I hate this picture

but I promised...

here is my complete Halloween costume:

I will never stand like that ever again, ever ever ever. I'm not pregnant but it sure looks like I am - awesome.

There you go - Happy Halloween!!

I promise I'm not going to explode

I went for a (2.4 mile!) run today because it is 70 degrees and sunny, and because I'm going to be stuck in the gym until April soon so I took advantage of the opportunity to be outside. But this post isn't about my stellar running abilities (ha!), it is about what happens after I run...

I stopped running at 2:15pm and my face is still bright red with white blotches around my mouth. This is a common occurrence in my world, I blame it on my fair (read: pasty) skin and excellent blood circulation. While I find this to be totally normal, and will be normal for the next 2 hours, it is often alarming to other people.

When I was in the 3rd grade I came in from recess with everyone else and sat at my desk. The moment my teacher (Mrs. Carlyle) saw me her eyes got huge and she demanded that I go to the back of the class, drink a cup of water, and splash cold water on my face. I have very distinct memories of this because I was kind of embarrassed, but I also remember seeing my face in the mirror above the sink and thinking "this is what I always look like after a basketball game."

I just had a full on flashback as I came in from my run. The security guard in our building jumped up from her seat like she was going to have to catch me as I was surely about to collapse. I laughed and told her I was fine, then went into the locker room and saw the same face I had seen in Mrs. Carlyle's classroom that day in 3rd grade.

I hope that someday my kids get enough of their father's genes to mask the crazy red faceness that happens after a good workout - then I can be the only freakshow in the family who looks like I'm going to internally combust after a leisurely run.

Book Tours

On Monday night I went to sewing as usual, then when I got home I was super tired and ready to crash for the night.

Instead of crashing, Frank and I headed into DC to the ESPN Zone to stand in line for 2ish hours. At the end of the line was this

That is Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy! His book release was Tuesday, hence the midnight book signing and his first stop was DC. I was so excited to meet him, and we were even able to make him laugh while we were standing there!

You can see the big dumb grin on my face, I think that is what I look like when I meet famous people...I should work on that.

Sports Guys' buddies tend to attend his public appearances, this time it was House. We got him to sign the book, too!

I had so much fun staying up past my bedtime and meeting my favorite sports writer. Reading his book will take some work as it is 700 pages about the NBA....but I'm willing to give it the college try because his last book was so good.

I'm also now feeling motivated to go see The Pioneer Woman when she is on the east coast for her book tour in December - she is only going to be in the Philly area and then in NYC so it would be a bit of a road trip either way. Her book is a cook book, and I promised Frank that I would learn to cook if he bought it for me...he pre-ordered it the day I said that, looks like I'll be learning to cook starting later this week :)

Hooray for book tours and meeting your favorite authors/podcasters/bloggers!

Hospital Adventures

Friday morning I got a call at 8:30am from Tina. She was in the ER at Virginia Hospital Center and had been diagnosed with appendicitis.

Frank and I jumped out of bed and headed over right away - 14 hours later I came back home to go to sleep so that I could get back up in the morning and go get Tina from the hospital.

The entire time at the hospital the staff was friendly, responsive, informative, and helpful. While it felt like a really long day, I think it is pretty awesome that they were able to get her into surgery from the ER for an appendectomy about 13 hours after she first arrived. The hospital was full which is why it took that many hours - they had to find a place to put her post-op before they could take her to the OR.

I'm so grateful for that hospital - I've been there for both of my operations and all of my doctors are connected to that system.

Tina is recovering at home and is doing really well. Appendectomies are now done laproscopicly so she just has three small incisions instead of the old-school style appy scar.

And most importantly, we'll now have matching bellybutton scars!

A small lesson in customer service

I went to a tiny little restaurant/bar tonight with three friends. We sat at a high top table in the bar area, ordered drinks and $1 tacos. We were having a lovely time, until they turned the music up so loud that we were shouting at each other from 1.5 feet away.

I've been in bars where the music was this loud, but it was usually a very big, very full bar, and it was somewhere between the hours of 10pm and 2am - this was a small bar and it was not even 8pm.

Also, 99% of the patrons in the bar were there to either watch the ALCS game or the Caps hockey game - so no one cared about the music.

When it got to a deafening level we asked the bar tender if he could please turn down the music - the speakers were right above our table and it was awful. He obliged for about a minute, then came back and said "you guys are the only ones in this place that want the music turned down, I'm pretty sure everyone else wants it loud."

Wow. There were no more than 20 others in the bar area and 20 of them were there to watch a game of some kind, none of them were there for the music.

So I did what any good, annoyed patron would do. I borrowed $2 from the girls and went to the jukebox.

For the next 20 minutes the only music blasting in that bar was Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Ricky Martin, and O Town.

And it was the first time that anyone else in the bar noticed the music.

I hope I made the bar tender mad, I hope he remembers me next time I go there for $1 tacos, and I hope that the next time someone asks him to turn down the music because it is at a deafening level he'll listen.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

And you don't want to piss off God!

