Friday I'm In Love.....

This past weekend was jam packed full of fun!!  A couple weeks ago Jon and Ash had told me they were going to try and hit up two, yes! two!, shows in one weekend.  Can you believe that?  That hasn't happened since we were spry kids fresh out of Western.  Now I'm lucky if I squeeze a show in once a month.  Anywho, they said two shows, and I said sign me up!  Small problem.  When we actually got around to buying tickets, we found out that both shows had already sold out!!  As Mike Mabie would say -- crap in a crap basket!!  Jon and Ash weren't phased by the sold out status -- their idea?  Let's stalk the shows, wear them down until they finally let us in or call the cops.  So that is what happened.* (*Parts of this blog post will be embellished for entertainment purposes*)

Friday night I met up with J & A at the Crocodile bar for some drinks and dinner.  Wow, the Croc has been totally revamped since it reopened.  #1 difference?  The restroom didn't look like 1. the bathroom from Trainspotting and 2. like you would get Hep C from looking at the toilet seat.  By the time I got there, J & A had already started the liquor train -- exhibit A:

They look like they are having fun, no? So I got on board for a spin with a little gin and tonic action.  So delicious as you can tell from my empty glass.  Don't worry, I had another one waiting in the wings. 

So, still no tickets to the show.  How to remedy this ticketless situation?  Slide tackle the box office guy?  Probably not.  We nominated Jon to check out the ticket potential at the box office when it opened.  No luck.  Box office guy was giving Jon NO LOVE!!  After a few more drinks and some more laughs we nominated Ash to feel out the ticket sitch.  The response?  Maybe, come back in 15 minutes.  Okay, okay, this is starting to look more positive.  Apparently the box office guy is a fan of girls, this is a good sign, we can work this angle a bit.  Croc love trio shot!!!

Woot!!  Woot!!  And yes, I'm still loving the ShakeIt app.  Have you tried the food at the Croc?  Best $6.50 pizza I've ever had, and my shirt got a few grease marks to prove it (later to be removed by OxyClean, love that stuff).  After our snacks Ash decided to go back to the box office and test her luck with the dude behind the glass.  And this is what happened:

Oh yeah!!  Score!!  3 tickets to the sold out show!!  We were pretty excited.  There was a lot of high fivin' and cheers-ing going on at this point.  Who were we going to see?  The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  J & A had heard of them before, but I was new to their sound.  Here's a taste:


The Croc has a new upstairs bar / hang out area that we checked out once the show started.  I almost peed a little whilst walking up the stairs -- so many totally awesome show posters!!!  Check it out!!

Did I tell you I'm getting two more Pearl Jam posters framed at HangFire?!?  Yup, so totally stoked to get them back in a few weeks.  I'll post pics fo' shizzle.  I'd love for my house to be jam packed full of sweet show art and I'm working towards that goal.  Slowly.  After we found our little spot for the show, we proceeded to enjoy the show and people watch.  I managed to find a super fan who gravitated towards me for some reason.  How do I manage to attract the strangest people?  Anyway, this guy appeared to be of the frat douche persuasion (no offense to any former frat douches out there) -- he was trying to find me a spot up against the railing by pushing other people that already had railing spots out of the way.  Awesome.  Let's make other people cranky.  I somehow managed to remove myself from that future trainwreck of a situation, but DFD (drunk frat douche) kept coming over and whispering in my ear who he thought the band sounded like.  I think the final decision was My Bloody Valentine.  Granted, he wasn't completely off base.  The band did seem like a mish mash of many different sounds.  They totally ripped off some of Modern Love by Bowie and Just Like Heaven by The Cure.  And the lead singer's voice was too soft.  He sounded like Shy Ronnie.  Long story short -- we had a super fun night!!!!

So what happened Saturday night?  J & A came over to check out the three posters I had framed from a few months ago -- Jon is also a collector of all things rock show related, so I think he wanted to check them out for possible future framing options.  The show we wanted to check out was down in Ballard, at The Tractor, also sold out.  We ended up hanging out at my place for a few hours -- drinks and Nic & Heather ended up joining us.  And we did a little FaceTime action with Corbett and Jessie -- technology is crazy.  Crazy awesome.  It felt like we were hanging out with them even though they are 1,000 miles away.

