Wednesday's Word

Verboten / ver-BOHT-n / adjective:
Forbidden, as by law; prohibited.

I'd observed several people taking photographs of these with their camera-phones, although a sign on a tripod just inside the door announced that all photography was verboten.
-- Stephen King, Duma Key: A Novel

Small assemblages by Hermann Glockner, for example, should come as a revelation even to Germans. Glockner, who died in 1987 at 98, concocted little sculptural gems in his studio, jus for himself: elegant Constructivist improvisations, talismans of verboten modernism, made by folding, twisting and tying together discarded matchboxes, cut-up soap containers, tin pots, wood blocks and newspaper.
-- Michael Kimmelman, "How art connected 2 sides of the Berlin Wall", New York Times, February 16, 2009

The girls eyed one another conspiratorially: the verboten pastry, stuffed with preservatives and refined sugar, offered without even the minutest of moral struggles; to what do we owe this great pleasure? "Yes!" said Daisy, running toward the house, not waiting for me to change my mind.
-- Deborah Copaken Kogan, Between Here and April

Wednesday's Word

Lacuna / luh-KYOO-nuh / noun
plural lacunae / luh-KYOO-nee / or lacunas / Lacuna is from the Latin lacuna, "a cavity, a hollow," from lacus, "a hollow.":
1. A blank space; a missing part; a gap.
2. (Biology) A small opening, depression, or cavity in an anatomical structure.

Like most other writers of his generation, he was a profoundly apolitical being, not from any lacuna in his education but as a matter or principle.
-- Walter Laqueur, "The Artist in Politics", New York Times, May 15, 1983

Between the time of my first memory . . . and my second and third memories, I remember nothing. The lacunae of these years I've been able to fill sketchily from the entries in my baby book, which notes such incidents as my first smile.
-- Jaime Manrique, Eminent Maricones

The exodus of wives, relatives, friends and hangers-on had left a big howling lacuna which wrapped the homestead in webs of glorious nostalgia.
-- Moses Isegawa, Abyssinian Chronicles

Wednesday's Word

Lapidary / LAP-uh-dair-ee / adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to the art of cutting stones or engraving on them.
2. Engraved in stone.
3. Of or pertaining to the refined or terse style associated with inscriptions on monumental stone.
noun:
1. One who cuts, polishes, and engraves precious stones.
2. A dealer in precious stones.

Here, disguested by venality and intrigue, the retired courtier would come to compose lapidary maxims and wise but sympathetic letters to ardent youth.
-- Michael Foley, Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable

If I asked how long it took to simmer the meat sauce, Emilia would answer with a grumble and her usual lapidary phrase: "Quanto basta. As long as it takes."
-- Patrizia Chen, Rosemary and Bitter Oranges

The settings for Jim Crace's fiction are always evoked with superb, lapidary precision.
-- Caroline Moore, "The timid Don Juan", Sunday Telegraph, August 31, 2003

Cute Valentine's Day Doll

Becca arrived home tonight and shortly afterwards came back upstairs carrying an ugly little doll in her hands. My first thought was, "What the heck did Mike send you?" Then, she set it on the table and turned it on!

How hilarious is that?!?!!! She bought it from Walgreens as a gift for a friend. I just may have to go get one.

My first thought was that I had to post it on my blog. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Double Date Night

Tonight, Drew and I went out for dinner with Matt and Sheena for her birthday. We went to a local fondue restaurant called Lucerne's. I have never had fondue before and I was so stoked.

The restaurant is inside this cute, old house in downtown Rockford.

When we arrived, there was only one other couple there eating. They ended their meal and left about halfway through ours. It was actually kinda nice to be the only ones there. The waiter, who I think Sheena said was the owner too, was very attentive to us and gave us great service. He even snatched my camera after I took it out and started taking pictures to take some group shots of us.

We started our meal with two baskets of bread, carrots, celery, apples, and grapes to dip in cheese. Us girls shared one and the guys shared one.

Then, came our salads. They consisted of shredded lettuce, tomatoes, radish slices, a cucumber slice, croutons, and a really, really good dressing. The dressing was already put on it for us. I was a little nervous as I took my first bite because I'm sorta picky with my dressing. It was fabulous though.

