Katzi VS Pizza

If you watch TV as much as I do, I'm sure you've seen those eating shows and you've probably come across Man VS Food on the Travel Channel. Not too long ago, I was able to catch the one in Atlanta. I was surprised to see that my most favourite of all foods - Pizza - would have an eating challenge here. New York or Chicago, I could totally see having pizza challenges with no question but Atlanta? An unlikely place to throwdown. When you think Atlanta, you think South. Southern food. Kevin Gillespie's beard, I mean, his awesomeness on this bizarro season of Top Chef.  But the last thing you would think was the Carnivore Challenge. If you love pizza as much as I do, you'd want to check it out for yourself but it's something you don't want to do alone.
I shared it with the only other people I knew who would appreciate it: W&B. They, too, wanted to experience the beast. They went on 3 separate occasions (since they're significantly closer to Big Pie in the Sky than I am) and when they came back from Thanksgiving in Hawaii (lucky!!), I finally was able to go.



There it was: the place that made the 30 inch pizza. But what toppings? I wanted to just have bacon. But B wasn't going to let me have that. He kept saying that if I was going to get bacon, I might as well get the Carnivore. Should I? Shouldn't I? I'm watching what I eat nowadays and bacon is a big enough indulgence for me but as I stood there, looking at the menu above the pick up window, it just made sense. Why just bacon? Why not go all out and just get the damn Carnivore slices? So, B had me and I gave in. We had it made into 8 (giant) slices: 2 Carnivore, 2 with jalapenos and pineapples, 2 with black olives, pepperoni and I can't remember, and 2 classic: pepperoni and cheese. It takes 40-45 minutes to make it but it's totally worth every minute.



It was beautiful. 30 inches of pizza madness! I barely made it through just one slice of the Carnivore - imagine taking the challenge. It was crazy! It tasted great and it was an awesome experience, especially if you love pizza and food as much as I do. And since it took me a bit to get through just one slice, you know I had to take some home.



Keep in mind that there are only 2 slices in that box but the box is big enough for a large pizza from other pizza places. That's a serious amount of pizza. There wasn't even room in the fridge, so I had to store it in the oven. I could've individually wrapped them in foil and found a way to put them in the fridge but I was tired - I always get carried away with W&B and since they were gone for 2 weeks, I was going crazy! So I just put the pizza in the oven and called it a night. But we would meet again in the morning...



It was so good! I have a bad habit of over-cooking things because I like cheese when it's burnt and bubbly but B&W gave me really good re-heating advice: don't heat it for longer than just a few minutes. I didn't heat it for too long and it was just enough. It was so good but like other foods, it's better fresh out of the oven.
I highly recommend going if you're in the area. It's definitely worth the drive.

Kisses,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

The Most Gleeful Dream In All The Land

So Glee is going on hiatus after tonight's episode (*sad face*). I guess my subconscious mind knew that and that's why I had the most Glee-ful dream ever last night!
I was sitting down for an interview with Chris Colfer because I was doing a piece about him for E! News (lol WTF?) and we were talking about singing (naturally) and acting and all that other good stuff and out of nowhere, we burst out into song. But because I was reading Cast Member Confidential most of the afternoon yesterday, they were Disney songs.
There were such great hits as Once Upon A Dream, Circle of Life, Under the Sea and others but the one that stuck out was Part of Your World - especially this part:

I wanna be where the people are
I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'
Walking around on those - what do you call 'em?
Oh - feet!

It was great! We had our "diva arms" and grand gestures and we danced around each other as if we had been rehearsing for months, when it was all improvised - like in musicals! The crew loved it, of course! I'm sure that would've been the best feature on E! News EVER!
But the best part was that right before I woke up, there was one more song left on our set...
We dramatically and enthusiastically sang the theme from Laverne and Shirley, making it the most grand finale of the whole set of songs we sang together and I woke up in the greatest mood ever!
And, of course, I had to @Reply him on Twitter while I tweeted about it!
I'm sure the Glee finale will be as grand as ever and I can't wait for it to come back as soon as possible!
Inspirational song for the day:


Love and kisses,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Short Update

It's been a busy, busy month! Well, a very busy couple of months.

*Went to NYC for Halloween and had an uh-mazing time! You can view the photos here and here. It was loads of fun with Vee and the girls and I'd love to do it again next year!

*Filming at work was crazy (as usual) but it was still lots of fun (as usual).

*Housewarming with some friends this past weekend - which was great. We were talking about the good old days at our old job together. Fun times...

*Spent some time with Nate's sister and friends this past Sunday - which was great fun. Found out Robert is engaged! Congrats!

*People around me are having babies: my friend/co-worker Jen is about to explode (her due date is 12/9), my friend Erica called me for my b-day and told me she was expecting and my other friend/co-worker Deb just announced she was preggers! Ack! So many babies! Let's just hope it's not in the water...

*I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this year for the first time ever. Double-D convinced me to do it with him, so I did. It's hard work and I know I'm not going to finish but at least I finally did it and I can do it again next year! I'm not giving up, though. I might have a 10,905 word count (the goal is 50,000 by 11/30) but I'm going to keep going, dammit!

*The Body Politik site is up and running and ready for you!!!

