Day 118 - April 28, 2012 - Micheal to the rescue!

Today was pretty busy. Both Shawn and his mom happened to make appointments on the same day to have their cars inspected. So the three of us got up pretty early, first we dropped off Terry's car at Dynamic Auto Care, then we followed Shawn and dropped his car off at Mavis. Then I came home for a shift of sleeping, woke up again, went to cover Babylon's tulip festival for the paper, went back to dynamic to pick up Terry's car, went to K-Mart to help Terry get some mulch (we loaded half in my car and half in her car), then we went back home, went to pick up Shawn's car and got back home again. To complete the story of everything we did Shawn and I went to dinner at Atlantis Diner and walked around a park across the street from it a little bit after Shawn unloaded the mulch.

This photo was taken at Dynamic Auto Care, a perfect reflection of my car, I took the shot while I was waiting in the car for Terry to come out.

Day 117 - April 27, 2012 - Candy whore!

This is the stockpile of candy in my desk drawer at work. I know it makes me look like a super big person, but I have lots of candy because I share it. There's 75 people employed at the library, a good majority of the employees are like me and definitely enjoy sweets, I would say maybe 15 to 20 people end up passing my desk over the course of an average few days and some of them partake in the offering of candy that's on my desk. That's why I have a massive pile of candy bags in my desk drawer waiting to be eaten by me and whoever passes my desk that also feels like having some too.

Day 116 - April 26, 2012 - I will win this battle!

I've been trying to fight off a cold before it gets really bad, so basically I've been a traveling pharmacy for a few days. I took this photo in my job's bathroom when I went in to give myself a dose of CVS brand dayquill.

Day 115 - April 15, 2012 - A VAST amount of CDs to hear

When I listen to music in my car I kick it back semi-old school. I could use the blue tooth hook up Shawn got me for Christmas. I could buy a bigger memory card for my phone, put a bunch of music on the card and stream music from my phone to the car radio using the blue tooth system. I could probably buy a new MP3 player if I wanted to (I still have the zen Shawn gave me but the battery doesn't last very long anymore so it's probably on it's way out and a new battery cost more then the player is worth). Instead I chose to listen to a CD every time I drive. I end up listening to lots of CDs since my drive to work is pretty long and I only take local roads. Pictured here are two CDs I bought, music by the group VAST. I heard about VAST from my old college friend Julie (she was and probably still is obsessed with them) and once I heard a CD I was pretty hooked. The library doesn't have VAST CDs, so I bought copies from amazon.

Day 114 - April 24, 2012 - Didn't miss it!

The director buys pastries from this lovely bakery in Port Washington every year to celebrate our budget passing. This year I thought I'd miss the pastries because of jury duty but she waited until today to bring them in. So I came back in time for the best treats to ever hit the library staff room.

Day 113 - April 23, 2012 - Back!

Back to work after almost a month of Jury Duty. Placed my bags in the fun office on my godmother's desk as I usually do instead of leaving them on my own desk. Took a photo.

Day 112 - April 22, 2012 - Vincent is 1!

Little Vincent turned 1 on April 18. Anabel had the party for him on the 22 though. Apparently he likes Thomas the tank engine, so he had a thomas cake from BJs.

Day 111 - April 21, 2012 - Happy Birthday you old fart!

Shawn's family has many April birthdays! My family has one April birthday too but I'm not speaking to the person who's birthday is in April at the moment. It was his Uncle Mike's 60th birthday, we had some letters left after I used them to put Happy Birthday Mike on a rum cake that Shawn's grandmother made. Shawn had the fun idea of spelling old fart with the leftover letters so that's what he did, it got a good laugh and a funny photo.

Day 110 - April 20, 2012 - Apple Pie Pie

We went out with Randi and Chris for dinner. When we got back Chris made an apple pie pie for dessert. Thought the pie symbol on an actual pie was very clever so I took a photo!

Day 109 - April 19, 2012 - Cherry blossom goodness

My jury duty lunch friends went out to get something that they left behind someplace. I opted not to go with them so instead I ran out in the parking lot during lunch to take some photos. I got an awesome cherry blossom photo!

Day 108 - April 18, 2012 - I can't believe they did this!