That is actually a quote from a dorky show I watch on Mondays, and by "on Mondays" I mean at some point later in the week after my classes are over, so Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Needless to say I haven't seen this week's episode yet, so there aren't any spoiler alerts here...

I actually want to sing the praises of clean. I love clean, clean makes me happy, clean makes me calm, clean lets me sleep better at night.

My wonderful amazing thoughtful husband vacuumed our dining area the other day because the roof had fallen in again (long story and I don't want to talk about it) and I didn't ask him to do it! I came home on Monday and as I gathered my things for sewing I noticed that the ceiling bits were missing from the carpet - I looked up to see if the ceiling was fixed (it was not) and since it wasn't I figured out that my wonderful amazing thoughtful husband had vacuumed! It made my day, and I slept better.

I don't know when this happened, and Mom, I'm sorry it didn't happen sooner, but I love it. I feel like I'm always picking up the apartment, and for some people it would get annoying but the end result is SO worth the 10-15 minutes it takes.

I have class tonight, and I won't get home until around 10pm but when I do get home I'll feel great because our home is clean...or at least it was when I left this morning, and that is enough to calm my soul for now.

Goals

Everyone has them and the vary in difficulty, importance, chances of happening, etc.

Currently I have lots of goals:
1. lose 8 lbs, hopefully in time for the Crosby/Dziok wedding (18 days!)
2. win my fantasy football league - that is $220 on the line
3. finish my midterm, it is due tomorrow and it will happen the question is will it happen without a 4am writing session...
4. keep up with this blog, and maybe find something worth reading for y'all
5. finish my halloween costume in time for this year's halloween
6. start and finish another halloween costume in time for my class on Oct 28th so I can win the contest and get an extra week to work on my term paper
7. be a better wife (not that I'm a bad wife, I just want to always be striving to be a better one)
8. learn to cook, I'm not in a rush on this one...something to do with my awesome husband being a great cook
9. be a fun/good/disciplined/nurturing mom some day, also not in a rush on this one. May come into being around the same time I decide to learn to cook.
10. organize a DC Metro area Salem Alumni group
11. become more involved with Salem College
12. find a way to create/encourage/sell more Salem College paraphernalia from the college book store

and finally, 13. get to my 12:30 lunch on time today - which means I'm off and running! (**update: I made it on time**)

Every Monday

I stay up too late to watch the Monday Night Football game - and it is driving me nuts! I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I have to sit here and wait and hope that stupid Vincent Jackson does not get more than 4 more points tonight so that I can win in my fantasy league!

It is driving me crazy, it seems that every week I either have someone playing in the Monday night game or I am up against someone in the Monday night game.

I hope that next week I've either already won or already lost by the end of the Sunday night game. I love love LOVE football, but I can't keep staying up this late (this stressed out) every Monday!!

On a happier note I got a lot of work done on my Halloween costume tonight at the church. The next step involves installing the zipper - which is something I've never done before. Hopefully I can figure it out so that I can be finished with my Dorothy dress before next week's sewing class/gathering.

I have a second costume to create for my Legislative Politics class - I don't really want to do it, but it can lead to homework passes or extra time on the term paper so it is at least worth a good effort. I have a great idea for my costume (it has to relate to Legislative Politics) but I'm not going to advertise what it is until after the class.

ok, back to trying to not bite my nails through the last 8 minutes of this game - RUN OUT THE CLOCK DENVER!

**Update - I hung on to win by 2, I'm 6-0 on the season and still holding onto first place!**

Crafts, Decisions, and Dress Up

I've started some serious crafting lately. With my sewing circle at church I've made two aprons, hemmed pants, sewn shirts shut, and the list goes on! I'm making my own costume(s) for Halloween this year and I've started on one of them already.

I went to Walmart and bought some simple silver flats. Then I painted them red

Next I used these things...

And now I have these!

All for less than half of what it costs to buy costume ruby red slippers! Hooray! They will get a treatment of aerosol hair spray when they are dry so that I don't leave a trail of red sparkles everywhere I go.

Then I held auditions for Toto

Um...don't call us, we'll call you?

Still Growing

When we got Hamilton he was 10 weeks old and weighed about 14 lbs. His ears were too long and he tripped on them a lot with his big feet.

His entire back was black with one little white spot. Even his ears were a very dark brown/black. He was only as long as two of my size 7 feet laid end to end.

His toys were as big as his head and he would trip over them when he carried them as they would drag on the ground.

He used to fit in our arms, on our laps, and was light enough to carry around anywhere

(Frank was sick in this pic, H was helping him feel better)

Now he is a big dog, almost one year old and weighing in at 60 lbs. I can't carry him anymore, and he isn't a lap dog. But he is one darn handsome basset and we love him to bits!

Here is the big dog on his dog bed, it is a good 3 feet across. And it has his name on it.

