Nearly Valentine's Day

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You know what that means, right?
Chocolate sale at Target on the 15th!

Wastefull

Look at all those trashed donuts! I went to Flickr and searched for photos tagged with Krispy Kreme Challenge. I have to admit I kind of hoping for photos of sick people but this is the first photo and it just made me too sad to continue. Poor poor wasted donuts..


Photo by oohmygeez. She's got lots more of the race if you want to check it out.

I like donuts....

but I'm not running a 4k just to get some. It seems that there is a Krispy Kreme Challenge held in Raleigh, sponsored by NC State. ESPN is even going to be there filming this year. At the half way point you stop and eat a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts.

From the FAQ:

Am I allowed to throw up?
Okay, we can’t technically stop you from throwing up, and quite frankly, that’s just part of the race, but don’t MAKE yourself throw up. The real challenge is to keep all 12 down, so don’t cheat yourself.

If I had known about it before yesterday I might have signed up, just to eat free donuts. Of course, there would have not been any running. Maybe some ambling, but definitely no running. The only time I might run is if zombies were chasing me and even then I might just lay down and tell them to eat my brain already.

Trader Joe's

For all ya'll that have never been to a Trader Joe's and want to know what it's all about...well, it's kind of like this:

More snow?

They are saying that it is supposed to snow overnight. We had a warmish day (I didn't have to put my cardigan on at work until after lunch) so it won't stick but I can bet that Lulu will want out at 4:30am so I might see it.

This morning Lulu woke me up at 4:30 and then I couldn't fall back asleep until nearly 5:30. And then Lulu was whining in my ear to eat. At that point I should have just gotten up and gone to the gym, but no, I finally fell back asleep. Of course, the hardest sleep is always when the alarm goes off. It was so difficult to get out of my warm bed.

Cookin' up a storm

I've been a cooking fool today...if you call opening up a bunch of cans cooking. Tonight I made taco soup, which uses about forty-eleven cans of beans, tomatoes and corn. Also browned beef. I ate two smallish bowls and this is what I have leftover. All but the square container are going into the freezer.



Then, because I've had a killer chocolate craving for about 3 weeks and because I've always wanted to and I'm a grown up and I can do whatever I want, I made the recipe on the back of the Crispix cereal box.



It makes a total mess. It's a miracle that I didn't spill powdered sugar all over the kitchen floor. Honestly, I kind of just wanted to put this bowl in the trash. But I didn't. I washed it.



So I mixed it all up, had 3 or 4 bites and now I'm totally over it. The folks at work will be happy on Monday morning.

Cereally

I just saw the craziest thing on the Food channel. There is a new store out there called Cereality. It's like a Marble Slab for cereal. You mix and match all manner of cereals and topping to create your very own breakfast. Then, instead of a soda machine, there is a machine for milk (because everyone likes a different amount in their cereal). Lastly, you get a "sloop" to eat with. A sloop is a spoon/straw combo, so that you can drink up the flavored milk at the end without tilting your head back and pouring it. But that's the best part!

Phone books

Phone books are kind of a pain. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I used one and I left about 4 sets in my garage in Austin. The recycling center there won't take them. One of my friends told me about this website called Yellow Pages Goes Green where you can sign up to stop receiving phone books. I signed up both my addresses (since yes, my condo has still not sold).

Another one bites the dust

I just read that Domino magazine is folding. Every magazine I subscribe to keeps going out of business. Stupid economy.

Housekeeping tip

If you drop your mascara on the carpet, you can use eye make up remover to get the mascara out of the carpet (and also your sweater if you were so graceful as to get it on the back of your shoulder as well). Try this only with 100% oil free eye make up remover and non-water proof mascara. Other types have not been tested.

My new state

and people say Texans are dumb....


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Where Lulu helps me knit

Lulu thinks she is a cat, which means she must be in my lap at all times. This is not as nice as it might sound. She doesn't like it if you get fidgety (for instance, playing Star Wars on the Wii....not so good for lap time my friends that watched Lulu over Christmas tell me).

