Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Wedding Plans!

While Dane and I were in NY we found the venue for our reception! We'll be having the reception at the Island Hills Country Club in Sayville, NY. The space is lovely, the event manager we met with was wonderful, and the menu sounds delicious. They are so flexible about everything. We can change the menu to whatever we want, set up the day before, decide how we want the room set up, and pretty much do whatever we want to make it how we want it. This might sound obvious. Of course you want those things in a venue, but so far this was the only place that actually asked what WE wanted. Every place seemed to have a standard package, and you take it or leave it. This place gets to be our place. We found our church too, and are just waiting for our ceremony to be approved by the board of elders. I've been assured by the Pastor that everything looks great, so it's just a matter of when the board of elders meets this month. I'm so excited to get things finalized! Now I can start my hunt for the perfect dress.

I looked at tuxes today with my groom and his best men. I had to veto a hot pink vest and tie combination, but I think they'll get over it. They also want fedoras to wear at the reception. We'll see if they actually still want that when it gets closer.

My sister got me a great book for Christmas too, Bridal Bargains. It has so many ways to save money and tips on doing things yourself. I think it's inspired me to want to design all our flowers for the wedding. I just keep adding things to my list of stuff I want to make myself. Now I have invitations, centerpieces, favors, bouquets, boutonnières, place cards, programs for the ceremony, table name cards, kissing menus, and there's probably more I'm forgetting. I'll have to see if it's reasonable to get all this done. I just like doing things myself. Crafts are fun :)

We're so happy to feel like things are falling into place. Now to look for a DJ and all that other fun stuff!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas with the Gallo's

I had the best Christmas with my family. It was awesome being home for a few days and getting to relax. Now Dane and I are in Pennsylvania with his family, enjoying some more time to relax and time with his family and friends.

Abigail Taylor is getting so big! I can't believe she's crawling all over the place and starting to pull herself up to stand.

Here she is reading "Curious George Goes to the Aquarium" with me. Well, she wasn't exactly reading, but she liked the pictures while I read.


And with her beautiful mom, Jenna. This is a pretty great picture, in my opinion.


She crawls...


And walks in her walker!


Some cheek to cheek snuggling. I don't know what she's looking at though.


I miss NY already. But I know I'll be back soon for more wedding planning activities.

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Why Can't We All Be Like This?

This video brings me so much joy. If you're having a bad day, just watch. I promise it will be all better.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the massive snowstorm now moving across the country. In Boston we are supposed to get about 8-12 inches. I'm actually pretty excited about it because I am not traveling anywhere until Tuesday so I can sit home. In the spirit of having a snow day (or half a snow day, Lasell College is closing at 12pm) here is my list of things I want to do today and over the weekend.

1. Drink lots of hot cocoa.
2. Watch The Godfather Part 2 (been sitting on my tv for about a month now)
3. Scrapbook!
4. Wrap gifts
5. Play with Mia in the snow. She may be from an island, but she LOVES the snow.
6. Bake cookies. You can never have too many cookies.
7. Watch Elf, Love Actually, and any other Christmas related movie I can get my hands on.
8. Drink wine. *Melissa Lulay suggested Mulled Wine. Recipe linked, but there are so many variations.
9. Make some kind of one pot dinner. Stew, soup, or the like.
10. Play the Wii. One word - Tanks.
11. Make these fun Christmas trees.
12. Finish my Christmas shopping (probably won't happen since I don't plan to leave the house)
13. Listen to Christmas music with my roommates. And probably listen to Emily while she sings. She can't help herself with Christmas music.
14. Maybe nap.
15. Snuggle.
16. Play Holiday Chicken Invaders.

If you have any other suggestions, let me know!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Thank You Wikipedia

You can find anything on Wikipedia, right? One of my new favorite things is WikiHow, where you can learn to do just about anything. I was looking up how to make a ballet bar out of PVC pipe (odd to many of you, but the Dance Team I advise wants a ballet bar and we're on a budget), and came across this article. Who's with me!?


How to Start Your Own Country


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Anyone can start their own country. That doesn't mean that people will recognize it, but hey, they generally won't stop you from trying--as long as they don't see it as a threat. So if you'd like to do your own thing in your own country, here's how to establish a micronation.

