Im Excited About: Sharkbear and Dinosaur Geese Edition

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a 20-something girl living in Montana with a stash of hilarious life stories and fair drawing capabilities?

YOU HAVE?!

Well, you're in luck. Tina showed me this website and it is hysterical. Every post is funny, and sometimes they are so funny that I end up crying.

Here is your warning that her language can occasionally be crude, but the story is always funny.

Hyperbole and a Half

Thanks for the laughs, Allie!

Wordless Wednesday

Frisbee, Softball, and Hounds - Oh My!

Frank is taking the Bar, RIGHT NOW. So, please take a moment to pray for him (to remember what he studied, to have a calm heart and mind, to be filled with peace, not to get hungry mid-test, whatever strikes your fancy)

That also means that I'm flying solo until Thursday. The puppies and I are on our own, and we miss him already.

This is a busy week for me anyway - Frisbee last night, softball tonight, frisbee again on Wednesday - but throw in two hungry pups and things get crazy. Luckily, I have awesome friends that are willing to help calm the chaos. The hounds have midday playdates set up today and tomorrow and I'm trying to tire them out from the start.

This morning they woke up about 15 minutes before my alarm went off (thanks, R) so I went ahead and got up to let them out. Since it was just before 7am, we hung out downstairs for a little while and then went on a 20 minute walk. When we got back they had breakfast and played outside while I got ready for work.

We were so productive that I not only got to eat breakfast, but I also had time to do a quick clean up in the bathroom, and empty the trashcans in the house and take out the trash! Oh, and I ran a load of laundry last night and had time to put it away this morning. I'm awesome.

We'll take another walk when I get home tonight, and then lather, rinse, repeat tomorrow.

I know the hounds will be thrilled to see Frank on Thursday, but I think I'll be the happiest!

Time for the Bar

Frank left for Roanoke, VA this morning to take the Bar.

In case you don't know where Roanoke is, let me help you. It is 4 hours away from Arlington, 3 hours from Richmond, and right next to THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. No offense to anyone who lives there, went to school there, is from there, whatever, but it is the most out of the way location that anyone could conceive of for the Bar to take place.

My theory is that some state legislator got this as a sweet deal to get a vote on something. Think about it; each July and February, Roanoke hotels get completely booked, the restaurants are packed, and on the second evening the bars rake in cash as students celebrate their freedom. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Sure, I have a Northern-Virginia-Bias, but I'm not suggesting that the testing take place in Arlington, at least not exclusively. Why not have (gasp, hang on to your seats) multiple testing sites? This is a large state, with a couple thousand people taking the Bar each time it is offered, so how about a NoVa site, a Richmond site, a Va Beach site, and even a Roanoke site? Then people wouldn't have to travel as far and you could reduce the level of stress for 85% of the test takers.

I think if i ever run for state office, this will be one of my first issues to tackle. So, sorry Roanoke, I'll be dipping into your twice-yearly golden goose but 85% of law students (and their spouses) will thank me and that is something I care about more than you.

Movie Review: Despicable Me

Frank took me on a date last night to Chipotle and to see Despicable Me - my idea of a great date night!

The movie theater was an interesting mix of preteens (looked like a slumber party), parents, couples, and a curios trio of gamer-geeks. The previews were nearly exclusively for other animated films, one exception being the new Nanny McPhee flick, which of course is about a magical nanny.

Once the movie began, it was clear that it was going to be everything I'd hoped. I can honestly say that I laughed out loud more at this movie than any other movie I can think of in recent memory. They even throw in a Godfather joke for all of the dads/boyfriends/husbands in the theater!

The story arch is entirely predictable, including a theme park/roller coaster scene for those of you watching in 3D, but like I said before it was just what I wanted it to be. The characters are easy to love, even the villainous Gru who isn't nearly as villainous as I'm sure he'd like to think.

