Ponderings

I've been watching Good Morning Vietnam as I work on a circle journal that needs to be sent out tomorrow. I usually don't watch that movie, but tonight I did. I have to admit, a couple of tears escaped, and that wasn't even in the sad part. As I watched Adrian Krohnhauer (sp?) talking to the troops, it just made me so sad. I was sad for the lives lost and the disrespect they and all the troops were shown. Not just by the every day citizens who protested and were down right crummy to those who fought, but also by the politicians. The big whigs in Washington who were supposed to be on their side and have their back and sold them out. The advisers and supposedly smart men who decided it was better to tuck our tails and run than to finish what we started. I wasn't around then, but it bothers me....a lot. I thank the Lord that we have a President now who has the foresight to see that more damage would come in pulling out prematurely than will happen if we stay. No, I can't predict what will happen, but I do know this: the likes of Ted Kennedy and his cronies continuously compare Iraq to Vietnam. I don't think that comparison can be made yet...we're still there. Doing what we should. Unfortunately, though, the bad guys, the terrorists can draw strength from Vietnam. We were worn down then, if they just keep trying hard enough and pushing against us long enough, maybe we'll give in again. Some Washingtonians say we should pull out now, but that is the worst thing we can do. I guess they think it will save face, but with whom, I wonder? The Arab Street? A. Who cares? and B. how? The way I see it, that part of the world considers toughness and might a virtue. Show any weakness, and you're done for.

I heard some of the State of the Union speech tonight (read the transcript, I thought it was a great speech), and I was moved by the letter President Bush read from Marine Staff Sergeant Dan Clay who was killed last month in Fallujah, "I know what honor is. It has been an honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to.... Never falter! Don't hesitate to honor and support those of us who have the honor of protecting that which is worth protecting." Thank you all who protect us.

The New Me

So, here I am with new glasses and new hair cut. I like them both. Unfortunately, I've been having massive sinus trouble of late and by the end of the day, my nose is seriously hurting from the glasses. But, they certainly are helping me see things more clearly. Everything is just a little sharper. Thank goodness I know Rachel the optometrist and she's going on maternity leave soon, or who knows when I would have actually had an exam! Chris got new glasses too. They look really good on him and I like them, (they're super similar to his old ones) but there's one problem - he got the transition lenses, so when he goes outside they darken. Fine, work great, but they remind me of a geek that was stalker in love with me back in the days of New Horizons and every time I look at him, I think of said creepy guy. Not good. But, other than that, they're great! Speaking of Chris, he's decided to stay at Dollar/Thrifty after all. It's a good thing. A very good thing.

Feeling Bloggy...

I guess I've been feeling super bloggy the past 24 hours, so here I am again. I got an itch to post   a picture I played with of Chris in Venice. I love this picture. He's so darn cute. And, I love eating French Fries all over the world. Sure, we all know there's nothing like Mickey D's fries, but there's just something so pleasing about super thick Belgian style "pommes" with a schmear of mayo (yep, can't eat a good, thick fry without the mayo...it just ain't right!) from a street vendor in Europe. Honestly, these weren't the best fries I've ever had (I am something of a conniessour), but we were in a super touristy area (right next to Rialto Bridge), and they weren't THAT bad!!! They certainly hit the spot! Actually, street vendors and little cafes are totally the way to go. I've had some of the best (and, let's face it, worst) food ever at street vendors. Belgian waffles in Brussels, Chocolates in Bruges (or Brugge for you Dutch speakers), Kaiser Kroner Dogs in Vienna (oh my those are good - hot dogs with little bits of cheese in them. I could eat a bajillion of them!), crepes in Paris, schnitzel and beer in Munich (oh dear me, was that good), big, HUGE pretzels in Munich and Salzburg, gelato in Italy, stroopwafel in the Netherlands, tacos in Mexico, hot dogs in NYC, and the list goes on. Mmmmm...just talking about all this food brings back so many memories. Is that odd? That my travel memories are so related to food? Part of is that I like to eat the way the locals do - get a little glimpse into their lives. The other part is that is usually cheap and always easy! You can just point and know what you're getting. Doesn't matter if you don't Parlais Francais! Oh, and I have a strange obsession with photographing my food. I get made fun of a lot, but let me tell you...I'm glad I did it later!!!