Steps


  1. Find territory for your micronation. Most micronationalists use their houses, land no one wants, or land on other planets. Some micronations exist on land unclaimed by other countries because of a loophole in a treaty. The Republic of Indian Stream, for example, was on land between the U.S. and Canada but is not under the jurisdiction of either because of ambiguous terms in the Treaty of Paris.[1] If you can't find land, though, make some! One millionaire activist piled sand onto a reef located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and created an artificial island to start the Republic of Minerva.[2] But if you're not rich enough to make land, then just make it up--some of the more lighthearted micronations claim land on imaginary continents or planets.
  2. Declare your independence. If you have land, a declaration of independence will serve to claim that territory. Keep in mind, however, that actually sending your declaration of independence to gain recognition can lead to legal or military action if anyone disputes that claim. For example, when The Republic of Minerva issued a declaration of independence in letters to neighboring countries, the neighbors were very perturbed, and one of the countries decided to send their people to the island to take down the Minervan flag.[2] Besides, you can still function like an independent nation without actually declaring independence, like Taiwan does![3]
  3. Set up a government and constitution. This is a good time to consider why you're starting a country, and how you would like it to turn out. Here are some examples:
    • Recreating the past - e.g. Nova Roma, dedicated "to the restoration of classical Roman religion, culture and virtues".[4]
    • Just for fun - e.g. the Aerican Empire, based on strong senses of humour and a love of science fiction, fantasy, and games.[5]
    • To promote an agenda - e.g. Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, on the uninhabited Coral Sea Islands off the coast of Queensland, in response to the Australian government's refusal to recognize same-sex marriage.[6]

  4. Acquire citizens. You can have only yourself, if you want, or anyone who wants to join. Setting up a website, however, will help publicize your micronation to potential citizens around the world. You must also decide what you require of your citizens. Do they have to pass a test? Abide by certain laws? And what will they have to identify themselves as citizens of your country - A passport? Driver's license? Badge?
  5. Decide on symbols for your country. You should have a flag, a coat of arms, and any other way to represent yourself. Once you have symbols chosen, you can issue stamps, medals, and currency, if you'd like. Some micronations go as far as inventing their own culture and language. Of course, you might be content to create your own letterhead. After all, it's your country!


Tips


  • If you want to stand a chance of being recognized, your country should have territory, a government, a permanent population, and be able to host diplomatic relations (the Montevideo Convention's requirements for statehood).
  • Study existing and well-established micronations. What has led to their success? What can you learn from them?
  • If your intent is to have a functional and independent country, you will ultimately need some sort of basic infrastructure (e.g, roads, school, buildings, hospital, fire station).


Related wikiHows




Sources and Citations


  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Indian_Stream

  2. 2.0 2.1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Minerva

  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China

  4. http://www.novaroma.org/

  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerican_Empire

  6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Kingdom_of_the_Coral_Sea_Islands



Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Start Your Own Country. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Christmas Spider spreads joy


Melissa Lulay has once again made my day with this post about my favorite 7-legged spider. Now he comes complete with accessories. What's a stylish and festive little spider!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

THANK YOU SAM!

I want everyone to know that Samantha Piette has a tremendous amount of patience and creativity. Thanks for your help today :)

Countdown to Christmas

It's December 11th and that means it's officially two weeks until Christmas. How crazy is that!? I'm doing fairly well on my Christmas shopping, but still at a loss for a few people on my list. Dad, Jenna, Melissa, Grandma, and Dane are checked off. Mom, Grandpa, and Abigail are still unfinished. Maybe if I didn't buy a million presents for Abby and then give them to Jenna every month I would have something left to get for her. I just can't help myself.

We decorated our tree this past weekend. It came out really nice! We also got fun sticky gel things for the windows with snowflakes and snowmen. My favorite part of the night was when Ben saw blue police lights outside our apartment, not uncommon in our neighborhood. But like a little kid he went over to the window and said "Wow... look at the lights guys". It was pretty amazing. If it hadn't been someone likely getting arrested, the lights might have been pretty.

