Merry Christmas!!

Can you guess what I got for Christmas?

Necessity is the Father of Invention

What do you do when you want to quickly chill a bottle of wine you just bought, but you don't have an ice bucket? Create your own! :)

Another Open Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I appreciate your quick response to my letter. I'd love to answer your follow up questions, but first I need a little more information.

Could you please define what you mean by "good"?

Thanks again!
Emily

An Open Letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

Here’s the deal. I’m looking for 2008’s must-have, hard to find item: The Good Single Man. Tall. Handsome. Funny. I’d really prefer the Premium Model (you know…the one that comes with at least $150K annual income), but I’d be more than happy with the Standard Model too. I thought I was going to be able to find one, but some lady actually pushed me out of the way last week to grab the last one for her daughter!

I know, you tend to focus most of your energy on the <10 age group and I applaud that. They are definitely deserving. But you should know that I have been watching a LOT of Hallmark Christmas Movies this year. I have seen that you have a place in your heart for the single women (must remind you of the first time you met Mrs. Claus. How sweet!) and admit it…you really like showing up that snotty little midget Cupid who prances around in February like he’s king of the world. I heard he actually used to work for you til he decided he was "too cool for the Claus!" What an attitude!

I know you’ve got the ability to give me what I want for Christmas this year, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop by and help me out. I'm sure you’re a little overbooked on Christmas Eve, so I’ll even take my present late…just as long as its here by Midnight on New Years. :)

Thanks again Santa,
Emily

Random Thought for the Day

What makes a man want to be an OB/GYN?

What does this say about me?

I have a quick links bar set up on my laptop so I can have one click access to my favorite websites. Here is a screenshot

In case you can't read them, here they are from left to right:

1) Myspace.com. I haven't checked myspace in at least six months and haven't updated my page in much longer than that.

2) Gmail. My lifeline. I check this email obsessively. Legitimate link.

3) TCU Mail. I stopped checking this about 2 months after I graduated. My account got shut down one year after I graduated. It's been shut down for 8 months now.

4) Sabre Webmail. Work. Only email I check more than Gmail...second legitimate link.

5) Ryan's Blog. The first blog I really followed of a good family friend. He stopped blogging and actually deleted his blog at least a year ago, maybe longer.

6) Woot One Day, One Deal. I haven't checked to see what the deal of the day is in probably a year and half.

So now for the 2 big questions:
1) what does it say about me that of my self-proclaimed 6 most important links, only two of them are actually legitimate?

2) What does it say about me that instead of taking this 10 minutes to delete the links and replace them with real ones, I would rather make a screenshot and blog about it, showing how truly lazy I am?

My First Blog Award

So after three years of blogging, I've finally gotten my first award! Happy day for all!! Okay, maybe not for all, but definitely for me. :)


I am supposed to recite the below and then pass this fantastic award onto eight other bloggers who make me smile every time I read what they have to say. Thanks Ginny for thinking of me!

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

My awardees are:
- Megan at Mookarama
- Cousin Trey (who should update more often!)
- Bonniebee Wester
- Courtney B
- Kristen
- Courtney N
- Mag, Maisy, and Weaver (it's private. no use posting a link. Love ya Mags!)
- Holly in NYC (private too. Keep out!)

More substantial posts to come soon! Including (but not limited to) My first pair of cowboy boots, recipe for a christmas movie, and maybe (just maybe) an actual recipe or two.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a great day with family, food, and football. :)

On the field at Texas Stadium at a work event last year. :)

Happy Open Letter Day!

Today, SITS is hosting an Open Letter Linkup...everyone goes and puts links to their open letters. I love open letters. If you've read my blog for very long, you've probably seen a couple. So for your Friday enjoyment, here are my open letters. Enjoy the blast from the past!