We decided to ditch the show stalking idea and just head down to Ballard for some dinner / drinks.  Have you been to La Isla?  So delicious!!  Check it out if you haven't been -- Puerto Rican pulled pork lasagna is my favorite!  I had a cocktail called Surfing Rincon: white and coconut rum with banana liqueur and pineapple juice.  Totally refreshing.

It was a great weekend!!  My goal is to make more of my weekends that jam packed full of awesomeness.  Because you know what?!?  We are on this earth for such a short period of time in the grand scheme of things.  Gotta take advantage of every minute we have.

Newest postcard acquisition:

Ahhhhhh..... Gus Gus.......     

Ten Things Wednesday!!

1.  One of my favorite bands of all-time, Death Cab for Cutie, has a new album coming out at the end of May.  Their newest single "You Are A Tourist" is making it's way onto the airwaves.  Check out their new video!!  They shot it in one take, pretty awesome. 

2. Two weeks ago I went to a show at the Tractor Tavern.  I initially went to check out Boat, but while I was there I fell in love with one of the opening bands -- Pickwick.  They stole the show actually.  And my heart.   Love this song Hacienda Motel:

3. Last night I went out for Ethiopian food with Sean, Corey, Norah, and Heather.  We checked out Lucy next to the Oak Tree Cinemas.  Delicious!!  One of my former co-workers is from Eritrea, and he had introduced me to injera bread a few years ago.  So spongy.  So good!  I think I need to incorporate this kind of food into my diet more often.  Spicy?  Yes, please!

4. Dancing with the Stars is back on television, so that has been entertaining me the last couple weeks.  Who I'm rooting for this season so far:

Kirstie Alley and Maksim.  She is 60 years old!!  I did not know this, I thought she was like early 50's.  I actually don't know much about Kirstie other than she was on Cheers, and the media has chronicled her battle with weight quite tirelessly.  I hope she kicks butt! 

Ralph Macchio and Karina.  Does this guy age?  He only looks slightly older than his Danny LaRusso - Karate Kid counterpart.  He's 50 years old now, but moves like a 20 year old.

Kendra Wilkinson and Louis.  She was my favorite girl on Girls Next Door.  Her airheadedness was endearing at times.  Holly Madison didn't last more than a few episodes of DWTS, I hope Kendra sticks around for awhile.

5. I know you guys are dying to know how Frank is doing!!  He's doing surprisingly well.  I've been feeding him raw chicken for the past few weeks and he is in LOVE with this new diet.  And I actually think he's gaining even more weight.  I'd be happy if he broke the 8 lb mark!  We'll see at his next vet appt.  Until then, I shall keep feeding him anything and everything that makes him happy :)

6. I love my little neighborhood area.  This morning I walked just a short way to mail a package, then I walked to the dry cleaners to see one of their seamstresses for an alteration.  Love being able to get some small errands done close to home.  Then this afternoon I picked up an iced mocha and a copy of this weeks Stranger at the coffee shop a few blocks away.  Lovin' my Loyal Heights 'hood!!

7. I have been looking for a pair of Frye boots to add to my ever growing shoe collection for a few months now.  I decided on this pair.

I fell in love with them the second I saw them.  Despite the somewhat ridiculous price tag, I had to have them.  My heart swelled the first time I put them on, then proceeded to slowly break as I realized, as I took them off, that they were a little too hard to actually get off my feet.  I would end up mangling the ass end of them just to get them off.  I decided to send them back and get one size larger so that the dismount out of these boots would be easier.  Heart totally broken to find out Zappos didn't have them in the larger size.  They only had black and brown.  Hmmmmmm.  Still deciding my plan of attack.  Do I get a different color, or wait in hopes that my size in this color will someday return to stock??  Yes, I realize this is a ridiculous dilemma considering the state of the world at this moment.  And I'll probably burn in hell for it.

8. Today I was thinking about tattoos.  And how I want to get one......or five.....someday.  I'm inkless.  I've made it 33, almost 34, years without getting anything permanently inked on my body.  Anyway, while I was driving around today, running errands, I was thinking about what I would have inked on my body had I gotten the tattoo I would have gotten at age 15.  And let's just say my 33 year old self is thanking my 15 - 18 year old self for not getting any tattoos at that age.  Because this Red Hot Chili Peppers symbol could be somewhere on my body right now.....

With that said, I should probably not get a tattoo because my future 50 year old self will probably someday be thanking my 33 year old self for not getting something like this tattooed on my entire back.......


I love me some hound dog!

