Creative Juices

I Cant Believe This Is Goodbye

Well, kids, its official... purplesabrina.com is finally up and running. Please change your bookmarks, links and such to direct there instead. I will not be updating this blog any longer.
Thanks for reading. And I hope you enjoy the new site.

Looking Out For Number One

It's my favorite time of year. Cause with Fall comes the start of the television season. The week of the 19th is the true premiere week, but there are a couple of smart shows that will start a week or two before.
The best show, is, thankfully, starting tonight. If you arent watching The OC, well, I dont even know why we're still friends. Cause, clearly, you dont care what I have to say. You better have a damn good reason, at this point. Like, its against your religion or something. But even if that were the case... pick a new religion, man.
Watch The OC. 8pm, tonight.

Who Are You? Do Do Do Do

Goodness, it's Wednesday and I'm still catching you up on my weekend.
Saturday was very very busy. We started off the day helping JJ & Angela move into their new apartment. Then we hung out with Brad & Cindy for an hour, at their housewarming party. After that, we trucked it up to Lynchburg for Nick's surprise birthday party. Unfortunately, we missed the "Surprise!" part of the party. Thats what I get for cramming 45 things into one day.
But there was excellent cake, made by Kelli.



Yes, that's a MINI Cooper cake. It was super yummy.

You Cant Help Yourself From Falling

Normally I dont talk about my job. Not because I'm worried about getting in trouble for it, just because my job is usually incredibly boring. I work at Duke University, for Continuing Studies and Summer Session. The Summer Session part of my job should be explanitory. The Continuing Studies part of my job handles auditors, non-degree students and the occasional visiting student from another university. (the unlisted part of my job deals with a lot of IT related things, including being primary web editor for our department).
However, on Friday, my job got crazy interesting. As soon as I walked in the door that morning, I was pulled into a meeting and notified that Duke had decided to admit 75 students displaced my Hurricane Katrina. They would be admitted as visiting students for the Fall. Our office handles, maybe, 2 visiting students a year. And now we would be admitting 75 though our office, with a turn around of 5 days.
As you can imagine, once the press release hit the papers, my phone was ringing off the hook. I spoke to almost 200 people on Friday, and we accepted about 30 students. Our offices were staffed through the holiday weekend (which, somehow, I got out of)and accepted about 15 more.
My point is. I had no idea how I could help out. Besides the usual of giving money, there didnt seem like there was much else I could do. It hadnt even occurred to me that students from all over would suddenly not have anywhere to go to school. Sure, thats not as devastating as losing your home, your job and all your possessions... but still, I'm glad I was given the opportunity, though my boring job, to help a few kids feel not so displaced anymore.

In other news: Pacey, my beloved fishie, passed away over the weekend. He had a long life, much longer than Dawson or Joey. He was a good fishie. He will be missed.

Born In The USA

Well, since everybody else is whining about the gas prices, I guess I will too. Truth is, I dont really care about the prices. But I'm bad with money, so that shouldnt matter. I'm pretty sure since I've been born, prices have been going up. That's why I got a 3% raise this year, right? Cost of living, baby. I realize it was a quick jump, but the reason for it seems to make sense to me. Meanwhile, its our own fault for being so dependent on it. One day, They'll realize how dependent we are on toilet paper (when there are few trees left in the world) and then we'll be paying 20 bucks a roll to keep our bums clean. Bidets will be just as popular as hybrids.
Thats my two cents.
Wait, let me have that back... gotta fill up my tank... need every penny I can find...

I Mean This, I'm Okay

Happy Birthday to my brother! He's 14 today. In true 14 year old fashion he started off our conversation over-dramatically wishing he were dead, and ended it with loving gratitude for the kick-ass presents I got him. Ah, the teenage emotional spectrum, gotta love it.

And now, I bring you some breaking news, a day late. Just like The Daily Show. As reported on Nick's blog Vroom, a truly awesome awesome band, will be reuniting for one night. While I had no other reason to attend my alma mater's homecoming (I'm still a little bitter about the jeans), I will now be gracing Lynchburg with my presence for the Vroom concert. Really, I have no words for how excited I am.
I was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to loving Vroom and only had one chance to see them in concert. Lucky me, and everyone else, I get one last chance. Just when I thought my summer concert series couldnt get any better... Michael Buble, Jimmy Eat World, Green Day and Vroom. Rock on.

