Meme-a-holics Anonymous

My new e-friend Kristen tagged me, and to her joy (I hope) I did TWO memes from her blog, Diary of a Shoe Addict.

The first: FOOD. I live in Livingston, Montana, less than an hour from the north gate of Yellowstone Park. Our culture is pretty meat-and-potatoes (literally, since it's cold and poatoes like it here, and there are lots of cows and Bison running around), but there are still a good variety of restaurants for such a small town.

1. Montana's Rib & Chop House: conveniently attacehd to the Chamber of Commerce Building, just a yard or two off the Northern Pacific Railroud tracks, Rib & Chop has straight up delicious food. A great blend of hearty Montana food and healthy gourmet stuff, Rib & Chop hits the spot anytime we can afford it! My favorite? Baseball-cut sirloin (they grillit then pour herb butter on it--to die 4) with a house salad with huckleberry dressing, and TWO sides: squah casserole and wild mushroom stuffing. The charbroiled chicken breast is almost as good as the steak and I get it often, too, and the cedar plank salmon.

2. Fiesta en Jalisco: Proof that God loves this Arizona girl--he sent a huge Mexican family to Montana to (a) buy lots of insurance from my husband and (b) open a yummy authentic Mexican restaurant--they even made me love mole! My faves are their Picadillo soft corn tacos, their cabbage salsa (think mexican kimchi without the rotting), and the chicken mole. Delish.

3. Rosa's Pizza: great pizza, dine in or deliver

4. The Pickle Barrel: great sandwiches, soups (steak chili--mm, mm, good! Melts the Montana winter into oblivion, at least for a few minutes), and beverages.

5. And last but never least, Mark's In-n-Out, the main drag attraction open every spring and summer for the past 55 years. Think Happy Days, but with almost no parking. Lots of walk ups and hanging out, eating burgers, shakes, fries, vanilla cokes and all that classic drive-in stuff.

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Back in the Day: A Meme From Kristen

I got this meme from shoeaddict, and since I have my 1984-1989 Journal just sittin’ here, I thought it would be fun to write about THE EIGHTH GRADE. Holy Hannah…1984...

1. Who was your best friend? Susan Shanks (Hi, Sooz!!)

2. Who did you like? At the beginning of the year, I had a crush on Isaac Quinn and Ryan Farnum, and at the end of the year I was “going with” (“going where?…”) Ben Turner.

3. What sport did you play? I was a musical theatre geek, so instead of sports I had 2-hour song and dance rehearsals everyday and instead of games I had shows.

4. Did you buy your lunch? Yep, at the “snack bar” which was cooler than “hot lunch” but much less nutritious. I often got a chocolate shake and either a bagel or a burrito, into which I would smash Laura Scudder’s Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips.

5. It's Friday night, where are you? Sleeping over at Susie’s, watching VHS tapes of shows I wasn’t allowed to watch at home (mostly MTV—especially “120 Minutes” or Late night with David Letterman, which was on at midnight back then so we couldn’t watch it on school nights and would have to catch up with weekend highlights) and eating Doritos or Jack in the Box Tacos and drinking Coke.

6. Were you a party animal? As much as possible in the 8th grade, in middle-class suburbia... no sex, drugs, drinking”—DITTO. People always thought I was on drugs because I was so silly, but I never did drugs, not ever.

7. Skip school? Not without a note from my mom.

8. Did you get suspended/expelled? "Never... the teachers LOVED me!”—DITTO. I’m the girl that missed 162 days of high school and still graduated with a B average.

9. Can you sing the alma mater? We didn’t have one that I can recall.

10. What was your favorite class? I guess it was my music class with Mr. Gabriel since I can’t even remember any other teachers. Oh, except Mr. Sandoval, the funny art teacher.

11. What was your schools full name? Joseph W. Magee Junior High School (Now it’s a middle school, which is the absolute WORST invention of the late 20th century—it should be a crime to take 6th graders out of elementary school—infact, I am an advocate of small K-8 schools myself. Middle schools contribute to the trend of kids growing up too soon and I think it’s tragic).

12. Did you go to the dances? I only remember going to one school dance besides the “8th Grade Prom”—which I attended with Ben in a lavender (could you DIE) dropwaist (I KNOW) dress complete with crocheted gloves (ACK!) and ballet flats.

13. If you could go back in time and do it all over would you? Not for every dime in Bill Gates’ bank account. It was fun and everything, but I’ve enjoyed my adulthood so much more.

14. What do you remember most about 8th grade? I remember my braces, hanging out with Susan, kissing boys, and knowing my family was falling apart.

15. Favorite memory in 8th grade? The California trip with our little song-n-dance group where we performed a bunch of places and wore out the grown ups (my mom was a chaperone and that was so fun).

16. Where did you go most often for lunch? The caff, dude.

17. What did you do on the last day of school? Heck, it was 17 years ago…I can’t remember. I think we left for Disneyland the next day though…my journal says Thursday June 5th and school usually got out on a Wednesday, so…I probably packed!

18. Did you like 8th grade? I suppose I did. I was anxiety-ridden, but I had a lot of good experiences.