I spent part of the morning making a Christmas playlist on finetune.com. If you haven't used the website before, I suggest you should. Make your own playlists and listen to other's playlists. If you want to listen to mine, go here: http://www.finetune.com/user/myst825. You can see my Christmas playlist and play it if you sign up for a free account. I'm getting into the holiday cheer.

We're doing a Secret Santa exchange with some of Dane's friends from Pennsylvania. Jayneel organized it using the website Elfster. It lets people RSVP online for the exchange then randomly draws names for everyone. I'm not telling who my Secret Santee is, but I did get a weird anonymous question from my Secret Santa. You can use the site to ask your person questions, to get a better idea of what to get them. Here's the question I got:
Do you like midgets? How about carney folk?? You are so going to love the petting zoo . . . .
Creepy... I'm racking my brain for who this could possibly be. I have a few ideas. Secret Santa, if you're out there, just go to my Amazon wishlist. I don't want circus folk, but there's plenty of ideas on there.

Sunday we're going to Jeremy's for a cookie baking extravaganza. I am so excited to make my thumbprint cookies and cream cheese cookies. They are amazing. I'll post some pictures after they are done!

In closing, I will share a text message conversation I had with my sister right before I went to be last night:

Melissa: I like 2 smile, smilings my favorite.
Me. Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?
Melissa: U sit on a throne of lies.
Me: Congratulations! The world's best cup of coffee! Great job everybody!
Melissa: He's an angry elf.

And we could have gone on forever. Elf is just an awesome movie :)

Friday, December 5, 2008

My Niece is the Cutest

Look at her! Such a big girl in her walker :)





Can't wait to see her at Christmas!

Wish List VETO

Every year as soon as the turkey has been eaten on Thanksgiving, I can count on my mom to ask me for a list of things I would like for Christmas. Last year, to make it easy, I made an Amazon wish list. My parents loved it. All they had to do was click and order and Amazon usually has free shipping on orders over $25. This year I did the same thing. As soon as we were done with dinner, my mom asked for my list, so I told her she could look at my wish list. She was happy to hear it.

But then I get a call from her the other day. She has vetoed my wish list. The things I asked for were not exciting enough for her and she didn't want to get them for me. How do you veto someone else's wishlist?! I guess I can kind of see what she means. I did ask for paper for scrapbooking and though that's exciting for me, my mom didn't think getting me paper for Christmas was good enough. I updated my list, Mom, if you're reading this. Hopefully there's some more fun stuff on there this time around. Love you :)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving in NY and PA

Dane and I had a crazy few days! On Tuesday evening we left for NY. I managed to get sick just in time for our long trip, and stay sick pretty much the whole time we were home. We didn't get in too late, but had to get up Wednesday to look at venues for our reception. After visiting 6 places, we were tired, but definitely narrowed it down to two. Now we have to find a church that can do the same days!

On Thanksgiving we went to Jenna's apartment and visited with Abby! I can't believe how much bigger she got. Now 5 months old and almost crawling. She can get up on her hands and knees, but hasn't quite mastered putting one hand in front of the other. This is her playing around.



And me with my cute little niece. I love that she has her tongue out in this picture.


Even though we were stuffed after appetizers, dinner and dessert, the boys managed to find some room for some turkey around 9:00 at night.


And I asked Jenna and Melissa both to be my Maids of Honor! They said yes and put on the shirts I made for them :)


And this is just a cute picture of grandma and Abigail.


Then it was on to Pennsylvania to visit with Dane's family. Dane asked Drew and Jayneel to both be Best Man for the wedding. They got shirts too. Very exciting! We got to see Dane's nephew too. He got so big! Here's a picture of Uncle Dane and Jesse Oliver.


We had second Thanksgiving on Friday. Then got to spend more time with his family on Saturday. Then we embarked on our journey back to Boston on Sunday, which ended up taking 10 hours. It was terrible, but we did get to listen to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now it's time to start Christmas shopping! I actually did some from my phone in the car on the way back to Boston. I figured if we were stuck I may as well make use of the time. Can't believe it's December already!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Craft Weekend Pictures!

I had the best weekend with Dane, Sam and Jason. We painted wine glasses, made cards, ate some delicious food, and got to hang out. It was very relaxing and I hope we get to do it again soon!