Procrastination

It's my middle name. I got a call yesterday that my glasses are ready, so here I am totally avoiding them. I mentioned yesterday that we had a shower for our friend Trish on Sunday. I thought I'd post a couple more pictures. The totally awesome and super creative Sherry figured out how to make a diaper cake that we used as the centerpiece of the cake/goodies table. Pretty cool, huh? I was totally impressed. She figured this out from pictures on the internet. You can find them to purchase on the web for anywhere from $60 to $140, and we  almost just bought one, but thank goodness we didn't have to! And, it made for a great gift. There's also a picture of the table with all the goodies on it. I LOVE the cookies. I mean, yeah, I made them, but stil, I LOVE them! I put almond flavoring in the icing. MMMMMMMM it's yummy. Oh, and those are only a few of the presents. She got some aweomse stuff!

Last Friday, I made the trip over to Oklahoma City and spent the evening with the unbelievably creative, super funny Donna Downey. Did I NEED to go to the classes? Nope. Could  I have done the projects without going? Yep. Would I? Welllll....ya never know.  I do own a lot of the stuff we used already. But, none of that actually matters. All that much to me! What matters is that I had a ton of fun and LOVED the classes. It was just too much fun. I would definitely  go again in a heartbeat! These are pics of Donna and Me, Donna teaching, and one of the projects we did. Thanks Donna for traveling to OK and playing with us!

Ok, so I have a little more procrastination to do. I'm waiting till after lunch to go fetch the glasses. I'm nervous!

Holy Cow! It's a Double Post Day!

My husband is a geek. A great big, huge geek! Just in case anyone didn't know. He is currently sitting on the couch giggling at Will & Grace (pretty cool guy, huh?) and reading the manual to his iHome he got for Christmas. In case you're not up on the myriad of "i" products out there, that's the alarm clock with the spot for your iPod, so when you wake up, you're not listening to the crummy morning talk guy, but rather your previously selected iPod playlists. Plus, it charges your iPod. Only thing is, there doesn't seem to be a snooze alarm on this piece of iPod accessorization. Really, can the world function without without a snooze? Not according to Chris. Well, back to the manual....

a new obsession

I'm taking cake decorating class, and this is my first stab at making a cake. Okay, well  I've made tons of cakes before and I made a couple to practice on, so it's not truly my first cake, but it's my first wholly decorated cake. And it wasn't without trauma. We're supposed to bring a cake to class to work on, so I was going to work on a cake for a baby shower Bob and I threw on Sunday. Only, I made the cake so darn tall that I was worried about transporting it, so I practiced on cardboard at the actual cake class and I do the finishing touches at Mom's house just before the party. Sounds like a good plan, huh? Yeah, except that meant I had to get it over to her house. And, on the way out to the car - haven't even got it into the car yet, mind you - the frosting starts coming off of the cake. We're talking a serious AAAAAACCCKKKK moment here. Serious trauma. Tears even. But, I knew it would be okay. You can always fix frosting. And, thankfully, it just folded down and it was super easy to fix. And in the end, it was awesome. Everyone loved it. Oh, and my cookies rocked too! I love being a baker! Now if I could just learn to love cooking too.

On a completely different front, I'm watching the Bachelor for the very first time, and I'm sorry, but it is such a joke. I know tons of people love it, and yes, I want to see who gets the roses at the end, but it's a game. A game for love. Can it really be love? How at the end of it can they think they're in love? The possibility of love, okay, I'll buy that. I can't imagine what it must be like to be those girls. They're supposed to fall in super deep like with someone they don't spend much time with. It's gotta be rough.  Thank goodness my one true love showed up in class day!

New Things...