A Letter To My Love

An Open Letter to Grocery Stores

An Open Letter to the Apple Store

Tiramisu

After posting Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe yesterday, by Sarah's request (glad to hear from you!) here is my tiramisu recipe. Background: after I went to Italy, I had the best tiramisu I've ever tasted. I went to numerous Italian restaurants in the US trying to find it again, and eventually realized that no one here has it. So I scoured several Italian blogs, found a couple of recipes that I played around with (not changing much...mostly altering to fit what I could find in the US) to create what I think is the perfect tiramisu. I have a couple of disclaimers that I'll throw in at the end. This recipe will make a 9x13 pan. You can half it for smaller ones.

5-6 packages of Mascarpone cheese (8 oz pkg. I usually buy mine from Super Target and its kept in the deli/bakery section close to the fresh mozarella and other specialty cheeses)

6 eggs (6 egg yolks, 4 egg whites. Separate into two bowls)

6-8 heaping spoonfuls of sugar (or more or less, depending on taste)

2 packages of ladyfingers (I usually find them at World Market - Vicenzovo brand in an orange pkg)

4-6 c. espresso (strong coffee will work just fine. Make it and then put it in a dish to cool)

Cocoa

Beat egg yolks and sugar. Add mascarpone cheese and whip until creamy. Beat egg whites until peaks form, then add to cheese mixture. Add extra sugar to taste (it shouldn't be overly sweet though).

Quickly dip ladyfingers in coffee one by one and line the bottom of your pan (I literally set it in the dish with the coffee, immediately flip it over and take it out. Very quickly or they get overly soggy). Put a layer of cheese mixture on top. Make another layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers. Add another layer of cheese mixture. That should be enough to fill a 2" dish. Sprinkle top with cocoa (a sifter works great for this). Stick in the refrigerator for a bit and serve cold.

Now my disclaimers:
- This never comes out the same twice. It all has to do with the consistency of the mascarpone cheese which is out of your control. Sometimes you may need a little cream to make it creamy (no pun intended) and sometimes it will come out entirely too thin and doesn't get a good thickness to make layers. Sometimes 5 pkgs of the cheese is perfect, sometimes you need 6, sometimes even with that it is too thin. Even when its a little thin though, it's still good!!
- You're probably wondering where the liquor is. When I was in Italy, I never had a tiramisu with liquor in it. Apparently, that is an American addition. Italians prefer to keep their alcohol separate...drink the wine on the side instead of throwing it into the dessert.

Hope you enjoy!! :)

Broccoli-Rice Casserole

Here is my recipe for Broccoli-Rice. We had another potluck today (for a different group) and I was tasked with dessert. I made homemade Tiramisu and it was a hit again! I'm just rocking out the potlucks this year. :)

1 stick of butter
½ onion chopped (or a little more or less, depending on how much you like onions)
1 package of frozen chopped broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 to ½ lb of velveeta cheese
¾ c milk
1 cup of uncooked rice, cooked (measure the rice before cooking it, but cook it before you put it in the casserole)

In a large skillet, sauté onions in butter. Add chopped broccoli and sauté until completely thawed. Add soup, velveeta, and milk and cook until all of the velveeta is melted. Stir in cooked rice. Pour mixture into greased pan and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

For a 9x13 pyrex dish, I made 1 ½ of the recipe above. The normal portion works great for a 9x9 square pan. I usually make it the night before and bake the day of. Hope you enjoy it!

Potlucks...mmmm

I love potlucks. I love potlucks even more when everyone raves about my dish and asks me to send them my recipe! It satisfies that scared child in all of us that is wondering "are people going to like my dish? Is the food that I think is good actually weird or gross?" Hooray for Broccoli-Rice Casserole! :)

Things I Could Blog About, But Won't

- Work is busy as usual

- How Wheel of Fortune's new $1Million spot is a load of crap....too many hoops to jump through after you land on it

- The big storm that is headed my way bringing hail and tornadoes....in NOVEMBER! Seriously??

- The fact that How I Met Your Mother is the best. show. ever. It is legen...wait for it.....

- How depressing it is to leave work at 5:30pm and have it be completely dark outside. It feels like I'm leaving at 10:00pm!

