Need I say more?

See you in another life, brutha.

Right?  Right.  So that said, happy Mother’s Day, Mom! 

She’s thinking about whether a late Mother’s Day post is acceptable.

Actually, I spent Mother’s Day with my mother…and her mother!  We decided sort of last minute to head to Syracuse overnight.  We had a very nice time and ate lots of tasty food (mmmmm…baked French toast for brunch).

    Mama and me…and my enormous forehead.               Granny was pleased to have company for this photo.

We also watched Betty White on Saturday Night Live, which was fantastic.  I dedicate this to you, Mama, and all the other mothers out there:

Mama went to Florida today to visit JP!  Visiting her grandson two days after Mother’s Day is a great gift; better late than never!  I hope her experience in the airport went smoothly.  I forgot to tell y’all what happened to me in the Tampa airport (besides the flight running late): I got chosen for a random security check.  I followed the directions of the security dude, standing on the footprints and holding my hands up like he told me while the machine scanned me.  But, apparently, I didn’t spread my arms far enough apart, so he had to call a female officer over to feel my chest…for bombs, I guess.  Hope you didn’t get felt up in the airport today, Mama.  Unless you wanted to.  Then, well, good for you.

Also in the Tampa airport: Some lady came up to me with her tiny computer and asked how to get on the free wireless.  I had her turn on her computer and walked her through it.  She was very grateful, which was nice.  And she kept her hands to herself.

*And before Miriam writes it, I know how the saying goes: Better late than pregnant!  See 6:57 for proof (sorry, the only link I could find shows the entire scene, although I’m not really sorry because it’s funny and you should watch it):

I’m in the airport waiting for my flight to take off, which is delayed for over an hour.  I thought this would be a  good time to blog about my trip (if the Internet connection/my computer will let me; it’s moving so slowly). 
I arrived in Tampa on Saturday morning.  Actually, maybe I should take a step back to when I woke up.  At 4:00 a.m.  Why?  Because I still had to pack for my 8:00 flight!  That’s right.  I work best under pressure.  And I hate packing and was too tired to deal with it the night before.  I also hate flying, so after a coffee in the airport and a little anti-anxiety medication, I got on the plane, fell asleep for a half hour, and was exhausted and staring around the plane for the rest of the flight.  Anyway, I arrived in Tampa early and was super excited to see my nephew!  And my brother and sister-in-law, of course.  We went to lunch at Tijuana Flats and then spent a lot of time hanging out.  They were also nice enough to get me a cake to celebrate my birthday!

Found a picture of it.  Mmmm…cream cheese frosting.

The cake was from Publix, which I love everything about.  Come up north, Publix!

On Sunday, after I went for a very hot run (holy crap, humidity!), we went to Fort De Soto Park, where we did this:

Pedaling along

This was a lot of fun, actually, but not as easy as you’d think.  We were a bunch of sweaty messes when we were done!  Especially JP; he’s a good pedaler!  (If only.  Like our card games, we needed a fourth.)  Then we went out for Thai food and some of the worst service ever.  On Monday, my brother and sister-in-law had to work, so I hung out at home and relaxed.  I went for another hot run, took care of the Mother’s Day present I’ve been (supposedly) putting together for weeks, and walked down to the dock and read a book I stole out of the garage.  It was actually nice to just have a day to relax.  I also tried to play with the dogs, but apparently it was too hot out for them; they did one lap around the yard and curled up in the grass.  My Frisbee throw was ignored.  Bums.

Anyway, that’s the gist of everything.  I’m going to try to post this and pack this in so I can see if my flight is ever going to take off.  Thank you, southern family, for being great hosts.  Brother: You’re a pretty good cook! Thanks for all the vegetarian options.  S-i-l: Thank you for the deeeeelicious baked apple dish last night (complete with Publix frozen yogurt; have I mentioned I love Publix?).  And JP: I miss you so much already!  You’re adorable, sweet,  and hilarious!  I hope you’ll allow me to visit again.  When it’s less humid.

Dear Miriam,

Happy 31st birthday!  This means we’re one year closer to this:

 Quick!  Someone turn on MacGyver!

We’re now officially in our thirties.  Yikes.  Time for bed.

Love,

Your (younger) twin sister

I haven’t posted anything since Passover ended, although, as always, I’ve had ideas of what to write in my head.  Don’t ask me why I don’t just write something daily; I can’t answer that.  But I’ve decided that now is the time to catch you up on things!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!  First, I changed the masthead on the blog.  See?  No?  OK.  Well, it used to look like this: {However Absurd}.  And now it doesn’t.  Second, I’ve joined Twitter.  Welcome to the world of social media, Sara!  I thought that since I was stalking other people’s Twitter feeds, I should finally join on my own.  So feel free to click on the link above at any time to follow me.  Or don’t.  Whatevs.