First, I should be in bed right now getting my much needed beauty rest, but when I laid my head down on the pillow...nothing. So, here I am. We've got a lot of new things going on right now. Kinda crazy

1. I'm getting glasses!
we went to the eye doctor (my friend Rachel) today, and she said while I don't HAVE to have glasses I'd probably notice a difference. The whole thing was slightly traumatic. I hadn't had an eye exam in at least 15 years, and I had no idea what was going on when the tech was working with me and I have serious eye issues/fears (read my Venice in the rain post) and then we spent an hour plus trying to find frames (we both got glasses and Chris got contacts). I finally called for reinforcements and had my mom come help. She immediately vetoed all but one of my choices and I got a little frustrated. How was I ever going to find anything? I had to have something without nose-pads because the pressure from the nose-pads on my sinus problem nose leads very quickly to headaches. Finally, I happened upon the one pair in the entire store that I hadn't already looked at, and we immediately all said, "Yep...that's it." So, in 7-10 days I'll have glasses. AAAACCCKKK!!! (note the Cathy reference Kristina!)

2. I'm taking cake decorating classes
I've always thought it would fun/cool to take cake decorating classes, but didn't think I'd be good at it. My aforementioned friend, Rachel, took the classes last year or the year before and loved them. Turns out, I know her instructor (re-met her through Rachel) and saw her at my Hobby the Lobby the other day where she was trying to get people to sign up for classes...they were half off. So, I said why not. If all these other yahoos can do it so can I. And, I signed up and even went to the first class. And, I've made two cakes since then alreay. Yay! The first one wasn't so hot. I put waaaaaaaaay to much water in the icing. Oops! Misread the instructions - silly me! The second one was far superior to the first, and man did it taste good. I even went so far as to split each of the two cakes and put Red Raspberry jam in between them and then I iced it and did a fairly decent job for my first go. Oh man, was it good. I was going to take a picture and post it because I really am proud, but someone who shall remain nameless whisked it off to work to share before I finished fiddling with it or took my pic. Oh well. I'll make another one!

3. Chris took a new job
yep. gave his notice at DTAG yesterday. I'm pretty excited for him. This is a great opportunity. It's a bit of a risk, but really, when is a better time to take a risk than now? No kids, young, not that many bills. So, soon he'll be starting. It's amazing how much stress there was when we were trying to make the decision. Problem was, he didn't really want to leave DTAG. It was a place where he could have stayed for a lot of years, but this new opportunity was hard to pass up. But, the decision is made, and here we go! Funny thing.....he'll be working across the street from where he has been. No change in the commute, which is nice since we live all of 3 miles away!

4. I've added layouts to my gallery
As we all know, I'm super obssessive/addictive about the scrapbooking, and I finally posted some pages in my online gallery. Here's the link. It's been forever - no, seriously, like a year since I've posted anything in it and these aren't any of my new stuff, but they're there. I thought I might as well. Look for more to be posted in the coming days

*eta* - so, it seems I left that part out of my Venice in the rain post. See, I have this unnatural fear of "things" and my eyes. Like I have a very hard time putting eye drops in or rinsing them out with water. And, I HATE, HATE, HATE umbrellas because I have what I've always thought was an unnatural fear of being poked in the eye with one. I mean, people are ubelievably careless as they tote around umbrellas over their heads.  Well, it was super drizzly/rainy our last couple of days in Europe, and much to my chagrin, I literally got poked in the eye by some woman's ubmrella (probably a German tourist....nah knowing the way my life works, she was French). So, I guess my fear wasn't so unnatural after all!

I'm It...

So, I've been tagged not once, but twice (by Jonna and Catherine), so I'd better get to some answering.  Jonna tagged me a few days ago, and much like the Cobbler's Children, I've been having unaddressed keyboard issues. Finally, my fabulous hubby has the keyboard functioning better, so we're off....

Do you have a fave holiday treat?
this year's was the Eggnog Latte from Starbucks - a venti please, with only a 1/2 shot of the espresso('cuz the taste of coffee should NEVER touch these taste buds), a pump of vanilla, whipped cream and some nutmeg .

