HELP! My Cousin is Trying to Kill Me!!!!!! AHHHHH!

I am barely able to type this... if this is the end, it is my dream death though. Death by Chili Pepper!

Cousins Kelly & Kyle invited me out to meet them for dinner. But since i was already running behind from the bad weather (snow=puke) and I am trying to save money, I declined. They were eating at their new fav Thai place Ruam Mit. Kelly later texts me and said, "My meal is so hot, do you want me to bring you the rest???" Now Kelly and I eat hot\spicy food all the time. We live for it, it's borderline obsession. We can throw back the spicy with the best of them. So for Kelly to tell me that her meal was too hot to eat, I thought WHATEVS!

So a few minutes later a doggy bag of left over Thai food arrived at my door. I dumped into a bowl and went to work. The spice was evident from the first bite, not too bad... and just as I was about to say, Kelly is a BABY! Holy Hotness the heat kicked my butt! FIRE FIRE FIRE!! Burning, my mouth was burning! HELP ME!!! What was in there to make it so spicy? What is bringing me to a slow, painful and happy death? These could not be normal Thai peppers? or could they? FIRE! I am downing mouth fulls of rice as i type this! But guess what? I love it! LOVE THE BURN!!! AHHHH!

Kelly called me later to laugh at me... I said thanks for the torture! She said, this is what they give to prisoners as torture in a Norwegian Prison! I said they will beg for Ludafisk and instead they will get the Torturous Thai Chicken!!! AH HA HA HA!

Dentist Phobia

I need help. See that wasn't so hard to say. I really do though. It seems that my aversion to going to the dentist has done me in. I have a bad tooth and it hurts so bad! But the thing is, I don't like going to the dentist anymore! I was fearless as a kid and teenager. My pain threshold is high. But 8 years ago everything changed. My wisdom teeth needed to come out they were growing in sideways and they were impacted! Geesh! So to save money i went to the same dentist i went to my whole life. No problem. Except this was a problem. I was fully awake during the ordeal. Just some Novocaine to mask the pain. But no nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and I love that stuff! Legal high people! Anyway, the surgery for my wisdom teeth was so traumatic, we're talking teeth breaking and major deep extraction... that i vowed never to go back! On top of all that, I got PAINFUL dry sockets in all 4 sockets and my face was black and blue\puffy for a month! PLUS! i had no pain meds to make it better! I was in college at the time and my only solace was the CUTE boy in my Spanish class would talk to me and tell me to feel better! And I was so embarrassed cause i looked horrible and he would say to me, You don't look bad at all, I can hardly tell! He was sweet and good liar! :) After the wisdom teeth incident i got my teeth cleaned and that was horrible too. And i haven't been back since. Don't yell at me yet, I didn't have dental insurance for about 5 of those years! But last year i went to a new clinic, just for a cleaning. And they took x-rays and said, Hey no cavities! Although i do have a broken\bad molar that needs to be removed. But then they dropped this huge bomb on me. They said they wouldn't clean my teeth because first they wanted to do some weirdo procedure where they peal back my gums and scrape all the gunk and gook off of the teeth. NO WAY! So i left and now it is a year later. My rotted\broken tooth is in pain and I'm actually kinda nervous to go to the dentist. I'm thinking sedation dentistry? They make you all loopy and then fix your teeth. Perfect! But how did it come to this? Im so tough! I go to the doctor and have brain cysts scraped off from the top of my scull all the time... and that doesn't bother me and I'm totally awake for that! (sorry i hope you weren't eating when you read that)... But now I am dentist phobic. And I don't like it one bit! But i fear that if i go any longer with out taking care of this bad tooth it might do more damage in the end. Conundrum.

Sunny San Diego

Here i am back from my little vacation in San Diego. My mom and I went to get some sun after this long dreary, cold and snowy winter. When we arrived in San Diego on Sunday night we were greeted with sunshine and warmth and lots of color! We stayed on the bay at this hotel on Shelter Island. It was so beautiful! On one side of the hotel was the bay with all the boats and the other side is the ocean! We tried to fit in as much as we could in 3 days, plus a drive over to Palm Springs to visit my mom's friend. The highlights were Balboa Park, with all the flowers and beautiful Spanish architecture! Totally reminded me of Sevilla Spain!


