269 posts from 2008

Here are some of my favorite moments of 2008.

 

My brother and best friend came to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I blew up some stew

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some Kirin Beer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I voted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a cereal gift basket for Valentines day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ran a marathon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was Rizzo from Grease.

Bad_riz

1 comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I completed my first Duathlon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I experienced heartbreak and joy at Comfort Zone Camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard Gin Blossoms and Live…live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I visited with Grandma at Old Towne Alexandria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gridge got his paws wet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad got a bobblehead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gridge barked up a tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw the Rosetta stone…in person…at the British Museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had coffee in a park in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made it to Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I paid tribute to Saucy Mary at Castle Moil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met William Wallace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I vegged out in one of the Queen’s gardens in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a hair cut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I played Where in the World is Carmen San Diego.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gridge sat in a bush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got to spend time with my Mom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I voted…again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ran a half marathon for Steve Irwin on Steve Irwin day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I surprised my husband with a kick-ass surprise sumo party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made new friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I turned 29.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I drank too much in a limo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I happily wandered around a forest with my husband on our 7th anniversary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's so wierd....I didn't think this had been an eventful year aside from making my first international trip...but it really was!

 

To end it off right....my husband and I will be participating in a murder mystery this evening. 

 

"It wasn't me!  It was the one-armed man...er...butler!" 

 

Cheers 2008!

Friday:

Had almost the entire building to myself at work because everyone was on vacation.

Got home from work to find my husband had pulled everything out of his closet and had begun painting it which caused me to gag thus causing me to grab the pups and go on an impromtu mini-road trip.  We couldn't go anywhere cool, it was raining out, so really...we just drove around.  It was nice and relaxing for all parties involved.

Got home from mini-road trip to find the bedroom still reeking of cleaning solution and paint.  Set up guest bed in living room and watched a movie.  Husband later joined me.  Slept in living room (away from smell) as the bedroom was left to air out all night.

Friday evening/Saturday morning:

No sleep.  Kea snoring like she's never snored before.

Saturday:

Saturday

Breakfast in bed.  Started some laundry.  Packed up pups and husband and hiked around Poor Farm Park all afternoon.  Husband had new ipod-friendly radio installed in car.  Did some shopping.  Found some deals.  Made an appearance at a cook-out.  Late night Starbucks run.  Continued to clean out closets with new found energy from Starbucks run.  Still smells like paint in bedroom.  Must sleep in living room again.

Saturday night/Sunday morning:

No sleep.  Kea snoring.

Sunday:

Happy anniversary to us!  Married for 7 years today!  Had big anniversary breakfast at Cracker Barrel, went back out to Poor Farm Park to take some nature shots (photos coming soon), got back home to finish cleaning.  Cleaning and laundry done, naptime.  Naptime finished, dinner time.  Traditional anniversary dinner:  Burger King.  (If you don't know the story..please feel free to ask.)  Paint smell is gone.  Sleeping in bedroom tonight.

Sunday evening/Monday morning:

Sleep.

Monday:

Not having slept much this weekend is taking it's toll on me this morning.  I've already finished my Starbucks coffee and still feel like I could pass out at any moment.

Got to work to find the 2nd floor kitchen had flooded over the weekend.  Luckily the flood was contained by security and never reached my cube.  Crazy.

Hello all!

I hope this blog finds you all fat with Christmas food and happy with your Christmas activities and goodies!  =)

This Christmas didn't really stand out among past holidays...we did the usual get together on Christmas eve with my in-laws and then hung out together on Christmas day (the rest of the family has in-laws that live in the area so they all head that way for Christmas day) so I don't have anything funny or exciting to report on.  Because of that...I thought I'd simply share some Christmas observations I made this year....

1. Something must be a little off if watching the 24 hour marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TBS was the #1 thing I was looking forward to this Christmas.

2. I miss my family.

3. This year seemed to be the "year of the strange" as far as gifts go. 

4. It's not fun to be farted on by a nephew.

5. I miss my friends.

6. I need to be better about labeling gifts.

7. I miss my family. 

8. It's not fun to be farted on by my dogs.  (Obviously, there was a lot of farting taking place)

9. Presents for kids are always cooler than presents for adults.

10. This Christmas season just didn't feel like Christmas season.  There wasn't any magic.

11. I love "A Christmas Story".

12. Turkeys really take too long to cook.

13. Stuffing is nothing but fat.  But's it's soooooo good!

14. I think I want to start a new Christmas tradition...I just don't know what.  I'm kind of bored with simply getting together with people to eat and open gifts..I want to do something....else.

