outside and MC has texted me the address where we could meet him at work so we get into the car, but as soon as I step onto the ground next to the passenger side, I start sinking. BF is having no problems, so I try to scramble into the car, but all of a sudden that starts sinking too, and flipping over. I somehow manage to get out of the sink hole but only after getting coated head to toe in mud and almost dying.

So we get out of that and go immediately to the address we were given, and it's the exact same mall as in my last dream. Like, they basically just plucked it up from it's last location and dropped it in the new one. So we're roaming around and finally find this guy who I also know, so we hug and do the excited to see you dance, even though I have no idea who this guy was, then MC shows up and we do the same thing, then we have to go do something. I don't remember if I was told what, but suddenly the other dude (never caught a name, let's call him Bob) was like "I need to use your niece as bait though." and I was like, wtf? And suddenly  I realized my sister and mom were there, and apparently a niece I didn't know I had. So MC and Bob take the kid and drive off in this huge white  f250, and we're going , uhhhh. So then this little boy comes up, says he's Bob's son, and he's there to show us around.

Too bad Bob's kid just takes us to his mom's house, who is apparently divorced from Bob and having custody issues, so as soon as she sees us, she calls the cops and we're like, shit because we know this won't end well. Bob and MC come back with my supposed niece just as the cops get there, but we know that they had killed a dude (it having something to do with the sink hole from earlier, I don't know, I do remember I wasn't phased by this at all though). So while BF is talking to the cop to distract him, Bob and MC do an identity switch somehow? I don't know. I just know it happened, so then the cop was all "lemmee see your id" and Bob and MC were all, "okay, sure" and then the cop was all "oh it's been a mistake, carry on!"

So we do. And we go out to eat.

Did I mention I was still covered in mud?

Then I woke up.

I make stir fry pretty often for dinner. Ish.

Why ish? Because it's not really a stir fry, not an honest one. I call it that because it has some of the same characters and is easier than saying "Hey honey, do you want that imitation stir fry for dinner?" Back in the day, @Arenadi taught me how to make it. Gave me the general rules, anyway. And it was delicious. But you know what happened? Mom wanted me to make it constantly, and well, I just kind of got burned out on it.

That, and once I started making it after I moved, something tasted off. I have no idea what it was, but there was def something not as great about it. So, I switched things up. Instead of chicken I now use beef (ish. More on that later). I don't marinate it or use cornstarch. I don't do much of the same, to be honest.

But here is what I do do (heh. dodo). It's delicious, and you can name it what you want, but for simplicity sake, I'm just going to continue calling it stir fry.

Ingredients:

Sauces/Spices:

Sesame Oil
Ground Cumin
Molasses
Garlic powder
Rice Vinegar
Worcester Sauce
Soy Sauce

You see the box up there? That's what I use. It SAYS sirloin, but I don't know. What I do know is that it's mighty tasty, even if it comes out of the box looking like this:

I didn't think to start taking pictures until I had gotten past this point. But basically what I do is heat a pan with some sesame oil in it, then put the steaks down (I usually use 2-3, depending on how hungry we are). I then splash some rice vinegar over the steaks, and sprinkle some garlic on them. Flip when ready, then repeat. Once they're "cooked" I start to shake them a bit with my tongs. That causes this to happen:

Yeah, see that? It becomes slices! Or strips! Or whatever that is. It's handy for this. Then I get rid of the fat, sprinkle it with some cumin/garlic, toss in some worcester and soy sauces, and give it a stir.

Then I dump my veggies in.

Once I dump my veggies in, I stir it all up, add some more of the above until I'm happy with it, and let it all cook together for a bit. Right before I add my veggies is normally when I throw some rice in the cooker. Once I feel satisfied that the veggies are getting heated up, I drizzle some molasses in there.

Yeah, molasses. You know why? Because I was bored and was reading the back of the teriyaki sauce bottle and it was basically just that and some other shit thrown in. It's delicious, so don't hate.

So I let that basically just sit and cook while the rice is cooking. This is also where I typically roam around the apartment, check blogs, and come back to stare at the cooker.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

....

Okay, it's done. Hurray!

Plate, serve, eat.

How you're supposed to do it? No. Not by a long shot. But you know what? Shit's delicious.

You know how sometimes babies will sleep with their face on the floor and their butt in the air? That's how boyfriend is laying right now, bare ass naked, reading the Bill Simmons book on basketball. He doesn't like basketball, but he loves Bill Simmons. That meant he had to buy the book. You can't say he's not loyal.

I'd like to take a picture, but the naked thing kind of makes that a bit inappropriate. Not that my boyfriend isn't attractive (He is! at least to me) but you know, I'm sure none of you would like to see that, and he wouldn't enjoy it either.

It's funny how life turns out sometimes. I'd never had imagined that my life would turn out like this. A lazy sunday, completely finishing up my christmas shopping to go home for a day full of sex, snuggles, food, more sex, then brownies. That may be TMI, but it's just so mind boggling to me that I've found somebody who finds me that attractive.

I never imagined I'd be away from Ohio, living in my small, but adorable apartment, a cute nerdy boy laying on the office floor reading a geeky book, me sitting at my computer pleasantly numb, and having a conversation about how anytime I'm in a library/book store, at some point I'll have to poo before I leave. Always. Without fail. And this being okay. This being a freaking awesome way to end the weekend.

The cats are trying to dig their way into a bag too small for them. There's football playing on boyfriend's computer. He's reading me passages that he finds amusing from his book.

And me? Well, I've never been so happy with life before that I just don't know where to start.