Balboa Park also has a gorgeous rose garden, can you believe it, Roses in bloom in March! After that we made the big drive over the (kinda freaky) Coronado Bridge... Which we found out that it isn't a stable bridge! The navy can move it around to get the big freighter ships through!!! Coronado was a nice town, lots of cute shops and a great beach! Oh the Ocean! My long lost love!
Tuesday we spent the day driving up to Carlsbad to go to the Flower Farms! Holy Crap! Unbelievable! Gorgeous Rununculus fields that cover acre upon acre of red, yellow, orange, white and pink rununculus! I was mesmerized!

We then made the drive into the dessert to visit my mom's friend Val in Palm Desert, which is a city next to Palm Springs. It was HOT and 95 when we got there! I was in love with the weather. We also had a cool drive through the mountains... my other long lost love!

Wednesday we headed back to San Diego for some more sun by the pool

and a dinner cruise around the harbor that night. There were still a million more things i wanted to do, and a few days more i would've been just fine with that... but alas, i am home with good memories, lots of pictures and a nice tan!
Plus when i got home, there was a package from S.Korea from my friend Bonnie who got me the nicest table runner ever from Thailand! I love it! Thanks Bonnie! AND my TWIN'S Tickets were waiting for me for my first game of the season next week! Life is Wonderful!

Happy Easter!

HE is risen... He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A Happy Easter to all my blogger world friends!

Today was a nice morning to go to church and to have a lovely Easter brunch with my friend Ellen. We ate at Spill the Wine, everything was delicious! I am now finishing packing for a little trip to San Diego for some serious sun! See you when I get back!

Spring is in the air....

Happy First day of Spring! Something is in the air... Spring is wonderful because everything gets to start all over again, a fresh start. Life comes back and everything is new. Ahhhh the beauty of life.

I am likely to miss the main event

If I stop to cry or complain again

So I will keep a deliberate pace

Let the damned breeze dry my face

Oh, mister, wait until you see

What I'm gonna be

I've got a plan,

a demand and it just began

And if you're right, you'll agree

Here's coming a better version of me

Here it comes a better version of me

Here it comes a better version of me

~Fiona Apple

Brain Dead

I have one more day of work and then I get a break for one whole week! I am having a hard time concentrating at work... and I've been very clumsy too. It's rather humorous! I guess I caught Spring Fever that's going around!
I am going to San Diego for my break, it will be nice to get away and enjoy some California sunshine!! I don't really have anything exiting to write about... but i just wanted to say hello and Happy Spring!

Holiday Central

This is one jammed packed week of special events! Sunday was Palm Sunday, Monday was St. Patrick's day and Holy Monday, Tuesday is Holy Tuesday and Wednesday is Holy Wednesday, Thursday is the First Day of Spring!!! and also Maundy Thursday, Friday is Good Friday, Saturday is Holy Saturday and Sunday is Easter!
If the Twin's Home Opener was this week, my life would be complete!
To celebrate all these activities I will go eat a delicious and gooey Cadbury Egg.

GO GO GO JOSEPH!

On Friday night, the H2Otown girls made it a night out, with some culture. We went to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Shannon, Cindy and I, and even JAIME! made plans to see this months and months ago, and Friday night our Dreams were fulfilled. It was a great Vegas Style production with glitz and showy costumes and fab singing. About 3 songs into the show, Jaime leans over and says, "They are going to sing the WHOLE thing????" Poor Jaime, this was a new experience for her! She was a trooper though and didnt fall asleep once!

So the night out was fun and more fun! We were all goofy and giggly during the dinner and show, and then after words at Houlihans for some dessert and a nightcap. But that is the best part about my ol' HS pals... we can have fun no matter what we do, and we always laugh and laugh until it hurts! GO GO GO Us!

