Boyz II Men 

Speed Street - skateboarder from Dave Mirra stunt show

Boyz II Men 

Speed Street - Dave Mirra on Tryon 

speed street

This week in Charlotte was Speed Street affectionately known as "freak week" or "Redneck riviera". In preparation for one of the biggest NASCAR races the city shuts down the busiest intersection - Trade and Tryon. (kind of dumb if you ask me. they shut down the middle of downtown for a week!) They basically have a street festival with festival food - funnel cake, corn dogs, gyros, etc. They also have some interactive stuff and free concerts. It stretches about 10 blocks, its actually pretty cool. But I will tell you I have never seen so many jean shorts, mullets, tevas, and wifebeaters being worn. (The official uniform of rednecks around the world.) I saw one guy wearing this inflatable tire around his head with beer cans in it and he had a mullet and was missin some teeth.

Anyways, on Thursday I got to see Dave Mirra and his crew do BMX and skateboarding stunts on the vert ramp right outside my office. So for lunch we went out and watched the stunts. That was very cool.

Thursday night Boyz II Men performed. I was so excited! I never got to go to a boyz II men concert so my patience finally paid off - i got to see a free concert. There was actually only 3 of the guys from boyz ii men there. The deep voice dude was missing. I heard that he doesn't perform anymore because he has some sort of illness. Sad. I think its funny how they were performing at Speed Street. Either NASCAR is really trying to appeal to a different crowd, or boyz II men are desparate for money/exposure.

Friday night I got to see 3 doors down perform. I got "backstage" passes through bud. We got to stand stage right and watch. I didn't bring my camera that night so I didn't get to take any pictures. DOH! They only had one porta-poddy for the VIP area so I waited in line to use the bathroom for like 20 minutes! And when I tried to get out I couldn't the door was jammed, finally i got it! WHEW! trapped in a porta poddy is my worst nightmare.

YAY NASCAR. bwahahahahahhaa...

Interior of my car.  

Exterior of my car. 

3-2-1 Go!

So, the craziness has begun. We are surrounded by boxes - dozens of unmade boxes - and some boxes already filled with our belongings. Even though this weekend marks the beginning of the summer and care-free and relaxing days, we'll be nowhere near relaxing and care-free. This weekend marks the beginning of our move to Cleveland. Mr. Moc and I will be packing up a majority of our stuff since I'll be out of town next week and the weekend.

Yup, on top of everything we have to do for the big move, I've got a business trip. I'm actually looking forward to this business trip however timing couldn't have been worse. At least, I'll get to meet up with old colleagues and then I get to head to LA to hang out with college buddies and see the Famous M & J along with their parents. This will be my last chance to see everyone before we head off to Ohio.

On top of packing, we're also selling both cars. It was a lot easier than we anticipated as everyone was telling us that we should have started selling months ago. Well, in a week, my car is sold. My buyer is coming up in a week and a half to take my beloved car away. I'll miss my car but there's no way that I can take it with me to the snowy state. I guess I should look at the bright side of things - I get a new car once we get to Cleveland! Woohoo! Alright loyal readers, what should I get? For those of you who don't know me, I like driving...especially German-engineered cars. I'm thinking X3 - any suggestions out there??

The countdown begins. 18 days til the movers show up. 20 days until we leave.

--MM

Lake Norman 

turn 1 

leaderboard 

the infield garages 

ready to race 

turn four 

RedNeck Shower 

NASCAR

My turn to blog! So this weekend I went to my first NASCAR race. I went to the Nextel All-star challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It was fun! I got to sit in the suites so I was away from the crazy crowd. It was fun though, the Speedway is so big. One lap is 1 1/2 miles. In the middle of the track (the infield) they have all the trucks that brought in the race cars and the garages. They also have a camp ground which people bring their campers/trailers in and camp out all week. Apparently there is a waiting list to get to camp out there. I've been to the Speedway before when it was empty and got to go into the infield but its VERY different when there's an actual race going on. There are over 200,000 people there.