Matt and Sheena ordered steak, chicken, and lobster, and Drew and I ordered steak, chicken, and fish. The portions are plenty big enough to order one meal and split it between two people. The pictures is of our meal, after we had dug in a little. You can see the 12 dipping sauces that are provided and all of the meat and vegetables too.

Since it was Sheena's birthday on Tuesday, the waiter stuck a candle in our dessert. We had a plate filled with pound cake, bananas, tangerines, pinapples, strawberries, cherries, and marshmellows. We dipped those into chocolate and caramel. So good!

Apparently there are tables for dining upstairs too. I asked Matt and Sheena if it's usually so dead in there. I was awful surprised that there were to few people for a Friday night. They said that it's usually hit or miss there. Sometimes it's packed full and sometimes it's not so busy.

Drew and I had a fantastic time and will definitely be going back very, very soon.

Wednesday's Word

Flibbertigibbet / FLIB-ur-tee-jib-it / noun:
A silly, flighty, or scatterbrained person, especially a pert young woman with such qualities.

We discovered here not the flibbertigibbet Connolly describes but a serious reader (Goethe, Tolstoy, Proust) who found her cultural ideal in the 18th-century France.
-- Martin Stannard, "Enter Shrieking", New York Times, November 28, 1993

He argues persuasively that Millay's reputation has been harmed not only by academics who dread and fear her heartfelt "simplicity," but by the very admirers who wished to promote her as a kind of whimsical flibbertigibbet, a peotical Anne of Green Gables.
-- Liz Rosenberg, "So Young, So Good, So Popular", New York Times, March 15, 1992

That it was the Owenses who had got involved in this nonsense, rather than some flibbertigibbet johnny-come-latelies, counted for a lot, for the Owenses were respectable and respected.
-- Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean, The Graveyard Book

Happy New Year!

The two Drews' decided that we were going to spend New Years Eve in the Dells. We all left when I got off of work yesterday afternoon. We got to our hotel, changed, and went out to dinner.

We decided to go to a local restaurant in the Dells called House of Embers. The decor is a little strange and not really my style, but it was nice. The food! OMG! The food! Besides being extremely pricey, was amazing! I ordered a plate called Chicken Oscar, which was grilled chicken covered in crabmeat and a sauce of some sort. It was simply phenomenal! Drew got Filet Mignon, which he enjoyed. Other Drew got Chicken Cordon Bleu and Jen got something like Pan Crusted Grouped, which she said was kind of bland.

After dinner, we went looking for something to do to kill some time until the countdown. As we drove in, we noticed that Kalahari had a new Indoor Theme Park. We decided to go there and check it out. There was arcade games, mini-putt, a ferris wheel, go-karts, laser tag, a ropes course, a climbing wall, and bowling. I was in awe! We decided to head upstairs and bowl a couple games.

And, to make it fun, we decided to make a little bet. Girls win and we get back rubs. Guys win and they get back rubs. Of course, us girls won the first game!

We played one more game, but didn't bet on that one. Good thing we didn't. Do you see my score? That's the Tania we all know and love!

Here's a little video of the inside. You can see the arcade games, mini-putt, and ropes course.

After bowling, we had about 25 minutes until the countdown, so we headed back to the hotel where the bar was having a NYE party. We quickly decked ourselves out in party favors and awaited midnight.

After the countdown, we headed back to the room. Us girls decided to head to bed, but the fellas continued their night and headed to Ho-Chunk for a little gambling. I'm proud to report that my Drew only lost a little big of money!

We got home early afternoon, unpacked, and laid around on the couch for a while just relaxing. Drew started talking that he wanted wings for dinner and after talking to Adam and Nicole for a while, we all decided to meet for dinner at Granite City. After another fantastic dinner, we left and met Drew at Tilted Kilt, where his old college roommate, Andrew Robinson, was playing.

I was very impressed with the music. I would describe it as a nice mix of John Mayer, Matt Nathanson, just very chill and relaxed.

And in case anybody was wondering about the bar, and the uniforms that the waitresses wear, yes, they are as skimpy as I'm sure you've heard. The girl on the left is actually an old friend of the other Drew. Such a small world!

All in all, we had an amazing New Years celebration with lots of friends and fun.