Clarification on the drink

I went to Bella's last night here in Minnesota and ordered that drink that I had shared in a previous posting (in case you missed it - read about it here: http://serendipitously-witty.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-cool-beverage-for-summer-heat.html). I gave the bartender directions on how to make it and got the drink back in a short glass. I never thought that anybody would pour it into a shorty! It was disgusting (I suspect they also didn't use sweetened lime juice). Make sure you ask for sweetened lime juice and have it poured into a longneck. A long glass allows for more sprite and thus makes the drink less sour! The drink should be fairly sweet, and not at all sour! For sour, have a gin & tonic.

Extension

I received an email today from work asking me if I will be available through September. My manager requested for my contract to be extended. I accepted and have been having one hell of a day today - in a good way!

Three more months at a great job with great colleagues! Cheers!

A sudden urge to take a short vacation

Every once in a while, I get that odd urge to just go places. Not just places around the Twin Cities, but different places within the country. The places that I'm drawn to most are the coastal area of the deep south (such as Biloxi, MS, or Mobile, AL) and the East Coast like Maine, Nantucket, MA, or the Hamptons. Granted, I've never been to any of these places and don't really know why I've picked these of all the places (perhaps they are just the most prominent ones?), but I would really like to pay them a visit sometime.

Yesterday, it was East Coast day for me. I did a ton of research on sailboats and lighthouses. Yes, silly, I do admit. However, it does satisfy me for short period of time and the urge to take a vacation and spend a weekend there is temporarily relieved. My newest obsession is anything lighthouse and sailboats. My dad used to sail, however, I was young and failed to get into it when I had the chance. Today, I regret that, but hope to catch up at some point. I found a great picture of a lighthouse and some sailboats that I'd like to share here. The lighthouse picture is my wallpaper now.

I believe this is the Loraine Lighthouse (in Ohio - not on the East Coast, but it got an East Coasty look to me), however, I can't remember the website I got the picture from. A Google search might answer the question.

The second picture is of a boat that is for sale out in California I believe. I got that from a boat classifieds site.

This boat costs about $3,000 (it has a few years on it) and I don't know much about prices for boats, but this would be the most terrific toy for the summer! Go out on one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes, have a few longdrinks, do some fishing, have a good time with some friends...

Going back to the first picture: A picture like that would be perfect for how I want to decorate my future house. In fact, I remember an article from last year posted to PreppyJournal.com (http://preppyjournal.com/node/1144) that had some great decorating tips. I'd like to share some of the pictures here. All copyrights with PreppyJournal.com:

I especially like the light linen look of the living room. That together with some red or blue gives your house the perfect "boat" look - very relaxing, but also with a sense of adventure. Pictures of boats and lighthouses would definitely underline the experience.

Linen clothes speak Summer and a relaxed lifestyle

First off, thanks to everybody for the great feedback on my previous post! I'm glad that ya'll enjoyed the drink and I'll make sure that I'll post more recipes in the future if I come across anything worth sharing!

Anybody that knows me well personally knows that I work very hard and I'm good at what I'm doing, but I also like to have my share of fun. Perhaps, at times, a bit too much, but we all need some sort of outlet for the stress that we have everday, don't we? I've grown over the past few years and getting older does require a fresh look at my style. This summer I'm all about linen and leather assecories instead of denim, I decided. Let's take a look at two pictures I took before I made a purchase. The blazer I ended up not purchasing due to issues with the size. I haven't decided yet whether I want to spend extra money to get it fitted by a tailor.

The outfit on the left is from Banana Republic. I went originally to Kohls to see what they had but didn't find anything. JC Penny and Macy's (I never go to Macy's) both didn't have anything either. Well, that's not entirely true. They do have things I'd wear, but they're in the Men's section and a small is usually a bit too big for me. Seeing that I'm 5'9'' and about 145 lbs with a 31 waist, most 'grown up' clothes is aiming for bigger people than me. I'm fine in the kids of teen section if I get L or XL, but found that most department stores don't carry a great variety. In other words, today's teens and kids don't wear the style I wear, so I walked around the mall to look for smaller stores that specialize in people just out of college.

At Banana Republic (I actually found a sales associate who wanted to help), I found white linen pants (left) and a linen shirt. Both go together very well and I can roll my pants up and sport my light brown wingtips I got in Europe last year wearing no socks. Very laid back. With that, I can wear a white/brown leather Nautica mesh belt I found at Macy's a few weeks ago. The blazer in the right picture is great - it's all linen as well at can be found at JC Penny. However, the smallest they have is a 38 - about one size too big for me to have the 'fitted' feeling, so I decided not to make the purchase. Linen feels great and gives you a relaxed and laid back look for the summer. It looks great in light colors with dark or light brown leather assecories. Good drinks to go with it is Rum & Coke, any long drink, or - of course - the drink from my previous post.

