Mandy-cat rides the subway!

To the vet's office! Yay!

But seriously, I took Mandy to the vet today because she throws up way more than a cat probably should. And I was starting to suspect that she had lost weight. I mean, look at her!

Almost down to the size of a regular size cat! Not really, but she is slightly less rotund than before. So a phone call was made and an appointment was set. And of course kitty was fine all weekend. Zero incidents of barfing from time of making the appointment. Until today. At 9:30. Right as my alarm was going off. Thanks, cat. Now add "do laundry" to my list of things to do today that I will probably avoid by doing other things.

Step one of the adventure is to get the cat in the carrier, which was surprisingly easy. The next step involves walking to the subway. Then taking the train. Mandy has been on the subway once before. The only cat that hasn't been on the subway is Cleo. Fun fact. Anyway, we take the train. Get to the vet's office. Mingle with the dogs while I fill out some paperwork. Then to the examination room!

The vet was so nice and not nearly as worried and anxious as I was. A very good sign, I suppose. She poked around and listened to the internal workings of the cat via stethoscope then stepped out to prepare the "take blood from your cat so we can run tests on it" station. So I snapped a photo of Mandy trying to escape the table.

I think this is her "why are you trying to take my picture right now after all of the torture you've already put me through?!" face. Maybe it's because they weighed her on a baby scale.

Oh, her weight? Eleven pounds ten ounces. Her last vet visit was in 2008 and she weighed about thirteen pounds then. So I was right! She did lose weight! But apparently not enough because when the vet brought her back after the stealing her blood part of the day, she said it took a while due to too much leg fat making it hard to find the veins. A+, Mandy-cat, for losing weight and still being a chub.

We were sent on our way with a promise of a phone call with results by tonight. I considered taking a cab home, but the subway is cheaper and probably only slightly more terrifying than a New York cab ride. And good decision, me! On our way to the train, a true American crossed the street with us.

Stopping to take this picture meant a minute less of waiting for the train, so there's that bonus too. On our quest home, I figured I should attempt to document kitty on the train.

Not the best of photos, but you can clearly see kitty in a carrier and the subway floor and bars and all that jazz. Cue me looking up to two guys making a face for me taking a photo of my cat on the train. Whatever, dudes. It was a big day for us.

Update: The vet called this afternoon to let me know that Mandy's blood is fine! She recommended altering her diet because she probably just has a sensitive stomach. So diet altering will be attempted! If that doesn't work, then it's back to the vet for an ultrasound. All in all though, it was good news.

Let's play a Harry Potter drinking game!

Okay, it's not a game. It's more of a "whenever you think about having a sip of wine, you take a sip". Also drink for bad puns. Like, when you write a tweet about Sirius being smug then realizing you should add a note about Sirius being serious. That happened. I did that. Take a drink.

If you raise your hand to vote yes for clearing all charges against Harry, take a drink.

I guess you could make it a drinking game. Or at least make the movie more interactive if you're drinking while watching it. So yes, it is that time again! Get your drink on while watching a movie and write a blog post about it because you've tweeted too much already and your Twitter followers don't give a shit.

So, like, why is everyone so convinced that Harry is lying? This kid already has enough attention, it's not like he needs anymore. He was in the Triwizard Tournament. Sure, the other wizards participating got a lot of attention, but he's Harry Potter! They were all "oooooooh Harry's in the tournament".

My wine is empty. I wish my cats could refill it for me. Or. Or! I could pause the movie and go get the bottle.

How much do you LOVE Alan Rickman?! I would love for him to read me a story about kittens and rainbows and unicorns or whatever, just to make it sound sinister. And then Maggie Smith could run in and be all "and then they lived happily ever after" and smile ever-so-sweetly. Then Alan would be all "yesssssssss" in his best Snape voice.

I think if you have the name Percival, you are required to be a snarky badass. Think about it. Dumbledore. Doctor Cox. Huh? Huh? AmIright?!

Cuss this movie being great. I have yet to find a good second to pause. Okay. After this scene. Then wine.

That's probably enough for now. And by enough, I mean far more than ever needed to be put here. Or anywhere.

It's probably a good idea that some day I will have a real job that doesn't allow me to "work" from home

Dear future boyfriend(s)/husband,

If today is any indication of the future, you would come home from a long day at work to me wearing a tank top, undies, knee socks, and my hair in two very messy pigtails. But really, come on, who wouldn't want to come home to this mess?

Now, would you be a dear and bring me a glass of wine? I have work I need to pretend I'm doing.