- I thought working out was supposed to give you energy. It just makes me exhausted and tired

- ....dary

Hope you had a great Monday...or at least as good as it could be!

How About a Little Respect?

Last week, I went and exercised my right to vote. We have the luxury of being able to vote in secret, but I will tell you that I voted for John McCain. But I'm not here to talk about why McCain should win - people have made up their minds on that issue already and there are like, 1 1/2 hours left in the polls. Plus, I don't think anyone cares about my opinion on that! :)

What has made me really frustrated today is not who people are voting for. I'm pretty sure Obama is going to win. I'm frustrated at the lack of respect that people have and how divisive the whole voting process becomes. Throughout today, I have been reading horrible attacks on supporters of either candidate on blogs, facebook, myspace, etc. Obama supporters implying that people who don't vote for him are idiots, racist, just plain wrong, and so on. McCain supporters implying that people who don't vote for him are uneducated, lazy, just plain wrong, etc. The truth of the matter is, both candidates are great men. Yes, they have differing philosophies; yes, they focus on different things. You can take both platforms and spin them to be the best, state the same fact in two different ways to support different conclusions. That's just how politics is and always will be. Remember that millions of people are voting on the opposite side of you and that those millions of people aren't wrong - they're just voting on different things.

My best friend at work, Lauren, is voting for Obama. We are able to recognize that both of us are intelligent, we both make the same amount of money, we have the same education, we're both white females...we have just interpreted the two platforms differently. And when we show up for work tomorrow, neither of us is going to think any less of the other for our decision. And frankly, if we let who we vote for define us as people, we don't deserve each other's friendship.

Whether our next president is Obama or McCain, the world is going to keep on spinning tomorrow. I don't care who you vote for, but don't attack my decision and I won't attack yours.

Halloween Recap

It's 6:45pm and has already been pitch black outside for the past hour. That makes me sad. I don't know what I'd do if I lived in Sweden or Alaska or another one of those places where it is dark pretty much 24/7 in the winter!!

But on to the important stuff...Halloween! I've been so busy this year, I actually forgot it was coming. But my cousin, Allyson invited me to a party with some of her friends on Friday night. Then she started talking about dressing up and I was like "Why would we dress up?" That was the first time I realized it was Halloween!

So I made a quick trip to Academy after work on Friday and did a really pathetic transformation into camo-girl for the night. Ally channeled some 80's Madonna, and we headed off to The Glass Cactus for the Spazmatics Halloween Bash. Spazmatics are an awesome 80's band that I have been to probably 10-15 times (for example...here and here). It was the perfect Halloween activity - everyone had a great time just dancing and hanging out and they put on a really fun show. We felt like we were at the Halloween party out of Hocus Pocus with everyone dressed up and dancing to a live band. :) Is it sad I set my holiday expectations from a kids movie?

And now...pictures. ;) Starting with me, Ally, and her friend Anastasia (with the Spazmatics in the background!)

I incldued this one for the full effect of Allyson's outfit. Ha!

No Halloween party is complete without Uncle Fester and his (working) lightbulb!

Asian Michael Phelps and Shark. This guy had some SERIOUS self esteem to be able to walk around in a speedo all night!

We all had such a great time! Thanks for a great Halloween, Allyson! :)

It's time for another....

Good Idea:
Making mac and cheese for lunch while working from home

Bad Idea:
After discovering your box of Kraft is missing the cheese packet, attempting to make mac and cheese from leftover shredded cheese and milk that you have in the fridge.

Random Thought of the Day

How did the American Accent come to be? I mean, our country was formed by people coming over here from England, which is why the majority of us speak English. We kept the language - wouldn't we have kept the accent too?

Bloglist12345

Today I was playing around with Sitemeter (don't we all?) looking at how people found my page. I think its funny to see what people have googled to get to my blog and its fun to see which friends blogs they're coming through.