Here's some pictures of the wine glasses we painted. My favorite is the one with the black swirls. They all look so cool when you look into them.




We had a little incident with the cat. Baylee got a big curious about what we were doing, so she jumped up onto the table when we weren't looking and started stealing our paintbrushes. The picture is blurry, but you can see her wit her head in the cups we had our paintbrushes in. Apparently she plays with paint brushes, not cat toys.


But then she stepped in some orange paint...


Other than the paw prints, everything was great. Thanks Sam and Jason for having us over :)

Laughing myself silly

Pretty sure this speaks for itself...

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wednesday

I feel like I've been a terrible blogger lately. I had a great weekend with Dane. We went to a ska show. I haven't been to one in forever! We saw his favorite band, The Pietasters. I surprised him with tickets to the show about a month ago. Just so happened while we were standing at the bar, the lead singer of the band walked over and Dane got to have a nice chat with him. He got his picture taken too! The Pietasters were great too, it was such a fun show!

Things have been so hectic! So a few updates:

- I'm choreographing a kickline routine for Lasell College's Dance Team. I'm the advisor to the group and it is so much fun!

- Dane and I have appointments to see 6 different venues for the reception next week when we're in NY for Thanksgiving.

- I have been buying presents for my niece and sister like crazy. I just can't help myself. So far we are up to three Classical Baby DVD's, and Ugly Doll, about 20 pictures of Abby, and an 8x10 poster I made.

- Jenna's birthday is next week!

- Craft weekend is coming up and I am SO excited! Dane is too, but because he gets to play with Jason and the Wii while Sam and I do crafty things.

- Paper has been purchased for invitations to the wedding and Scott is amazing.

- We may get the chance to work with a wedding planner, for free! Thanks to my cousin Allison :)

- I love apples with peanut butter.

- I can't stop watching the puppies.

- I've had the Godfather: Part 2 at home for a week now. It's 4 hours and I haven't been able to bring myself to sit still for that long.

OK, I think that is all for now!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Please accept this spider as payment

Melissa Lulay just made my day with this post. Brilliant man.

I'm SO happy that it's Friday. Even though Tuesday was a holiday and I didn't have to work, I feel like this week has been really long. In one hour I will drive home, put my pj's on, eat dinner, and go to Dane's to watch The Godfather: Part 2 on his new gigantic LCD tv. Maybe we'll even have some ice cream. That would be amazing.

I can't wait until next weekend for my craft time with Sam! We're going to scrapbook, paint wine glasses, make cards, play with our blogs, and I might even teach her how to crochet. It's going to be a really intense weekend. So fun :)

Happy weekend everyone!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Distraction by Puppy

If you ever needed a little break at work, or some cheering up after a long day, this is the thing for you.



Yes, that's right. It's a puppy cam. These little Shiba Inu pups like to nap and snuggle. They also like to play with each other and their stuffed toys. Especially the carrot. I seriously have this on and really small in the corner of my desktop right now so I can look up for some puppy love anytime I need it.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Halloween! A Little Late...

Just wanted to post pictures of us on Halloween! I loved our costumes and we had a lot of fun at Scott's apartment. We played Cranium as a team of 4 and we won!


I know the geek costumes are a stretch for Dane and I. OK, not really, we are pretty much geeks. Best part of the costumes is we will both totally wear those t-shirts again. I think Emily has decided not to wear her mustache again, although I think it was a nice addition.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Obama Wins!

What an amazing day in history! We have woken up to the first African American president in United States history, Barack Obama. I was up, like many people last night, watching the returns and waiting to hear who our next Commander in Chief would be. That plan fell through, because I fell asleep at 9:30pm after Dane tucked me into bed. But, this morning the first thing I did was turn on the news to hear that Barack Obama is our President Elect! I'm so excited for this time in history, and glad to have cast my vote in this historic election.



Best of all, because Barack promised, his daughters get a new puppy to bring to the White House! I wonder what kind of puppy they will get.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Look to the cookie

I really love black and white cookies, so I figured what better way to celebrate their yumminess than by doing a blog post about them. I would like to thank Sam and Jason for getting these cookies for me as a thank you for helping them move this weekend. I packed a cookie to take to work with me today for a snack. I have been looking forward to it all day. Now it is time to eat it.