Winter finally got the memo and showed up

The past couple of days have been cold. And not just "I'm from Florida and my blood is mostly composed of frozen drinks and beach water and therefore not able to tolerate anything anywhere close to freezing" cold, but legit "holy shit are those single digit wind chills?!" cold. And last night I had to work, which involved walking down a stretch of a few avenues. In the cold. In the windy cold.

It's fine though. I was fairly bundled up in the usual. However, when the wind blew and the cold managed to pierce through my jeans, I longed to have an additional layer under them to protect me. Sure, I had on my knee socks (because they are hilarious and I love them and they are second to scarves as my favorite winter clothing item) and they were working well enough, but if I had leggings, I'm sure I would have been slightly less cold. That's when I start thinking about cold weather clothing and my Floridian brain gets very confused.

I have aced the whole keeping the top half of me warm. Long sleeves, sweaters, coat, scarf, hat, etc. But the legs? Not so sure. For girls, I know that I can do leggings and knee socks and all that jazz to help keep my legs warmer during the winter. I have done these things, but only under rare circumstances and/or when I plan to be outdoors for a significant amount of time. Fun fact: I once wore jazz pants under a pair of jeans on a day when I was going to be outside essentially all day (walking the island of Manhattan day, to be exact). If you ever want to have a thin, comfortable, and really warm article of clothing, buy it from a dance store/magazine/website. Anyway, back to my point. I was thinking how I could have remedied my situation and thought of solutions. Then I started thinking about what boys had under their clothes. No, not in a dirty way. Get your mind out of the gutter and focus! What do boys wear under their jeans to stay warm when it's really, really cold out?!

Maybe guys are too macho to wear anything. They're tough manly men who can face anything, especially something so lame as wind and cold. And yes, I am aware of long underwear and such, but how often are those really used? I have only worn them when we went skiing when I was younger and have since only associated them with such an activity to the point of not being sure of their everyday possibilities. Now that I think about it, I'm sure they don't wear anything. Not like commando not wearing anything, just nothing extra anything.

And now something not pants related but equally hilarious to a Floridian. My radiator makes a ton of noises that confuse me. This is nothing new. I know it has something to do with it working and making it warm in here or whatever. Today, however, a new chapter in "Things I don't understand and probably never will because I grew up in the land of swimming on Christmas day". My radiator spewed water all over my floor. I don't know if this is normal or something to be concerned about. I'm not googling it. I threw a dirty towel on the floor to soak up the water and laughed. Then decided I should write about it. And that's what reminded me about the pants thing.

I think I'm determined to make winter really funny (at least to me) so I forget about the fact that my toes are really cold right now and I hate wearing socks.

ROAD TRIPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

When I go home for the holidays, I typically fly. I mean, it's the logical choice given that I do not own a car and live 1200 miles from my family. This year, however, a friend of mine and I drove to South Florida. She was driving down to get rid of her car as she had decided she no longer needed it in New York. I was happy to offer up my company for the drive. Road trips are fun. It has been a while since I have been on one. And it was cheaper than flying.

Day one. We got up early. We made it out the city fairly quickly. We drove through New Jersey. And Delaware. And Maryland. And Virginia. And then through a bit of North Carolina to our stopping point just outside of Durham. We had dinner, opened stockings, did a bit of work, made a crazy long driving playlist, and went to bed early to rest for day two.

Plan for day two:

1) Wake up early.
2) Hit the road at a decent hour.
3) Power through the twelve hours of driving to Florida.
4) Be mentally prepared for the probable traffic.
5) Arrive home.

Actual happenings on day two included some of those things. We got up at a decent hour. We left at sort of a reasonable time. We hit some traffic. We powered through about nine hours of driving. And then it happened. The car gave up. She couldn't go on. Three hours from home and 200 miles from home, we were stuck at a gas station that closed roughly thirty minutes after we got there. Dads were called for car consultation.

After a couple hours of listening to the Christmas episode of a podcast (the Doug Loves Movies "Twelve guests of Christmas", if you were wondering) and trying different suggestions from her dad, we called a tow truck and found a hotel. Lucky for us, the car gave up in a very pleasant town. The tow truck driver was nice. The woman at the front desk of the hotel was beyond welcoming. Not only did she put us in a room near the cute boys instead of near the old people, she even offered to go pick up food for us if we couldn't get anything delivered that late at night (you know, 11pm on a Friday). We were able to get food delivered. Pizza. And it was amazing. And yes, we ate the whole thing.

I guess I should also include that we made it home the next afternoon. She called up a repair shop. We got the car towed there. Got a taxi to a car rental place. Rented a car. Hit the road. Made it home. Families were happy. We were the happiest of all.