Tonight I wanted to watch last weeks episode of CSI online and try to finish knitting a scarf (yes, it looks just like all my other scarves). Here's how that worked out:



It's a good thing I have a comfortable desk chair. This is the Zody by Haworth. Mine is black with a black & white wave-y stripe like pattern on the seat. I don't have a photo of it at the moment and I'm too tired to get up and take one for you. This is a chair I did for a mock up at work a couple of years ago.

My thoughts exactly

Lately, Lulu has been waking me up at 4:30am needing to go outside. When I lived in my house it was no big deal if she did that because I could just open the dog door and stumble back to bed. But not now. No. Now I have to get out of bed and put on 12 layers of clothes (seems like it anyway), shoes, gloves, hat, coat and take her out for a pee. It's very annoying. And then she wants to eat at 5:30am. Not that I blame her really. If I was only eating 1/4 cup of food I'd want to eat more often than every 12 hours too.


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A few more snow photos

Don't worry, the car was stopped when I took the photo


Removing snow is hard work!

I really wish....

that I hadn't forgotten my hat when I went to work today:

Lulu's first snow

In this photo she's saying "mom,please don't take make me pee in the snow and please don't take my photo while I'm doing it!"



She's so ready to go inside that she tried to go into the wrong building.

Snow Report 4:50am

Soft, wet and up to Lulu's belly. She is not amused.
Neither am I, for being awake this early.

Snowmany possibilities

So, it's supposed to snow here tomorrow. I've heard anywhere from 2 to 5 inches* may fall. Surprisingly, the stores didn't seem too overrun with people trying to prepare. Some coworkers were telling me that back in 2000 or 2002 the same amount of snow was predicted and 22" ended up being dumped. I'll keep you posted with whatever happens.


*THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID (sorry, I couldn't help myself)

New York style pizza

On Friday I had lunch at Randy's Pizza. For $6 I got two huge slices of pepperoni pizza and a drink. The pizza was delicious and the service was great. I only ate one piece for lunch and took the other one home. Since it was only like 14 degrees outside I just left the box in my car when I went back to the office. Here's what the slice looked like the next morning, when I ate it for breakfast:

Cold mornings

This is how Lulu spends her days. Most of the time she is totally covered but the other morning just the tip of her nose was peeking out.

Ew

Turns out that missed connection is married, and because I like to wear my ring on my left hand, he thought I was too.

ew


ew


ew

!

Missed Connection

Sometimes I like to read the Missed Connection section of Craigslist just for fun. So imagine my surprise when I ran across this one tonight and realized it was me!

You: Blonde, glasses, Rubenesque figure. With two guys
Me: Tall, gray hair, glasses, leather jacket.
We were sitting across from each other. Was I mistaken or did we exchange eye contact many times.
Would love to hear from you!

It was a particularly good hair day.
We might have made eye contact but it wasn't Eye Contact Eye Contact.

17 degrees

And I'm supposed to leave the house to go to work?
Brrrrrr.

It feels like 18 degrees outside.....

and I got a swimsuit catalog in the mail!
Give me a break!

Not sure about that.....

yeah, I'm not sure there's anything I love this much right now. Except Lulu.

Would you let an elephant pet your tummy?

Get your kleenex.

These are just creepy

Hand soaps from Rose and Radish

I need this

Dachshund coathanger
Won't you buy it for me? It would look so cute by my front door.

Random stuff

Today I drove into Raleigh, and after running my errand, decided to just drive around to see what I could see. I drove through downtown and there were police and what kind of looked like secret service agent every where. Then there was a huge house and people lined up around it for two blocks. Oh. That was the Governor's mansion and the inauguration is later today.

Then I kept on driving and look what I found!



I think this is the original Krispy Kreme location. They originated in North Carolina, you know. So did Pepsi, Texas Pete's hot sauce (who knew!), Mt Olive pickles and Cheerwine soda (haven't tried that one yet so I can't tell you what it tastes like). I was still full from my sushi lunch at Whole Foods so I didn't stop hot a Hot! Fresh! donut. My ass will thank me later.

And I don't even like Coldplay

First it was the old people singing their songs and now it's adorable kids.



Why weren't my choir teachers that cute or hip to music?

They even sing The Beatles, Crowded House, and Tori Amos!