The cookie has quite a history. Some may remember the Seinfeld episode that brough the phrase "Look to the cookie" into our vocabulary. There's also a great recipe on that page you can try if you want to make your own black and white cookies. Enjoy!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Wedding Ideas

Dane and I have been going through websites and blogs and found a few things I think we're going to try to do for our wedding. We're thinking next fall, so we'll be visiting places in NY when we are home for Thanksgiving and see if anything feels right to us.

I'm not huge on flowers for centerpieces. I think it's kind of a waste to get these beautiful arrangements that will just die in a few days. Not to mention how much they can cost. We really like this idea that I found. It's just a nice glass pedastal with fall things in it. Maybe mini pumpkins, leaves, berries, some apples?


Our good friend Scott also is helping us out with invitations and the rest of our printed materials. He is amazing. He "threw this together" with some of his initial ideas. I love how he can just put something together like this. It's beautiful! I'm sure this won't be the final draft, but it won't need much tweeking. The font our names are in won't be the one he uses. He hasn't gotten the font he wants yet. So picky :)


Today my roommate, Emily, will be doing an engagement photo shoot for us in the park where we got engaged. I love how talented our friends are. Graphic designers, photographers, scrapbookers, it doesn't get much better. It means so much to us that people want to be involved in our wedding!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dane's Favorite Joke

Once again, this post is attributed to Sam and her amazing ability to find things I love online. Honey, this is for you :)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Oh, hello!



Yes, I do realize that Sam and I both seem crazy. But, hey, at least we're having fun at work.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Edison, meet Mark

I was reading my friend Sam's blog today, and she made this cute little guy. So of course I couldn't resist making one myself. Sam named hers Mark, I named mine Edison. Get directions for your own little guy here!


Monday, October 27, 2008

Thank you everyone!

Just want to say thank you to everyone for all the congratulations and warm wishes we have gotten over the past three days. It's still all sinking in and we are so happy to have all the love and support we have gotten from our friends and family!

We went out to dinner tonight with Becca and Scott. They're both very happy and Scott is so excited that he wants to design our engagement announcement, save the dates and invitations! He's amazing and definitely has the same taste as we do, so I sent him some of the things I like and told him to go to town. I would absolutely love to have personal touches like that throughout this process. It means so much to us that everyone is so happy and excited to help!

I have a really busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow I'm going to the Dance Team practice (I'm their advisor and they want help drilling the routine). Wednesday is the Coldplay concert (Chris Martin, yaaaaaaaaaay!). Thursday is work until 11:30pm with the Halloween Dance at work. And Friday is Halloween! One of Dane's most favorite days of the year.

Maybe we'll start thinking about some preliminary stuff this weekend. If there's any time!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Kristen and Dane are engaged!

That's right everyone! This weekend Dane proposed and we are officially engaged. My mom and sister were both here for the weekend, so they got to be here with us for the proposal and to celebrate.

It wasn't easy for Dane to actually get me where he wanted to propose. We were all getting ready to go to Salem for the day. Dane wanted to propose in the park near our house and wanted everyone to be there. Emily's role was to try to get me to walk to the park with her, Ben, Dane, Leslie, my mom, my sister and Mia. I didn't understand why we needed 7 people to walk the dog (my first hint that something was up). I told Emily not to worry about waiting for us, that she should just go walk Mia. But she really insisted that we all come. Even though my car was the opposite direction from the park, and in my mind we were headed to Salem. Anyway, we got to the park and I picked up some sticks for Mia to chase. When I turned around Dane was down on one knee. At this point I just rolled my eyes and told him to get up because he had been joking around with me all week and trying to keep me guessing. I thought he was just messing around again. But no, this was for real! It exactly what I would have wanted, if I had gotten to pick. Just some of my friends and my family around.

Here's right before he took the ring out.

Wait for it....

There it is!

So happy!

Love him!


Here are some close ups of the ring. I'm sure some of you want to see it! I don't even think these do it justice. It's absolutely perfect!