My fellow grand jury panel threw me a surprise bridal shower in the court room. I was floored. I kept bringing in some snacks for everyone and I tried to make jury duty as fun as possible because I knew the majority of the people working grand jury really didn't want to do it. I never expected them to return the goodness by chipping in for a courtroom shower. Shawn and I got our dream coffee pot, a grinder that might be better then the one we registered for, a bake ware set and coffee pot cleaner. Plus a cake!

Day 107 - April 17, 2012 - It's the Phantom and Griffy Show!

Phantom and Griff became fast friends when we merged our cat family. Shawn and I figured they would. I found them lying on the bed together and figured it was a good daily photo.

Day 106 - April 16, 2012 - The toilet paper line up

When I first did this yearly photo project I featured the gothic line up. This year apparently the toilet paper wanted to line up for me. I walked into Massapequa Public Library on the way home from Jury Duty. I had dropped Loretta off home (before Michael became tied up at Midas for a complicated brake repair in order to make him safe to drive again) and had to return some books and two CDs that I didn't want to burn. I needed to pee so I used the bathroom at the library. When I went into the bathroom there was a bunch of random half finished rolls of TP on the ledge of the bathroom. I like repetition in my photos so I immediately wanted to snap a picture. I also kind of liked the different shades of white and gray that created a naturally monochromatic (if that's the right word for this) photo.

Day 105 - April 15, 2012 - The AC makes a come back way before Summer

Shawn was very hot, the weather was actually pretty hot outside compared to normal warm spring time weather. So we had the AC on. The AC was on this past year in times that it shouldn't have been on at all...like in the middle of December when it was hot as blazes although it should have been cold.

Day 104 - April 14, 2012 - Two Chandelier citings in one day

Okay this is the year I seem to be obsessed with chandeliers....who am I kidding! I'm a phantom phan, this minor chandelier obsession has been going on for years. We went to another derby bout, the after party was at Hooter's in Farmingdale and this chandelier was at Hooters.

Day 103 - April 13, 2012 - No! Not the engine! What are you doing?!?

It was cousin Eddy's birthday today. I guess he's my cousin too now...or at least he is by future marriage. Anabel threw him a birthday party, and his girlfriend Nadine had an awesome honda civic cake created for him. When he went to cut the cake Shawn was joking and screamed, "No! Don't cut the engine! What are you doing?!?" This picture is kind of priceless because of the baby's partly perplexed, partly what the hell are you doing face. Vincent is a funny baby!

Day 102 - April 12, 2012 - Fail Sauce Gizelle

I feel like I've been failing on exercise and working out lately. I'm still enjoying my sweets though, and now I'm driving on a regular basis again, so unless my car is in need of repair or God Forbid I'm in another accident I am not even walking in between bus and train stops anymore to my destination. My only hope for walks are on lunch breaks or if I park my car far away (which I generally do). So I'm failing on exercise and I feel very fat. Today I tried the gizelle that's upstairs. Shawn's mom uses it. I forgot when my sister had the gizelle I really didn't like it. The machine has basically no resistance so to me working out on it feels like a joke. After about 5 minutes of trying so very hard I came downstairs and actually did exercise a little bit to just dance. I might feel fat right now because it's also pretty much the time of the month for me and I'm grossly bloated at the moment. Also because I'm partly fatty due to my extreme sweet tooth and junk belly.

Day 101 - April 11, 2012 - Middle aged white Mo-town man

I met my cousins at the cup. I rarely get to see my cousin Christina and her niece, my second cousin Maria was visiting from Delaware on Spring Break. It was all the more reason to hang out with my cousin who lives so close that I rarely get to see. It was extremely amateur open mic night. Mr. Middle Aged White Man who definitely didn't belong singing Mo-town music opened up the night singing Mo-town music. It was pretty funny to see, I took his photo. I was tempted to ask him if he had a CD, I'd totally rock it in my car, seriously his second song was very good. I actually decided to get up on the mic and do a very brief stand up comedy routine. I improved it, sometimes I do make people laugh, most of it is by random improv jokes that I come up with off the top of my head relating to what we are talking about. I might actually do some more stand up comedy it was pretty fun, and wasn't fail sauce for me. I've kind of always wanted to do it, so I think I might make it an occasional open mic thing for some fun. My cousin might work with me and play some music to my jokes since she seems to be musically inclined with random uncommon instruments, her pride is playing the ukele or the accordion.