We were in a great suite which was close to the finish and we also got to see a really crazy wreck - 12 cars were involved. Basically the race is set up in heats where they do 50 laps then the top few go on and do 30 laps then the final race is like 12 cars that do 20 laps. I even got to go onto the "roof" and see everything from above.

Don't worry I'm not turning into a redneck. It was just something cool to experience once in my life. At least I went to the short race, after like lap 20 i started to lose interest and then the crash happened. yay crashes! The race next weekend - the coca-cola 600 is 400 laps!! Good thing I'm not going to that one.

Yesterday I went out on my friend's boat to Lake Norman, so pretty outside.

-RD

Wanna Good Laugh?!

Who's already sick & tired of all the hype from the new Star Wars movie? Well even if you aren't, I think you'll enjoy this hilarious clip about Star Wars. Just click on the link and then double click on the top right where it says Star Wars Nerds.

I couldn't stop laughing - it's friggin' hilarious! The video is about 5 minutes long - well worth watching it all at once. Let me know what you think of it. In fact, I'm gonna go watch it again right now. --MM

It's time...

As many of you know, we're moving to Cleveland (yes, Ohio) soon so I have to sell my car. A 2-seater convertible just doesn't do that well in the snow - I think she'll be much happier in a warmer state, like California. I'll miss my car but I should look at the bright side of things. I get a new car when we get to Cleveland. Anyway, if you're curious, check out my listing on Craigslist. '99 BMW Z3
--MM

Ditto!

So Rocketdog calls me and asks me if I watched the season finale of Gilmore Girls. I was only halfway through when she called so I told her I'd call her back when I got to the closing scene. Okay, so closing scene goes something like this:

Lorelai (as played by MocMoc over the phone to Rocketdog): Rory dropped out of Yale.

Luke (as played by Mr. Moc over the phone to Rocketdog): What?!

Lorelai: She dropped out of Yale and she moved in with my parents who I went to for help and they stabbed me in the back. Everything we worked for, all these years, her whole future...she was supposed to have more than me. She was supposed to have everything. That was the plan. We had a plan.

Luke: Okay, I'm sorry. I have to jump in here - uh - I know you think you have this thing handled but I can help! First off, we call Yale and we tell them something like uh, Rory had a chemical inbalance and she was medically out of her mind when she told them she was dropping out. And then we get her out of your parents' house, whatever way we can. We lock her up in her room with you cause you can talk her into this. You can talk anybody into anything and if worse comes to worse, we will drive her to school everyday and we will follow her to class and camp out there to make sure she goe...DING!

DING?! OMG! Apparently, the season finale of Season 5 ran over its normal time because TiVo ended there. Rocketdog screams over the phone while MocMoc sits there in disbelief. Mr. Moc is just relieved he doesn't have to play-act as Luke over the phone to Rocketdog anymore. ACK! Somebody call the WB and make them replay that episode immediately! We're dying here. We know that Lorelai actually ends up proposing to Luke (cause Rocketdog and I surfed the web to find out what happened and found a Gilmore Girls fan site) but its not the same as watching it. Ugh. What are we going to do?

Anyway, to console myself, I watched 1/2 hr. of Next...some dating show on MTV. It's funny to watch. The episode I watched was a girl trying to find a date. She's given the opportunity to quit dates and start new ones...she has up to 5 chances to find a date. So, this girl meets the first guy - doesn't like him so she says "Next". They bring out the 2nd guy - doesn't like him either and says "Next". 3rd guy comes out and apparently he's in a boy band and says he can dance. The girl makes him dance and sing - and he does a very bad boy band impression. As soon as he finishes dancing & singing like a fool, she says "NEXT!". The whole reason I brought this up is because as soon as I saw Mr. Boy Band, I thought of KGB. Mr. Boy Band was wearing this athletic jacket - just KGB wears except that it wasn't green. And KGB loves to do his boy band imitations. I'm not saying KGB sucks or anything like that (in fact, "no comment") but it just made me think of KGB.