Can't wait to celebrate with everyone! And no we haven't set a date yet, even though we've gotten that question a bunch already. It's only been 24 hours! We're enjoying ourselves and are happy to be together :)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

An Ode to Step Brothers

I really loved this movie, and since my partner in crime Nino just saw the movie recently since he is in Australia I figured I should share some of my favorite moments.

Brennan: Did we just become best friends?
Dale: YUP!
Brennan: Do you want to go do karate in the garage?
Dale: YUP!

Dale: Can we make our beds into bunk beds?
Brennan: It'll give us so much extra space in our room to do activities.
Robert: You're adults, you can do what you want.
Dale: This is the funnest night ever!

Brennan: How is that even a skill?

Dale: What are you doing?
Brennan: I'm burying you.
Dale: But I'm alive!
Brennan: Shut up! You're waking the neighbors!

Dale: Your voice is like Fergie meets Jesus.

Dale: Did you touch my drumset?
Brennan: Nope.
Dale: Why are you so sweaty?
Brennan: I was watching Cops.

Dale: [whispers] Hey, are you awake?
Brennan: [whispers] Yeah.
Dale: [whispers] I hate your guts.

I feel like I could go on forever. This movie was, in my opinion, Will Ferrell's best movie since Anchorman. I also heard that a sequel to Anchorman is in the making. I don't know if they could ever match the hilariousness from the first one, but we'll see.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Pumpkin Festival

This weekend was CRAZY for me! Family, Friends, and Alumni Weekend at work meant working Friday night, all day Saturday and the morning/afternoon on Sunday. Luckily I have Dane and my roommates to keep me sane, and they made sure I got to sneak some fun into the weekend too.

On Saturday we went to the Life is Good Pumpkin Festival in City Hall Plaza which benefits Campus Sunshine. It was really awesome to see all the pumpkins lit up at night!


Here's a gigantic tower of lit up pumpkins.
Some of the many designs.
One of my favorite pumpkins <3
More pumpkins...
I tried to be like the pumpkins. I'm the wrong color though.

We went to dinner at The Alchemist in JP on Sunday after I napped. Sunday was River Day at work. I raced in a giant old war canoe down the Charles River with some students and my boss. It was a blast, but I ended up getting soaking wet and had to stand out in the cold for a few hours. We won our first race, but lost in the second round. My boss and I are extremely competitive so that was not an easy loss for us. The team that won was amazing! They were a family from NH. Congrats to them! They definitely deserved the win.

I'm looking forward to this weekend! My mom and sister Melissa are coming up on Thursday. Just have to get through the next two days at work then I get some time with them :)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Sarah Palin is NOT my favorite but....

I went to a really interesting lecture yesterday about sexism and racism in the 2008 election. Now, I do not like Sarah Palin. I complete disagree with her politics and her positions on almost every issue. However, this really got me thinking about how she is portrayed in the media. Jennifer Pozner, the lecturer, made some great points and showed this clip.



So, here's my issue. How does any of what he is talking about make her a good candidate? He want her to raise the "cubs" and to be "in bed with him". This is somehow supposed to make us all more likely to vote for her. Maybe it's just me, but I can very honestly say that I don't take those sorts of things into consideration when picking my candidate. I especially enjoy when he says "Before you sell a candidate, whether it's a man or a woman, you have to sell her as a woman". Why? When a male candidate is running, do you have to "sell" that he's a man? That's quite the double standard.

I want to hear the issues! I want to know what these candidates will do for all of us! And I definitely do NOT want someone as VP because they "put on a skirt". Make sure you all vote!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thursday means it's Grey's Night!