Place Your Hand In Mine

I'm going to let one picture tell you how good Bogart's was.



Folks, thats a cleaned plate. My cleaned plate. Its possible, that in the history of Sabrina, this has never happened before. I'm not a plate cleaner. I always leave something behind... but Friday night. I cleaned my plate. And still wanted more. Steve and I got the rotisserie sampler platter, a special for the evening. Bogarts's specializes in rotisserie meats, and our platter included a little of each, chicken, pork and beef. With some smashed potatoes and asparagus as sides. All of it was absolutely divine. Every meat was melt in your mouth good.
However, better than the lovely dinner selection was the martinis.



Excuse the poor quality of the photos. My camera did not seem to enjoy the swanky atmosphere and lighting as much as we did.
At eight bucks a pop, I only got to enjoy two martinis. First I tried the Mixed Berry Martini. It was, by far, the best drink I have ever had in my entire life. I downed the whole thing and licked the sugared rim all before my salad arrived. With my meal I tried the Watermelon Jolly Rancher Martini. It too was super yummy. Kinda sticky, but still lick your lips good. I will definitely be returning to try some more, preferably on Thursday night when they are half price. Cause then I can have four!

I believe Steve can confirm that we had a lovely night. The only disappointment was that the live band was outside for the evening and we were seated inside (before we realized that was case). Sheesh, the one time I would have volunteered to eat outside.... We know for next time, though. And there will be a next time. And if you're interested in going, we'll definitely join you.

The happy couple:

But They Dont Know What I Know

Happy Anniversary to us! The big oh five.
And I've got two dozen red roses to prove it.



Tonight, we'll be putting on our finest and dining at Bogarts. I'm looking foward to live music, steak and martinis. Mmmmm.

Sing It Back

Lets start with the most disappointing part. I'm sad to announce, Jimmy Eat World does not read my blog. I know, I know. They dont know what they're missing. I know this because, as you can see from yesterday, I personally requested three songs. Of the three I requested... they played none. None. Zero. Sure, they played some other songs I quite love. And yes they left me wanting more (3 songs more, at least), but really. Would it have been that hard to work my requests into their set list? No. Therefor, JEW does not read my blog. Shame.
But they are a mighty fine band.





Green Day's not so bad either. They were a lot of fun. Billie Joe is a nut. He screamed "Raleigh" about 400 times. And everytime the crowd cheered and cheered. The friends around me seemed to tire of it (which makes sense considering four of them were from Lynchburg) but everytime he screamed it, inside I said "Yes! That's me! I'm Raleigh! Yay me!" I was also seriously wooed by Tre Cool. Be mine Tre Cool. I heart you. He's a very very good drummer and he drums just the way I like it. And he's cool. As his name suggests.
The crowd was pretty impressive. Considering how long Green Day has been around, it spanned a very large age group. People our age, and kids younger than my brother (most of them with their parents). The 12 year old chubby kid sitting next to The Steve made me laugh. He was super cute and into it. But I couldnt help thinking... you werent even born when Basket Case was a hit. The moment that encapsulated the generations was when the kids pulled out their cell phones and the adults pulled out their lighters. There was a big mixture of blue and yellow glows.
I had an excellent time. I was in good company and I got to hear two bands I love.

The Innocent Can Never Last

You know what today is. T minus 9 hours. And then I'll be rocking out to Jimmy Eat World, followed by Green Day, with The Steve, Nick & Kelli and Tim & Annie. Can you think of anything better? I can not.
Here's my song wish list. Please please please play these songs. My chances, I think, are high. Jimmy, dear, please play "If You Dont, Dont", "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Kill" I'll be enternally greatful. And Billie Joe, hun, just play all 9 minutes and 8 seconds of "Jesus of Suburbia/City of the Damned/I Dont Care/Dearly Beloved/Tales of Another Broken Home." Thats all I really want to hear. Thanks.
I'll try to take a picture. Something tells me these boys wont be nearly as... kind... as Michael Buble' was.
But I wont mind too much, it will certainly be unforgettable! Yay!!