Day 100 -April 10, 2012 - Monthiversary Dinner

So day 100! For the second year of working on this project, I made it to day 100. I'm pretty sure I'm going to continue this daily photograph thing for years to come, it kind of keeps my skills in practice and I enjoy it. Every 10th of the month is our monthiversary. Shawn took me out to 56th fighter group for monthiversary dinner, I noticed this chandelier there, I never looked up to see it before.

Day 99 - April 9, 2012 - We interrupt this testimony for an Irish Parade

Apparently the day after Easter is honored at the courthouse by some Irish people, some police and local politicians. During some testimony we were serenaded by bag pipes. We wanted to go out and see some of the festivities but they were over by the time we were ready to go out on our lunch break.

Day 98 - April 8, 2012 - It's the wrong holiday!

Okay weird coincidence. Two times during the Easter season I saw random Christmas items around. In K-Mart I saw Christmas lingerie on Clearance and when Shawn and I went to Baldwin, my dad had this Snowman in the driveway. My dad is so funny, he finds all these kooky things on his sanitation route and he takes them home, he's a big time character. So Frosty came out in the Spring to say Happy Easter to the Brewster family.

Day 97 - April 7, 2012 - Hoity Toity Easter

So this chocolate bunny looks like it belongs in an estate lol. Actually Loretta (one of my fellow grand jurors) gave me this Easter bunny on Good Friday. I thought it looked cool against the background of our red tablecloth.

Day 96 - April 6, 2012 - Mr. and Mrs. Quackereshi!

Once again this year Shawn's last name and my future last name is being used for a photo title. These two ducks were in the backyard, when I came home from being dismissed early for the day from jury duty after a shopping trip for presents at the mall, Shawn's mom showed me the duck couple that is now visiting the backyard pond. I took some photos of this quacky couple. They must know this is a house of love and that they can be lovey dovey duckies in our pond. The cats actually had the pond surrounded...hopefully Griffin or phantom won't make a meal out of one of these ducks :/ 

Day 95 - April 5, 2012 - Bad fettuccine

Cooked dinner....I think I had a sort of fail with dinner...also made burnt quesadillas last week :( Don't know what's going on....usually I'm alright with the cooking. I made fettuccine with peas and mushrooms. I'm pretty sure Shawn thought it was failsauce too, we both ate it that night but then the leftovers stayed in the fridge until I threw them out lol. 

Day 94 - April 4, 2012 - Blooming

It's the wonderful time of year when the cherry blossom trees are in bloom, although I'm not sure if these trees were cherry blossoms or not. I love these trees, and the pink ones too...I think the pink blooms are actually cherry blossoms. I really should snap more photos of these trees, usually the blooms only last a few weeks and by summer they are non existent. There are many tulips around too I need to take photos of them as well.

Day 93 - April 3, 2012 - It's a technicality!

So lent was just about over in this photo. I had seen my friend Julie for coffee. I found these underwear online but I couldn't buy them because I gave up shopping for lent. Julie went to the store and picked them up for me so I could pay her and have them after lent was over. Since I rarely get to see Julie (unfortunately) we both decided I should pay her for the underwear and receive the underwear a few days early even though lent was not quite over yet. So I had fun coffee time with Julie and went home with my underwear on a technicality. I didn't wear them until Easter though...and technically I didn't shop for them since Julie got them for me at the store.

Day 92 - April 2, 2012 - 6 Juror chairs

This is a semi - preview of a photo project I hope to publish after Jury Duty. Apparently it was the only photo I took for the day. I am finding something in the court that is equivalent to the number of days I've been on Jury Duty and taking a photo. These chairs were from day #6 (back when I still had lots of happy time on the grand jury). As of this daily blog photo update I only have 1 to 2 days left (I hope we aren't dismissed a day early, I really love my grand jury panel)!