*Screw it.  My 50 year old self needs to quit being such a Debbie Downer. 
(*Dear Mom -- No, I am not actually going to get a jester-costume-wearing-Basset tattoo on my wingspan*)

9. So you know I am taking that One Little Word class over at Big Picture Classes?  Well, our prompt for the month of April is to write a letter to our future self -- where I am now, and where I'd like to be in a year.  This is not the first time I have written a letter to my future self.  In highschool, at the end of sophmore year specifically, we had to write letters to give ourselves at our 10 year high school reunion.  What a trip.  I'll have to cover the entire letter in another blog post, but here are a few highlights:

-How was college? Do you have a job? Are you on Saturday Night Live yet? (there is a big SNL theme in this letter)
-How many people do you know that have AIDS? Is it bad? Do you have it? If so, I'm sorry because you look like you'll have a great future.
-Can you still spend hours with Gina and not get tired of her? (answer to that one is: yes, somethings never change)
-Do you have any goals? My goals right now are to party down the next two years (what is this? Dazed and Confused?), go to college, then make something of myself, maybe a few episodes of Saturday Night Live.
-P.S. F*ck so-and-so -- he's a loser (the part of so-and-so was played by someone who shall remain nameless but all my homies from highschool will know EXACTLY who he is) 

I think for another blog post I'll write a letter to my high school self.  The themes will be 1. lighten up -- you're not going to an Ivy League college, 2. don't be such a prude -- you actually have to HAVE sex to get pregnant, and 3. the freedoms of being an adult come with a great price, and that price is responsibility, and sometimes responsibility really sucks.

10.  Homeless guys in Ballard love me and here's why..... So little side story here.  I think I may have told part of this story before, maybe not.  Anyway...... During my brief 4-month stint as a disgruntled Washington native in California, I was walking down by the Santa Monica Pier and a homeless man told me I needed to lose weight.  WTF?  Seriously!?!  You sleep in a f*cking sleeping bag behind a dumpster and you're going to critique my physique?!?  How about I give you some unsolicited advice -- get a goddamn job!  Of course I didn't say this because I'm freaking polite and my mother raised me to A. be respectful to my elders, B. don't talk to strangers, and C. don't mess with a Sicilian when death is on the line.  C may not be true, but you get where I'm going with this.  Fast forward a couple months/years.....I'm back in Seattle, happy as a rooster in a henhouse, pumping gas at the Shell station near 85th & 8th.  I see a homeless guy a few yards away, drinking some sort of paper bag covered malt beverage on the side of the Shell building.  He yells (and I'm going to modify this a bit cause this is a family show here....) "Hey sweetie!  Can I dine on your lady business?"  Of course I politely decline his offer. But hey -- at least he had something positive to say.  Then last week -- I'm walking down NW Market, almost to 24th and a homeless guy on a bench, seemingly three sheets to the wind, says "hey baby -- you're a knock out, you know you are."  Thanks buddy.  And that is why I love this great state.     

#nowplaying

Today I picked up two records -- Boat's "Dress Like Your Idols" and The Lonely Forest's "Arrows".  You should check them out.  Boat had a live performance on KEXP this morning, and they are having a cd release show this Friday night at The Tractor in Ballard.  I'm going to try and hit that up if tickets aren't already sold out.  Here is a review of their new album from Pitchfork.  Personally, I'm loving the album.  I can already tell it will be on repeat for awhile.  Also hoping John Roderick will be at the show to do backing vocals on "Landlocked".  Because guess what?  I dig on some John Roderick.

Check out Boat's cover of T.Rex's Children of the Revolution, a personal favorite....

BOAT "Children of the Revolution" (T-Rex) Hiss Like Your Idols from Magic Marker on Vimeo.

In less indie pop and more pop culture news, I downloaded a couple songs on iTunes.  Young Blood by The Naked and Famous.  Here you go:


And My Body by Young the Giant
Here you go:


What are you listening to this week?

scrappy love

It is no secret that I blog stalk multiple celebrities within the scrapbooking and papercrafting world.  I'm assuming that many of these bloggers make some money with the advertisements that they display on said blogs.  I kept seeing one advertisement for "Elle's Studio", so I decided to take the tootsie roll, click on the advertisement, and see what happened.  And man, I am happy I did.  I found my new favorite online scrap store -- Elle's Studio.

