ratti pillo loves you always.

Work has been keeping me busy. I sorted out the thing with the guy who can't write very well. I felt bad about it, but my boss was, "If it stinks, don't print it", which makes sense. This is was editors do...even little ones like me for an e-newsletter. I'm going to write an article about tea and cheese pairings, in time for any holiday parties, which I hope will go well. I really wanted to focus on local cheeses, but to no luck. It'll have to be the Pennsy Dutch Market this Saturday (which is in a sense pretty local, but I wanted to actually visit a creamery) or Whole Foods which was the last thing I wanted to do.

I went to the doctor yesterday for the first time in a year. I don't do the doc thing too often, as i am pretty healthy. I got two shots, an HPV vaccine (to help prevent cervical cancer- I suggest all the ladies get it. It's pricy, but worth it) and a tetanus booster because my doctor said a lot of adults who were vaccinated at birth or a young age for tetanus is now getting whooping cough. Whooping cough? Didn't that disappear around the Civil War or something? I don't know, I always think of Native Americans getting pushed off their land when I hear Whooping Cough. Hmmm. I had to get a new doctor because my insurance changed- a huge pain in the butt, cos I still have to get a new lady doc, eye doc, etc- but he prescribed me some expensive ass lotion for my face, that I did buy because I'm tired of breaking out like a 13 year old. There was a little discount (it was originall 178.00) so I GUESS insurance helped. Otherwise, I hate health insurance. I think my plan is really sucky, and doesn't cover basic preventive visits and vaccines, which would suck, because that's what I got yesterday. My doc is cool and talks very fast. I always try to get in a year's worth of problems in the 1/2 an hour visit; we were able to hammer out my problems quickly. I go back tomorrow so they can take my blood. I'm sure that'll be another dent in the bank :(

After work I am going to stop by the bookstore so I can buy a journal. I've been really wanting to keep a record of all the restaurants I go to, with the exception of fast food/chain restaurants. I figure it'll help me remember things better, and I'll also have a great reference for out of towners and anyone else asking for a rec. I try to do this with other things- my other journal is books I've read. I haven't updated it in a while, because I'm still in the process of reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. My reading has taken a back seat for my other hobby, the embarrassing one where I write Mighty Duck fan fiction. It is helping as a writing exercise, as I have posted 3 chapters since I started on Sunday. I love it. I listen to my music or put on some historical documentary I like to watch obsessively (It's been the History Channel's Russia: Land of the Tsars). I hit a writer's block last night, but mapped out the entire story and i am so excited for it! I know, nerd! ha! I've gotten several reviews of people who are excited about my shipper- adam/connie, and I like reading them! I hope I don't disappoint. Nick read two of my reviews and was a bit taken aback about the realm of nerdy I had entered. I swear, it's the most Fangirl thing I do. I guess it's worse, because it's a subject that isn't even very popular among the mainstream- think Harry Potter or I dunno Lord of the Rings. And I'm not goth. But there is this really substantial MD lovers online. It's crazy. I'm not alone.

i've been compiling lists of tea rooms from our website teamap.com, and it's kind of crazy how annoyingly frou-frou some of these places are! Cynthia and I talk about how many tea room owners are either pesky divas who need your attention about buying like 2 tea makers from you (small orders and what nots) or they are complete backwoods women who do not know what email or the internet is. Gah! If I see another tea room with 'Victorian/Lace/Roses/Petit Fours' in their name, I'm going to scream. There is a time and place for frills and lace (ooh, that rhymed!), but seriously, enough is enough!

<3