A Modest Proposal

Freaking AWWW!! I can only hope to find a cute nerdy guy like this. I mean...REALLY! Heres the link that explains it all http://www.derickandemily.com/Home/Proposal.html

Light Writing Proposal from Derick Childress on Vimeo.

Harper Chews On A Nom Nom Stick

Here's the pup chewing on a dog treat. It's supposed to make her nails and hair nice. So far they've just made her crazy and run around in circles.

Fruit House

One of my favorite things about living with my mom is that there is ALWAYS fruit in my house. I can't remember a time when there wasn't any fruit around. I eat at least 5 pieces of fruit a week. Right now we have oranges, bananas, persimmons, Asian pears and clementines. Yesterday I drank about a quart of orange juice. It's probably because I hadn't eaten any fruit that day. The day before I had a fruit cup and the day before that I had a banana and a clementine. Tonight as I was peeling my after dinner fruit, I noticed when I separated two segments of an orange it was in the shape of a heart. Yesterday Ali was telling me about how much potassium is in oranges and how my heart was going to explode from all of the orange juice I drank. The shape of the heart made me smile. I don't know, I just really love fruit.

Harper Love Snow

Here's a video of Harper playing in the snow. She loves it. Don't hate me because I keep her on a leash. She has to be or she'd run out into the road or over to the neighbors house and terrorize them. Also, don't mind my voice. I'm sick and that's about it.

A.A. Bondy

I read about A.A. Bondays - When The Devil's Loose on one of those year end lists. I wrote down a bunch of artists and checked them out online and quickly fell in love with this guys voice. I've been listening to this album nonstop. If you're looking for some new music, check him out!

H Mart

Ali, Stephanie and I met up last weekend at the H Mart in Elliot City. The H Mart is a Korean store that sells everything Korean and then some. Every time I've gone it's been packed to the gills and this time was no different. It was Ali's first trip so she was excited and I was just as excited to see what she would get. We all ended up spending way more time there than I anticipate but it was so much fun. I have already consumed 90% of my loot so I want to go back. We also ate lunch at the food court next door. Ali let Stephanie and I order for her with us being Korean and all. She trusted our choices and we did good because she loved everything. I have a trip lined up on Tuesday and I already have a list of things I want to pick up. Here's a photo of HALF of our lunch.

Dan Paints

The other day I received a large envelope in the mail from my friend Dan in Afghanistan. He's been gone for about 5 months now and he'll be returning home in about 3 weeks. I haven't gotten to talk to him much besides cards and a few phone calls. Inside of the envelope was a nice letter about how he was doing and plans he was making when he comes home. He also said his mom had sent him watercolors for Christmas. He said he found himself bored and decided to paint Harper. I opened a second envelope and found this painting. It really was one of the nicest things I've ever received in the mail. I love that feeling that someone actually took the time to sit down and write you a letter but there was an extra bonus of a nice painting. Yesterday I was able to talk to him over Skype for the first time for about an hour. It was so great to see his face and his "stan" beard. I can't wait for him to come home. I miss having someone yelling "TUH!!"

FML - No Wrench

I'm going to just preface this post with the temperature of the day about 20 degrees...On Friday I had a huge list of things to get done. I had a couple engagements in Baltimore then I spent some quality time with my two Godsons. Everything went well in Baltimore including my delicious lunch at Mrs. Shirley's. Then came my trek back to HdG to see the boys. As I was walking out of my friends parents house I see that my rear tire is completely flat. I wasn't really upset because I can change a tire as good as the next person. I got out all of the parts, my spare, the jack and the jack/lug nut wrench. I started to jack my car up and then attempted to removed my flat tire. The lug nuts were on securing the wheel so tight that I had to use all of my Hulk strength to remove them. I pushed down really hard on the wrench and i heard a SNAP. i looked at my wrench and it had completely broke in half. WHAT THE FUCK?! With the temperature being so damn cold I had no time to be pissed off. I called my dad because my friends brother wasn't able to get my tire off with his wrench. My pops showed up and changed everything for me really fast and awesome like a good dad. I ended up going over his house so he could plug my tire and make everything right that was totally fucked up. On my way to his house I called my dealer because my car is only a year old. I explained my situation to my dealer and all they had to say was that the wrench isn't covered under warrenty because they don't know how I
was using the wrench. WHAT? you know know HOW I was using it? Ain't that some shit? In the end everything worked out. I was outside for about two hours without a coat on. I can hear Laurynn's dad now...WHAT ARE YOU DOING LEAVING THE HOUSE WITHOUT A COAT?! He's a stickler like that.

Snow Day

Yesterday we got about 5 inches of snow, plus or minus an inch. Ali and I were at Laurynns (soon to be Laurynn and Ali's) for the majority of the day. Laurynn made a delicious pizza with mushroom and onions. Man do I love onions on pizza. We watched Mary Poppins, which I have yet to watch the whole thing and laughed some on the couch. Ali had a craving for brownies and don't you know Laurynn had all the ingredients to make real deal brownies? Not the kind from the box either. I found myself wanting to be productive so I completely alphabetized Ali's record collection and then I installed her curtain rod and a hook in her bathroom. I was feeling really handy. I even drove a nail into the wall so Ali could hang a large painting. Here's a video I took to send to Stephanie. She missed out, too bad she lives so far and could trek it on down the Harford Co.

Jersey Shore

I love this!

Josh Rouse

About 5 years ago I used to listen to this guy all the time. I played the album Nashville over and over like it was my job. He recently did a Take Away Show and the first song in this video will always remind me of a certain spot Ali and I drive to and eat ice cream with the windows down and the music on low. Sometimes we talk a lot and sometimes we don't but the whole time, there isn't a place in the world that I would rather be.