One of the coolest things I found out about Elle's Studio, is they are local, as in Washington local.  At least they ship out of Washington, Burlington specifically.  When I got to their shopping home page I immediately fell in love with their Handmade Layers collection of embellishments.  I'm always on the lookout for unique embellishments, so I was immediately drawn to the collection. 

Here are some of the super cool items that ended up in my shopping cart (all photos courtesy of Elle's Studio website):

Handmade Layer Circles.  These journaling circles are 2" in diameter.  They are super cute and whimsical.  Love them and can't wait to use them on a page.  I already have an idea for how I'm going to use them. 

Handmade Layer 3" Circle Tags.  These are a bit larger, and will probably work well if I have a little more of a story to tell in my journaling.  Loving the music sheet theme on some of them. 

Handmade Layers Journaling Tags.  These are my dream journaling tags..... I'm seriously in love with this line.

Handmade Layers Note Tags.  These are so colorful and fun.  Love. Love. Love.

Handmade Layers Date & Place Strips.  Exactly what they sound like.  Fun little tiny strips of paper for documenting date & place. 

Check out Elle's Studio blog!!

disbelief




Photo courtesy of Dylan McCord US Navy via Reuters

 
This picture just destroys me.  This was someone's home.  And now it is just floating away.  I can't even begin to imagine how the people of Japan are coping right now.  It is hard for me to even wrap my mind around the devastation that has occurred.  How will they pick up the pieces and move on?

Sending positive thoughts to the people of Japan....... 

I've got the fever!!

Last night some girl friends and I got together to hang out and do some scrapbooking.  I had a great time catching up, telling stories, and getting two pages done.  Here are my creations:

Layout: Surprise! This photo of my parents was taken in August 2008.  My mom was turning 60 and my dad had planned a big surprise for her by inviting some of her siblings out to Moses Lake to visit.  The photo was taken just a couple hours before my mom's relatives showed up.  Such a surprise!!

Here's a little bit of a close-up.  The journaling is similar to what I wrote above: Mom's 60th birthday was a huge surprise! Dad had planned for Mom's siblings to come out to visit in Moses Lake.  Such a fun and memorable weekend!  This photo was taken just an hour or two before everyone showed up - she had no idea!!

Layout: You Are My Sunshine. Recent photograph of Frank, checking out the front yard on a sunny Seattle day.

Here's a little bit of a close up.  Journaling: Frank discovered the benefits of our screen door.  The sun was shining and he found a ray of sunlight to bask in for a few hours.  I'm sure he wished I'd leave the screen door open - then he could really explore his new digs!!

After getting my scrap on last night, and getting the Camp Huston Scrapbooking Retreat flyer in the mail this week, I have some serious scrap fever!  Today I went to the Scrapbook Pad in Shoreline to try and find a glue pen.  Our friend Katie was using a glue pen last night that was a must have for putting adhesive on the back of really small embellishments or letters.  I didn't end up finding exactly what she was using, but I did find something similar in a different brand, so excited to use it!  Scrapbook Pad has a large area in the back of their store for classes and crops.  I'd really like to check out one of their midnight crops in the next month or two. 

I also decided to check out a scrapbooking store that I never knew existed until today -- Urban Scrapbooker in Edmonds.  I really loved this store!  It is super easy to find, and they have a lot of supplies by my favorite scrapbooking companies like Graphic 45 and Tim Holtz.  I'd love to check out one of the Tim Holtz classes that they offer, I have some of his products that I haven't used yet because I don't really know what I'm doing (i.e. Distress Inks).  It looks like he has some demo's on his website though, I'll have to check those out and see what I can find. It didn't seem like Urban Scrapbooker had a large area for classes or crops, at least not as large as the Scrapbook Pad.  So I'm sure the classes fill up quickly.

Let's get our scrap on again soon ladies!     

I am the cutest baby alive

My mom scanned all the pictures from my childhood and gave me a disc.  It has been fun going through them.  Not to toot my own horn or anything (read: horn tooting on deck), but I was a seriously cute baby.  Check this one out:

Is it creepy that I want to tickle myself in this photo?  I'm adorable!  Oh oh, and here is one of me sitting up on my own.  And I'm rockin' the best looking comb over EVER!!  Probably eating a booger too. 

Being trapped under a baby back pack is fun!!  I appear to be having the best time of my short life.  This event probably did some damage unconsciously because I've successfully avoided hiking for pretty much my entire life.