Pi day unravelled

Today is Pi day... you know like 3.14..... Working at a middle school it's a big deal i guess, cousin Kelly can confirm that too. How did we ever both end up working at Middle schools???
Anyway, If you don't know it, my confession is that i am not mathematically inclined at all! It is a big fat blank in my head when it comes to doing math. I just don't get it at all. Believe me, I have tried! All my life teachers have said, "if she would only apply herself, she would be fine". What the heck does that mean? Apply myself? Oh believe me I apply myself. The problem with math is when i see numbers they may as well be symbols with no value. A math person sees the number 3 and sees 3 parts, I just see a number that is the equivalent to nothing or unicorns or rainbows or mostly a squiggly line.
I had an instructor once say, "You have Math Anxiety". You think? Its not like i CAN'T do math, I can... I mean in high school I took Algebra, Geomtry, Advanced Algebra, Trigonometry (ok so i dropped that) plus chemistry and physics (ok so I dropped that too) and I never failed and I usually got by with a B average in class. But I had to work really really hard. This is why in college I chose to be a Literature major. I get Shakespeare and Poetry, but math. PUKE! I admire and am envious of people who math just comes naturally to them. They are lucky. I will stick to books though.
So here is my Pi poem written by Joan Aiken, whose father is my favorite poet, Conrad Aiken. Maybe if math were put into poetry more often, maybe i would understand it better? Hmmm...
Happy Pi day!

Pi in the Sky
By Joan Aiken

Who'll solve my problem?

asks the moon

Moving across the sky

Who'll calculate my radius

And multiply by Pi?
The shining flood of light I pour

By half a world is shared

And yet this area,

figured out

Is merely Pi r2
The laws of Pi all circles must

Unquestioningly obey

Yet lovely as a lily,

I Float heedless on my way
My proud contention this,

which once The ancient Romans held:

Luna se moven -- briefly put

The moon is self-propelled.
Night's Queen I trace a silvery

Circumference of sky

And share my cold and regal sway

With nobody but Pi.

Deep thoughts by...

Just so you don't just think my life revolves around swanky restaurants, project runway and food... Here are a few inspirational things I've read recently.

The first one is from the book, Into the Wild. The story is inspired by the life of a young man who left everything behind, lived simply and died living that simplicity in Alaska. Crazy or not, something he wrote in a letter to a friend, made me think.

"You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us, it is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances." ~Christopher McCandless

The second is from good ol' Max Lucado.

"There is a rawness and wonder to life. Pursue it. Hunt for it. Sell out to get it. Don't listen to the whines of those who have settled for a second rate life and want you to do the same so they won't feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long; it's to live. Jesus says the options are clear. On one side there is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe...
Or you can hear the voice of adventure--God's adventure. Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God's impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Run for office. Make a difference. Sure it isn't safe, but what is?"
~Max Lucado

One last one:

"I wish I could have a tragic love affair and get so bummed out that I'd just quit my job and become a bum for a few years, cause i was thinking about doing that anyway."
~Jack Handey

Im a bit o' the mutt...

People often ask me what my nationality is and being that my last name is French, they choose that one right away. Well folks, let me break it down for you:
From my dad i get: French, German, Welsh, Native American Chippewa
From my mom i get: German, Irish, Scottish and Welsh

So I can celebrate many holidays, including Bastille Day and St. Patrick's Day. I can eat sour kraut with the best of them, wear killer kilts and I pull off feathers pretty well too!

Chambers It Is!

Kelly, Kyle and I had an ANTM pick the model's pool last season or cycle as Tyra calls it. Kelly was the winner, but both her and I picked Seleisha to be ANTM! So as a prize to all of us we decided to go eat at the new Uber-Trendy Hotel restaurant, Chamber's Kitchen located in the swanky Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis.


The three of us made our way to Chambers and we were promptly seated for our 6:30 dinner reservations. Chambers is a minimalist paradise, very white and chic.

For my starter I had the Smoked Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Passion Fruit Mustard and Cumin Honey. Very delicious, and it was placed on a bed of avocados so all the flavors just enhanced each other. For dinner i got the Duck a L’Orange with Asian Pear and Crystallized Tamarind. If I'm going to go to a nice restaurant i will typically get the duck. This duck meal was tender and very nice, although the skin could've been a little crispier. Kyle and i both got the duck, and we were trying to figure out the different flavors they had added. I still think the duck at W.A. Frost takes the cake, best meal I've ever eaten hands down! We finished our meals with dessert. Now we were very intrigued by this one menu item called Ovaltine Kulfi. Could there really be Ovaltine in it? Like the powdered mix you add to your milk? More Ovaltine Please! But our server just said it was a fabulous chocolate they made! I got that! Fabulous was right! With caramelized banana and caramel, a large chocolate fudge type bar with cream and caramel popcorn on top! WOW!