There was one element missing, though I didn't mind: it didn't have the truly evil and scary villain or any extended moments of real fear for the main characters. Most animated movies seem to include a truly horrifying 'bad guy' while DM's villain was a dorky kid earning his villain stripes. Even the mastermind behind the dork only had a few scenes and never entered the plot in a significant way.

All in all, I loved the movie and will certainly watch it again when it comes out on DVD. It is good for a lot of laughs and even a tear or two if you happen to be particularly hormonal that day.

Songs in My Head

I get songs stuck in my head very easily and then they don't go away for a long time.

Like right now, "Sugar Sugar" is stuck in my head and I have no idea why! I don't think I've heard it lately, but maybe it was playing in a restaurant or a passing car or something.

Last night I went to bed with Amy Grant's "Baby Baby" playing in my head because it is playing at the house party that Mr and Mrs Smith go to in the movie, Mr and Mrs Smith. It about drove me over the edge.

Earlier today I had "Louie Louie" playing, and that was thanks to someone I follow on Twitter mentioning the song in a tweet.

Although it seems that there is a requirement for the song to be both old and have a name that is the same word repeated, that is not the case. It is just as easy to get a refrain of a new song stuck in there, which can be even worse! Nothing is worse than having a song in your head and not being able to finish it.

Remember the South Park episode where Cartman had to finish "Come Sail Away" any time anyone started it? Well, that is how I feel about songs in my head - sometimes I can get relief from them if I sit there and focus through the end of the song.

I realize that this post may make it seem that I've come completely unhinged, but here's hoping that at least one other person out there is reading this and thinking "me too!" and "dang it! now I have "Baby Baby" stuck in MY head!" (sorry)

Blog Changes

So, "Cutest Blog On The Blog" decided to change their website and delete all of their templates that people are using now. I got a note telling me I had to change my template before Friday - and it has been an hours long event.

This will do for now, hopefully it will be back to something with a little more character soon!

I hope CBOTB gets their act together soon.

Movies

I love a good movie - and by "good movie" I don't mean Oscar worthy, tear jerking, soul moving, or life changing, I just mean something that makes me happy.

I feel like the cost of movies in theaters is so prohibative, though! Unless it is some huge epic film that won't translate as well on my tv, I usually try to wait until it comes up on Netflix. (Hopefully I'm going to see Despicable Me tomorrow for date night, I don't think I can wait any longer to see it)

That being said, I often forget about movies that I want to see between the time they are in theaters until they are released on DVD. Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid that problem? I'm considering keeping a list somewhere on my blog, perhaps turning it into a movie review section (albeit a very late one, since most would be post-theater release reviews).

Perhaps that will be my new 'thing,' reviewing movies really really late and ignoring all of the other reviews that came out when the actual movie came out. Sounds like something at the perfect speed for my crazy life!

So, let me know what movies I should see - new and old - although be aware that I don't watch scary movies, or overly grotesque movies...my husband would tell you to just tell me what animated movies to watch, because that is what I'll be most interested in.

Anyway, lets see if I can get this movie reviewing thing off the ground

A New Problem (Kind of a Bummer Post)

I grew up in the same neighborhood that my dad grew up in, went to the same schools, and even had some of the same teachers. We moved once when I was a kid, and it was a distance of about 3 miles, in the same neighborhood, the same school district, the same everything. That was when I was in kindergarden, and my parents still live in that house now.

I went to college in North Carolina when I was 18, and remained there for 4 years. After graduation I did a breif summer in Chapel Hill, followed by 3 months in Raleigh, and then I moved to the DC Metro area in January of 2006.

The thing is, something kind of big has changed over the last year. People that F and I have come to know and love have moved away. And more people that we know and love are planning to move away in the next year or so. It seems that this is going to become a very regular part of our lives as long as we live here. Kind of a bummer for someone like me who can name the 3 friends that ever moved away from preschool to high school. (John, Tracy, and Kylie)

Somehow, the people moving away from DC now seem different from the friends that graduated before me in high school or college. Those are 4 year adventures that everyone knows will last 4 years and somehow that makes it easier when everyone scatters to the wind.