Run, Forest! Run!! We had the quintessential 70's house growing up.  Orange carpet, yellow fridge, grass green patterned linoleum.  People would pay top dollar for that kind of vintage kitsch these days.

Tinny and I were hard working farm girls.  Between milking the cows and bailing hay, we had little leisure time.

Well, that isn't entirely true.  There was always time for swingin' by the camper and trying to do my best Shaquille O'Neal impression.

Oh my god!  Is that a picture of a baby with oversized sunglasses?!?  That is so adorable!  AND quirky!  Never to be duplicated.....

What time is it?  It's cake time bitches!!  Grab a plate and fork!  Ah, screw it, just use your hands!  Oh, this is a cake eating contest?  Well, let me just tie my hands behind my back here, I'll just eat with my face.

Alrighty girls, time to hose yourselves off.  Don't drown in that two inches of water.  Or drop a deuce in there.

I'm out.  I gots a play date with some friends.  If you f*ck with me, you f*ck with my entourage!

Pooh Bear will cut a bitch.

Wrapping up One Little Word for February....

As you know from previous posts, I decided to take an online workshop through Big Picture Classes -- specifically One Little Word by Ali Edwards.  My word for 2011 is HEAL.  For February, Ali asked us to see our world through the lens of our camera -- to look for our word in the world and capture it.  Either by literal representations of our word, or figurative representations.  We were to choose at least nine images to use in our album.  Here are my nine images:

Top row:
1. Frank's medication: as some of you may know, I have to give Frank prednisone, twice a day, every day.  As you can imagine, giving a cat a pill twice a day is a challenge.  A month or so ago, I had reached my wits end.  I found myself on the phone with my vet, crying.... Frank had figured out all my usual tricks of hiding pills in food.  If Frank and I were going to emotionally and physically survive his illness, we needed to try a new method.  Luckily there are pharmacists out there in the world that compound medications specifically for animals.  I breathed an enormous sigh of relief when I picked up Frank's prescription for transdermal prednisone.  It is fricking glorious.  I rub a pea sized amount into his ear twice a day.  He gets his medications AND some lovin' from yours truly.  It is healing for both he, and I. 
2. Frank soaking up some sunshine by the front door.  The sight of this small little pleasure for him brought me great joy, and some of my favorite photos of him so far this year.  It's the little things in life that make me happy. 
3. Stack o' music.  I have music on in the house almost constantly -- it is definitely soothing.  Plus, there are so many songs that I have listened to during rough patches in my life, that I remember fondly for getting my through those sad or frustrating times.  For example, I'll always remember Florence & the Machine's album Lungs for being on repeat after Milo died.  Song that I find to be healing?  Between Two Lungs.  Look it up, it might just make you feel better.

Middle row:
1. Milo and I.  Moments before he passed away.  No, this photo wasn't taken in February.  And you may be wondering why I included a photo of a really sad experience in my life.  Actually, looking at this photo brings me a lot of peace.  Peace knowing that I was with him til the end.  Peace knowing that he wasn't struggling in the end.  He just quietly passed away with me by his side.  And it is these thoughts and emotions that help me heal. 
2. Stack o' books.  Books for learning and growth.  The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown.  Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry and Mixed Media by Liz Lamoreux.  Expressive Photography: The Shutter Sisters' Guide to Shooting from the Heart.
3. My savior -- Armour thyroid.  Yeah, you've already heard me sing it's praises.  But let me just say it a few more times for the record!!!  :)  I have felt like a different person since I started taking it in late November.  This drug has seriously helped me in the healing department. 

Bottom row:
1. Healing Our World magazine.  Quite the literal photograph of the word Heal.  Arrived in the mail one day. 
2. Letter to my dear sweet Milo.  I wrote a letter to Milo after he died.  I thought it was good to get all my emotions on paper.  A healing exercise I guess.  As the years go by I think I'll forget the little things I loved about Milo.  It will be cool to read the letter down the road and be able to recall all those cute things he used to do, those things that made me fall in love with him over and over and over again. 
3. Milo's collar and leash.  As time goes by, I'll look at his collar and leash less and less.  Maybe someday I'll put them in the wooden box with his ashes.  But I never want to forget them.  So I'll keep them in my memory through this photograph.