KGB is going to the mothership tomorrow for a couple of weeks. I don't know if he'll get a chance to read this post before he goes, but if you're reading this, KGB, good luck on the mothership. Hope you find your Queen Amidala. Hehehe. And remember, you promised to give me 6 months' notice.

SEE Sharule! I can write a blog without focusing on coffee or food!

--MM

making up for the last blog

OMG! I am so upset. So today I decided to watch my recorded episodes of One Tree HIll and Gilmore Girls. Well, for some odd reason I decided to watch One Tree Hill first. When I started watching it I realized that it had recorded the end of parts of gilmore girls. I guess GG went over an hour. So I watched One Tree Hill and then I delete it cause i finsihed watching it. I went to watch GG and realized...I deleted the last 5 minutes of it. AHHHHHHHHH.... I NEED to know what happens?! Does Luke ask Lorelai to marry her?! What happens with Rory?

Yesterday I went to starbucks and I got a Toffee Nut Latte. That was the second time i've ever had one. I forgot about the drink because they took it off the menu. I then proceeded to have it with some of those caramel wafer things. Yum! They complimented each other perfectly. However, I still think I like a White chocolate mocha better.

Today at the office towards the end of the day it was me and two of my coworkers/friends left in the department. All the older people in our department were gone. My coworkers were trying to convince me to go to a Kenny Chesney concert (Renee Zelweggers new hubby. Of which i've already been to one concert.) So, one of my coworkers takes this stuffed horse head on a stick and pops it over on top of my cube like a puppet and starts singing some horsey song. I could not stop laughing. I then proceeded to take the horse and return the favor to them, except I got up on my desk and made it look like i was riding the horse. Yes, we get crazy in the middle of the week.

I am almost done reading The GRapes of Wrath...finally. Any recommendations on books?

I am going to a Nascar race on Saturday - Nextel All Star challenge. YUP.
SEEEEE Sharule - We do write about other stuff besides coffee and food, although one of those has to be mentioned in every one of our blogs. I would talk about sports but I don't think MM would appreciate that.

--RD

zzz...

This weekend Kathy and her boyfriend, Dan came to visit. We watched Spanglish and The Terminal. Spanglish was really cute, it was so cute. The girl in the movie looks like a cross between Penelope Cruz and Amanda Peete.
We went to Lake Norman and walked around in this park. It was nice i didnt know this park existed, but its right on the lake. So nice. We ate a lot. We went to Mert's. yum. I had fried chicken. Kathy had shrimp and grits, which is what i'm getting next time. For dinner we had italian food. I had chicken parm, so yum and now I have leftovers.
Ok this is a really boring blog. I am going to stop before I bore someone to death.
-RD

CAFFEINE!

Yay - our coffee maker/espresso maker combo just arrived yesterday! Since the last one we got didn't work, we tested the espresso maker today - just to make sure it worked. It works! . I love caffeine and biscotti! Woohoo! Time to go "test" the coffee maker side of our machine and then maybe I'll go out and run some errands...maybe I can stop by Starbucks for a frappucino. Yeah, a frappucino! It's sunny and warm outside - perfect for a ice-blended caffeinated drink. Muaahahaha - well, I'm off to make some coffee! :) -- MM

Seben-Eleben

Raise your hand if you've been to Tokyo. I went to Tokyo once a few years back for a quick 4-day business trip. I was working during most of the trip but I still had a great time. The one thing I remember most is the food and the creativity involved with the food. Let me explain by what I mean...

The vending machines sell cans of cold coffee and cans of hot coffee all in the same machine. And my friend, CP, who just relocated to Tokyo last week, tells me that he saw a vending machine that sold coffee, tea, and corn soup. Corn soup!? Hmmmm - I wonder if it's anything like the corn potage they have at the Curry House in LA. CP, if you're reading this, you need to buy corn soup out of a vending machine and tell me if it is the same.