But just in case you are thinking he's a big softy who only sleeps on his bed, H wanted you to know that he can sleep anywhere - especially if it is beside the kitchen.

Halloween

I always have a desire to come up with an awesome Halloween costume but I never give myself the time to put it together. Last year Frank and I were Peter and Lois Griffin; easy to do since Frank already owned a white shirt and green pants, and I had khakis and found a teal shirt and purple shoes at target. But now that has been done (and I does bother me that Lois has red hair and I don't) and Halloween is upon us again.

We're going to a party on the 30th and I really want to be something good! I get really hung up on hair color so I won't usually agree to anything where I'm supposed to be a blonde or redhead. I have time to make my costume if I get started this weekend

Any ideas?

The D word

I'm officially on a diet - blech. Tina and I decided that we both need to shed some weight and we've chosen the Crosby/Dziok wedding date as the finish line. That means I have 24 days to lose at least 8 lbs.

Honestly, it shouldn't be too difficult. Change my snack habits, eat more veggies and less empty carbs, and make use of the gym in my office building. I tried to give up diet coke but only made it for about 13 hours before the caffeine headache kicked in and I caved. Though my supportive husband was quick to point out that Diet Coke has zero calories, so I don't feel awful about it!

Yesterday was day 1 and I managed to choke down about 6 oz of V8 for breakfast (gross, never doing that again), eat an awful Health Choice lunch (disgusting), hit the gym for a solid 45 minutes midday, and then have a piece of grilled chicken over fresh lettuce and veggies for dinner (thanks, Frank!). Add in a diet coke with dinner, a handful of grape nuts for a snack, and a little bit of mint oreo custard (it was from the Dairy Godmother - don't judge me!) and that is how my first day went.

I'm staying strong so far today, drinking more water and planning to hit the gym after a lunch of leftover dinner.

My plan involves continuing to work out 3 times a week once I've lost my goal weight. I don't think that will be over kill since my work outs are restricted in length due to their occurrance over my lunch break.

I'd say my weekends will involve exercise too, but my basset doesn't really hit speeds above "stroll" all that often....

Girls' Weekend

I had a girls weekend at my apartment this past weekend - Frank was in Canada for a bachelor party so we decided to have an old fashioned sleepover! Tina was my main cohort and we got started on Friday.

We made a delicious apple pie from scratch:

And then on Saturday we cleaned out our closets (Anna, too) and held a Clothes Swap at my place. Look at all of the clothes! It was fun to get a few things, clean out a lot of things, and of course the left overs are on their way to Goodwill today.

We're thinking about making this an annual event because we had so much fun!

All in all a great way to spend the weekend

No more summaries

I am so over school. Sometimes friends tell me how much they enjoy going back to school after having so many years off working in the real world...not me. I've decided that school is not for me.

In college I thought my attitude was to blame for my occasional lethargic behavior when it came to paper writing and book reading, but since I'm still dealing with it now I've decided it is a different problem. The teachers. Not them personally, and there are always exceptions, but for the most part the teachers are not engaging.

We're in WASHINGTON studying POLITICAL SCIENCE and yet they find ways to be dull. I'm tired of studying other people's theories, why not challenge us to create our own? Start a policy argument. Make an outrageous statement and select teams to defend and attack it. DO SOMETHING INTERESTING!!

The semester is halfway over and I'm glad. Hopefully I'll be finished forever and never have to write another 'weekly reading summary' as long as I live.

We need more interesting teachers, especially at the graduate level - this is nuts!

Viva Rio!

They got it!

While I don't claim to be an expert on the topic of the Olympic Games, but there are a few things I'm happy about:

1. Chicago will not be destroyed financially by hosting - now they don't have to build a floating sports complex (who thought that was a good idea?!), they won't have to deal with the impending law suits sprouting from the misuse of funds and corruption that would have happened, and the two MLB teams won't be overshadowed by a crush of Olympic crazies (I realize having the Games there could boost ticket sales, but the teams wouldn't benefit only scalpers would) (and the Cubs always sell out anyway)

2. South America gets chance - I'm not usually big on ideas of "fairness" but in the case of the Olympics it seems like a reasonable thing to support. They've never had the Games in South America and if they think they are ready to handle it, more power to them.

3. Brasil will benefit - with the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, Brasil has a great opportunity to shape up and clean up their major cities. The things that will happen in Brasil won't go down easily, people who like things like "social justice" will cry foul, but the cities will be cleaned, gentrified, and opened to international travel in a safe way. I think these are all good things, and the (hopeful) decrease in crime, both random and organized, will benefit the entire nation overall. Where a city like Chicago could suffer economically, Rio could benefit from basic boosts in infrastructure and general safety which will continue to be a good thing for a long time.

4. There is a GIANT Jesus standing watch over the city of Rio. And there is nothing that the dad-gum American anti-Jesus lobby can do about it! Viva Rio, Viva Jesus Cristo!