Today one of the referrals was clicking through a link at bloglist12345.blogspot.com. I didn't recognize that one, so I thought I'd see who linked to me (I have to confess...it makes me feel special when I'm on someone's blogroll). Turns out, bloglist12345 is PRIVATE! And I'm not invited! So someone out there has me on their blogroll, but I can't read theirs. Or it could just be that someone made a blog to keep track of their favorites without having other people read it, I'm not sure.

So Bloglist12345, if you're out there....invite me! I love to read other people's blogs!

P.S. My most common google phrases refer to "Mexican weddings" (which is really amusing to me) from this, "I Hate Apartment Living" from this, and "Funny European Sayings" from this. I always have at least 4 links from each of those every time I look at sitemeter (which is only about once every 3 months or so).

For Sale: Riverfront Property in Texas

An Open Letter to the Apple Store

Dear Apple Store,

When I battle traffic for almost an hour on my day off to give you a chance to show me why I should become a "Mac" instead of a "PC", it would be nice if one of your "geniuses" could at least acknowledge my existence in the 45 minutes I spent wandering around your small store looking lost. Not a great first impression of your "outstanding customer service."

I'm just saying...

Best Regards,
Emily

Go Frogs!

Tonight, I went to the TCU vs. BYU football game with my friends, Chris, Erin, and Mike. It was DEFINITELY a fun game....we had a good tailgate before the game (all 45 minutes before the game since it was Thursday and we were coming from work), saw some friends from grad school that we haven't seen in awhile, and got to watch the #24 Horned Frogs completely smash the #9 BYU-ers (anyone know their mascot?). It was a great night! And even better...I'm taking the day off work tomorrow, so I don't even have to worry about going straight to bed and getting up tomorrow. :)

Here is a very blurry cell phone picture of me, Erin, and Mike in front of Frog Fountain. Go Frogs!

A Conversation With My Dad

Dad: So I'm getting a new car....

Me: What kind?

Dad: Well I figure I'm 58, which means I only have 2 years left in my "mid-life." I'd better get my mid-life crisis car while I can!

And that is the story of how my dad became a proud Corvette owner. :) And after driving the 1983 El Camino for the past 10 years, I can honestly say no one deserves it more!

SITS

It's probably not a secret to anyone who reads my blog (seeing as at least three of you are people that I first met through blogging...) but I like to read random blogs. I love seeing other families and what they do, what they are interested in, and how different it is from my own life. Yes, I know its weird. But today I discovered that there is a whole community out there just like me! And even better, I discovered it on one of my favorite blogs to read, The Quilao Triplets, so now I know that she doesn't mind random people checking in from time to time!

All that to say, the new site I discovered today is SITS and it is all about connecting people who like to read and write blogs. I'm excited about digging into it and finding new blogs to read - you should go check it out too! They're having a "blogathon" today with all sorts of giveaways. Who knows, you might make a new friend! :)

3010 Words

Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Corporate Strategy, all for charity.

Blah Blah Blahg

I'm sick. You've gotta love having at least one of these posts every 6 months or so! The fun part of this one is that my fabulous sinus infection hit the same week as our company Talent Show that I was supposed to sing in (its a part of our Give Together fundraising week and all proceeds go to charity). I sang in it anyways - it wasn't great, but the song I sang was more funny than serious so it wasn't terrible. Now I'm just hoping that I can spend this weekend getting well so I can hit next week with full force...I've got a TON of work to do since quite a bit of this week was taken up with Give Together and Talent Show stuff. Blah.

Sesame Street

One of these things is not like the other.....

Yes, that is Patty Weaver in a Supergirl costume. Yes, we were out in public at a restaurant. No, this was not a part of any dare, nor was she under the influence.

The Before and After

I'm stealing pictures from Katie's blog to show the before and after of the hair. It's really a funny story how it all came about....

Ben, Vanessa, and I were at my house bored on a Friday night watching America's Next Top Model. It was the makeover episode and Vanessa made the mistake of saying "I don't see why these girls always cry. I'd let ANYBODY dye my hair!" If you know Ben....he took this as a challenge. A couple of hours and 2 bottles of dye later, we both went from reddish blondish brown (not sure what our hair colors were before) to dark brown.