Have any of you been inside a Japanese convenience store, like a 7-11 or mini-mart? The food that they sell in those stores are amazing and so creative. I don't remember exactly what they have but I do remember some yummy bento boxes (and not the kind you find in the States)....very fresh and very flavorful. There were also all kinds of snacks (unusual flavors of pocky sticks and pretz) and unique candies. Maybe CP can elaborate on the details since he seems to have convenience foods every night for dinner. Poor guy - 1st week of work and they've got him working +13 hours/day.
Hang in there, CP.

--MM

down again

Our email system is down again! Since Monday afternoon it has actually been pretty good. Ocassionally it will stop for a minute. Now it's just stopped. ACK.

Anyways, so I had lunch at Capital Grille. So yummy. Although today I had a sirloin salad and they put too much dressing on it. I wish they would have my favorite the tenderloin salad. Yum. But I had calamari, french onion soup, sirloin salad, berries and cream for dessert and jasmine tea. Most of those are my usual, but today i tried the french onion soup, can't say i'm a big fan of french onion soup. Too salty for me. I eat there way too much.

So, Renee Zelweiger (however you spell her last name) got married to Kenny Chesney. Living in the South, the girls in my office are crazy about Kenny Chesney. I actually went to his concert last year. Yeah.. once in a lifetime experience for me. It ws fun though. But I think she is pregnant, i mean they only met 4 months ago! I thought she was dating some other rocker dude. At least she didn't procreate with that guy from White Stripes. Yick. Now, she will jsut have short children with Kenny. I was watching SportsCenter this morning like i usually do when I get ready and they made a pun about Renee and KChesney. haha.

Amazing RAce last night was so good! I was jumping up and yelling at the end when Uchenna and Joyce were trying to pay the cabbie. Such good people they are. So happy they won than those greedy Survivor bastards and the bitchy couple. Man Kelly looks horrible withouth make-up. I can't believe she asked that one lady at the airport to borrow her lipstick last time.

I'm going to the Charlotte Knights (minor league baseball) game tonight. I am hoping to eat lots of hot dogs and junk food.

Everyone else needs to blog!

--RD

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

Our email system is down, once again. How exciting.
Every morning I watch CNN or ESPN while I'm getting ready. Sometimes I watch VH1 or MTV to get myself pumped in the mornings. Well, this morning I was watching CNN and the only thing I remember hearing was that Jennifer Garner was possibly pregnant with Ben Affleck's baby. I was watching family guy last night and for some reason they were talking about Good Will Hunting and how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a screen play and made it big time with it. Well, they flashed back to when Matt and Ben finished writing the script. Matt was sitting at the computer and goes "Done! Good Will Hunting by Matt Damon". Then Ben goes "can you add my name to that?" Matt: "What?1 all you did was sit around the couch and eat for the past 6 months". HAHAHAHA... I would like to see one of those "if they mated" things that Conan O Brian does for ben and jen. They'd have a funny looking baby. I bet J.Lo is really jealous.

Tomorrow is the season finale of Amazing Race. In the office we have taken to immidating Gretchen "oooh meredith - we got a BAD elephant".

Famous M (Boogers) called me on Friday and said "I'm going to see da goo goo and (mr. Moc)". I go really? Ask Daddy when you are going to go see xiao goo goo. (Boogers) goes "Daddy when are we going to visit xiao goo goo". Then she turns to me "7:30". "No (Boogers) not da goo goo, xiao goo goo". And of course J (Ralphie) was yelling in the background, it was funny.

-RD (i always forget to add that)

The Famous J 

The Famous M and her favorite baby doll, Mickey (named after Mickey Mouse) 

Yummy Food

After having the stomach flu all last week, it was nice to be able to eat again. And eat, I did. Of course, I'll start my diet tomorrow. ;) Here's a quick recap of everything I ate this past weekend.

Friday night: Caprese Salad (fresh mozzarella cheese and tomatoes w/white balsamic vinaigrette dressing) and fettucine with roasted chicken and broccoli rabe. I made both these dishes when my brother, sister-in-law and their 2 kids, the Famous M&J, came over for dinner. After dinner, we headed to the Peninsula Creamery for dessert. The hubby & I shared a pralines 'n' cream milkshake while the kids shared a huge 3 scoop sundae and big giant cookie. The kids were bouncing off the walls after that!