Here, people can get orders, promotions, transfers, leave for grad school, law school, business school, or graduate from school. None of these things have the kinds of expected timelines that school always had for me, and that makes it harder. We've had some great friends move, mostly due to the military, and I know that that usually means good things for them (promotions, more training, bigger responsibilities) so I'm happy for them. But it isn't much fun being left behind.

The childrens' books are usually about the new kid in class, but what about that kid's old best friend that got left back in the old home town? I'm not trying to bum anyone out, or guilt any of our friends that have moved or are moving, it is just something that I've never experienced this frequently before and I'm not entirely sure what to do.

I guess we'll keep making new friends and pray real hard for some of the old friends to get transfered back!!

I promise to go back to blogging about puppies, furniture, weddings, and sunshine tomorrow :)

I'm Excited About: Buckets

Frank brought home some big buckets today - you know the kind that are great for icing down beers or holding a keg, etc. I have wanted buckets like this for a while now, but it is the kind of thing that I wasn't willing to pay very much for.

Well, my wish came true and we now own 4 big buckets! I even found another use for them this afternoon:


I call it "Puppy in a Bucket"


It didn't last long, though.

Vacation Part 2

On Thursday morning I drove further north on 17, all the way into Wilmington, NC. I met up with Cat and then we headed out to the beach for lunch and a little more sunning.

I went to Wilmington for our friend Mary's wedding, which doubled as a mini college reunion. It is so much fun to get to see everyone and to celebrate the beginning of Mary and Mike's marriage. A few of us bridesmaids (and our husbands) stayed at Cat's grandmother's house, which was not only fun and economical, but it made things easier logistically! We all had to be in most of the same places at the same times.

Friday started with the bridal luncheon in downtown Wilmington.


It was absolutely beautiful, and the food was incredible, too! What a treat to get to spend some quality time with Mary, her mom and aunts, and Mike's mom and sister during the weekend.


Mary has a super rockin' cousin named Katherine who was there, too. Katherine, or Special K as Mary calls her, made bracelets for all of the bridesmaids! It was an awesome gift from an awesome 8 year old, and most of us wore them during the wedding - at the bride's direction!


The hostesses had arranged for a charm cake and it was so much fun! I had heard of the tradition, but had never seen it in person. The charms were all pretty, and I ended up with the pelican which means I will have "a life of plenty."


After lunch us girls headed home to nap and then change for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal went well, with the most confusing part being figuring out what our heights would be the following day since only one of us (not me) remembered to bring their wedding shoes. I'm sure we looked very silly trying to estimate our varied height changes!



After rehearsal we walked a block or so to the rehearsal dinner. It was on the 3rd floor of a building, overlooking downtown. And I learned something about Mike - he has a major thing for Swedish Fish! There were Swedish Fish at every table, and the cake was decorated WITH the candies, as well as decorated with a fondant rendering of a bag of the candies!


We all had fun chatting, watching a slide show, and listening to toasts. There was a lot of laughter and a few tears throughout the toasts, which is the way it should be!

Wordless Wednesday

Vacation Part One

My short absence was due to my being on vacation for approximately 10 days, which means I'm not apologizing because I'm not sorry for being on vacation.


I started the week by flying to Charleston, SC. My brothers picked me up and we went back to a friend's house for lunch. I was happy to see KT and Joey, but sad that I still haven't met their adorable kid! Katie made a killer lunch of grilled cheese on croissants with some kind of amazing honey mustard or something on it.

I also got a wedding present at Katie and Joey's house! It was well worth the wait, too - a cozy South Carolina sweatshirt blanket and a beautiful SC themed print. I can't wait to get the print framed and up in the house. I already used the blanket on the plane ride back home (I forgot to pack jeans - this was a problem on the planes and in the beach house that Papa keeps at a balmy 65 degrees).

After a couple of hours Rob, Patrick, Lauren, and I headed up 17 and arrived at the Brewer beach house in time for dinner. Most of the family arrived on Sunday, and T & Lisa came in on Tuesday. The weather was amazing and the water temperature was perfect. I can't tell you how many hours I spent on the beach last week.