Okay, I lied. I could do with a panda. Or a corgi.

@BFB1131 posted up a handwriting challenge. Me, being the person I am, obviously jumped on that bandwagon. Why? Because I love stuff like this, obviously.

Anyway, here's the original post on it: http://bfb1131.xanga.com/757514242/xanga-handwriting-challenge/

Have at it, kids.

Bf's iPod died, so we were talking about upgrades and stuff.

Me, jokingly; you won't upgrade me will you?
Bf: nah, you're warranty is up anyway.
Me: what? When did that happen?
Bf: a couple days after you were born.
Me, confused: huh?
Bf: I don't think there was ever anybody else for me out there.
Me: so, like soulmates?
Bf, rolling his eyes: I hate that term. It's so nichOlas sparks
Me: I don't know what's more impressive. You just called me your soulmate or that you know who Nicholas sparks is.

Watching BF and his friends talk about J and his wife is kind of hilarious. They're like a bunch of little old ladies clutching at their pearls.

So J and his wife got married after a year or so of knowing each other. Wife already has a 3 year old by an old boyfriend, which J lovingly accepted as his own. Not long after the marriage, they announced that Wife is preggers.

J is still in college but working as an intern at a job that he's been promised to have after graduating, which is good, but still money isn't the best right now. Wife was working retail, as an art degree, and plans to quit her job when the kid comes to play stay at home mom.

BF and his friend pearl-clutch over this. Mainly over the money issue, it all happening so fast, etcetc. It's just hilarious to watch. Like I told him last night, if people waited to have enough money to have kids, we'd have died out a long, long time ago.

Is it ideal? No. Would I do it? Fuck no. But is it the end of the world? Silly, no.

Boy's are so cute.

So, as I mentioned the other day, I got a sample of this when I was buying some gifts at Sephora. Considering I had never heard of a BB cream before, it took Jacquie and the googles to tell me what it was, haha. Apparently, this particular one isn't really like the BB creams in Asia, more like a tinted moisturizer. But since I've never used them, I couldn't tell you if this is true or not.

We're getting ready to go out though and I decided to put this stuff on and give it a shot. I thought it covered a shit ton better than my regular foundation does (I use Neutrogena's Oil Free foundation) but it looked a bit dark on me. I asked BF and he said I had the mask thing going on around my neck. So I went in and put a dab of my regular foundation on top and then some powder and asked again. He said he couldn't even tell now. So at least the mask part goes away.

It's not heavy, which is good. I have a pimple on the way that I'm curious to see how it reacts. My main thing with new face stuff is that most tend to make me break out. I just recently got my skin under control, so here's crossing fingers that this doesn't trigger a set back. There was only enough in the tiny bottle for one use though, which made me a sad panda. Sometimes it takes a couple uses of something before my skin decides it wants to play France and chop my head off.

I'll see if I like it still towards the end of the night. My regular foundation tends to wear off within a few hours (on top of not covering well. Sometimes I wonder why I even wear it) but I've heard this sticks around for a while and helps other stuff stay on too.

It's $40 at Sephora for a full sized thing, but with their return policy I may end up just trying a bottle of it anyway.

So, I'm almost done with christmas shopping. I know, I'm getting it done ridiculously fast. I've also sent out christmas cards already!! I'm on the freaking BALL this year, guys. I went out yesterday and picked up some stuff for a niece/nephew that I hadn't grabbed, and I'm waiting for stuff that I've ordered to come in for my sister/other niece. Mom's stuff already came in. BF said he'd think of some things he wants (I actually already bought him something, a game he mentioned in passing, but I'm HORRIBLE about keeping presents from people, and after he asked what I got him, I caved and gave it to him already).

Now all I need to do is get my dad a couple cards (christmas/birthday, since his birthday is January 2) because all he wants is money. I also need to go to 5below and grab the tiny nieces/nephews some stuff. And get a singing fish.

You know, those fish you put on the wall and when you press a button/walk past them they sing? BF wants to get my brother in law one, and since what I got them didn't go over the price limit (we draw names for the adults in my family) I said we could get it haha.

I'm sure my sister is going to be THRILLED with this, since her husband is one of those people who will play it over and over and over. I'm pretty excited haha.

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Tech is playing tonight for the ACC championship or something, so we're going down to C's house to watch the game. BF's friend J and his wife (the couple that just got married this summer) are actually going. We're shocked, since nobody has seen J since he got married practically. Even his own mom has made comments that she needs to call S (the wife) to get to J. This is because we've dubbed J Mr. S. M. The wife's name. She's one of those girls who refuses to let him go out without her, wants him to stay home all the time, and god forbid he want to do something. Basically, a harpy bitch.

We've tried a few double dates before they got married... I'm not a fan of her. I know I can be bitchy, trust me, I'm aware, but I really am good with people when I want to be. And I tried, guys, I honestly did try to at least like this girl. J is BF's bestie. There was a time when they were like brothers practically, so of course I wanted to get along with her.

She wouldn't talk to me.

Like, at all. I'd try to strike up conversation and she would just flat out ignore me. So after a while of that, I just ignored her and talked to J/BF which seemed to piss her off even more.

Over thanksgiving, BF and I hung out with a couple of his friends, and we all joked that we need to have a memorial service/funeral for him, especially now that they've announced that S is preggers.

So needless to say, tonight is going to be interesting. I'm kind of shocked they're coming, but I'm glad. I really love J, he's a great guy and honestly deserves so much better than S. But whatever, it's none of our business in the end and as long as they're happy...

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I think I'm going to make waffles.