15. I hope New Years is better.

 

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you.

I've been really busy.

I promise I'll pay more attention to you soon...

Love, me

I'm told by the person who brought this video to my attention that both dogs survived and are doing fine. 

Amazing stuff.

It's no secret that our babies...I mean our puppies...I mean our dogs, are getting older.

Gridge has a bad hip.

Kea has gained weight.

Gridge doesn't have the same stamina.

Kea gets grumpy quickly.

Gridge farts like the Dickens and sometimes startles himself.

Kea snores like the Dickens and sometimes startles Gridge.

That's life with our dogs and we love it.

Last night however, we did not love.

Both our pups seem to be having some issues right now.  Kea either rolled in something that she had an allergic reaction to or she ate something she wasn't supposed to or maybe she was bitten by something yesterday afternoon.  She had raised patches/bumps all over her body last night and she looked completely miserable.  Her face was a little swollen too.  We checked her over numerous times and couldn't find any puncture wounds or anything of the sort...so we're not sure what happened.  She kept scratching and scratching all night.

Also, for the past several days Gridge has been going through something wierd.  He'll be sleeping on his bed or on the floor and suddenly he's startled awake (no farting, no loud noises, nothing to surprise him) and he'll jump up as if he's being bitten on the backside.  He'll run from one end of the house to the other.  It's very very strange.

Between Kea scratching and Gridge jumping up and running around the house all night...neither of us got much sleep.

Kea looked better this morning, but if her patches don't clear up by tonight we're going to have to take her to the vet.  And Gridge...I'm just not really sure what to do about that.  I've checked his bed for fleas, ticks and other bugs, I've washed and rewashed his blanket, I've vacuumed and sanitized their sleeping area...I just can't figure out what's causing him to jump up like that and run.  I feel like it may have something to do with his hip...like maybe it just all of a sudden stings so badly when he's laying down that he needs to get up and move.  I dunno.

Hopefully we'll have a better night tonight.

Thursday:

I decided not to cook my own turkey this year and didn't volunteer to cook anything for the family Thanksgiving potluck...(I knew my husband had it covered)...so I slept in...took a nice long shower while my guy made mashed potatoes...got ready...packed the dogs into the car and then it was off to my mother-in-law's house for Thanksgiving lunch.

Two plates and a food baby later I found myself downstairs with my nephews and niece-in-law playing ping pong, hide and seek and some form of special powers game.  At one point I was playing all three games at once (still not sure how that happened or how I managed it).  I would hit the ping pong, get frozen in place by my nephew with special freezing powers, keep perfectly still so that my youngest nephew didn't realize I was frozen there (right next to him), get un-frozen, hit the ping pong again and yell out "found you!" to the youngest.  It was fun and exhausting.

Five hours, a few games and a half of a turkey sandwich later it was time for the annual pie contest.  All the men in the family make pies and the women judge them.  Usually there is a bit of diversity among the pies...but this year we seemed to have a peanut butter theme....and because I ate WAY too much pie that night...I'm so over peanut butter right now.

All-in-all...it was a great Thanksgiving.

Friday:

Worked from home.

Saturday:

Braved the mall for a few things, had an awesome hibachi dinner with friends and hung out at a late night party/high school reunion.

Sunday:

Slept in, played on Facebook, did laundry, cleaned house, put up Christmas tree, watched movies, cuddled with husband.  =)

 

 

My husband turned 30 yesterday. 

He had been dreading it for some time; little comments like "I may as well be 40" and "I'm old" clued me in. 

So I decided to throw him a surprise party......not just any surprise party though.....a surprise sumo tournament.  =)

I tracked down as many of his high school buddies as possible in addition to his closest friends and Comfort Zone Camp friends and family and rented a sumo ring and sumo suits.

The mission....

throw him a "fake" surprise breakfast with his family (so he wouldn't expect anything else for the rest of the day), have a friend kidnap him for the afternoon while I set up for the party and then at 6 p.m. he would walk into a surprise sumo tournament....

mission accomplished.

Here's a timeline of what went down....

At 11 a.m. we met the family at the clubhouse (where we would be hosting the actual surprise party later that night) for a "fake" surprise breakfast.