A great cool beverage for the summer heat

I just got back inside my house after having been forced to sweat in the sogging heat of a very warm Minnesota evening for several hours. I forgot that I had taken my car keys and house keys of my regular key chain (it's not fashionable to have bulky pockets) and grabbed the key chain without keys and locked myself out of the house for two hours. It was incredibly hot today and to make matters worse, humidity was past the point where it's bearable. Granted, today would have been a nice day to be laying on the beach, but I got to spend most of my day in my cool office at work dealing with my computer and its problems.

On my way home from work, I decided to stop by the store and pick up some toothpaste and mouth wash. Well, Rainbow does a great job making people buy more once they're in the store, so I bought some cheese, ham, crackers, and pasta as well. While I was at it, I figured I'll stop by the liquor store next door as well and restock my reserves for the next few months. I bought a bottle of Bacardi Silver, some sweetened lime juice, and a bottle of Southern Comfort. Why am I telling you that? Well, hang on for another paragraph and I'll tell you.

I got home being hot, sweaty, exhausted, and all worn out from a stressful day at work, so I decided to go outside around 7pm when it starts to cool off a bit and enjoy the weather. Of course, I had to get my drink on, find something to read, and needed something to do while reading (I often multi task).

Here's what I came up with:

• Recent GQ to for my reading pleasures (the cover may be questionable)
• iPod and headphones
• Cell phone and headset (not sure how I can always pull that off while listening to music, reading, and drinking)
• ....aaand
• A drink

Now, the real point of this story is that drink of mine. Bear with me another paragraph or so - you won't regret it. I promise. The recent GQ featured three drinks: Rum Fizz, Gin Fizz, and something that I can't remember right now. Last Friday, I went to Friday's (it's a sports bar) with some friends, right after starting to read GQ and finding those drinks. I wrote two of the recipes down and handed them to the bartender. I wanted something rum-based, but he didn't have the right ingredients for the Rum Fizz, so he made the Gin Fizz but with rum substituted for Gin. It was so-so to be honest because he used spiced, brown rum (Captain Morgan).

Today, I decided I'll try it again but make a few changes. Here's the recipe (make a pitcher of it - you won't regret it on a nice, warm summer evening!!):

• 1-2 shots of Bacardi Silver
• 1 shot of sweetened lime juice (from concentrate)
• some Diet Sprite

Combine the rum and the lime juice with about 4-5 ice cubes in a shaker and shake well. Pour into a large glass and add Diet Sprite until it tastes right. It is an ultra-delish drink and one of the best that I've had this year and it is easy and fast to make - even in great quantities if you have some guests to entertain. You can adjust its potency by adding more rum. I'd say a shot of rum and a shot of lime juice can easily be combined with half a can of Diet Sprite.

Cheers!!

Oh my, time flies!

Hey folks, how long has it been?! I just realized that my I made my previous post more than 3 months ago! And you can't imagine how much has happened since! First, when I made my last post, I had just bought my ticket to Germany. Literally as soon as I made the post and got off the phone with my parents, I went to get my cell phone (I make international calls using Skype - www.skype.com).

I saw that I had a missed call from Aleks, one of my best friends from college and beyond (she's like my big sister here). I called her back to find out what she wanted. She said that the company she is working at, Allianz (https://www.allianzlife.com/), is hiring. I said that I wasn't interested, because I had just bought my ticket and gotten acquainted with the thought of moving. In fact, I was looking forward to a new adventure and a new start. She kept insisting throughout the afternoon that I should send my resume in and she basically forced me to do so. I finally gave in, followed her instructions, and submitted my resume to the temp agency.

Guess what happened the next morning? I got a call from the temp agency asking me to come in. So I left by bus to go over to the Allianz headquarter in Golden Valley, MN, half expecting an interview. I got there, was given a stack of paperwork to fill out, and was asked if I could go into training next Monday. I said 'yes' and started Monday.

I've been working at Allianz since, on a three-month contract which is up now, and don't know yet when I'll be out of a job. I'm still looking around, granted not as much as I probably should, but no signs have appeared that my assignment will end any time soon.

At Allianz, I track annuity transfers. It's a fun job that allows me to learn more about operations in the insurance business and it can pose quite a challenge at times! I've got great coworkers and friends at the company, have met great new people, and have been enjoying my 40 hours a week tremendously. Perhaps, this might be the reason why I haven't been posting here as I should have. I do apologize, but most of the readers, I believe, I have spoken to either over Facebook or phone or personally and I want to thank everybody again for your continued support.

More to come in a few days as there are some other news as well. But this is the scoop of what's been going on over the past three months.

- Big J all grown up.