Day 91 - April 1, 2012 - Taking advantage of a mishap

Our coat hanger fell down....this is the second time it fell down on us lol. This time we got smart, we hung up most of the random hoodies and lighter jackets inside the closet that were crowding and weighing down the coat hanger and we left out our two heaviest winter coats. Now the coat hanger should stay up because the weight that was on it has decreased by a tremendous amount. Chuv cat took advantage of this mishap to settle up and snuggle on our fallen jackets and sweatshirts lol.

Day 90 - March 31, 2012 - Season Opener

Besides baseball season starting in the Spring, roller derby starts in the Spring too. For one of our first dates Shawn took me to a roller derby game with him. He was doing and still does videography for the derby teams, they use his videos of the bouts to improve their game while practicing. The first time I went with him I just enjoyed the game, but after a few games I was whipping out my camera and taking photos of the game. My first few bout photos actually came out like crap but over time with my old camera I was managing decent photos, now with my new camera I'm taking even better photos of each game. Strong Island is a new team that started last November, this is their second game and season opener for this year. I think this photo was taken after they won the game.

Day 89 - March 30, 2012 - High School Musical

Okay so this is not the real High School Musical that Disney created although Amneris (the princess of Egypt) resembles and Egyptian version of Sharpay. Shawn's mom and I went to the Plainedge High School so that I can do a review of their production of Aida. This photo was taken during curtain call. I still have to write the article. I e-mailed the drama teacher and I'm waiting to get a response from him but if I don't get a response soon I'm going to have to go ahead and just write the article.

Day 88 - March 29, 2012 - Tom Selleck in the court room

I'm having way too much fun at Jury Duty. We have a filthy garbage pail in the court room we are currently staying in. One of the older women kept complaining because she had to stare at the dirty garbage all day. So I asked her who she liked. She said she had a crush on Tom Selleck, so I printed out a photo of Tom Selleck for her and taped it over the filthy garbage. So now Tom Selleck is always a guest in the court room lol. Of course I have to cross boundaries with my silliness so when we were on break in the courtroom I put the picture of Tom Selleck on the projector. I've now taken things further with a Tom Selleck image of the week for Miss Fran lol.

Day 87 - March 28, 2012 - Time warp!

I met Shawn in Farmingdale after Jury Duty. I had a meeting for the paper so we had a quick dinner before I went to Farmingdale Middle School. We went to Cheeburger Cheeburger, it was awesome, so delicious and a the place had an awesome 50s theme. This is one of the photos I took of a milk shake and some water. I love their jar glasses.

Day 86 - March 27, 2012 - The trees are bloomin'

Took this photo at the Mineola train station. I love this time of year. I think these trees are cherry blossoms but I'm not sure.

Day 85 - March 26, 2012 - Jury Duty

For the first time in my life I was summoned for potential jury duty. I reported to the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola with a bunch of other people summoned for Grand Jury as a potential grand juror. I was one of 23 selected to be on a panel for the grand jury until April 20. Took a photo outside the courthouse before I went in. 

Day 84 - March 25, 2012 - Oh the yummy variety

Shawn bought me a kick ass monthiversary gift. This beats the original brownie pan that I put up on our registry by far (that stupid ass brownie pan has been banished from the registry after I got this one) lol. This is a brownie bar pan. It makes 12 individual brownies and you can throw some toppings on them. For this batch I made caramel walnut brownies, chocolate mint brownies, and my personal favorite Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies. I actually want to go to the store and get some more brownie mix boxes that were on sale to make some brownies for my jury duty peers either for this week on Friday or for next week.

Day 83 - March 24, 2012 - Much to do

So sometimes I'm slightly bored as hell at work...other times I have a fuck ton of things to do. This photocopy from Library Journal was one of the many fuck ton of things I had to do. I read through it selected some art books then passed the section on to Rick so he could select some art books too. 

Day 82 - March 23, 2012 - Leaving my mark

Shawn and I went to his friend Randi's surprise birthday party. Her boyfriend Chris threw the party for her at a bar that's now called Shakers, it used to be bongos and a group that Shawn used to hang out with went there for a night called detour. The bathroom wall was made with partial chalkboard and they left sidewalk chalk in the bathroom. So I grabbed the pink chalk and made the mark of obsession lol.