Glorious rainbow

Glorious rainbow
Originally uploaded by Everything in Transit

Flickr is great. I knew someone out there had to have gotten a photo of the rainbow!

Beautiful

The weather is not so great, actually. But when I left the office there was a double rainbow. You'll have to talk my word for it because I didn't have my camera with me. There are photos on my cell phone but I don't know how to get them from the phone to the computer. However, once I got home I was able to get this photo while I was walking Lulu. It was very windy.






Now it's pouring down rain. And still very windy.

Excellent News

Apple has announced that they are lowering the price of songs on iTunes. There is a bunch of other stuff too about how many times you can copy the songs, blah blah y blah, but all I care about is the price. I am so glad I haven't spent all of my iTunes gift cards that I got for Christmas yet!

I'm up!

What? I'm awake!

Today's adventure

Today I took Lulu and myself out to the park to participate in a Dachshund Meetup. It was a total waste of time. Lulu didn't play with any dogs and I wasn't able to talk to anyone because I had to spend the whole time making sure Lulu didn't escape out the gate. After about 30 minutes she was done, jumping up on me like a toddler, begging me to pick her up. Maybe we should go every nice Saturday and she'll get used to it. I don't know. The only good thing was that she started responded to me telling her to move away from the gate.



Lulu would much rather stay on the sofa where it's warm and cozy. Who wouldn't.

Resolutions

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New glasses

Apparently, having Lasik twice won't keep you from having to get glasses again 5 or 6 years down the road. Not only did I get glasses this past summer but I had to get new ones today specifically for wearing in front of the computer! Yes, I do spend 10-12 hours a day in front a computer....what of it?



Note to self....do not take photo immediately after walking dog in 25 degree weather. Makes for nose like reindeer. Also, think about getting roots done.

What is Nicholas Sparks' problem?

Nicholas Sparks is known for writing romantic books. But really, I think he has a hate on for love. Today we got out of work early so a coworker and I went to the $1.50 theatre and saw Nights at Rodanthe, which is based on the novel of the same name. I won't give away the ending but let me just say....you better take some kleenex. And it wasn't just me crying either. That's the second movie in a week I've seen with a sad ending. Perhaps I should not watch whatever sappy movie I've got saved on the DVR tonight and should pay-per-view a good old fashioned action flick instead. No more crying!

Tradition

It's become a tradition to take our photo in the tunnel of lights at the Walkway of Lights in Marble Falls each holiday season.

Kristin and El Hombre:


Me and Kristin:

Reflections

As this is the last day of the year I've been thinking a lot about the past 12 months. There were 3 specific things I wanted to accomplish:

1. Lose 35 pounds.
2. Go on a fabulous trip for my 35th birthday.
3. Pass the NCIDQ and become a licensed interior designer.

So how did I do? Not so good, actually. I only lost 15 pounds, the only trip I took was to Calgary, for work, and I failed the NCIDQ*

2009 will be better. Right?!


*test results came in right before Christmas. Again. You'd think they could time that a little better.

An Etsy Kind of Christmas

From my gramma, via Sanctuary (my cousin's store) but can also be found on etsy:
a drikaB bag



From my sister, some very cool jewelry all by the same artist, Shiningstones.




I gave my sister and her husband this print that I found on etsy, by artist jellybeans.

Snow Globe Cupcakes

Snow Globe Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Bakerella

These are just about the cutest cupcakes ever. Bakerella is a cupcake genius. How anyone could eat these cute things, I don't know, but they probably taste really good.

Chills

My mom sent me this video today. It gave me chills and made me tear up. Okay, you know I'm a softy and maybe just a little homesick....



The singers are known as the Cactus Cuties.

This video is of them singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. It is even better than the national anthem.

Melt

Today I had lunch at the Glenwood Grill with a coworker. It was so good! I had their special of the day, which was a mixed greens salad with fried oysters, goat cheese, toasted pecans, strawberries and a cranberry vinaigrette. The oysters were cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth. So good! If I knew how to get back there I would go again. It's not near our office at all though (we were out to see a client) so I will have to save it for a weekend.