Oh, and I guess I have a decent excuse for not updating the blog: My computer crashed.  It had been really slow for a while and then I couldn’t play any music or videos, so I backed up all my files (I hope).  Then one day, upon reboot, Windows wouldn’t start.  Then I tried to restore it to factory settings (can you tell that this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with this?).  It seemed to work!  But then, it didn’t.  I’ve decided to call my computer Sayid because, like its namesake, it died, was revived, and then turned evil and shuts itself down constantly.

 I think your computer has been compromised.

I’ve gone through various stages of grief: shock and denial (at first I cried and said “c’mon” to my computer a lot as I tried to get it to reboot); pain and guilt (it was my fault for rebooting it in its fragile state); anger and bargaining (back to the “c’mon” and “please just work” ramblings); depression (did I mention I cried because I can’t really afford a new one?); and acceptance (I’ve told everyone that my computer died without crying, so that’s acceptance as far as I’m concerned).  However, is it really acceptance if I told my brother that I’m bringing it with me to Florida for him to determine if it’s really most sincerely dead?  Or if I’ve left it powered down for days and secretly hope that when I turn it on tonight, just to check, it’ll work?  Boo.  Back in denial.*

And did you catch that back there?  I’m going to Florida this weekend to see the southern nephew, JP.  It’s been a few months since I’ve seen the boy, so we also have some catching up to do.  And I need the Florida sun to improve upon my Scarecrow tan.

 I could think of things I never thunk before…

They better stock up on bananas before I get there.  After all, they’re the most delicious fruit covered in a yellow suit.  And JP and I both eat at least two a day.

But you do know what comes before my trip, right?  Right!  My twin sister’s birthday!  We went out this past Saturday night for an early celebratory dinner.  Of course, I forgot to bring a camera.  But the lighting was so horrible that I wouldn’t have been able to take any pictures anyway.  Bellini’s was the destination, where I enjoyed a glass of shiraz, split a delicious salad with my mom (which included greens, walnuts, dried cranberries, fresh pears, and goat cheese instead of gorgonzola because gorgonzola is disgusting), and ate a delicious meal of wheat pasta, vegetables, and fresh mozzarella.  Imagine that it looked great.  Thanks to Lil, otherwise known as Cousin First, for taking us out!  Afterward, we picked up my friend Erin and went for dessert, where I also didn’t take any pictures.  I actually took out my BlackBerry at one point, but I realized we had already demolished the desserts.  Did you really want to see pictures of empty plates? 

 Fine.  Here you go.

Thanks, Mama, for taking us for dessert.  The pear and apple crumble was delicious, and so were the two strawberries that I dipped in the chocolate fondue.  The night ended with a coffee and amaretto (I should’ve had the one with Frangelico like Mama did), and we were home before midnight.  We will be in our thirties as of this Thursday, so that’s a late night.

And this is a long post.  I bid you adieu!

*I wrote this earlier today.  By the time I finally posted it, I resurrected my computer!  I booted it up and restored it to factory settings!  However, it’s been downloading Windows updates for hours, so I haven’t really used it, but it hasn’t turned itself off.  Yet.  I’m doubtful that either Sayid will survive the entire season.

…or pushed aside, anyway, while I was celebrating the holiday.  Get it?  Passed over?  Passover?  I know, I’m so damn clever.

After my last post, I kept myself busy cleaning and preparing for the family to arrive.  The Canadian nieces and nephew (and their parents!) came for the entire holiday (Passover lasts eight days, in case you didn’t know).  And they brought Granny with them!  We missed the southern family (my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew in Florida) and the Israeli family (my brother and sister-in-law), but we still had a great time.  I took a couple of days off from work to hang out, too.  We enjoyed amazing weather!  Gorgeous, sunny, 70-degree days are perfect for going to the park, hanging out in the backyard, and driving to Target, of course!  Other fun events included a visit with our aunt, uncle, and cousins on Saturday (which was the best day for us to all be outside) and a trip to our favorite amusement park, Hoffman’s Playland on Sunday!  Hoffman’s couldn’t be more fun.  Everyone went on rides and no one threw up!  Unfortunately, the day ended on sad note as we mourned the loss of our dear friends, Phil and Ted.

