Princess Charming

The Big Appletini

2oz Red Apple & Ginger vodka [just buy the damn Absolut Brooklyn]
1oz Sour Apple Pucker
1oz apple juice
Maraschino cherries
Candied ginger

Mix the vodka, pucker and apple juice in a cocktail shaker over ice.  Shake it like you're shaking your head wondering how in the hay nay Spike Lee is endorsing vodka - Absolut at that - even if it is super yummy.

Place a piece of candied ginger in the bottom of a chilled martini glass and strain mixture into the glass.  Drop in maraschino cherry and enjoy!

Remember where we last left off? Recently re-employed and all that jazz?  Well I still am, and I'm pretty satisfied with my choice.  So why am I sitting in the Orlando airport rather than at work today?  Because although I was a broke bitch, I'm still fancy, so I went on a pre-planned vacation to Miami, cruise to Mexico and quick weekend in Disney World.  And I suppose I chose a great time to go because the Midwest got hit by a term that I'm incorporating into my vocabulary - lake effect snow.  So much so that my flight and about 1300 other flights to Chicago were cancelled and I had to stay in Orlando another night.

And such is my charmed life.  Charmed not because the only way to access my checked luggage was to choose to drag it around with me for 27 hours.  Charmed not because in that checked luggage are my clothes, toiletries, makeup and duty-free vodka that I certainly could have used last night.  Charmed not because although I'm used to staying at the Omni, I was at a $59/night hotel near the airport.  Charmed not because I miss my bed and the reality shows on my DVR.  But I do indeed live a charmed life.

I am blessed enough to be able to go on a 3-part trip in and out of the country when I was collecting unemployment not even 1 month ago.  I am blessed to get to spend each part of my trip with good friends - some I haven't seen in years.  I am blessed to have the option of not sleeping in an uncomfortable airport lounge and be in a comfortable and private hotel room (where they had free breakfast and Internet woo-hoo). I am blessed that I travel enough to have a gang of free drink coupons that I will be cashing in when we reach 15000 feet.

I live an amazing, charmed life.  And if I complained I wouldn't seem grateful.

Who do I have to *bleep* to get "driary" in Webster's?

Alice's Half & Half

~2 shots of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka (any flavor, but I like the original. They don't sell Jeremiah Weed up here, but if you can get it, use that instead)

~Fresh squeezed juice from 1/2 of a lemon

~1 shot of Skyy Citrus (or any citrus vodka will do)

~2 packets of Splenda (or Equal. Just not Sweet & Low, cuz that shit's nasty)

~2 1/2 shots of cold water

~1 shot of Cointreau (or any cheap triple sec)

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Pour into a mason jar filled with cracked ice and garnish with a slice of lemon. Sit on your back porch and sip slowly. No porch? Sit by a window that faces some grass and have at it.

I used to blog like crazy. Well let me reiterate, I didn't "blog", I used to write in an online diary that although it was open for all the world to see, I treated like my personal, under the mattress, flimsy lock, hearts dotting i's diary. That love affair lasted for good 5+ years, until some crazed lady found it, decided to fuck with my livelihood (whelp, there goes my profanity free vow) and I ended up shutting it down. Everything in my life remained in tact, and that bitch, as far as I know, is still crazy.

I don't regret having a diary that was open for all to see, because I know that I touched a lot of people, and I was touched by a lot of people, and not in the slutty mardi gras way either. It was therapeutic for me, and frankly that's why I'm back. I don't know exactly what direction I'm going with this blog (ugh, that word skeeves me out. I have to call this something else. Like a dlog - a drink log. Or driary - drink diary...meh), but I know at least two things. There will be lots of talk about the stuff I love and hate, and lots of drink recipes.

So... about me...

I'm a 30something lady who actually has a responsible professional job. No husband (yet), no kids (yet), single as all get out (this is starting to get sad), living the city life in that of Brotherly Love. I have a few degrees and plan on become Dr. Somebody-or-other by 2012. Not MD, because I don't do blood, but an Ed.D. will do just fine. I used to party like a rockstar, now I just travel like one, but it's mostly for work. I have curves for days and I'm happy to be nappy. Entertaining in my home for friends and family is a true passion and I can mix a mean (albeit strong) cocktail. I have an unhealthy obsession with mascara, curry powder and decorating my home, and I shed a single tear every time I forget my ipod.

This complicated, beautiful mess is Alice. That's me.

Stayed tuned.