Me before on the front left....Vanessa is second from the right in the back.

A few days later with dark hair. I look really bad in this picture, but its the only one taken so far with the dark hair!

Back to the Wedding

So I've decided to do the blog I talked about in the last post, but I'm going to do it right and really prepare before I launch it. So I'll let you know when I get it done!

And now I decided that I should finish my posts about the wedding I went to in August before October hits! Lindsay's wedding was beautiful, the reception was awesome, and I now have another roommate married before me! :)

The most bizarre thing from this wedding happened at the reception though. The reception was at a Country Club, so we wanted to get some pictures on the golf course before going in. They went ahead and opened the buffet for the guests. When we came back in, Deborah and I started looking at the cake, then we went and looked at the groom's cake. It was chocolate and had a couple of chocolate covered strawberries. It looked a little funny and we couldn't figure out why...until a guest walked in between us, picked up tongs and took one of the last two strawberries off the top of the cake! The guests had eaten ALL of the chocolate covered strawberries off the TOP of the cake!!! WHO DOES THAT??? I've been to many weddings in my time and have never seen anyone even THINK about touching the cake before its cut! The photographer didn't even get pictures of it before it was picked apart. So sad.

Here are a few pictures from rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

Nichole, Me, and Deborah at the rehearsaLindsay and Deborah as we were getting ready
My first limo ride ever! Going from the church to the reception. Notice the glasses still...stupid pink eye!!The newlyweds in the limo!Going out to the golf course....we got some really cute pictures in the golf carts.
Cutest ring bearer ever! This conversation went something like this: "Will you take a picture with me?" "No."

The remaining roomies with our new friend, Katie. She is the new girlfriend of one of our college friends and we LOVE HER!!!

That about sums up our wedding weekend! It's about time, huh?

Short Fling With a New Blog Idea

For awhile, I've been wanting to make a blog/website devoted to cooking for one. It is such a challenge and pretty frustrating to try to buy groceries and cook for just one person - you're either really limited in what you can do, or you end up with a ton of leftovers that go bad before you can eat them. I've spent the last 5-ish years modifying recipes and coming up with some really good ones that work perfectly for single cooking, and I have people ask me for recipes all the time. So I thought I'd open it up and just start sharing them and see where it goes. Sounds like a pretty decent idea, right?

Wrong.

I started looking for a blog name just to see what was available....every variation of cookingforone, cookingsingle, singlecooking, cookforone, etc. is taken. Every one of them is this same idea. Every one of them has no more than three posts - an introduction post and possibly two actual recipes before abandoning it a couple years ago. So now I'm pretty sure that if I started this, I'd just reach the same fate. Maybe someday I'll decide to go for it and will actually build something worth reading, but for now, I'm pretty sure it would just be a blog-fling.

Unless someone can think of a really creative cooking name for me. :)

Quote From Ben

"Did you ever get about halfway through something and realize, this probably wasn't the best idea?" - Ben Tate

Bachelorette Party

Karaoke and dancing. I'd tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you.

I'm Back Baby!

So my sweet roommate overheard me whining about my lost camera cord and realized that since we have the same camera, I could use her cord! Hooray!! :)

Starting the trip back down memory lane...early August, I went to Amarillo for my college roommate, Lindsay's wedding! It's been a long time coming and I was so happy to be able to be there for her big day - especially because I almost wasn't. In true Emily fashion, I came down with Pink Eye the night before we were supposed to leave for Amarillo! But after an early morning trip to CareNow, I made my way there and was stuck in glasses all week. :(

First stop on Wedding Weekend 2008, Lingerie Shower!

Deborah, Nichole and I threw a fabulous Lingerie Shower. We played the best lingerie shower game ever (not really a game, but a fun activity that wasn't too cheesy and everyone really enjoyed! I'll tell you about it if you're interested) and had a cake that we made. It was really great.

Me and my college roomies: Deborah, Lindsay, and NicholeOpening presents

Up next: The Bachelorette Party!