I got a little pink on Monday so I avoided direct sunlight on Tuesday. I was trying to remain conscious of my bridesmaid duties at the end of the week, and I didn't want to be the bright red one with the crazy tan lines.

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 5:40am, put on a bathing suit, and put my contacts in so I could see. I headed downstairs to meet up with dad and we walked down to the beach with the paddle boards in tow. (the following pictures are of me and my brother, Rob. No one was on the beach to take pictures of me and Daddy at 6am - shocking, I know.)


I know a lot of people probably consider getting up early to see a sunrise at the beach, and some people might actually do it, but if you've never done it while out in the water you are missing out big time.


It only took a few minutes for Dad and I to paddle out. Before the sun rises there is almost no wind and the water is very calm, almost like a lake. As I headed out past the waves I noticed a porpoise only about 40 yards in front of me. I decided to remain kneeling on the board just in case one of the porpoise (porpi?) decided to come closer - I figured I'd lose balance out of sheer shock and awe! Dad and I spotted a few more of them over the next 20 minutes, but none ever got closer than that first one. I also saw a few cannon ball jellyfish, but that wasn't nearly as exciting.

We watched for the tell-tale color changes in the clouds that hinted to the location of the sun. It is always amazing to me how quickly the sun seems to come above the horizon! Only a few minutes after seeing that first burst of bright orange, the entire ball is up into the sky.

Along with light, the sun brought wind and more waves. Unfortunately for us the wind was coming straight off the beach and into our faces. This made our trip back in a bit more laborious than our trip out had been. After 15-20 minutes of constant paddling I was able to catch a couple of waves back into the shore.

We made it back inside for breakfast, and then I went back upstairs to take a nap. (Is it still a nap if everyone else in the house is still asleep?) Only about 45 minutes later I woke up again, put on another bathing suit, and added socks, tennis shoes, shorts, and a tank top because I was suiting up for a looooong walk.

Papa drove (yes, drove) Dad, Elizabeth, Shani, and me down to the south end of Pawleys Island, let us out, and drove back home.

Those of you that aren't up on your geography may not know this, but there is a reason that it is called "Pawleys Island," it is an island. Another interesting fact; our beach house is not on Pawelys Island, it is in North Litchfield. I'll spell this out for you: We got out of the car at the south end of Pawleys Island, and between us and our house was the rest of Pawleys Island, the Pawleys Island Inlet, South Litchfield, Litchfield, and North Litchfield.


We walked 8.5 miles (on sand!) in about 2.5 hours - and it was awesome! Dad timed the tides right, so when we got to the Inlet we were able to walk across very easily. The water was just above my knees at the very deepest part. There were 3 grown men in kayaks only a few yards away from us as we crossed, I'm not sure who looked sillier but my money is on them (who kayaks in 2 feet of water?)

It was a great way to start my last day at the beach house, though I'll admit I was pretty sore up until yesterday!

Thursday morning I headed north to Wilmington, NC for a wedding and since this post is already really really long I'll save that for another day.

Wordless Wednesday

Bedroom Update

I finally got around to updating our bedroom with the new color palate, and I absolutely love the result! Originally we had the black and white theme going, but with the move we added hardwood floors and a rug that has browns, navies, and deep reds so I began the slow process of making our bedroom fabrics match our new rug.

This is the new bedding and headboard. One benefit of changing up the bedding is that I won't go crazy over the perfectly white duvet not being perfectly white! The decision to go to a khaki was made with great joy on my part.


This is a closer look at the headboard. It is a khaki material (apolstrie fabric) with navy palm tree embroidered in rows. Had this project taken any longer, Frank was going to steal the fabric and find a way to make shorts out of it.


This picture includes the rug, which was the starting point for the new colors. Because a good rug is both very expensive and very hard to find, I decided that we would make everything revolve around the rug.