So, that's pretty much it for now. I'll be back for detailed updates later.
Until then, lots of love and kisses!!
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

A Visit to Nate's Memorial

I had been trying to get to Nate's memorial for a few days now and I just couldn't. I would get halfway there and start crying and shaking and I'd have to turn around. I knew I had to go and do something...see where he took his last breath...see where it happened...see if maybe I could channel something. So I decided that I would visit yesterday.
On the way there I got nauseous, anxious, started crying, was happy all of a sudden, started to shake and felt dizzy. What if I didn't want to see the skid marks on the road? What if I wasn't ready to feel the energy that was there? I distracted myself with the Oldies station and kept going, stopping only to get multi - colour daisies.
Why multi - colour daisies? Because! Nate was a colourful person! I watched him evolve from super hardcore religious to Marylin Manson kid to rockabilly guy and everything else in between - including multiple colourful hairstyles. Also, I knew that if Nate had been watching me pick the flowers, he would have blushed over the colourfulness of them. They're not manly AT ALL. But they are a nice contrast to the black roses that Alysia placed there and I felt that they spoke to his vibrant personality.
I hope you like them, Nate!





I'd like to do something else for his memorial, though. Something...grand maybe? We'll see who else wants to do it with me.

Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Smell Blind!

Alysia's story reminded me of this one...
Last year in around June, I went to New York to attend the Baptism of my Goddaughter and her sister. When I came back, I was sick. It seems like I always get sick when I come back from New York... Anyway, it was a 2 week long sinus infection that was pretty bad and when I got over it, I hadn't realized that I had some form of Hyposmia or possibly Anosmia . I thought that my sinuses were still blocked but no. My nasal passages were clear, I just couldn't smell a thing! Freaked out, I looked up everything I could on Anosmia and got really, really scared. The dangers were crazy! What if there was a fire? What if there was a gas leak? What if my food was burning? What if I over season my food? What if...???? All these things that I had never really thought about, I was freaking out about!
My BF thought it was funny (at times) and I came to get used to it. Then, we watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and if you've seen that movie, you know that Dewey becomes smell blind! It was the most hilarious thing ever, so I started using that when I was describing my condition to my friends. After a while, I was tired of explaining that I got "smell blind" from Walk Hard because not everyone had seen it at the time, so I (sadly) dropped it.
Last year, I ran in to Nate and I ended up going over to his house after a night of partying with my friends. We started talking and he said something to the effect of "Sorry if it smells" or something like that and I said, "It's okay, I lost my sense of smell". His eyes lit up and he said, "You're smell blind?!" He had seen it! He had seen Walk Hard! He knew what I was talking about and I said, "Yes, I'm smell blind!" Then he started laughing like crazy and said, "You mean, I can fart and you can't smell it?!" and I said, "Yeah, I wouldn't be able to smell it at all" and he said, "Good because I just did and it's BAD" and we both laughed pretty hard.
I'll always remember that because Nate was the only other person (at the time) to know what I was talking about when I said I was "smell blind".

You can read this and other awesome Nate stories at Remember Nate.

Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Wake Up!

A few months ago, I used to look forward to Monday mornings. I would wake up, check my phone and see at least 2 texts waiting for me. One was usually from around 5:30am and the other from around 6:15am - both saying the same message but it was written differently every time.
I would get "Wake up, sleepyhead!", "Good morning", "What's up?", "Good morning sunshine", "Hey!" or just "WAKE UP!" and that's how I would start my week.
We would text back and forth during my morning routine about random things: What we both did on the weekend, how work was for him the night before, what was on the agenda for the coming week and so on.
These conversations would continue well after I would get to work (at around 8am) and it would really impact my whole week. If I didn't get a morning text, especially during filming (the most stressful time of all for me), it would ruin my whole week!
After a while, the texts started backing off until they just weren't there anymore. I was going to start it back up again but I guess I waited too long. At least the old ones still live on my old phone...
I never got to tell you how much I appreciated that and how much it actually impacted my day. Thank you so much for that. It was a great way to start my week off right.

You can read this and other Nate stories at REMEMBER Nate as well.

Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

So Long and Good Night

I didn't know what to expect on Sunday evening at 6pm. I wasn't sure what I wanted to see. I know I wanted to see old friends and seek comfort in them - which I did very much so. I know I wanted to believe it wasn't real but he was right there. I was too scared and in shock to say a proper good bye right then and there but I managed to mumble a prayer before we sat down to pay our respects.
I held it together as best as I could in the presence of friends and loved ones but once I arrived at my Mom's house, I just couldn't hold back any longer. I knew it was my duty to go to the funeral service the next day.
So, on my way to see my Dad before he left I was looking for some music to ease my mind. I put in my favourite mixes but they just weren't good enough. I picked up a random CD I had made months ago and put it in, forgetting what was on it - the face was a sea of red sharpie cursive. It started okay but something compelled me to let track 4 play. I was glad I did. The melody was enough to comfort me but when I started hearing the lyrics, I got tears in my eyes.
With that song playing, I drove through the appropriate stormy weather to the funeral yesterday and got all caught up that I forgot my jacket and almost forgot my umbrella. To take my mid off of the actuality of it all, I pictured the Helena video in all its stylishness and beauty and pictured the choreography and I imagined my friends (who would be the pallbearers) walking through the rain while dancers followed them with the coffin to the hearse - a celebration of the life lived by the deceased.
But that didn't happen. The rain poured. And there we stood in it after the beautiful service.
So long and good night
Nate's sister told us, on Sunday, she wanted to get more of an investigation into his accident and it turns out that Fox 5 came to interview her after his funeral so maybe that's the first step into the on-going investigation. We'll see.
May you rest in peace, my friend.

Love,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.