Travelocity "Race to Savings" Sale

Hey guys! Since I get the question all the time "can you get me discounts?" I thought I'd post it here that for once, I can! :)

Travelocity is having a Race to Savings sale for the next month in honor of The Amazing Race premiere. For the next week (Sept 2-8) I can give you a "Friends and Family" discount code that will get an extra $50 off a 3+ night stay at any of the participating hotels on top of the discounts that are already there.

Its not a ton, but if you're planning to go somewhere between now and January 15th and you're ready to book your hotel this week, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll send you the discount code along with a note about how I'm jealous because I'm not going anywhere.

Happy Traveling!
Emily

Coming Soon!!!

I promise I haven't died....just been busy! Coming soon:

- My college roommate's wedding weekend
- Multiple trips to the ballpark
- Some Olympics stuff
- Some lack of travel :(

I haven't been on a plane since....June I think. That is way too long. And I have no trips scheduled. I'm sad.

The Hills: By The Numbers

Recap, intro, and "next time": 3 minutes
Commercials: 13 minutes
Actual show: 16 minutes

Really? A 32 minute show and only half of it was the actual show?

I just find it amusing that I watch a "hit show" for the first time and all I can pay attention to is the fact that there is very little actual show to it.

When Valets Attack...

I could talk about the Rangers vs. Yankees game I went to Monday. I could talk about how it was probably the highest up I've ever sat at a Rangers game.

I could talk about how exciting it was with every last pitch in the bottom of the 9th wondering who was going to pull out a run to win the tie game. I could even talk about the walk-off GRAND SLAM that ended the game for a Rangers' victory.
But instead of having those things be the main memories I have of that game, I get to tell the story of how the valet lost the keys to my car. Yep, thats right....LOST MY CAR KEYS! After about an hour and a half of waiting for my car then to discover they couldn't find it, the only thing I could do was laugh. It really was an "it could only happen to me" moment. Here is Erin and I in a delirious state at about midnight.
Finally they decided to pay for a cab to take me to my house to get my spare keys and back. A little journey that got me home at 1:45am when I had to go to work the next day. It was really frustrating. They are being great though and paying to get my car rekeyed...since there is a set of car keys with my name, type of car, and license plate number attached to it. And I think I'm going to get some free Rangers tickets out of it too. That is pretty cool - although I would have preferred to just not have my keys lost in the first place!

*Note: I didn't actually pay $30 for parking....Lexus owners get free valet at the ballpark. I htought it was a pretty nice perk until now! Haha!

Heard Over Cubicle Walls...

Today I heard this conversation as I was at work:

"Is it just me, or do you get more work done when your boss is out of town too?"

I feel a Dilbert comic strip coming on.... :)

Return of the Turkey!

Two weeks ago, I told you about the turkey that I saw walking around by the highway next to my office. People think that he lives in the woods behind our building that people may be feeding him which is why he comes around our building.

This morning as I was coming in, he was hanging out in the walkway between our parking garage and our buildings! So I whipped out my cell phone and got a couple of shots.

So without further ado, here is the new Sabre mascot....um....okay he doesn't have a name, so we'll call him Terrell the Turkey!

Now that I think about it, how do I know its a "he"? Is it a "she"? Anyone know how to tell the sex of a turkey?

Frozen Dinner and a Glass of Wine

Today, I got home from work at about 6:45pm. I walked into a house that I own, and poured myself a glass of wine while I cooked a frozen dinner. In the 2 1/2 minutes it took to cook, I looked around and just started laughing. If you had told me 5 years ago what my life would look like today and where I was going to be, I would have said you were crazy. I figured I'd probably be married, working in marketing probably a couple of levels lower than I am now, and who knows...maybe even with a child on the way like a lot of my friends. Wine wasn't really a part of my life at that time (which i'm sure makes my mom happy since I was only 20!) so that part of my evening wouldn't have registered.