Don’t worry folks, Phil and Ted’s is just the name of the company that makes this stroller.  Still, a moment of silence would be appreciated for our family’s loss.

A few observations from the past week:

I have the best nieces and nephews in the world (I talked to JP on Skype on Saturday, so he’s included in this week’s observations!).  They’re all adorable, funny, and just awesome.  I miss The Pie, Mowgli, and The Duck so much.  We had tons of fun!

It doesn’t matter what type of food we have around, we all still eat a lot.  OK, I still eat a lot. 

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror the other day and noticed a tan line on my nose that makes me look like the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

If I only had a brain…and less of a mark from my sunglasses.

A three-day work week is way better than a five-day work week.

Just showing off my math skills. And letting you know how many miles I ran this weekend! I actually ran just over six miles on Saturday (gorgeous day here) and approximately 4.1 miles on Sunday, so the total is slightly more than ten miles, but who’s counting? (I am.) I then spent the rest of the weekend stuffing my face. My nightly snacking has gotten out of control, and I have to stop eating just because I’m bored or tired. Geez, Sara, just go to bed! Which I might actually do soon (early!). So, lucky for you, I’m going to cut this short. But I want to show you something first. I haven’t been in a great mood lately; I’ve been feeling a bit down for the last few days. And today was Monday. Enough said, right? However, there’s something at work that always makes me feel better:

Please note the fancy wardrobe I have in these pictures; way nicer than in real life.

These are pictures that the Pie drew of the two of us. Can you tell who’s who? The one of the left says, “Dear Anty Sara, You are a grate Anty. I love you with all my hart.” I think the second one (hard to see here, so from memory) says “I love Anty Sara.” I love you too, Pie. Those pictures really make me happy, especially when I’m having a sad day. I can’t wait to see you, Mowgli, and The Duck next week!

It’s hard for me to spring forward when I’m so far behind.  Especially on this blog!
 
So here’s the rest of the story about the concert: When we last saw each other (insert link there), we had the worst seats I had ever sat in at a concert.  Shortly after posting that, a couple came up to us claiming to have tickets for two of our seats (I was at the end of the row, my sister next to me, our cousin next to her, and our cousin’s friend next in; they had tickets for my sister’s and cousin’s seats).  They showed me their tickets and I showed them Miriam’s, and then they walked away.  A few minutes later, an usher came and said he’d have to look at their tickets, which he took and said that he might have to come back to move them, too.  Which he did.   It seemed like they were gone forever, so I started texting my sister and my cousin to see what happened.  At some point, the couple came (so worried about not getting to their seats that they made time to get some beers) and sat down in the seats in question.  Finally, my cousin texted me back to say I should grab her stuff and her friend because we were moving!  Turns out that someone in the box office knew my uncle, so she hooked us up; we all moved from section 204 (about four rows from the top of the arena) to section 101!  Much better view and not as disorienting.  Also, there was an extra seat so our friend who was in a different terrible section snuck down and sat with us!  Good times.

The screen above the stage says “Elton wows ‘em!” He did!

That’s Billy on my BlackBerry! Bottle of pineapple schnapps!

I stole this photo of Billy and Elton from my cousin, who brought her camera. Shhhh!
 
Side note: I really hate it when people come in from their breaks at work and make the whole place smell like smoke.  And then I start coughing and choking.  Just thought I’d mention it.
 
Anyway, yay for spring!  While spring doesn’t officially start until Saturday, the weather has made it feel like it’s already started.  We’ve been enjoying 60-degree weather almost all week!  And I’m loving the later sunset that came with the change of the clocks.  I’ve gone for a run every afternoon for the last few days.  It’s so nice to be able to get out to do that after work.  Eventually, when it’s light out earlier in the morning, the goal will be to get it done before work.  It usually doesn’t happen, but it’s a nice thought.  I think I have a record of five days in a row of running before work; perhaps this summer I can break it!
 
Side note (this one related to the topic above): I need spring clothes.  Badly.  The only thing that’s bad about this in-between weather is my lack of appropriate clothing.  Which actually comes with each season, so I can’t blame it on the in-between temperatures; I can only blame myself.  I hate shopping.
 
I almost forgot to mention the other exciting event coming up: Passover!  And the reason it’s exciting: My northern nieces and nephew will be arriving here very soon!  Although I’m sad that my brothers and their families aren’t able to make it for Passover this year, I’m happy that other family members will be here.  I can’t wait to see them!
 
Final note: Tomorrow (March 19) is my friend Erin’s birthday.  Happy 31st, Erin!  I’ll catch up with you in 40 days.