Josh Rouse - Quiet Town / Mesie Julian - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

For Dan

Here's the video I put together for Dan. I used music from Owl City, Port Blue, and Muse.

We Miss You, Dan from Jane Fulmer on Vimeo.

New Years Eve 2009

The last thing I wanted to do this year for NYE was go to the city so we all got together and did a fancy dinner at my favorite local restaraunt. There were 3 courses plus a cheese app and our pick of desserts. We took the party back to Laurynn's were I managed to take most of our pictures in the unfinished bathroom in her basement. She wasn't happy about that.

Christmas Party 2009

Since we're all at the age where none of us need anything that we already don't have or can't buy ourselves we all decided to have a party and bring something for the Dan box. Our friend Dan has been in Iraq and Afghanistan since late August and won't be home until March. We fill his box with books and cookies and dvd's. Everyone brought something really good. I made delicious samosa's. We all took some funny video that I used in a video for Dan. I'll post that soon. Here are some photos from our Christmas party.

Newark, DE

Stephanie and I housesat this past weekend for our friend Peter. I was pretty excited to get out of Maryland for a couple days even though Delaware is only 30 minutes away. Peter has a really cool looking dog Haus. He's a short haired pointer and is really calm. There was another dog in the house name Jordy who is some kind of border collie mix. she was super smart and did a great job at keeping Harper in check. The first night there I crashed early, Steph and I watched Love Actually and ate some slightly burnt pizza. The next day, Laurynn and Ali came to visit. We went to lunch at a Thai restaraunt and Stephanie was treated like a dumb dumb by the old lady waitress. The food was just alright. The part I liked best was while everyone was paying at the register, I acted like a hostess and handed out menus to a group of people that walked in. I figured I could get away with it since I'm Asian. It went well. We then went to a Yarn shop. Stephanie has picked up knitting much to Laurynn's happiness. She's actually really good at it. We then went downtown in Newark, we hit up a book/record store, cupcake shop and Panera. Later in the night Joe and Myrick came over and we went to dinner at Deer Park tavern. I love that place. I've never had a bad experience there. The only bad thing was we were sat next to the door and it was fahreeezing. Stephanie and I finally left the next day around noon. I went home and slept for 7 hours, ate Korean food then went back to bed. I guess with all the hustle and bustle from New Years Eve and the house sitting, I was worn out. It was a ton of fun though.

Somebody To Love

The whole Brittany Murphy thing is so sad. You always saw her smiling and never acting like one of those Hollywood types. Who didn't love Clueless or Girl Interrupted? I loved her in Happy Feet. I actually went to see this in theaters on one of my days off from work. I was super bummed when I found out she died.

Merry Christmas 2009

A Single Man

Don't you just love the score to this trailer...it just screams SCANDAL!

Water Pik

I bought this awhile ago and my mom just randomly handed it to my the other day. I think she likes to hide my purchases and give them to me later on like she bought it for me or something strange like that. I just used this for the first time about 20 minutes ago and I think my gums are finally done bleeding. It's not as terrible as it sounds but God DAMN it cleans the shit out of your teeth. It's freaking awesome and it's SO much better than using floss. I love it! DOWN WITH FLOSS!

Not My Gumdrop Buttons!

Laurynn and I decorated gingerbread men last night. She took about 5 seconds to do hers and I think mine took about 2 minutes. Mine is festive! Hers....well....it's different. I just need to say the best gingerbread cookies I've ever had were Ali's. She already knows this but I thought I'd put that out there in the web world. They're aahhmazing!

Tiene Hongers

Last weekend Ali, Laurynn, Stephanie and I went to Mrs. Shirley's for breakfast and a little craft showing. It wasn't you normal craft show, it was a hipster craft show with vendors who mainly sell on Etsy. I thought everything was too expensive but it was REALLY good people watching. OH and Ali's keen eye pointed out Mary Alice from Ace of Cakes at the show. She made for good people watching too. What is it about staring at people? We all love it. For breakfast Stephanie had these cheese grits that I thought were absolutely delicious so I decided to make some a couple of nights later. I also had some chicken breasts so I made Cap'n Crunch chicken fingers. There were a little pain in the butt to make but definitely really good. You can find the recipe on youtube and for the cheese grits well...use milk, butter, grits and throw some cheese in there when their done.

AWOL

So I've been really slacking on the blog and twitter lately. I blame the twitter lull on the fact my work blocked it and I blame the lull in blogging on this -




It's been a little over 2 months since I got Harper. The first couple of weeks of having a puppy are brutal. I'm not going to lie, there was a point, probably around day 4, that I said to myself, OMG, I fucked up. It was almost as if I felt like I got knocked up, had a baby, and now have no idea how I'm going to get threw it. It really was as bad as I'm making it out to be. I was up every 2 hours taking her outside, constantly cleaning pee and poop and running my entire bed linens to the laundromat because Harper decided pissing on my blanket was a great spot to relieve herself. Two months later, she hasn't had an accident in the house in weeks. She's doing great. She sits and lays down. I think the hardest part now is know that she is home alone when I'm at work or taking late nights out on the weekends. It's so hard to leave her at home. I am lucky enough to have friends that don't mind me bringing her over to their homes. Sometimes I think she likes it at their houses more that ours. She always has a good time hanging out with my friends. I know the leaving her home alone will get easier not just for me but for her too. I'm really enjoying the feeling of taking care of something, having a reason to rush home and having someone greet you as soon as you get through the door with kisses and bites on the hands. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. She's awesome.