It's just funny to me how I am, in a lot of ways, so far from where I thought I would be 5 years ago. But with the way things have transpired, I know that I am right where I should be. I think I laughed tonight because its just amusing how we think we've got it all figured out, but God just says, "You have plans? Nope! I know the plans I have for you..."

I've been going through one of my "single hating" times, where I just get really annoyed at having to pretend that I am 100% happy being single and that I don't want anything else (because if you're a girl and show even the slightest sign that you would like someone to share your life with, you're labeled "desperate"). But it's nights like tonight when God, in a really weird way, reminds me that he's in control and things will happen on his timetable. And he did it all through a frozen dinner and a glass of wine. :)

P.S. For future reference, if you ever ask me if I'm dating anyone and I say no, please do not follow it up with "Oh, but you're only single because you're doing the career thing right now, right?" That just makes me feel like there should be something wrong with me if I'm not purposely staying single, and 2 or 3 of these comments in a row is what sets off the "single hating" time...

Like riding a bike? Really?

Whenever people are talking about something that you never forget how to do, they always say "It's like riding a bike," implying that once you've learned how to ride a bike, you can just hop back on one at any time. Today, I proved them wrong.

That's right. I discovered tonight that I don't know how to ride a bike.

With Vanessa moving in she also brought a set of bikes that she and Ben bought a while ago (and have never really ridden). They told me I could use them, so tonight I went and bought a helmet, put on my ipod, and got on the bike. And immediately realized I had no idea what to do! Every time I tried to pedal it would veer random ways and I could get about 2 rotations in before I'd start to fall. Then trying to figure out the whole gears thing...forget it!

I was really happy when I realized it had a flat tire, so I HAD to stop riding. And I'm going to pretend the tire was why I was having so much trouble....and then try to find some time to re-learn how to ride a bike!

Pet Peeve: Parents who let their kids run wild in public

Yesterday I went to get my car washed at the dealership and witnessed the most ridiculous parenting I have ever seen. I understand that kids are kids, and I try to give parents the benefit of the doubt, but give me your opinion parents, because I think this goes beyond "She doesn't understand because she doesn't have kids."

Mom walks in with her two kids - probably 4 and 6 years old. The kids immediately proceed to begin playing tag...indoors....in a busy waiting room. Complete with yelling "Base!! Base!! This is base! You can't tag me here!!" Every now and then, the mom would say "Shhh" which would last about 1.2 secs before they were yelling again. And running, full speed throughout the waiting room which is also the Lexus dealership showroom.

So right in between the waiting area and where you pick up your car, they always have a Lexus Preowned Vehicle on display...car of the month or whatever. This time is was an RX (the small SUV). The kids run and get inside of it (at which point normal parents would have been up and over there in a second getting them out, but not this mom!). You see them climbing over the seats, jumping around, hear them yelling, opening and slamming the doors several times....mom still just sits like nothing is going on. Finally the service manager comes over and says "Hey guys, you really need to get out of this car." They say okay, and on the way out, one decides it would be fun to honk the horn twice. SUV car horn, honked indoors....ridiculously loud! NOW super-mom decides to come over and I hear her saying "which one of you honked the horn. I need to know, who honked it?" That's the only thing she's upset about??? Not that her kids have been disturbing every person in a busy waiting room and possible causing damage to a very expensive car? And here's a thought: maybe if they weren't playing tag in the lobby, they wouldn't have had the CHANCE to honk the horn!

Am I the only one out there who thinks this goes beyond the reasonable limits for children in public places? Okay, I know I'm not the only one because the other 15 people that were waiting were all as shocked as I was, but am I the only one in the blogosphere?

Thanksgiving already?

This morning, I was driving into work as usual. As I was about to pull onto our campus, I had to stop under the bridge at 114 to avoid an animal in the road. You're probably thinking dog, cat, maybe at weirdest some kind of livestock.....wrong. The animal that I had to avoid was a WILD TURKEY! There was a wild turkey just walking along, hanging out under the highway like it was totally normal. It didn't seem freaked out or anything. By far the oddest thing I've ever experienced in my morning commute!
I didn't have a camera with me, but this is almost exactly what it looked like.

