Sunday, October 28, 2007

Oh, He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay....

Just had to post this picture of Elliot. It's too cute not to show the world.
He's part Bunyan, part Fudd--all adorable.


Guitar Heroines

Today, in honor of Halloween or maybe because these two lovely ladies are so uniquely bizarre in their senses of humor, I was greeted with a hilarious surprise. I came downstairs to discover Rikki and Emma dressed up like headbangers from the 80's. They were complete with long crazy hair, mustaches/fu manchus, and jeans two sizes too small. I found them rocking out to a favorite video game/obsession/addiction called "Guitar Hero 2". Now, I can't properly explain how funny it was to see my two favorite females engaged in such a dedication demonstration of rocking , but try to imagine two bums from a Motley Crue cover band crashing your living room on an early Sunday afternoon. In other words, it was amazing. I am constantly grateful to Rikki for her sense of humor and today was another reminder of just how wonderful she is. By the way, the guitar heroines will be playing at the Whiskey-a-go go over Thanksgiving.--C.L.

Unique New York, Unique New York or Tagged Part Deux

Ten unique things about Christopher Dennis Lien

1. I live in the city I grew up in and have never moved away. I teach in the high school I graduated from and will probably teach at the local private liberal arts college I attended. Unique is a synonym for depressing, right?

2. I have run a half-marathon despite the fact I participated in no competitive or non-competitive athletic activities at the high school or collegiate level.

3. I can sing, play guitar, banjo (sort of), piano (somewhat) and trumpet (not really).

4. Even though I grew up in Minnesota, I have little to no waterskiing skills. In fact, the one time I went waterskiing I was surprisingly adept, but I retired from the sport shortly thereafter. I have officially gotten up on skis once and have never tried again.

5. One day, when I am done having children and all that, I will travel the countryside with my culinary wife and we will blog after each restaurant visit. She will be the food expert and I will be the goofy sidekick. After much hoopla, we will publish a book called "The Traveling Gourmet and her Husband". She will provide food information, and I will provide comic relief and "insight" to the culture and customs of the local scene. We will at least make $37 dollars from this venture.

6. I was a father, married, and divorced all by 21!

7. I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about baseball (thanks Gramps!) and football despite being generally terrible at both sports.

8. I could eat Rice Krispies three meals a day for the rest of my life. I probably will. That will be chapter three of the aforementioned travel/food book.

9. I do not text message. I refuse to on the basis that it feeds into a society of machine like automatons. Plus, I don't know how.

10. Last but not least, I will always want to grow the thickest man beard. Alas, my rotten genes prevent this from happening. I guess I'll have to make do with my baby smooth skin. Oh, well. --C.L.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Tagged

Ahna tagged Chris and I. It's a game where you write 10 unique things/habits about yourself and then tag 10 other people. Honestly, I don't have that many blogs bookmarked, so it will be tough to pass this on! Most of our friends don't have blogs....they have lives. Just kidding all you bloggers!

Okay, these are my 10:

1. I am addicted to Coke. Not the bad kind....Coca-Cola. I need it to live. My husband will sometimes tell me to talk to him after I've had a Coke because I am Jekyll and Hyde.

2. I have completed a triathalon. I came in second to last. However, I learned how to swim just 2 months before doing it.

3. I have no concept of how to fix my hair or put on make-up. I don't have the time or patience to figure it out and do it everyday.

4. I love, love, love to cook. My dream is to open a small restaurant which I would name The Oral Fixation.

5. I was named after the Steely Dan song, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." We had the 8-track and I guess my hippie parents thought it was perfect.

6. When I was a little kid, I wished the Muppets were real. Fraggles too.

7. I like the smell of my baby's spit up.

8. I get stage fright if I try to sing karaoke. It makes me hyperventilate and cry. Which is embarassing.....so has only happened once. I learned my lesson!

9. I have never been stung by a bee.

10. I LOVE horrible reality television. It's a guilty pleasure for some, but I don't feel guilty. I love it. It's so trashy and mind-numbing, but I can't stop. I love The Hills, any show where some D-list celebrity finds love, Hell's Kitchen......then there are the Bravo reality shows that are a little more dignified: Top Chef, Project Runway, Kathy Griffin. My Tivo is going non-stop to keep me updated on lives that I can't relate to and people that, for the most part, I don't even like! What the hell is wrong with me?! -RL

Sunday, October 21, 2007

My Name is Rikki and I'm a Flodni-aholic...



This is Flodni. It is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my life. I had it at Nichole's which is a bakery/coffee shop in Fargo where Chris and I frequent. I have been searching the internet for a recipe for this and cannot find it anywhere. It is a Hungarian dessert and the layers are apple, poppyseed and walnuts. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS SEARCH! Nichole's is not handing out the recipe.....why would they? They got me hooked. I'm a Flodni addict and Nichole's is my dealer. -RL

Friday, October 12, 2007

Book It!



Sara Lien lent me East of Eden and I finished it last weekend. This is a wonderful book. It is haunting and tragic, uplifting and beautiful. It made me cringe at times, but I could not put it down. If you need a good book and haven't picked this one up yet, it is definately worth reading. If anyone in the blogosphere as a book recommendation, let me know! -RL

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Buddies

Ethan "loves Dad better" this week. His reasoning: "Cuz we're buddies, Mom. You can't be a buddy cuz you're a girl." Some might be offended or hurt to hear their 4 year old say such things. For me, I just think it's really wonderful for a boy to love his dad so much. He still yells out "Mom!" in the middle of the night when he's scared or sick. Maybe I'm not a buddy, but I've still got that. -RL