A wild hair

Yesterday I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get my hair cut. Right then. No waiting to ask women at work who they recommended, no calling my stylist in Austin and begging her to fit me in on the 24th or 26th of December (as if she would). I put my vanity into the hands of a stranger.

I should have known it wouldn't turn out well when I saw that the woman who was going to cut my hair was the thinnest person I have ever seen. She looked like those kids you see in the "feed the children" ads they run at 2am, only white, blonde and without the distended belly. Skeletal. And, I am pretty sure that the weight of the scissors made her arms quiver.




It's not so bad, it could be so much worse. Trust me, there has been worse (you will never see my passport photo). This hair cut is supposed to be a smooth stacked bob (you know, the one everyone got after Posh spice had it? well I had it first...off and on since 1991 thank you very much) but the back looks a bit like it was attacked with a weed whacker. At least I don't have to look at the back of my head. Pity the people that do.

Blame it on the rain

Normally, it takes me about 15 minutes to get home from work. Tonight it took me 50. Why? Because it was raining. If I thought people in Austin didn't know how to drive then the people in my new town are even worse.

I can't believe it

100-0006_IMG
Originally uploaded by Mygiftsmine

Snow in Austin! I leave town and then it snows. There hasn't even been this much snow in Raleigh yet. Today it was nearly 70 degrees! (at least I wasn't freezing today, so yay).

I hope the pipes didn't bust or anything at my condo. Nah....my neighbor would have emailed me. Right?

It's that time of year...

to eat, drink and be merry. And last night that is exactly what we did. My company had its Christmas party at Sullivan's. I was really excited about it because I had always wanted to eat at the one in Austin but never got the chance. It was excellent. The way I feel this morning from lack of sleep and too much wine (since when is 3 glasses too much...well they were huge), not so much.

I was looking really cute. Imagine me with my glasses. I tried not to wear them, because I am vain, but everyone at work has seen me in them and I started getting a headache without them. You never know when you might meet someone. Although, wearing my big puffy orange coat to stay warm was kind of detracting from the overall look.

I'm in love...

with Trader Joe's chocolate offerings.
Behold their Peppermint White Chocolate bar. I've already eaten one and bought 5 more. 4 of the 5 are for family members when I go home at Christmas. Swear. Oh wait! Kristin's husband doesn't like chocolate. More for me. Yay!



The other thing that I am so totally in love with that it's a good thing they only come 10 to a box (and are probably expensive but I admit that I didn't even look to see how much they were for once) are the Dark Chocolate covered Peppermint Joe Joe's. These are like Oreos with peppermint flavored filling, covered in dark chocolate with bits of crushed peppermint on top. OMG what is not to love.

Marry me, TJ!

Avert your eyes, dad

You know what I have seen in North Carolina that I never saw in Texas? Brown recluse spiders. This evening Lulu sniffed one. I nearly lost my mind. Thank God it didn't bite her! It wasn't the first one I've seen either. In fact, I think I killed a baby one in my apartment last week. Without screaming even. Well not much anyway.

I like pie

Check out this video of my uncle talking about the popular pie happy hour at his restaurant, The Bluebonnet Cafe.

Skunked again

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Not Lulu, thank goodness. Kristin was visiting my parents the other night when her two dogs, Gus and Ellie, got skunked. You know, now I don't feel so sad about missing Thanksgiving since it means I don't have to be around two stinky skunky dogs.

Shrinkage?

According to two different doctors' measurements within the last month, I am only 5'6 and 3/4". What the hell? I've shrunk over an inch? I think there is something faulty with their measuring methods because the scales at my parents' house still says that I'm 5'8". I will check it again when I go home at Christmas but I refuse to believe I have shrunk. Losing weight is supposed to make me sproing up from the weightlessness...right?

I'm coming down with yet another cold/sinus infection or whatever so I saw a new doctor today. She gave me more Ambien. Yay. No more nightmares about The Office or Legend (nothing like waking up in near screams because you were dreaming about zombie dogs). Too bad I couldn't get anymore Xanax from her. Drug seeking? Who me? Never.

A good one

This is a good photo of my mother and me, taken at the wedding. Look how short my mom is!

I needed a laugh

The last few seconds are the best.