Saturday: My brother and sister-in-law made jambalaya, fried catfish and cornbread. Yum!

Saturday night: Caesar salad made with a light lemon-y sauce followed by linguini with salmon and peas in a light tomato-cream sauce. The pasta was home-made and fresh and the sauce, although made with cream, was light and flavorful. Of course, after such a delicious italian dinner, we had to follow it up with a dessert of chocolate profiteroles. The hubby had a delicious lasagna - I think it was the best lasagna either of us had tasted. What made it an even better dinner was the company...our dear friends, Sangria Sister and her husband, Sunset Copper, and their beautiful 15-month old baby girl, The Bean.

Sunday: Not as glamorous as the rest of the weekend since most of it consisted of left-overs from the various meals over the weekend. However dessert was a warm oatmeal chocolate-chip cookie and vanilla bean ice cream with caramel liquor drizzled over it. As the Famous M says, yUUmmmy!

In addition to eating, I did a little cooking/baking of my own. I made a chimichurri sauce (like an Argentinian salsa) for my sister-in-law and then made a batch for the hubby and me with the leftover parsley and lemons. Chimichurri goes great and adds a little kick to grilled steak, seafood or meats. We once even had it with our Thanksgiving turkey. Afterwards, I baked up a batch of espresso-chocolate chip biscotti for Z-boy, Mr. Warner and the rest of the coffee drinkers at the office.

After re-reading what I just wrote, I definitely will be re-starting that diet tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day!

Note: Obviously, all the names used in this blog have been changed to protect the innocent. For the innocent who are reading this blog, I'm sure you know who you are by the nicknames I have chosen for you. :)

--MM

Nasty Food

So I just got back from lunch. We went downstairs to this restaurant called The Graduate. It is located right below our office. Anyways, we go there a couple times to eat, just cause its convenient. But, let me tell you, it's not so good. Typical bar food. I had a fajita wrap it was so flavorless I had to get a side of blue cheese dressing to dip it in. I miss good food. I miss having all sorts of yummy food at my disposal instead of this horrible bar food that they serve everywhere around here.

--RD

A Whole New World

omg - i've just discovered a whole new world out there! the world of blogging! i know, i'm a dork - i'm just now discovering this new world and have found all these great blogs to read. i'm liking what i read and am getting hooked by the day. i'd like to comment on some of these blogs but not sure how blog-etiquette works. as a new reader, can i just jump in and make a comment as a total stranger or do i need to introduce myself first? can someone out there help me?

random thought: is there a blog on blogging etiquette?

btw, today was a berry berry bad day (do any of you out there remember strawberry shortcake and friends). all i had to eat all day (until dinner at 8pm) today was caffeine and sugar. i had a cup of coffee and a biscotti for breakfast at work. then by lunchtime, i wasn't hungry so i decided to wait for birthday cake which was happening around 4pm at the office. so of course, i had to have a cup of coffee with a slice of cake. arrrrgh.

until very recently, i was trying to kick my coffee habit...obviously, that's not working. i stopped trying when we got a new coffee maker at work and it lives across the hall from me. that means the smell of fresh coffee floats into my office everytime Z-boy makes a fresh pot. (Z-boy does that like 3 x's a day!!) if you like coffee, you'll know how hard it is to ignore the smell of a fresh pot of coffee calling you. arrrggghhh. and if you know me, i'm not usually a sugar-freak...for the most part, i'm a healthy eater. breakfast usually consists of scrambled egg whites with spinach in a whole-wheat tortilla with a glass of water or juice. i usually snack on fruit, yogurt or cottage cheese and NOT cake or biscotti. oh well. at least dinner was healthy. white bean and sage cassoulet...yummy.

Okay, must explain "Z-boy". if you're one of my fellow co-workers, you'll know exactly who Z-boy is. if not, let me explain another time in another blog post (i think that's what it's called). i'm gonna go read some other blogs. just call me aladdin.

btw, check out the hubby's blog: http://www.mrmoc.blogspot.com.