I'm exhausted today. I barely slept last night and when I woke up at6:45am it was still dark outside. That does not help me wake up at all. Here's what my day has been so far:

6:45am - Get up, hit the snooze button
6:51am - Get up turn off the alarm before it goes off again
7:51am - Head out the door for work after discovering Mia had removed the bandage on her leg (again)
8:33am - Pull into the parking garage at work and park
8:37am - See I have 26 emails in my inbox. Decide to make a cup of tea because I know I'm going to need it.
8:48am - Sit down at my desk again after talking with my co-worker for a bit. Work my tail off on the presentation I'm giving at 4pm.
10:32am - Jenny (my co-worker) calls me. The guest lecturer we have on campus today would like two bottles of water. Can I pick them up on my way over to the event. Sure.
10:37am - Jenny calls me. She also wants tea. What kind? English Breakfast or Earl Grey. What size? Large. Does she want milk? Only if you get Earl Grey.
10:46am - About to walk downstairs to get water and tea when the rep from the yearbook company I work with stops in to chat and bring me some tea of my own (for which I am extremely grateful).
10:58am - Uh-oh I have to go get the tea and water and be at the event in two minutes. Run downstairs. Get water. Get tea. Forgot our account code. Will go back later.
11:03am - Trip on my walk over to the event, spilled some tea, oops.
11:05am - Arrive and give tea to the lecturer. Now taking some time to sit. Count people as they come into the event until 1pm.
1:08pm - Arrive back in the office. I should really eat some food, I'm so hungry. 13 more emails in my inbox after the 26 I answered this morning.
1:35pm - I'm REALLY hungry. I'm going to go make the Mac and Cheese I got from Trader Joe's.
1:36pm - Student drop in with questions.
1:47pm - I'm seriously going to eat now.
1:48pm - Student drop in.
2:05pm - Frantic email about flyers for Alcohol Awareness week. I have to answer it. Messed up a flyer and have to fix it.
2:35pm - SERIOUSLY. I'm stopping everything and eating.
2:43pm - Wow that was really good, I ate it fast.
3:02pm - I messed up the flyer again. Wrong place. Fix it. Send it back. Print out new ones to post.
3:17pm - I messed it up still. Didn't put the date. Where is my head at today?
3:28pm - Fix it for the last time. Throw out the wrong posters. Print the new ones.
3:53pm - Leave the office for presentation I'm giving on Budgeting and Funding for student organizations.
4:44pm - Finish up early. Student talks with me. And talks. And talks.
5:12pm - Finally get back to the office.
5:34pm - Finishing this post and going to meet with the new Ski and Snowboard Club.

After I leave I'm going to a reception for the Children's Art Center where Emily works. It's their 35th anniversary and I'm fond of them after working with Arts in the Park this summer.

Then I can go home and watch Grey's Anatomy. Happy land.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mmm.... dinner

I absolutely love to cook. So does Dane (a huge perk of having him as my boyfriend). Last night Dane made rice and beans with chicken and chorizo. I think I could eat that forever and be happy. Well, maybe with the occasional Italian dish thrown in. I love my carbs. Anyway, I also like to try new things. So I'm hoping someone out there has a delicious recipe they might want to share with me. I'm hoping for dinner type things here, but would happy to get some dessert/appetizers or whatever else there is out there.

Our meals in the past week or so have included:
Grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and vegetables
Rice and Beans
Fettuccine with olive oil and garlic (Pasta Aioli)
Orange chicken with vegetable fried rice
Homemade chicken soup

We also made 5 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last week. Then we made apple crisp this week with the apples we picked at the orchard. So the challenge is on, anyone have a good recipe I could try?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Random things I feel everyone should know about

There's some things I think that just need to be shared with everyone. Here it goes.

1. This blog. It always makes me laugh. If you are having a bad day, just take five minutes and look at it.
2. This artist's work. Adorable. Pon and Zi give me the warm fuzzies.
3. My favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan. Hot pooooockets.
4. The Twilight series. If you haven't read them, please do.
5. The things Google does for us all.

That's all for now.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Pumpkins!


We carved pumpkins! We all sat on the kitchen floor, while Mia walked around us confused and eating any pieces of pumpkin that fell, scooped out the seeds and got to work. They came out great!
And here they are all done! Dane made a little family of the pumpkins outside on our deck. Aren't they just one big happy family? (From left to right: Ben's pumpkin (he was going for a Sarah Palin inspired pumpkin with the wink), Emily's pumpkin, fake pumpkins, my pumpkin, and Dane's pumpkin)

And now for some light up action and close ups.

Ben's pumpkin
Emily's pumpkin
My pumpkin

Dane's pumpkin
The Halloween fun will continue... At least if Dane has anything to do with it!

 
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