After dinner we made our way upstairs to the rooftop bar called the Ice Chamber. The whole bar is literally made out of ice! There was also a nice fire pit to warm up to outside. Kelly said, "Only in Minnesota!" As we were leaving we spotted a rather large gorilla sculpture. Although partially covered in snow there was a very massive black log-looking thing in front of the gorilla. Kyle said, "Is that supposed to be his turd?" and Kelly said, "No, It's the gorilla's arm!" To then which we noticed, yes indeed, the gorilla was missing an arm. This is exactly why i love modern art! One armed gorillas! Well, for a swanky night out the vlach-robideau clan did good.

CHONIES!!!

Leeza & Salinaaaas!

MAYJAH!

As if they would pick anyone else! He's Ferosh! He's Avant Garde!

He's Christian Siriano, winner of Project Runway!

Posh said it was MAYJAH!

Gold

A year ago today my life was going in one direction, came to a screeching halt and started going another direction. Actually I don't know where my life was going, maybe it was already stopped, waiting to begin? Either way, today marks one year in my life of new sabrina. I'm not going to dish all the details, all my faithful readers know my story... But on this day last year a girl stopped waiting and starting living. How did she do it? well a lot of crying, a lot of praying and some really amazing friends! So I guess that is my advice to heartbreak and life changes: Cry, Pray and Friends! I think there is a book out right now called Eat, Pray, Love... That makes sense too... But I like my version better! Well this a new chapter, something better, something brighter. Thank you to all my dear and faithful friends! Your presence in my life has made all the difference, I think they need to come up with a new word for blessed.

He knows the way that I take, and when he has tried me, I shall come forth as Gold.
~Job 23:10

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is

you must lose things,

feel the future dissolve in a moment

like salt in a weakened broth.

What you held in your hand,

what you counted and carefully saved,

all this must go so you know

how desolate the landscape can be

between the regions of kindness.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,

you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.

You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice

catches the thread of all sorrows

and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes

and sends you out into the day to mail letters

and purchase bread,

only kindness that raises its head

from the crowd of the world to say

it is I you have been looking for,

and then goes with you every where

like a shadow or a friend.

~Naomi Shihab Nye

The BlackBerry went BACKberry...

I gave it a shot, I was briefly addicted, I was uber-trendy for 15 seconds, life was sweet... but it's time to say goodbye to the BlackBerry or as Kelly so lovingly calls it: CrackBerry!

I really didn't need Internet and email on a phone. Lord knows I spend enough time on it all day at work. So I went for something a little sleeker, a lot slimmer and totally ROCKIN'; A Juke!

Now I have downloaded all my favorite songs into this tiny phone. I love it.

This is a Plug, and I don't mean for your hair!

My brilliant cousin Kelly has the most delicious blog on the block. She is the queen of gourmet done fast and figure friendly! She has just recently broken her recipes down into neat little categories for a quick find. So let say you are looking for a delicious appetizer recipe, click on the appetizer link and it will take you to a world of delectable apps!
I would highly recommend you check out her blog! DO IT!

Leapin' Lizards! (and frogs too!)

Did you all know that Friday February 29th was a Leap Day? It is also the one day of every 4 years when it is acceptable for a woman to ask a man to marry her! And if you are born on Feb. 29th you are known as a leapling! I always thought it would be fun to get married on Leap Day. Then four years later you could still say, Yeah we are Newlyweds. And since technically you could only have a real anniversary celebration every 4 years, you would have to do it up big... definitely a trip to Paris or Bora Bora would be in order! Leapin' Lizards!

To celebrate Leap Day, my friend Shannon and i had a little leap year party. We cooked and baked up a TON of snacks and goodies, and we decorated with frogs and lizards galore! By the end of the night we had a dance party and did a lot of modeling. It was one Hoppin' party! :)