Tide

So I've been so busy this week!
Sunday I had this OOC party and Monday and Tuesday I had American Idol auditions (more on that later) and today is my only free day before I go BACK TO SCHOOL tomorrow! So I must pack.

If I finish packing early, I'll do my next post tonight (where my many readers can meet my family!)

For now, here are a couple random cell phone images.

Remember my favorite Project Runway designer Austin Scarlett?!
(if not, here he is with his challenge winning corn husk dress....)


Well I was walking through a shopping plaza and saw him!


Glad to see he's still at that sewing machine!! E>

AND:

I was at Collingswood the other day (like a giant garage sale where people set up tables to sell stuff) and saw this amazing sign on a Star Trek box set:

My Name Is...

So because I have absolutely nothing to blog about, I figured I'd share all the variations of my name!

ENRICO:
This is actually my real name. It means "ruler of the household" or something, which is so not true in my case! I was the youngest child so I was more like the "servant of the household."
When I was young, I didn't like my name for some reason. I probably thought it was too unique or something. Some people have unique names and jump all over their uniqueness (like my sister Talita), but others wish they had normal names.

So once I got into 5th grade, I decided I did like the name Enrico, and since then my friends and family call me Enrico.

Enrico makes me think of:


NICKY:
When I went through my name-hating phase, everyone I knew called me Nicky. Once I went back to Enrico, people still called me Nicky cause they were used to it.
Now, my siblings call me either Enrico or Nicky, but I'm fine with either one. But I don't introduce myself as Nicky anymore like I used to.

I guess cause I used it as a child, Nicky makes me think of:

(just not the whole shirtless part! I never run around shirtless!)

RICO:
I managed to live for 19 years without anyone calling me Rico other than a one time joke or something. Then I went to my current job (well, yesterday was my last day!!!) and somehow got named Rico. Maybe I don't pronounce clearly or something, but my name at work IS Rico. It's on the schedule that way and everything.

The first time I was a server, I printed out my table's ticket and the chef was like "Who is Enrico?! Why is there a ticket for an Enrico?! No one works here with that name!"
Seriously.

Rico makes me think of:


Speaking of jobs not knowing my name....

ERIC:
When I worked at Subway, my Indian boss was unable to say Enrico (or maybe he just didn't like it?) and called me Eric.

My brother used to go in to eat and my boss would say "Tell Eric to come to work!" which my brother found hilarious. He still calls me Eric sometimes.

Eric makes me think of:

Of course the best Disney prince EVER!!! (sidenote: you won't believe the FIRST image that comes up when you Google search "Prince Eric" with no filters...)

HENRY:
Enrico actually is Italian for Henry. For a long period in my life, people would ask me my name and I'd say "Enrico" and they'd say "Why hello, Henry!" and I'd be like, "ENRICO" and they'd be all "OH! ENRICO!" (I SERIOUSLY have a pronunciation problem apparently!)
So I think it's so cool that my name actually means Henry since people always think I say that!

No one really called me this normally until senior year of high school when my friend Jasmine realized what my name meant. She then bought me a keychain that said "Henry" and still calls me it to this day.

Henry makes me think of:


NOOGERS:
I think this name started with my sister maybe, who called me "Nicky Noogers" as a child. I kind of forgot this name existed until the other day when she called me it again.

Needless to say, I don't go by this name anymore.

And it makes me think of:


And I think that's it....
Still, that's a lot of names!
Which is your favorite?!

Lost in Translation

So at my job (which will stop being my job in 2 days!!) they hired a few Russian girls. One of them speaks English pretty well, but two of them don't. They rely on the third Russian girl to translate.

But sometimes, the translating Russian isn't scheduled. And then we have problems...
The only thing the Russians can do without their translator is speak in Russian REALLY loudly and laugh. It's kind of cute though, cause they laugh a lot.

Here is a scene I witnessed involving busboy Hugo (who speaks English and Spanish) and the Russian duo (who only speak Russian).



Ah. You gotta love language barriers.