-MM

Hairy Ass

Once again, the email system at work is down. So I am blogging.
I'll blog some more about Gilmore Girls.
I am not sure how I feel about Logan and Rory. I think I still like Dean and Rory the best. Did you know that the guy who plays Dean is making a movie in real life? It's got Paris Hilton (you konw that movie is going to be a bust) and Lucas from One Tree Hill. But, I do like Luke and Lorelai. How are they going to end the show? (if, God forbid it ever ends). I wonder if they'll get married. And have kids together. I never liked Lorelai and that guy who worked for her dad. He was an @ss and he was hairy. He was a hairy ass. And what if Logan and Rory do get married like the grandparents want? Then it won't be Gilmore Girls anymore. wahhh!
By the way - Suki looks huge! That baby better pop out of her soon or she might explode.

I am a very good fashion consultant. It's so much easier telling people how to spend their money as opposed to spending my own money. I am a fashion consultant to quite a few people. I'm taking bids - if anyone would like to pay me for my services, the best offer wins. =)

I think our addiction to coffee might be another good comparison to Gilmore Girls, although I like fancy coffee instead of just straight up black coffee from anywhere. I miss Coffee Bean.

How about what's going on in Desparate Houseiwves? I'm so confused. Do you think the P.I. is going to help Susan or kill her!!

I sound like I am on speed. I made myself an English Breakfast Latte this morning and I think I put too much vanilla powder in it.

--RD

Gilmore Girls

I just watched a TiVo'd show of this week's Gilmore Girls and thought of RocketDog while I was watching. The opening scene as RD described is Lorelai Gilmore (mom) and Rory Gilmore (daughter) in different locations each watching their own roombas (self-propelling vacuums) and talking on the phone to each other. Lorelai makes some comment about "almost like watching the same tv show together". Reminds me of RD and me. Since we live in different part of the country, we'll call each other or IM with each other and shop via the internet together. I know, not quite the same as going to the mall together but I'm heavily dependent on RD as my fashion consultant. She never steers me wrong.

Another aspect of Gilmore Girls that reminds me of RD and myself is the eating aspect. The Gilmore Girls are always drinking coffee, eating or thinking about eating. If you know Rocketdog and me, you'll know exactly why from this aspect we're like the Gilmore Girls. If we're not eating, we're thinking about eating or asking each other what we ate that day. We're not exactly skinny minnies but based on how much we eat, we have the potential to be huge chunky monkeys. Anyone got a good fat-burning cardio program so that I can keep on eatin'? I have issues with running (maybe a blog for another day) or anything that puts stress on my knees.

I've got an ice cream craving, specifically a Cold Stone's craving, so I gotta go see what I can do about it.

--MM

Roomba

I was watching a tivod episode of Gilmore Girls from last night and in the beginning they show one of those automated vacuum cleaners. I want one of those! Imagine how clean my place could be! Imagine how much electricity I would save (probably not that much). Imagine how envious everyone would be of me. bwahahahaha!

--RD

Hoo-has!

HAHA - that picture is funny because its zoomed in on your hoo-has!
Our email at work isn't work and hasn't been working all day.
I'm bored, where's mocmoc?
I made myself a English Breakfast Latte this morning but I didn't add enough vanilla powder. Yucky.
--RD

Newbies

You must forgive us - both Rocketdog and I are new to blogging. Still trying to figure it out and learning how to post. Just have to explain though that you are not reading the blog of someone with a split personality - instead you are reading the blog of 2 sisters who are out to entertain themselves and hopefully some friends along the way. MocMoc and RocketDog obviously aren't our real names - just our nicknames based on a shoe-shopping experience at Macy's where we each spent less than $20 on a pair of shoes!

--MM

Who's Who?

Orange flowers=MocMoc, White flowers=RocketDog

Numero Uno

YAY! tell MOC MOC that Rocketdog says hi! Rocketdog came out to play today. Someone asked me if rocketdog was from China, no Rocketdog is from Macy's.

I want some jamba juice. Indian food so cleans out your system, it's great.

-- RD