What is your fave family memory from your childhood?
how do I pick just one? Many of them involve me, my mom, and the beaches of Coronado, CA (think San Diego). That was the life.

What time is it right now?
2:53 am

What song is on your Ipod (imaginary or real) right now?
lots of 80's. who's surprised? it's my longest playlist

Digi-Scrapping, Paper Scrapping, or Both?
I'm a Paste Eating Paper Scrapper all the way, baby!

Coke or Pepsi?
Coke....of the Diet Caffiene-free variety. Pepsi tastes like somone left their dirty sweat sock in Coke for like 2 months

Five things you would go out and buy right now if $10,000 fell in your lap?
a Treo phone for my Christopher and pay bills! Maybe, though use it all for a down payment on ahouse!

One thing you absolutely, unequivocally love about who you are
I love my red hair and my passion for what I believe in.

Name one quote, song lyric, overused sentiment, whatever, that means a lot to you that changed or shaped the direction of your life today.
"Life moves pretty fast, sometimes you've gotta stop and look around." (or something like that) from Ferris Beuller's Day off (which incidentally was 20 years old yesterday....I remember going to see that in 4th grade....aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!). Anyway, it didn't really shape the direction of my life, but it sure has helped me se some cool stuff. While living in Europe, I constantly said, "Stop and look up once in a while." Awesome results

What's your favorite color?
I used to be a color-phobe and stuck to black, tan, white or earthy colors. Now, bring on the brights baby! I love me some lime green!

so, that's the first one from Jonna, and now for the second from Catherine:

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
lifeguard
photographer
trainer
glorified secretary

Four movies you would watch over and over:
3 Amigos
A League of Their Own (always cry at the end during the credits when they show the pic of the girls sitting on the dugout - tugs at my heart)
Shag
Shrek ("You're headed for a smack-bottom")

Four places you have lived:
San Diego
Iowa
the Netherlands
Mexico

Four TV shows you love to watch:
Amazing Race - totally obsessed....must....get....on....show
Las Vegas
CSI
Numbers
NCIS (sorry, but LOVE that one to)

Four places you have been on vacation:
Germany
Italy
Mexico
Sweden (does 24 hours count?)

Four websites you visit daily:
Google/Gmail
Glenn Beck
Ali Edward's Blog
iTunes

Four of your favorite foods:
Einstein Everything Bagels
Tacos de Carne Asada
Cottage Cheese (preferably with some juicy ripe red tomatoes tossed in)
Avocados in any form

Four places you would rather be right now:
our own home
Vernazza, Italy
Mexico Beach Resort
in my Christopher's arms

Four bloggers you are tagging:
Jacquie (sorry if I misspelled!)
Carrie
Paula
everyone else I know that blogs has this posted right now! I really wish Lin had a blog so I could tag her!

blog? what blog?

So, I've been totally slacking in the blogging department the past month. I know some people keep up with us through my blog, and I think that's the coolest, but every time I started to sit down and write, I had so much to say that I was overwhelmed. But, I'm finally back.

We had an absolutely marvelous Christmas and New Year. In fact, the whole entire Christmas season was awesome. Bob & I went to a cookie exchange at my awesome friend Rachel's house, we had our annual Christmas party, some of my family came into town to have some time together, we went on a limo ride to see Christmas lights (with Rachel's family) and we did TONS of shopping. We seriously did our part to boost the economy. Chris and I were both totally spoiled on Christmas morning and received some fabulous gifts!

My year is starting slowly; I don't have any classes until the end of Jan., so I'm using this down time to finally get our house in order and do some scrapbooking. I'm submitting for a couple of design teams and contests. I hope something good happens! Well, actually, as long as I get some pages done, something good is happening!

Scooby and Mimi are doing well. They both had to go to the vet this morning. Scooby has conjuntivitis. Who knew dogs could get pink eye? Mimi just has tummy trouble and was perscribed Pepto Bismol. Cracks me up.

So, that's just a little bit about us. More soon!