Since then, I still see Hugo speak to them in Spanish and think they're ignoring him. Haha.

All The Stars

So the other night I went to the Teen Show in Ocean Grove to see my friends Claudia and Karissa perform.


Claudia played an eccentric nurse who purposely put everyone out of ABC order, just for fun. She was great!


Karissa played herself a ghetto woman who yelled at people and tried to attack them. She was the cook and she was great too!


I used to be in the Teen Show but I didn't like the direction they went this year. They did a play when usually it was just a musical review.

Last year, I had a solo in the form of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles. If you're bored and want to be in pain, here's the video! My digital camera only had enough memory for like 4 seconds of the song btw. OH! And the girl I'm dancing with is Claudia!

Richard Parker

Since you already met one of my pets, I figured I'd introduce the other (better) one...

My hamster Richard Parker!


In case you're wondering, Richard Parker is named after a character in the amazing novel by Yann Martel, Life of Pi. In the book, there is a mix-up at the zoo that results in a tiger being named Richard Parker. I loved the book, loved the human name on an animal, and used it for my hamster. I find it unacceptable when people refer to him as "Richard" or "Rich" or "Mr. Parker" or anything that is not his full name.

But Richard Parker is way more interesting than just a story about his sweet name...

One day, I noticed Richard Parker looked quite busy in his little house.


I had to go to work so I ignored it. But when I got home, I realized that my little pet was actually quite extraordinary.... while I was gone, he designed his first garment!


Once I found out that Richard Parker had an eye for fashion and loved designing clothes, I decided to audition him for the first season of this new show called Project Runway.

Unfortunately, the show didn't allow hamsters to audition (racist!) so I decided to cheat-I would actually appear on the show but Richard Parker would design and make the clothes!

Unfortunately, the camera's caught us cheating. Here is a picture I managed to find in the original pilot for the show.


Aww. Richard Parker was so cute licking himself on national television.

Since they caught us before the season really began, they were able to find a new contestant to compete that season


Even though Austin was AMAZING on the first season of Project Runway, Richard Parker had no appreciation-he was depressed and started making bad life decisions.


But don't worry-I am a good pet owner and I worked through Richard Parker's depression.
Now he is a healthy hamster who exercises daily...


... and only drinks water!


E> There's no better pet/pet owner design team than me and Richard Parker!

Discount Brownies

So I just realized that I never posted about what happened after yoga!

After leaving WOW, Claudia and I headed over to Value City, attracted by the huge sign outside.


I actually never go to Value City but I figured I might as well check out what they had since it was closing down.
Turns out everything was 70-80% percent off! I tried on these amazing boots but didn't buy them cause they were too expensive (like $2).


Claudia and I stumbled across some fabric that was for sale. Actually, I think it was a curtain. But we decided to use it to make a dress. We were inspired by Project Runway!


Our mission was to make a dress that was better than Stella's trashbag dress from the first episode of season 5. I think we succeeded...

Not only were they selling all the rest of their inventory, but their fixtures as well. They were selling the clothing racks, the mannequins, the cash registers, the doors, the walls, etc. I actually got lost in a jungle of clothing racks.


I ended up buying 20 pairs of socks for $4! Pretty sweet deal.

After Value City we stopped by Target so I could get the new Miley Cyrus CD (so good!) and I ended up buying these amazing shorts (don't mind my bad photoshop skillz)


I didn't buy the shirt cause it was the same price as the pants... and that didn't make sense to me.

We also bought brownie mix so we had something to snack on while we watched So You Think You Can Dance!


But everyone knows the point of baking is licking the bowls/implements....


We let them bake and watched SYTYCD and talked about how Mark def needed to go home. It ended up that Will went home somehow even though he's a way better dancer than Mark! Luckily for the world, Mark went home a few days ago, so it's ok. As long as Katee wins everything will be ok!

The brownies were done so we decided to cut them into cool shapes, like triangles, a star, a heart, and then any random shape...


And they were actually really good! I never made brownies before... Then again, it was just mixing and pouring and baking...