Ali added an additional prompt for the month of February -- enlarging a photo that stands out to you.  In the January prompt, I had to write down words that I wanted to invite in to my life for 2011, one of the words that I invited in to my life is PEACE.  I chose this photo for my photo enlargement because it seems peaceful:

It was taken one cold sunny day when Kim, Casey, and I were down at Golden Gardens.  Kim was showing me different techniques to use to take better photos, and this is one of the photos I took that day.

So far I'm having a blast with my One Little Word project for 2011.  Ali's prompt for March is all about taking action.  I'm already starting to work on it -- I'll fill you in on the details later in the month!   

frames hanged!!

Ah yeah!  I marked a few things off my "To Do" list today, one of which was to hang my recently framed posters.  Check them out!! 

Death Cab for Cutie, New Pornographers, Ra Ra Riot

Love love love the blue grain to this frame

Pearl Jam : "Portland"

Pearl Jam, The Black Keys : New York City

Love this triple frame thing going on

there is always next time........

Wednesday I woke up super late, like 11:30am late.  Not entirely unusual for me, but certainly not the norm.  I stumbled into the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and found my right eye to be almost swollen shut. WTF?!?  Aren't eye infections for kids?  Not really, and being a pharmacist I know that all too well, but I certainly don't remember ever having an eye infection in my adulthood.  I was able to get in to see another MD in my usual MD's office to check out my shanker.  Lucky for me I got the same prescription for the same eye ointment that I remember my mom struggling to put in my eye when I was like 4 years old.  Who decides that an ointment is the best vehicle to get an antibiotic into someones eye?  A person that has never had an eye infection, that's who.  Anyway -- check out my lovely stye -- thankfully it is no longer -- wait for it -- an eye sore on my face.  It's word play people.


Gross

What else to do on my shanker of a day off?  Make a fricking cheesecake is what!!  I've been wanting to get all Pioneer Woman up in diz bitch for awhile now.  And Wednesday was the day to make that happen.  Let's get one thing straight -- I'm a shitty cook.  I have no talent in the food industry.  Bobby Flay will never be throwing down anything that comes out of my kitchen.  I envy the types of cooks that can just throw something awesome together with what is in their fridge.  Emptying a potpourri of different spices into a crockpot and making an orgasmically good meal.  I am not that cook.  I follow recipes to the letter.  Anyway, I've been wanting to try to make a cheesecake from scratch for some time, an Oreo cheesecake if you want specifics.  I found a recipe online, at allrecipes.com.   Easy Philly Oreo Cheesecake.  The ingredients and prep time seemed reasonable, and it was rated almost 5 out of 5 stars.  How could I go wrong?

Ingredients include lots o' Oreos, butter, and one exact load of cream cheese.  The first thing you want to do is leave that cream cheese out of the fridge for a few hours to soften up. 

3 bricks of Philly cream cheese to be accurate.  I'm already loving this recipe just based on the amount of cream cheese involved.  While the cream cheese is working on softening up, you'll want to work on preparing the crust.  This involves 16 Oreo cookies, divided.  You can either crush them up in a resealable plastic bag, or do what I did and pulse the shit out of them in my Kitchen Aid chopper. 

Actually, you don't really want to pulse "the shit" out of them.  More like pulse them gently until they crumble, but leave some chunkiness.  Kinda like this:

After the Oreos are chopped to your liking, add some melted butter and mix it up.  Then press the mixture firmly onto the bottom of a springform pan.  (insert inside joke here: Get me a pan Gina!)  Hopefully yours will look as awesome as mine did:

Then you'll want to take a swig of one of these.  Maybe take a little break to collect your thoughts.

Okay, break is over.  We're not paying you to stand around and drink coffee.  Beat the bricks o' cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Dip finger in mixture and insert in mouth to make sure mixture is not poisonous.  Do this a few times during process.

Here come the eggs!

Add them one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.  Then chop or crush the remaining 8 cookies.  Add half into the cream cheese batter.  Yum......

Pour the batter into your already prepared springform pan.  Sprinkle the remaining chopped cookies over the top.

Then bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until the center is almost set.  This is where I think things for my creation took a nose dive.  I don't know what "set" means.  I think my center was set before 45 minutes and I didn't know it.  I think I overcooked the bastard.  Let it cool, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. 

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good first cheesecake ever!  I think next time I'll cook it for less than 45 minutes.  It seemed really dense.  I was hoping for a more fluffy cheesecake.  There was nothing fluffy about this cheesecake.  Anyone out there know what I can do differently to make a more fluffy cheesecake?

Here's the recipe if you're interested!!