The new sheet set is navy, and to keep from there being too much neutral I ordered the bed skirt in navy. I really like that the hardwood floors keep the room from being too dark, even with the dark rug and bed skirt in the room.

I also added curtains. These were less for aesthetics and more for function. Our wonderful old house isn't very good at maintaining livable temperatures, so these lined black-out curtains should help keep the upstairs from heating up too much during the day. There are three windows, each with one panel, and each with one hook to the side for the times that we do want natural light to come in.


And to round it out, here is my lovely dresser and the door to our room.


...and a picture hiding behind the door because I don't think we'll ever be finished moving into this place.

Stay tuned for updates on the living room and basement - big changes are coming!!

Happy Independence Day

Did you know that the Continental Congress voted to legally separate from the UK on July 2, 1776 and two days later they voted to approve the Declaration of Independence? It took 2 days to agree to the wording that would break us away from tyranny and lead us into a self-governing republic!

I dare say I miss those days.

In an excerpt from a letter to his wife, Abigail, John Adams wrote:

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

He was referring to the day that they voted to leave the UK, but the celebration part is spot on!

I hope you are celebrating today with "solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty" and with "illuminations" galore! Happy Independence Day, and God Bless America!

I'm Excited About: Top Chef DC

Top Chef is back! And this season is in DC! It is fun to see the landmarks that I pass every day, and figure out which building rooftop the crew is on, and scan the crowds of guests for a familiar face. It is also fun to realize how ridiculous some of the voice overs are; "Mt Vernon, one of America's best known historical sites".... actually, I bet less than 50% of Americans would recognize Mt Vernon for what it is on sight.

I'm having trouble attaching to any particular contestants this season. While there are already a few culinary standouts, no one has shown the kind of personality that has been around in the last couple of seasons. The Las Vegas cast was just too good, I guess.

Perhaps as the season goes on and the bottom of the pack is culled, things may get more interesting. In the mean time, take a moment to remember how many good chefs have come from this metro area - Carla, Spike, Voltagio the elder, not bad for a city that no one calls home. Another side note, Spike is opening his new pizza place in July. It is next door to his "Good Stuff Eatery" on the Hill, and will be called "We the Pizza." If you like his burgers (which I do), give his pizza a shot this summer.

And, good on you DC! A Real World season and a Top Chef season, back to back - what's next? Jersey Shore: Our Nation's Capital? I would pay big money to see Snooki as a Hillturn.

U! S! C! Goooo Cocks!

My brother sent me this picture today: it was taken by a friend of his at a Walmart in South Carolina.


I guess winning the College World Series makes you twice as valuable according to Walmart! Oh, and while I don't think it was intentional, having the USC chairs labeled as "unbeatable" is pretty hilarious after they upset the No. 1 seed and beat Clemson TWICE in a row to get to the finals where they beat UCLA in two games!

Go Gamecocks!

They're Baaaaack

Summer in DC is an amazing time of year. Tourists crowd the metro and the streets giving flawed historical tours to their families, and interns try to blend in by being self-important and giving the tourist bad directions.

These two groups of invaders also do one other thing; they provide endless material for some wonderful blogs. My two favorites are "Spotted: DC Summer Interns" and "The DCist: Overheard in DC".

As I do every summer, I'm trying my best to not get annoyed with the families, school groups, and intern classes that break all of the rules (standing by the metro doors both inside and outside the train, not taking open seats and therefore blocking access to said open seat, blocking the escalators/not standing to the right, walking on the left, taking 20 minutes to figure out how to use the turnstiles, deciding that just on the other side of the turnstile is the best place to gather your group of 30 people) and so far we're doing alright. But today is the first day of July so we've got a ways to go before the hoards die down and we return to normal life again.

I think someone needs to publish a "visitor's guide to DC public transit" that gets handed out like the morning papers. I just think those of us living here might gain a little more faith in the rest of the country if someone just told them right away that 8am and 5pm are not the best time to take your 4th graders on the metro through downtown.

Happy summering!