1004 Words

Worst. Spades. Hand. Ever.

Fruit Chillers

I love Del Monte Fruit Chillers. They make a great snack - especially for someone with a sweet tooth. Theres a couple of things I don't like about them though: 1) I'm sure they're full of sugar, 2) They always leave my teeth feeling really gritty (see #1).

So today I decided to make my own. I bought some fresh strawberries, blueberries, and bananas (apparently raspberries are out of season? I couldn't find any), put it in a blender with a little orange juice, then stuck it the freezer for several hours. It was great! I think next time I might try adding a little honey or splenda, but even without it tasted great and I know exactly what went in it, so I feel good about eating it. Hopefully it will help me increase my fruit intake as well - that part of the food pyramid is a little weak with me.

My Future Sister-in-law

I know we all thought it would never happen, but my brother Ben is engaged!! Okay, so he's been engaged for 2 weeks and I just haven't blogged about it yet. :)

The happy couple
Me and Vanessa
The big day is July 19, 2009! I really like Vanessa and I am so excited she is going to be my sister-in-law. And even more exciting (okay maybe not, but its pretty cool), she is going to be my roommate for the next year! I'm not so worried about living with Vanessa...it's Ben being around all the time that makes me a little scared. :) Just kidding! It will definitely be something to tell the nieces and nephews about some day though!

Out of evil (the writer's strike) comes some good....

Thanks to Holly, I now have something to majorly look forward to! You MUST click on this banner. Watch the preview, then read the master plan (there is a button underneath the preview if you scroll down a bit.) And yes, that is Neil Patrick Harris.

NY in 24hrs. Part Deux

After I bought my ticket to see Spring Awakening, I was walking down 8th St. trying to find something quick to eat before the show. All of a sudden, I hear someone call my name....on a street in New York City. It was one of my friends from Grad School, Justin! I didn't even know he lived in NY! He has been there for about 6 months and lives right in the middle of the theatre district! He was on his way to the grocery store and saw me. How weird is that?? We talked for a little bit, and then went our separate ways. It really is a freakishly small world.

Another fun thing was crossing an item off THE List.* #27 on THE List was "Stand outside the Today Show window and try to get on TV." Ever since I first bought my ticket, I was planning on doing this. Unfortunately, Lindsey beat me to the punch one week earlier and there is really nothing I could do to match her stunt. So I changed #27 before I went and luckily was able to do it before I got sick. So unveiling the new #27:

27. Eat a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery in New York City

I ate the red velvet cake one first. It was totally different than anything else I've ever had in my life. One bite I would think "I really don't like this", but then the next bite I'd think "This is the most amazing thing ever!" and back and forth until I finished. The icing wasn't very sweet and basically tasted like pure whipped cream, so it was like having cake and milk together at the same time. The next day before I left for the airport, I tasted the other one. I was sick so I didn't feel like eating the whole thing, but what I tasted....WOW. It totally lived up to everything I've heard and I can't wait to get another next time I go.

*Confession: I kind of cheated a bit on this item, but I'm totally okay with it. I went to the 2nd Magnolia Bakery location, which is right around the corner from ABC Studios. So it was close to where I was and didn't have a 20 minute line at that time of day. Some people might say it shouldn't count, but hey, its my List. :)

Last sort of stereotypical thing I did there - I had a hot dog from a street vendor. Actually I had 2. The first was because I got to my hotel at 2pm and I was STARVING and it was right outside; the second was right before I went to the airport because I needed to eat something and didn't feel well enough to venture any further than the CVS across the street from my hotel where I bought medicine and then the same hot dog stand. That's right, 2 of my 3 NY meals were hot dogs. Kind of pathetic.

And with that, my New York trip comes to a close....and with it all of my scheduled trips for awhile. It makes me sad to look at my AA account online and see the sad words "You do not have any reservations to view." I need to schedule a flight, pronto! :)